Holiday 2018: "Peace & Joy" Xmas Tutorial

Welcome to my blog & the start of my Holiday 2018 series!

It's Elina here & I hope you are having a wonderful evening.

Today's project is a simple card that packs a graphic punch.

What do you get when you add a reindeer silhouette & Distress

Oxide inks...

Click the video link below to find out...

If you enjoyed the video, please make sure to leave a "Like".

Here's a close up pic you can check out as well:

I have to be honest I really love how the background turned out.

I think it adds interest to the card & compliments

the main focal image.

Be on the lookout for more card backgrounds using my

Distress Oxide inks.

I definitely need to get some more colors to add to 

my collection.

But I digress, let me tell you the important

card making facts.

Card Making Facts:

Card Base- 4 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Black card layer- 4 1/4" x 5 1/4"

Image panel: 4" x 5"

Well since I listed the facts about card I might as well

list the supplies used.

Supplies used:

Distress Oxide inks- "Broken China" & "Cracked Pistachio"

Stampin Up "Gold Glory" embossing powder

Stampin Up Embossing Buddy

Gold gel pen

VersaMark ink

Recollections Christmas Sentiments stamp set

And that's it.

I hope you enjoyed this project & video.

Make sure to join me later this week for the second video 

in this series.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great evening!

Hugs

Fall/Autumn 2018: "Thankful to be me" Coloring Tutorial

Welcome to my blog!

Hi everyone it's Elina here.

I hope you are enjoying your evening.

Today marks the finale of my Fall/Autumn 2018 series.

The project featured is a deeply personal one for me.

I started this series to highlight the season.
This time around I decided to use this series to pay tribute to
the special people in our lives.
So my last project featured a tree to represent family.
This time of year we give thanks for our family.
We remember those who have passed, celebrate the newest members
& embrace friends who make life worth living.

But what I've noticed is that we often forget the most
important person of all: Ourselves.
It was with this idea in mind that I decided to
draw a portrait of myself.
This was not an easy one for me to do
let me tell you.
Just trying to capture my appearance as a drawing was horrifying.
To keep things simple I tried to capture the most
distinguishing characteristics that make me me.

My glasses was an easy one to draw as well as my
usual updo.
Where it becomes difficult is trying to translate the look
to reflect the season.
So I opted to draw myself as slowly dissolving into a pile of leaves.
A little trippy but it captures the fall theme.

For the coloring I tried my best to match the tone of my skin,
hair, eyes & glasses.
But then I chose to fade out the coloring on one side of my face
to create the illusion of dissolving away.
That part of the coloring was the trickiest.
I feel that I could have achieved that look if
I would have tried some different techniques but
it is what it is.

You can check out the pic below:

You can check out the coloring tutorial below to see how this came together:

It's taken me a long time to try to accept the person that I am.
And for me it's still a work in progress.
I have my good days & my bad days.
My days filled with regret & my days filled with joy.
But I try to take everything day by day.
I still judge myself pretty harshly but I'm
slowly learning how to lower that negative part of
myself that says, "You can't..."

My hope is to be able to love myself flaws and all
& just be happy.

I hope you enjoyed this project & thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,