blue skies and broken dreams

I think balloons floating away in the sky are one of the saddest things in the world, it almost certainly means a child has lost their toy (I also think dropped ice-cream cones are incredibly sad too), so this card is bitter sweet for me.

I tried Kristina's gapped panel technique from Online Card Classes Day 2 of Clean & Simple 4, but I'm not too keen on the card I've made, it would probably would have looked better without the gaps. I was disappointed in my version because Kristina's looked so pretty (but she is the pro :)...)

I will say thought that I'm quite chuffed with my inking because it really isn't me and I don't even own any distress inks, this is done with old KI inks.

Lawn Fawn scattered showers and stitched hillside border dies

Lawn Fawn hello sunshine stamps

I love you as much as an elephant

My parents were big into arts and crafts and the whole 'self sufficiency' thing of the 70's, their home is littered with pictures, furniture, and soft furnishings all made in the 70s, I even remember painting thimbles as a child.

One of their endeavours were those pictures made with thread and pins in a board. My dad loved the geometrical shapes and I was fascinated how you could make a curve out of a straight line, when I was 7 or 8 my dad explained my first taste of calculus, about approximating a curve to lots of bits of straight line. Now when I teach calculus to the chemists at university (they need it for all sorts of things, very useful is calculus :P) I always think of those string pictures. I've even been thinking of making one for my office.

Now Jennifer's inspiration for adding texture on Day 4 of the Online Card Classes Clean & Simple 4 was using thread and sewing, and I knew instantly that I wanted to emulate some of the characteristics of those string pictures.

not the smoothest piece of shading

Day 4 of Online Card Classes Clean & Simple 4 was all about different ways of adding texture to your clean and simple cards. Yana shared a very pretty card using faux embossing using die cuts of the same colour as the background.

I've been thinking of variants on this card for a while so it seemed perfect to add the texture and share today.

My colouring isn't very smooth particularly between the the green and yellow, and I felt I could do this much better with the bullet nibs of promarkers, but the fine detail of the shape was difficult to work with too much as it is quite fragile, I'll have another go when I have more time.

inspired by...

So I'm taking the @onlinecardclasses Clean & Simple 4 but despite all my stuff much of what they have been showing I don't have the means to do, but I was inspired by day 2 which should have been about die cutting to make this...

using about every colour ink I have and Lawn Fawn Daphne's blossoms stamps, you can probably see where the inspiration came from but the card is nothing like it should be :(

covering up the grey

Playing catch up with my copics for carmakers class, and who doesn't wish they had pink hair. One of my regrets in life is when I was a student I never dyed my hair a crazy colour, to this day I'd love pink tips on my hair, or maybe blue. So I suppose this pink colouring was cathartic. I have no explanation for the green skin other than some latent rememberings of either star trek or wicked.

only shades of grey (and other colours)

I'm falling behind slightly in class, what with being so busy in work these last few weeks, but if I can grab 5 minutes of colouring every so often I do, so I was trying day 3 techniques of mixing things with grey on two colours that I find difficult to blend.

Mr Foxy is coloured with terracotta then shaded with either grey squirrel or warm grey 3, the second image isn't quite done, he needs smoothing over, but I left it last night as I ran out of time. The first image is too uniform...

Mr Dog uses the same two greys, but this time the base colour was sleigh bell, I need to add a bit more depth to his tail but he worked out ok. I also got a bit adventurous colouring in the white of his muzzle.

I have to say these lawn fawn images are wonderful, despite owning lots of sets I don't own either of these... yet!

- F

do or do not, there is no try

So in class today we were being taught techniques on how to blend two different colours together, and were shown various techniques. So I continue to colour the flip flops and have to say how disappointed I am with some of my results. I think the difference between copics and promarkers/flexmarkers is now evident.

I started off with my first flip flop colouring with two flex markers, one pale blue the other pink, attempting the tip to tip technique. The colours easily muddied and despite carefully colouring within the lines the colour started to bleed outwith the border. I had more success with latter attempts where I used a mix of promarkers and flexmarkers but the feathering technique doesn't work well with bullet nibs and the colour took a lot of working (in small circles) in order to get the blend, its ok, but has perhaps convinced me a little more that there is a benefit to moving up to copics.

padawan of the copics

So despite not owning a single copic marker I'm taking the online card class copics for card making. I have my promarkers which have served me well, but I've been looking at copics for a few reasons...

principally I really like the brush nib of the flex markers, but flex markers come in a far more limited pallet, secondly copics are far more transparent with blending families and colour codes. My promarkers are in a lot of cases 5 years or more old and drying up, so as I think about replacing them I think about switching up.

This class gives me the opportunity to see copics in action, but also to learn stuff which is relevant for my current crafting supplies.



