2021 Cat Hop Day 3

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED!  THANKS FOR ENTERING!

Hi Lovelies

So it's probably time I shared a project with you created specifically for the hop, right? 

This one uses a digital image by Ike's Art who has been sponsoring the Cat Hop for all 7 years!  Thank You Ike!

This year Janis will feature one of six images each day and today it's the Cheshire Cat.  I LOVE Alice in Wonderland so I was excited to work with it, although having not picked up a marker in probably a year I was very much out of practice.

I felt I couldn't get the colour blends I really wanted and that does come down to having more colours in my collection, but what really bothered me was my light source an shading.  Colouring stripes and getting that right is way harder than it looks!  In hindsight I would have used a greylead pencil and shaded an image as a guide as to where I wanted the shadows and highlights.

I pulled out what little I could find of the two Alice themed collections by Echo Park and did the best I could.  Of course I found the rest later after I was done. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Please don't forget to register with Janis and all the info and links you need can be found on Janis's MAIN HOP PAGE

Giveaway Info

Giveaway Rules

📌I Have TWO electronic gift cards to the crafty store of your choice (Value $20USD or approx equivalent in your currency)

 📌One prize will be a random draw and the second prize will go to someone who has entered the main blog hop (please let me know your project numbers if you would like to be considered.  You can wait til the blog hop is over (but before the close of the giveaway) to do this since the order changes sometimes.)

The second prize is traditionally TallCraftyDude's favourite project!

📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED, but costs lovingly covered by yours truly as a way to support the hard work Janis puts in every.single.year!

What Do You Have to Do?

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

If you have previously followed my socials then these are already counted for you!  (unfollowers will not be counted)
📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Sunday 7 November.   Please visit THIS SITE to calculate in your own timezone
📌 The winner will be drawn on Wednesday 10 November so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Wednesday 17 November, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out all together.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?

🐈 Follow this blog - 2 entries (in the left sidebar)

🐈 Subscribe to my YouTube Channel - 3 entries

🐈 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries

🐈 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry

🐈 Comment (once per day per person) on a project post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post. 

Day 1 Post

Day 2 Post

Day 3 Post

Day 5 Post

Day 6 Post  

Day 4 RW Post

Bonus Project 1 

Please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com

If you're entering the giveaway, comment below and tell me...Have you ever had a black cat?  What's the best thing about black cats?

 

* ⬅⬅⬅ Acronyms and strange terms in left sidebar!  

 

Love and stay safe,

Crazy Circles Gnome Card

Hi Lovelies!

This challenge is doing double duty for The Paper Girls Challenge 

and 

Arty Divas challenge.

The theme for TPG is circles and the image from sponsor Laurie Furnell was a cute gnome digi.

All I knew was that I wanted to stretch my Copic colouriing muscles again since I was feeling rusty and I felt the vibrancy would be perfect for a child.  Im not sure I like how pale the blue is on the gnome.  It bothers me a bit.  🤷 And let's not even discuss the beard! 🤦

What to do for the background, though?  If I used this project for TPG circles challenge I could pull out THIS bag of cats circles.  Recognize it?

It's from last year's Wonder Woman layout!  This one:

Since I printed the image out bigger than I expected, I went with a 5x7 card base.  The front ended up being 4.5 x 6.5 to allow for a contrasting mat.

I layered up some of the smaller circles and ran them through the sewing machine.  Using Permanent Glue Dots I adhered the back with all the thread to the stripey mat and I love using the same dots when using "fun foam".  I stick the adhesive side to the piece i'm popping up then it's easier to run Glue Dots all over the plain foam side.  They're far more reliable on foam than my dot roller I've discovered.

Lastly I die cut a fairly general sentiment which can be used for several occasions.

And I barely even made a dent in the baggie of circles!  I'm going to be reaching for them a lot, I think!

Hooray

Lastly I do encourage you to enter a paper project at one or both Arty Divas and The Paper Girls!

