Monday, October 31

Just a Few More Hours...

A Month of Holiday Cards

Be Inspired ~ Share Your Creations Win Prizes

In just a few more hours, the annual Month of Holiday Cards challenge will kick off... so dig out your holiday papers, search out your yuletide stamps and dust off all those jolly, jingly embellishments for thirty days of creative holiday bliss.

Happiness

I know I've already made lots of cards using this set, but I just love colouring these images, especially the leaves. Little birds and pretty blossoms are my favourite subjects, and after creating two masculine Christmas cards this week, I felt like making something a little more girly.



Sunday, October 30

New Release: Snow Drifters Set

Even though I live in subtropical Australia where Christmas is celebrated in summertime, I still love using snowmen on my holiday cards. Fortunately for me, I have a lot of friends and family who also love snowfolk and don't mind seeing them on their cards.


A new release wouldn't be the same without some creative goodness from my designers. Here's what they have for you today...


Petra created the two cards above using the snowmen images from the set, then made the two cards below using the individual snowflake stamps and sentiments.


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Anesha has put together two fabulous Christmas projects using all the stamps from the new set. The coasters (above) and candy container (below) will make wonderful stocking stuffers for friends and family.


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Carla has really put a dent in her Christmas card-making with these beautiful projects. Each of the top two cards features one of the snowmen stamps from the set along with a matching sentiment. For the card below, she has used all the images together to make one amazing holiday project. Some of you may remember this card and the instructions from the newsletter. It sure is a beauty!



Friday, October 28

Even Grumpier

Another card for the boys!


Stamps: Grumpy Goose Digital Stamp Set by Beccy's Place

Thursday, October 27

So Very Grumpy

Half the men in my family end up napping on Christmas Day while the women sit around chatting, laughing and eating more than we should. I 'reckon Grumpy Goose is the perfect image for some masculine Christmas cards, since the guys often have the same facial expression right before they take their naps!


Stamps: Grumpy Goose Digital Stamps Set by Beccy's Place

Wednesday, October 26

It's Almost Here...

Starts November 1st

Be Inspired ~ Share Your Creations Win Prizes

Join me in November for a month of Holiday card ideas, inspiration and fun!

Monday, October 24

Grumpy Goose Cards

Grumpy Goose is in the spotlight again today, with more fabulous cards from my designers. The set features the Grumpy Goose image along with four sassy sentiments that will put the "bah humbug" right back into your holiday card making!

Petra chose to use a beautiful royal blue and gold colour scheme for her card.
Check out all that amazing stitching down the side!

Anesha created these two wonderful cards in shades of yellow and cream. I love the pop of red and green she added for the bells and hats.

Carla's card has a traditional colour scheme with lots of beautiful Christmas themed papers. She added a little sprig of holly and a couple of red bells to finish her project.


Grumpy Goose Digital Stamp Set


Saturday, October 22

New Release: Grumpy Goose Set

I absolutely love everything about Christmas, from the gifts and decorations to the food and age old traditions, but not everyone shares the same enthusiasm. The Grumpy Goose set of digital stamps is for all those people who grit their teeth and suffer through the "silly season"... and I'm sure we all know someone who isn't exactly thrilled about the holidays.

Grumpy Goose
Digital Stamp Set


AJ has created these two fabulous cards that are beautifully decorated inside and out. Check out her awesome colouring of the goose!

Judy decided on a wonderful monochromatic colour scheme
with flashes of silver here and there. 

Karin enlarged the image and then used just a portion to create her holiday project. The ability to resize is one of the advantages of digital stamps.

Thursday, October 20

Shades of Purple

I've made another card with the blossoms from the Feathered Nest set, but this time I decided to use shades of lilac and mauve for the flowers. A ribbon bow and some liquid pearl dots finished my card off nicely.


Tuesday, October 18

Love Soothes The Soul

The Feathered Nest set contains two flowered branches that you can use in conjunction with the bird nest or as stand alone images, like I've done. If you like to colour foliage, you're going to love these designs... they're full of big glossy leaves and delicate blooming flowers.


Feathered Nest Clear Stamps


Monday, October 17

Blue Willow China

Using Blue Willow China as inspiration, I created these two circle cards using blue ink, blue  and white card stock and white embossing powder. I cut the base cards using some old Creative Memories circle cutters that measured about 51/2" in diameter... perfect for the size of the stamps but still small enough for a standard square envelope.


