Sparkle Sparkle

Well.... I don't really have much new to tell you....  I'm STILL here.... but I haven't seen any dwarves yet!

I did remember one thing that I heard on the radio that made me laugh I forgot to tell you!   When we went to see the penguins it was the coldest most miserable day I've ever known, such heavy rain - and the big black rain clouds that came with it - but on the way in the car I heard the funniest thing.

The weather reporter ran through the shipping forecast etc etc and then said "The risk of sun burn is low". 

SOME THINGS DON'T NEED TO BE SAID.

I can tell right now from looking out of the window at the grey rainy day that I need not worry that I didn't bring any factor 50 with me!!

Anyway rant over.

I have some photos for you - more interesting than the gutters this time! LOL

When I got back from a LONG day working yesterday I needed to do something to chill out so got my lovely favourite pens out - my Kuretake Art & Graphics, to do some colouring.  I didn't want to be up too late so just wanted to do something simple so I coloured this Christmas tree.  A lot of the Christmas cards that I have planned in my head are mostly white with white embossed backgrounds but I wanted a little bit of colour so made this tree mostly snowy.

(apologies for the poor picture quality my room is dark and dingy!!)

I have found the PERFECT solution for amazing snow!  Kuretake's clear Wink of Stella pen is just fab!!

You can't always see it very well in the photos but here is another photo of how much it really sparkles:

EVERYONE needs these Wink of Stella pens, especially the clear one as you can put it over anything and it looks like it's been glittered - without the mess and hassle of using glitter!  (It also doesn't come off on everything like glitter does!)

Here are some other images I coloured before I came away I coloured them with Copics but have added Wink of Stella to sparkle them up a bit.  (These are going to be made into cards when I get home!  At the mo I just have a box of images though!!)

For this magnolia stamp I used black Wink of Stella on her hair band and the clear on her wings.

Used the clear Wink of Stella on this little elf's hat and collar.

Used the clear Wink of Stella on both Magnolia and the Snowman's hats but couldn't get a v good pic of the sparkle!

Used the clear Wink of Stella on Magnolia's cuffs around her wrists and ankles and the gold Wink of Stella on the bells around her neck.

Another elf with sparkly white bits using the clear Wink of Stella.

Now on to my FAVOURITES!  I did colour these since I've been here and absolutely love them:

Look at all that *sparkle*!!!  I used the clear Wink of Stella on the snowman's body and one of the pinks on the coat, scarf and hat

For this one I used clear on the body again and silver on the coat, hat and scarf.

Gotta have a bit of sparkle to cheer you up when you're 8000 miles from home and can't get any fresh fruit & veg! :-)  My plans for the weekend include working most of Saturday and then hopefully be able to spend an hour playing with my Art & Graphics on Sunday! :-D  Can't wait!!! xxx



Crafty Boots ~ Challenge 2

Well... better late than never!! 

The second Crafty Boots challenge went live yesterday but I forgot to schedule my post and I was on a plane - I think I had actually stopped in the Ascension Island when the post went live but all I did there was sit in a pen (no jokes!) for two hours so couldn't do anything about it then!!

Our theme this week is 'Things with Wings' and I chose to use this cute fairy from Polka Doodles 'Magical Winter' CD.

I then stamped a sentiment from the Polka Doodles winter fun stamp set and used cosmic shimmer powder so the sentiment is all purple and shimmery.  (This does not photograph well!!)

I added gold and cream lace around the edges of the card.

I coloured the fairy with Copics and used Kuretake's Wink of Stella pens on her wings, hairbands, wand, buttons and the sleeves and edging of her dress.

Hope you like it and hope to see you all joining in over at Crafty Boots Challenges.

Will be back soon with tales of the Falklands I'm sure (don't get too excited! LOL) xxx

Sorry...

I know I haven't blogged for a while but have been crazy busy and haven't had time.  I'm also going to be working away for the next few weeks so other than cards I've made for the Crafty Boots Challenges there won't be much else for the next couple of weeks.  I will try and still blog though, to let you know what I find in the Falkland Islands and hopefully show you all some photos of penguins!!!!

I'll still be watching all of your blogs - even though Blogger hasn't been letting me comment this week!

Crafty Boots ~ Challenge 1 ~ Anything goes

Well it's finally here!! The launch of the first Crafty Boots Challenge.

We kept the theme for the first challenge nice and simple so 'Anything Goes'.  Hope you will all come and join in with our challenges.  As long as it is a new project and no backlinking you can enter as many different projects as you like and there is no limit to the number of other challenges you can combine your entry with!

Please check out all the projects my wonderful design team girls have made too!  

I decided to make some bunting for this challenge as it seems to be quite popular at the moment.  It took quite a while but I am pleased with how it turned out and it is now decorating my craft room!!

