Janny Texting by Mo Manning

This week I've used the fabulous image Janny Texting by Mo Manning. After colouring her up I decided to re-colour her and video the process. Mo's DT has started doing live colourings on Facebook, but I haven't felt comfortable doing one of those - hence the video instead.  

This is the image I coloured up in the video. I did her fairly quickly and probably spent more time on the original image making sure the blending was perfect, but I'm still happy with how she turned out! I popped her onto a second card using the same layout as the first.

For anyone interested - here is the link to the colouring video....and please excuse any glitches, I'm pretty new to all this! And next time perhaps I'll record in landscape mode rather than portrait 😏

Autumn Witch by Twistoon Stamps

Well I did it - I tried to make a video tutorial of my colouring of this image called Autumn Witch - but it's so much harder than it looks! I have uploaded the finished result in case you wish to check it out ;) 

Please note that at the end of the video I didn't like the right hand side of her hair above the leaf - so I darkened the shadows there with C10.

Link to video is HERE

Image printed at 12cm tall

 Skin - R11, R20, E000, E00, E 11, E13

Eyes - YR17, YR01, Black, White

Lips - YR07, YR12

Hair - V05, V06, V09, V12, YR15, C10

Clothes (Hat & Dress) - C0, C2, C4, C5, YG0000, YG01, YR00, YR000

Neck Bow and Hat Ribbon - C4, YG01, YG17, G28, V12

Nails - Black, White

Pumpkins - E07, E19, YR07, YR15

Pumpkin Vine & Leaves - G28, YG17, YG63, (+ YR00, YR21 for leaves)

Broomstick - E18, E29, E74

Broom Brush - Y21, Y26, Y28

Cats - B05, YO4, R20, C10, White

Mouse - R20, Y04, C4, C2, White

Mason Jar Tissue Dispenser Tutorial

Recently I saw some really cute mason jar tissue dispensers and I figured I could do something similar and include a cute digi image onto the project, so I went hunting for a jar. This was the part I thought would be easy! But most of the handle less jars have images and words embossed onto the surface of the glass which wouldn't suit my project - so I ended up with a mason jar glass with a handle. I've put together a few steps for you if you'd like to give it a go yourself :) I used Mo Manning's "Needs Mummy" image.

You'll Need                                                            

- a mason jar with 2 part lid (something else I couldn't find so I ended up 3D printing one!)            

- sheet of white foam                                             

- 2 coloured images on thin paper (I used copy paper)

- all purpose sealer

- glue

- white acrylic paint

- ribbon

- stazon ink pad

- texture stamp

- gloss varnish

Since I wanted my images to wrap around the glass slightly and not have a high profile, I decided to print them onto copy paper and colour. I used my copic markers but you have to have a lighter touch on copy paper to prevent the ink bleeding too much. I wanted an image on both the front and the back of the glass so I coloured up 2.

I then sealed my images with an all purpose sealer on both the front and the back, allowing to dry in between. I have skipped this step in the past but the images became transparent when I varnished them and the background pattern showed through! Cut out your sealed and dried images.

Tape off the rim and handle of your jar before sealing and painting. I sponge my first coat of paint on the give it some grip for the subsequent coats. Carefully remove the tape and stamp on a pattern using stazon ink if you wish.

Glue your images onto the front and back of your jar - making sure they don't lift. Once dry add several coats of clear varnish.

Once I cleaned up my printed lid I cut a circle of white foam to fit inside it. Before gluing it in place cut a cross in the foam to allow the tissues to come out while providing a dust cover for the rest - see image above.

Decorate the rim of the jar before loading with tissues and attaching the lid.

I used this YouTube video tutorial to load the tissues into my jar.

I hope you enjoyed this and....

Bless you ;)

Anyone for Tennis?? PLUS a Fur Colouring Tutorial

July is the month for the Wimbledon Grand Slam tennis tournament so of course Teddy Bo has to practice, practice, practice. This adorable image is from Teddy Bo and is from the July Bundle but will be available as a single in August. I'm a bit concerned he's playing on a court with a chicken wire net, AND he's broken his tennis racquet - but at least he looks the part and maybe, just maybe, he'll manage to win a point or 2.

I was also asked to do a quick tutorial for the DT over at Teddy Bo Towers on how to colour fluffy fur. Now I'm no expert, and my "fur" ends up being fairly course - but here is a step by step guide for you using one of my favourite combos - of course you can use ANY colour combo you wish. 

Copics Used

Fur - E49, E44, E43, E42, E40, R20

Clothes - Y19, Y08, Y02, C4, C2, C00

Raquet and Ball - 100, Y19, Y08, Y02, YR27

A Tutorial for La-La Land Crafts - Standing Joy Fold Card

Today I have a little tutorial for a card fold I've used many times, the joy fold, but this time I've turned it 90 degrees to make it a Standing Joy Fold Card for a bit of added fun.

