Noah's Ark

I have to say the weather is crazy today!  I have a little heater in my craft room (loft conversion) to prevent any of my card becoming too cold.  When it's on I'm too warm but when it knocks back off within minutes it's gone cold.  Raining one minute, overcast then sunny!  Oh we do love the English weather lol.
Well anyway, I coloured this image while having my coffee yesterday morning.  Quite fiddly to do but really enjoyed colouring it.  I definitely think I need to invest in the brush nibs for the finer areas.

Pens used:
Elephant IG2 & IG3
Frog DG1 & DG2
Giraffe TN2 & TN3
Lion and Monkey TN3 & TN4
Zebras IG5, IG8 & IG1
Lamb CG1 & CG3
Rabbits IG1
Ark GB7, GB8 & GB9
Chicks CT1 & CT3
Buterflies and Umbrella PL1 & FL8

Sorry! Not the best of photo's. 

Simplest of colouring!

For this image I kept the colours simple.  Took a minute to colour so think it would be a good image to practice on.  All images have been found on free colouring pages via Pinterest.

Dress: CR3 & FS8, I chose to go in with the darkest pen over the black lines of the dress before using the lightest pen to saturate the areas I was working on.  Then using the darkest pen I added the shading where I thought it might be.  I did this several times until I was happy with the result.  I'd suggest working on smaller areas at a time on the skirt of the dress.  I think I could have done better with this image but I'm still in the experimenting mode with the Spectrum Noir pens.
 Stand: TN4 & TN5 and IG1 & IG3.  Such small areas but think I found the shading much easier.  Noted!

Hehehehe, the pen marks to the bottom left shouldn't be there! That's my carelessness thinking I was checking out the colours on my scrap piece of card.

Oh dear!  I found the blue inks (TB5 onwards) very wet!  I'd say there's no need to saturate the area first with the lighter colour using these pens. I got quite a lot of bleeding using these pens despite being very careful.

Pens used.......
Hair:  TN3, EB3, EB4, BG6 & TN8.  I saturated the hair with the lightest colour (TN3) before going in from the darkest to the lightest with flicking motions, going over it several times until I got the desired effect.

Dress, Bonnet, Shoes & Umbrella: TB5, TB6 & TB7 as I've mentioned, I found these pens very wet so be careful!  This time, after discovering how wet they are, I started with darkest colour where shadows should be (in my mind) then moving on working towards the lightest pen (TB5)

Ribbon, Lace & legs I chose IG1 to try and create a shadow as I wanted to keep these white.  The dress just gave me he impression of a sailors dress, hence the blue hues.

My blending pen has dried out, hence the 'scratching effect' on the hat!

Here's the watercolour I did, made into a card, again very basic but least I've done something with it lol.  Backed onto black card then onto a white card.

Card made using above image!

I haven't done very much since my last post!  Mostly busy with school and nursery runs picking my granddaughters up.  Shopping but boohoo not for crafty stash but oh dear!  I couldn't sit on my hands when I discovered The Works hda sale on and spent just short of £40 online with them.  Hubby won't know until parcel arrives oops!
What I have done is create 2 cards using 2 images I coloured a week or so ago.  Very basic cards, mainly because I just wanted to do something with the finished images.

Card made using above image

More images coloured using Spectrum Noir pens

Hi!  Well what a complete mess I made if this little girls dressed.  Silly me chose a cheaper type of card.  This image shows just what happens if you don't use the correct card for the right job!  It bled everywhere!

Hair: OR1, OR2, EB4, GB7, TN9  Lightest to darkest: OR1, GB7, OR2, TN9, EB4
As I always do I decided where the light would shine on her hair.  I don't know why as I always seem to choose the same areas for each image of a person!  I used OR1 as my highlighter then went in from darkest to lightest using flicking motions.  I think I'm improving with the flicking motions.

