I'm going to see Bon Jovi!!!

Yep - I'm off tomorrow and heading to Sydney to see Bon Jovi in concert.  Am totally stoked (not least because I'm going with a friend and we're leaving the fellas and the kids behind - whoooo hooo!)

So, in anticipation of not being able to post for a couple of days, if not more, I have put together another card.  Still another of the talented Mo Manning's many offerings - this one is part of a set: North Pole Employees.  Just too cute to resist for this holiday season!

Don't ask me what Copics I used.  The cardstock is SU! Taken with Teal, the aqua background paper is from a 6x6 paper pad by Black Market Paper Society called "Lucky n Love" and the other background paper has been done using Adirondack ink "Wild Plum" and a SU! jumbo roller "Petals", and then smudged slightly (it's not quite so intense as it looks).

I have also just received my first three Tilda stamps, one of which (Silent Night Tilda) I just had to have once I had seen Carole over at Apples & Pears use her so many times - go have a look: Apples & Pears.  Isn't her colouring amazing?  I'm jealous as all get out, but it gives me something to aspire to *grin*.

So there you go - an update for the weekend, while I go paint the town red in Sydney.  Wish me luck - Sydney had an incredible amount of rain today - from what Will was telling me, two nasty storm cells met in the middle and then tried to float the city into the harbour.  Hopefully it will have sorted itself out by tomorrow, both for the trip up there (I'm driving) and for the concert (at the Sydney Football Stadium).

I might wander over to the Bureau of Meteorology site and have a look...

Happy crafting,
Bron

Sodding computers...

Don't know why technology hates me - I really don't (she mutters, typing a new blog entry furiously)!  I got up yesterday and was inspired to make a card using a Hanglar Spanglar image I managed to get hold of (Hanglar Spanglar is a fabulous stamp company who unfortunately don't sell their products outside Sweden, Norway and Finland - arrrgggghh!), which means that if you can grab an image from any of your Scandinavian friends, do!

Anyways, I had coloured the image and she was sitting there, taunting me, now I have a blogspot. So I just started chucking stuff together.  The card took form really quickly (for me), so I finished it off, took the required photos, uploaded them on the computer.... and then stalled.  I did nothing different from anything I have done in the previous two weeks, when uploading pics.  I swear.  But would the final images load?  Noooooo...

I got in a huff, turned my computer off (at the wall) and did other stuff.  Came back this morning in a much more tolerant mood and had another go. 
Here are the results:

I don't have the list of the Copics I used, because I coloured her about a fortnight ago, and wasn't taking notes at the time (sorry!).  Also, have no idea what brand the cardstock is.  However, the paper layers are both from 6x6 Basic Grey paper pads - "Jovial" for the dark layer and "Figgy" for the paler one with the diamonds on it.

I tweaked her a little bit from this image (highlighted with white gel pen etc) before I made the card.

Hope you like her.

Happy crafting,

Bron

The silly season cometh

For some reason, I am seriously behind the eight ball when it comes to Christmas this year.  I have almost no presents bought, I cancelled the "putting up the tree" party I always throw on the weekend in December closest to the 1st and even though the tree went up, it was a quiet and fairly uneventful day which left me feeling a bit... anticlimactic - a bit "is that IT?" about the whole thing.  It hasn't helped that a drought which has lasted for over a decade has broken (and how!) here on the east coast of Australia, and Will (and I, to a lesser extent) have been twitchy, waiting for the calls for him to go and help man a crew to aid with the clean up (he belongs to the volunteer Rural Fire Service, a part of Emergency Services and as such, gets called out to fight fires, clean up disaster sites or mop up floods - depending on which hissy fit Mother Nature is throwing at the time).

So it's been a little chaotic around here for a week or two, although they are saying that we are looking at some decent weather for the next 4 days or so, which is a real relief.  Perhaps I can clean my house and get rid of the quantities of mud which has been tracked in (not to mention getting some clothes out on the line and actually still having them there, and dry, a few hours later - the wind has been revolting, too).

Will has taken the girls out to see the Christmas lights in suburbs close by, so I've taken this chance to blog and upload the card I made out of Mo Manning's image:

Ink: Stampin Up "Glorious Green" and "Real Red"
Paper: Inque Boutique "Memoirs" (grey under the image)
Crate Paper "Restorations Collection" (red under the grey)
Stampin Up "Glorious Green" cardstock
Stamp set Stampin Up "Tiny Tags"
Tiny Tag punch from Stampin Up
Silver brads and metallic pipecleaners from my stash.

I did some extra shading with Copic C5 and C9 underneath the image.

Happy crafting,
Bron

Catching up

Haven't posted for a couple of days.  Don't know if that is correct or not - how often do bloggers post?  What is the norm, do you think?  I think it is too much to ask for a daily post, but I was kinda hoping to make it at least every other day.  And now I'm thinking I need to revise that goal down to "when I can".  Considering I am basing my knowledge of blogging on movies like "Julie & Julia", my expectations are pretty high, I guess.  That chick was not just posting, but cooking on a daily basis.  Hell of a way to start your blogging life.  So yeah, time for a blogging reality check, methinks.

My youngest daughter (I have two) was not feeling well yesterday, so her dad stayed home with her.  And today I was home - so I'm taking the chance to blog this evening, just in case life, the universe and everything gets in my way tomorrow.  Or the next day....

