Pollycraft Designs

I was sad to read that Pollycraft would be closing down this Wednesday. However, there are so many cute stamps that are a delight to colour and create with, that the bargain hunter in me just could not resist snapping up one last bundle of digis! Frankie was one of the images included in the bundle…

Coincidentally, as I was buying the bundle from Pollycraft, my inbox pinged with the latest email sent by From the Heart Stamps. I love the sketches on their site, and often use them for layout inspiration. So I figured, maybe it was time to enter their challenge, with the current sketch and, of course, Frankie! And, while I’m at it, there are several other Halloween challenges that Frankie could find her way to…C Is For Challenge, Stamp and Create and Crafty Boots to name a few!

I have used plain black cardstock, with two DPs from Shery K Designs, Frankie was printed on a white cardstock, adding stitches with the Silhouette and coloured with Pro-Markers. While my normal skin tones are coming on nicely now, I think maybe I need a little more practice when it comes to green skin tones….. Finally, the skull and crossbones, chosen to echo the clips in Frankie’s hair, was a freebie clipart piece, cut by the Silhouette and glazed with clear embossing powder for a nice sheen.

Finally, goodbye and good luck to Paula at Pollycraft!

Thanks for reading x

Challenges:

From the Heart Sketches – Sketch #39

C Is For Challenge – #8 Halloween

Crafty Boots Challenge – Halloween

Make My Monday – Halloween

Stamp and Create – Halloween

Whoopsi Daisy – Halloween Colours

The Pink Elephant – TPE22: Trick or Treat

Through The Purple Haze – Anything Goes With A Twist Of Halloween

Created With Love – Halloween Blog Hop

Yesterday, by chance, I found a lovely site for digis….and to my delight I found a little freebie Pixie Holly too!! Pixie Holly is available as a free download from Pollycraft Designs until 11th September and all it takes is a few moments to register for an account. Why not pop over and take a peek…?

As you may already know, I also received my order of Pro-Markers earlier this week, and I have already lost several hours shading, blending and colouring! And today was no different! Here’s what I came up with….

The frame around Pixie Holly is one of the freebie templates included with the software for the Cameo Portrait – I liked the way it echoes the holly leaves in Pixie Holly’s hair, and cut it from a shimmery dusky pink cardstock to tie it back to the colouring of the dress and stripy tights.

I also tried adding a line of pale grey around the coloured image to develop some depth, and I was pleased with the overall results! I used the cool grey 1 Pro-Marker, but I think I might give a pale blue a go next time as I’ve seen some great results on fellow crafters’ blogs!

The sentiment came with the image from Pollycraft Designs – I loved the font and style! After printing and cutting the sentiment out, I rubbed the side of the chisel tip rose pink of my rose pink Pro-Marker against the edge of the card until the colour bled in enough to make a fine line around the outer edge, then I added a little clear embossing powder to give it a shine and mounted it on a second shaped card layer.

Finally, I made a small rosette from some spotty ribbon and popped a little wooden heart on the centre.

I had finished card and was casting a critical eye over it, when my daughter appeared. She is just turned four and very inquisitive! She sat next to me, told me the card was her “favourite and bestest” and then asked me why the pixie wasn’t smiling! I tried to explain that it was the style of the image, but she wouldn’t have it, so she ran off with one of my early practice sheets and drew a friend for Pixie Holly…Thanks for reading x