Skin:   FS3, FS4, FS5, CR3, CR1  Oops! A complete mess I made of her face!  I got to clumsy when using the darker shades and struggled to blend the darkest, as you can see in picture below the poor girls has some kind of dark ring around her face lol.  Hands a mess too.  I'm not blaming the pens here, I do think it's the cheap card I used.

Dress: LV1, PL2 & PL3.  Rubbish attempt at blending again but makes a good point about how important it is to use the correct card!  Am I repeating myself lol

Shoes: I dropped the PL3 and just used LV1 & PL2 going in with the lightest first followed by darkest then back over the shoes again with the lightest.  Somewhat better I'd say!

Pears:   Cg1 & CG2, again going over with lightest, shaded with darkest and back over to blend th two colours using the lightest.  I don't know why I thought pears lol.

Bag:  CR3 & CR4  same as with pears, light then dark and back over with light shade.

Chick:  CT1 & CT3 as above light, dark then light again.

After the ink had dried on the dress I went back in with the darkest pen to create little spots, same with shoes.

Here are a few more coloured images using SN pens and same techniques.

Pens used: Hair: TN1, EB1, EB2, BG3, BG5 & BG6  Dress: IB1, IB2 & IB3  Skin: TN1 & TN2

Pens used for image below:
Hair: OR1, OR2, EB4, TN9 & GB7  Dress: CT1, CT2, CT4 & GB1 Shoes and lace: CR3 & CR5  Skin: FS1, FS2 & FS8 (cheeks)

Pens used for image below:  Girl... Hair GB1, GB2, GB4 & GB6 Skin: TN1, TN2, FS1 & FS2.  Dress: CR2 & CR4. Pinafore, shoes & bow: BT1 & BT3
Boy.... Hair GB6, GB7, GB9 & GB10  Jacket BT4 & BT6.  Trousers LG3 & LG5.  Shoes and shirt: TB1 & TB3
Chairs and legs of table plus hearts on tablecloth: EB1 & EB2  Tablecloth HB1 & HB2  Ice-cream: PP1 & PP2 then spotted over using FL1 and FL3 Base of ice cream: TN! & TN2

Business trip?

Loved colouring this image.  Everything just seemed to fall into place.  Makes a change for me lol.

Hair:   TN1, TN2, GB1, GB6, GB7 & GB9.  Imagining where the light source was I used the lightest pen first to colour where I thought the highlights should go. In this case I chose GB1 as my highlights.  Slightly more colour in than TN1, which looks on my key to be as light as GB1 but slightly duller.  After putting my choice of highlights down I started from the darkest to the lightest using flicking motions in an attempt to get some movement in the hair.  Not sure if I succeeded but I like the finished result!

Jacket, garters  and bows in hair:  CR4, CR6 & CR7. I lay the darkest colour first following the lines in the image before going onto lightest colour to saturate the card before using the middle shade (CR6) to create shadow then going back in with lightest colour, using small circular movements to help blend the 2 colours together.

Skirt:  Oops!  Yet again I didn't write the pens down But I'm quite sure they were from the TN family.

Skin:  TN1, TN2 & TN3 I left the centre of the face white but using lightest colour I did go around the edges using TN1. Once I'd added the darker shades I then went all over the face with TN1.  I do think leaving areas white until the end gives more shading and highlights the centre of the face. (If you know what I mean).

Headband & Boots:  Yeah! why not, I felt the image needed some vibrancy so I chose pens: BT1, BT2 & BT4. Starting with lightest shade (BT1) then working around right side of boots and both sides of headband I went in with BT3 followed by BT2 then blending them together with BT1.  For the small flower I just used BT1 & BT2

Suitcase: Okay, I decided to go a bit wild here and chose to fluorescent pens, FL3 and FL1.......just because I can lol.  I used EB1 to add some shading.  Once the inks on the suitcase were dry I stamped over it with a small cluster of flowers stamp using Adirondack ink pad colour: Pool.

