Oddballs Mermaids from Outer Space

I wish I'd paid attention to the June Blog Challenge at Oddball Art sooner because the fun theme of Mermaids from Outer Space really intrigued me and If I could have lit a fire under my butt, I might have been able to do multiple entries.  I even bought additional mermaid images, but as usual, my inability to make decisions got the better of me.  Here I've used Molly the Mischievous Mermaid available HERE in the new Oddball Art Co. Shop.  Check out the new Oddball Art Co. Community Forum, too.  I've colored with Copics and used Nebula Digi Paper behind her.  Added a mirror planet over the Saturn and sentiment I got from the Oddball Newsletter, Some gem stars and Nuvo Drops over the "bubbles". Better get this posted.  I'm running late.

Sweet Panda from Ike's Art

Next to the last day of the month and here I am trying to finish all I want to get done.  This adorable panda is the June Progressive Freebie on the Ike's Art Fan Page! on FB.  To be honest, I've had him colored for at least a week, but I couldn't decide what to do with him.  I wanted it to be special because I love this guy and took quite awhile coloring him with Copics and doing a little work with a Memento pen.

Here's a closeup.  Ike is so generous with her freebies, also offering one for each challenge on her Ike's World Challenges Blog and SYUP (cats only) Challenge Blog.  Many more fabulous digis in her Ike's Art Zibbet Shop, too.

So I was bummed that I did have a bamboo die or digi or stencil so I Googles panda habitat and there were many pics of just jungles.  Then I remembered my X-Cut Build-a-Scene forest dies and went to town.  There's the side view all popped up.  I also added some vines with my Weeping Willow branches die from Memory Box.  The DP mat is from the DCWV Safari Kids Stack.  The sentiments are Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers.



I'm also adding this to the Ike's World June Challenge #109 AG/optional Inspired by a Song  ("Panda" by Jefferson Airplane), the DL.Art June Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends # 84 AG,  The Outlawz Twisted Thursday AG, The Outlawz Festive Friday AG, The Outlawz Saturday Paper ala Mode Framed, Simon Says Wednesday AG (4/5), Jo's Scrap Shack FFC#240 AG 2/3, Crafty Gals Corner #168 AG, Scrapy Land Challenge #92 AG w/brands that SL sells,  TTRCD Week of June 26 AG, Morgan's Art World #06 AG, The World Wide Open Design Team Challenge #6, and Simply Papercraft #59 AG.

An Outlawz Trifecta

So I haven't even started my DT project for Mondays post, started shopping for my July 4th party, nor begun to clean for our house guests but I'm still trying to bang out some challenges I want to enter.  Getting down to the wire so when I found the already cut purple doily when looking for my doily dies for the Outlawz Wednesday Sketch Challenge I thought I'd also go for at least the Tuesday Color (and try to remove the Halloween theme the colors have conjured up in my mind, LOL)

I always find great DP with unusual color combos in the K&Co stash and this time was no exception.  I'd just bought a pack of orange flowers at Mike's and added some velvet leaves for more green.  The doily looked sort of lonely so when I found some sprigs of stuff that looked like lavender I checked out Sunday Songs and Rhymes and figured this could work for that too.  I dyed the sprigs with Copic re-inker but them they got lost against the purple doily so I pulled apart some green sprigs and added those as well and tied the bunch with a gorgeous green and orange bow from DL.Art.    I think that addition made this work for Sunday Songs and Rhymes, too.  WooHoo!  I cut down and inked a hang tag from a recent dress purchase and stuck a Graphic sticker on the back.  The twine is also from DL.Art.  Yikes!  Almost forgot the bling twist for Tuesday Color so I added two gems to opposing corners (helped with the sketch, too) and a row on the tag.  YAY, ME!

I love playing on the Outlawz Forum as there are 7 new challenges each week plus a monthly Freebie Progressive challenge.  Lots of fun, inspiration and prizes.

So here's the sketch. 

