Sweet but twisted

So the December challenge over at Simply Challenged Challenges was to use traditional Christmas colours of red, green, silver and gold.  I decided to use Candy Cane London because I had already coloured her up for the December challenge at the SBS Fan Group page.  And here she is.

Copic colours:

Skin E000, E00, E02, E11 (cheeks E93)

Eyes E23, E27, E29

Lips R22, R24, R29

Hair YR20, YR12, YR14, YR16

Greens G000, G00, G02, G05, G07, G14, G28, YG00, YG03, YG06, YG23

Reds R20, R22, R24, R37, R59, R89, RV21, RV23, RV29, colourless blender

White areas C-1, C-3, colourless blender

I’d bought a couple of stacks of Christmas papers but neither had anything that fitted with what I wanted to do on this card so I printed some off myself.  The mint lollies were pictures of real ones I found on the net, I added Liquid Glass to the lolly to make them look more real.  The embossing is from the Cuttlebug Celebrate Christmas set, which had candy canes so was just perfect.  I wanted some buttons but couldn’t find any in the craft shops so I made my own using the same lolly pictures and the candy canes that come in the Candy Cane London stamp and shrink film.  I added Liquid Glass to them too to make them look like acrylic buttons.

The card needed something but I couldn’t add ‘Merry Christmas’ as I’d already stamped that inside so I Googled candy cane quotes and found an e-card with the sentiment “I’m sweet but twisted so that must make me a candy cane” and adapted it to suit.  I made the question mark by warping the candy cane in Photoshop and using the skull from London’s belt buckle for the dot.

I wanted the inside to be nice too so I printed more of the candy cane stripes and added the two candy canes that come with London.  The stamp is from a CTMH Christmas set and I used sponge daubers to add the ink, they’re from the Tim Holtz Winter distress set.

I’ve got this finished just in time to enter it in the Simple Challenged Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Requiem

This post is a special one in memory of the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  You don’t have to be an American, you don’t have to be a parent, you don’t have to have ever lost anyone you love to be saddened by and feel sympathy for the families of those who lost their loved ones in the tragic events; you just have to be human.

I cannot begin to imagine the pain of the families who, instead of wrapping presents and putting up decorations, are burying their children, their mothers, wives, sisters.  When tragedy of this kind happens to us, it is not the big things that help us heal but time and lots of little things.  So when I read Betty’s post about sending a card I knew I had to do so.

Betty was so moved by the tragedy that she created this beautiful angel and not only made her own card with her but is sharing it with all who want to make one also.  Check out her blog to get all the details.  If you are crafty please make one also, if not then when you’re doing your last minute Christmas shopping add a card for the families to your shopping and, if you can, donate to one of the memorial funds established to help them.

Here is the card that I made and have sent to let the families know that even half way round the world they’re in people’s thoughts.  There is a flower for each of the 26 victims at the school.

Thanks for stopping by and please keep the families in your thoughts.  And, because tragedy can strike at any time to anyone, never miss an opportunity to tell those you love just how much you care about them.

FANciful illusions

The current challenge over at the Simply Challenged Challenges blog is to create movement.  There’s also a new line of Bettys out celebrating all that is burlesque so I just had to colour up one of them for this challenge.

Here she is, Betty Feathers.

Copic colours I used were:

Hair YR14, YR20, E23, E27, E29

Skin E000, E00, E11, E13 E93 (cheeks), R22, R24, R29(lips)

Eyes E23, E27, E30

Eye shadow B00, B02, B05

Fans and Shoes R22, R24, R29, R46, R59, R89

So the trick with creating movement is to have more than one image and get progressively lighter as you colour.  Go check out Ruby Montes’ blog to see how this should be done properly.

Me, I had to make it harder and add some decoupage in there, although I kinda messed up.  I was looking at Feathers done up and couldn’t figure why she looked a bit flat until I was tidying up my tools and saw my embossing tools.  I forgot to round her out before I glued her together and by the time I realized I’d also put her into the frame so there was no going back!  I also used red for the feathers, the part I wanted to make look like it was moving, and red and colourless blender is about the hardest combination.

Being a burlesque dancer Feathers needed a spotlight so I inked the background in yellow and she needed a suitable glitzy stage so cue the shadowbox card.  Check out the post at Corinne’s blog for directions and to see an awesome shadowbox card or two. 

The paper I used for the frame is from Magnolia, it seemed fitting with all the French writing.  The sparkly trim is from a recent Blitsy sale while the roses are from my stash.  I used some Smooch Spritz on them to add some sparkle and make them all a similar colour as I didn’t have matching ones in the two sizes.  I had to brave the Christmas shoppers today and head to the craft store to buy the feathers as I didn’t have any.

Next time I try the movement technique I think I stick to 2D but I like how she turned out, mistakes and all.  I’ve finished this in time so I’m going to enter this in the Simply Challenged Challenges’ challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!