Blouse:  Very small area but nevertheless still needs to be coloured.  although it could have been left white.  If you want to have part of an image white just go around the edges with IG! or IG2.  Instead I used FL1 and FL2 then went in with the blender pen to lighten the left side of the blouse,  Thought it matched her outfit lol.  Looking at it now, it could be mistaken for skin....oh! Rude woman!

More Flowers

I don't think I posted this image before, but if I have, I apologise.  I'me feeling a little more comfortable shading flowers but appreciate I have a long way to go before I completely master them!

Flowers:  PP3, PP2, PP4 & PP5.  Notice when it comes to flowers I'm playing safe and using the same colours from one family.  Still not quite there though lol.  Mm! To be honest now when I look at the flowers I don't think the colours really compliment each other.   But anyhow, I laid down the lightest colour (remember lower the number the lighter the colour) Or at least that's what they say!!!  I found these colours completely different in shades, so rather than lighter to darker, they seem to go from pretty dull to pretty bright, completely different shades.  Sorry I'm babbling now lol.  I did start with what I thought to be the lightest pen PP3 but when I saw then on the card I knew this wasn't the case.  Another reason why to test them on white card before laying them straight down into your project.

Long Leaves:  LG1, LG2, LG3 & LG5.  Again playing safe using pens from the same number family.  I feel they worked well together this time.

Round Leaves:  JG1, JG3 & JG7  A little dark and got a little carried away with the darker shades.  I think more of the lighter shade would have given a better result?

Moth: GB1, GB5, GB7 & GB8.  I quite like colouring butterflies and moths as they are the simplest things to do.  Taking the darker colour to the lightest (From body outwards.  Try and keep your inks really wet when colouring butterflies as this does give a better effect when it comes to blending the colours.  It's even best to just work on a small part of the wings at a time, this isn't what I did here so the blending isn't at its best!

More Roses!

I don't know what you think, but I think I've done a better job this time, still not quite right but maybe I'm finally getting there?

Roses: CR4, CR6 & CR7 but wondering if I should have used CR8 instead of CR7? Do you think the blending is more realistic?

Leaves:   DG2, DG3 & CG4  Being aware that leaves on roses are usually quite dark.  I feel I did a much better job shading the leaves that usual.  I started with the darkest colour, going over the veins on the leaves, followed by the middle colour then bringing in the lightest colour.  The darkest to lightest colours in this instance are as follows: DG2, CG3 then darkest being DG3.

Those flippin' flowers again!

Hahaha, okay I've been trying to colour flowers again, unfortunately without much success but here we go!

Roses: BP1, BP2, BP3, BP4, BP5 & BP7  I think I should just be practising with maybe 2 or 3 colours rather than 6 colours!

Leaves and stems:  LG1, LG3 & LG5

I just can't seem to get the blending right when it comes to flowers but here's the results for these roses!

As you can see, the blending just isn't smooth enough!  Maybe one day someone will let me know where I'm going wrong in the comments below.

I had a lot of fun with the image below. Enjoyed not using traditional colours for the hair!  Another easy image for those just starting out with SN pens.

Hair: BP1, BP2, BP3, BP4, BP5 & BP7  Saturated using the lightest colour (BP1) Then straight in with the darkest, (BP7) working my way through back to the lightest pen.  As always when I'm doing the hair, I do find it easier to pick out where the lightest would be, then use the lightest pen or leave white for an even more lighter spot.  Just remember to not go over this area with your darker pens!

Face and hands:  FS4, TN2, TN3, CR3 & CR1.  Any time I am choosing my colours, I scribble a little of each pen onto pure white card as a key.  This is good practice because if like me, you will put the pens you have just used back in the tray holder then later realise you have missed a bit and for the life of you, you cannot remember the exact colours you used!  That only applies to scatter brains like me hehehe!
Again I lay down the lightest colour, then went in with darkest back up to lightest.  You might find it easier to blend if you use small circular motions.  You can add the cheeks at any point but be sure to blend them in with your base colour (lightest colour, in this case FS4. Well it isn't actually the lightest, I do find it quite difficult when crossing over from numbers to decide which is the lightest so I tend to use the one I like best!

