Bezzie Mate and Skin Colouring Tips

Hey guys! It's Monday again. Back to work for us mortals. *yawwwnn*

I hear the weather was pretty bad in some parts of the country, with hail and thunderstorms over the weekend. I hope you're all safe. We merely had half an hour of torrential rain and a bit of wind - nothing exciting here.

So today, in sticking to my word, I thought I'd share another commission with you guys. I posted a few updates on my FB page as I was creating this piece, and I had a lot of comments about my skin tones. There have also been a few of my blog readers, old and new, who've asked me about my pens.

Stoopid Blogger (or stoopid me - I'm undecided which) can't work out how to leave a 'reply' link on peoples comments on my blog. Please, if you know how to chance that setting, any help would be gratefully welcomed!

For now, there's no other way for it than to include it in a post.

I use ProMarkers and FlexMarkers (I have recently treated myself to a few Tria Markers, but they're the exact same thing - I've been tryna fill in my pinks a little) for ALL of my colouring. I don't go in with pencils after, I don't use any Copics to fill in gaps in my colours - it's simply ProMarker and FlexMarker work.

That said, I have had a lot of questions about the colours I use for skin. 

Rose Peach (FM)

Peach

Soft Peach

Blush

Ivory

Baby Pink, Cocktail Pink

I always work light to dark, and back to light if the space on the piece I'm colouring allows for that. If the area I want to colour is small, and I'm using a saturated colour, like red or dark green then I work dark to light and try to lay down as little colour as possible.

Donna Jerrett commented on a colouring update on my FB page and asked what alcohol markers I used. She said the blending on my skin was seamless. She couldn't believed I used ProMarkers. Guys, this is why I will continue to fly the PM flag! Enough practice, getting to know your pens and your cardstock and there is no reason why we can't be as good as those Copic snobs (said in jest, of course).

So, that's all I got for ya today, I hope that's answered the questions I've been receiving lately. I always get asked to do tutorials, and every time I sit down to colour I get carried away in the moment and forget about it. Perhaps one day. One day soon. 

So as for my card, I used Wryn and Emmy BFF from Tiddly Inks. I've used this image a few times now and I never get bored of it. This time I decided to add a little pattern to the dress, very simply. I think if I was to do this again I would try and go with the flow of the dress, although I think that'd be tricky without making it look like a squiggly mess.

As this card part of a commission, I added the sentiment 'Bezzie Mate' with some Jillibean alpha stickers. I cut up some of the patterned papers from the My Minds Eye pack I'd been using and added a 'so this is happy' element to the other side of the image. 

I didn't want to add big, poofy bows to this design, as I didn't feel that's what it needed. Instead I used an organza rose and built the rest of my embellishments around that. A couple WOC paper flowers, an embossed heart and a sprinkling of the standard Stickles and Liquid Pearls finished this card off.

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:

- Digi Designs Challenge Blog - Spots and Dots

- My Sheri Crafts - Delightful Digis

- Paper Creators Crafts - Anything Goes

That's it. Happy Monday and thanks for stopping by. xo

.. with a Cherry on Top!

Happy Saturday, guys! :) This morning I've been going through the photographs of my cards and trying to make some sense of them. I have a LOT of photos and I'm getting lazy when it comes to organising them.

This year I aim to have way more blog posts than 2013, and one way I am going to achieve that is by sharing my commissioned cards with you all.

This was a card I made way back at the beginning of December. I think this is the card that started me on my Some Odd Girl obsession again! Ain't got no complains here, I freakin' LOVE Kristys stamps! 

The thing I love most about this card is all the 'white' space I've managed to achieve. Usually when I'm making larger cards I feel like I have to cover every inch with.. something. This time round I tried to cluster all of my embellishments and sentiment around the main image. I think I found this easier because I layered the image up so that part felt a lot bigger when placed on the card. 

