Polkadoodles Gift Card and more ProMarker Colouring

Here's today's ProMarker card, colouring details below. You can still win ten ProMarkers of your choice by leaving a comment on this post. Two lucky people will win this week. Scroll down to Monday's post for full details

Some of you have asked for the list of starter colours to buy. Click HERE for the post showing the list

Over on Polkadoodles this week, the challenge is to incorporate a gift into your card - this is what I came up with - for a feast of ideas, go over to the blog to see what the creative design team have been up to. As always, there is a prize each week for the winner of the challenge

I started with four empty toilet rolls, and flattened them by running them through my cuttlebug

Printed some papers from the Sundae of Seasons CD, and cut them so that they would fit around the flattened loo roll (note: loo is slang English for toilet)

the covered roll








I bound the four loo rolls together using my Bind-it-All, (if you don't have a binding machine, you could punch holes and use a jump ring to hold them together) and cut four tags to fit inside the open edge (from the Tags, Bags Boxes and More Cricut cartridge) - I am not giving sizes, because different manufacturers use slightly different measurements for their cardboard inner rolls


Each tag was given a ribbon pull, and decorated



Coffee? On a Christmas card? Well, this one is going to hold a Starbucks gift card for my daughter as a stocking stuffer
All the elements were printed from the CD, and coloured with Promarkers.



the gift card is attached with a glue dot to this tag

how perfect is this stamp for my project?

Moving swiftly on to today's ProMarker card, a simple little one, made with a Lili of the Valley image. When I had done the colouring, I mounted the plain circle onto a pinking edge nestability circle, and just mounted that onto a simple white card that had been embossed with the Snow cuttlebug folder

Promarkers used:

for the tree, forest green, holly green and pine

Use the darkest colour first.............

fill in with a slightly lighter colour........

go over the whole lot with pine, the lightest colour. I did some sketchy strokes at the edges to make it look more feathery

I started with berry red on her clothes

and this is where the battery of my camera went flat!

Promarkers used:

Berry red, red, lipstick red, ice grey 2, apple green on scarf

hair - buttercup

skin - blush

star - vanilla and ivory

I left her skirt white, but added shadows with the ice grey 1 marker, and used a tiny line of pastel blue on the snow. I used pompoms on the hat and scarf on the finished card.

Gosh, this post has been a bit of a marathon. Thanks to all of you who have been coming over here this week, and as always, making it all worthwhile for me. I reached 2,000 followers this week, and today marked 500,000 visits to my blog. I think we will have a party to celebrate, give me time to travel, get unpacked, have a little think.....then we can party!

See you tomorrow

Colouring darkish clothes with ProMarkers

If you need a little reminder, leaving a comment below this post gives you another chance to be one of two crafters who will get ten Promarker pens of their own colour choice as an early Christmas gift from Letraset.

Basic rules, leave a comment as often as you like this week, if you comment on every post then your name will go into the hat 7 times. Winners will be drawn on Monday. Scroll down to Mondays post for full details

I found it really hard to colour dark clothes with alcohol markers, or any sort of markers come to think of it - they always looked flat, and sometimes the dark colours totally obliterated any detail of the stamped image. Then I had a little play, and a lot of practice, and this is how I do it now. Although the colour isn't very dark and flat looking, the overall effect is one of a dark blue hoodie.....

.

Here's the finished image. Another stamped image I got in a swap, so I don't know who made the stamp. It was suitable for my purpose because it had a large expanse of clothing!
Promarkers used:
indigo blue
cornflower
china blue
powder blue
cool grey 3

trousers:
Khaki
Pastel beige
warm grey 2 & 3




I coloured all around the hoodie in indigo blue, filling in areas like the inside of the hood that would be very dark




then I took china blue and went further into the clothing, blending it with the indigo




Did the same with cornflower







then filled in the whole image with powder blue

I added more shadow with the cool grey 3, and a touch more indigo in the deepest folds/seams, then went over the whole thing again with powder blue

the trousers were coloured all over with pastel beige

shadows added with khaki, then blended with pastel beige

then I added some darker shadows with warm grey 3, and went over the whole lot again with the pastel beige
Can you see how the colours on the top are fading and appearing to blend more as the ink dries?

and here's the finished dude!

