CDAC Progressive Challenge cdacpc4 First Entry

For this round (cdacpc4), the theme is Halloween or Mystical.
The image of the dragon girl with 3 little dragons was generously suppiled by Delicious Doodles. I created a fun card for a special birthday coming up and used this weeks sketch from Midnight madness to inspire the design layout. It will be heading your way soon Angela. *Smiles*

Challenges:
CDAC Progress Challenge - round 4
Midnight Madness - Sketch 124
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How does the CDAC Progressive Challenges work?
The CDAC Progressive Challenge is a proactive freebie challenge. What that means is as long as you are proactive by making and submitting cards to this challenge you will continue to get freebies offered in a large variety of styles. These images are created by the artists that have groups here on CDAC and by those that participate in the CDAC drawing Challenges. This is a fun way to get and use fabulous images that will be offered during these challenges. You will have a full two week to enter the challenge, so not only will you get these images free (if you started with cdacpc1), but if you participate in each of the challenges during that series you will go into the drawing for the Grand Prize. EVERYONE that plays is a winner, because EVERYONE that plays earns the next challenges images for free. Repeat the process again, and you will receive the next freebies emailed to you again and so on and so on.....Come join in the fun and pick youself up some free images to play with, it only costs you $1 to buy into the challenge.
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Baby Boy Card

The card above I made as a sample card using my new baby digital 'Baby Gift Box'ID: NV-DS0028 and the sentiment is from my new word art sheet 'Baby Set 1' ID:NV_WA0019 . I found a wonderful sketch supplied by the 'Catch the Bug' crew. As yet I don't own any of the dies or a cutting machine so I used my trusty scallop scissors to make the scalloped circles. More practice is needed by me to stitch in a circle as I ended up just manually moving the needle one stitch at a time, *laughs* and it's still wigglely.

I coloured my digital first, spending the most amount of time on the hatbox itself and used 6 different copic colours to achieve that gradual shading. I used a white pen to add the little white dots onto the hatbox to create a pattern. The items inside the hatbox are very small, so I only used 2 colours on most of them. After it was dry it was then cut out, the edges shaded and pop dotted onto the card to add dimension. I brushed all the edges of the card with Aegean Blue chalk to soften the hard edges. The rest of the card was just a matter of putting it together. I also used a copic pen B95 and created a little splattering (fingernail flicked on the brush nib) in some of the areas.

The inside is very simple. I used the same paper as the front and stitched around it. The verse is from my word art sheet and the edges where also brushed with chalk.

Card Info:

Normal yellow card stock to make the base

Background paper by Paper Chic Item#1642, so pretty with candy stripes one side and white baby dots on red on the other side.

Copics: B000,B00,B21,B93,B95,B97 (hat box colours)

Pink ribbon with 2 silver threads by Celebrate

6mm Pearls (coloured with copic E95)by Vivaldi

Little teddy bear charm from Ribtex

Flowers are a no name brand, I do remember picking up the white ones in the bridle section and I coloured the center of them with a red copic marker.

VersaMagic is the chalk ink

I am entering this card in the following wonderful challenges:

Catch the Bug - Challenge Scallops

Sunday with Crissy - Challenge # 15 Stitching

Cutie Sunday -Challenge #135 Colour Combo

The Corrosive - Challenge #107 Sketch Time

My Grafico - Challenge Monthly

Southern Girls - Challenge Flowers

Simon Says - Challenge Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting.

Tulips Card, Blending with copics

I don't get a chance to make cards very often but I find that when I do it's always a fun time and I especially enjoy this time if I've been inspired. Zoe from 'Make it Colourful' was my inspiration this week with her new challenge to blend blue and purple together. As I'm still learning how to use my copics this challenge seemed perfect and as soon as I read about it, I knew the digi that I was going to use.

Patti G. had just released a new line that she had been working on and had just announced they were available in her etsy store. So many cute ones to choose from but I was heading there to get my hands on her delightful vase of tulips. I'd seen the image in colour on an amazing card that her sister Sandi had made for their mother.

