Featured Artist: Rachel Anderson

It's Featured Artist Week at Sweet Pea Stamps and this month the Design Team are showcasing the stunning artwork of Rachel Anderson. I chose to work this this beautiful stamp called Amanita Muscaria:

 

 

I'm going through a bit of a minimalist, CAS phase at the moment and I think the clean and simple style works well with this pretty framed image. I coloured the image using Prismacolor pencils and added highlights to the white dots on the mushrooms using a white gel pen:

 

 

I kept my card really simple, matting white card onto black card for a border and layering a die-cut flourish behind the image. It would be easy to add a simple stamped sentiment to this card for whatever occasion I might choose.

 

Rachel's beautiful stamps are available in both digi and red rubber format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store and will be on special offer for this week only. :)

Bingo!!

Who doesn't love a game of bingo? And we crafters love to get creative with our very own version, don't we? I love bingo challenges, they are such fun and push you to think outside the box a little and use techniques/ideas that maybe you wouldn't usually.

 

We're having a bingo challenge at One Stitch at a Time this week. If you've never done one before, the concept is really simple. From the bingo card below, choose elements in a line across the card (across, down, diagonally, however you like) and use those elements in your creation.

 

 

Here's my bingo creation - I used the Great Tit Pine Cone digi stamp by Ike's Art and my choice of bingo line was: CAS, Ribbon or Twine and Green.

 

 

I coloured the digi stamp using my Prismacolor pencils...

 

 

And trimmed it into a panel to fit the front of my card. I matted the panel onto green cardstock and wrapped twine around it before attaching to the card front using foam pads. I also added a small stamped greeting.

 

 

I've been getting quite into the whole clean and simple style lately, it makes for such striking cards. :)

 

You don't need to use a Stitchy Bear product to enter the OSAAT challenge but if you do you can enter as many times as you like and you'll be in with a chance of winning our main prize. You can enter no more than 3 times without using a Stitchy Bear product and those entries will be entered into the draw to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.

 

And don't forget to let us know which elements from the bingo card you used! :)

 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

2 Sisters - Thank You

Colour Me Creative Challenge - Anything Goes

Crazy 4 Challenges - Thankful

Di's Digis Designs - Thanks/Thanksgiving/Harvest

Hiding in my Craft Room - Thanksgiving

Brown Sugar - Anything Goes

Card Crafter's Circle - Thankful/Thank You

Card Makin' Mamas - Thankful Tidings

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - So Grateful

Digi Haven - We Give Thanks

 

TODAY ONLY!

Don't miss your chance to snag some bargains at Sweet Pea Stamps today!

FLASH SALE - TODAY (WEDNESDAY 20 NOV) ONLY

Digi special:

**spend $30 and get 2 free digis, enter coupon code: humpday

or

**spend $50 and get 4 free digis, enter coupon code: humpday2

These coupons will automatically take off the shipping costs so no need to add the free shipping code when taking advantage of these offers.

Past orders excluded, this is for today only! Your deduction will be taken off when you enter the coupon code at the end.

Dragonfly Fairy

If, like me, you're a fan of Sweet Pea Stamps, you'll have seen that a couple of fabulous new artists have been added to the ranks of Sweet Pea Stamps designers recently. One of these is the very talented Charmaine Flannery and I couldn't wait to get creating with her gorgeous images.

 

The first one I chose to work with was this stunning Dragonfly Fairy digi stamp:

 

 

I coloured the image with my Prismacolor pencils.

 

 

I feel like I'm getting better and better at using these pencils and am starting to get a bit more adventurous in using and blending colours. I added some blue low lights to her hair in this image and am really pleased with the result.

 

I also added some Stickles to the dragonfly wings and a layer of Glossy Accents to give a real sheen to them:

 

 

For my card I coloured cardstock using Tim Holtz's marbled stains technique and inked the edges with black Archival ink. I teamed the inked cardstock with delicate shapes die-cut from black cardstock....

 

 

....and some pretty little flowers, with black Stickles centres.

 

 

This image is available in digi or red rubber format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store.

