Possitive vibes

This little guy just makes me feel so happy and summery. This whole Gnome matter what set is just so cute. I coloured this one with my Nuvo alcohol markers. The background I made by cutting a rectangle out of white card with the stitched rectangle die then using the grassy lass die cut to cut the grass shape across it. Next I inked the sky half in Mermaid lagoon and a touch of faded jeans and the grass half in twisted citron with a touch of mowed lawn distress oxides. Finally I put them back together and layered them on another piece of white card then black card again which I cut using the stitched rectangle dies.

The sentiment is from the Heffy Doodle whatcha saying now? set and I cut the speach bubble from the coordinating die set. For a finishing touch I added the nuvo drops right across the whole card.

I am entering this card for the following challenges:

Give a crafter a cookie - Photo inspiration and I have used the colours from the cookies to inspire me.

Southern Girls - Anything goes

Heffy Doodlers FB group - Happy mail

Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes

Love to craft - Anything Goes

Paper craft challenges - Spring

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog. I would love it if you would follow me and leave me a link to your blog so I can follow you back :)

Huge hugs

Amy xx

Hope to sea you soon

I could send this card to so many people at the moment. I am really loving having the extra time to be able to craft but I am missing seeing people too. I hope you are all keeping safe.

For this card I have used a whole range of fun Heffy Doodle products. The back ground I inked with tumbled glass, mermaid lagoon and blueprint sketch distress oxides through the bubble waves stencil. 

The shaker itself I made using the tag along die. This die makes shakers so simple as you can just cut the front, back, acetate and I even used it to cut the foam frame so it all fitted together perfectly! 

The adorable shark is from the oceans of love stamp set as is the sentiment. For the background in the shaker I again did some ink blending with the same colours but this time I used the rays the roof stencil before adding all my little shaker bits. I coloured the shark with Nuvo markers.

I cut one of the thinnest stitched strips of ease and embossed my sentiment on it with some opaque bright white Wow! embossing powder then finished the whole card off by adding a few gold coast nuvo drops. 

I am entering this card for the following challenges:

A Place to start - Create a custom background 

Make my Monday - Tone on tone background

All fun challenges - Anything goes

Lil' patch of crafty friends - Anything goes

A perfect time to craft - Anything goes

A bit more time to craft - Anything goes

Crafty Animals - Anything goes

Creative craft cottage - Make it masculine 

Dies R Us - Seas the day

Comparing markers

I have been lucky enough to amass quite a range of markers for colouring in all of the amazing stamps I have and thought it would be fun to try colouring the same image with each type keeping the colours as close as I can to be able to give a real comparison.
While trying to pick my image I found that I had stamped out a lot of these little Nelly Snellen fairies and I had coloured one years ago with Spectrum noir Classique pens. So that became my starting point and I tried to match the others to that.

Here are some of my colour charts. If you have Spectrum noir tri-blends I made the chart myself and have added a blank version to my blog so you can feel free to download it and use it :D 

And this is what they look like all together. There were a few differences in colours as there were some ranges like the Nuvos that just didn't have such a dark or bright pink in them. So that is more of a pastel colouring. I still think it looks pretty so it just depends on what you are looking for. Also for the Tri-blend markers it would have been possible to get a closer colour by mixing the pens but I made the decision to stay true to the way they are designed and so just use one pen for each colour and I went for what I thought was the closest option. All in all I had a lot of fun colouring these up and trying out all my pens like this. It took quite a while working out the pen combinations to match the colours but I enjoyed the process. I have said a little bit about what I personally felt about each type of pen and the colours combinations I used for them in this next bit. Maybe it will help you if you are looking to invest in any other pens.

The main reason that I stopped using the old version of the spectrum noir classique pens is that they had a really bad habit of drying out quickly and the ends of the pens would come off with the lids and wreck something I had just been colouring for hours.....that said I understand they have now sorted these problems out and they are a lot better now. This was done with the very old version of the pens.


Colours used -
Skin: TN2, EB1
Hair: EB8, EB5, TN7
Wings: OR1, CT3
Dress and shoes: Pink - DR5, BP6, BP2      
                            Blue - TB6, TB5, TB3












The Spectrum Noir Tri-blends definitely took the least time to work out and I really do think they give a great range and make it very quick to get a good blend. The pink does not have as much contrast as I would like but I could over come that by using the bright pink blend pens along with the bright pink shade pen.


Colours used - 
Skin: Fair skin blend
Hair: Tan Shades
Wings: Gold Yellow blend
Dress and shoes: Pink - Bright Pink shade      
                            Blue - True Blue shade
















The promarkers I have had for many many years and they are still going strong. I have never had a pen go dry on me and I have had some of the ones I used here for over 10 years! I think that says a lot for their quality and the amount of ink they hold.


Colours used -
Skin: Saffron, Vanilla, Ivory
Hair: Umber, Burnt Sienna, Cinnamon
Wings: Gold, Sunflower, Lemon
Dress and shoes: Pink - Maroon, Carmine, Pink Carnation  
                            Blue - Indigo Blue, French Navy, True Blue














The Nuvo markers are really nice and blended very easily but I think they could do with having more of a range and the caps were sometimes a little fiddly to get off because of the oval shape to them.



