Long Time, No Post....

Wow, was it really April that I last updated this blog? Jeepers.

Well, not much has changed since that last post. I'm still not crafting. "Taking a break from crafting" seems to have turned into "completely lost interest in crafting". In fact, I'm planning to pack up a lot of my crafting stash into storage tubs and put them in the cellar. I can't see myself crafting any time soon and my craft room is a tip and needs sorting and clearing.

I have, however, still been creating. All the creative energy that used to go into papercrafting has been channelled into drawing and painting.

I'm particularly proud of the painting because it's not something I've ever really done before. I've always drawn, ever since my childhood, but never really had a proper go at painting. But I really felt like having a go so last school term I managed to find a painting class that fitted in just perfectly with my kids' school/nursery hours. It was a fabulous class, with a really great, supportive teacher, and in 8-9 weeks I was able to create two paintings.

The first was a portrait of my DD2, painted in acrylics on stretched canvas. This was my first ever proper painting and I'm so darn proud of it that I've had it framed. :)

The second painting was a full-on fantasy one. :) The theme of the class for the term was "contre-jour" (a style of painting featuring a strong light source in the back of the painting).. though this one is technically contre-nuit. This was painted in acrylics on canvas board.

Unfortunately, I can't continue with the class this term as DD2 has started nursery class at the local school and goes every day for just 3 hours, so it's not possible to fit in a class around her hours.

However, I have carried on painting at home, when I get chance, and have done this acrylics on canvas board portrait of Tom Wisdom as the Archangel Michael in Dominion (my new favourite TV show).

As well as the painting, I've also been doing a LOT of drawing. I've really enjoyed getting back into "traditional" art and hopefully the more I draw/paint, the more I will improve at it. :)

Drawing up a storm

As per my last post, I've been taking a bit of a break from crafting to recharge my creative batteries, as it were.

 

I have still been creating but rather than papercrafting, I've been drawing. :)

 

I've done a whole bunch of sketches recently and have turned several of them into digi stamps. All these stamps are now available in the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet:

 

 

And I've been playing with the original pencil sketches which I used for the digi stamps, colouring them in in different mediums...

 

I coloured in Flora using my Prismacolor pencils (this scan doesn't really do it justice - my scanner seems to struggle to pick up the subtleties of pencil colouring):

 

 

And I shaded in Forest Elf just using a plain HB pencil:

 

 

I've also done some other fun drawings recently... for a "Draw Me" challenge, I responded to a challenge to draw myself as a character from Doctor Who and drew myself as a Time Lord:

 

 

And for a challenge to draw a crossover of Sherlock with a video game, I drew Sherlock and Watson as, respectively, a Mage and a Paladin from World of Warcraft! :D

 

I'm really enjoying getting back in drawing and sketching. Am even looking into possibly taking some art classes in the summer term...

Taking a break...

You may have noticed things have been a bit quiet on here recently...

Things have been crazy busy so far this year and as a consequence I've been feeling a bit burned out, creatively.

So I've decided to take a bit of a break. I've arranged a hiatus from my Design Teams and am taking a couple of months to recharge my creative batteries, maybe tidy my craft room a bit, and give myself some time without deadlines to enjoy playing and creating without pressure and hopefully get inspired again.

So I hope to have some new creations to share with you soon. :)

For a Boy

Time for a new challenge at One Stitch at a Time and the theme is For a Boy.

 

For my card I've used this sweet Blockhead digi stamp by Stitchy:

 

 

I coloured the image with my Prismacolor pencils...

 

 

...and teamed it with nostalgic pastel papers, a die-cut greeting, and some pretty flowers.

 

 

You can enter the challenge as many times as you like if you use a Stitchy Bear product and will be in with a chance of winning our main prize. Entries not using a Stitchy Bear product are limited to 3 and will be entered into the draw to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.

 

The Koi

Another Sweet Pea Stamps card from me, this time using Ching Chou Kuik's The Koi:

 

 

I coloured the image with my Prismacolor pencils....

 

 

...and added detail with a white gel pen and some Stickles glitter glue.