And here's the color board.

And here's the song.  How did I do?

Song: Lavender's Blue Dilly Dilly

"Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly,

lavender's green,

When I am king, dilly, dilly,

you shall be queen"

I'm also adding this to the DL.Art June Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 AG, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC#240 AG, Simply Papercraft #59 AG, Simon Says Wednesday AG (3/5), ... 

The Outlawz Progressive Challenge from We Are 3

I didn't mean to let this go until nearly the end, but I do find that seeing others color an image for a Progressive Challenge I go from wanting to copy everyone's gorgeous takes, to wanting to make sure I don't, so I tend to have a hard time deciding.  The adorable image for the Outlawz June Progressive Challenge is from WeAre3 and is the Color Me Garden-Flower Delight.  Since I've been sort of consumed with party plans for the 4th, I finally decided on red, white and blue.  I've colored with Copics and did add a second bow to her head so I could fussy cut and prop up the edges and found the perfect scrap of a bandana print DP before matting in blue.  Too cute, eh?

I'm also adding this to the DL.Art Thankful Thursday #231 Red, White and Blue Challenge, Simon Says Wednesday AG, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 AG, Shopping Our Stash #369 Red, White & Blue, ...

Paper Piecing at the Outlawz

The Outlawz Twisted Thursday calls for paper piecing with Sandra Caldwell as the sponsor this month so of course I used one of Sandra's new stamps called #2309 Cat on the Moon.  I really love to paper piece and chose a digi paper from the Outlawz sitewide sponsor We Are 3 from the Warm Sand Collection to give visual texture for the moon.  I shrunk the size and printed the digi paper on regular copy paper and then positioned the stamp on top and printed it again to fussy cut.  

I printed Cat on the Moon twice on Copic paper so I could fussy cut the moon's eye to glue on top. I colored with Copics using the resist technique for the background.  This just involves coloring the background with a number of shades and using a Q-tip dipped in Blending solution (or 91% Alcohol which is way cheaper) and dotting the paper.  The only trick is to let the alcohol dry before adding another dot of alcohol or it all blends in to make a big mess.  The image was cut with a Spellbinders large oval and popped with foam.  Just added some sticker stars and corners and a mat of glitter paper.

I'm adding this to the SUYP (cats only) #31 June challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends#84 AG, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #239 AG (3/3), Simply Papercraft #58 AG, Simon Says Wednesday AG ... 

Red and White Christmas

Playing on the Outlawz Forum using the Wednesday Sketch.  Decided to go through my bazillion dies to see what might look nice in the corners and came across this Sizzix Tim Holtz Christmas set with 3 different patterns I'd never used.  The poinsettia one worked best and I thought a simple color scheme with just the red and white would look rather elegant, but the plain red was a bit boring. Only a very tiny pattern really worked with the intricate dies and fortunately there was a piece of card stock with a subtle darker red just laying on top of my Christmas stash.  WooHoo!  The Noel sentiment die is also Tim Holtz for Sizzix and I balanced it out with a few flat backed red pearls.  Found a gorgeous red crinkle ribbon from DL.Art for the bow and called it done.

Here's the sketch.

I also added it to the Outlawz Festive Fridays Christmas theme, the DL.Art June Linky Challenge, Shopping Our Stash #360 Red, White, & Blue (or any combo thereof), Jo's Scrap Shack FFC#239 AG, the Scrapy Land challenge #92 AG w/die brands that Scrapy Land sells, Crafting by Designs Getting Ready for Christmas and Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 AG.

Be Original

Playing on the Outlawz Forum with this card for Tuesday Color.  The adorable image is # 2305 Meow Mermaid.  She's colored with Copics  in the inspiration colors and popped with foam.  

