Mo's Dream Team Blog Hop

Yup - it's that time of the month again when Mo's Dream Team get together to play. This month our wonderful hostess with the mostest is the Marvellous Mina and she's asked us to play with 'ribbon'. If you're already hopping you should have arrived here from the oh-so talented Alice's Blog.

I chose to use Mo's gorgeous image "Gloria" and pop her in a fairly simple layout. I used my wave die from La La Land Crafts and a bubbly embossing folder to add some fun. And of course finished everything off with a ribbon and bow.

As last stop on the hop I want to make sure you've checked what the rest of the gals have created so make sure you head to the start at Mina's Blog if you haven't been there already!

Blog Hop order (you'll find the links on my left sidebar under Mo's logo) -

Mina, Pops, Jak, Gretha, Jane, Julie, Debby.Y, Heidy, Alice, Debbie.

Copics used - Skin (E11, E00, E000, R20, R11) plus E44, E43, E42, E40, R39, R27, R17, YR23, Y19, Y11, Y08, Y00, G28, G24, BG0000

SURPRISE Baby Shower over at Magnolia Down Under Challenges

This week at Magnolia Down Under Challenges we have a VERY SPECIAL EVENT happening ....

 A SURPRISE BABY SHOWER for our very own DT member Louise!

Louise is expecting her 2nd child any day now and she assures us she's having a baby girl - and given the 'pinkness' I've produced I hope she's right - LOL. The theme of this week's challenge is "Shabby Baby" for obvious reasons - although poor Louise may have different theme posted on her blog as we had to "put her off the scent" of all of our sneaky planning - LOL. Let's hope she forgives us!

I have already made a card to send so I decided to create something a bit different. I used the new Mini Book Box Kit from Make it Crafty to create a little gift box to send to Louise. I wanted it to be girly but not especially baby as hopefully her new daughter can use it for keepsakes as she gets older - unless her big sister pinches it first - LOL.

When you open the box up you'll see I added a gorgeous poem about daughters I found on Pinterest - although sadly I couldn't read the author to include their name (you can click on the photo to enlarge it if you wish to read the poem). The chipboard rocking horse and flourishes are from Make it Crafty too. I glittered to rocking horse up with pink glitter for some girly bling.

I also made a cute pair of kimono baby shoes - another find on Pinterest (you can get the pattern for these HERE). I used 2 complimenting flannel fabrics for these so they would be extra snuggly. I was going to pop a flower on the tops but knowing babies I didn't think I should add anything that could become a choking hazard.

 And just a touch of whimsy to go in the box - I made a little leather bound key chain book where special fairy wishes or notes can be written as a keep-sake - another Pinterest find - LOL. You can find the tutorial I used HERE  - but I have changed it slightly to make it easier. I used one of a cheap pair of ear-rings for the dangly bits and the crest was created using a chipboard ribbon slide from Make it Crafty, and a diamante and pearl button.

 I decided I wanted to soften the look of the spine of my book - so I attached a strip of calico - holding it place one each side but leaving it un-glued around the spine so I didn't compromise the movement.

 And here it is all together in the box - I just need to wrap it up and send it off.

 I KNOW the rest of the MDUC DT will have come up with some amazing baby fun to help share this exciting event - so pop on over to our BLOG and check out all the FUN! 

And Louise - ALL THE VERY BEST SWEETIE - we can't WAIT to meet our newest recruit!

Copics used - skin (E11, E00, E000, R20, R11) plus R85, R83, R81, R01, R000, E44, E43, E42, E40, 100, W5, W3, W1, W00

Tickled Pink Stamps is Sponsoring Winter Wonderland Challenges

This week Tickled Pink Stamps is proudly sponsoring Winter Wonderland Challenges where of course the theme is Christmas - but this time the twist is to use your a sentiment as your focal point. I used the handsome  Lil Christmas Lad Luca and paired him with a Unity Stamp called "Christmas List".

I hope I've inspired you to play along too - there are Tickled Pink digis to be won!

Copics used -Skintones {E11, E00, E000} plus R39, R27, R24, BG99, BG96, BG93, G24, E44, E43, E42, E41, C2, C0, Y19

La La Land is Playing with Embossing

This week at La La Land Crafts we are playing with embossing. I chose to pull out some embossing folders instead of my embossing powders and got to work.

I just LOVE the new Asian images as I lived in Asia for some time and have lots of Asian pieces in my home. I chose to use Marci with Lantern with both of her accessory stamps. The circle was cut out of the pattern of one of the DPs in my Bo Bunny 6x6 paper pad - circles have a significance in Chinese culture. The  DP used to paper piece her outfit is from the same paper pad. The Chinese pagoda was cut out using my Cameo from a pattern available at the Silhouette Store. I embossed the panel behind the circle and the roofs of the pagoda.

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the LLLC DT have gotten up to over on our BLOG.