Here's what you'll need...

 Paper Doll Marci {Happy} plus sentiment

Double Stitched Cirlces

Pierced Scalloped Circles

Stitched Tags

Shabby Flourishes

Craft Chipboard

PLUS...

Corner Punch

Brad

Flowers

White, yellow and green card

Patterned Papers

Rhinestone

Cut your white card to 11" x 5.5" and score at 2 3/4" and 5.5". Concertina fold as shown. Use your corner punch on all of the corners which will face towards the top of the finished card {use the photo as a guide}. Cut patterned papers to fit and mat with yellow card before attaching to the card base. Fold into shape.

Die cut the largest Stitched Tag in craft chipboard and attach to the card front, at an angle like mine if you wish.

Die cut the smallest Double Stitched Cirlces in patterned paper and mat with a yellow die cut Pierced Scalloped Circles in yellow. Use the brad to attach it to the back of the card, positioning it so it holds the card together when the Stitched Tag is tucked under it. Decorate as desired or use my card as inspiration.

Side view to show the fold better.

And to neaten up the back I covered the brad legs with another die cut Pierced Scalloped Circle.

 I hope you enjoyed this new take on a old fold and give it a go yourself.

Copics Used

Skin - E11, E00, E000, R24, R20, R11

Hair - Y19, Y15, Y04, Y00

Clothes - YG17, YG13, YG01

Changing Opacity and Merging Images to give the Illusion of Movement

After this images was published I had a few people ask me how I had created the image. It's simply a merged image but the trick is to change the opacity of some of the images and then colour them with a decreasing hints of colour. I use a free downloadable progarm called paint.NET.

Note - you can use a similar process to create your own watermarks for your projects - just type in the text and reduce the opacity.

I am a visual learner so have done step by step screen shots of the process so it's picture heavy. For my coloured image I worked on each character separately and then merged the 2 clusters - there are 2 layers for Teddy Bea and 3 for Molly.

So grab a coffee or your poison of choice and I'll show you how it's done.....

First of all import your image from the file. This time I'll do 3 layers of Teddy Bea. 

Then select "Layers" and  choose "Layer Properties" from the drop down menu.

Where you see "Opacity" change it to 100. My medium image was set to 100 and my lighter one was set to 75.

You'll see your image has lightened - make sure you save it under a different name from the original - I just add 100 or 75 to the end of it's name. Repeat to get your lightest image starting with the original.

When you merge you start with the one that will be furthest in the background and layer up. This means you start with your 75 opacity image. Once you have it uploaded you need to create more space to add your other images to. Select "Canvas Size" from the drop down menu under "Image".

Work out what the best position is for your the current image in relation to those you'll be adding and use the boxes to position it. Since we're adding images at the same height and to the left of the image I placed it in the lower right corner. I then changed to canvas width to accommodate the new layers we'll be adding. I always add more than I need because you can crop back at the end.

The white space on the left is your new canvas.

You can use the magic tool to create a clear background if you wish. Just select the tool and click on the white area which turns blue. Then simply hit the delete button.

To add a new image select "Import from File" from the drop down menu under layers and select the next image. 

I kept working on my image in it's original png format with the clear background - but for this tutorial I changed it to a jpeg which gave it a white background and makes it easier to see. Simply select "save as" jpeg under the save as menu if you wish to do this yourself. 

Note - it's easy to change any digital stamps from jpeg to png and vice versa using this method. 

So here we have our jpeg image with out 100 opacity image imported and postioned over the top. This is the only tricky part of the process! Because the images are opaque the layer below can be seen through it. It'takes a few minutes to fix this up but it's worth the trouble in the long run.

Unfortunately in paint.NET you can only work on the upper most layer so you need to use the back arrow and remove the 100 opacity image and revert the screen to the single layer. 

Select the eraser tool and change the brush width if needed so the eraser is larger. 

Erase the areas that are covered by the next layer but show through. You also erase the background which is why you the check shows up. Fill this in using the paint bucket tool in white.

Layer in your next image to check your progress and remove again if you still need to erase more. If you've erased too much keep pressing the back arrow when you get back to the image you are working on and it will replace what you deleted. Mine still needs more erased under where the top image's skirt sits

OK I'm happy with this - it's not perfect but the minor imperfections will become part of the whole "blur" of movement once the colour is added in.

Luckily the original image is strong enough to cover anything below it so layering this one on is simply a matter of importing it and moving it into place.

