By the way...

...I found one of the stamps I was looking for.

I made loads of cards with this image when I first bought it but like most of us, new stash arrives and things get put away and often forgotten - which is a shame.

As I wanted to take advantage of my friend Suzie's dies whilst we were at the crop, I have cut this out before finishing off the colouring...

...and yes, I know the image is not central - I have a sentiment stamp in mind to go down the left-hand side.

Have you recently found a forgotten 'treasure' in your stash - I would really like to know...................

Yesterday was...

...the Eastwood Carvery Crop - and Sunday lunch arrived a day early.

I actually remembered to take a photo of my lunch before tucking in...

...but you knew it had to be too good to be true; didn't you - I forgot to take a photo of the sweet doh!

Carol always sets aside a table where folk can display stash for sale - a great way of getting some pennies back on items that you no longer want...and a great way to grab some bargains.

Having coloured an 'Edwin' Magnolia stamp earlier in the week, it seemed fate that there were some Magnolias on the table - so how could I say 'no!'.

Hardly had the money left my hand than this little miss was out of the packet and inked up...

 ...the hair & skin are usually my starting points so they were the first bits coloured. Then came the choice of what colours to use for the clothing...

 ...and with this first one, I kept to fairly traditional Christmas colours.
One of the great things about attending a 'crop' is that your fellow crafters will often have equipment with them that they are willing to share...

 ...my friend Suzie had this X-Cut die set with her and Carol had brought along her Grand Calibre so I had a bit of a cutting session. Although the dies were small enough to go through a Big Shot/Cuttlebug, it made it so much easier being able to put the sheet of A4 card through the machine rather than cutting it up and running the risk of cutting the pieces too small or on the wonk.
I didn't stop at one image...

 ...this one was coloured with my favourite aqua shades and then I played with my "Wink of Stella" brush pen (clear)...

...I had intended to colour just the antlers and the bell necklace (which I did on the red/green image) but as you can see...I got a bit carried away and brushed all over the kraft matt on this one.

I now have two cute Christmas toppers ready to either be used on a card or some other 'make'. At last, I feel my Christmas makes are starting to materialise.

Hope you have been enjoying a crafty weekend............................................................

Try mixing it up...

...don't be afraid to use different colouring mediums on the same piece.

Ignacio of Nicecrane Designs, recently asked me to have a go at colouring images from one of his new collections - he wanted examples on white & a darker background. So I printed some images onto some smooth white CS and some Neenah CS in 'Desert Storm' (pale kraft colour).

Here are the images printed out...

...and as you can see, the subject matter is some playful pups.
Grabbing my Spectrum Noir pens, I made a start on the white CS and started with some basic shades to start things off...

...I swept over the background with some CG1 (citrus green) and started to colour the pup with TN3 & TN6 from the tan range but I wanted to try the image on the kraft CS...

...some white pencil quickly started to bring the image to life and some biscuit shades started to bring dimension to the image...

 ...but the pencils were not strong enough to create sufficient colour in the background so I decided to mix in some Spectrum Noir pens...

 ...as you can see, the pencils and pens work well together.
I returned to finish off the image on the white CS and kept mainly to the pens...

 ...except for the pup in the water - he was given a touch of white pencil to 'tone-down' the tan colour slightly.
Here are the two completed images...

...the colour of the background CS really does give a different effect to the two pieces but so does mixing your colouring mediums. I'm sure some of you have watched demonstrators colour with alcohol pens and then they will use pencils (Prisma colour/Spectrum Noir) to highlight specific areas. What I wanted to show here was the fact that you can colour different areas of an image with different colouring mediums to produce the finish that you want.

The puppy on the kraft CS coloured with pencils looks very different from the puppy on the white CS coloured with alcohol pens but each works in its own way.

This set of images (by Cecil Aldin) is just one of the many fabulous sets that you can find over at the Nicecrane Design site and if you are looking for some inspiration as to how to use them, the DT over at the Nicecrane blog have lots of super ideas to share with you - please do hop over and take a look................................................................ 

Isn't it amazing...

...what you come across when looking for something else.