Copics used - 

Skin - E11, E00, E000, R20, R11, R24(lips)

Hair - 100, BV29, C7, C5, C3

Shoes and Lanterns - 100, C4, R89, R39, R27

Shading on Clothes - YG61, YG0000

DP - Bo Bunny Serenity

UPDATED Tutorial for Merging Digital Images Using paint.NET

A while ago I created a tutorial for merging digital images using a free downloadable software called paint.NET as many of us don't have photoshop to play with - you can check out that tutorial HERE. Many digis come with a white opaque background which needs to be erased and this update is mainly for those. Some months after I posted my tutorial I received a lovely email from a lady by the name of Teresa - in it she said...

"I just wanted to thank you for the free download it is amazing .....I was just showing my son who is a computer geek he showed me a great way of rubbing out the top layer to show the bottom layer I thought I would let you know as it is so quick......Hope you find this helpful thanks again love all your cards so much,  keep on inspiring people
Teresa xx"

Well it took me a little while to find the time to play with this method and sort it out but I am FINALLY passing this info onto you as an Updated Tutorial....here goes. Be warned it's picture heavy as I'm a visual learner and prefer to help you that way too and I wanted it to be a complete tutorial so I'm repeating many of the steps from my orginal tutorial.....

Also - you can click on individual pictures to get a close-up if you need too!


The first step is to open up the program and click on "File" to get the drop down menu. Select "Open"

Choose the image file you want to use - make sure it's the one that will the back image of your merged images - this is important as the second image will be sitting over the top of this one - so plan ahead! Click on the image you've chosen and then press "Open". I've chosen the adorable image "Kite"  - you can find him HERE in Mo's store.

Once he's open we need to make some room for the next image.

In the top menu click on "Image" to get the drop down menu and then click on "Canvas Size".

This screen will open up and you can use the placement boxes at the bottom to determine the position on the page of your first image.You will also need to make the picture area larger - you can do this by changing the width and height under the pixel size. For this example my next image won't be taller than Kite but she does sit lower - so I'm just going to make the canvas size wider and higher and postion Kite on the LHS in the middle. Don't worry if it looks too big - you can crop your final picture down later. 

After pressing "OK" my new picture space looks like this. Before taking the next step make sure everything looks OK to move on - because once you move onto the next step you can't change anything done up to now without coming back to this spot. But if it's not right you can still change the canvas size and positioning before moving on.

Now to add in my next image!

I've chosen the super cute "Waiting for the Parade" image to combine with "Kite" this time - you can find her HERE in Mo's store.

AND NOW FOR THE UPDATED PART OF MY TUTORIAL!!!! Before you add your next image you need to open it in a separate window so you can remove the background to make merging easier.

Once you've opened her up you need to go to the drop down tools menu and select the MAGIC WAND.

Move over to the image and place the wand somewhere in the background and left click. You'll see the background turn blue - and sometimes parts of the image will too - in this case her face and bows. Be aware that all of these blue areas with become clear once you've finished so the image you are layering over the top of may have to have areas erased to accomodate for the clear areas - I'll show you what I mean later. 

Once you have the area blue hit DELETE and you'll see a checkered pattern appear - meaning these areas are now clear. 


There may be parts of the background that have remained white - just click on them with the magic wand again to clear. You can also clear areas like clothing for layering your image over digital papers for digital paper piecing - but that's ANOTHER tutorial - LOL.

To keep the background clear you need to save her in .png format so select the "save as" option from the menu and then select .png. Hit save and a "save configuration" box pops up and you hit OK. Now it's time to merge her in.... 

Go back to where you have your original image loaded with the canvas size enlarged. Then to add her in you go "Layers" in the menu and select "Import from File" from the drop down menu. Then find, select and open the file you want.

After you press "Open" she'll appear on your screen somewhere. You may find your second image is out of proportion to your original image - you can re size it by placing your cursor on the corner of the image box and shrinking or enlarging it to fit. You can see that the areas around her are clear letting you see your first image clearly.

Then just drag your new image into place. You can see where some of his jacket is visible in the middle of her forehead - this was what I was mentioning before. If you wanted to pop her here you would have to use the "undo" bottom to remove her and be able to erase this portion of his jacket.

To erase just go to the "Tools" menu and select "Eraser" from the drop down menu. It will come up fairly small but you can change the size using the "Brush Width" option - located to the right  of "Tools" in the menu bar.

Luckily for me where I want to pop her there isn't an issue - so I just slide her into place.

Once you're happy with your merged image you're ready to save it. Go to "File" on your menu and select "Save As".

Select a name for your file and then use the drop down menu to save your file  - I usually save as a JPEG file but you can save in whatever format you like!

If you're saving as a JPEG this screen will pop up first. Just press OK.

Then you'll see this screen. You need to flatten the 2 images together into one.