Cup:  IB1, IB2 & IB3.  I'm in my comfort zone when using pens from the same letters.   I didn't really need to blend around the flowers on the cup but decided to do so to add more interest (rightly or wrongly). As long as you are happy with your finished result, that's all that matters. Starting with lightest colour covering whole of the cup then quickly working in from darkest to lightest for easier blending.  Remember! Blending is much easier if the ink you are layering your darkest colour onto is still wet.  So when colouring larger areas it is always best to do a little at a time.....Okay, so I've explained that to you....but will I ever learn!

Flowers: GB1, GB5, GB7 & GB8.  Again putting a layer of the lightest colour down then working back from darkest to lightest, blending each colour each time.

Back to the Spectrum Noir pens!

Aw how cute! A baby paddling, only without water hehehe!  I'm going to do the water using some watercolour pencils or paints.

I've used very similar pens to the lightest shade for this image to make it more 'baby' colours.  This is an easy image (found on free colouring pages at Pinterest) to start with when first starting out with your Spectrum Noir pens (SN) But remember, if it goes wrong, it's just a small piece of paper, start again!

Hair:   TN3, TN4 & TN6  To start I decided where the light would be coming from, I don't know why but I always seem to imagine the light coming from my right.  Promise to oneself: next time imagine light source coming from left. Mmm! looking at it now I suppose you could say the light was coming from somewhere in front?  I used the lightest colour TN3 as a highlighter, covering the part of the hair that the light would be hitting that part of the hair.  I then went in, using a flicking motion with TN6 then TN4 followed by TN3.  I did this about 3 times until I was happy with the result.

Skin:  FS1, TN1 & FS6 (cheeks)  Starting with TN1 I saturated the face, leaving the nose and between the eyes white.  Then I *sued (mm wonder if I could sue Carfter's Companion for my addiction to colour lol)  *used the FS1 around the edges of the face, including around the hair, added the cheeks using FS6 before going over the whole of the face with TN1, being careful to take my time to blend FS1 into TN1, some colours blend much quicker, while others need you to hold the lighter colour over the darker colour for a few seconds more, this can also be the carse when you've added the shading and yes, you've guessed it, the phone rings...usually my youngest daughter!  In this case you can easily resolve this problem by going over the darker colour again with the lightest colour to re-saturate that area.  Bring back the darker colour followed by blending again with the lightest colour.  I'll start asking for money to buy replacement inks Gemma!

Costume & Bow:  BP3 & BP6.  Same as always (I think you may be getting the the fact now that I always work first by saturating the area with the lightest pen (also, the lower the number means the lighter the colour). I used very similar shades for the costume as I was a bit worried I'd take away the fact this is an image of a baby.

Rubber Ring:  Oh! I have somehow forgotten to write down the colours I used here but you can chose any colour anyway, just remember to chose a shade or 2 darker for shading.

I'll be colouring the water with either watercolour pencils or paints.

Watercolours trees scene

I felt like a little change from the SN pens and went for a watercolour image.  I haven't used these pens properly before and I know I didn't use watercolour card but I found the ink in these pens very difficult to spread and fade out.  The watercolour pens used for this image: Docrafts Artiste.  I wouldn't recommend these pens to anyone who has never worked with watercolour pens before!

Hehehehe! I went wrong with the river, if you look under the trees to the right (the grey area) I think that should have been water! I admit to doing this one in minutes but not a bad result.

What a gorgeous evening it is!  I feel I should be sitting outside enjoying it but alas!  Colouring has yet again taken over so here's an image I coloured yesterday, keeping the tones all similar on this one.  Not sure why but I think it works well.

Again I've used my Spectrum Noir alcohol pens.