Colours used -
Skin: 478, 475, 495
Hair: 465, 463, 464
Wings: 404, 405, 401
Dress and shoes: Pink - 454, 452, 450
                            Blue - 431, 430, 428












The Spectrum noir illustrator pens have a very good range and have a brush nib unlike the others in this selection which are all bullet nibs. This makes them more fluid to use and you can get a tiny line or a thick line from the same nib. However the brush isn't always as neat as I would like and I had one that was almost frayed at the end. I was able to trim it a tiny bit but feel that I shouldn't really have to.



Colours used - 
Skin: FS6, FS9, FS8
Hair: EB7, EB5, TN4
Wings: GY4, CT4, CT1
Dress and shoes: Pink - BP6, BP4, BP3     
                            Blue - TB7, TB6, TB3











Arteza everblend pens are the newest range to me and I hadn't really used them until now. They have a decent range although I found some of the colours are very similar. They have a lot of bright colours and if fact were brighter than my original spectrum noir classiques version. They certainly don't seem to go for subtle. They were again very easy to use and I found the triangular barrel to the pens easy to hold. I also like the fact they come in a carry case so they are very easy to take with you if you are going out somewhere to do your colouring and it is at no extra cost.




Colours used -
Skin: Apricot, Peach, Pale peach
Hair: Cocoa Brown, Cinnamon, Ginger
Wings: Yellow Ochre, Sunflower Yellow, Pineapple Yellow
Dress and shoes: Pink - Cerise Pink, Bubblegum Pink,
                                       Blush Pink  
                            Blue - Denim, Sapphire, Carolina Blue








So overall I think they are all good pens and it just really depends on what you are looking for. For ease I would go for the tri-blends. If I wanted a bright punchy image and especially if I was planning on doing a bit of moving around to colour I would probably go for the Arteza everblends. If I have time and want to be able to achieve a range of colours I would go for either the Spectrum Noir Illustrators or my faithful promarkers. There are some colours in the Nuvo markers that don't seem to be covered in the other sets which I quite like, particularly for adding accents and shade to things that I want to look white.
The reality is you need to find what works for you personally and don't be afraid to mix and match as all of these are alcohol markers and can be blended together.

I hope you are all having a good weekend and staying safe. If you have any questions about any of these brands please just ask away :)

Huge hugs

Amy xx

Monkeying around

I have been wanting to get these adorable little cheeky chaps onto cards for ages. For this first card I have used Paper addicts colour pop paper and some green card scraps torn to make kind of vines or leaves. Some yellow and orange Nuvo drops in the corners and coloured the monkey with the following Nuvo alcohol markers:

Skin:478,472,473

Fur:465,463,461

Banana: 405,401

I am entering this card for the following challenges:

Through the craft room door - Anything goes 

Dream Valley - One for the boys

This second card I wanted to also try out some nuvo shimmer powder and I am so happy with the effect that it gives for the background. So you can expect to see me using them again :D

As well as the Nuvo shimmer powder I also finished the card with some more dark blue nuvo drops in the top corner and although you can't really see from the picture there is glossy accents on the balloon.
This little monkey has also been coloured using the following Nuvo alcohol markers:

Skin:478,472,473

Fur:465,463,461

Balloon: 430,428,427 

I am entering this card for the following challenges:

Arty Divas challenge - Anything goes

All fun challenges - Anything goes

Heffy Doodles first challenge!!

I am so excited that over on the Heffy Doodlers Facebook page they are having their first ever challenge! The prize for one lucky winner is a £50 voucher to spend  in their store!! I had to have a go at that seeing as I LOVE all things Heffy Doodle. There is still time to enter and all you need to do is create something using Heffy Doodle goodies that has a "fall theme".

For my entry I combined the super cute "Elephant Of Surprise" stamps with the leaves from the "Blooming Marvelous" stamp set. 

I started by inking the background with some scattered straw distress ink, Fossilised Amber and then added a touch on gathered twigs distress ink at the bottom and round some of the edges to give it a bit of depth. Next I stamped out the leaves in a mix of gold and bronze midas ink. This is my first real play with the Spectrum Noir Midas ink and I have to say I LOVE it. You need to make sure you get a lot of ink on your stamp to get a good impression but the result is worth it. It is hard to see in these pictures but it looks almost as if I have heat embossed them, they are that shiny. 

The sentiment I did heat emboss using some Wow! gold superfine embossing powder. Then I coloured up the adorable little Ellie using a tri-blends ice grey blend pen and a nuvo blender pen. I added the layers of brown and gold card just to make it look that bit more detailed and hand drew some brown faux stitching. 

As well as the Heffy Doodle challenge I am entering this card for the following challenges:

Cutie pie challenge - Anything goes

Dream Valley Challenge - Add a sentiment

Incy Wincy Design - Add something metallic (I used metallic embossing powder and Midas metallic ink)

Cupcake inspiration challenge - Fall theme