Where does the time go?

Hibernation.  Or at least that's what this feels like...  emerging from underneath something warm and cosy to find that a lot of time has passed by.  Things got rather busy and before I knew it, a month passed by... then another... and then Christmas..  which was rather frustrating because I ended up so busy I didn't get much time to craft....  and now here we are, nearing the end of August.  This hibernation is pretty cool, though, because if I was going to be a crafting hibernator, I'd rather emerge at the time where Christmas crafts are coming out and autumn has just started!

I've been looking around briefly, dipping my toes into competitions, where time has allowed.  It's been a busy year, and it certainly didn't help having a house move amongst it all - but it did enable me to do one thing that I strangely enjoy.  Craft Room Organizing.  My husband tells me off.  He sends me away to craft (how awesome is that!?) so off I go, being very obedient, of course.  Sometimes the organising starts off because I can't find the table.  Simple as that.  Or the scissors - usually those go wandering.  Or my pencil - I think I've chastised myself several times over the fact that for some reason, my craft room doesn't have a pencil, so I have to embark on a noble quest to find a pencil somewhere in the house.  Sometimes I just want to reorganise the room, and ooo and ahh over things found that were long forgotten.  Which really isn't hard, because since having a child, my brain sieve would allow things the size of beetroot to fall through!  Several hours later, my husband will approach, asking how I've got on, only to find that I've just started, because I've been "rearranging".

I digress.  Back to the competition things...  there's not been many that I've entered, and it's certainly been just as long since I approached a forum on crafting.  I've missed it all, but have found it hard to return as the gap increases since I last visited.  I'm stretching out my craft muscles and preparing myself for a dive back into the crafting community, people who understand what I am talking about, because lets face it, crafting is another language.

I was very excited by the competition I stumbled upon on facebook.  As is it's tendency, it doesn't always notify me when my favourite companies put up a competition, until I stumble on it by chance with days to go on the competition - so I apologise to those who decide to enter also, you haven't got long!
The competition, from Spectrum Noir, is an Anything Goes competition - it's main rule being, simply, that you have to colour in using their products.  They have a lovely variety of products including their alcohol markers, blendable pencils, watercolour pencils, Aquatints and my personal favourite - Aqua markers.

I really enjoy using the aqua markers.  I love how they blend effortlessly with just a bit of water, whether that's directly onto the paper or applying to a blending mat ( or acrylic block) and then lifting off the mat with a paintbrush onto the paper.  I tend to prefer to use the blending mat as I can then test on a scrap card if the colour is what I want, before committing it to the main image.  The use of the blending mat also enables you to mix other colours, too, and a very little goes a long way.

So onto the card!  I will be honest, I'm not brilliant at the layering and getting complex designs with lots of paper or flowers - it's not something I'm over keen on so don't tend to feel inspired by the many flowers etc approach, so my cards tend to have a more simple look to them.

  This stamp - and the backing papers, are from Lili Of the Valley - I do love their stamps and really enjoy colouring them in!  Excuse my dreadful photographing, I'll learn one day!  Unfortunately, you can't see how I have done the fireplace, or just how glittery the fireplace is!  I recently purchased Spectrum Noir sparkle clear overlay pens - lovely to use, and because it's clear, you can add sparkle to anything!  They also double up as a glittery paint brush when working with water based products - which is exactly what I did with the fireplace.  I also applied this to the sentiment - a christmas sentiment from Card-io, to add a little sparkle to that, too.
Now I cant remember which pens I used, exactly, because I used many - but some were :-
Bud Green; Chestnut; Sunset; Yellow; Gold; Crimson; Evergreen; Chocolate; Terracotta; Tan and Slate.  I used the blending mat to help get a wider variety of colours and often went in with a dryer brush for more intensity where needed.

I made another card, too.  I cant see mention that you are limited to one card, only, but I'll only enter the one.  This card, though, was because I wanted to colour in an image and make a card using one colour - in this make, brown.

I stamped the image, another Lili of the Valley, with Stazon ink - always recommended when working with water based markers so that the ink doesn't bleed into your colouring.  I used my blending mat, again, to try and bring a bit more variety to the browns I had available.
Some of the pens I used included -
Chocolate; Jasmine; Desert; Terracotta; Chestnut; Boulder and Topaz.
For the sentiment - from the same Christmas Sentiment range from Card-io - I coloured directly onto the bottom of the card.  Using the Sparkle clear overlay from Spectrum Noir, I then blended upwards to give an omber effect, with sparkle!  The background paper was embossed with a musical design.  For extra shimmer, and to make the embossed design pop out, I rubbed some Pebeo Gilding Wax Renaissance gold all over the paper.  Gilding wax is lovely to use and so creamy, a little goes a long way, and has a lovely smell to it, too!

So there you have it, my crafting muscles are now stretched, it's time to go for a run.  Or more accurately, go and play with my son.  Happy crafting!

Oh, and for those wanting the link to the competition, here you go!

https://www.facebook.com/SpectrumNoir/app/600469859988196?app_data=referer_override%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252F

Sara