#2939 Kitty Wizard from Sandra Caldwell

Today is the second new release of the month from Sandra Caldwell where I'm happily joining in as Guest Designer.  This cute little guy is called #2939 Kitty Wizard, although I can image him making another appearance in different colors as a witch for Halloween.  I removed the background from this jpg image so I could use some magical digital paper and colored him accordingly with Copic markers.  I glued on a toothpick wand colored silver with a Sharpie so he could grant some birthday wishes.  The sentiment die is from Tim Holtz, cut 3 times for depth and adorned with tiny purple pearls.  You can see more inspiration from the DT in the Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans FB Group and find all of Sandra's adorable images in her Etsy Shop, babycakesdnd.

I'm entering this in the DL.Art August Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #112 ATG, 2 Crafty Critter Crazies August, Crafty Animals August #29,
Show Us Your Pussycats August Challenge #45,  Ike's World challenge #123 "H" is for hats/ATG, the Outlawz Thursday Twist favorite embellishment and why. 

Aurora Wings FB Challenge Inspiration

Since closing the Aurora Wings Challenge blog we've resumed our Facebook challenges in the Stamps by Aurora Wings FB Group with relaxed rules.  Our theme is always Anything Goes and you need not submit a complete project, coloring only is acceptable. In fact, your project does not even have to be new! 
You may enter with work you done previously, even if you had entered it in our Blog Challenge.  Can't get any easier than that, can you?

My Design Team inspiration, however is new and was quite a challenge for me.  The gorgeous image is La Fee Verte, one I've had for awhile but had been a bit intimidated to try to color.  I took a look at Mitzi's gallery for inspiration and then did sort of a quick color blocking with my lightest Copics so the page did seem as intimidating and went from there.

Here's a close up of La Fee Verte.  She's available exclusively HERE on AuroraWings.com.  After adding layers upon layer of color with my Copics, I decided the central image did not stand out enough so I shaded around the fairy and central roses with a dark umber Prismacolor pencil.  I deepened potions of the black with the bullet tip of a black Memento marker and finally added highlights with a white gel pen.  Ahhh, much better.  The background is a combination of Copics and chalk.  Then matted in black with DP from K&Co.  Although it took me awhile, in the end I was quite pleased.

Here's what's happening with AuroraWings.

Stamps by AuroraWings Fan page

Stamps by AuroraWings FB Group 

(inspiration, challenges, special events and freebies))

AuroraWings Showcase Blog

(new release inspiration)

AuroraWings.com

AuroraWings Etsy

I'm adding this to the DL.Art August Linky Challenge, the Outlawz Twisted Thursday ATG (no twist), Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #112 ATG, the World Wide Open DT Challenge August/Sept, the Classic DT Open August Challenge, Crafting by Designs August ATG ...

Guest Designing for Sandra Caldwell

I'm excited to be Guest Designer this month for Sandra Caldwell.  My choice for the new release is #2968 Detangled Hippo, just one of the fun new stamps available in her Etsy Shop, babycakesdnd.  Sandra's hippos are some of my favorites, along with her cats, old ladies...well all of them.  As soon as I saw her I knew I'd be using DP from the All About Girls Mat stack by DCWV.  It took me awhile to find it (ahem) but the bobby pin and other girly stuff was just perfect, don'tcha think?

Here's a closeup of #2968 Detangled Hippo.  She's colored with Copics and fussy cut.  Her hair was especially fun to color and I couldn't resist making it red.  Come join the fun and check out the beautiful work by Sandra's Design team in her FB Group Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans.

I'm entering this in the August 2 Crafty Critter Crazies ATG with Critter Challenge, Crafty Animals #29 August AG, Cute Card Thursday Add a Quote, DL.Art August Challenge ATG, the Outlawz Festive Fridays ATG.

More New Releases for Aurora Wings!

As if the final four of the Sweet Zodiac Sprites weren't enough (click HERE in case you missed that post), in conjunction with the exciting new release of 2 new PDF coloring book bundles (find out all about them HERE), Mitzi has added two new Christmas Sprites that are available as individual digis, in both shops through the end of August.  First off we have Jingle Bells Sprite.  Isn't she just precious?

Instead of the traditional red and green I decided a deep rich blue would be fun.  I've colored with Copics and added Wink of Stella in both silver and clear for sparkle on the bells, that doesn't seem to show up in the pix, unfortunately.  You can find her in the new release section, along with all of the newest digis from the Showcase, HERE on AuroraWings.com and HERE on Etsy.

I'm adding this to the Happy Little Stampers August Christmas Challenge optional Jingle Bells, The Classic DT Open August ATG, the Sparkles Christmas Challenge It's Snow Time, Simon Says Wednesday Add a Die Cut, the Outlawz Monday Greetings add Sparkle, Glitter or Shine, the Outlawz Sunday Songs and Rhymes... 

Finally, we have the adorable Santa's Little Helper.  The sweet toys he's playing with gave me a fit of nostalgia for simpler times, when fun required imagination, not batteries or an online connection, so I turned to some favorite papers from K&Co I've had in my stash forever to create a card with old world feel.