Stamps: Feathered Nest by Beccy's Place

Saturday, October 15

Clear Stamp Release: Feathered Nest Set

Feathered Nest is the very first set of Beccy's Place clear stamps, and it combines two of my favourite drawing subjects... little birds and pretty flowers. The set contains six stamps in total, including three sentiment stamps that would be suitable for a range of different occasions.

Scroll down to see some fabulous projects created by a few of my designers using a combination of pencils, inks and markers. Check out the different ways they've coloured the little bird too...



Carla created these two beautiful cards using a couple of the sentiments from the set, as well as some fabulous die cut frames to mount the images.

Petra made this wonderful sticky note cover as a thank you gift for her sister-in-law. She decided on a blue, white and yellow colour scheme for the little bird.

Anesha made a gorgeous card with the bird image, as well as a fabulous wine bottle wrapping with one of the blossom branches from the set.

Feathered Nest Set

Thursday, October 13

Two Seasons and Two Cards

Spring has well and truly arrived here in Australia, inspiring me to reach for shades of bright green and pretty pink to colour my first wreath (Colouring Tutorial here). But in other parts of the world, the beautiful colours of autumn are turning the forests and parks into spectacular palettes of red, orange and yellow... perfect for my second project!

One for spring...


... and one for autumn.


Here are the two cards I made using the coloured wreaths.



Tuesday, October 11

Build A Wreath Cards

Build A Wreath Set

Ready to see some more fabulous cards created with the Build A Wreath set of digital stamps? Well, here you go...

These two cards from Anesha feature several elements from the set, including the blossoms, which she has enlarged and used as the focal points for both her projects.


Carla has put together four beautiful cards with a seasonal theme... spring, summer, autumn and winter. I especially love the autumn themed card with the gorgeous fall colours and the sweet little die cut bunny.


Annie's card has lots of layering. She printed out two copies of her coloured image and layered them together for a fabulous dimensional look. She then created her own background paper by enlarging the same image.

Petra created her wreath card using the plaited wreath as a base and then building on it with the blossoms, berries and leaves. To complete her project she added a gorgeous border of pink and brown stitching.

Monday, October 10

Tutorial: Colouring with Pencils

People use mediums in many different ways with quite different results, so today I thought I'd share my technique for colouring with pencils. I use Prismacolor pencils because I find them to be beautiful and creamy with soft pigment that covers well, however, there are a lot of other fabulous brands on the market to choose from, including Derwent and Faber Castell. If you have the opportunity to try before you buy, I highly recommend taking advantage of it.

1. I begin by adding a soft layer of my highlight colour, adding a little more pressure in the "shadow" areas to darken the pigment. In this case, I'm using "apple green" on all the leaves.


2. I then use a darker colour over the entire leaf, except for the areas where I want the highlights to be. In my case, the light source is coming from the top, left hand side, so all the lightest coloured areas will be facing the source of the light.


3. Now I add the darkest shadows with a black pencil. Use this darkest colour sparingly at first, you can always go back in later and add more... it's a lot harder to remove the pigment! Darken areas that are behind other elements or that dip down into the picture. These deep shadows will help to give your image depth.


4. To finish, I like to add a nice bright green with quite a lot of yellow in it. I think this looks like sunshine hitting the surface of the leaf.


5. The colours I used for these leaves are Black (PC935), Dark Green (PC908), Apple Green (PC912) and Chartreuse (PC989).


6. I coloured each of the other elements in the same way - highlight colour, main colour, shadow and deepest shadow. The berries were next...


7. The colours I used for the berries are Black (PC935), Crimson Red (PC924) and Poppy Red (PC922).


8. Time to colour the vines that form the wreath base. I used the same colouring process, although there are less highlights and deeper shadows on the wreath because it is "behind" all the foliage and therefore the darkest part of the image.


9. The colours I used for the wreath are Black (PC935), Dark Brown (PC946) and Sienna Brown (PC945).


10. I want the flowers to be a nice, light pink so instead of using black for my darkest shadows, I'm using a warm brown. Other than that, the process is the same.


11. The colours for the flowers are Burnt Ochre (PC943), Peach (PC939) and Light Peach (PC 927).


12. I finished by adding some bright yellow in the centre of each flower, in this case Spanish Orange (PC1003).


Here's the finished image, all coloured and ready to be used on a card.



Happy colouring!
Cheers,
Beccy

Image: "Build A Wreath" by Beccy's Place