I was looking for a Mo Manning stamp that I have obviously put away for 'safe keeping' when I came across this Magnolia stamp...it is the cute Edwin and his Christmas list.

I can't remember the last time that I actually inked him up so while he was to hand I stamped him onto some smooth white CS and coloured him with my Copics...

...he was then die-cut using the Spellbinders scalloped oval.

Out came a couple of my Martha Stewart punches (the daisy trim and the fir sprigs) and some PP from my stash - think it is from a past Papermania Christmas range - and put together the card you see here.

Tomorrow is the October "Eastwood Crop" and it is being held at the Toby Carvery. It will be a super long day away from housework and the other distractions so hopefully I will be able to increase my collection of coloured images ready for a bit of card making.

Hope the weather is going to behave as it is not great carting totes across car parks in the pouring rain.

Hope you all have a super weekend................................................................

Same image...

...different colours.

Last month at the Eastwood Carvery Crop, I did quite a bit of colouring but didn't actually get anything made with the images that I had completed.

I love playing around with different colour combos on the same image as it always amazes me how different a change of colour can make something look.

This adorable little 'Miss' is from Lili of the Valley...

...and I have yet to finish her off. However, I did complete two other versions of this stamp...

...and I have made them into two very different cards.
I love the 'icy' feel that the aqua & silver colour scheme gives...

...need to get hold of some more of that CS and those flowers as I really do love this colour combo.
In this one, the image is coloured in a similar way to the unfinished image at the start of this post...

...and I have gone for a more traditional colour combo with a vintage feel.

The images have been stamped onto smooth white CS and I have used a variety of Copics and Spectrum Noir pens.

Talking of pens...did you see the Chameleon Pens on Create & Craft over the weekend? I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo tempted but I didn't think the Bank Manager would be impressed as I've just had a rather large bill to deal with. I can assure you, it was very difficult resisting new pens to play with.

Never mind, I'm sure I'll get a chance to pick up these goodies when the old bank account has had a chance to take a breath..............................................................

Before it disappears completely...

...a Summertime card.

The temps are dropping and everywhere is donning its Autumn finery but we are still getting some warm spells and a bit of sunshine - so I thought I'd use one of my Kenny K digi images that reminds me of Summer.

Who can resist an ice-cream when the weather is lovely...

...I haven't used any of my Kenny K images for ages and it seems such a long time since I made a card with a cluster of blooms like this.

This card is for a friend's birthday - it is okay to share on here as she doesn't follow any social networking sites of any kind.

I hope the weather isn't too bad where you are - I understand that some poor folk up in Scotland have actually had some snow........................................................................

Two weeks of...

...stress & bother.

For 18 years, Mum has had a car through the Motability scheme and I am her designated driver.

For 18 years, things have gone smoothly. No hic-cups with the 3-yearly car changes or the regular servicing appointments (other than they tended to forget to valet the vehicle unless reminded).

This year...hassle.

The "End of Agreement" notification arrived late so everything had to be sorted in a bit of a rush and it didn't help to be told..."you're a bit late coming in so I'm not sure we will be able to meet the change over date" hurumph!

It didn't help further to receive a phone call to advise the car was in - only to discover that the hoist hadn't been installed and that would be another week. Elements of service that had always been part of the 'package' now don't happen (cost cutting?) but it would have been nice to have been informed.

The car was finally collected a week ago...

...for the first time in 18 years it isn't BLUE. The last couple of cars we have had have been very dark (almost black) blue and they have been a nightmare to keep clean - so this time we went with 'Burnished Glow'.

A visit from the engineer to sort out issues with the hoist and adjustments that had been made to Mum's mobility scooter and things went from one extreme to the other - in the end I sorted it myself on Sunday.

Not overly impressed with the new vehicle - standard of workmanship not brilliant, previous standard features now treated as 'extras' so not included. Over all, nothing to get enthusiastic about.

At the end of the day, it has to meet Mum's needs and as long as it does that we will be okay with it but if the support & service continue to diminish - we could be looking for a new supplier in 3 years time....................................................................................