When I'm feeling blue ... Zig Watercolour

Hello there! I'm back again with another watercolour using ZIG clean colour markers on Gesso coated cardstock. I really like working with the markers on this surface.

I'm pretty sure that my interpretation of the lyrics to 'A Groovy Kind of Love' is not what Phil Collins had in mind when I he made his cover hit back in the '80s:

 

I have combined two stamps by the very talented designer Donna Gray; the blue faced woman is called Beki and the other one is Serena. These stamps are sold by That's Crafty in the UK. I think they're super cool!! I wrote the text on my computer and hand doodled the frames.

I'm entering my card to the fun challenge blog Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers. The theme right now is 'W is for Watercolour', and my card is that - and with my added text it's a bit snarky, too, I s'pose ... ;-)

Thanks for looking!

Happy Halloween! Dancing Skeleton from Cherry Pie

Hallo-weeeen! I'm not really into Halloween or anything scary for that matter, but this skeleton stamp from Cherry Pie Art Stamps is just cute, don't you think? Look how happy he is!

 I helped my nephew (18) make a custom this year - well, he did most of it, 

all I did was painting this symbol on fabric for him: 

He dressed up as this character from a computer game:

Sheik is a character from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

My nephew doesn't want me to post pics of him wearing the finished costume, so you'll just have to take my word for it: It turned out great!!! I think it's really cool of an 18 year old to spend that much time making his own costume, instead of just buying one and be done with it. We had a blast sitting by the table creating together! He wore his costume for a Halloween party on Friday and will wear it again for another party next weekend.

We have bought lots of sweets in case some children from the neighbourhood come knocking on our door tonight. Hopefully there will be some sweets left for me .... (I better take a few now, just in case...).

I wish you all a very HAPPY Halloween,

or a just a regular Happy Monday :-) 

Thanks for looking!

CASology Challenge, Week #221: CURE

Hello there! When I saw that the cue word at CASology this week was CURE, I thought long and hard about all kinds of serious matters ...until deciding on a funny cure instead:

 

My card is featuring yet another beautiful stamp designed by my friend Donna Gray for That's Crafty! This one is called Serena. (Previously, I've used Bentley, Donna's adorable cat stamp on this card, and Beki, one of her whimsical women on this card). 

I've used my new ZIG clean color markers again - this time on cardstock with a coat of white Gesso - a tip I got from Donna.

I find it very interesting to experiment with these ZIG markers on different surfaces, and this has got to be the less expensive method: I used cheap cardstock and a cheap brand of Gesso, which I diluted with tap water and painted onto the cardstock with a broad paintbrush. I left it to dry completely before stamping with black archival ink.

The beauty of this method is that no matter how long the ZIG markers are left to dry, and they do dry  quickly, you can still go back to it days later and lift the colours up with water, or go in with a Zig marker to add more colour or to blend the colours.

I used a waterbrush to blend the colours of Serena's hair, adding dots of more colour here and there as I went along. Her face is coloured with three light ZIG markers, and water just to lift up some of the colour on the tip of her nose, chin, and her right cheek (left side from where we're looking at her). Notice how I goofed on the shadow and light on her neck? They should've been be reversed, with the light source coming from the same side as that of her face. I didn't see my blunder till after I had placed the card here in my post. Oh, well ....

A note about the text on my card: I wanted to use my Dymo to spell that sentence, but half through it ran empty of tape and I didn't have a replacement. That's the look I wanted, though, as a hard contrast to Serena's soft face, so I made the text on my computer instead. The band-aid is real, though :)

I made this card with one challenge in mind, 

and I'm entering it to only that one challenge:

 

Thanks for looking!

Watercolour on Yupo Paper - Cats Galore!

Hello, everyone! I've been having such fun experimenting with my new ZIG Clean Color Markers, using them on different kinds of paper.

For the challenges I'm entering today, I tested the markers on Yupo paper. Yupo is a synthetic but recyclable, tree-free paper with a plastic feel to it. The ZIG markers worked great! The Yupo paper allows for a long drying time, so the colours were super duper easy to blend.

 

Isn't that cat adorable? It's a stamp designed by my friend Donna Gray for That's Crafty in the UK. The cat's name is Bentley and the stamp is quite big (which I love): 10 cm tall and 6,5 wide. 

I stamped Bentley randomly around the paper (20,5 cm x 10,5 cm) with Archival ink, which took some time to dry on the Yupo paper, but once dry it stays.

After colouring in the cats using the watercolour markers, and a waterbrush here and there, I held my breath (not sure if I'd ruin it all) and lightly misted the painting with water....... and I did achieve what I wanted (phew!). I really like the imperfect "colour outside the lines" effect.

I'm entering my watercolour card to these three fine challenges:

Her peaceful garden: The 2016 Cat Lovers Hop

 

Crafty Creations #372: Watercolor

 

Moving along with the times, 32: Cute Animals

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Beki goes to Town with Zig Watercolour Markers

Hello everyone!
Do you know what it's like when you want to make something but you're not sure what? I bet I'm not the only one who often feel that way. So, what's a girl to do?? Ah - look at challenges, of course! That usually gets my mojo going, anyway. I went to the Paper Playful blog where there are hundreds of challenges listed, and started scrolling ....