I gotta get me some more wide organza ribbon!! Why the hell have I held off using it for so long?! It creates the most pretty bows, so puffy but without being OTT - because the organza is kinda see through. I likey. Gotta use up more of my other ribbon first though - remember, I'm tryna be good!!

So I used a bunch of SOG goodness:

Tiny Baker Tia

Cupcake Mae 

I coloured Tia up with my ProMarkers to match my papers from My Minds Eye. Hmmm, a bunch of the usual goodness including Wild Orchid Crafts flowers, liquid pearls and a pop of Kraft cardstock, this time in the form of a doily, finish this piece off nicely.

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:

- Alphabet Challenge Blog - Y - Young card for a little one

- Delicious Doodles - Must use a Ribbon

- Creative Inspirations - 249 - Ribbons

- Pattie's Creations - For the Little Girls

I always get told that people can tell it's a Lou Mac creation a mile off, and that pleases me. I feel like I have definitely found myself over the last 4 years and always try to stay true to what I think my style is. If I'm not feeling it, I don't go with it. :)

Thank you for stopping by, friends. Have a fantastic Saturday, whatever you get up to. xo

Girly, Whirly Birthday

It's a week til Christmas Eve!!

ONE WEEK!!

Judging by the speed this year has gone, this next week will go by like.. *zOoOoooooom!!*

Another non Christmas-y creation to share with you all this morning. 

This was part of a commission for my boss at work. 

Knowing this was for a little girl, I went all out with embellishments. I think I have finally conquered my fear of using pink on my creations. Infact, I think I now quite like it! Hah! Who'd have thought?!

I used Anna Belle - Birthday Wishes from Tiddly Inks.

I've coloured her up with ProMarkers to match my papers from My Minds Eye Kate and Co. Cambridge Court. I tried out some pleats and a new yellow colour combo on her little party dress. I tried to go with an ombre layered cake too, pretty happy with how it turned out.

If you remember, a few weeks ago I said that I'd be trying to making more of an effort with my backgrounds on coloured images, to take my crafting that little bit further and to make my cards look even more finished. I gotta say, it's going okay. :)

I added some simple cloud outlines and coloured the tops of them with my faded blue. I then added a heap of grass around her feet. 

As for embellishments, hah.. where to begin? 

A big organza ribbon (from The Ribbon Girl) with a little American Crafts ribbon adhered over the knot.

Some Wild Orchid Crafts 10mm roses, a MFT circle doily, a kraft doily (which is almost completely covered, but you can see a little bit poking out on the right hand side of the image), a little crochet trim (again, from The Ribbon Girl), an embossed vellum fence die cut aaaaaaaaaaaaaand of course, some liquid pearls. So pretty.

I really need to start entering my cards into some challenges, I'm getting pretty useless at this. Perhaps I can make that another new years resolution?! LOL!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! :) xo

Wild Birthday

It's Saturday, again. Already.

How many sleeps now?! Like.. 10?! 

Seeeerious.

As another little break from the Christmas-ness that has taken my blog by storm these past couple weeks, I thought I'd share a birthday card I created for a little boy who celebrated his 3rd birthday earlier on in the month.

This is the adorable dragon from the Hello Pet set from Tiddly Inks.

Couldn't you just eat him?!

I gotta give full credit to my boyfriend for the two tone wings and horns we've got going on here. He always comes up with fantastic suggestions, as he sees things totally differently from me. I should hire him! LOL!!

I've coloured this cutie up using ProMarkers and FlexMarkers and I pushed the boat out on the background too.. and added some mountains - also the boyfriends idea. I wanted to include a little sun, but he put his foot down. *Next time ;) when he's not watching me colour*

I kept the rest of the card pretty simple. I used some older papers from an Authentique pack, some thickers and Jillibean alpha stickers, a Some Odd Girl sentiment, a SU! brad and a sprinkling of Gold and Peacock Liquid Pearls.

Thanks for stopping by today! :) xo

A recipe to follow..

It's time for a new challenge over at Passion for ProMarkers, and the theme has been set by our lovely Coops..

