lalylala’s Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies

July 12, 2020July 4, 2020 ~ sproatmeyer ~ 1 Comment

I’m making some butterflies from the book lalylala’s Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies: A Crochet Story of Tiny Creatures and Big Dreams. This is my first one and it was “claimed” as soon as I finished it. I think she had her eye on it the whole time but didn’t say anything until I put the tools down. LOL But I’m happy to pass it along to new owner and know this little bug will be getting some loves.

I love these patterns because of the mix-and-match value. As you can see the wings, hat and butterfly body can bet swapped with others which increases the play value. There are other bugs in the book too but for now I’m focusing on the butterflies.

I’ve already started the second one and have the wings finished. I’ll be creating a new body and hat for this one… because apparently, it’s now “claimed” by another someone in the house. And I know what that means – my third one will be dubbed as well so all my kids will have one to play with. That’s good with me because by time I get to the fourth, I’ll know exactly what I want to make for myself.

Loads of Fun

July 11, 2020July 3, 2020 ~ sproatmeyer ~ Leave a comment

Every once in a while there has to be a card that doesn’t turn out the way we wanted and this one of them that I couldn’t fix. I’m just not happy with it. I think it’s the laundry! I might have to color up a new spin and change it.

Loads of Fun
Wonky Stitched Rectangles

The basic card is created using decorative paper cut with stitched-border and scalloped dies. Ii didn’t want the sentiment to be the focal point so I stamped that in black at the bottom to help give the card a solid bottom.

The markers I used to color aren’t matching the paper very well and I think that’s what is throwing off my groove. However, this load is set up on an action wobble so the receive can spin the load. That’s really fun to have that center part wobble back and forth.

List of Common Supplies

Main Stuff:
Loads of Fun by Lawn Fawn
Wonky Stitched Rectangles by Whimsy Stamps

Copic Markers:
(unknown colors)

Dragon Water Fun

July 10, 2020July 9, 2020 ~ sproatmeyer ~ 5 Comments

This stamp is titled “Dragon Water Fun” but I’m not so sure how much Dudley is having here. Maybe it’s that time of month again? (Sure, Dudley can be a girl!) Or maybe it’s a reflection of how we feel sometimes when everyone around us is happy; our personal trials of life. Either way, it was an idea that came to my mind as soon as I saw the stamp and I knew I had to color it. Because everyday can’t be all rainbows and unicorns even when they’re visible.

Dragon Water Fun
Slimline Card Builder Die

Aside from raining inside the umbrella, there are a few other changes I made to the Dragon Water Fun stamp through creative color placement. That’s where I color what I want and ignore the lines of the stamp. The face was my starting point and I took away the smile and added a different mouth; the eyes were next and I colored them larger and looking up. Lastly, the shoes were changed to rain boots instead of sneakers.

After the dragon was colored, I did the water and the sky. I was nervous about the rain and water effects so I saved those for last. The water on the ground was colored using horizontal strokes. I pulled in the yellow and red colors to give the illusion of a reflection in water.

Before I went crazy, I made sure to take a picture just in case it didn’t turn out. This sat on my desk for a while until I mustered up the courage to proceed. I first added the rain with horizontal coloring. Then I went in with a white pen to add the water and splashing effects.

List of Common Supplies

Whimsy Stamps:
Dragon Water Fun
Slimline Card Builder Die

Copic Colors:
V22, R05, 12, YR12, Y11, 19, YG41, GN11, 32, B41, 63
C1, 3, B000, 21, 41, 91, 93, 95, BG0000, 10, 11
C1, 2, 3, 6, T4, 6
Y11, 13, 15, 19, 26, YR31, 14
E41, 42, 43, 44
R30, 32, 35, 37, 39

Polka Dot Pals Kezia

July 9, 2020July 7, 2020 ~ sproatmeyer ~ 1 Comment

I’ve stepped outside of the box and jumped into Slimline cards featuring this image, Polka Dot Pals Kezia. Meaning, instead of using my normal size card of 4.25×5.5″ and a standard C6 size greeting envelope, I’m trying out the slimline size of 3.5×8.5″ and a No 9 size return envelope. Sound confusing? Maybe not but learning to adapt to the new size was still a learning curve for me.

