Thursday, 25 August 2016

Morpheus by Sheepski Designs

Hello there again!

I'm honoured to work on another Sheepski Design digi stamp this week, this time it's Morpheus. He is such a cutie in his flower, I'm sure you'll agree!



I've been experimenting with different mediums this week and so for the main image I printed him out on Neenah Crest cardstock and then used my new MozArt brush pen set to lay down the first colours. Once this was dry, I used my Polychromos pencils to add dimension and shading. I then added Wink of Stella in Gold on the flower and Spectrum Noir Glitter pen in green on the stem.

The background to my art journal page comprises of two patterned digi papers from Lozzy's designs over at Paper Lozzy. These particular papers can be found on her blog under freebie papers. Once I had printed off the digi papers, I ripped them and adhered them to my page with matte medium. Once they were dry, I added Liquitex Heavy Gesso in white and Liquitex glass beads gel. This added some glimmer and dimension. Once this layer was dry, I added some visual interest with some stamps from my stash. I coloured the centres of the flowers that I printed in Stazon ink in black with my MozArt brush pens. I added some bling from my stash in the centre of the flowers.

I had the 'dream' wording in my stash and I added some Distress Crayon to the edge to distress it a little, and did the same around the page where the papers end. I fussy cut Morpheus out and stuck him down then placed the wording underneath.

I'm entering my art journal page into the following challenges:


I hope you enjoyed my latest make, thanks for stopping by!

Michelle xxxx

A list of things used in this project:

Daler and Rowney Mixed Media Journal
MozArt brush markers (pack of 12). yellow, orange, brown, and both greens.
Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils.
Ranger Matt Medium
Liquitex White Heavy Gesso
Liquitex Glass Bead Gel
small decopage scissors
Caran Dache blending pencil
Wink of Stella - Gold
Spectrum Noir glitter pen - Green
Items from my stash





Sunday, 21 August 2016

Left of Center #144

Hi there! Where's our beautiful sunshine gone? I do hope that that's not it now for the year and we are going straight in to Autumn so soon. Fingers crossed we get more sunshine, certainly before the kids got back to school early September.

For this week's Left of Center Challenge #144 we are lucky to have Sheepski Designs sponsor us. I chose Aisling and she came with Flutterby.
I created the background using a mixture of papers from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Lost and Found as well as Dark Grunge from Paper Lozzy and some inky background experiments I'd been doing. I ripped these papers up and layered them up on the background to add a bit of visual interest behind the main focal point. I inked the edges of the papers before sticking them on the Kraft card base.


Aisling and the butterflies were coloured with Polychromos pencils. I decided to stick with purple and blue tones throughout to keep it simple and cohesive. I'm particularly happy with how her hair came out  - it's one of the hardest parts for me to get right and I'm starting to grasp it much better I feel. I enjoyed sculpting her face and upper body to show shadow and define bone structure.

Once I'd finished colouring, I fussy cut them all out and created the focal point I wanted. I first inked the edges to enable them to sit well on the background with minimal white showing. I used Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Wax on her wings and the butterflies. I added some gems from my stash on the larger blue butterfly and on Aisling's wings.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my make for this weeks' challenge. Don't forget, Sheepski Designs are sponsoring us this week for  #144 - Friendship - you don't have to use a Sheepski Design digi to enter, all we ask is that you keep to the theme or go LOC (read challenge rules if uncertain what this means).

I will be entering this card into the following challenges:
Worldwide Open DT - #13 AG
Try Stampin' on Tuesday - #284 Paper Tearing/Sketch
Through the Purple Haze - #106 AG
SLS Lines - #23 Man vs Woman
Oddball Art Stamps - For you Blue (use blue)
Hannah and Friends - #255 Lieblingsfarbkombi
Dream in Darkness - August Make it Crafty
Doodle Pantry - #20 Ants in my Pantry Digital AG
Dark n Daring -  #04 AG
Craft Rocket Challenges - #22 Things with Wings Top 3
Crafty Friends - #38 AG
Crafting by Designs - August Anything Goes 
Crafts Galore Encore - August Use a Digi or Stamp 
Classic DT Open Challenge - #05 AG
Catch the Bug -  August BINGO
Cardz 4 Galz - #29 Dragonflies or Butterflies
A Bit More Time to Craft - #26 AG
Addicted to Stamps - #207 Make Your Mark 
A Gem of a Challenge - #176 Summer Fun 
Alphabet Challenge - M for Mythical
Artbymiran - #65 AG 
 
 


Thanks for joining me and see you soon!