Time to crop it and save it. You will be asked to flatten it - this just means it glues the layers together to make one image. I usually save as either a jpeg or a png. 

I hope this makes sense to you. it always makes sense to you when you KNOW what you're doing...hopefully I have passed on enough information for you to know too, but I am happy to answer any questions if needed.

Happy merging...

xXx

Using the Silhouette Print and Cut Feature with La-La Land Digis

WOW - I did this tutorial for La-La Land Crafts back in January 2014! I have decided to post it again as I still get asked how I cut my images and I figured it would be a good time to revisit it so here goes....

I have been asked many times how I manage to cut so neatly around my images - it's no secret - I CHEAT!!! I have dodgy eyes and often start seeing 2 sets of scissors when I try to fussy cut so I talked my dear hubby into letting me have a Silhouette Cameo. One of it's many features is a print and cut option. I LOVE this feature and use it ALL the time.

Today I am here to show YOU how to use it too. This post is fairly picture heavy because they say a picture tells a thousand words and they make much more sense than I could!

Apart from just the print and cutting I will also show you how to remove the white box that comes around the La-La Land digis - this way you'll be able to squeeze your images closer together and make the most of your colouring paper.

Are you ready????

Here goes........

Note - if you click on the pictures you'll open them up bigger if you need to see more details.

To get your image into your Cameo you open up the files. You won't see anything here yet because it will only show silhouette files. You'll need to find the "All files" tab and select it - then your images will appear and you can make your selection.

I've chosen Tea Time Marci here. She'll drop in onto the cutting mat which is the white square - but I have moved her over to the blue section to the left of the mat. You need to trace the image so go the the Trace tab and click on the Select Trace Area button.

Then choose the Trace button and you'll see red lines appear on top of the image. Note red lines are cutting lines. Needless to say you don't want to cut the whole image apart so we need to select what we do want to cut. I have enlarged the screen to make it easier to see what's going on - use the magnifying buttons on the top menu bar to do this.

Go to the Offset tab and select offset. This should place a red line around your image. To create a white border around your image once it's cut you need to change this to the desired width. Use the Offset Distance to change the settings. For these images I like to set it to 0.06 but this is a personal choice.

Move the printed image away from all the red cutting lines. Then click on the group of red lines and separate them out even further into trace lines and offset lines.

Select the offset group of cut lines and right click to bring up a menu. Select Release Compund Path to separate all the lines so they can move independently of one another.

Choose the lines you WANT to cut and move them over your B&W image. Here I've already moved the outline over and I also want to add the lines for cutting the space between her legs. Some images may have more or less extra pieces to cut so choose what you like.

Once you have centered all the cut lines over your image select the whole area and right click to bring up the menu. Click on Group to join all the pieces into one unit which will move together - whether it's for re-sizing or copying and pasting over.

To remove the white background go back to the Trace function. Select your Trace Area and then change the Threshold to 100% and click off the High Pass Filter. Press the Trace and Detach button and you should be able to move your image away from the white background. As I mentioned before this is a useful step when using more than one image per page as you can sit them closer together and maximize the space on your page.

You can save your image with it's cut lines now so you can pull her up to re-use for future projects without having to repeat all of these steps.

Slide your image onto the cutting mat and bring up the registration marks. These help the Cameo know where to cut on your page. Nothing will cut outside the red lines or in the shaded areas so you will have to make sure your images stay within the central area. You can alter the margins using the sliders although I personally have never tried doing this.

I only have A4 sized blending paper so I select the A4 option and usually prefer to cut in landscape position so I make that change too. 

Note - The red lines off to the side from your previous work won't be cut as they are off the cutting mat - another reason to do all that work off mat - there's no need to delete it! 

I then copy and past other images with their cut lines into my page and jiggle them around to make the most of the space.

Note the circled section - this image doesn't have the white background removed and it is covering over Fairy Marci's wing. So you can see it's handy not having the white background on your images.

Now it's time to print your image. 

IMPORTANT

DO NOT MOVE anything on your mat once you have printed it out as it won't cut out right. 

Load your printed sheet into the Cameo using the carrier sheet and follow the prompts onscreen once you hit the Cameo cutting option.

Detect the registration marks automatically - the machine will let you know if it's having problems reading them as it won't cut properly if it can't. Follow the prompts to cut, making sure you use appropriate setting for your paper. 

Well I hope you managed to stick it out to the end and I hope you have found some useful hints and tips here and give it a go yourself .

Some Trouble Shooting Tips

- I sometimes find I have to trace over my registration marks with a black fineline as they have printed too fine to read.

- Check all of your settings - if you are cutting an A4 sheet your settings must read for an A4 sheet.

Happy Colouring Debbie

xXx