Coloring Ethnic Skin with Prismacolors on White

Hi Guys,

Its been a while since I've done a coloring tutorial on white cardstock so bear with me as I was kind of eeeeek! But I think I worked it out so I hope the color combination helps you out as well.

Coloring Ethnic skin tones can be quite a challenge for us pasty whites. You kind of need to retrain your eyes to see all the colors that make up dark skin as opposed to just seeing "brown". The danger of just seeing brown is that your ethnic coloring will look a bit like, well, chocolate pudding , and that's not flattering at all.

I have a lot of black friends and their skin tones vary tremendously. Some are really dark, others really light, some red toned, some yellow toned, it really varies just as much as light skin. 

So here I am going to show you just one way of coloring dark skin.

Please don't expect perfection.

(and by the way, I know black people don't "blush"~ at least we don't see them blush, but you know what?So be it. Ive given this child a rosy brown complexion. Its called artistic licence.

I'm using a digi by Mo Manning called "Dante's Drum" and prismacolor Pencils.

The first 6 steps are done with a light touch, all over color. Try to color as evenly as possible and avoid pencil streaks

With Steps 7-9 we are building up the darker shadows for contouring.

Dark brown in the deepest shadows.

A close up so you can see where we are right now.

Building on the darker areas with umber and sienna...

Even out the tones with goldenrod and peach

And a wee bit of pink

Some process red for making the skin "pop" (go EASY, its very strong)

More blending cos you just can't do it enough..

OK, and a bit more.....

And we're done!

PS) Yes, I will be doing an ethnic coloring on kraft tutorial soon !!

Love Is A Circle Without End

So this is kinda cool. Ive been wanting to color up this image of Mo's for ages, I love the ways the cats kind of fit together like puzzle pieces and it makes a refreshing change from all my men's cards this month, doesn't it? (Well, one cat's a boy but we won't bring that up, besides, he's dead and cant complain but still I don't want to talk about it, )

Oh, I never mentioned the challenge this week at Mo's, did I?

It's Straight From The Heart, 

so here's your chance to create a nice soppy sentimental card for us to sniff and wipe our eyes over. :)

Recipe:

Image: "Cat Love" by Mo Manning

Colors: Lyras and Prismacolors

Sentiment: Can't find who did this, can anyone help? Its digi.

Dies: Spellbinders and MS punch

And lastly a nice big

AAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Challenges:

Craft Room Challenge -   Friendship (Week 1)

Digital Tuesday #166 Amazing Animals

Bearly Mine - #41 Anything Goes

Make it Monday - always Anything Goes 

Use Your Stuff - Stitching

Color Me A Rainbow

Hi Guys!

How is everyone today? Today's card is a cheerful little project using one of Cheryl Agler's digis. Its been a long time since I had a chance to play with Chery'ls images so it was a treat for me. In fact, she's sponsoring us this week at Catered Crop so you might want to check it out!

Anyway!

This week's challenge at The Kraft Journal is an easy one: Anything Goes

Recipe:

IMage: Sassy Cheryl "plain ol Sally and Bella"

Paper: Echo park and My Minds Eye

Cardstock: Brown kraft cover weight cardstcock, lunch bag kraft

blue bakers twine

Pencils: Prismacolors and Lyras

Remember, Sassy Cheryl is sponsoring us at The Catered Crop this fortnight and this time the challenge is 

Color Us a Rainbow!

So there you have two places to play this week, can't wait to see how you interpret the challenges!

Happy Crafting!

Mo's DP2 "Masculine"

Hi Again All!

Boy, have I made a lot of men cards this month or what? Whats up with that anyway?

Well this card was made for a friend who died in April and it fits right in with the challenge this week at Mo's  Digital Challenge which is "Masculine" so I saved it for the challenge and didn't post it earlier.

He was a simple "down home" kind of guy so I kept embellishments to a minimum so the image would be the focus. He loved his garden and had things growing in every space he could find.

Recipe:

Image: "Big Guys Garden" by Mo Manning

Paper: Lily Bee Designs "Harvest Market" and Crate Paper "Farmhouse"

Colors: Prismacolors and Lyras

Button and cord: from stash

Thats it from me! 

Happy Crafting!

Coloring Brown Hair on Kraft

Hi Guys!

 I have a new coloring tutorial for you today. Previously I showed you red hair on kraft .You can find it here. Today I am showing you how I color medium brown hair on kraft. I am using prismacolors on the kraft and a digi by Mo Manning.

Just follow the steps on the photos and have fun!

Wrist Pincushions

Hi All!

I just wanted to quickly show you a gift my daughter made me for our anniversary.

They're wrist pincushions made of felt and I think she did an amazing job of them!