 

 

Thanksgiving Harvest

It's Variations Week at Sweet Pea Stamps, where the Design Team all create with the same stamp. I love seeing how different one image can look in all the different projects. This month we are creating with Regan Kubecek's Thanksgiving Harvest:

 

 

I coloured this sweet image with my Promarkers and matted it onto white card:

 

 

I teamed my coloured image with some more of the gorgeous Autumn Song papers from Bo Bunny (these are just fabulous for autumn/fall themed projects) and a scrap of cheesecloth for a touch of texture:

 

 

To finish I cut some autumn leaves with my Cameo, inked them with Distress Inks and coated them with Glossy Accents, and added them around the image, along with a paper flower and a small charm:

 

 

This sweet stamp is available in digi or red rubber format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store and for this week only is available at a discounted price.

 

 

Collbaoration Challenge

Every so often, the Creators at Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet put together a collaboration pack - we're given a theme and we each create a brand new digi stamp in that theme and these are put together into an awesome collaboration pack which is then available as a special offer in the Stitchy Bear Digit Outlet, free with any purchase of $10 or more. These images and papers are all brand new and not available in the store yet.
 

 

And you - yes, you! - could get your hands on the whole lot absolutely free, simply by entering this week's challenge at One Stitch at a Time! :)

 

The OSAAT Design Team have all been given one of the new collaboration pack digi stamps to work with and I got to create with this fabulous fall/autumn/thanksgiving image:

 

 

Isn't he adorable?

 

I coloured him with Promarkers and a white gel pen:

 

 

And I added some Stickles to the moon so give it a delicate shimmer and shine:

 

 

I fussy cut him out and teamed him with yummy autumn-themed papers from Bo Bunny and a pretty doily:

 

 

And to finish I added some flowers and die-cut leaves:

 

 

To be in with a chance of winning our main prize - the entire collaboration pack of digi stamps and papers above - you need to use a Stitchy Bear product to enter this week's challenge. You can still enter without a Stitchy Bear product and be entered into the draw to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.

 

The theme of the challenge is Holidays - any holiday you like - and the challenge runs for one week.

 

So get creating! :)

 

I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges:

Brown Sugar - Anything Goes

Craftitude - Anything Goes

Creative Fingers - Anything Goes

Cut It Up - Thanksgiving

Daring Cardmakers - The Other Occasions and Reasons

Digi Haven - Fall

Kitty Bee Designs Aloha Friday Challenges - Fall Colours

QKR Stampede - Anything Goes/Harvest

Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes

Stampin' For The Weekend - Autumn/Fall Colours

Wags 'n Whiskers - Fall Colours

Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes

 

Remembering

The new challenge starts today at Sweet Pea Stampers and our theme for this challenge is, appropriately enough, Let Us Remember/Thinking of You. 

 

I chose to work with one of my favourite Ching Chou Kuik stamps called Poppies From The Mist:

 

 

I decided to go really clean and simple with this card. I love how versatile Sweet Pea Stamps images are.. they are such beautiful, detailed stamps and they look fabulous on busy, detailed cards... but they also make for some very striking clean and simple cards.

 

 

I used the digi version of this image and simply printed it onto an A4 sheet of white cardstock, placing the image in the bottom right corner, with the sheet in landscape format, and then trimmed the cardstock to a 6x6 card size and scored and folded it to make my card.

 

I coloured the image in using Prismacolor pencils and a simple HB pencil:

 

 

When I decide who to give this card to, I will add a simple stamped sentiment in black ink... it could work for so many occasions... thinking of you... with sympathy... just a note...

 

The challenge runs for 2 weeks and you don't need to use a Sweet Pea Stamps product to enter, though obviously we would love to see your Sweet Pea Stamps creations. Entries that do use a Sweet Pea Stamps product will be eligible to win our DT Top Pick prize and there is also a randomly-drawn prize that is open to all entrants.

Playing with pencils

I've been doing quite a bit of drawing lately... and sketching and shading with pencils made me think of perhaps trying out how some of my stamps would look shaded in just pencil rather than coloured with e.g. Promarkers. So I decided to try it out with this gorgeous stamp from Sweet Pea Stamps:

 

 

This digi stamp is called Silent Cry and is by the fabulous Ching-Chou Kuik. I printed it and coloured it in with just a simple HB pencil. I think it works really well on this image - the grayscale colouring seems to fit with the melancholy of the image. :)

 

 

I teamed the finished image with a hand-made inky background using muted shades of Distress Inks and added some delicate die-cuts:

 

 

To finish things off, I also added some dots of black Stickles and a few highlights of Stickles on the leaves.

 

 

This image is available in red rubber or digi format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store.

