Light and Airy at Crafts & Me

Evening all!  I'm back woo hoo!  That flu was pretty nasty and I'm still worn out so just pacing myself a bit so I dont get any more nasties that are doing the rounds at the moment.
Have one to share tonight and ts my turn to host over at Crafts & Me challenges and I chose "Light and Airy Spring colours" thinking baa lambs, fluffy bunnies, all the pastels that are starting to bloom.

I had a mooch through my images and this one by Sara Burrier spoke to me the most as she's floating (airy geddit lol!) and I even had a go at Deb's clouds tutorial.
The image is called JULY and is a digi and coloured with promarkers, I intermingled the blues and pinks on the dress and feather blended the wings in pink and yellow adding sakura stardust clear pen over them for sparkles.  Papers are the tatty teddy spring collection and the garden gate die cut is from the doily dealer on ebay :)

Hope you can come join in the challenge this week :)

I'd like to enter into...

Flutterby Wednesday - Open
Little darlings challenge - colours of spring
Celebrate the Occasion - Welcome Spring
Craft room challenge - bling & glitter
Crazy amigo challenge - spring
Creative stamp friends - spring
Incy wincy - things with wings

A bit Goth

Evening all!  Early tonight as I have a date with The Mentalist :)))
Been in a bit of a Marilyn Manson mood today and opted to colour in Elainia which is a new digi by Hannah Lynn over at Crafts & Me. 

The actual digi doesnt come with too many swirls in the hair so its nice for beginners as you can just do a solid block of colour and trace a bit darker around the outlines like the original whereas I kinda put a line in here and a line in there and you know how it is the pen just runs away with you and you end up with curls and twirls :)  Had a lot of fun though :)

I added some make up and pinky purple cheeks and added 4 little dots with a white gel pen and mounted in a frame made with a corner adourner.  The black organza ribbon bow looked too neat so I shredded the ends and Ive used one of the Tim Holtz clock dies with pine needsles distress ink and a little doily dyed with my purple versacolor ink pad (then it finally fell apart lol!)  I dyed some of the flowers black and purple with promarkers and added some black nail heads and the clock hands on the bottom right.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!

BTW Promarkers used (As I know you find it helpful but I'm so forgetful!) were..

Orchid, Purple, Aubergine (Hair/Eye make up)
Blush, Orchid, Fuschia (Skin/cheeks)
Cool grey 1, 3, 5, Black (Clothes)
Grass, Lush (Eyes)

I'd like to enter into....

I Love Promarkers - Anything goes

One stitch at a time - Use a digi

Hotshot Crafts - Ribbon

Now on video!

Evening all!  Nearly forgot the time then! Been working on some video tutorials yay!  Oh yes Vixykins scribbling on vid :D  I've wanted to do it for ages and have been asked loads of times but I never know how to mount the camera and the video format on my regular camera isnt compatible or something but I've found it really easy to upload vids I take on my android so thought I'd go that route instead.  Nothing fancy, no fancy graphics as I KNOW I'll never get round to the editting and by the time I do the stuff I use would be discontinued lol!
So today I had a brain wave about using my DD's car kit thingy she has for her iphone which is free standing so checked and fiddle faffed a bit and got a decent enough angle so I'm off!

I've uploaded 4 today colouring in Peony Tails Tilda in various stages so one is the skin tones, another is the flower.  A lady who buys a few of my cards and stuff is learning how to colour so I asked her which stamp she'd like to learn and she chose Peony Tails so there it is :))

You can find my tutorials on you tube channel Vixykins or clicky below

Vixykins You Tube!

I have a few other random vids there too like the Lymm May Queen which is random stuff they do in the village with Morris Men and a guy wth a beard dressed as a woman, its a bit like that round 'ere :)

Here's the finished one from the tutorial today, it was a quickie for me so aint perfect but you get the gist. Hopefully I'll be adding lots more in future.



Colouring card for Marker Pens review

Evening all!  I thought I'd do a little comparison test for the various brands of card that are on the market.  I will add to this as I go along so will pin the post in the sidebar.

I'm always on the search for the holy grail of colouring card.  It has to have the right amount of bleed for blending, a good weight and give me value for money.  I know some people try one brand and swear by it never trying anything else and blindly recommending it as the bees knees to anyone that asks however I and several of my fellow colourists are always searching, always trying to find the best of the best so I've brought some together with the results below.  If you are a company wanting to be road tested and added to the card wall of fame then feel free to send me a sheet or two for comparision.

The basic requirement of colouring card is that it is smooth and flat.  Its how its finished on the surface that makes the difference. 

The views expressed below are my own personal findings from somebody who colours in markers every single day with nearly 3 years colouring experience.  The test involves holding the pen at the same angle and tension for 10 seconds to assess the bleed, Drawing a straight line down over 5 seconds and colouring 3 colours to feel the surface of the paper.

I am not affiliated with any company below.

You can click on the pic for a larger view.

