Snowflakes, Floral Vines and Flourishes

These  new gorgeous pearl embelishments have just arrived on our website!

You can see them here

We also have some new flower charms see these here

Truly Scrumptious - Hidden Message

As soon as I saw the challenge over at Truly Scrumptious this week I have been itching to have a go

There is a fab sketch to follow with a twist..........the sketch has a hidden tag where you put a message

So here is my entry

I have used 'Football Miki' and coloured him with ProMarkers

I tried something different today by making my own buttons from a Football stamp a few layers of card and 'Glossy Accents'.

I saw this done on a tutorial you can see it here......and I instantly fell in love with the idea

I just love how they turned out and will definately be making more in all sorts of colour shapes and sizes lol!

Stamp 'Football Miki' - Pink Gem Designs

Sentiment Stamp 'I Love Football' - Pink Gem Designs

Sentiment Stamp 'With Love' - Pink Gem Designs

Memeto Ink - Tuxedo Black - Pink Gem Designs

Letraset ProMarkers - Pink Gem Designs

Nestabilities - Labels 10 - Pink Gem Designs

DP - Pink Petticoat

Cuttlebug - Star Embossing Folder

Card Blank - Craftwork Cards

Weathered wood - Distress Ink

Dew Drops

Papermania Tag Stamp

Chloe Meets 4 challenges

I am entering my card for 4 challenges

Passion for ProMarkers - sketch & make your own flowers

Papertake Weekly - Something Different

A Spoon Full of Sugar - 3D Something

Secret Crafter - Distressing

As you can see I have made a card from the image I coloured in my ProMarker colouring tutorial she is called 'Sitting Chloe'

I have been playing with my 'New Sprout' Memento ink....love it!

I have inked the edges of the papers and used a little flower stamp I found in the bottom of my stamp box and stamped it here and there

The image and sentiment have been stamped in Memento 'Rich Cocoa'....I love the softness of this brown ink!

Stamp 'Sitting Chloe' - Pink Gem Designs

Sentiment Stamp 'With Love' - Pink Gem Designs

Memento 'Rich Cocoa' - Pink Gem Designs

Memento - 'New Sprout' - Pink Gem Designs

Letraset ProMarkers - Pink Gem Designs

Nestabilities - Pink Gem Designs

Stick on Pearls - Pink Gem Designs

Card blank - Craft work Cards

DP a mix of Pink Petticoat and Sweet Shoppe Designs (Zoe Pearn)

Martha Sttewart Punch - Frond Branch

EK Success Retro Flower Punch

Woodware Small Flower Punch

Can't Upload Photo's - Help!

I have spent all morning making a card but I am getting so frustrated as I can't upload the photo's!

They are on my desktop but when I try to upload photos instead of me being able to access my computer files it says

Add Images

From This blog

From Picasso Web albums

From A URL

There is not an option to upload from my computer

Am I missing something? It was perfectly normal yesterday

I am not very good with computers.....help please lol!!

ProMarker Tutorial - Clothing

Today I am going to show you how I colour Chloe's clothing with ProMarkers

You can see how I coloured her Skin here and also her hair here

For her dungarees I am using

Pastel Blue C719

Powder Blue B129

Denim Blue C917

As I have said before work on one section of the image at a time as the inks 'blend' better when they are wet

Work in small circular motions as you add the colour

Firstly I coloured this section of Chloe's Dungarees with Pastel Blue.......I then added Powder Blue where I think the shadow would be.......I then blended it with Pastel Blue by dragging out the colour (circular motion)

You may chose to stick with two colours for your shading which is usualy enough.......but sometimes I add a third colour.......especially with Jeans!

I have added a touch of  Denim Blue where I think the darkest shadow would be.........

..........I then blend it out first with the Powder Blue and then with the Pastel Blue. It's just a case of blending and softening the look where the different shades meet

I then start to work on one of Chloe's legs by colouring it with the lightest pen Pastel Blue

Bulding up the colour.......