I hope this has helped you a little, I haven't had time to make a card with the finished image I'm afraid, it will go into my 'ready-to-roll' folder, where I keep a selection of coloured stamped images, paper flowers, die cuts etc, all ready to make a card in minutes

Lots of you have commented that you don't know how on earth I manage to tote craft stuff backwards and forwards across the Atlantic. The answer of course is that I have doubles of a lot of things. Two Cricut expressions, two cuttlebugs, two crop-a-diles, two ATG guns....and so on.

The Gypsy has eliminated carting all my Cricut cartridges backwards and forwards, although I don't enjoy using it at all, I must admit I prefer to slot the cartridge in the machine and cut in the old-fashioned way.

What I only have one collection of, quite sensibly is my cuttlebug embossing folders, nestabilities, promarkers and stamps (I limit myself almost exclusively to acrylic or cling rubber these days). Easy enough? Well yes, it would be, if I wasn't prone to these ridiculous urges to pack enough stuff to keep an army of crafters busy for weeks. For example, I was in bed last night, and suddenly thought 'grunge board! grunge board! Oh my gosh, I haven't packed any grunge board', so I got out of bed, plodded wearily into the garage and started digging around for the grunge board. Now this took some time, I knew I had some.............somewhere. Ah yes, here it is, still intact in the packaging, as it was when I bought it about two years ago. Now it is packed, in my bursting-at-the-seams suitcase, and all I need is for someone, somewhere, to tell me exactly what grunge board is and what the heck I am going to do with it, apart from take it on a transatlantic holiday that is.

Yes, I have been to Tim's site, yes, I think the man is a marvel, yes I have seen him work with grunge board, and no, I still have no idea how it will fit into my life, let alone make it worthwhile getting up from a cozy bed in the middle of the night.

And so the packing saga goes on....and on....and on. Now where did I put that tub of bookbinders glue that I need for ...ermm, some project or another.

See you tomorrow

One stamp - 2 ways. Promarker draw still open......

All the comments on this post will be entered into the random draw for two of you to win ten promarkers of your choice. If you are commenting every day, your name will go in the hat seven times.

For full details, scroll down to Monday's post

I pulled out this Penny Black stamp for today's cards, and did it in two totally different ways as you will see.....

For the first one, I cut a 5 1/2" circle card using the Wildcard cartridge on my Cricut. I tied some of my favourite black and white gingham ribbon around the fold. I stamped the image onto white cardstock, and again onto some yellow cardstock. The image was coloured with Promarkers, leaving the bath uncoloured, then I cut out just the bath from the yellow paper, and stuck it on the image - I love paper piecing, it can make your stamps so versatile.

A quick tip, if you are using circle cards like this one, cut a sliver off the bottom of the back circle, this gives a stable base for the card to stand without wobbling over - having said that I popped the card on my little easel to photograph it and it looks a bit tipsy.

the clear acrylic dots that I put on some of the bubbles are Doodle Dewdrops from Polkadoodles, the sentiment is from MFT
Promarkers used:
Cool grey 3 & 4, blush and pastel pink for the cat
ivory and caramel for the mouse
pastel blue for the bubbles
primrose for the chanpagne

And here is the same stamp looking quite different. I coloured the bath in this time. The pattern paper is from a christmas pack by Papermania. I got the embossing folder in the UK as well, I can't remember who made it.
Some of you have said that they get streaky effects when colouring in large plain areas like the bath with alcohol markers. The trick is to use small circular strokes of the pen, this blends the ink as you go. If you go for broad straight strokes, then the ink is laid down unevenly, you get an overlap where the strokes meet, which is why you get a streaked effect.



Promarkers used:
Cat - warm grey 3 & 4, blush and dusky pink
mouse - ivory, blush and pastel pink
Bath - cool aqua, tea green and duck egg. I used warm grey 3 to shadow under the roll top edge of the bath


Some of you have asked me to repeat the list of Promarker stockists in the USA

Carpe Diem

Du-All

Ace

For stockists in your area, contact Macphersons www.info@macphersonart.com

You can also order direct from Letraset in the UK, their shipping costs are very reasonable

Right, I'm off to do some more packing - sigh
See you tomorrow

Try again for the Promarkers

Leave a comment on this post to be in with a chance of winning ten ProMarkers - two of you will win, for full details, scroll down to Monday's post. Good luck!