Recipe: 3 Papers, 3 Embellishments, 1 Paper and 1 Sentiment

Easy peasy, right? Just grab your fave papers, and embellishments and colour up the cutest image you've got and share your creation with us.

Here's what I came up with using the very cute (.. and only bee I can really tolerate) What's the Buzz from Pollycraft. I've coloured her up to match papers from My Minds Eye Noteable collection.. of which I used three! ;) 

I thought I'd practice my little clouds again, not too bad. Still looking pretty flat and un poofy (I think clouds should be poofy!!).. but I'm getting there. Slowly! :) Practice makes perfect! 

I used my (miraculously fixed) little Slice machine to create some honeycomb pieces of different sizes from patterned paper and some white cardstock for my sentiment. 

My sentiment. LOVE! My first attempt at a whimsy kinda sentiment. I used a mixture of Jellybean alpha stickers and some Lawn Fawn alpha stamps. Too cute!

I've added some twill stripe ribbon from The Ribbon Girl, some sprinklings of Stickles and a few punched hearts, again from the same patterned paper! Super happy card. I love it.

The prize up for grabs is SEVEN digi images from Bugaboo, so head over to the blog and join in.

Thank you for stopping by. xo

All That Glitters

*I know how it looks, but all that glitters ain't gold* - Biffy Clyro. Ahhh, gotta love the guy.

Sorry, I was getting distracted by the moozik there! Onwards..

Time for a new challenge at Passion for ProMarkers. Why else would I be here!! It's Tuesday. ;)

We want to see all that sparkly stuff. 

ALL THAT GLITTERS

It can be anything from Stickles to loose glitter, American Crafts glitter tape, Spica pens. Show us your sparkly stuff!!

Here is the gorgeous Shoe Fetish from Redonkulous. This is the first Redonkulous image I've bought and coloured up. I love her. Such fun to colour. I should mention however, that as of 14th May.. Redonkulous was rebranded as Redonkadoodles. New blog, FB page and shop to check out. Same fab images, different name. That is all.

This card was created as part of a commission. The lady loved pink, and shoes. I think this card puts that across, no? ;)

I used some papers from My Minds Eye, in pale pinks and a black/grey doily print. The image is pretty large and so takes up most of the 6"x6" card. I've added a lot of stamping around the image panel, Whimsy Stamps and some swirls and stuff. 

Some Wild Orchid Crafts flowers, a rolled rose cut with a MFT die, some delightful little buttons that I've attached using some pink button twine from The Ribbon Girl and some washi tape bling up most of the card.

Now for the glitz. The most obvious is the American Crafts glitter tape. I've also added Gold Stickles to the center of each of the stars on the large shoe. As always, there are dots of Liquid Pearls and Stickles all up and around the cluters of flowers and buttons too!!

Hope you likey.

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:

- Milk Coffee Challenges - Loads of Flowers

- In the Pink Challenge - Anything Goes (with Pink)

- Sarah Hurley Challenges - All that Glitters is Gold
- Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Be sure to stop by at Passion for ProMarkers to see the other girls fantastic projects and check out the prize up for grabs. xo

Little Elle!!

This is a card I made aaaages ago using an image from the (then) new release from Pollycraft. Have you guys  checked out Paulas new website? It's fantastico. So much fun, new stuff!!

Anywho. I digress. This is Huge Thanks Elephant, and she.. I think she's a she.. is just perfect for a million things. This time, she was adorning a birthday card for a lady who loves Elephants. 

I coloured Ellie the Elephant ;) using my ProMarkers. Have you guys seen Fayes coloured up image? See HERE - it's GORGEOUS! She really works those markers!!

That's all I gots for ya today!! Loves. xo

Best Friends - Wryn and Emmy

Us four (how common does that sound? I don't know how else to word it, hah!!) had a fantastic time at The Deep Aquarium in Hull yesterday. We stopped a Whitby on the way back for (fish) and chips. Well, I had vegetarian lasagne and a jacket potato. :) A really good round up to the brilliant week I've had off work! :)

I thought I'd share a few photos from our day.