Hair: IG1, IG3 & IG5  I saturated the hair area so the darker inks would blend better.  So first colour lay down was the IG1, then I went in with small flicks of the pens IG5, then IG3 before flicking with the lightest colour IG3.

Skin:TN1, TN2 & FS4  Again saturated the face area with TN1 before bringing in the other pens, TN2 and FS4 (cheeks)  I didn't like the cheeks on this image so removed them by simply saturating with the lightest pen TN1.  For the legs and arms I just used TN1 & TN2, laying down the lightest colour first (TN1), then going around the sides of skin on right side of body each time followed by blending the darker colour with TN1 again.

Dress & Crown: GB5 GB6 & GB8  Same technique as above but this time for the dress I used a flicking motion with the darkest pen (GB8), followed by the same movement with GB6 then again with GB5.

Shoes:  GB6 & GB8 Lay the lightest colour GB6 first then added shading with GB8 followed by another layer using GB6 again.

Bow on dress: Or1 & OR3 same technique again laying the lightest colour first OR1.  Added OR3 for shading followed by another layer of OR1 to help blend the darker colour.

I really learnt a lot keeping all the tones similar as it has helped me learn what colours best blend together over the range of pens.

Moving away from colouring people this time and chose to colour two butterflies amongst some flowers.  Flowers are something I really, really need to work on!

Colours used for........

Upper butterfly: OR1, OR2 & OR3, I could have, or should have used a fourth colour to add more depth (darker colour) but I do seem to fall into the category of 'play safe'.
Lower butterfly BT2, BT4 & BT5.

Flowers: PP1, PP2, PP3 & CR2 (I originally started with PP1, PP3 and CR2 but dropped the latter colour and chose the PP3 instead.  I felt the CR2 with the other 2 colours gave the flowers a murky looking colour which can be seen more in the flowers ate the bottom.
I used the Neenah card for this image but felt, as much as I saturated the card, could not get a smooth transition between colours.  But love the vivid colours using this card.

As usual, I started by saturating small areas at a time with the lightest colour then bringing in the darkest colour, working back to the lightest colour.  I think also, where I went wrong here is I had no vision of where sunlight would be coming in.

I love this image, so cute but can't quite make my mind up about the story behind it.  LOL, yes. I do make my own little stories up about the images while I'm colouring the.  I just wonder why 3 small children would be huddled together.  Perhaps the tallest girl is in fact the mummy?  Ah well....I can't but help to think that something not so happy has happened and the 3 people in this image are all children, perhaps waiting for mummy or daddy to come in and say everything is okay.
Right well, less about my thoughts!

Pens used for tallest girl.......
Hair TN3, EB3, EB4, TN8 & BG6 as advised on Crafter's Companion lesson sheets for hair combinations.
Nightdress & Hair band: LY1, CT1, CT2 & CT4 (my own choice)  These 4 colours did seem to blend well.
Skin:  TN1, TN2 & TN3

For baby and small girl
Skin: FS1, FS2 FS3....Cheeks: FS6
Baby's suit: BT1, BT2 & BT3
Hair:   TN3 & TN5
Small girl's nightdress: PL1, PL2 & PL3

I usually use either Hunkydory's perfect stamping, super smooth 300gsm card or Crafter's Companion 216gsm Ultra Smooth, Solar white Neenah card.  I do find some bleeding with the latter.
I also have a wad of cheap copy paper under the card I'm colouring onto.

With all areas I'm colouring (small areas at a time, helps blending as ink will still be wet)  I start with the lightest colour, saturating the area.  I then use the darkest, working up back to the lightest.  Particularly with hair I use the lightest colour to remind myself where the light will be coming from, sometimes I'll leave those areas colour free and only cover those areas right at the end to enhance sunlight shining onto the person's head.  (Something I'm still working on)
Where necessary, I'll go back with the darkest colouring with fine flicks to pull out the movement.