On to today's card. I used a Chung Chou Kuik fantasy art stamp, colouring done with Promarkers of course. I found this delicate organza ribbon sprinkled with bits of silver in the Christmas ribbon aisle at Michaels, it's perfect for the ethereal look I was aiming for on this card.

The double punched border is by Martha Stewart, and the seniment is by Craftwork Cards

I used dusky pink and blossom for the roses, and the celestial ring thingys were just outlined in vanilla

For her clothes I used pastel green, soft green and mint green. Shadowing is ice grey 1

and for her hair, I used ivory, sandstone, tan and caramel

Her skin was done with ivory and blush

I added some tiny spots of smooch pearl here and there. What's smooch? It's a pearly glitter type paint that comes in tiny little bottles with a brush in, like a nail varnish. I am finding it quite useful for adding texture and glimmer to stamped images (it doesn't show well on photos, but looks good in real life). I got it in a pack of four colours - red, green, gold and pearl - from Michaels. I don't know if I will use the other colours much, but I do like the pearly one.

So leave your name here, for another chance to win

I am starting to pack stuff ready for our return to the UK - we leave here on Sunday. I have already filled two large suitcases, mainly toys and clothes for the children. I haven't even started on my craft stuff yet..... Help!

See you tomorrow

Want to add to your Promarker collection?

Here's a chance for TWO lucky peeps to win ten ProMarkers of their choice to build their collection. A big thank you to Letraset for sponsoring this giveaway. I know a lot of you have been adding to your colours, so this is your chance to pick another ten markers to add to your stash. If you have been dreaming of starting a ProMarker collection, then this is the perfect way to start - if you are new here, then scroll down to labels to watch my videos about using these alcohol markers

All you have to do is add a comment on any post this week - if you comment on every post, then your name will go into the hat seven times.

If you have a blog, it would be great if you could link to the giveaway

If you subscribe by email, you need to click on the link at the bottom of your email which will take you over here to Going Buggy, click on comment at the bottom of the post, and add your comment, making sure that you add your name and some way for me to identify you if your name comes out of the hat

Open to everyone, worldwide

I will draw the winner on Monday 13th December - entries accepted until midnight on Sunday 12th December (7:00 PM EST)

If you love Promarkers, pop over to their brand new blog, there are lots of Promarker tips and news on there

On to today's cards. You may remember I was having a festive panic the other day because I am so behind with making my Christmas cards. There was nothing for it but a mass-producing session (something I hate doing, my boredom threshold is low at the best of times, and repetitive work just drives me nuts).

So I stamped a few of these cute little birds, it was a random unmounted stamp that I found lying around, so I haven't a clue who makes it. Out came the nestabilities to cut some circles and scallop circles, a quick bit of colouring, a pom pom, a bit of glitter, and hey presto, another 6 cards done

Promarkers used:

Caramel, tan and sandstone, primrose and lipstick red. Ice grey for shadows

Then out came this little snowman by Sparkle and Sprinkle. Same idea, voila, another 6 cards.

Promarkers used:

Pastel blue, denim blue, lipstick red, ice grey 1 & 2, tan

So then I counted how many cards I had, hmmm, still woefully short, so

I went out and bought two boxes of ready made cards. Shock horror.

Looking at my list, which includes people I haven't seen for years, old school friends and so on, I realised that most of them don't even know that I make cards, so now I have two lists, friends who know about my paper passion and would be insulted to get a shop bought card from me, and those who fall into the category of "oh, she's still around then" when they open the envelope. Problem solved.

Playing with Birthday Bash

My latest Cricut passion is this fun cartridge - Birthday Bash, that I got from Scrappy-go-lucky. I made three cards for the SGL blog, this is one of them, pop over to see the other two. There are loads of features on this cartridge - lots of whimsical characters for children's birthday cards, shaped cards (see my roller skate card over on the blog), and some very useable phrases as well.