Yes, I believe in Santa Claus and still collect bears and dolls and even marionettes, not to mention loads of needle felted kitties.  This cutie is again colored with Copics and you can find him in the new release section, along with all of the newest digis from the Showcase, HERE on AuroraWings.com and HERE on Etsy.  There's also a bonus digi of him in a simpler version, with only the marionette, included in your purchase.

I'm adding this to the Outlawz Festive Fridays Christmas theme, Creative Craft Cottage #121 Christmas, the Merry Little Christmas Challenge ATG Christmas, 

Please visit the Showcase Blog for all of the information about the 2 new PDF Christmas Sprites Coloring books Volumes 1 & 2.  12 images in each book!  What a super stocking stuffer for everyone young, and young at heart, on your list.

On AuroraWing.com 

Volume 1 HERE, Volume 2 HERE

On Etsy

Volume 1 HERE, Volume 2 HERE

Coupon good through this weekend on ALL digital stamps and PDF files.

EEEK!  Breaking news!  There's now a surprise GWP this weekend, as well.

How fun is this little cutie and friends?  You'll get them automatically with a qualifying purchase in either shop (after coupon) and it will be sent via email within 24 hours.

Gotta say, I had to look up Axolotl and found they are an endangered species.  I was not surprised since Mitzi has always been a champion of animals in trouble.  I say we should flood our blogs and FB groups with colorings of these cuties to increase awareness of their plight.  xxx

August New Release Showcase for Aurora Wings

It's an exciting day on the Aurora Wings Showcase Blog as Mitzi releases the remaining 4 Sprites in the Zodiac Sprite series.  We're starting off with Sagittarius Sprite to which I've added one of the Stars 2-pack available exclusively on AuroraWings.com HERE .  I colored him first with Copics and then unfortunately set him aside.  My plan was to color a night time sky, but because I was a bit concerned about messing up, I then left him for last.  In the end, my eyes gave out, so I recolored a digital background in my Printmaster Platinum Program and added my already colored Copic work on top for the final project. Then I added a bit of chalking to continue the starry glow.

Here's the actual original coloring of these images, before I decided it was too late to color the background manually.  Because I had added the additional star cluster and it was late in the game, the idea of fussy cutting seemed daunting as well, so for the final project, I removed the white background, as printed and colored with Lunapic, added it to the digital background, and printed it with my Printmaster Platinum Program.  Phew!  Although this deepened and blurred some of the Copic strokes on the final project, in the end I was pretty pleased.

You can find all of the new releases on AuroraWings.com HERE 

and on Etsy HERE

I'm entering this in the DL.Art August Linky Challenge ATG, A Perfect Time to Craft August ATG,  the Outlawz Twisted Thursday ATG, ... 

Capricorn is my hubby's sign so I decided to make a birthday card using this adorable image.  This time I actually used two digital papers from Gecko Galz together, by cropping one to make more of a rolling sea (with what sort of looks like some jungley land in the background?), adding the png version of Capricorn Sprite and coloring him with Copics after printing.  I finished it off with papers from Graphic 45 and a peel off sticker sentiment.  (Kind of manly, don't you think?)

Here's the closeup for this cutie.  Hope I can still find the card when David's birthday rolls around.  LOL

I'm adding this to the DL.Art Thankful Thursday Birthday Theme (Happy Birthday month, Diana!), the August a2z Scrapbooking Birthday Challenge, the Outlawz Festive Friday Birthday, Simon Says Monday Happy Birthday,... 

You can find all of the new releases on AuroraWings.com HERE 

and on Etsy HERE

Beautiful Aquarius looks lovely and serene in this setting, don't you think?  After coloring with Copics I fussy cut her and added her to papers and sentiment from Heartfelt Creations.

Here is her closeup.

You can find all of the new releases on AuroraWings.com HERE 

and on Etsy HERE

I'm adding this to the Outlawz Festive Fridays ATG theme, Crafts Galore Encore August ATG, Cute Card Thursday #594 Circles...

And finally we have Pisces to complete the entire series.  Aren't they just fabulous?  Again I used the png version to print on a digital background from Gecko Galz and then colored with Copics.  The vibrant colors of the background seemed to beg for bright goldfish colors and I was thrilled that additional papers from Graphic 45 added to the look I was going for.

Here is their closeup.  I was hoping the star looked like a starfish to complete the underwater theme.

I'm entering this in the August 2 Crafty Critter Crazies ATG with Critter Challenge, The World Wide Open DT Challenge ATG (July/August), Crafty Animals #29 August AG, the Outlawz Festive Fridays ATG...

You can find all of the new releases on AuroraWings.com HERE 

and on Etsy HERE

Here's the fabulous coupon for this weekend, good in both shops on all images and PDF's.

And that's not ALL!  There's an extra special addition to the Showcase that you won't want to miss.  You can get all the the information on the Showcase Blog and please visit my second post showcasing these additional adorable Christmas images HERE.

EEEK!  Breaking news!  There's now a surprise GWP this weekend, as well.

How fun is this little cutie and friends?  You'll get them automatically with a qualifying purchase in either shop (after coupon) and it will be sent via email within 24 hours.

Gotta say, I had to look up Axolotl and found they are an endangered species.  I was not surprised since Mitzi has always been a champion of animals in trouble.  I say we should flood our blogs and FB groups with colorings of these cuties to increase awareness of their plight.  xxx