..........and blending

I colour the other leg in the same way

Next I am going to colour Chloe's top using

Pastel Pink R738

Cocktail Pink R438

You may have colours which are closer in shade but because I have just started to build my collection I have to use what I have got

First I colour a sleeve with Pastel Pink

I add Cocktail Pink again where I think the shadows would be and blend it again in a circular motion

I colour the rest of Chloe's top in the same way...........

......and the rest of the image

To finish off I go around the image with

Cool Grey 1 NG08

This softens the look and puts a nice shadow effect around Chloe

If you wish you can add hightlights with a white Gel pen

Well thats the third and final part  of my colouring tutorial!

I hope it may help you with your colouring

Remember practice makes perfect and everyone finds their own way of doing things in the end.......

.......but most of all have fun!

Knitting Cow & Daisy

Two of our all time favorite funky animals........ Knitting Cow and Daisy are now available as digi stamps

See them and our other digi stamps here

ProMarker Tutorial - Hair

Today I will show you how I colour Chloe's hair

You can see here how I coloured her skin

I am going to colour Chloe's hair brown and as I only own 3 shades of brown these will be the shades I will be using

If you already have a large collection of ProMarkers then you will have a good selection to choose from. Just remember to use two or three shades which are similar but darker than each other

I am using

Tan O528

Cinnamon O427

Shale R215

Work one section at a time as the ProMarkers blend better when the ink is wet

First I add the lightest colour Tan to the front section of Chloe's hair

I then add Cinnamon to where I think the shadows would be and the hair would be darkest

I use the lighter pen Tan again and in circular motion go over the Cinnamon and drag out the colour so it 'blends'

I add Shale the darkest pen to where I think the very darkest shades of the hair would be

I  go over the Shale with Cinnamon and drag the colour out in a circular motion

I go over both darker colours with the lightest pen Tan and drag out the Cinnamon colour into the Tan so it 'blends' nice and smooth

I then work on the left side of Cloe's hair by firstly adding Tan and then Cinnamon in the darkest areas and 'blend' in like before

I then add the darker pen Shale to the darkest of the shadowy areas.......

.......and use the pens to 'blend' again

As you can see I continued the same process on the right side of Chloe's hair

I will be back another day to show you how to colour Chloe's clothes and finish off the image

ProMarker Tutorial - Skin

There are no hard and fast rules to this as each individual may like to use different shades.

Basically use 2 or 3 shades similar to each other for the skin and another colour for the cheeks.

I like to use 3 shades for the skin which are

Ivory Y418

Blush O729

Oatmeal O628

Cheeks

Pastel Pink R738

I have stamped 'Sitting Chloe' on to smooth white card using Memento Ink 'Rich Cocoa'

If you use a dark brown ink rather than black your image will appear much softer

First I take the Ivory pen and colour the face leaving the middle clear where the light would be shining

I work in small circular motions rather than using strokes

Next I take the Blush pen and colour around the edges

I take the Ivory pen again and go over the blush working in small circular motions and dragging out the darker colour so that it 'blends'

I use darker Oatmeal around the very edges of the face as this is where the face would be darkest

I take the Blush pen again and go over the Oatmeal to drag out the colour

I then blend out the edge of the Blush again with the Ivory to soften the look

I add cheeks with the Pastel Pink.....don't worry if your image looks like 'Rag Dolly Anna' at this stage as the cheeks will be blended in

Blend in the edges of the cheeks with the Ivory pen so they don't look so harsh

Build up the skin on the hands in the same way as the face

I have coloured them first with the Ivory pen........

...........then added the other two colours where there would be less light and blended them together as before

If you are new to ProMarkers and are planning to build a collection then I recommend you get the sets 'Skin Tones' & 'Skin Accents'  I have used pens from both sets in my tutorial

I wll be back to show you how to colour Chloe's hair and clothes another day

Right now I am going out to sit in the garden as it's a lovely sunny day!

I hope you have found my tutorial useful....please leave a comment if you have!