The little girl's nightdress I chose to go straight in with the darkest colour (PL3) following the lines on the dress. 

Wacky Colours!

Well here's my very last coloured image with no guidance and promise all images will contain the pens I've used and how!  I'm still learning and hope you will come and learn alongside me.  Please do leave me a comment on each of my images so I know I'm not talking to myself!  Thanks Xx

I decided to go all out with this image and used the fluorescent SN pens FL1, FL2 & FL3.  For the shading I used IG3.  I actually quite like the outcome. 

For this image (Christmas) I decided to go all wacky and use the fluorescent SN pens FL1 FL2 & FL3.  Ignoring the traditional Christmas colours.  I actually quite like the finished results, kind of suits the girl.

Where, oh where as the weekend gone?
Well I'm still in the colouring with alcohol pens mode so here are a few more I've done over the weekend. The first 2 I forgot to write the pens I used down but as from the following 2 I'll do my best to explain how I used the choice of pens. Remember, I am still learning and mostly from experienced colourist on You Tube, who have kindly offered up there time to help beginners like myself learn the techniques.
Friday night I didn't leave my craft room until just after midnight but oh boy! Did I suffer for it on Saturday (note to oneself.....late nights spoil the following day)

I'm still struggling to get the hair right using the darker colours, I must be too heavy handed but I'm not going to give up and might even try changing some of the darker nibs to brush tips.  So let's get the dark haired lady out of the way first!...

As I'm still playing around with the colours and shading, I'm not being too bothered about matching outfits. So far all the images you see on my blog are free colouring pages found on the internet and being used for personal use to practice my colouring.

 

Twice in one day!  I must be on a  roll hehehe! Well I've played around a lot using the fairy image I coloured to create this card.  A good few mistakes, mainly due to lack of concentration as when I was stamping around the frame, my 8 year old granddaughter arrived and on boy! Can she talk for England!  To create this card I took an 8x8 (inch) card blank with scalloped edges and cute the front, centre out of the card.  1 and half inches from folded side and 1 inch top and bottom.  Then I placed a piece of acetate (heatable) over the 'gap'.  The background (inside of the card I used a royalty free backing paper, wallpaper for tablets, laptops etc..)  I glued the fairy onto the matt and layered card (Yellow card under the background).
Next I stamped onto the acetate using perfect medium by Ranger, covered with white detail embossing powder, setting the powder with a heat gun.  Hair dryer's do not work for this as they will just blow the very fine powders everywhere!
Finally, I measured and cut a frame to hide the gluing of the acetate (well actually it was the super sticky red tape!) Before sticking to the card I again stamped using perfect medium, this time using blue embossing powder to take away from the bright yellow.  As I said, a lot of mistakes happened creating this card but determined next time to learn from my mistakes (yeah right lol)

Front of card opened right up to show stamping on the acetate.

Where do the weeks go?  Well into April now.  Thankfully, after a very bad start to the New Year, things have settled down and life seems to be on an even keel, apart from the constant pain caused through Fibromyalgia.  Poor start to the week but pleased to say the pain is easing a little, well enough to allow me to come to my craft room and have a play.  I know!  I ought to be making cards but my new year resolution was to be more 'crafty' when it comes to cards, adding more of my work into the equation.  So as you know I've been having a play with my Spectrum Noir pens, which are alcohol based.  Here is my latest coloured image which will be made into a card eventually!

Now!  Something to make you smile...or even laugh out loud!  I haven't used water colours in years so decided to introduce them again into my life and thought I'd share with you all my pathetic first attempt at a night time scene.  As you will see, the lighthouse looks very much out of place and the paints haven't been diluted down enough so everything looks very heavy. First off here's the latest image using Spectrum Noir pens.  (SN)

I think we can all relate to this image! Going away and not able to fit the kitchen sink into our cases!  Once I'd finished colouring the image I cut round it using the pinking blade on my Woodware guillotine.  Then using Distress ink 'Worn Lipstick' I blending around the edges, softening it as I moved further in to the image. Note to myself...invest in a softer pink distress ink!

