Making the most of your digital stamps..

Hello everyone,

I hear regularing from crafters who either use digital stamps or normal stamps, or they don't, that they don't use them more than about twice before they are forgotten about as they are worried that all their cards will look the same.

That got me thinking. I thought I would share the idea that I had that might help..

This is a image that I drew this week for on a card for my friends birthday.  It's not a digital stamp yet.. maybe I should release it.  What do you think?

Now, I'm no fantastic colourer so bare with me with the following coloured images.  This is the first version that I created for going on my friends card.  All pastel, bright and happy.

Here it is on the finished card just so I can share that with you as well. :)

So, I then tried to look at the image in a different way..

This time I coloured it as if it was night time and the street light was just lighting a bit of the street.  Add a different sentiment and this image can now go on a completely different sort of card.  It would be perfect to send to a friend or family member that was having a tough time.

So, before you put that stamp to the back of the drawer or archive it on your PC drive take a look at it again.  Can you colour and mount it in a different way and use it for something else?

Until next time
Anice xx

A bit of a trick for shading with Promarkers

Hello everyone!
I hope you all had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year celebration.  I know, I know it's almost the end of January.. My 'New Year New Blog Attitude' hasn't started well, but as usual I have an excuse! I've been really working hard on some new Funky Hand digital products which are now all with my wonderful Design Team so you should be seeing them very soon.  So, less of the weak excuses and on to what I really have come to talk about!

Promarkers & Colouring in general.
I don't know about you but I have got a bit of a 'thing' about collecting Promarkers at the moment.  Over Christmas my collection grew nicely, and the New Year sales helped the storage to get a little fuller! That's all well and good but, I need to work on my actual colouring.

I was browsing some blogs and websites over Christmas and I came upon a really good idea for working out where shading should be on your image.  This is something I always have trouble with. The problem is I can't remember where I saw the tip.. If I find the Blog again I will come here and leave the information for you.

It's really simple, all you need is some acetate and a permanent marker..

What the heck?  I hear you thinking.  Using this simple little technique I was able to work out how to colour the shading on these two Bot - Fire Away digital stamps.  One with the light at the front and the other behind.

I have written all the details for you on a full blog post over on the Funky Hand Design Team blog  Get Funky & Craft  Pop over there and see all the details.

Hopefully you will learn something new, if not then take a look at the other posts over there.  There are sure to be some card images or techniques that the ladies have shared that will inspire you with your crafting.

OK, I'm off to finish off some new images for the website.  I'll be back soon to share some other nugget of crafting info or just my general chatter in the near future.

Anice xx

Layering a Funky Hand digital stamp

Welcome to you all! 

Today I thought that I would share a bit more information about my idea for layering one of the Georgie digital stamps 'Georgie Angel' that I posted about over on the Funky Hand Design Team Blog. Get Funky & Craft.  For this creation I messed around with the stamp and created a GSD to cut out the image with my cutting machine.  You don't have to have a cutting machine.  You could just print out the digital stamp image four times and just cut the parts that you want to layer out.

Please remember: Not all digital stamp designers would be happy with you doing this sort of thing so you must remember to check all terms and conditions linked with each stamp.  If it is not mentioned there, it doesn't mean it's OK to do.  Always ask.

OK, here is what I started out with for this project,

As you can see I decided that I wanted to layer her face, the upper part of her body and her hands holding the heart.

I coloured the images in with Promarkers before I cut them out.  Colouring small parts of images when they are already cut out is really hard in my opinion but if you prefer to cut out first please go ahead.

Sorry, that was the perfect opportunity to show off my Promarker collection to you. To say I'm a bit obsessed with them is a little bit of an understatement! I have to admit Ian was a little shocked when he saw them all out on the table.  He says he didn't know I had so many.  I told him I'd had them all ages (wink)

Before I go on, if you have some Promarkers you might like to grab this really helpful free download from Sarah Hurley.

It's a  layout of all the names of the currently available Promarkers (including Limited Editions) with circles to add the pen colour to. Print the download onto the same paper/card that you use for colouring your digital stamps and colour in each of your markers. It will then give you a true coloured effect.  Sarah has laid them out in a really helpful order.  Grab the free download from her website  http://www.sarahhurleydesigns.co.uk/oldshop/prod_2834920-Promarker-Colour-Charts-Updated-for-Winter-2013.html  Please don't just share this freebie with your friends send them over to Sarahs website to grab their own copy. 

OK, lets get colouring in Georgie.  I started with her skin and then her hair..

For her skin I used these Promarker colours: Almond, Blush and Dusky Pink.  It actually looks very pale on this picture but it doesn't look so pale in reality.  For her hair I went for a deep brown/auburn. The colours I used were: Tan, Cinnamon and Coco.  I also added a tiny bit of Henna at the darkest places.

Next up is her Angel outfit.  I saw this collection of Promarkers being used for Blonde hair and I thought it would be a good combination as I wanted it light but not just leave it white.  The colours used are: Ivory, Satin and Almond.  For extra shading I used Vanilla.

Here is Georgie all finished.  I wanted a warmer colour for her wings and ballet shoes so decided on pinks.  The colours used are: Antique Pink, Dusky Rose and Budding Rose.  Finally the heart, I wanted a nice vibrant red colour so I used Red Sweater and Ruby.

I decided to colour in each layer of the image as I wanted no white bits showing under the layered stamp, but also, because it was an opportunity to practice the colouring, as the lower levels of the face, upper body and heart wouldn't be in clear view!



 Finally here's the finished card I made and a closer look at the layering..

I used 1mm foam pads to layer the head and upper body and 3mm foam pads for the heart.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

If you have purchased the (or are thinking about it) Georgie Angel digital stamp and would like the GSD I used in this post, send me a message through the Funky Hand website Contact Us page and I will email it to you for free.

All there is left to say is, I hope you all have a very merry Christmas. Just incase I don't get back to post here before the big day.  I'm crossing my fingers that Santa has more Promarkers in his sack for me.  I hope you get all the crafty stash you have asked for.

Speak again very soon.
Anice xx