100th Birthday

That sure is a milestone!

I'm still working away at scrapbooking the family story. It is so wonderful to have so many pictures. This one was taken on my Great-grandma's 100th Birthday.

I used a favourite kit of mine for this one..do you also find yourself going back to the same kits over and over? I sure do!

Cathy Krenek's 'Love Always' kit

Valentine Kitty

Happy Valentine's for those of you who make this a special day...I thought I would pop this little kitty on hubby's desk this morning...
I'm pretty sure it'll give him a smile to start the day with.

I'm also entering it into the TiddlyInks Love Challenge #198 for February

(edited to add - this one 'won' the challenge...which means several more fun images in my 'collection' YAY!)

I mean who can resist a face like this?

I used an image from 'Set of Kittys' by TiddlyInks - aren't they just adorable?

I opted for a basic stand-up card for easy display on a desk. The colouring was done with colour pencils and the sentiment is from the Penny Black 'Every Which Way' transparent stamp set.

Come on over and join the February Challenge!
Have a nice day!

Just Add Colour

Or color if you prefer ☺

I'm not new to colouring (I have done this all my life), colouring books (I still have one from elementary school days) or coloured pencils (I am a coloured pencil artist) so it should be no surprise that I have embraced the current colouring trend with enthusiasm.

It is sad to see how much sub-standard work is available for sale and how much downright junk is available too. However there is a very good selection of excellent books available, so that there is plenty for everyone and every taste to choose from.

For me hardest of all was to get used to just colouring and not caring much about the outcome of the picture. I still have to remind myself regularly that this is not going to be framed, nor is it heading for a gallery. In fact it doesn't matter one bit whether I finish it or not! It has surprised me how hard it is to get used to such a different angle.

I also promised myself that my good, professional quality pencils will stay in the studio while other pencils, especially those from high school years (gasp) will be available for the books.

I 'fell in love' with a book from Dover Publishing as soon as I started looking around for something new to colour. I like needlework, I like history and I like to colour so this choice - Medieval Tapestries- was a no-brainer.

The images have beautiful clean lines and although the paper is light weight I think it will take pencil very well. I have not actually coloured in the book itself yet. Instead I copied, and enlarged an image because I wanted to use watercolour pencils and did not want to damage the book. Good decision...the paint would certainly have stained the other side of the page as it bled through.

The colouring is nothing special and the regular copy paper certainly has it's limitations, but I sure like those designs and it adds a pop of colour on the wall of my craft room.

I used Derwent watersoluable pencils and that 'ancient' box of Faber Castell pencils, dating back to the late 70's...

And here is a more playful take on the colouring process, featuring some giant pencil boxes..

And a few more pages - same technique and materials. These are loose and you can clearly see how much the copy paper warped from the wet media.

And finally - Dover offers some free sample pages for this book on their website HERE

Enjoy!

In Father's Footsteps

I found this picture post card among my mother's papers after she passed away. I had forgotten all about it, till then! Oh the memories! She loved the humour in this and would chuckle away delightedly whenever she showed it to someone. We all have those little things that just get our funny bones, don't we?

I thought it would make a great page in the Family photo album since we all remember this so well.

I used the mini kit "Beautiful" by Cathy Krenek for my page. The template is from the Gingerscraps Template Challenge for February 2017

Such a pretty kit and the colours matched that post card perfectly! "Beautiful" Mini Kit by Cathy Krenek

Snail Mail Greetings

A little while ago I won't a Tiddly Inks Challenge. You can see my entry here - "Got Chocolate?"
To say I was delighted is an understatement, so I high tailed it over to the Tiddly Inks Store with my gift certificate and snagged some goodies from my wish list.

One of them was the Snail Mail Wryn set. The set contains 5 different digital images all featuring snails. Really cute, and a good price too.

I coloured the image using coloured pencils, my favourite way to add colour to just about anything (closely followed by water colours) For the card base I used a woodgrain stamp (by Heidi Swapp) and Treebranch Archival Ink by Ranger and kraft card stock.

Next I made a cluster with designer paper, some tissue paper, crumpled and torn to give it some texture and a die cut lace strip. These I sewed together using black thread. I then added the cluster to the card and finished it all off with a banner, stamped with a sentiment (ProvoCraft) and stapled to the card. I found those purple staples a few years ago in my local department store. Sometimes one finds the nicest goodies in unexpected places!

And 'Wryn' is ready to be on her way taking love and best wishes with her.