Love and crazy circles!

Arty Divas Challenge 23 DT Project

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 23 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

 

This week's sponsor is Lee Holland Art
Online Shop -  https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/leehollandart
Prize:

 

The image we were given to work with was a pre-coloured one, and usually these are not the easiest thing for me to work with, but the minute I saw that cute little dragon I knew I wanted a soft ethereal cloud background.  I used some cloud dies by Lawn Fawn which I cut using scrap cardstock so I could do a blended cloud background with Distress Oxide Ink

 

I used a different cloud die to cut three from vellum which I machine stitched down.  This meant relying on my trusty Glue Dots to make sure the card front stuck securely to the card base.  

I fussy cut the little dragon and the printed sentiment.  The dragon was mounted on foam for some dimension and some clear shiny sequins (stuck with Mini and Micro Glue Dots of course) finished it off.

 

This will make a great card for a little girl I think!

 

Dragon Wishes

 

That's all from me today!  It was nice to make one that was quick to put together for a change!

Love and quick cardmaking!

 

Arty Divas Design Team Project 10 March

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 17 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is Jan's Digi Stamps
Online Shop - https://www.janmahew.com
Prize:



I wasn't entirely sure what I'd make when I chose the coffee cup image...only that...coffee-all-the-things! 🤷🙈🤣

I also knew I didn't have a whole lot of energy and even less workspace for this project until Operation Study ➡ Studio is complete...or Stage 1 at least!  This is what I'm dealing with:

 

At least most of the new storage is here so I'm getting along with that as fast as Arthur* will allow.  Which isn't really that fast!

I found an unopened jar of Stampin' Up mixed beads (circa 2004 🙈) in my organizing and there was one container in earthy tones, so a shaker it would be.  I added a bit of Spiegelmon Scraps sequins in Black Magic and Midwestern Harvcst to lighten and brighten.

My cutting the frame for the shaker was less than ideal, (but I was working on the floor) so it was probably a bit more challenging to construct the shaker than it could have been.  At least once it came to adhering the little corrugated holder (which I concertina folded) and the leaf sequins from the Midwestern mix, I could get back to using Glue Dots instead of the red tape (which I hate only a little bit less than wet glue!)


The cold Autumn mornings here gave me inspiration for the colours and the shot window when a major coffee chain sells pumpkin spice something (which I've never tasted and the acronym always makes me think of PMSL 🤷🙈🤣)

I'll add it to a card at some point (probably to a fellow coffee addict enthusiast) and that being the case, only a snarky sentiment will suffice.  I wonder if it's co-incidence that my fellow coffee girls are as snarky as me? 🤔🤔🤔

Coffee Cup Shaker

Anyway please enter the challenge and if you want me, I'll be making another coffee!

*Acronyms and other oddities in left side bar

Love and perfect cremas, 

Arty Divas Design Team Project 25 February

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 16 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is LeAnn's World
Online Shop - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LeAnnsWorld101
Prize:



This challenge requited us to use pre-coloured images which is not something which comes easily to me.

I opted to use the baby in the critter onesie and my slightly snarky mood led me to make a baby card with a difference,  It's not for everyone, but most of my friends would get a giggle from it.

Just to make life interesting, my printer ran out of toner, so NotPinkCraftyHubster came to my rescue and printed at work for me.

The bear suit gave me the idea of a jungle print background, so when I went through my papers, I used the background from Shimelle's Field Trip collection and fussy cut the toucans and flowers from her Box of Crayons collection.

If you know me, you know hoe challenging it is to use birds on anything!  

 
I had the perfect sentiment from Hero Arts and then I sprinkled gokd mist, added my images on pop dots then Micro Glue Dots were perfect to add tiny black sequins (which like they might be navy.) to the flower centres.  

Welcome To The Jungle Baby Card

Another simple one for me. but I'm not unhappy with it!