Here's some photos of each piece with a bit more details.  For each piece of the bunting I cut it using my Cricut Expression and then used Kuretake's Art & Graphic pens to colour them.  I scribbled 4 of the Art & Graphic pens onto a craft sheet, spritzed it in water and then laid the paper down in it.  I used the same 4 colours for every piece but each one turned out differently which I LOVE!

For the first piece I used a heart shaped piece of mirror which I bought in Wilkinsons.  I then stamped on to it using the Andy Skinner clear Stamps 'Let the Festivities begin', and a Stazon ink pad which are both available from Crafty Boots.

For the second piece, the letter was again cut on my Cricut Expression, I used alcohol inks to colour the 'C', cut the round shape using spellbinders nestabilities and then tied some purple and white bakers twine through the holes.

Again the letter was cut on the cricut expression, and this time coloured with a Kuretake's Art & Graphic pen.  I also cut out a large scalloped circle and included a portion of it here.  That has been cut out of  'Delight' paper by My Minds Eye, which is available from Crafty Boots.  The stamped image was also coloured with Kuretake's Art & Graphic pens, as well as their Wink of Stella pens.

For this piece the letter was again cut with the Cricut and coloured with the Art & Graphic pens.  I also stamped the hot air balloon image with Art & Graphic pens, and the bunting was also stamped using an Art & Graphic pen.

The letter 'f' was cut with the Cricut and coloured with Kuretake's gold calligraphy pen.  The stamped image was again coloured with Kuretake's Art & Graphic, and Wink of Stella pens.  I also used the gold calligraphy pen to stamp the crowns on to the background.

The letter was this time coloured with blue and silver alcohol inks.  The image again coloured with Art & Graphic and Wink of Stella pens.

This might be my favourite bit!  I coloured the image with Art & Graphic pens, and then stuck her to a piece of blue and white polka dot paper.  I then added small strips of acetate hanging over the top and stuck some silver flat backed gems to the strips to make it look like rain.  I also covered the 'y' with flat backed gems.

I again coloured the stamped image with Art & Graphic and Wink of Stella pens.  I added lots of clear doodle dewdrops (meant to look like snow... maybe!?).  I put pinflair glue all around the edges and dipped it in white glitter.

For this piece I used pink and pearl alcohol inks on the letter.  I coloured the stamped image with... you guessed it!  Art & Graphic and Wink of Stella pens.  I also used Kuretake's silver calligraphy pen to stamp mushrooms on the background.

For this piece I used Kuretake's white chalk pens to stamp snowflakes on the background.  I coloured the 'o' and the stamped image with Kuretake's Art & Graphic pens.  I then glittered the white parts of the tree to look like snow.  I added some red doodle dewdrops to the 'O' and some "snow" on the ground below the tree.

For this piece I coloured the stamped image and the 'O' with Kuretake's Art & Graphic pens and then wrote the phrase 'curiouser + curiouser' (from Alice & Wonderland for those of you wondering...) with Kuretake's orange calligraphy pen.

For this piece I used Kuretake's white chalk pen to stamp the chequerboard pattern on the background.  Coloured the image and the 't' with the Art & Graphic and Wink of Stella pens.

For this piece I used another portion of the scalloped circle from the 'Delight' paper available at Crafty Boots (it is double sided, this is the other side than before).

I coloured the image with Kuretake's Art & Graphic pens.  I coloured the 'S' and also some Icing Sugar coloured candi  (available from Crafty Boots) with an orange calligraphy pen from Kuretake.

Like the first piece, I stamped onto a heart shaped mirror again using Stazon and 'Magic Happens' clear stamps which again are both available at Crafty Boots.

Thankyou kitten

You'll be pleased to know that this is the last of the simple Lili of the Valley cards!! :)

This is the second version of this card as my puppy Alfie managed to get his teeth into the first one!!!

After colouring the image with promarkers and wink of stella pens I added 3 ribbons and a 'Thankyou' sentiment.

Check back at 10:00 to see my design team piece for the first Crafty Boots challenge!  Be sure to check out the challenge and also the rest of the design team's beautiful creations!! 

Bunny tea party

And... ANOTHER Lili of the Valley image!!  This time I added peel offs around the edge, some flowers, a doodle dewdrop, a sentiment and a piece of paper folded up...

Teddy with a sunflower

Can you see a pattern emerging with my cards recently?!  I made a lot of quick cards in August for the craft fair using images I coloured in Spain!  

This is another image from Lili of the Valley - aren't they cute!!!

Bunnies

Another simple card with another Lili of the Valley image which was coloured with Promarkers.

I added ribbon, a sentiment and a flower embellishment.

Love birds

I made this card using an image from a Polka Doodles CD (I can't remember which CD it was from, I printed LOADS of images off to take to Spain but can't remember which came from which CDs!). 

I added some little gems in the centres of the flowers in the backing paper and a sentiment to finish it off.