So onto the point of todays post.. here's a card I created as a commission for a lovely lady, so hopefully her friend who she's giving it to isn't a reader of my blog! :P

I spied the new challenge over a Tiddly Inks which was use a Wryn. How could I not join in? I had to, HAD to use Wryn and Emmy! :) I coloured them up to match the lady and her friend, brown and blonde hair. :) I went a little OTT with the pleats in their dresses, but you gotta get the practice in somehow, right?

I coloured Wryn and Emmy to match my papers from My Minds Eye. Lots of pinks and aquas and a touch of purple. I added a stamped sentiment from Hero Arts as well as a bunch of alpha stickers from Cosmo Cricket. 

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:

Tiddly Inks - Use a Wryn

Crafty Sentiments - Add a Charm

Stampin' for the Weekend - Button it Up

Thanks for stopping by. :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend. xo

Gardening Mae

Some of you who follow me on FB will have already seen this card, but I thought I'd share it here on my blog too.

This card was part of an order for a lady who was saying goodbye to some of her work colleagues. She wanted something super personalised - so after finding out a bunch of what each of the ladies was about, I come up with this card for.. Judith.

I used the adorable Gardening Mae from Some Odd Girl and coloured her up with ProMarkers to match my papers from My Minds Eye. Judith liked earthy green colours, so that's the palette I tried my best to stick to.

I created the sentiment using an alpha set from Lawn Fawn, I spelled the name out using some Cosmo Cricket alpha stickers and the circle sentiment is from Lili of the Valley.

Some delicious trim and ribbon from the Ribbon Girl, and a mixture of flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Petal Lu finish off the embellishments.

I'm trying to keep these blog posts relatively short and sweet this week so I can cram more in! :)

Thanks for stopping by. xo

Shiney Sparkles at LLLC!

It's time for some more Friday inspiration over at La La Land Crafts today.

Our lovely Debbie has chosen

SPARKLES AND BLING

This post coincides with my big sisters birthday, and this card just happens to have been made for her. Am I kind? Mhm!!

I've used the adorable Travel Marci, as my sister is always off on holiday or wishing she was off on holiday!!  Her favourite colour, ever, is ORANGE - so that features big on my card. I've coloured Marci with the usual ProMarkers (colours are listed on the LLLC Blog) to match papers from PaperMania and ribbon from The Ribbon Girl.

For the sparkle and bling I added a heap of Stickles and Liquid pearls which I seem to be using a lot of on my projects lately. This time round I used Pumpkin Stickles and Canaloupe? LP!!

Thanks for stopping by. Out. xo

For Keeps

What a day it's been. Sun, snow, and a little bit of a gale force wind. Crazy.

Although it is FRIDAY! So I couldn't care less what the weather wants to do with itself as I'm now off for two days. Monday morning will come around like a bat out of hell, but I'm trying not to think of that right now.

So, I've been having Some Odd Girl withdrawls, and then I remembered I've had Pixie coloured up for aaaaages and she's been waiting patiently to have her time. 

I decided to join in the SKETCH CHALLENGE over at the Some Odd Girl Blog!

Naturally I went with a red and turquoise colour scheme. Heh.

I added a bunch of Wild Orchid Craft goodness. The Ribbon Girl twill stripe ribbon and navy twine as well as a GORGEOUS flower from a page I recently came across of FB. Search for PETAL LU. Amazing handmade (from start to finish) paper flowers.

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:

- Some Odd Girl - April Sketch Challenge

- Alphabet Challenges - F for Fantasy

- Die Cuttin Divas - Flowers

Thank you for stopping by. I'm off to do a little bit of colouring before I tryyy and have an early night! :) xo

Car Crazy

Here's another commission I received for the beginning of this month, for a car crazy boy. As soon as my friend gave me the order I knew what image I wanted to get my hands on for it!!