I finished the card using the image of the bear with the Christmas cracker I posted the other day.  Wanna see?

Not too bad, huh?  The cardstock is Stampin Up (Lovely Lilac and Summer Sun), the sentiment is from the SU set "Best Yet" and the paper is from the Basic Grey 6x6 pad "Sugar Rush".  All the other details are in my previous post.

Now I've got to work on the next card - it's using an image by Mo Manning, who is totally, awesomely talented and I love her sketches.  I've coloured the image with Copics:

R-46 (Strong Red) for the hat, B00 (Frost Blue) for shading on the pom pom and the hatband, G16 (Malachite) and G19 (Bright Parrot Green) for the bow and C-3, C-5, W-4 and W-6 for the fur.

Now it's time to put him (her?) on a card.  Someone posted a comment asking if I colour with papers and cardstock already chosen.  I don't.  I just colour the picture (the easy part) and then start going through my stash of stuff to find papers, cardstock, ribbon and other embellishments which work.  This is the hard part, for me.  I sometimes get so swamped with all the choices, I stall and the card doesn't get made for ages.  Or sometimes it just doesn't "speak to me" and the card doesn't get made for ages.  I get a great deal of pleasure out of colouring images - making the cards is usually a much more difficult process for me.  Of course, there are always the cards which pop into my head fully formed - and that's when I spend hours chasing down that paper or ribbon or embellishment I am absolutely certain I have, but can't for the life of me find.  Drives me out of my gourd with frustration.  So the card doesn't get made for ages.  Hmmmmmm... I'm sensing a pattern here.

So that's my process *grin*.  Good thing I'm not in it for the money, or I'd be living in a cardboard box (a very prettily coloured and embellished cardboard box, but still....)

Until next time, happy crafting,
Bron

Crazy day...

Well, today has been a crazy day!  Went to the gym this morning with a friend, then went and did some grocery shopping, came home and the heavens opened up and just poured!  We had water all the way to our back door - I had to go out and broom it down the driveway so we didn't get flooded (been there and done that before - never want to go there again).

So not much time for crafting today.  I'm going to upload one of the images I coloured a couple of nights ago - a beautiful one I recently bought from Lili of the Valley.  All of their images are just gorgeous and were so hard to choose from.  I must admit, I got carried away and bought more than a handful - but then, I'm not just a crafter, I'm a collector - my studio can attest to that!  I have even had craft friends drag their husbands into my studio specifically to point and say "See, honey - no more complaining - it could be worse - I could ask for one like this!"  Hee hee!

Anyways, enough of that.  Here is the image I was talking about - isn't he just lovely?

Copics:
G85 - Verdigris (grass)
E71 - Champagne (pale fur)
E74 - Cocoa Brown (dark fur)
BV13 - Hydrangea Blue (main cracker)
BV04 - Blue Berry (shadows on cracker)
R46 - Strong Red (hat)
YR24 - Pale Sepia (stars)
Y23 - Yellowish Beige (yellow highlights on cracker)
The image was stamped using Memento's Tuxedo Black, onto Eckersley's Bleedproof Marker Pad (70gsm).

And there you have it.  I will upload a picture of the card I make with him at a later date.
Writing about Cocoa Brown has given me a hankering for some hot cocoa, so I'm off to grab a cuppa and read a book.  I will catch you all anon...

Happy crafting,
Bron

Second blog entry - and hopefully, first photos!

So, this is a card I did for Tammy at A Day for Daisies, when she was just opening her new online store.  I can highly recommend it!  It's not one of the ones she used in her "Sketchbook", although I have a couple in there, so I thought I would share it with you all.

I coloured her with Copic markers (don't ask me which ones - I promise I will try and keep a list of what I use for any other cards I put up here, but this one was before I entered the realms of blogging).  Am pretty happy with how she turned out.

Here is a second one I did for A Day for Daisies - this one is featured in the site Sketchbook:

I am pretty happy with this one, too.  Again, she is coloured with Copics and I was just starting to get a handle on shading.  Now I'm moving on to trying to get some texture into my images - a bit more of a challenge, I'm finding.  I'll try and post some images that I've done in the last couple of days soon - once I have them made up into cards, I think.

But for now, it is time for some well earned rest.  After all, I have conquered my Luddite-esqe apprehensions and ventured forth into new and exciting realms.

Happy crafting,

Bron

My first blog!

Okay - so recently (and I'm talking the last week or so) I've been zooming around the blog-o-sphere, finally finding out what all the fuss is about.  What an amazing place...

There I was, sitting pretty in my own little space, not realising what worlds were out there to explore (it should probably be on my time, from now on, rather than during lunchtimes at work which seem to run over a little bit...okay, more than a little bit).  Still, I'm here now and I must say, I am very impressed by what I've seen so far. 

I love bouncing from blogspot to blogspot, on my own personlised blog hop (see, I'm even learning the terminology).

And the inspiration I have received from these sites! I have coloured 7 and a half images with my copics in the last two days (that might not seem like much to some of you, but trust me when I say that it has been a LOOOOOONNNG, sad and mojo-less dry spell for this crafter!  A dry spell which, I am incredibly happy to say, seems to have broken.

Once I get the hang of these settings, I will upload some pics of what I've been doing, so you can happy dance with me.  It's all shiny!