Friday 25 May 2018

LiSSA - colouring a cup and saucer

Hello lovely people,

It's only a couple of weeks now until the launch of LiSSA...what do you mean you haven't heard about this?!

Ok, so LiSSA is an interactive tool that Dr. Hubby and I have developed to help crafters and artists with light source when colouring images.  You can find some more info here so I won't repeat it all in this post!

I wanted to show you today how LiSSA can work in practice using one of the objects, a cup and saucer.  It's a pretty basic object but I don't think it's that easy to decide where the shadows would fall.

Please bear in mind that I am not an expert colourist so any flaws in my colouring are my own and not the fault of LiSSA - lol!

Here's the screenshot from LiSSA;


I didn't adjust any of the lighting settings from the default because I like my light source from the top right and was happy with how the cup looked.  I used the zoom function to be able to see more detail and then spent a little time studying the image.

I took the stamped image I wanted to colour and used a green marker to map out where I could see the deepest shadows.  Ignore the yellow for now...that's for later!


 I then coloured my image using Copic markers G21, G24 and YG63.  These 3 colours are fairly close together so give a nice smooth blend but you could choose a combo with a little more contrast if you wished.


I was pretty happy with this but wanted to see if I could improve on it at all by accentuating the highlights I could see on the image so that's when I went back and added the yellow marker to my shadow map image, then I had another go.


Now, what I maybe should have done was colour the cup BEFORE using LiSSA but I'm 100% sure that I would never have been as happy with it as I was with this LiSSA-aided version.

See that shadow cast by the cup on the left of the saucer?  No way would I have done that and I think it adds a lot of depth to the image.

So, I hope this has given you a little taster of how you could use LiSSA to help you colour, and I'll be sharing plenty more examples and helpful hints before and after release :)

Thanks so much for popping in and I hope you have a lovely day!






Baby rattle card and tags

Hello lovely people,

I have a Dies to Die For DT card for you today and am mixing up a bit of old and new for this one.

The little bear and sentiment are from a brand new MFT stamp set and I thought they would go perfectly with the baby rattle die from a while ago...was I right?!

Handmade baby boy card using baby rattle and Hello Little One stamp set from My Favorite Things

I have also used the fab new MFT polka dot background stamp, which I heat embossed in white, then blended Distress Oxides over the top.

If you are a fan of itsy bitsy polka dots then this background stamp is a must have!

Handmade baby boy card using baby rattle and Hello Little One stamp set from My Favorite Things

I admit I was a little bit addicted to the cuteness of the baby rattle die so I made a couple of quick tags as well!

So, the rattles are sort-of upside down but I envisaged them as tags so in my head it made sense to put the handle loop at the top.

Baby rattle tags for boys and girls, using MFT Baby Rattle and Baby Clothes Die-namics, and Hello Little One stamps

If I've tempted you with any of the lovely supplies I've used then you can go straight to the individual products via the links below or just pop over to Dies to Die For and have a little browse around!

Thanks for popping in and I hope you have a wonderful day!



Friday 18 May 2018

Flamingo Friday!

Hello lovely people,

My Dies to Die For DT card this week uses one of the brand new MFT stamp sets; well, how could I say no to some fabulous flamingos?!

Funny handmade card with pink flamingo (image/sentiment from Let's Flamingle from My Favorite Things)

Pink, a bit of sparkle and a punny sentiment...I reckon this card has it all - lol!

Funny handmade card with pink flamingo (image/sentiment from Let's Flamingle from My Favorite Things)

If I've tempted you with any of the lovely supplies I've used then you can go straight to the individual products via the links below or just pop over to Dies to Die For and have a little browse around!

Thanks for popping in and I hope you have a fabulous day!



Lovely things I've used from Dies to Die For;
Let's Flamingle stamp set - My Favorite Things
Let's Flamingle dies - My Favorite Things
A2 stitched rectangle STAX 1 - My Favorite Things

Other ingredients;
Sequins from stash

Copic colours;

Flamingo body / wing: RV11, RV13, RV14
Flamingo beak: RV10, RV11 and N7, N9
Let's Polka in the Meadow 6x6 paper pad - Lawn Fawn

Friday 4 May 2018

Floating in space

Hello lovely people,

I have a Dies to Die For DT card for you today and since it is International Space Day today I thought I'd link in with that...yes, I'm aware it's also Star Wars Day...a happy coincidence this year!

Handcrafted Space Explorer Card (image is Space Explorer by MFT)

I'm really enjoying creating backgrounds for my characters with Distress Oxides and I especially love the effect of adding water to them. 
I wanted to create a 'spacey' feeling for this one (obviously!) so first I used a spray bottle from overhead to give a misting of fine dots and then added in some bigger splotches with the end of a paintbrush dipped in water.

Handcrafted Space Explorer Card (image is Space Explorer by MFT)

I love how cute his little silver tubing looks but please don't ask me why it goes into the eyelet on the sentiment...it was one of those 'I just thought it looked cool' moments!  I guess not everything has to make sense in crafting...it's just art!

Handcrafted Space Explorer Card (image is Space Explorer by MFT)

If I've tempted you with any of the lovely supplies I've used then you can go straight to the individual products via the links or just pop over to Dies to Die For and have a little browse around!

Thanks for popping in to my blog and I hope you have a wonderful day!



Lovely things I've used from Dies to Die For;
Space explorer stamp set - My Favorite Things
Space explorer Die-namics - My Favorite Things
A2 stitched rectangle STAX 2 - My Favorite Things
Inside and out stitched circle STAX - My Favorite Things

Copic colours;
Skin: E50. E51, E21, E70
Hair: E53, E35, E57
Spacesuit: C00, C1, C2
Darker grey bits of spacesuit: C2, C3, C4
Blue details: B02, B04, B06
Green details: YG06, YG07, YG09

Distress Oxide colours;
Seedless Preserves
Wilted Violet
Mermaid Lagoon (very tiny amount)


Other ingredients;
Silver twine from stash