Love and creative cardmaking

Arty Divas DT Project 28 Jan

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 14 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is Vectoria Designs
Vectoria's Etsy Shop - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/VectoriaDesigns
Prize: 

This challenge is a little bit different since our sponsor designs digital components for "junk journals.

I don't really do junk journaling or art journaling, but I DO love stationery and notebooks.  I always keep one in my bag or by my bed, so rather than use the individual elements to make a card, I decided ti try out the WRMK Book Binding Tool which I've had languishing in its packaging for over a year probably.


So a hand bound notebook it was to be.  I use them for writing down ideas, planning projects, drafting journaling for layouts or blog posts...you get the idea!

Firstly I opened each set of pages for the book and dialed down the colour to make the pages lighter to allow for writing.  After that I resized them to be exactly the same and to sit in exactly the same spot on the paper so when it went through the printer they would line up as close as possible.

 

I printed them on regular copy paper so piercing the holes for the binding wouldn't be too difficult.


I trimmed them down and cut a cover from some double sided patterned paper which co-ordinated with the colours, then proceeded to follow the instructions for the Saddle style binding which appeared to be the most straightforward.  I'm really pleased with how the binding turned out!


At this point I printed some of the embellishments for the cover.  Not totally thrilled with how it looks (and even less so with the washi), but I have a very pretty and useful notebook!

Hand Bound Notebook

Love and beautiful binding!

Arty Divas DT - 14 January

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 13 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is TandiArt
TandiArt's Etsy Shop - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TandiArt
Prize:

Each of the Design Team members received a different printable element.  This is something I'm not really used to working with.  The first thing I thought of was to place the fairy riding her unicorn and the small kaleidoscope of butterflies would be perfect for some little girl friendly cards with general sentiments.  My sister always needs these on hand having 2 little girls of her own so this one (along with a few others will go to her.  I only managed to finish one for this assignment).

When images have pre-printed textural elements such a mixed media or stitches or staples, they always look more at home by adding more (or if you're of the LOL cat and/or Shimelle persuasion, that would be MOAR!)

Now MOAR I can do, although for me, these were not as MOAR as usual.

I was keen to road test some new hot pressed watercolour paper (and I love it!!) and started by adding an iridescent paste by Vicki Boutin through a star stencil.  After that was dry, I dribbled some Shimmerz paint because I didn't want it too opaque and I wanted more sparkle and shimmer!!

Once that was dry, I splattered gold mist then stamped my sentiment with Archival ink THEN added my cut out elements adhered with foam to pop them up.

Even though this heavy duty watercolour paper didn't warp a lot, I still used Permanent Glue Dots to adhere the card front to the base.

Just a few sparkly gems to finish and it has everything I could have wanted when I was 6!

Hooray 

 Be sure to see what the other girls have made and enter the challenge!

Love, and shimmery kisses!

Arty Divas DT Project - 17 Dec

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 11 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is KLM Digital Designs (Katy's Card Emporium)
Prize:

About KLM:
"I started stamping in 2005 thanks to the help of my mother who at the time was a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator. Over the years my mother and I have designed and manufactured our own line of digital stamps, I have also been published in stamping magazines and have been a team member for many design teams.
I am a full time police officer as well as a single parent. I love crafts and use it as an escape from every day life. My kids love crafting as well and probably have accumulated just as much supplies as I have! (Lol)"

For this challenge I had an idea for a card as soon as I saw the image of the turtle stuck on his back.  With a custom sentiment (once again thanks to my pink vintage Olivetti typewriter) it makes a rather cheerful get well card!

Mr Turtle was coloured with Copics.  My laser printer and I are having a bit of a stand off when it comes to printing on correct paper for pencils 😡

After fussy cutting and mounting him on equally adorable swan paper (by Pebbles from their "Tealightful" collection circa 2016) since I was determined to place him in his natural habitat,  Even if his swan friends are wearing crowns rather like the AD logo 😉

I pulled the words for the sentiment off and on several times which has given them a bit of dimension.  I just love the perfectly imperfect quirks of an old typewriter!  Just be sure to use the correct version of You're/You.  (yes. this Pink Mama is also a grammarphile!)