 

 

I decorated an easel card with seaside-theme papers from Crafty Individuals and added gemstones and paper blossoms.

 

 

You can find this beautiful stamp in digi or red rubber format at the Sweet Pea Stamps store... and don't forget, until 7 March all Ching Chou Kuik digi stamps are on sale at 25% off.

Anything Goes

Time for a new challenge at One Stitch at a Time and this week it's Anything Goes - so go crazy, use your imagination, make anything! :)

 

I've used Crafty Girl's Love Hand Doodle digi stamp to make an eastern inspired card:

 

 

I coloured the image with Prismacolor pencils before cutting it out:

 

 

And teamed it with gold mirri card and papers from the Taj Mahal paper stack from DCWV:

 

 

As ever, entries using a Stitchy Bear product will have a chance of winning our main prize, entries not using a Stitchy Bear product will be entered into a draw to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.

 

Wings of Love

For my Sweet Pea Stamps creation this week I have used Joanne Schempp's Wings of Love digi stamp, which I coloured with my Prismacolor pencils.

 

 

 

 

 

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

Girly

Time for a new challenge at One Stitch at a Time and this week it's Girly.

 

 

I used Delicious Doodle's Astrology  Scorpio digi stamp which I coloured with my Promarkers:

 

 

I teamed it with patterned papers, some gemstone flourishes and a large layered flower cut with Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals die.

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Vintage Heart

This week at Sweet Pea Stamps it's our Featured Artist Week and this month the DT are featuring the gorgeous artwork of one of the newest additions to the roster of Sweet Pea artists, Charity Dauenhauer. I chose to work with this beautiful stamp called Vintage Heart:

 

 

I love the mix of steampunk, fantasy and romance in this image - just perfect for a Valentine's card, actually. ;) I coloured the image with a mixture of Promarkers and Prismacolor pencils and carefully cut around it.

 

 

I decorated my card with papers in warm tones (and continuing the heart/romance theme ;D) and textured gold mirri card. I added some delicate vintage lace and layered the image over it using foam tape.

 

 

I love the warm glow that this textured mirri card gives when the light hits it.

 

 

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

 

Use a Digi

Time for a new challenge at One Stitch at a Time and this week it's "Use a Digi". To enter the challenge you need to use a digi element somewhere on your creation - that could be a digi stamp, digi papers, even a computer-generated sentiment.

 

For my card I used this fabulously cute and sassy "Anna Mae Party Bunny Girl" digi stamp by Scrapper's Delight.

 

 

Isn't she fab? I love her cute and manga style. I coloured her with my Promarkers and gave her some quirky pink hair. :)

 

 

I seem to be on a bit of a pink and blue craze in my cards lately and this one is no exception. I used some pretty patterned papers and a die-cut frame (cut from sparkly pink card) and embossed a panel of card to fit inside the frame.

 

 

I finished things off with some little dots of Perlen Pen.

 

 

You don't need to use a Stitchy Bear product to enter the OSAAT challenges but if you do you'll be in with a chance of winning our main prize. Entries not using a Stitchy Bear product will be entered into the draw to win a $3 gift voucher for the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.

 

 

 

A Rose By Any Other Name...

This week is Variations Week at Sweet Pea Stamps, where all the Design Team create projects using the same stamp. I always love Variations Week as it's so amazing to see how people can take the same image and create such amazingly different projects using it. :)

 

The image we're using this week is a new stamp from Concetta Kilmer called Rose:

 

 

I went for a soft pastels colour scheme for my card and decided to colour the image using my Prismacolor pencils, for a nice soft effect:

 

 

I die-cut the image out using a decorative oval die and decorated my card with pretty floral papers. I layered on a doily and a punched border strip before attaching my image using foam tape.

 

 

To finish things off I added detail around the edges of the image and in the corners of the card using a pink Perlen Pen.

 

 

This gorgeous stamp is available in red rubber or digi format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store. And don't forget to check the Sweet Pea Stamps blog each day this week for more great projects designed using this stamp.