Polka Dot Pals Kezia
Slimline Card Builder
JAM PAPER #9 Business Colored Envelopes

The image I used was Polka Dot Pals Kezia and I added the face from Polka Dot Pals Mason. The ice cream from the original stamp was not inked up which allowed me to draw in a tall stack of ice cream. More details on that below. I also used Polka Dot Pals Syeda for the flowers and bow in her hair and Polka Dot Pals Khadija for the sentiment.

What’s a Slimline die? These are cards that are narrower and longer that fits into a business envelope instead of a greeting card envelope. So how does it work? Denise from Whimsy Stamps put it simply and said: “use and 8.5 x 11 paper cut to 8.5 x 7 and fold in half. Then you can use the left over piece for die cutting or coloring.” That wasn’t so bad and it worked out perfectly. You can see how the diecut was used to cut out the paper that was layered on top of the folded card. You’ll find other styles of Slimline dies at Whimsy Stamps.

Since the card was longer than I normally work, I wanted to emphasize that with a tall scoop of ice cream. I have a tin with strawberry scented ice cream stickers and thought that would be perfect to use and they were about the same size. So the top scoop on this cone is the actual sticker. I fussy cut around the scoop then I drew and colored in the other scoops to match. The hardest part for me was trying to match the style of the sticker.

The ice cream was not the only thing I changed on this stamp. Here’s a work in progress photo which shows Polka Dot Pals Kezia up close. She is stamped in a light colored ink so I could use creative color placement to change her hairstyle. The top part I kept as cornrows but I replaced the bun with a bow and the lower locks with thick curly hair.

List of Common Supplies
JAM PAPER #9 Business Colored Envelopes (3 7/8 x 8 7/8″)

Whimsy Stamps:
Polka Dot Pals Kezia
Polka Dot Pals Mason
Polka Dot Pals Syeda
Polka Dot Pals Khadija
Slimline Card Builder

Copic Markers:
YR30, 31, Y11, 21, 28, E30, 13
R32, 81, 83, 85, R37
BG11, 13, 18
E41, 42, 43, 44
G40, 43, 24, 82, 46
T0, 1, 3, 4, 6
Y21, YR16, RV17
BV23, 25
E0000, 00, 30, 21, 11, 23, 25
BG90, 93
YG21, 23, 25, 17, 67
BG10, 11

Color My World

July 8, 2020July 4, 2020 ~ sproatmeyer ~ Leave a comment

For this bookmark, I decided to represent my family by their favorite colors. I was surprised everyone chose either red or blue – I thought for sure there would be a pink or green involved. But to coordinate with the paper I chose, I decided I would choose black for myself since black absorbs all colors and therefor would be considered a rainbow in my mind. 🙂 White is a lack of color. It’s a geeky thing or perhaps just a me thing.

Color My World by Lawn Fawn
Peakaboo Window Die 3 by Whimsy Stam

List of Common Supplies

Main Stuff:
Color My World by Lawn Fawn
Peakaboo Window Die 3 by Whimsy Stamps

Copic Markers:
T0, 2, 4, 6, 8
B0000, 00, 12
R02, 05, 29, 59
R32, 35, 37, 39
B12, 16, 18
BV23

Polka Dot Pals Brooke Reflecting DCS

July 7, 2020July 7, 2020 ~ sproatmeyer ~ Leave a comment

It’s story time! I’m back with an updated version of this digital coloring scene. This is Polka Dot Pals Brooke Reflecting Scene from Whimsy Stamps and I added a bunch of critters from Purple Onion Designs.

Polka Dot Pals Brooke Reflecting Scene
Purple Onion Designs reading stamps