Inspired Christmas Pixie

The Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoaststampers each week is one of my favourite challenges. This week, I found this pin on a the IC pintrest board and have used it to inspire my whimsical Christmas card.

I adore this little Christmas Pixie from Tiddly Inks, and I think it might be discontinued. I looked on the website and didn't find it.

The little poinsettia accent is from 5x7 Holly Frame, and I love the dimension it adds to the card. After I cat and embossed the accent, I coloured parts of it using the same copic markers used for the Christmas Pixie.

After the wings were coloured, I went back over them using clear wink of stella pen to add all that sparkle. It's quite wonderful! I used clear wink of stella on the poinsettia as well, and it adds such a special touch. The sentiment banner was cut by hand and then sponged. I think the Hero Arts stamp set I used has also been discontinued.

This colour palette is a favourite of mine. The softness of it is very appealing and is such a lovely change for a Christmas card. Yes, another non-traditional Christmas card.

stamps: christmas pixie (tiddly inks); joy to all (hero arts)
ink: only black versafine (tsukineko); bundled sage, iced spruce distress ink (ranger)
paper: cozy christmas (my mind's eye); horizon, white, smoky (bazzill)
accessories: 5x7 holly frame, lg classic squares (spellbinders); gold pen (marvy/uchida), clear wink of stella (zig); copic markers

Sealed with a Wish

A couple of years (yes, years!) ago, I printed off some digital images and sentiment I wanted to work with and I wanted them to be ready if I found I had some extra time and inclination to colour. So glad I did that!! I kept everything protected and safe and while everyone else in my house was busy, I indulged myself for a little bit of playtime. I can see where I need to brush up a bit on my skills, but overall I don't think this little cutie patootie is half bad.

I didn't get the folds in her dress quite the way I wanted them. In fact, they aren't what I was after at all, but the tye-dye effect is not too bad. The ground looks better and much softer irl because I'm having trouble getting the hang of the colour editing capability in my image editing software. Oy!! Shaking the cobwebs out! My camera took really dark pictures, and I'm not sure why. More cobwebs, I guess. As I was working on this, I discovered some of my copics were either dried up (didn't think that was supposed to happen!!!) or were leaking (ditto!!) so I ended up with a yellow drip on her face (*GACK*) as I was putting the last couple of touches on, and I could have spit fireballs!! Dried up or leaking?!! I thought copic markers were made better than that!!

This sentiment is from tlc creations and it's timeless and seasonless. A perfect sentiment!

stamps; image (tiddly inks), sentiment (tlc creations)
ink; tumbled glass distress ink (ranger)
paper; urban prairie (basic grey), daisy, canvas white (bazzill), blue cardstock (core'dinations)
accessories; white satin ribbon (SU!), bling it pink rhinestones (basic grey), rectangle, petite oval nesties (spellbinders), copic markers

abc challenge - colourful
digi galore - girly
natalie & amy - one for the girlies
pile it on - p is for - pink

A Wee Little Giftie - Rachel's Sketchbook

I tried to be ready for Christmas.  Really, I did.  There is only one gift that I didn't get finished, and there are several people I should have got gifts for that I ran out of time and energy to buy for.  I developed severe tendinitis almost 2 weeks ago, and it makes everything take much longer than it should, it's hard to drive and it really hurts.  I thought I'd broke my wrist and had it x-rayed.  It was quite swollen and I still can't rotate my hand, which is making several tasks very difficult.

I have very understanding children.  I explained to my youngest daughter Christmas morning when she opened her sketch pencil set that there would be a sketchbook forthcoming if she could be patient with me.  She's so sweet she told me it was okay because a little sketchbook came with her pencil set and it would do until I got her new sketchbook done.

I took inspiration from this week's Curtain Call colour challenge, Pear Pizzaz, Early Espresso, Whisper White and Baja Breeze.  These colours were so close to my Bo Bunny paper that it was perfect, and they are a favourite colour combo for my daughter - her room is painted in shades very close to this.

This sketchbook is 8 1/2"x11".  I used a pack and a half of Bazzill Coconut Swirl Cardstock for the pages - extravagant, I know, but I think she's worth it.  I explained to Rachel that she couldn't press hard on the paper with her spiffy new pencils or she would dent the paper and no amount of erasing would remove the drawn dents.  I think it's super dee duper handy that I had these baby blue coils on hand from CHA last summer.  I went to the Zutter booth at the end of the show and got them from their display for a steal of a deal!!!  Kate from i {heart} papers wanted to know how I was going to get them home and what I was going to do with them all!  I didn't know what to do with them then, but today they saved my hiney!  I used my Cinch from We R Memory Keepers to bind it.  I love that the bed of the Cinch is so big because it is super stable.  With the project able to lay on the bed of the Cinch, I find it easier to center my projects than with other binding machines.  And I am better at getting all my papers lined up correctly, and the machine doesn't tip when I punch the holes.  I love my Cinch!!!

This digital image Sugar Plum Fairy from Tiddly Inks is so her!  I mounted her on several layers, but without adding bulky accessories so Rachel can draw on both sides of the paper without dealing with lumpy bumpies!  I used star dust stickles on the wings, and once the stickles were dry, I used glossy accents on the wings, making them look like opals.  Bling and texture without the bulk - fabulousness!!!

I used copic markers to colour my image, and here's what I used where;

Hair; Y21, Y23, Y26, Y28
Skin; E50, E51, E53, E55, E93
Dress; G12, G14, G17
Wings; G00
Background Glow; BG10, BG11, BG13
Copic Spica Pens; Buttermilk (crown), Peach (hair sparkle)

Rachel loves her book and at the end of the day, that's all that matters.  She's even sketching right now.  {insert contented sigh}

stamps; sugar plum fairy digital image (tiddly inks)
paper; blitzen (basic grey), abbey road stripe & sky (bo bunny), starmist, carob creme, coconut swirl (bazzill), perlescent vellum (paper accents)
accessories; sm & lg classic squares, sm classic ovals, beaded ovals, lacey squares nestabilitites (spellbinders), 3/4" baby blue coils (zutter), star dust stickles, glossy accents (ranger), botanical scallop edge punch (martha stewart), Ashlyn's Alphabet (provo cricut), copic markers, copic spica glitter pens, the cinch (we r memory keepers)