I saw a die on a card used as a wave and found out that it was unbranded but could be ordered only through a Canadian FB group, so my buddy Susan surprised me and sent it to me.  Thanks so much, Susan!  Doesn't it look cute as a wave?  Anyway, the Color Challenge also had a twist to "add circles" so behind her is a Spellbinders Grand Circle and Stately Grand Circle with some Large Ringlets by Memory Box (bubbles, if you ask me) thrown in for good measure.  The net was cut from a produce bad and the rest of the embellies are by JoLees Boutique.  The sentiment sticker is Tim Holtz Small Talk.

Here's the inspiration pic for the Outlawz Tuesday Color.  I chose green and purple (plus a little hot pink) for my additional colors with the twist explained above.

I'm entering this in the  DL.Art June Linky Challenge, SUYP #31 (Cat's Only) Furrything Goes, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 AG, Simon Says Wednesday Bright and Cheerful, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #239 AG, Simply Papercraft #58 AG, Always Fun Challenges #64 Fun at the Beach, Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #449 Under the Sea, the Corrosive Challenge June#6 AG 3/3, CCK June Cats or Dogs and Crafting With Friends #70 AG.

Guest Designing for SheepSki Designs FB Challenge

I'm thrilled to be joining the SheepSki Designs FB DT in Guest Designing for the New FB challenge.  The theme is ATG with a SheepSki image /w optional Add Flowers.  I've used the gorgeous Butterfly Girl, #148.  Isn't she just stunning?  I've colored her with Copics and had fun doing her hair (of course red for my first try,  LOL).  The Butterfly Girl image allows for lots of creative interpretation in doing her hair and I'm sure I'll be coloring her again and again.  Check out some more inspiration for her on Etsy HERE.  I tried to color the butterfly as a Swallowtail and added the butterflies behind her in black using the Butterfly Exhibit die from Memory Box.  The added flowers from my stash are from Petaloo.  

If you're not already a member of the SheepSki Designs FB Group, you can check it out HERE.  Andrea offers some amazing freebies for use in her FB challenge and there's also a Sheepski Challenge Blog where any image can be entered (but you get an extra image if it's a SheepSki Design.)  WooHoo!

I've cut and matted the image using Spellbinders circles and the fabulous vertical butterfly die is by Memory Box.  Flowers from my stash are from Petaloo.

I'm entering this in the  DL.Art June Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 AG, Simon Says Wednesday Bright and Cheerful,  The Outlawz Festive Friday AG,  Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #238 AG 2/3,  A Bit More Time to Craft #70 AG, Simply Papercraft #58 AG, TTRCD Week of June 19th, Craftaholics R Us, AG, the Double "D" Butterflies challenge and Inspiration Destination AG (final challenge, sniff sniff), the Butterfly Challenge #102 Spin the Butterfly Wheel with the letter "V" using Vegas Gold and Vertical Pattern (the butterflies set at a slight angle)  Hope that's okay, Scrapy Land Challenge #92 AG w/dies that SL sells ...

New Challenge at Aurora Wings

A brand new challenge starts today at Aurora Wings with the fabulous theme of

(Inspired by a Fairy Tale.)  I've chosen The fairy tale Cinderella and used the gorgeous Rococo Cinderella available HERE on AuroraWings.com and HERE on Etsy.  The Disney version we've all come to know and love was based on the original version by Charles Perrault (aka Mother Goose) but the Brothers Grimm had their own version later, as well, and I read some interesting facts about their version HERE. YIKES!

It took me a good while to color this flipped, enlarged and cropped version of Rococo Cinderella.  As you can see here, I printed it pretty big, planning to use a new dimensional frame die that I finally decided was more than I could handle without some practice.  I truly appreciate that Mitzi allows for a lot of creative interpretation when using her images.  This is the third time I've colored a version of this digi.  In this version, you can clearly see and enjoy the amazing detail Mitzi puts into her images.  You can see my other projects HERE and with the full background HERE.  Yup!  Same color scheme.  What can I say?  I'm a traditionalist.  LOL

Here's a closeup of the finished colored version, but not the first attempt.  This image is actually a full body view, so when I enlarged it to this size, it did not lose any resolution, but the outline enlarged as well making the black lines a bit bolder than I wanted, so I opted for a "no lines" version by changing the image color to a lighter gray before printing.