I cut the pile of presents at 3 1/2", and added a bit of bling

I kept the colour combination quite simple, but I think it worked well

Drop by tomorrow to see how you can add to your collection of Promarkers. There should have been a video to watch, but I carefully prepared everything, made the video, reviewed it, and on the short journey across the kitchen, managed to drop the camera onto the tiled floor. Dead as a dodo. Still, that's solved Mike's Christmas present problem for this year, and I get the latest model, so there's always a silver lining....
See you then

If it's Friday, it must be Polkadoodles

This week, our challenge is to make the sentiment the main focus of your card. That was an easy one, because on all the Polkadoodles CD's there are these sentiments, all ready to print out, looking gorgeously layered, and matching the papers perfectly.

I printed out a sheet of the brown gingham onto white cardstock, and cut the base card out of that, using the Birthday Bash cartridge for the Cricut that I got from Scrappy-go-Lucky. There are some really great shaped cards on there, and I liked the unusual shape of this one. I cut the green square from some plain Bazzill card, and the sentiment from the Sundae of Seasons CD by Polkadoodles.

I added a real button (threaded of course, buttons can't be naked in this cold weather), a bit of stitching, and a couple of mugs printed out from the CD (I printed them out in black and white, and just coloured the handles with my apple promarker)

If you love challenges, hop over to the blog to see what the team have done, and join us for the challenge
I was asked how I kept the threaded buttons flat. The way I do it is to tie the knot of thread on the top of the button rather than on the underside. I also use quite fine thread usually, embroidery skeins work well. I stick them on the project with a glue dot. The button in the photo above is an exception, I fastened the thread on the underside as I wanted the button to sit high above the printed green one.

I was having a conversation with my daughter who was trying to remember how old she was when she stopped believing in Santa. (It was probably quite young since she had two older brothers to torment her.)
So I said, in suitably anguished tones 'Alex, what are you trying to tell me? There is no Santa? NOOoooo, I can't bear it'
To her credit, (well, she has had me for a mum for the whole of her life, and is used to me now), she replied, without missing a beat
'I'm sorry mum, I meant to break it to you more gently'
I love my kids!

Don't forget to drop by on monday for the first of my monthly Promarker giveaways

Silver Wedding Anniversary Card

Here's a silver wedding anniversary card. All the papers and cardstock are from

Craftwork Cards, their foiled papers are so beautiful, and are perfect for wedding or anniversary cards and projects. The branch was punched with a Sissix die in silver grey cardstock, and the flowers were punched from one of the white and silver papers - I curled the petals up, and put some silver card candy in the centre. The background piece was embossed with the cuttlebug

For those of you in the UK with children or grandchildren, did you know that you can go online to the NSPCC, and for a small donation they send a personalised letter from santa to a child. I ordered one for Kiki and Max, they arrive via the postman, and bring sheer delight to the child. Plus, you are helping a very good cause, which will give you a warm fuzzy feeling

Promarker Alert: look out for a giveaway on here next week, be sure to drop by

See you tomorrow

Time to Get Funky

This month over at Funky Hand, it's the boss's turn to set the challenge. Anice chose this sketch by Kathy who has a great sketch blog - pop it in your favourites as you'll get a lot of inspiration over there

and here is my interpretation of the sketch. I used papers from the Colour Me Happy CD. I love using sketches, when I am having a 'dry spell' and inspiration goes awol, I can turn to a sketch and it kick starts my creativity again

Look at the latest modelling shoot of little Monty (he is the one in the top right of the photo), this was taken from the Alex and Alexa catalogue. I must admit I have never heard of this company, have you seen the price of the outfits the children are wearing? Good grief. For US friends, Monty is wearing clothes that would set you back $500. Who buys this stuff? Are there babies out there who never do what comes naturally to ordinary, less expensive babies? Can you imagine easing your child gently into his cashmere outfit, made from the finest yarn, hand plucked from animals found only in a remote area of the Himalayas, and trekked for ten days and nights by pack mules to be spun into the softest wool imaginable.................then before you leave the house with your trophy baby, he hiccups, and brings up half of his breakfast.
Monty does looks cute though, I hope he enjoyed his taste of luxury!