My first challenge card in 2011

 I made this card to enter into the Anyone for Anya - Colour Challenge and this weeks  Sketch Saturday   #137.

 This lovely Anya image was coloured with Promarkers.

 The sentiment is a stamp from Whimsy stamps, used along with the ticket die in my Cuttlebug.

Embellishments used were various size paper roses, a couple of punch out swirls and two pearl headed pins.

Woo Hoo !! Yippee !!!

I can hardly contain myself I have just ordered a load of Copic markers, I cant wait for them to arrive so that I can have a play.
I have been looking all over bloggy land and studying lots of tutorials on using them. I will be back soon to show off my efforts.

Just a quick post before bedtime

After a day of taking decorations down, cleaning the house and getting the childrens uniforms, etc ready for tomorrow, I only had a short time to craft. Really it wasnt even me making anything, I just helped my daughter to do a bit of jewellery making. Heres one of the bracelets she made, I think she did a good job for a first attempt.

A little crafted gift for myself

Here's a photo of  a lovely soft scarf I have just finished knitting for myself. I cant pretend to be a very good knitter, but I can just about manage scarfs. I recently made one for my daughter and it was so soft and snuggly, I decided to get some more of the same wool and make myself one.

Happy New Year ! My first post of the year and a quick tutorial.

Welcome to 2011.... I have promised myself that I will spend more time crafting, participating in challenges and keeping my blog upto date this year.

I decided to start by tidying up my craft room and getting it better organised.

 Ribbon Storage Tutorial

I usually keep scraps and shorter lengths of ribbon in jars sorted by colours, but its not a very convenient way especially when I want to take it with me to craft elsewhere. I looked on the internet for alternative ways and like the ribbon ring method, But as I am not working and trying to watch the pennies, I decided to make some myself. They were really easy to make,

• I cut card to 4cm x 6cm, and trimmed the corners off at one end to give a tag shape.
• Then used cropadile to punch a hole at narrower end, about 1cm in.
• Then I used a ribbon punch to make the slits, punching from one side then turning and punching from the other making sure they meet up.
•  I made the slits on some a little longer to fit wider ribbon.
•  To finish them a bit neater I used a corner rounder punch on the bottom corners.  

Once I have threaded my ribbon on, I will hang them on  large jump rings, organised by colour and hang up next to my crafting table.  

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Finished Mia's bedroom

Heres a few pictures of the room, different views and some close ups.

 

 

 

Third wall painting - A Unicorn

I set myself a hard challenge today...a rearing unicorn.

Thought I would try something trickier yesterday. I know I am no artist, but I am very pleased with the end result and my daughter absolutely loves it.

I started by roughly sketching an outline and then started to fill it with colour a bit at a time.

I worked my way down the body and painted the legs

Then I painted in the face and long flowing mane.

Next the tail...

and finally the unicorn's horn.

Voila!! A purple unicorn that fits in well in my daughters princess and fairy tale theme bedroom.

Another wall painting

I have painted a banner with my daughters name on, carried by bluebirds. It will be above her bed once I get the furniture back in place. 

I started by drawing a rough sketch, you can just about see it.

I painted it pink to match the castle. I mixed up 5 shades to get the shadow and highlight effects.

Next I painted some cute little bluebirds,

and then some ribbons.

Finally I painted in her name. As you can see I'm not very good at lettering, good thing there's only 3 letters

Here's the finished banner.

I decided to paint some birds. You can see in this pic the eraser marks behind the castle where I was going to paint a rainbow but changed my mind. I will have to paint over it with blue again.

I painted some birds,

 flowers and insects.

These low down ones will be hidden by Mia's bed, but as its a cabin bed she plays under it, so these will be a little surprize for her to find.

The result so far, not sure what to paint on the other walls yet.

My next bedroom project is going to be a little trickier than the last

I enjoyed painting my sons room so much that I decided to go the whole hog in my daughters. I am attempting to paint wall murals around the room. This is what I've done so far....
I started by painting the wall blue and adding some clouds all around the room.

Then I sketched a castle and started to paint it pink.

This is the main body of the castle finished, sorry about the photo, but I couldnt block out the sun as I have taken the curtains down.

Next I painted the turrets, flags and a door

A closer look.

Finally I painted in some windows...

and added some highlights...

and Voila !! A fairy princess castle

Ross completed bedroom

Here a photo of my sons bedroom complete with new bed and bedding, freshly painted walls, including the camoflage wall and even camoflage curtains that I made and sewn myself. Not bad for a first attempt at curtain making and fancy wall painting.
One problem I have now is that if he stands in his bedroom wearing his Army cadet camoflage uniform, I cant find him. :o)

My new cards at CraftUPrint

Please take at look at my new card makers gallery. You'll find it here