Unfortunately I didn't plan well enough to have enough Neenah to print all of the required sheets, so I have the first couple from the preview day, and about the last 6 pages from this weeks test page samples, but not the boxes or balloons I was supposed to be colouring in today, alas... so I tried to take some of todays techniques and apply them to the 'prep' sheet of flip flops. I've specifically used the  flick blending to white technique around the edge of the first two sets of flip flops, this has been done with the brush nibs of flex markers. Specifically I think I like Kelly's tip of leaving areas white and colouring in circles when using the bullet nibs of promarkers.

more birds on a wire

Made with week 3 colours for @onlinecardclasses #summercardcamp2

Doodlebug patterned papers from lots of different 6x6 pads
Lawn Fawn Home Sweet Home and Blue Skies stamps
American Crafts Tazzle tape
Glossy Accents

birds on a wire

Lawn Fawn birdies, ‘nuff said…

Echo Park summer days
Lawn Fawn stamps home sweet home and a birdie told me
Promarkers: gold, oasis, pumpkin, magenta
Neenah solar white card stock

another 10 minute card

A ten minute card for @onlinecardclasses challenge, I was nearly on time but my complete lack of plan meant I ran over by a minute

Patterned papers from Simple Stories sn@p and Studio Calico Abroad
Stamps & dies Lawn Fawn blue skies, hearts, a birdie told me
Promarkers oasis, pumpkin

10 minute card

@onlinecardclasses set the challenge of a 10 minute card, easy if you have a plan but I’m not going to confess how long it took to formulate the plan…

Glitter ribbon from American Crafts
Lawn Fawn hearts die
Neenah solar white cardstock
White Ranger enamel accents

ok, I admit it, I like this one

Should there be a tiny pink heart in the top right hand corner?

Lawn fawn home sweet home stamps & dies
Promarkers in canary, magenta, oasis, pumpkin

reach for the sky always makes me think of toy story

I wish the white space at the bottom was less big, nuff said!

Simple stories sn@p
Neenah solar white cardstock
Lawn fawn blue skies stamps & dies and bon voyage stamps
Promarkers in poppy
Studio calico wood veneer tiny stars

hello tweet birdie

Week1 @onlinecardclasses submission, not entirely sure how I ended up here given that I started with a sketch, ah well the colours work…

Neenah solar white card stock
Lawn Fawn stamps & dies ‘a birdie told me’ and ‘sunny skies’ and ‘blue skies’ dies
Promarkers in red, pumpkin, canary and oasis

primary colours

Made for @onlinecardclasses week 1 colour and sketch challenge, not much else to say really…

Studio Calico abroad
Echo Park Summer Days
Neenah solar white
Lawn Fawn stamps & dies blue skies & home sweet home
American Crafts glitter tape
Studio Calico tiny stars wood veneers
Promarkers in red, gold, pumpkin, cool aqua, lemon, chestnut

smile

Made for week 1 of the @onlinecardclasses summer card camp 2.

Echo Park Summer Days
American Crafts Tazzle tape
Lawn Fawn a birdie told me stamps and dies and heart dies
Doodlebug Designs bakers twine

same card, two colour ways

Still working on a couple of his&hers cards because I just don’t get time in the space of a one week class, but rumour has it that the next @onlinecardclass is 3 weeks long.

I visited my parents for the weekend and carried back my collection of coloured markers so I could make use of my new Lawn Fawn stamps and this is the first result… I think the complementary dies are just super cute with the little white boarder, and certainly a lot quicker than fussy cutting by hand.

Please don’t judge me over the use of comic sans, it is from a pack of rubons I got years ago.

Stamps and Dies: Lawn Fawn Blissful Botanicals

Rubons: unknown

Promarkers: Aubergine, Warm Grey 3, Petrol Blue, Lilac, Cool Aqua, Carmine, Bright Orang, Lime Green, canary, Duck Egg

more online card classes inspired cards

Patterned papers: Doodlebug Boys Only, Hello Spring

Bakers twine: Doodlebug

Chipboard: Pebbles

Buttons: American Crafts

Letterstickers: Doodlebug

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Blissful Botanicals

Promarkers: Leaf Green, China Blue, Powder Blue

online card classes his & hers

It’s day 1 at @onlinecardclass His & Hers, and I tried out the same sketch for a ‘his’, ‘hers’ and what I think to be ‘anyone’. There really isn’t a huge amount of deviation from the sketch, and I loved trying out my new @lawnfawn stamps. I’ve never really been much of a stamper so was pleased with my modest efforts. I have to say I’m loving that stripy paper from the Soho Garden collection. I haven’t had much time to think about my his and hers lists, so I’ll post that later.

Cardstock: Coredinations

Patterned papers: American Crafts Amy Tangerine Sketchbook, American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan, Doodlebug Boys Only, American Crafts Soho Garden

Embellishements: American Crafts glitter tape, Studio Calico wood veneers Take Note Birds

Stamps & Dies: Lawn Fawn - Good Fortune, Flying By

Promarkers: Lemon, Tulip Yellow, Cool Grey 2, Blender