To finish I pulled some sequins from the "Motley" mix by Spiegelmom Scraps and adhered with my trusty Micro Glue Dots.  I thought they looked somewhat like bubbles, but the sheen made them so much more whimsical!

Hope You're on Your Feet Again Soon

Love and whimsy,

TTCRD Design Team - 3 December

Hello, Lovelies!

Today is challenge day for Design Team B for the Through The Craft Room Door Challenge.   

This is a WEEKLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with 2 design teams who alternate weeks to make projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is DRS Designs
Prize:

I know my choice of image for this challenge mat seem a little odd, but rather topical not just as 2019 draws to a close, but more relevant to happenings relating to the TallCraftyDude.  This past year his academic performance has left a bit to be desired and he could benefit greatly from more organization and structure starting with the summer holidays and ideally continuing into the 2020 school year so we don't have a repeat performance.  😒😒😒

A blank calendar was a very versatile way to give him a month-at-a-glance way to see what is due and how soon...along with other school related deadlines.

I opened the file in Silhouette Studio, which is probably not the more natural software choice, but I;m comfortable with it and wanted to use some cut files in my library as images that would appeal to a 15 year old boy.

It looks deceptively simple, but each set of numbers needed to be added and resized individually to be able to move them around independently of each other.  If I had number stamps of the right size, I probably would have used those instead.

After printing, I added some stamping and gold mist spatter to give it a more handmade look and started to write in things for the last month of the holidays.  Perhaps a bit mean given they haven't even yet begun, but I wanted to trial a single month before creating a whole year! 

I can see using it to make personalized calendars as a great gift, though!

January 2020 Calendar

Love and stay organized!

Arty Divas DT - 3 December

Hello, Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 10 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

Sponsor: Hetty Clare Art
Hetty's Etsy Store:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/HettyClare
Prize:

The image the Design Team worked with was absolutely adorable!  That is until I started to meddle with them!! 🙈🙈🙈

See, the thing is that I decided to try using coloured pencils.  Most of the image I'm not entirely unhappy with (for a first attempt anyway), but I really don't like the "sky". 

Fortunately I can probably still work on it a little more especially if I try to blend it out a bit with Gamsol or odourless spirits.

Placing the sentiment formed a slight issue.  In the end I had to cover part of the image I really didn't mind too much!  I went with vellum to keep it light and so some still shows though.  I adhered with just a few stitched and stamped an older stamp set from Simon Says Stamp (in Kristina Werner's lovely whimsical script!)

I decided to use Glue Dots to adhere the coloured panel since the type of paper and use of a blending pen made me think it might start to pull away from the card base.

Well here's the finished card!

Thank You For Your Kindness Card

Love and practise those pencils!

Arty Divas DT 5 November Project

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 8 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is SheepSki Designs
SheepSki's Etsy Store
Prize:

With everything going on, I had to take my digis which I had previously printed on watercolour paper to hospital with me so I could colour the flowers during my infusion.  It's not as easy as it looks!  Some of the pre-meds I get give me shaky hands which doesn't help matters.

I decided to use Inktense since I can take pre-filled water brush pens and it's much less mess or hassle than other watercolour when you're in this kind of predicament.  I also knew the set of Inktense had a good range of blues and purples which is ideal since the image is of cornflowers. 

I did a google image search and was really fascinated how in some types of cornflower, the bud and the centres of the flowers appear more purple and the more mature petals seem more blue.  I tried to reflect this is my colouring.

At once point I was banished back to my recliner from a table and proper chair, since the battery warning on my IV pump started screaming.  There are side tables but it makes anything requiring a desk or table a challenge.

Once I got home I decided to add a yellow background to attempt to hide some of the places my shaky hands missed the flowers and went outside the lines!

