PCJ DT Card: Colour It Up - Mermaid Magic!

Hello, everyone!

So glad the week is winding to a halt and the weekend is just about here! I had the most marvelous time with Mom on Monday celebrating my birthday. I came to the conclusion that we should run away from home more often. hee hee! I was even a good girl - I didn't even think about looking at my work email, not even once! Which, many people will tell you, is a miracle in itself. It's not that I think I'm indispensable; I just don't like the idea of someone being stressed out because they needed information. Plus, I came back to more than 60 emails. For a single day off. Crazytown, right? And having to cram five days' worth of work into four is always... interesting. LOL

Annnnyway, I had a great time coloring up my image for the newest Paper-Crafting Journey Challenge: Colour It Up! Show us your hand-colored images. Pens, markers, pencils, chalk, distress ink, watercolor... just color it up! =)

Our prize sponsor this week is Inked Treasures who will offer the winner 4 digistamps of their choice! 

For my card this week, I used this sweet Mermaid from Pink Cat Studio:

I got a new camera but haven't had time to work it all out yet, so my pics are mostly from my old camera and not very good. I had a hard time getting the shots and I don't have much in the way of software to make a silk purse out of these particular sow's ears. LOL The colors are not nearly as rich as on the original card which makes me sad as I really love how the jeweltone purples and blues and greens came out on this card.  (And I'm sure my brother Ken will be cringing as he is a professional photographer. Sigh. Just look away, Ken... look away!)

My color inspiration came from the gorgeous poly ribbon which has a beautiful blue-green-purple swirl and is metallic and shiny and has a gorgeous textured impression. I love it! I hated covering up as much of it as I did in the end... will have to find another CAS project to showcase it! LOL The colors are beautiful and remind me of a peacock's feathers.

I used Copics and ProMarkers to color my image and added Stickles to her scales and bikini top and headband. A rich purple satin ribbon and a strip of lilac pearlized paper cut with a Martha Stewart art deco shell design border punch and dotted with teeny tiny pearls was added along with two rows of pale blue pearl paper cut into waves using an EK Success punch.

I added lots of texture using a Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder on a light blue sheet of glitter paper and a ribbon that reminds me of fishnet and seasponges, which I cut unevenly along its length to give it some interest. I had far too much fun adding little gems of various colors and sizes... stopping was very difficult! LOL I also added something that still makes me smile with a glee that only a fellow papercrafter could understand - my newest purchase, a Magnolia Doohickey swirl die. Although the poly ribbon was a little difficult to work with, I managed a beautiful swirl. (Yes, I am in love with this ribbon. LOL)

Last I added a sentiment stamp from Lili of the Valley and dotted with teeny tiny gems. a couple more pearls in the corners and voila! One shimmery glittered magic Mermaid! 

The colors are off - poor dead camera, sigh - but you can see the shimmer and glitter and dimension better tin these shots...

Ok... challenges for this cutie from the sea:

Bunny Zoe Crafts - Anything Goes

Top Tip Tuesday - Sparkles Galore

Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - For the Girls

Stampavie and More - For A Girl

Crafting for All Seasons - Many Layers

Hooked on Craft Challenges - All That Glitters

Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Bling Bling

Cutie Pie Challenge - Die Cuts & Punches

Cute Card Thursdays - Water

Crafter's Companion - Time to Embellish

Shelly's Images - Blingage

Sassy Studio Designs - Add a Splash (used Stickles)

Allsorts Challenge - Beside the Seaside

Crafty Boots Challenge - Anything Goes with bonus for bows (no bows for me however)

I'm off to ooh and aah over my new camera and figure out how to use it. =) Don't forget to head on over to Paper-Crafting Journey and check out the DT cards... and read the sad news that we are waving farewell to our girlies Suzie, Jessie, Hilde, and Laura. Sniff. Some other changes are also coming as Wendy takes over the blog from our founder Lisa... you can read all about it here. Hope you are inspired to Colour Something Up today!

Happy Crafting!
Christy

DI-mania and a little shabby vintage chic

Hi! I have been busy practicing this week! Yay! I signed up for Jennifer McGuire's Inspiration Showcase class online and have been playing at least a little bit in the craftroom every day.  I have several birthdays in my circle of friends and family this month, too, so it's definitely time to get cranking out the projects. =)

I must say that I am not a huge fan of vintage style. With no offense meant to Tim Holtz, all that antique advertising and aged, distressed, grunged-out artwork... well, I don't find some of it appealing (bingo cards, tickets, dress forms?) Sometimes I find myself ooohing and ahhhing, sometimes I just don't get it.  That said, I do like a certain amount of distressing and sort of shabbiness when they give character or make something really pop. Distress inks on edges and some of the slightly grunged but still pretty papers do appeal to me, so as I find my way into my own style, I decided to play a little on a card meant for a coworker's birthday this month.

The papers were really my inspiration for the rest of the card. The pink and brown butterfly printed paper in particular was the jumping off point for everything else. A little shabby and worn, but still pretty. =)

My base is textured cardstock liberally sprayed with Smooch Spritzes. The blue was clogged, which I didn't discover until I had started spraying, but once one edge got all spotted/drippy-looking, I just finished it off that way. Not what I really wanted, but it turned out ok, I think.

I embossed and cut a tag out of a bit of Nestabilities packaging and layered it over a tag of cream mulberry paper and affixed it on popdots. In person you can just barely see the hint of the pink butterfly on the paper through the tag, which is nice. I distress-inked the edges. It worked really well on the plastic; will have to remember that again. I DI'ed a Martha Stewart butterfly nearly to death with both inks and stains and added Distress Stickles for the body. I used distress inks on all of the flowers, too, and used the white Picket Fence Distress Stain to tone down the too-bright blue of a couple of roses.

I added a lot of pearls - large ones in the corners in pink and light blue, itty bitty champagne ones on the tag and the Nesties label for the greeting. They all looked too clean and new though, so I ran the tip of a Copics E35 over them and swiped it off before it dried completely. Definitely another trick to remember.

The inside I finished off pretty simply. I used a sheet of light turquoise vellum layered over a peachy-pink cardstock that matched the papers inside for the tag where I'll write my message. A few more play-time MS butterflies on the opposite side and voila!  My first non-cute, shabby sort of vintage collage-y card.  When I was building my card, I thought perhaps I needed some laces or ribbon bits along the same vintage feel... and I thought perhaps a few aged metallic charms might not have been a bad idea either. (Why is it that no matter how many crafty supplies you have, there's always something else that you need/want/are dying to have? haha)  Would it win any awards? Probably not. But as it always is with a handmade card, if the recipient likes it, then it's a success. =)  And I do love that the crafting universe is big enough for everyone to find something that appeals to their artistic senses and to take bits and pieces from other styles and bring it together into a creation of love.

Meanwhile, I am thinking that fans of Tim Holtz may want to start a trend in nail polish that looks like distress-ink splotches so that our inky fingers are always in style. ;)

 Happy crafting - see you soon! =)