Mona by Mo Manning

This sweet little image is called Mona by Mo Manning. I love colouring black hair and using bright blue as a highlight. And how well does the stark black work with the pink and lime green?! Such a fabulous image to play with.

I repeated the spotty theme with the stamped background using a set by Altenew, and an embossed spotty panel. The black rhinestones finish off the theme.

Gabrielle by Mo Manning

I love using Mo's gorgeous young women to play with adding "sparkle" I've always loved glittery things. This time I'm using Mo's Gabrielle. 

I had started this image earlier but the spots from the
white Posca paint pen I used were bigger than I wanted and then dropped a huge blog of paint right on her bodice. I tried to clean it up but wasn't too happy with it so tore it up. In my I always prefer to re-start rather than "fix". The colours on this picture aren't true as I took the photo under artificial light.

I did end up taping her together and gave fixing her a quick go - to see if I could - but I was always going to re-colour. As you can see the paint pen I used second time around was much finer and gave me a much nicer look. I also decided to go with the softer look of white trims.

Gillie by Mo Manning

This gorgeous image is called Gillie and she's one of my many, many favourites from Mo. I just love her sweet face, but it's that fabulous fly away hair that really makes me smile. I think she it makes her look a little more magical by giving that amazing hair colourful streaks.

 

Carolina by Mo Manning

We're in the middle of Summer here in Australia and I was inspired to use this gorgeous image because our veggie patches are providing is with some lovely fresh produce at the moment. This is Carolina and I have to say she "grows" much better carrots than we've ever been able to manage 😂

 

A Snowglobe Card

Recently I saw a cute box card design that was made to look like a snowglobe. Having made box cards in the past I used that concept and drafted out a design in my Silhouette Cameo. I love that this card has so much depth but can be folded flat for popping into an envelope. I used Mo Manning's Fairy Snowman and 2 of the elves from Fairy Christmas as my images, one added to each of the first 3 panels. To stabilise the circles I added some plastic circles. For these I used laminate sleeves that I had splattered some white paint into the middle of before laminating and cutting into circles.

Side view 

A Little Christmas Bauble

Today I'm bringing you a little Christmas bauble I decorated using Merry Mousemas from Mo Manning. 

Here's a little tutorial on how I did it :)

1. I layered the image onto a digital paper I had set inside a circle, the circle isn't necessary as it gets trimmed back anyway. Make sure you measure so your image fits the bauble. I printed this onto regular printer paper as it's light weight and will mould around the curve of the bauble. I then carefully coloured the image. Be careful not to saturate the paper with ink if you use markers as it will bleed easily.

2. I then ran a wet q tip around the edge so the paper would tear easily. I do this because torn edges blend better and don't leave a hard ridge.

3. To protect the design I painted the back with mod podge and let it dry.

4. Remove the silver top and paint the bauble with sealer and then sponge on a coat of paint. Mod podge the image onto the front.

5. Using silicone molds create some 3D elements to border the image. I used holly leaves and rope molds with paper clay. Glue these pieces onto the bauble before they dry so they will mold around the curve easily. 

The paper clay I used was red as as that was all I had. It was also a bit old so it was a bit crumbly. I am going to try and make some for future projects, there are plenty of versions online if you Google.

6. Glue on the elements. Paint the bauble in your chosen colour, including the paper clay border.

7. Protect your image area and then splatter some paint all over the bauble with whatever method you prefer, I used a toothbrush. The colours I used were dark brown. white and metallic gold.

8. Uncover the image and paint the paper clay elements. Varnish. I used high gloss but satin would be lovely too. Add the top back onto the bauble and hang.

If you give this a go I hope you have fun with it.

This project was inspired by the amazing artist I found on YouTube - Inspirations from the Soul

 

Pretty in Pink - Christmas Cookies by Mo Manning

Today I'm bringing you a card made using Mo Manning's fabulous Christmas Cookies image. I decided to use non traditional colours and went with pink and silver, and I think she looks fabulous. 

I found a Gingerbread Cookie recipe and used the ingredient list as the background. Then I added some die cut festive elements in the corner. I applied some glitter to all the "fur" on her clothes and the die cut pinecones to add the Christmas sparkle

CASE me a Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton

I always love it when my friend Michelle Lupton contacts me to ask if I want to be a part of her "Case me a Christmas Card" challenge, especially as she was unable to commit to one last year. She has some amazing artists on board taking part in her challenge and, it's always fun to see how people interpret each other's work, especially when styles can vary so much.

This is the card I chose to CASE this year. I used Michelle's basic layout of a coloured central background with an image on top, a simple stamped sentiment and white die cuts. Of course with it being Christmas I had to add some sparkle with glitter and rhinestones. For my card I used one of the gorgeous Christmas images from Polkadoodles Stamps called Watch Your Step.

Michelle's work is always so beautifully elegant, and I hope I've done her design concept justice.

You can check out how Michelle CASE'd one of my cards HERE

Crossed Arm Fairy by Mo Manning

My DT make for Mo's Dream Team this week uses one of her fabulous fairies. Mo has sweet fairies, Christmas fairies, adult fairies and those with a bit of attitude. This gorgeous image definitely has attitude and is called Crossed Arm Fairy. Mo also has a cheeky version of this cutie "flipping off" if you prefer. You cane find that version HERE.

Fay and Frank by Mo Manning

It's October so I guess Halloween is on it's way 😏 We don't really celebrate it here in Australia but that doesn't mean I can't have fun playing. These cuties are Fay and Frank. I used a brighter colour palette for the image as I felt the background papers were dark enough. It also helps tie in with my preferred white card base.

I hadn't planned on adding any jewels to her hair but I may have dropped an open ink pad onto her as I was making up the card and it seemed a good time to embellish 😂 I actually love the bit of sparkle they add so I guess it was meant to be.