I only own two Kenny K images, and they're both rubber, and both girls - I often browse the digi store, but can never justify buying any of the images. Well I didn't have to wait any longer! ;)

This is Need for Speed!! How cool is he?! Very. *grins* I've coloured him using ProMarkers and FlexMarkers to meet hair and eye colour specifications and coloured the rest to match my papers from Ech Park.

Can I just take a moment to point out that.. there.. is.. NO STAMPING on this card. I know. Am I going crazy?! Perhaps. HAH! It consists of my digi stamp, and bunch of letter/ number stickers and a couplea rub-ons.

My cardbase is some yummy Wild Wasabi from SU! I've used a Real Red SU! marker to add some dashed lines around my image panel and along the edges of my patterned paper. I've also used a few SU! punches to create some embellishment areas where I've added the sentiment. Some colourful brads to match from my stash and that was that! :)

That's all from me for now. I'm tryna get ahead and share a few projects which I've been working on but haven't had the time to blog over the past month or so. Stand by! ;) xo

They say it's your Birthday..

It's safe for this project to go 'live' now - as it's the recepients birthday! My Uncle! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Before I start my usual waffle, I just want to say a MAHOOOSIVE THANK YOU to all of you lovelies who've stopped by my blog these past couple days to leave comments on my TGF RELEASE posts. If you missed any of them, you can spy them HERE and HERE. Don't forget about our BLOG HOP TOMORROW!

This is a card using the awesome Saturday from The Greeting Farm. I love his hair!! I decided to add red tips, just for something a little different. Not 100% happy with how this turned out, but it was the first time I've coloured him up, so be gentle with me!

I stamped a sentiment from a Hero Arts set, along with those little music notes around the bottom of my image in ink from SU! I added a few customary banners behind the image, some alpha stickers from Cosmo Cricket and a little sprinkling of bling. I sure hope my uncle likes it! :)

Thanks for stopping by today. xo

Monochrome Splashhh

Hey guys! It's another SMASH* page from me today. I'm sooo getting into it! So much so that I've started on my second book. It's my Black Mod book.. and it's gonna be much like my Green Eco - full of stuff that make's me happy. So naturally.. it had to have something to do with STAMPING in there. First in line were my much unloved Simply Sassy stamps! 

This fits with the new challenge over at Passion for ProMarkers perfectly. A challenge set by yours truly! ;) Heehee.

MONOCHROME IMAGE, WITH UNUSUAL HAIR COLOUR

Easy, PEASY! I know you guys will have a ball, breaking out of the mold, and perhaps trying a few new colour combos!! The ususual run of the mill hair colours can get boring after a while! ;)

This week we're sponsored by Joanna Sheen. The lucky winner will receive a £10 voucher. 

So here's my offering.

This is the gorgeous Strike a Pose from Simply Sassy. I can't seem to find a link over at Funky Kits. I think it's got to the point now, when the Simply Sassys sell out.. they're not getting restocked!! Get yours while you can and ger your collection complete!!

She is gorgeous, is she not?! So freakin' SASSY!! She's been coloured using ProMarkers. Obviously her hair had to be BLUE. I've used a combo of Cool Aqua, Duck Egg, Island Lagoon, Marine, Petrol Blue. I've also added some splashes of orange to other parts of the image. Turquoise and orange have gotta be my long term fave combo! ;)

Here's the whole page. You can only see half of the title as it extends over both of the pages. It's something like.. 'Everybody loves stamping, right'

A few scraps of paper from MME, some swap flowers, a delish SU! brad. All that good stuff! :) I'ma write my top 10 Sassy's on that little note as well as writing some fun stuff on the little tags. Can't wait to start filling this page up.

The SMASH* books are perfect for keeping those image you colour that you don't wanna give away! LOL. Selfish, I know - but they help me grow as a person! :P

I'd like to enter this page into these challenges:

- Charisma Cardz - Monochrome

- Crop Stop - Flowers, dots and bling

Please stop by the Passion for ProMarkers blog and drool overt the teams amazing creations! Seriously. Woah!!

xo

SMASH* on Saturday

Guess who's back - back again. ;)

The title gives it away. If you stopped by yesterday, you'll know that I've got a little SMASH* page with my purrdy cat to share with ya!! So here it is..