This is one of my first attempt as "no lines" so it took quite awhile to color with my Copics.  The lighter gray made some of the details fade and I made a  mistake by originally outlining her eyes with a black Memento pen, as I was afraid I would not be able to do as fine a line as needed with my Copics.  OMG! How harsh it was compared to the rest of the coloring!  I'd already spent hours on the skin and hair and was about to chuck it all and start over, but instead printed that portion of her face in a bit darker gray, recolored and fussy cut just the eyes and glued them over the offending mistake.  Crisis averted!  YAY!

Here's the dimensional view. I had a bit of a panic attack fussy cutting the image after all that work, but I managed. I used the largest of the Spellbinders Grand Labels One and it's fancy frame counterpart as the base for this project.  The DP is from the DCWV Luxury Stack.  The Dream sentiment is from Elizabeth Craft and clockworks behind and carriage are by Joy Crafts.  This really is too large to be a card, so I'm calling it a home decor piece.  I'll either attach an easel back to stand on a desk or shelf for inspiration or add a ribbon for hanging.  I'll decide another day.  Be sure to check out the AWCB to see the fabulous inspiration from my Aurora Team sisters and come play along.

Here's how to keep up with all that's happening at Aurora Wings.

Aurora Wings Challenge Blog (current challenge runs through July 14th)

Aurora Wings Showcase Blog

Aurora Wings Etsy Shop

Aurora Wings Digi Shop 

Aurora Wings FB Group 

Aurora Wings FB Fan Page

I'm entering this in the  DL.Art June Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 AG, Simon Says Wednesday Frame It,  The Outlawz Festive Friday AG, 613 Avenue Create AG, TTRCD Week of June 12, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #238 AG,  A Bit More Time to Craft #70 AG, Simply Papercraft #58 AG, World Wide Open DT Challenge #06 (June 15th 1/3), Digi Choosday Week #24 AG 2/2, Classic Design Team Open #26 3/3, Colouring in Scrapland June AG/optional Unicorns, Crafting from the Heart AG, Get Creative #70 Monochromatic, the Corrosive Challenge #6 June AG, Allsorts Week 472 Use at Least 2 Dies, Crafts Galore Encore June #52 AG, Creative Craft Cottage #108 AG, A Perfect Time to Craft #106 AG (3/3)...

Another New Sprite from the AuroraWings Showcase

We're celebrating the arrival of four new Sprites on the Aurora Wings Showcase Blog and I'm thrilled to be joining the Showcase team today for this fabulous new release.  Here we have the adorable Thistle Sprite.  Don't let those fuzzy tufts fool you.  Her leaves can be prickly if you don't watch out.  I've trimmed a die cut from Find It Trading to add to this design.  The bottom flowers looked like thistle heads to me.  The Dp is from K&Co and the sentiment is a sticker from Tim Holtz Small Talk.

Here's a closeup of Thistle Sprite.  I've colored her with Copics and fussy cut and popped her along with the bottom die cut.

I've also added a touch of texture with some flocking on the tips of her flower tufts.  She may be soft on the surface, but watch out!  This chickie can hold her own.

Thistle Sprite

JPG at AuroraWings.com     JPG at AW Etsy

PNG at AuroraWings.com     PNG at AW Etsy

Here's a little peek at the three other Sprites being showcased today.

Trumpet Honeysuckle Sprite

JPG at AuroraWings.com     JPG at AW Etsy

PNG at AuroraWings.com     PNG at AW Etsy

See my full project with Trumpet Honeysuckle Sprite HERE.

Buttercup Sprite

JPG at AuroraWings.com     JPG at AW Etsy

PNG at AuroraWings.com     PNG at AW Etsy

See my full project with Buttercup Sprite HERE.