I'll forgive you for laughing at my first attempt in years using water colours!  I should have watered down the colours much more than I did to avoid the 'heavy' too much paint on card.  I'm not giving up though!  I was inspired to bring out the water colours after watching Matthew Palmer painting with water colours.  That is one very talented guy!

Remember this image?  I've now turned it into a birthday card!  This image would be great for celebrating the Mexican festival: 'Day of the Dead'

Well that's it for now.  Keep checking in for new work.  In future I'll add the colours I've used to colour an image for anyone who, like me, is learning how to use the SN pens.  I also intend to use the Chameleon pens for some images.  Enjoy your afternoon and hey!  Weekend is upon us!

Remember the mermaid image I coloured using my Spectrum Noir pens well after a few days of rest due to severe pain, I have created a card with that image.

Image coloured using Spectrum Noir pens

Card made using the image above.  Loved making this card. Created for a challenge in a group I belong to.

I've been busy the last few days....yes!  Colouring again using the Spectrum Noir pens.  I'm addicted to colouring at the moment which is good as I need lots of practice.   So here are the images I've been colouring in.  Next time I'll write down the numbers of pens used just in case someone reads here who's new to the alcohol pens.  I've actually ran out of my super smooth card stock, you will definitely see the difference between the first one and the rest which I'm had to compromise the card with smooth paper, and the last 2 that I used a cheaper card stock.  The ones coloured on super smooth paper, you will see some running of the inks.  The last 2 haven't bled but blending was very difficult, leaving lines between shaded colours.  I hope you enjoy my journey into colouring with my alcohol pens as I've never really taken them too seriously and taking me while to know which colour blends work best together.  

This one was coloured on the correct type of card making blending easier and no bleeding

This one was coloured using a cheaper type of card (waiting for my order to arrive of the correct paper.  No bleeding occured but was very difficult to blend the inks.

Again used cheaper card, again making it very difficult to get a good smooth flow between colours.  Hurry card and arrive lol!

This one has been coloured onto smooth paper. Due to it's thinness, I got a lot of bleeding.  I made a righ mess of the hair on this one - oops!

I really enjoyed doing this one, I had a right good old play with different colours to see how they worked together.  Sadly, coloured on smooth paper so got some bleeding.

I used smooth paer again for this image...will I never learn hahaha!

The roses originally looked better before I stupidly used the blending pen to increase the highlights.  Totally ruined it, but I am still learning! 

Mmm!  Time to sit on my massage chair after a day of colouring in I think.  I really enjoyed colouring the image below.  Again using Spectrum Noir pens.  Last one for today.  Tomorrow I will be making 2 cards from the skull I coloured in and the one below.    I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. (if anyone is reading this hehehehe)

Well as mentioned I finally managed to colour a skull this afternoon, but only after my daughter and granddaughter went home.  Left my craft room in a right mess but the little one had lots of fun.  For this image I used both my Spectrum Noir & Chameleon pens (alcohol pens).  I created the background using an airbrushing machine.  Added some glitter here and there so it's all ready to create a card with.

Yeah! The sun has just come out after a dismal start to the day.  Well, I'm still playing.  Yesterday I did a Peppa Pig picture for my youngest granddaughter who is 2.  I gave myself a pat on the back after successfully making my very first 3D frame for the picture to sit in, including adding acetate to the front so the picture will remain in tip top condition for longer.  The colouring is naff! I just couldn't get the shading right, perhaps because I was working on a larger scale than I'm used to.  I used Specturm Noir alcohol pens for the colouring.  Acrylic paints watered right down for the background then added some 3D flowers and butterflies.  For the frame, I stamped a tiny mouse, a flower & butterfly repeatedly, then lightly coloured using  a very pale pink SN.

Today's challenge for myself is to colour a skull with hair and roses. So watch this space lol!