Your next job is to crop the image down to remove the excess canvas - you can use whatever software you usually use for cropping. You can use Paint.NET too - just re-open your merged image into the software and draw a rectangle around what you want to save - using the "Rectangle Select" tool. Then go to "Image" and press on "Crop to Selection" in the drop down menu. Save your finished project.

You are now ready to print out as per normal.

I hope you find this tutorial useful - please feel free to ask me if you have ANY questions and I shall endeavour to answer them!

I used this week's sketch from Sketch Saturday to help me finish my card.


Copics used - Skin (E11, E00, E000, R20, R11) plus R39, R35, R27, R24, E44, E42, E40, C2, C00, BG99, BG96, BG93, BG91, B34, YR27, YR23, Y21, Y13

Red, White and Blue in La La Land

This week at La La Land Crafts we are going red, white and blue - or our own nations colours. Since the Australian flag is red, white and blue too I thought I'd stick with that - LOL. The only other option were our sporting colours - green and gold - but I don't think it's as nice a colour combo though!

I used the adorable Tricycle Marci  - off for a ride with her trusty friend in the basket. I mixed some different DPs together with some lace, dry embossing and of course flowers - my favourite embellishment. Don't forget to check out the rest of the fabulous DT inspiration on our BLOG.

Copics used -

Skin - R20, R11, E11, E00, E000 and R25 (lips)

Hair - E35, E33, E31, E08

Clothes - B99, B97, B95, B93, B91, C2, C0, C00

Bike - R39, R25, C8, C6, C5, C4, C2, red and silver spica

Basket - E35, E30

Panda - C8, C6, C2, C0, C00, R000

Mo's Ragged Romeo

Isn't this just the sweetest image - it's called Ragged Romeo by Mo Manning and I've been wanting to colour this pair up for ages! I'm still practicing my shabby chic look and these 2 were a perfect match for that style. Maybe my new Zutter Distrezz-it-all is also just a little responsible for my new found love of distressing - it's just toooooooo easy to use! 

Copics used - Skin (R20, R11, E11, E00, E000) plus R27, R24, E49, E44, E43, E42, E41, E40, W1, G46, G43, G40, BG0000

Tickled Pink Stamps is Sponsoring Fab'n'Funky Challenges

This week Tickled Pink Stamps is sponsoring Fab'n'Funky Challenges and they are asking you to use "Stars and Stripes". Here in Australia "stars and stripes" and July 4th don't have the same meaning as it does for my American friends so I went off in a different direction. With it being the end of semester one of our school year here our kids have been getting their reports - and this is where my inspiration came from for this card. I've used Lil Little Lad Frankie in his cute uniform and embossed some stripes into the background as well as using striped DP before adding some layered stars for my #1 pupil.

We hope you get a chance to play too - you have a chance to win some Tickled Pink images for yourself.

Copics used - Skintones (E11, E00, E000) plus R39, R27, R24, R20, V25, V17, B18, B05, B00, E29, E27, E25, E23, E21, W7, W5, W3, W1

Trying Something New For Make it Crafty

Over at Make it Crafty we have a long list of challenges we have given ourselves to try out. Personally I believe that if we stop challenging ourselves we have no idea what we are actually capable of and we aren't giving ourselves a chance to grow as artists. I often find myself stuck in a rut with my layouts or colouring so challenging myself to try something new gets those creative juices flowing again.

I chose to "mimic another medium" using my copics to colour in the style of distress inks - using muted tones and lots of white. I'm not quite sure I've got it down perfectly but it was certainly a LOT of fun to try it out and that's what this whole process is all about. I used Suzanne Dean's series of Youtube videos for colour options and hints. One big difference I feel is the texture of the paper - you can "see" the texture of watercolour paper and I think that is missing from my image. Of course I may have given myself an extra challenge using Make it Crafty's amazing Rapunzel image to colour up....all that hair - aaaagh!

I partially framed my image with a Make it Crafty chipboard frame which I had painted with cream crackle paint and then spritzed with chocolate brown. 

Make it Crafty Products - 

Rapunzel image - Maiden with Long Golden Hair Digi Stamp

Lasercut Chipboard - Ornate Square Frame

Copics used - Skintones (E13, E11, E00, E000, W3, R20) plus E42, E41, E31, E27, E25, W3, W1, R20, R00, R000

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #153

This week at Magnolia Down Under Challenges we are asking you to go "Shabby Chic". Some of the gals on the MDUC DT manage this style effortlessly - me not so much - LOL. Hopefully this will pass muster with it's distressed edges and eclectic mix of ribbon, lace and doilies. The lasercut chipboard dragonflies from Make it Crafty were my final "shabby" touch - I love these little guys!

Don't forget to pop over to the MDUC BLOG to check out "shabby chic" from some of the masters of the style!

Copics used - R20, R11, R08, R05, R02, R01, R00, R000, E44, E43, E42, E41, E40, E11, E00, E000, C7, C6, C5, C4, C2, C0, C00, YR23, Y19, Y00, G28, G24, B0000