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Monday, 4 August 2014

Top tip alert!!

Happy Monday everybody, today I thought that I would share a great tip that was suggested to me by my Friend
Joanna Wright, from I love 2 cut paper, she could see I was getting stressed at having to constantly look up on the chart which pencil went in which tin and that they were a jumble on the desk! 
 
 
 
So over the weekend I set about remedying the situation, first I tried to use a white gel pen to write the numbers onto the black tin insert, but that just didn't work, so I punted around and found some tiny little white labels just the right size to fit into the little pencil cradles.
 
It worked! as you will see from the photo I didn't stop there and I sacrificed one of the leaflets that come with the tins, cut it up and stuck each piece in the corresponding tin, so that when all my tins are open on my desk I know which set of pencils I'm using!
 
Sometimes being a bit of a sorter is a curse, but most of the time I love it, and if it saves time in the long run even better, I love my job!!!
 
Happy Colouring
Nicky x


Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Here Comes the Sun!

Wow, just how hot has it been these past couple of weeks? I'm sitting here melting inside my little craft room (aka cupboard under the stairs...!). 
Today I want to share with you my card for the Spectrum Noir July "Summer" Challenge.
I just love this image from Mo's Digital pencil, Kind of reminds me of past summer holidays sipping cocktails on a Greek beach! Those were the days!
  

I started by giving her a base coat of Spectrum Noir alcohol marker FS5, and then built up the colour with my Spectrum Noir pencils over the top, the colours  were, 009, 093, 026. This is a new technique for me as I have always kept pens and pencils separate, but love the depth of colour you can achieve, and will definitely be carrying on doing it.


I was a bit "cheeky"! and gave her a bit of a tan line, you know the sort we all get that burns like billy-ho.

 For those of you new to Spectrum Noir the alcohol markers have letters followed by a number and the pencils are a 3 digit number. The rest of the image is coloured as follows;

Hair: GB1, 085, 088
Sand: TN2, 084, 107
Bikini: LY1, 012, 014, 018, 023, 026
Towel: IB2, CG2, CR8, HB2, GB3, DR4, BT4, 063, 055
Sunglasses: 089, 091, 095
Umbrella: 018, 023, 026

For the sky I have just used pencils 061 and 068, and then used pencil blending solution and the paper stumps to blend to two colours and remove any pencil strokes.  
 
Lastly I used DR1 to colour the lace at the bottom of the card.
 
I would love you all to join in with the July challenge on Facebook

 Happy Colouring
Nicky x

Friday, 4 July 2014

The secrets out!

Good Morning everybody!!
I have a little bit of news to share with you all, but before I do can I just say ...
Happy 4th July to all my American friends, and hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend.
 

So what's occurring???
 I am one of the new members of the Spectrum Noir Education Design Team!
I will be specialising in using the gorgeous pencils, as you all know by now as I shout about it so much, I LOVE them!

I can't wait to show you lots of exciting projects that I have planned, and hope you will all join me as I share the colouring love.

I haven't shared a project with you today as I have a few gremlins in the system, or I'm just being a techno-thickie, which is highly probable at my age!, but hopefully I can get something up over the weekend, I'm off to celebrate so have a great weekend....is it Pimms o'clock yet???



Monday, 9 June 2014

Special card, special birthday, special friend.

 
 So this week I was tasked with making a very special card for my friend Teresa who turns 50, my girlfriends and I were invited, by Teresa's husband, to a surprise dinner where she would receive it, but earlier in the week we all got together for our crafty evening and it was the hardest thing to keep it a secret, and we all felt dreadful for not making a fuss of her birthday, but last night we all made amends by surprising her at her favourite restaurant along with her family and friends.
A great night was had by all with much mirth and merriment, but anyway you all came here to see how I made her card!

 So I got my image from Cafts and me and started colouring her with my Spectrum Noir pencils, I always start with the face as there is no point in colouring the rest and then screwing up the face at the end!
 
 The colours for her skin are, 004, 005, 008, 009 and 091. I used the blending solution with the blending stumps, and gradually built up the colour.

 
  I wanted her to have transparent wings, so used 016, but just on the part of the wing that's across the moon, and then used the same colour as the base colour of the moon.

 
 Next I deepen the moons colour with 018, 019 and 020, leaving the rest of the wings until later, I should add I used the blending solution all the way through the image (I won't bore you with writing it every time!)

 
 Then I moved onto her hair, I decided she should have blond hair as that's the colour Teresa has!
The colours being, 010, 084, 087 and as a reflection from the moon behind I added a bit of 020, but only at the back where it would be reflected.
 
 
 Now for her dress, I was a little daunted by the amount of fabric at first but proceeded gently and built the colour gradually, I started with 056 and 047, then deepened the colour with 059, but to achieve a real pop I shaded in the folds with a blue 055, as it tones with the three green shades that I used.

 
 I then used the same blue pencil,055, to colour the wings along with number 067, I didn't put too much colour around the edges of the wings again to give the feel of transparency, I also added a little blue to the part of the wing that was yellow.

 
The last part to colour was the background, and for this I again used 055, rapidly becoming a favourite! but the blending solution and stumps are definitely essential in creating the backgrounds, as it eradicates all of the pencil lines and just leaves a beautiful finish.
 The stars are coloured with the 018, 019, and 020.

 
I finished the card using the new Santoro Mirabelle 12" x 12" papers, even printing on a cut down piece to make the sentiment! and finished off with a few flowers.
I hope you like the card, I feel its probably my best colouring in to date!
 
Happy colouring
Nicky