Time to hop for Purple Day!

UPDATE: The hop is now closed. Thank you everyone who took part in the hop. The winner of this part of the hop was Chandhini, Shartl. 

(Comment on this post and the others in the hop to  be in with a chance of winning 2 free digistamps from Dr.Digi's House of Stamps!)

Hi everyone! Very happy today to be taking part in the Purple Day Blog Hop! As a group of crafty friends we are joining in with the hop today to increase awareness of epilepsy and how it effects peoples lives.

Purple day is a worldwide event to dispel common myths and fears about this neurological disorder and to reduce social stigmas associated with it. If you want to make a difference scan through this bit of blurb that will let you know what to do if someone you know has a seizure!

Thanks for joining the hop today! 

I am very happy to be sponsored by Dr.Digi's House of Stamps  and I have used Dumb Bell Derek for my purple card! 

If you would like a chance to win two digistamps of your choice from the Dr.Digi's Shop you must comment on each of the team's hop posts including this one and I will pick a random winner from everyone who has commented on this blog. 

Here is the digi I used from the shop (there is a sale on at the moment, use code sale20 to get 20% off):

And here is my version (Close up!):

He is coloured with polychromo pencils and a touch of white posca pen!  The font I used is "Ink free". Background papers from the stash and Making Cards Magazine. Bling stars from Paperchase.

There is also a chance to win prizes from Digi Doodle Studios,  Kinda cute by Patricia Alvarez, Ike's Art and Knitty Kitty Digis (that's me!).

You have from 26th - 31st of March to hop around the blogs, here are the links you need - 

Annabel ---You are here/.

Darnell

Fikreta

Hetty

Janis

Ike

Kitty

Karen

Lori

Lisa

Mia

Olga

Vicki

Thanks for joining in today, it's appreciated by all of the team that you took the time to hop!  Good luck with those prizes!

Links to our sponsors below:

Colin the Barbarian

Good Morning! I hope this blog post finds you germ free and not too short of toilet roll? Hope a bit of Colin will make you feel more cheery this morning, or send you straight to the gym, oh dear!

This is Colin the Barbarian (digistamp) from Dr.Digi's House of Stamps and my fortnightly DT post!

And here is what the digi looks like:

And here is my version:

I like doing skin and it's just five pencils so not too difficult!  White base layer, venetian red in the shadow parts, blended with light skin colour. Then walnut brown in the darkest areas and medium skin in the pinkest areas blended with white. Then keep adding layers!

No posca pen on this occasion, seemed to be ok without! I like adding white highlights to my colourings but I felt I got a strong enough white from my pencils this time.

Fonts are Modius Frigid and Newsflash BB.

Fancy a bit of shopping? Why not pop to the Dr.Digi Shop and have a browse. If you scroll to the bottom of the front page you can often find some discounted digis! Top tip!

Masterpiece

Welcome back to the blog and another Dr.Digi friday! And I went a bit off-piste today and not only coloured on white card, but also made a digital background. I know, I must be sick;)

This is Pablo the Painter. He may produce works that are not entirely genuine. I don't think Picasso is going to worry too much about his copy of the Portrait of Dora Maar though!

(Click the picture for a larger & better view)

So I swiped some famous paintings from google image search and made a gallery background for Pablo. I superimposed Pablo to make sure I was colouring him and the floor the correct size.

Here is the digistamp as in the shop (there are two versions, the other has a blank canvas):

And here is my version:

Then I coloured just Pablo and the floor on plain white card using polychromo pencils. Afterwards I slowly and painfully cut it out. (lol!)

I then re-edged some of the black outline of the stamp so it didn't get so lost in the background.

Finally I matted and layered it onto black card and then a white 18x18cm card blank. I made a little sentiment banner using Mister Sirloin font and attached it over the floor. Was a bit grumpy about covering that much beautifully coloured woodwork though, lol!

Thanks for joining me today! Why not pop to the Dr.Digi shop and see what inspires your to be artistic?

Altenew Pansy Cards.

(Catchupmageddon Post) Very pleased to have an Altenew layering flower stamp set to play with! This Pretty Pansies Stamp Set was one of the few I had my eye on, it's proving hard to find the ones at the top of my list.  I chose a couple of layouts and made a simple 7 card set using all the more successful colour combos I tried with the stamps.

Most of the time I used distress oxides or inks with versafine black outlines. I also printed out some photos of real pansies to get some inspo for which colour schemes to try out. Background made using a stencil and distress oxides.