 

New Baby

Is there any better reason for a card? :)

 

One of my friends had her third baby last week - a very unexpected baby girl! After having had two boys, they were convinced that number 3 would be a boy too (I think the odds are something like 94% of having a third boy if you've already had two boys?) so they were very pleasantly surprised when she turned out to be a girl. The only problem is, they still haven't chosen a name yet (she was born a week ago today) as they hadn't really even considered girls' names! :lol:

 

Last week was half term and I didn't want to intrude on family time with the new baby so the school run this morning was the first time I got to see my friend since the birth, and to meet the new addition (she's absolutely dainty and gorgeous!). :)

 

And of course, I had to take her a little gift and a card:

 

 

One of my absolute favourite stamps for baby cards - and especially girl baby cards - is this adorable acrylic stamp by Mo Manning. I stamped it with Memento ink and coloured it with my Promarkers and made a fairly quick and simple card with some patterned paper, embossed card, ribbon and a doily.

 

 

I stamped the sentiment with a Stampin' Up! stamp and cut it out with one of my favourite dies - the Bitty Banners Framelits set from Stampin' Up! :)

 

A little bit sketchy...

My other main hobby, aside from crafting, is... well... pretty much being a full-time geek. :D

 

I have a long history of getting really hooked on tv shows and movies etc and getting involved in fandom. It's lots of fun to chat with like-minded folk who are into the same things you are - and I've been lucky enough to go to quite a few conventions and get to meet some of my fellow fans, and some of my favourite actors and actresses too - and fandom is also an incredibly creative place. Fan art, fan fiction, really quite deep meta discussions... it's awesome.

 

My new fandom addiction is Sleepy Hollow and I really am utterly and completely hooked on this show. If you haven't watched it, do! It's fabulous. Spooky and funny and clever and very well-acted. It's been on hiatus for the past 3 weeks (grrrrr... stupid baseball!!) but it's back on tomorrow and the next episode looks absolutely incredible. I can't wait! And neither can the rest of the fandom... and they've been going a bit stir crazy over the past few weeks and, thankfully, filling the void with some awesome art and fiction.

 

And I've decided to join in. I can't compare with some of the incredible fanart I see on tumblr but I wanted to have a go anyway so I put pencil to paper and did this sketch of Ichabod Crane:

 

 

I've also done some other sketches recently as I signed up for an ATC swap with the theme of BBC characters and, as I've been in the mood for drawing and painting recently, I decided to do hand-drawn cards for my contribution.

 

So I drew Sherlock:

 

 

...and Doctor Who:

 

 

...and Blackadder:

 

 

I found it rather hard to part with these - especially the Sherlock one! :lol:

 

It's interesting how things seem to come full circle... I used to draw all the time when I was at school and I just kind of got out of the habit after leaving school. Then I got into papercrafting and through that began to expand into stamping and inking and mixed media stuff and using paints etc... and then, particularly through doing ATCs, full circle back to drawing (and even a bit of painting) again.

 

I'm really enjoying it. :)

 

 

Geisha Girl

This is fun. For the first time since becoming a Creator at Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet, I've actually been assigned one of my own digi stamps to create with for the One Stitch at a Time challenge blog. :)

 

The theme of the new challenge is Use a Digi and my OSAAT teamie Jane picked my Geisha Girl digi as the image for us to work with this week.

 

 

It was a lot of fun creating with one of my own images. :) I've been doing quite a bit of "proper" drawing lately and the thought occurred to me that digi stamps might look quite nice shaded with pencil, rather than coloured in. And I thought this pretty geisha image might be just perfect to try this idea out on:

 

 

I think she looks rather lovely in black and white. :)

 

I teamed her with one of my favourite die-cut frames (a Sizzix die)...

 

 

...and some gorgeous oriental-themed papers by Dovecraft which I've been jealously hoarding (and occasionally forcing myself to actually use) for quite some time! :D

 

 

I finished things off with some thin black ribbon and a couple of pearls.

 

The challenge runs for a week and you can use any kind of digital element (doesn't have to be a Stitchy Bear one) to enter - digi papers, digi stamps, computer-generated sentiments etc. Entries using a Stitchy Bear product will be in with a chance to win our main prize and entries without a Stitchy Bear product will be entered into the draw to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.

 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Challenges and Candies - Clean and Simple
Craftitude - Anything Goes
Crafty Hands Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafts 4 Eternity - Sketch
4 Krafty Girlz - Anything Goes
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs - Color Challenge Black/Red
Die Cuttin' Divas - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes