December 27, 2013

For you! & Graph' It Challenge


Hello Everyone, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. It's Friday and time for another Graph'It marker challenge. This week we are challenging ourselves to get out of our comfort zones and use a color we would not normally pick to color an image.

I chose orange and yellow, two colors I'm not using very often to color. Just not my favorites. But I really like the rich tones you can get with the Graph'It markers.

The cute image is from LOTV as well as the sentiment , the flowers are from WOC and the DP is from Basic Grey's Piccadilly collection.


Yellow: 1110, 1130, 1180, 1280
Orange: 2130, 2120, 2110, 2105
Blue: 165, 7140, 7150
Teddy: 3255, 3250, 3210, 9400, 4135, 4145
Outline: 9100, 9101
I also used the blender pen and the Mix'It palette



Come and join us in this fun challenge and check out my teamies fabulous creations over at the Graph'It challenge blog

Hugs,



December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas!


Merry Christmas to Everyone!
I hope you all have wonderful and blessed holidays and here's to a happy and prosperous 2014!

This will be a very short posting. I just want to share with you a tag and gift wrap I made for the last Whimsy Inspirations Magazine. Print issue available HERE. The cute little rocking horse die can be found here!


Enjoy the holidays and hopefully some days off!

Hugs,



December 22, 2013

Penguin Happy Mail


Happy 4th Advent Everyone! Only one more day and then it's Christmas Eve already, can't believe how fast the time went. Temperatures here are at record high so I have more of a summer feeling 8-).

Here's another card I made for the Whimsy Inspirations Magazine # 14. You can view the whole issue online HERE.


I used Penguin Happy Mail from Crissy Armstrong and colored it as usual with my alcohol markers - I think I used Copics here. Sentiment is from the Tis the Season Notables 5 Set and cut out with the matching Notables 5 die. I also used the Layered Snowflake Die and the Snowflake Border die.


Close-up look on the little fella. To give the snow some texture and sparkle I've added Stickles and mica flakes.


Thanks for stopping by and have a great start into the holiday week!

Hugs,



December 13, 2013

Graph'It Marker Challenge - Background with GI Markers and Mix It Fluid



Happy Friday Everyone! It's time for another Graph'It marker challenge. This week we are challenging you to create your own background using GI markers and the Mix It fluid. There are endless possibilities and here is what I did:



I used four different shades of teal markers, an acrylic blog and the Mix It fluid to create my background (the teal one right behind the image). With the broad nib I scribbled all four shades (overlapping) onto an acrylic blog, sprayed it with the Mix It fluid and stamped onto white card stock. You have to work quickly as the alcohol evaporates quickly and the color dries fast.

The image is from Whimsy's November release called Penguin Chocolate Surprise by Crissy Armstrong. The sign in the background is a Make It Crafty stamp and you can also get it in the Whimsy store HERE. The sentiment is from LOTV , the flowers are from WOC, the bling is from Want to Scrap and the papers are from Echo Parks Holly Jolly Christmas collection. The sprig is a Memory Box die.





Graph'It Markers used:
Sign: 3120, 3140, 3160, 3190
Snow: 9100, 9101
Scarf & Hat: 7210, 7220, 7240, 7260, 7290
4175, 4135, 4145, 4120,4125
Penguin: 9109, 9107, 9105, 9103, 9101
2105, 2110, 2150
9101, 9100, 7105, 4115,9303
Candy Box: 4150, 4120, 5210, 5220, 5250, 3180
And the blender pen!




Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to visit the Graph'It challenge blog to check out my teamies amazing creations!  




Hugs,




December 11, 2013

Whimsy Stamps Challenge - Party Time


12-13-2013: Edited to add the marker colors I've used!

Today it's the Rubber DT's turn to show their inspirational creations for this month's challenge over at the Whimsy Inspirations Challenge Blog. Please visit the blog for all the details on the challenge. This month's theme is Party Time.

Here is what I came up with:

I colored the cute SugarPlum Fairy from Whimsy's Elisabeth Bell collection. Sentiment is from the Party Mini Letter Seals. I also used Whimsy DP Merry & Bright and the Shapeology Corner Dies. Flowers are from WOC and othjer embellies from my stash.



The fairy was colored using a mix of Copics and Touch Twin markers. I'll post a list of colors used a little later today.

Here are the marker colors I used (TT = TouchTwin, C = Copic):

Pink: TT - RP196, RP138, RP17, RP292, C - RV0000
Green: TT - GY231, GY234, GY48, Y38, GY163
Brown: TT - BR102, BR116, BR109, Y223
White: C - B00, B000, B0000
Hair: C - E21, E25, E29
Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20



Don't forget to visit my teamies blogs for more gorgeous inspiration!
Thanks for visiting me today!

Hugs,



December 5, 2013

Whimsy's 24 Days of Christmas Event - Day 5



Hello Everyone and Welcome to the Whimsy Stamps
24 Days of Christmas Event!



For all of you who do not know what's going on at the moment....Whimsy Stamps and it's design team is holding a 24 Days of Christmas Event to thank you all for your continued support of Whimsy Stamps! :-)

Every day from 1st to 24th December, a member of the design team will be sharing a brand new Whimsy holiday creation on the Whimsy blog.  Included in these daily posts will be a LETTER.  Visit us every day, make a note of each letter and keep them safe.  Once you have collected all 24 letters, you should be able to unscramble them and make a 4 word phrase. Email your phrase to whimsystampscontests@gmail.com by 31st December 2013, and if you've guessed correctly, you will be entered into the draw to win a fantastic GRAND PRIZE! 
But that's not it, there will also be some fun SPOT PRIZES throughout the entire event. They could be hidden either on the Whimsy blog or on our design team member's blogs! And just to let you know even the DT doesn't know where the prizes are hidden!! Be sure to leave a comment on the Whimsy blog  AND on the DT's blog posts each day to be in with a chance to win! Today that will be here on my blog!

Here's the card I made for today using the super cute 'Santa's Glee' stamp by Crissy Armstrong.

The sentiment is from the Holiday Mini Letter Seals and layered on top of one of the 'Layered Snowflake Dies' . That gorgeous Santa's Sleigh is also a Shapeology die. I've added silver Fran-Tage embossing powder to both dies to give them a bit of a vintage look. The DP is from Teresa Collins 'Santa's List' collection. Flowers are from WOC and Magnolia. The small red ornament I got at Hobby Lobby and the wooden star is from Prima. The tree die is a Marianne Design Creatables.


Here's the list of markers I've used:
Copic:
Red: R22, R24, R46, R59
White: B000, C1, C3
Skin: E11, E00, E000, R20
Paper: E53, E50, W3
Hair & beard: warm greys
Shoes & belt: cool greys
Outline: Prisma pencil non-photo blue & OMS





Don't forget to collect your letter on the Whimsy blog and leave comments on both blogs - here and on the Whimsy blog - to be eligible to win!

Good luck and have a wonderful rest of the week!

Hugs,



December 3, 2013

A Christmas Fairy & Some Fun Whimsy News



Hello All and a very Happy Tuesday! The card I want to show you today was one of my creations for the Whimsy Inspirations Magazine # 14. You can view the whole issue online HERE. Sadly to say that this was our last issue so far :-( So while supplies last make sure and grab your print version here in the Whimsy Store. 84 pages full of inspiration and tutorials! Before I go on with my card I have some exciting news for you:

 Whimsy is holding a
24 Days of Christmas Event


To thank you all for your continued support of Whimsy Stamps, the Whimsy design team are holding a fun Christmas event on the Whimsy Inspirations blog in the run up to Christmas!

Every day from 1st to 24th December, a member of the design team will be sharing a brand new Whimsy holiday creation here on the Whimsy blog.  Included in these daily posts will be a LETTER.  Visit us every day, make a note of each letter and keep them safe.  Once you have collected all 24 letters, you should be able to unscramble them and make a 4 word phrase.  Email your phrase to whimsystampscontests@gmail.com by 31st December 2013, and if you've guessed correctly, you will be entered into the draw to win a fantastic GRAND PRIZE! 

That's not all!  There will also be some fun SPOT PRIZES throughout the entire event.  The prizes could be hidden on the Whimsy blog or on our design team member's blogs, so be sure to leave a comment on the Whimsy blog AND on the DT's blog posts each day to be in with a chance to win! 
 
So onto my card for today now....

This cute fairy is called 'Silver Fairy' by Sylvia Zet. Available in rubber in the Whimsy Store. I colored her with Copics and the background paper is from MME. I also used the 'Holiday Wishlist' stamp from Whimsy and the sentiment is from the Snowflakes Mini Letter Seals set layered on the Snowflake Mini Seal die. Other dies used are Mini Lace Doily Corner die, Layered Snowflake die and from Memory Box the 'Holly Vine' die. Flowers are from WOC and all other embellies from my stash.


Here's a close-up on the cutie.



Thanks for stopping by and have a great week. I will be back Thursday with my creation for the 24 Days of Christmas Event!

Hugs,



December 1, 2013

ThermoMorph - Moldable Plastic


Hi Everyone and Happy Sunday! Today I have something different for you, no card to share today. I was asked a few weeks back by David from ThermoMorph to do a review. The product sounded pretty interesting so I agreed. ThermoMorph, what is that you ask? Well ThermoMorph are moldable plastic pellets made out of polymorph granules. 
FrontThermoMorph
Here is what it says on the company website about it:

Thermomorph is an amazing new moldable plastic compound that can be used in numerous different ways. Hack things, fix things, make things and sculpt things, with Thermomorph it’s all possible.
It’s super easy to use, boil a kettle of water and pour some into a bowl, sprinkle the required amount into the water and wait until it turns clear. Once clear Thermomorph becomes pliable for around two minutes, mold into the desired shape using your hands or tools and then wait to cool to room temperature at which point it sets rock hard again.

The price for it is MSRP $19.95 and it comes in a huge 500g jar.  This will last you quite a while as you don't throw out anything you can reuse even the tiniest bit!

Ok and here is what I did with it and what I have have to say about it:

I wanted to try and make some embellishments using a silicone mold, cut out some shapes using tiny cookie/fondant cutters and fixing the broken handle on my favorite small wire whisk.

This is what the ThermoMorph granules look like.


Here they are in the hot water. Directions say to boil water and let it cool down to approx. 60C. You can see that they turn clear very quickly about 1-2 minutes. Looking a bit like frog spawn now ;-)


This is the big soft blob after I removed with tongs from the hot water. It's very easy to shape as long it is hot. I immediately started shaping it around my wire whisk to form a new handle. 

This is what it looked like after I was done forming it and...

....this when it was completely hardened. I tried to shape it a bit using my Dremel tool and have to say it is not as hard as I have imagined it to be. Well I have to say I am a trained dental lab technician and compared to the polymers/plastics I was used to work with it is quite different and not as hard...obviously. So I just sanded it a bit with a very fine sanding paper. Conclusion: My favorite wire whisk has a new perfect handle and I'm more than happy with it! Yeah! :-)


Next I used it to form some flowers and leaves using a silicone mold. This silicone mold is usually used to shape fondant or gum paste. There are special flower molds for for crafting which are little more detailed but this is all I had on hand.


The first picture is how it looked like when I took it out of the mold. It was still a bit soft and not as opaque yet. In this stage it is best to cut off any excess using crafting scissors. The second photo shows it when I already trimmed the excess off and completely set. I was impressed that really all the details showed. You can see that better later once it's colored.




Now I would like to try if I can cut it out using tiny cookie cutters/fondant cutters. I flattened the big lump with a rolling pin. Then I tried to cut them out. It did not work as good as I wished. I had to wait until it was a little harder and still it was not easy to cut it out with these tiny shapes. Might be easier with bigger ones but I have no use for those large embellies on my cards and projects.


The good thing is you can use the ThermoMorph plastic over and over again. Just throw it back into the bowl with hot water and wait until it's all clear and soft again. So there will be almost no waste at all! Like that, very good!!


This time I tried to add some glitter. It worked great! Just make sure the ThermoMorph is really soft for an even distribution. The softer the plastic when you start mixing in the glitter the better. You can see it on my flower. It already started to harden when I mixed it in. Compared to the leave where the glitter is more evenly spread. 



Trimming off the excess is easily done with crafting scissors. If the plastic is a bit too thick to be cut in the hardened state just drop it back in the hot water for a few seconds. Just don't wait too long to not ruin your shape. Watch it and as soon as the excess parts begin to clear take it out carefully and trim.


My last experiment for today will be coloring my flower and leave. There are lots of ways and coloring mediums that can be used. I decided to try my alcohol markers. Well coloring it directly with the pens worked yes, but the result was not very satisfying. So I wondered if it would maybe be a better way using my Copic Airbrush System to color.


I started laying down the first layer of color and liked it much better. The color goes on more evenly and doesn't look clotted like before. 


I continued laying down different shades of color and was really impressed by the end result. It turned out fabulous! What do you think?

So these were my experiments with the ThermoMorph. There are endless possibilities to use this fun product. It really is very easy to use for everyone. From fixing things til making your own embellishments. Next time I was thinking of trying to make some beads or buttons. So stay tuned and thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs,