A Gal with Brains

Not my normal "style" (okay... do I really have a style lol?) but I really enjoy colouring Betty's images.

Quirky, fun, vintage, steampunk, ghouls, zombies, cute themes... they all make me smile. And so does the group. Generous, fun, friendly, helpful and supportive. So this image is "A Gal with Brains" and was a freebie for us to colour and use for the May challenge (given a day early ;-)). Any type of project/colouring but must have lavender, black and white somewhere within the project.

MDS Monday Challenge... again :-)

MDSM110

They've created a monster.  I don't know why I didn't "play" before but I've been going thru all the past blog posts and videos at MDS Monday and soaking up as much as possible.  My fingers are also worn out "googling" how-to's lol.

The design team awarded "me" with MDS Monday "Master" for last week's page?!  Sigh.  I'm glowing.  Thank you!

MDSM109 Linear Checkboard

The new challenge at MDS Monday is this sketch -

I literally "threw" a quick page together this morning in about a 1/2 hour.  Problem with me is 1) I want to use everything... including the kitchen sink and 2) I don't have very many photos [pout].  Oh well, if I keep doing this, I'll probably be using the same photos over and over lol.

I think I will go back and re-visit this sketch and maybe find a new photo as I'm not really happy with the colour choices but I did have fun throwing punches on the page and fillin' them (and I really didn't want to keep using my go-to "neutrals" and Downtown Grunge lol).  This one was so much easier than the Linear "checkerboard".  I wonder if I can find a digital download of that polka dot ribbon used on the sketch?  Off to see.

So here is my new play with the sketch and "Tie it Up With a Bow" challenge.

MDS (My Digital Studio)

Well, sadly, this program's "home" is going the way of the Dodo bird.  Stampin' Up is retiring this product and will no longer be offering support (or print services) for it.  But... that doesn't mean it can't still be played with [grin].

I have loved this program for awhile but been very tentative in my use (mostly playing with posters, photo-manipulation and FB cover photos).  I've been a "closet follower" (lurker lol) of several FB groups and blogs who challenge, encourage and help (yes they do) users of this program.  I saw this week's sketch on MDS Monday and it intrigued me.  I really wanted to do something like that and there were some gorgeous, tempting design samples that got my fingers itchy.  Problem is, I really don't have a lot of current photos (other than my furbabies, papercrafts and copic colouring lol).  But had a scant few photos from my son in Europe so... they became the guinea pig.

So, I'm not sure I really know what I was doing/or did and there is tons of room for improvement as I would've liked to incorporate more (like stamp letters instead of plain text) but I kept it pretty simple (it took me a couple hours of manipulation and sighing as my stuff would move/disappear/mutate lol) and hope 1) I'll learn more and be braver (this is only the second page I've ever attempted) 2) others will feel free to offer advice/points of what I could've/should've done and 3) that the MDS Monday blog and/or FB groups will continue as this is such a valuable and helpful group of ladies!

So here's my submission, bravely put out there for all to see.

~Shelley

It's nice to be reminded

When the kids were little, we'd make stamps from found objects, potatoes etc.  Then we stepped up to cutting shapes with sponges.  So why didn't I remember that I could still play and make my own stamps as an adult lol?

I have dies... lots of dies.  Some have cool shapes like the new Stampin' Up Butterfly thinlits.  A

fellow Stampin' Up Demo shared her make so I just had to make one of my own.  Tried it and it worked great (I'm going to share with my girls in a class).  So you know I had to make a few more lol.  Fun foam can be your friend ;-).  Mounted with repositionable glue on an acrylic block, inked up and stamped... beautiful!

~Shelley

All Aboard ;-)

Too cute linking train (you can get all kinds of adorable "add-on" cars and objects like cupcakes for your train and personalize it) from Little Miss Muffet Stamps.

Copics used:
Blues - BG02-05-07 (background was B0000, B000, B00)
Reds - R05-08, E19
Greens - G14, G07, G28 (grass was YG61-63-67)

Yellow - Y15-17-38 (window "light" Y0000-000-02; altho' I did with Y00 instead of Y02 on one - white streaks with Montana marker pen)
Grey - C1-3-5 with W3 over track to "dirty"
Browns - E31-33-35-57 with W3 as last over the E's

the "Cake train car" was just a quick "colour throwdown" lol with whatever was on my table.  Thought I could use this image inside a card.  The icing was E33-37-57

~Shelley

Anything Goes Challenge with a Twist

A twist of Black & White!

I just couldn't help myself after colouring this image yesterday. It was haunting me... I really wanted to do it again but this time totally monochromatic. I think I like it :-).

So, I'm entering it in the Kenny K blog Anything Goes Challenge (I can enter up to two).

Copics used: C00, C01, C03, C05, C07, C09 I had to stop myself from wanting to add a little bit of red (R17 maybe) for the fingernails lol. Tempting.
Stamp Set - Four You (Stampin' Up); Paper and embellishments - Stampin' Up

Black & White Challenge

Another Digi Stamp shop that I REALLY love... Kenny K. This week they've released a couple new images. Sigh, I just

had to have Texting Friends and what better way to get me colouring my digi instead of printing it off and just putting it in a "to be coloured" pile?... a challenge :-)

So, I have coloured Texting Friends and am entering it in the Anything Goes Challenge and the twist is Black & White.

Copics Used: Skin - E000, E01, E11, R21 Phones - C3, C5, C7 Fingernails - R17 Background - W1, W4, W5; B000 (also used in open mouth of girl on left), 0 Girl on left - Hair - B45, C5, C7 Shirt - C1, C3, C5 Pants - N3, N4, N7, 0 Girl on right - Hair - C5, C7, C9 Shirt - W1, W4, W5 Pants - W5, W7, W9 Paper: Stampin' Up Back to Black DSP, Basic Black, Whisper White Stamps: Kenny K Texting Friends, Stampin' Up Just Sayin' Other: Stampin' Up Word Bubble Framelits; Memento Tuxedo Black ink, misc. doily from my stash; retired Basic Black polka dot ribbon (SU)

Also entering the A Little Bit Crafty CAS or Clean and Simple challenge