So now I had the colour challenge, digi and all that was left was to find a sketch that I could use to help me put something together. I didn't have far to look as I know that Priscilla Styles 'Midnight Madness' challenge is always so rewarding. The sketch this week is great with a choice of 2 different levels to pick from.

The card info:

Digital tulips in vase from Patti G.

Copic: tulips;BV13,V09,V17,B93 leaves;YG03,YG06,YG63,YG97 vase;B000,E41,C4

Digital paper (purple) designed by SG_Refresh_DMI_12x12_Sherbet

Pearls, coat hanger, coloured string, gold heart and tags from my stash.

I'm entering the following challenges:

Make is Colourful - Challenge #5 – Blend Blue and Purple Together

Patti's Creations - Challenge #13 - Birthday for a Mother

Priscillastyles - Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #90

A Spoonfull of Sugar -Challenge #138 - Let's see some love

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #151 - Hearts & Flowers!


Thanks for stopping by.

Tutorial Creating a Digital

I've been asked several times, how do I get my digitals to be so detailed and clean?
After considering this question and how best to answer it, I thought I'd share with you a step by step of how I create my quality digital:
You may click on any of the images for a closer look.

1. I start with a doodle or an idea in pencil. (Mine are usually done at work on a scrap of paper)

2. I will work on this idea in my sketch book still in pencil. When I'm happy with the general look I will trace over the pencil lines using .5 black pen. I errase the pencil lines with a soft rubber. I don't worry too much about mistakes as I know that I have the computer to back me up. =)

3. I scan in the line drawing at 300 dpi. into Paint Shop Pro 9 (PSP9). I use just a normal brush set at .4 and have the foreground colour set on black and the background colour set on white. I can alternate between the two colours with a click of the mouse. White acts as a rubber and black to redo / add lines. You can see by the example below that it still looks pretty messy. I save it at this stage as a png.

4. I change programs and opened that saved file in Illustrator CS5. I clicked 'Trace' set on default or simple. (my new all time favourite magic button). I don't use anything else in here yet as the program I'm still learning. So I simply export this image now again as a png file.

5. Open again with PSP9. Check all the lines. Again using just black and white with the setting the same as above I will check each line and make any final changes. It's worth noting here that as I am a digital colourist as well, I will take particular attention to making sure areas are sealed. (No holes, so that when you fill an area with colour it doesn't seep into unwanted areas.)When I'm happy that I have produced a digital that I would use I will move onto the final step. Using the magic wand to cut away the areas that I want to be transparent, I will zoom in and add one pixel at a time if I have too (eg the little holes between the strings of the mat). I call this my semi-transparent digi. I save my digital as a png again and also save as a jpeg file. (Saving as a jpeg will automatical fill in the areas again with white).

6. Here's the finished digital.
Example 1. Coloured using the computer.

Example 2. As a designer nothing gives me more pleasure than when another artist uses one of your art pieces and creates something with it. This is a wonderfully hand coloured example by JenLee, she made a gorgeous Christmas card and added her personal touches thoughout. Check out the lite candle in the window and the beautiful blending and shading. You'll find more of her stunning work on her website HERE!

I hope that this little step by step has given you an insight into the process that goes into bringing you quality digitals to use in your projects. Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement.

May Sketch Challenge

I'm very excited as I just finished my first ever Sketch Challenge. I met Angie on Sunday just past and she has a wonderful site Scrap.N.Art so I joined her site and have spent the best part of the night finding my way around. So many wonderful and creative people with goodies to share. I've seen many a Sketch offered on other sites but I've never attempted one before.  It was fun after I had decided on my photos as the rest is just filling in and creating. It's digital just incase you couldn't tell *laughs*

It is so so far over my so called bed time and after making the layout above my computer is screaming at me to turn it off. Time just disappears when you having fun.