Just a heap load of randomness. I literally have no idea where half the stuff has come from, I just pulled red and green stuff from my little SMASH* tote, because  those were the colours I was feeling at the time. Perhaps that little Christmas fairy was niggling at the very back of my brain. Someone, please tell me I'm not alone in the 'running late with Christmas' creations. Please. LOL!

I do know that that button flower set up is from Sassafras. Only reason I know that.. is because I've been hoarding it like mad.. like since I even took up crafting a couple years ago. I don't think they make them any more! :( 

Thickers.. and.. Dear Lizzie alpha stickers make up the title. I think. 

I'm not gonna waffle at you any more! :) Thanks for stopping by. Over and Out. xo

Red Riding Hood

Morning Bloggers. It's been pretty quiet around here lately, huh? Apart from my already scheduled posts, I haven't been around much at all. So I have a lot of catching up to do!! I can only apologise to every single one of you for being a poop friend and blogger of late. I honestly have no excuse.. apart from the fact I am constantly tired these days. I'll work at catching up over the rest of the week. I promise!

So.. if any of you are on FB, you may know that I am now part of the Angie Delarie Products DT! YEAHHH! ;) I was asked at the middle of last month, and I thought about it for a couple minutes and was like.. YEAHHH!! Have you SEEN her designs?! Totally unique and original, just what us crafters need right now me thinks.

So without further adu.. AUGUSTS RELEASE is RED RIDING HOOD.

CUTE?! CUTE!! I decided to use the Woodsman and that cute little Wolf. CUTE! I know!! LOL!

I wanted this 'couple' to feature on a SMASH* page.. so I decided to print out a few more pictures from my trip to Edinburgh Zoo and get them SMASH*ed into my Green Eco book. Wanna take a looksie?

Edinburgh Birds!! That little white tag inside the pocket on the main tag - confusing - just explains that I'm not a huge fan of zoo's or birds/ animals in cages.. but when they're protecting a species for future generations.. I guess I'm sorta okay with it. 

So that handsome Woodsman has been coloured using ProMarkers and FlexMarkers, as has his wolfie friend. I've fussy cut them both and attached them to my design using dimensionals. I've used some colours to match up with Echo Park - This and That collection. Gorgeous, manly yet soft colours! I LOVE that button eye. It gets me every time man. So freakin' quirky!!

While you're here..

Did you guys see the BRAND NEW Strawberry Whipettes release earlier last week?! Check out THIS LINK - which will take you to the Angie Delarie BLOG. 

Here is another SMASH* page I made using two cuties from this release.

Ahh, I can't wait to see what this talented lady has up her sleeve for us in months to come. Be sure to stop by my blog over the next week or so, there is gonna be lots of posts happening. I promise.

Woah, that's two promises I have made in one post - let's hope I stick to them!!

Lots of love. xo

Sketch Challenge at PfP

This is my second post for the day. If you're looking for some Tiddly Inks goodness click HERE. 

So I'm back again to share a card I made for my cousin who was.. 15? 16? last month. Anyway, he's a teenage boy, who I'm 100% sure isn't into pinks and flowers and glittery shstuff. So instead I used yellows, beiges and blues with some stars, alpha stickers, brads and distressing. Voila.

I've created this card using the SKETCH from the NEW CHALLENGE over at Passion for ProMarkers today. As soon as I seen it, I knew it'd be perfect for this card. Plus it was already open on my computer when I sat down to make it - fate? :) Mhm!

So I've used a stamp from My Guy Ian by The Greeting Farm - his hair and shirt kinda reminded me of how Kane looks. I've coloured him up using ProMarkers/ Flexmarkers and paper pieced his shirt. All of the papers are from My Minds Eye - Sunshine collection and I've distressed, inked and doodled the edges.