I also wanted to let you all know that I have decided to put my sewing stuff on a seperate blog so as to keep this one specifically for papercrafts (and ducks~ I can't give my ducks their own blog as they'd get "puffy headed"...wait one already is! lol).

So if any of you are interested in my sewing muddles feel free to check out my other blog "Snippets" here.

You can also see more pictures of these awesome pincushions on that page. :)

Have a great week!

In the Summertime

Hi Guys!

A new challenge starts up today at The Kraft Journal. Its time to think SUMMER!

I just love Mo's new sailor boys, isn't this one just adorable?

I'm using a combination of prismacolors and Lyras on kraft and the papers are MME, the "Carolina" pack.

Hemp and twine is from the Kraft Outlet, as is the buff Ivory Cardstock.

I hope you like today's project :)

 Have a great week everyone!

Challenges:

Craft a Scene - M, 3E, must include a Scene - (June) Beach scene

Dream Valley Challenges - 2W, 3E - (2nd week) For that Special Guy (ends 23rd June)

Getting Cricky - M, post blinkie on sidebar - (June) Summertime (ends 30th June)

Sunday Stamper - JFF - Men/Male Themed 

Mos DP2 " In The Park"

Hi Everyone!

I hope you're enjoying the summery weather :) Its a good day to go to the park so guess what? That's what we'll be doing this week at Mo's Digital Pencil. :) We want to see your cards featuring things you'd do or see At the Park.

When I made this card I thought about a park nearby (as in, an hour away) that features a miniature railroad. So that became the inspiration for this creation.

Recipe:

Image: "The Engineer" by Mo Manning

Colors: Prismacolors and Lyras

Paper: MME "Dilly Dally"

Whimsy Ticket labels

Jute Mesh: Bunny Zoe's

Can't wait to see all your projects! Have a great weekend!

My Hero

Hi Guys!

Well we have a new challenge at The Kraft Journal and this week we want to see your 

Cards For Him

We have an anniversary coming up, my hubby and me and he's kinda a little guy (*shhhh*) and we joke about how big and strong he is. lol So I thought this image might be fun to use.

Recipe:

Image: Mo Manning "Strongman"

Papers: MME "Rosy"

Buff Ivory Cover Weight Cardstock

Kraft Cardstock

Distress ink

Hemp Cord

Brass Photo Anchors

Whimsy dies

And we also have a new challenge at The Catered Crop which was real fun to combine with the Kraft Journal's and it is:

Banners And Bunting

So I hope you can join in!

I'll see you around!

Challenges:

Dream Valley Challenges - For that Special Guy

Great Impressions - Die Cuts and/or Punches 

One Stitch At A Time - The man in Your Life

Platypus Creek Digitals -  For the boys

Sentimental Sundays - must include a Sentiment - For that Special Guy

The Crafty Pad -Let`s Hear It For The Boys

Di's Digis Designs Male inspired Creations

Bloggers - – Anniversary

Delicious Doodles - - Week 1, For the Fellas

Stamp Man -  - Week 2, For a Man

C.R.A.F.T. - - Male card

Digi Doodle Shop's Best -- Male card

Paper Crafting Journey - ) Handcoloured image

Paper Play - Back to kraft basics

Who Says Turtles Are Cute?

Yeah, so personally I don't like turtles.

Last week one of my Welsh Harlequin Ducks (Amelia) had one leg bitten off and died less than 24 hours later. Let me tell ya, that's enough to get my blood boiling!! It was time to get my turtle trap out again.

Even a relatively "harmless" pond turtle will maim a duck (Ive seen them do it) but when you put these monsters into the mix your ducks simply disappear (or are more horrendously injured).

Below is not my trap, its a dog pen. This is what I put the snapper in once I got him out of my trap. And believe me, I did wonder how I was going to move him at all, let alone change cages.

Some people love all  turtles even snapping turtles. I'm not one of them. I won't be cruel to any creature (this turtle will be relocated) but I do not like them. At All.

You can see how his weight has lifted up the liner of the dog pen.

Had to put the door of the pen facing the walls of the wheelbarrow so he couldn't shake them open.

You can't see them in these pictures but he actually has two old bullet holes in his shell where someone tried to catch him before.

The weird thing about these snappers is that they're more animal/ monster than reptile. Pond turtles are almost helpless if they're turned on their back but snappers have such long legs and head that they can right themselves quicker than you can say Jack. Here he is lifting himself up on all fours.

Creeeeepy!

So we thought we'd measure him. 

Just the shell is 17 inches. His head when extended would be about 5 or 6 inches more and his tail is about 7 inches. From tail to head we're looking at about 28 inches, almost 1 meter.

I estimate him to weigh about 30 pounds.

And he growls. 

And hisses.

And snaps. BIG SNAPS.

So there you have it.

Turtles are not cute.

But they're good eating, so they tell me. 

If you're into that sort of thing.