I spot other people get to use their washi tapes on their cards so I had a go too! I used a Hero Arts "messages with flourish" sentiment stamp for most of the "happy birthday" banners.

Some geometric papers from a magazine with a folded corner detail. I like how staples look but I don't think I ever get them quite right, lol! 

Some funky papers I have been saving for something "special" but that time never arrived, decided I needed to use them before they became old fashioned! lol. Sentiment was a freebie set from Making Cards Magazine, it stamps up really nicely.

I think these two came out the best, I really liked the colour schemes. I had a go at making my own background paper using the leaf from the Pretty Pansies set but only used a small piece of it in the end.

Added stickles to the centres of the flowers to make them a bit more special.

And just because it made a colourful photo I thought I would share one of the wrapped up gifts that I added a pansy card too.

Happy Crafty Birthday

Made a few new naughty purchases recently because I wanted to make some cards for my fellow crafters with a suitably crafty theme! I also had in a commission for a birthday card for a paper crafter and wanted to find a design they would find fun and interesting too.

So I used two new stamp sets, one is called "Crafty Turnabout Stamp Set" from Concord & 9th and the other is called "Craftiness is Happiness" from Taylored Expressions. I also used a new die called "Script Words 2" from Altenew.

Really love the idea of the Turnabout stamps, I tried it in lots of different colour ways (as the photos show). They sell lots of extra gadgets to get the stamping perfect and there are lots of videos on how to do it using a Misti stamping press. Honestly though, I just used square card stock and a basic stamping press and think I got pretty good results! I also used distress oxides so wasn't really after a sharp result.

After die cutting out the "happy" in black card I mounted it on a band across the design made of vellum and a thin white strip. (The "Happy" got a bit lost just on the vellum, though I think it would have been fine on a paler colour scheme).

In the same distress oxides I stamped out some of the Taylored Expression stamps to match up with the colours and act as my embellishments on the banner. I also added some bling from the stash.

I used "Impact Label" font for the additional sentiment and just printed out strips from the computer, then taped it onto my card.

Shopping enabling. 

(Not sponsored but I've had excellent service from both of the following shops and happily recommend both.)

• I got my Script die from Dies to Die for but it no longer seems to be in stock. (It was £11.50) You can get it from Seven Hills Crafts though (it's a bit more expensive). 
• I got my Concord and 9th Turnabout Stamp from Seven Hills Crafts because I couldn't catch it in stock at Dies to Die for. (It was £18 at both shops.)
• I got my Taylored Expressions Craftiness is Happiness stamp set from Dies to Die for but it's now out of stock. (£12) I don't think Seven Hills sells it. They do sell a large selection of other craft related stamps though it you fancy a look? Here.

Celebrating off cuts!

Had a few nice brusho off-cuts that I didn't want to just chuck and thought it would be fun to make them into a quick birthday card. 

I also had some ye olde metallic word stickers that I have never managed to use (for years!) so thought I would combo some ancient stash items too. (They look black above but you can see they are gold below).

The bling (arrows) were another prehistoric craft items that I loved and thought would be really useful but have never found anything suitable to do with yet!

Baby Shower!

Love this super cute stamp set from Mama Elephant - Fly with me!

I was trying to make a pink and blue pastel baby shower card but all the colours came out much stronger than intended, lol!

I created a background with distress oxides and then made my own raindrop stencil and added texture with some glittery paste.

I coloured the stamps with copics and cut them out. I believe this stamp set has a matching set of dies tho, if you are tempted? I attached them to the card with 3D foam.

I added some diecut clouds (from Joy, might be my most used die set?) and a piece of vellum with my text on. Font is Breamcatcher. I buy printable vellum especially for this, now I know it exists! I have been wondering why I can't print on normal vellum for years, doh! :D

A post from the udder side.

(A little break from Catchupmageddon.) Happy Friday Folks! Back with some Dr.Digi DT action and another Cuddly Critter - Cow!

Yes, I went Friesian! But doing black and white critters has got to be my hardest combo, it's so easy to drag the black back into the white and get weird lines of spots! 

Here is the digi when you download it:

And here is my version coloured in Polychromo pencils: 

I thought I would add her in a few croci-cups (could be a crocus, could be a buttercup, who knows!) to give her a touch of scenery.

Background paper from the stash, bling is Shimelle and font is Scooby Doo.

For info you can get a more instant Cow if you fancy it? This Cuddly Critter Cow also comes in an awesome pre-coloured version.  Also, she comes as part of an amazing money saving Critter Set too!

Thanks for joining me today, hope to see you in the Dr.Digi's facebook group soon!