I've used the smallest polka dot patterned paper, in the world, ever, from the same collection to paper piece his shirt and shoes. Love how that looks! I've added a couple layers of Cool Grey 1 and 2 to the areas which needed shading. I think this helps to blend the paper piecing in with the image so it isn't so stark against the areas you've coloured. I hope you know what I mean. :)

I've tried to add a different sorta glow around this guy - I've used my usual Cool Aqua, Pastel Blue and Soft Aqua, but I've also added different sized dots using Mustard and Sky Blue while the ink was still wet. Kinda like it. It also helps to coordinate the image with the patterned papers more.

I've used a stamp from Some Odd Girl Birthday Mae to create the sentiment and die cut a bunch of stars with my Slice machine. Is it just me or do you gravitate towards stars when making boy/ male cards? Why the hell is that?! It sure does look good, I just wish I could bring a little more variety to the table for ya! LOL.

Yeahhh!! Be sure to head over to the Passion for ProMarkers blog and see what Team 2 have come up with using the very same sketch! :)

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges

- Kaboodle Doodle - A Boys Life

- Love to Create - Spots and Stripes
Make it Monday - Anything Goes
Cutie Pie Challenge - One for the Boys
Anyone for Anya - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Ice-cream and Cupcakes!!

Morning fellow colour-ees!! How's your week shaping up?! Guess what!! I was back at work yesterday.. and the sun was shining. All day long. While I was stuck at work. All day long. Typical. Today is my day off this week though, so I plan on using it wisely. Catching up with you guys, over on FB and with my emails. I think I have all of my DT work under control and all orders finished up and posted. Notice how I said *think* that means I'll probably remember some important deadline or something.. *touch wood* I'm top of stuffs though! :)

So.. guess what Tuesday brings over at Cartolinas?! Not only some Tiddly Inks goodness which you can scroll down to see.. but also a new challenge over at Passion for ProMarkers!! Yeahhh!! This week we want to see..

Icecream or Cupcakes!

Up for grabs is a £10 gift certificate for the lucky winner to spend over at Joanna Sheen!!

I won't lie, this was a super hard decision for me to make! LOL. I love them both.. but the cupcakes won out. I pulled out my Baker Mae stamp from Some Odd Girl and decided to make a SMASH* page.. about.. CAKE!!

Sorry for the quality of the picture. The weather was horrid when I took this photo on
Sunday afternoon - I'll try and update it when I can with a better one. Mae
is sure looking pasty! LOL.

Pretty self explanatory. "Did someone say cake?!" LOL! :) I looooove cake. The photos are just a few from various trips to different pubs and restaurants. I ALWAYS look at the pudding menu first. Yum.

I've used various embellishments. A homemade doodad, a gorgeous chunky button from Durham market, a doodlebug button and some brads, some die cuts, punches and some twine. I dabbed a few blobs of Willow ink from Adirondack.

I've recently printed a load of photos off, so I'm gonna get prepped to do some more SMASH*ing. I know it's sad.. but I love the feel of my book as it gets fuller and fuller. Flicking through the pages whilst the binding makes that squeeky sound. I just LOVE.

So.. head over to the Passion for ProMarkers Blog now and see what my teamies have come up with.. and whether they've chosen ice-cream or cupcakes.

I'd like to enter this page into these challenges:

Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Pile it On - Make your own Embellishments

Homemade doodad - to the right of the bottom picture

Let's Ink It Up - Favourite Embellishments

Thanks for stopping by. 

Poppies

Gahhh!! Today is the day!! I cannot WAIT. My brand new phone should be arriving anytime between 9:30 and 13:30. EXCITED does not even begin to cover it! :) I've decided to upgrade to the new Samsung Galaxy Note. I know.. I've heard all the jokes before.. it's a total beast. But I've already chosen his new name.. Neo. Neo the Note. I know. I'm such a child. But he's gonna be like my third arm, so me and him are gonna have to have a special relationship thing right from the get go. LOL! Look at me waffling on. Anywho. Considering I've had my old Blackberry bold for three years now, it's definitely time for a change. :) So with any luck he'll arrive before I head out to work, that's if I'm actually AT work today. Waiting for a text off my friend as I totally forgot to check the rota on Friday.

