Thursday, March 31, 2011

Trendsetting Spotlight on Tanya!

Hey everyone!  It's time for the Trendsetting Spotlight! Each Thursday we feature a card made by someone who has participated in a previous week's TSG Challenge. Would you like to be in the Trendsetting Spotlight?? Join in the fun by participating in our weekly challenges posted every Monday!  
Today's Spotlight is shining on...Tanya!!
Hi, I'm sunshinestgurl at SCS. I am married and a mom to two teens, a boy and a girl. I have been scrapbooking off and on for a few years. I am new to the wonderful world of stamping, so I am still learning but I am enjoying myself, and I love buying new things! My wish list is long, and growing everyday! This is what I do for my "Me" time.

I loved Tanya's card for TSG99!
Tanya used the bone and paw-print from Puppy Love to make her tone-on-tone background.  Then fussy cut the cute puppy and a sign.  So cute!!

Congrats to Tanya!!  Be sure to hop on over to see her beautiful blog.  AND.....there is still time to play in this week's challenge.  We're celebrating 100 challenges with a tough one.....Markers Down!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Wednesday Tips and Tricks - Cheatin' Chalks



Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday to you all and welcome to this weeks Tips and Tricks/Trends with Kim :D Today I thought that I would show you how to add a little extra shading to your images with a little technique that I like to call cheatin' chalks. This is a great little trick to do to finish off an image without having to worry about accidentally messing up your colouring.

Here are the supplies that you will need:



  • A pre-coloured image
  • A black chalk pencil (mine is General's brand)
  • Q-tips or something with a soft pointed tip for blending
  • Eraser


Here is a close up of the image that I started with. It looks lovely on it's own but I really like to add depth so I worked on it with my chalk pencil. It was originally water coloured with tombows and a water brush on 90lb Canson cold press paper. Please note that this technique works well with Copic coloured images as well :D




Let's start with a sharp tip to your chalk pencil and add some chalk where there would be a natural shadow. Here I have added some under the umbrella, birds and puddle and then I added some shadows to the right side of the birds, under their wings and where the umbrella overlap the bird. (This image is from the Under the Weather set)




Here you can see all of my lines before I blend/smudge them.




Next take a smaller blending tool to blend/smudge any of the lines on the inside of the bird and umbrella. You can use a small circular motion or a back and forth motion along the line to make the smudges. The reason I use a small/fine tip blending tool is because I don't want my smudges too wide on such a small area.




The final step is to take a thicker/wider tip blending tool and smudge any of the lines on the outside of the bird/umbrella. The wider tip makes a bigger and more natural smudge for a nicer looking shadow.

A couple of tips to remember when doing this is:
  • A little chalk goes a long way.
  • You can erase any mistakes that you make or use your eraser to lighten up any areas that are just a bit too dark. 
  • You can usually find these pencils in an art supply store.

Here is a comparison of the before and after pictures (You can click on the picture to make it larger).




Thanks for coming by today and I hope that you liked my little tip :D

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Trendsetter Tuesday-Kim!

Hey everyone!! Today I have the honor of introducing you to the fabulous talented, SCS Dirty Dozen alum, Kim Teasdale!
I am so in awe of Kim's amazing coloring skills!  Here are a few of her beautiful cards showcasing her style and trendiness!
 Of course, I love this card....Kim made it for me as a thank you note when she and a few other fabby crafters came to my house for a weekend of crafting!!! :D  It sits on my shelf of fame...beautiful!  Kim made this card using the Tastes Like Chicken stamp set, a sketch, sewing and then hand rolled the rose and added the most perfect amount of glitter. All very trendy was to craft right now. Who knew a toilet could look so good? 

Look at the deepness and lightness of this perfectly colored image.  I love how Kim really makes the sky look so light and pretty, while getting such depth in the grass, hair and dress of the gorgeous image from the Flying By stamp set . Marvelous!!
Look really close at the background papers....see that fabulous dry embossing? This is another trendy technique that Kim uses on her creations often.  And look at this cute alien from the Out of This World stamp set.  Perfect sewing and just the right embellishment touches.

To see more of Kim's gorgeous creations, visit her at her blog Paper in the Works!


Monday, March 28, 2011

TSG100 - Markers Down!

This week’s challenge is being issued by our Trendsetter of the Week, Kim! She wants us to create a card that uses NO MARKERS…no Copics, no Tombow Markers…NO MARKERS AT ALL! Can you believe it? So reach for those pastels, colored pencils, or other coloring mediums that you’ve been neglecting and show them some love this week! And as always, we can’t wait to see what you come up with! To be eligible for the giveaway, you are to create a card that utilizes no markers, and then come back to the TSG Blog to add your name and a link to your project in the InLinkz that is located at the bottom of this challenge post. This challenge is open until the winner has been announced on the following Monday (Apr 3rd). The winner will get a $5 gift certificate to use in the TSG Web store! By participating in this challenge, you may also find yourself in the Trendsetting Spotlight that shines on the TSG Blog every Thursday. We will be on the look out to find challenge cards that stand out and show Trendsetting qualities. TSG stamps are not required to participate in the challenges but are appreciated :) You do not need to have a blog to be able to participate in the TSG Challenges! You can simply add the URL link from your project after it has been uploaded to your online craft gallery. If you upload your card to an online craft gallery, please use the keyword TSG100 so we can check out your beautiful work! Need some inspiration to help you get started? Check out these great cards made by the following Trendsetters!
~ Kim
~ Iwona
~ Jodi
~ Tobi

Winner from last week's TSG99 challenge: Laurel S. Here are your random numbers: 2 Timestamp: 2011-03-27 23:51:08 UTC


Congrats Laurel! Email me to find out how to claim your prize :)

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Week In Review (March 20-26) & Card Give Away!

Scroll down to the post below for the April Release winners!





What is Week In Review (WIR)?- WIR is where we showcase cards made by the Trendsetters and myself throughout the week. Not only to you get to see gorgeous projects made using TSG stamps, but you also have a chance to WIN one of these cards! Leave a comment on this post and next WIR I will choose a winner using a random number generator. That person will then get to pick out their favorite card and the Trendsetter that created it will send it to them :)


Winner from last week's WIR for (March. 13-19): Crafty Math Chick


Random Integer Generator


Here are your random numbers:6


Timestamp: 2011-03-27 03:37:24 UTC










HollyHolly Holly Holly
Holly




Jessica




Jessica




Jessica




Tammy





Christine




Christine




Christine




Karen




Karen




Angela




Angela








Jessie








Jessie






Jessie




Torico




Iwona






Iwona






Iwona






Iwona






Iwona






Iwona




Ann




Ann






Ann






Ann






Danielle




Danielle




Danielle












Corinna




Corinna




Jodi

Jodi


Jodi