Honeysuckle Sprite

JPG at AuroraWings.com     JPG at AW Etsy

PNG at AuroraWings.com     PNG at AW Etsy

Tell me you're not excited about these cuties!  Check out the fabulous inspiration from the Aurora Wings Showcase team on the Aurora Wings Showcase Blog and then hop to it.  You know you want 'em so here's a Coupon good in both AuroraWings shops through the weekend.  WooHoo!

OMG!  There's MORE!!!!!

Gotta say any of this beauties would be perfect for our current Joyous Occasions Challenge on the AWCB.  It ends at 11:59 PM EDT this Saturday so there's still time.  Hope to see you there.

I'm entering this in the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 AG, Simply Papercraft #58 AG, the Outlawz Festive Fridays AG, Inspiration Destination AG, the Crafty Addicts AG/Say it With Flowers, Digi Choosday Wk 24 AG 1/2, The Corrosive Challenge #6 June AG, Dragonfly Dreams June AG, A Bit More Time to Craft #69 AG, TTRCD Week of June 12th AG, ...

Four New Sprites at Aurora Wings!

EEEK!  I'm thrilled to be joining the Aurora Wings Showcase Team to introduce 4 new members of the beloved Sprite Family.  Could anything be more exciting?  After a very long cold winter for many of us, it's finally safe to say that summer is here and these four floral beauties are ready to grace your crafty garden.  Here's Buttercup Sprite, as bright and sunny as a summer day.  Is she precious or what?  I've used papers form the Lemon Floral Stack from DCWV and a gorgeous die by Jeanine's Art from Find it Trading.  The sentiment is one from Tim Holtz Small Talk Stickers.  The layered flowers in the corner are Prima.

Here's a closeup of Buttercup Sprite.  I've colored her with Copics in the traditional bright yellows normally associated the the flower, but she'd be equally adorable in any color that suits your imagination.  I generally take a look at photos of the actual flower to give me some direction and decided to add the center detail using small punches from my stash  The tiny beads in the center are called Prills and attached with a clear gel glue.  Links to this sweetie are below.

Buttercup Sprite

JPG at AuroraWings.com     JPG at AW Etsy

PNG at AuroraWings.com     PNG at AW Etsy

So are you ready for more?  How about a peek?  Here are the colored samples of the other 3 Sprites being Showcased, but you'll have to visit another post to see the finished projects.

Trumpet Honeysuckle Sprite

JPG at AuroraWings.com     JPG at AW Etsy

PNG at AuroraWings.com     PNG at AW Etsy

See my full project with Trumpet Honeysuckle Sprite HERE.

Thistle Sprite

JPG at AuroraWings.com     JPG at AW Etsy

PNG at AuroraWings.com     PNG at AW Etsy

See my full project with Thistle Sprite HERE.

Honeysuckle Sprite

JPG at AuroraWings.com     JPG at AW Etsy

PNG at AuroraWings.com     PNG at AW Etsy

Tell me you're not excited about these cuties!  Check out the fabulous inspiration from the Aurora Wings Showcase team on the Aurora Wings Showcase Blog and then hop to it.  You know you want 'em so here's a Coupon good in both AuroraWings shops through the weekend.  WooHoo!

OMG!  There's MORE!!!!!

Gotta say any of this beauties would be perfect for our current Joyous Occasions Challenge on the AWCB.  It ends at 11:59 PM EDT this Saturday so there's still time.  Hope to see you there.

I'm also entering this in the DL.Art June Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 AG, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC#237 AG 3/3, Simply Papercraft #58 AG, Crafty Calendar 3 of Something (flowers and pearls in corner) 3/3, the Outlawz Festive Fridays AG, Crafty Gals Corner Summer Colors, Inspiration Destination AG, Dragonfly Dreams June AG, A Bit More Time to Craft #69 AG, A Perfect Time to Craft AG, the Classic Design Team Open June 2/3...