BASIC COPIER PAPER

I thought I'd start with the basic of the basics in that its smoothish and flat and yes you can colour on it.  On the dot test it gives 4mmx5mm which is quite a lot so you'd likey run over the lines all the time.  Its certainly not ideal for colouring or blending and the surface feels pretty rough.


COLORTECH (XEROX) 250GSM

This is my favoured or has been for the past few months.  Reams are about £15 for 200 sheets and the card gives good results for blending, not too much bleed 3.5mmx4mm and is a nice weight for regular stamping, base card and digital printing.  Ive found it to be a very versatile all rounder.


DIAMOND WHITE (THE PAPETERIE 300 GSM)

This is one of the newer ones hitting the crafting market lately.  Made by Argo Wiggins and available via The Papeterie, this card comes per box, which is a generous size and in 300 GSM which is pretty thick or 160 GSM which is just a bit thicker than paper although I hear they've brought out a middle range 250 GSM which will be perfect.  It performs well, bit less bleed than colortech, feels nice and smooth and blends well.  This is about £6.95 per box but watch out for offers such as 2 for £12 and delivery I think is £6.95 for up to 6 boxes so get together with your crafting buddies.
This is an excellent performer and fantastic value for money.


NEENAH (CRAFTERS COMPANION 216GSM)

Oh dear oh dear oh dear.  This didn't perform well at all.  I tried using this the other day and the ink was feathering over the lines.  It had the highest bleed of all, even higher than basic copier paper and is marketed as suitable for use with marker pens.  At around £4 for 20 sheets its an expensive, poor performing card which will leave you immensely frustrated.  On the plus side its a nice weight to print digital papers and decoupage, if a bit expensive, but for markers, avoid!


PAYPER BOX BASIC SMOOTH WHITE

This is one I picked up in a pick n mix by Payper box.  Its around 220gsm as feels about the same weight as Neenah though could be a little less but I bought it in mind for printing digi papers on.  I gave it a whirl for colouring on and it performed alright, it had a fair bit more bleed than the xerox and diamond white but if you want something to practice on at low cost its a pretty good buy although the diamond white from Papeterie is much more generous on the box sizes I have to say as its about the same price for half the size of box.  Its lovely to print digi papers and decoupage though.


WHISPER WHITE (STAMPIN UP 220 GSM)

Well what can I say, this is by far the best performer, gives the least bleed of all and blends really well, feels as smooth as a babys bum and I've long been a fan of it BUT yep there is a big BUT it is so expensive!  Last time I bought it, it was getting on for £7 a pack of 40 which is very very expensive and some people dont like the colour as its nowhere near as white as the others.  I think this is a save for best ie magazine submissions but for your general colouring you get far better value for money with the diamond white moreso if you buy in bulk with a friend.

Yellow & Pearls at Passion for Promarkers

Evening all!  Nearly forgot the time then lol!  Been scribbling all evening and trying out some new cardstock.  Will put a review of my findings tomorrow ;)


Righto its a new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers and this week the theme is Yellow & Pearls.  We're sponsored by Crafts & Me who's offering a prize of 3 digis of your choice and what a choice!

For this I used the new Stamping Tilda coloured in yellows and added a flower and ribbon with a heart shape die cut and a doily (From The Doily Dealer) and when I sorted out my stash the other day I found a LOAD of lace my nan had bought me so have used some of that too and added some pearls and a little butterfly.

Short n sweet from me tonight, I'm engrossed in a card at the mo so quick brew then back to work (or play as my OH calls it!)

I'd like to enter into....

My time to craft - Doilys and flowers

All things bright and beautiful

I know I know corny or what haha!  I do struggle with post titles sometimes lol!  Well I've finished me scribblings tonight and I've got some images staring at me shouting to be coloured, I swear I must be addicted to promarker fumes or something!  Maybe I should start a help group....  Actually I'm not alone, I think a few of us on Promarker Paradise facebook group have the same affliction!

Ethan's a bit better today so just keeping him off one more day whilst he gets his immune system back in shape and pumping him full of vitamins.  Even found a medicine he'll take as he goes mad if you try giving him calpol, he HATES it!  The Lloyds pharmacy equivalent is cherry flavour so he's quite happy with that.  Kinda liked having him home on his own as we dont get to spend much time just the two of us and of course when your kids are sick they just want cuddles so gonna miss him when he goes back school.

As promised I finished off my little scribbling and this one is by Hannah Lynn (Digi) and is called OCEAN ROSE.  The original is colured very boldly so I went along with that, mind you all Hannah Lynn ones scream COLOUR MEEEEEE! I've added lots of glamour dust and left the rose white and glittered too and made a little stick pin :)  It has lace, a gem brad, a brad with a flower printed on, stick pin, glitter, hot pink sticky gems, swirly bits, flowers and nice papers with a tim holtz sentiment :) 

Promarkers were cerise, mulberry, violet and orchid for the hair and aquamarine (flex) duck egg, turquoise and marine for the blue bits

I'd like to enter into...

Simon says stamp and show - Anything goes
That Craft Place - Anything goes
Craft your passion - Easel
Crafty Boots - Glitter
Creative Mondays - ANything goes