Michelle xxx


Monday, 15 August 2016

Fantasy Crafters #2

Time is shooting by and here we are again with our second challenge over at Fantasy Crafters.

Our sponsor for this month is Crafts and Me and the prize is £10 voucher to spend at the store.
I chose Steampunk Odyssey as adore anything Steampunk and thought she was a very sassy lady - just my thing!!

I coloured her with my Promarkers and a silver gel pen for her wings, dagger, buckles and the owl's eyes. Instead of fussy cutting her out like I normally do, I decided to use my Ranger Distress Crayons and add a smudgy background in brown and cream. I added the crayon and then smudged it along the edge with my finger. I did the same with a grey crayon on the purple card base. I used a piece of Cor'dinations cardstock from the Chocolate Box paper stack with deep brown on one side and purple on the other and ripped the edges so the purple would show and distressed the corners. I placed this first on the card base offset at an angle, then used a purple doily which I added just sticking out from beneath the image. To finish off the card I added three steampunk cogs from Jac's store Things to Alter.

I shall be entering this into the following challenges:
Classic DT Open Challenge - #05 AG
Dark n Daring - #04 AG  Top 3
Worldwide Open DT - #13 AG

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget to join us at Fantasy Crafters for this month's challenge - AG as long as Fantasy.

Michelle xxx

Left of Center #142

It's always a little manic over summer holidays. Much as I love having my son home and spending time with him (when he can prise himself away from Skyping his friends, or chatting to them on Whatsapp or watching You Tube videos), it's hard to get sorted with my normal crafting and blogging routine - everything seems to have flown out the window past couple weeks - sorry for my delay in getting things up.


 I chose Pansy Girl from our sponsor Aurora Wings for my DT project for Hip to be Square.
I chose this image firstly because of my love of pansies but also because the image was an almost square shape so fitted with the theme. I started out by printing on Neenah Classic Crest cardstock and colouring with my Polychromos pencils. I then fussy cut her out and put her to one side whilst I worked on the card base and background.
 -
The base needed to be square so I found a pale blue square card base and matching envelope in my stash and layered it with a piece of paper I had inked and sprayed earlier in blues and pale lilac and left to dry overnight. This was cut to fit and placed on the card first. I then selected some paper with diamonds on it from my stash and cut that into a smaller square and offset it on top of the first. The final piece was from the same stash with tiny purple flowers similar to pansies on it, so this was cut smaller still and glued offset the opposite way to the second. I then glued the image in place on top. I added some clear and coloured dots, drops and crystals over the pansies and in the Pansy Girl's ears and added a butterfly embellishment to finish.

I hope you enjoyed the challenge last week - don't forget to join in challenge #143 - Bubbles over at Left of Center Creative Challenges.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Aurora Wings - #34 Theatrical

Thanks for stopping by.

Michelle xxx

Friday, 5 August 2016

I'm late, I'm late!! Oh my hairs and whiskers!

Hi there - it's been a rather emotional and manic couple of weeks, and as such I'm a little behind on my blogging.

We have another fantastic challenge that started on 25th July over at A Inky Mess, and our sponsor for this month is the amazing Oddball Art Co Stamps!


For my DT inspirational project I chose Big Eyed Clown Girl, she's very cute, I hope you agree.


I used my Prismacolour pencils to colour the cute image in, and added some white gel pen streaks to her hair to give some highlights. I then fussy cut her out. The backing papers are a mix of Tim Holts Idea-ology Lost and Found and Bo Bunny Carnival. These were ripped and layered up onto a Kraft card base after inking the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I applied gesso with an old credit card over the top to take back the background a little so the cute clown girl would be the focal point. I affixed the girl to the foreground, and added some embellishments including some washi tape from my stash and a few little pieces I had hanging around. It needed something else....so I added a cute royal blue bow to the balloon strings. I added a quote I cut out from my stash to finish it off.

Please do go on over to our second challenge at A Inky Mess - we would love to see your makes, as long as mixed media. You'll be in with a chance of winning digis from our sponsor and/or a place in our top 3 of the month. Please do remember to link back to the actual challenge though, not just the blog, as we cannot accept entries that aren't linked properly.

I shall see you soon with my next DT piece and some craft swaps I've been working on.

I wish to enter this card into the following challenges:
Worldwide Open DT - #13 AG
Dark n Daring - #04 AG
Dream in Darkness - August Make it Crafty 
Classic DT Open Challenge - #05 AG

Thanks for stopping by!

Michelle xxx