The first challenge that caught my eye was that from the As you like it challenge
where the question this week is whether we prefer to use old or new stash (and why). I've never seen their challenges before, but I knew right away how to answer that question: I prefer BOTH! haha ;)
I like using NEW stamps, but OLD and beloved products, such as watercolour paper, Distress inks and Archival black ink. The reason why I prefer new stamps is that they are able to excite me in ways that older stamps usually don't - with a few exceptions of old faves, of course. The reason why I prefer using old products is that I have tried so many different kinds of papers and ink since I started stamping that I'm pretty sure I've finally found the ones that suit me the best - and why fix it if it ain't broken, right?

The next challenge I saw was The Crafter's Cafe #159: Use a new technique.
Yessss, I wanted to use my brand new ZIG Clean Color markers! What - no Distress inks this time? *ahem*  Well,  I love watercolouring with Distress inks but I had seen such lovely results with these watercolour markers that I had to have'em! Using them to colour in stamped images is a new technique for me and this is my first finished card.

So, there you have it. My mojo had been awakened! I decided to use some new stamps and a new product/new technique, and here's the result:

 

Those cool girls is a stamp called Beki, designed by Donna Gray for That's Crafty!

Isn't Beki lovely? I think she's super cool. Notice that little house dangling down from the blue and purple Beki's hair -  I love that detail! Besides, her hair house goes really well with these new Textured Houses stamps from Rubber Dance. The hair house on the yellow Beki ended up on her dress. I'm not a 100 % happy with how my watercolours turned out, but I'm sure I'll get a hang of those ZIG markers with a bit of practise. They're so juicy and vivid!! The first time I saw those markers in use was in fact on Donna's blog, so my colouring her Beki stamp with them is quite appropriate, isn't it? :)

I'm entering my card to these three challenges:

As you like it: Old or New stash? (I've answered that question above)

The Crafter's Cafe #159: Use a new technique (watercolouring with Zig markers)
Cards und More #169: Watercolour

Thanks for looking!

CASology Challenge, Week #220: COFFEE

This week's cue word at CASology is my cup of tea... or rather mug of coffee! Making coffee is the first thing I do in the morning and I drink it till I go to bed - no problems sleeping on caffeine :)

I made this card using stamps from my first stamp company (Stampinavia), which I sold in 2005. This is how we spell coffee in Norwegian:

Coffee beans stamped with Distress ink on watercolour paper, misted with water.

I'm entering my card to this challenge:

 

Thanks for looking!

 

CASology Challenge, Week #219: SPOOKY

Boo! I haven't made many Halloween cards before, but when the CASology Challenge asks me to make something, I will! That's what a challenge is, isn't it? ;-)

The gorgeous bat stamp is from Cherry Pie and the cobweb stencil is from Hero Arts. A friend gave that stencil to me last weekend, and this is the first time I use it (or part of it, anyway).

I'm entering my card to this challenge:

Thanks for looking!

CASology Challenge, Week #218: SUPPORT

This week, I will quote the CASology Challenge blog about the theme: "October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we'd like to send out a little love and support to those whose lives have been touched by this disease is some way!"

Thank you for supporting such an important cause, CASology! Here's to all the women who are fighting that awful desease right now, and to all of you who have and made it through:

 I coloured her bra in a brighter pink than the shorts, to give the area in question more focus.

There is a bling gemstone (aka diamond) attached to the ribbon,

and I added some glitter to her supporting bra:

 

I'm entering my card to this challenge:

Stamps used:
Meditating Woman: Cherry Pie
Beautiful Words: Rubber Dance (new sentiments, will be released soon)

Thanks for looking,

... and remember: You ARE fabulous!!! 

CASology Challenge, Week #217: CUTE

Hey, people! When I saw the cue word at the CASology Challenge this week, I had to remind myself that I like a good challenge - in the true sense of the word. I don't do cute! But I wanted to join this week as well, so I looked through my enormous collection of stamps to see if I could find anything that would pass as cute - and I did!

I think this viking baby is very cute and so adorable. It was designed by my cousin and friend Liv for my first stamp company, Stampinavia. Scandinavian images were not available at the time (1999), so I designed some and Liv designed quite a few for me (I love her drawings!).

I sold Stampinavia in 2005 when I went back to college and didn't have the time to run it any longer. Most of my old stamps are still available at Kreativ Hobby here in Norway, including this viking baby.

Anyway - I stamped the baby with waterproof ink on watercolour paper and coloured it in with Distress inks and a waterbrush. I know one woman who is pregnant, but I don't know whether it's a boy ... if not, I'll save this card for the next baby boy born into our family or circle of friends (or rather our friends' children - most of my friends are much too old to reproduce!!)

I'm entering my cute card to this challenge:

 

You have until Monday night to join ....

I was late this week because I had too much work to do (which is good),

but I've taken Sunday off to play with ink...  and I think I'll crawl back into my non-cute comfort  zone now ;-)

Thanks for looking!