SO!! All being well and I'm OFF work, I'll be having a crafty day with some BRAND NEW images from companies I shall not mention.. and I'ma try and get ahead with my DT work.. although I'm not getting my hopes up. Knowing my luck I'll be at work at 2pm! :(

SO!! Today.. I thought I'd share a card I made about a month back using a gorgeous Hero Arts stamp. Are those poppies not the prettiest thing ever?! I've coloured the gorgeous red poppies using my ProMarkers and kept the image panel the whole length of the card at 5.5".

I didn't want to take anything away from the dramatic flowers, so I decided to create my sentiment on a vellum overlay. I used another Hero Arts stamp for the Happy Birthday - stamped in Staz-On ink. I then pieced 'Great Grandma' together using some black alpha stickers from Cosmo Cricket. To ground the vellum on the card I wrapped some red bakers twine around the right hand side.

Job done!!

Thank you for stopping by today and reading through my excited waffle! I'm sure you'll hear much more about Neo in the days to come! LOL. :)

D-A-D

Morning peoples! :) Thank you for stopping by this morning, I've got the first of my Father's Day cards to share with you. I think it's fair to say I had a total Some Odd Girl weekend, and I loved every minute of it! So there are no surprises for guessing this card is gonna feature some Some Odd Girl goodness! :)

So I was doing a spot of commenting and stuffs late Saturday evening and stumbled across the latest Sketch Saturday sketch, this one jumped out at me straight away, so I made a note of it and fancied using it on this card! So here it is..

Some of you might be thinking.. Lou.. that's a stamp from the freakin' Valentines release. Well, you're not wrong.. but tell me this doesn't work?! What boy doesn't love his dad?! Huh? Exactly! A DAD banner is perfect for Father's Day! 

So I coloured Lovey Tobie using ProMarkers and FlexMarkers. I then paper pieced his heart banner using papers from My Minds Eye - On the Bright Side TWO patterned paper, which I've also used on the rest of the card. I then added some Sassafras letter stickers to spell out Dad. They were originally a hemp kinda colour, so I went over them with my Meadow Green PM to help tie them into the rest of the card.

So I kept this card pretty clean, not too busy with regards to design or paper and the only embellishment being the three Doodlebug brads along the edge of the image panel. I've added some doodles with a Tangerine Tango marker from SU! and a sentiment I pieced together using Harold's ABC's from Lawn Fawn.

I've really been tryna improve my SOG colouring over the past few weeks with regards to.. like.. uhhh.. I'm no good with arty farty words.. but tryna make their faces look three dimensional. Not flat. You know. Adding some depth? to those big beautiful eyes of theirs. Some shadows under their chins and stuff. So, if I may.. I'd like to show you two more images I've been working on. Don't laugh. :/

Click on the image to make it larger.

 Ignore the middle image. That was a jumping off point. I'd love to hear your thoughts on these, and any ways you think I could improve. I made a card using Baker Mae for a card swap early last week and I tried out a different skin combo - I swapped out Rose Peach for Coral and she looked grubby - so I'ma have to work at switching up the colours for different looks. You'll see that card later on, if I even remembered to take a photo..

So. After all of that. I digress. 

I'd like to enter this Father's Day card into these challenges:

- Sketch Saturday - #211
- One Stitch at a Time - The Man in your Life

- Platypus Creek Digitals - One for the Boys

- Scrappy Frogs - Celebrate Men

- Sentimental Sundays - For a Special Guy

- The Crafty Pad - Let's Hear it for the Boys

So that's all from me for another day of June. Take it easy, and stop by tomorrow for another Passion for ProMarkers challenge!!