I opted not to used a sentiment on this once since I wasn't sure who would receive it,  It would work equally well as a "get well", "thinking of you", "sympathy" or "thank you".

I liked the idea of a kraft card base.  It seemed kind of rustic, but a black mat was definitely needed for contrast.  I used the Permanent Glue Dots to adhere the card front to the mat since the heavily watercoloured card front was warped and would continue pulling in whatever direction ir wants.  Then I used foam tape ti attach that to the card base and finally finishing with some sequins and which as always use Mini or Micro Glue Dots.

 

That's all for now!  Thanks for stopping by!

Love and  wonderful watercolours!

TTCRD DT 22 Oct and Cat Lovers Hop Project 2

Hi Lovelies!

Today is challenge day for Design Team B for the Through The Craft Room Door Challenge.  This is a WEEKLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with 2 design teams who alternate weeks to make projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is Hetty Clare.

Prize: 

This image reminded me of mornings here  - I even get up at 6:00 too (although I'm usually greeted by a cat butt).

The cartoon like image suited the theme, but did make colouring more challenging especially when trying to add realistic shading...and even more so when the whole circle was reduced to a size where the individual elements are pretty small!

Speaking of circles, the design of the image reminded me of the current Mojo Monday sketch which is something I really enjoy playing along with.

I threaded twine through the flower (as a nod to the ones on the doona and pillow) and stuck the button down with a Glue Dot.

It didn't look the same in my head as on the paper, but I like the yellow enamel dots at least! 🤦

I'll be honest I don't love the end result.  I do love the bright colours in the coloured image, but I can't quite put my finger on what bothers me.  Maybe the odd shade of purple of the sentiment?  🤷 I pulled it from my drawer of scrap cardstock and there wasn't much purple to choose from so I ran with it rather than cutting into a fresh sheet.

OK now to the giveaway part:

Giveaway CLOSED!

📌 I have three items (and a bonus fourth prize) to give away (pictured below) and I'll pull three names for the first three prizes.
📌For the  fourth "bonus" prize: it will go to someone who has entered the main blog hop (please let me know your project numbers if you would like to be considered.  You can wait til the blog hop is over to do this since they change sometimes.)
📌 The first name drawn gets first choice, second name gets second choice and so on.  Bonus prize will be TallCraftyDude's favourite project!
📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED.  I purchased the prizes especially for this giveaway.  This year I picked stuff other than just stamp sets to mix it up a bit!  In the even the items I purchased are on back order, I'll purchase something similar in their place and update the list below. Thanks for understanding!

The prizes you get to pick from are:
This hysterical Art Impressions stamp set called "Catastrophy".  Perfect for the Spoonie stamper (or if you know one!)

There is a Dyan Reaveley stencil called "It's Raining Cats" (this one is mine, but yours will be brand new, obvs! 😉)

An American Crafts "Coloring Notebook"

Lastly, the bonus prize will be an electronic gift card to the online crafty store of your choice to the value of $20 AUD (approx $13 USD, £10 GBP, €12 Eur etc.  May vary depending on exchange rate)

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

If you have previously followed my socials then these are already counted for you!  (unfollowers will not be counted)
📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Monday 28 Oct (a whole week from today).  Please visit THIS SITE to calculate in your own timezone
📌 The winner will be drawn on Weds 30 Oct so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Weds 6 Nov, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out all together.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?
🐈 Follow this blog - 3 entries (in the left sidebar)
🐈 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries
🐈 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry
🐈 Comment (once per day per person) on a post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post

I don't yet know how many makes I'll have done between now and then, but it will be at least three.  The more love from you guys the better the chances of me getting crafty which gives you more chances to enter.

Click here for Project 1
Click here for Project 3
Click here for Project 4

So today...if you want to leave a comment, tell me how many cats you've had in your life... (or anything else if this doesn't grab you) and please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com


* ⬅⬅⬅ Acronyms and strange terms in left sidebar! 

Love and cuddle your kitty!