Grab your Sunbonnets...

...Summer is here.

Well it was...then it rained...typical British Summertime weather.

However, what I was really referring to was the latest digi stamps from Nicecrane...

...this is just one of the new design sheets that Ignacio has over on the Nicecrane Design site and you can grab this one here.

Ignacio sent me these images and asked me to colour them and this is what I have so far...

This image was coloured with a mixture of Derwent Coloursoft & Pastel pencils...

...when used on Kraft card this gives an almost 'chalky' feel to the image...

...and also enables you to keep things very soft looking. This is very much in keeping with the way the images first appeared when they were published as the illustrations for the 'Primer' but I wanted to see what they would look like coloured a little more boldly.

This image was coloured using Spectrum Noir alcohol pens on smooth white CS...

 ...and as you can see, the colours used are more vivid but not too "in your face"...

 ...the stronger colours also give the ability for more shading when colouring and this helps to give the image a bit more depth. However, if you fancy something with a more vintage feel - how about this...

 ...I coloured the same image again using a limited selection of pencil colours on Kraft CS...

 ...in places there is just a hint of colour and by applying colour more strongly in some places you can still achieve a shaded effect. The softer colours also make the image seem like part of the CS...

...as none of the colours are overly bright. A very different finished look to the alcohol pens.

This new range of images are really sweet and there is plenty of possibility for mixing and matching techniques - how about paper-piecing the bonnets in your favourite PPs or printing onto a more textured CS to give the look of canvas - there really is no limit as to what you can do.

If you would like to see some of the things the rest of the DT have come up with, do hop over to the Nicecrane blog.....................................................................