The Voice, A blog Candy Alert! & 1st card with Clouds

Hi!!  Just poppin' in to share The Voice update, an awesome blog candy alert & my first attempt at background clouds. :)

So were you disappointed about The Voice choice?  I'm not, although I really wanted Dia to win, for team Blake's sake, I'm happy for Javier and team Adam.  If any of them would have won it would have been great.  I did agree that Dia and Javier had the best songs and felt the love from last night's episode.  Loved the duet performances with each of the finalists and their celebrity partners.  I can't wait for the next season, I hear the same coaches are coming back! YAY!!

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An Awesome Blog Candy Alert:
Cheryl of She Stamps, has some awesome blog candy she is offering!!! COPICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So if you really want to try some out and are reluctant to purchase them yourself - you could enter to win!!!  If she reaches 400 followers she will add a second winner for an unknown prize!  EXCITING!!! So head on over and join her blog - not only for the candy but her creations are SUPER GORGEOUS!!!  Click HERE to enter and become a fan!

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My first attempt at a card with clouds in the background

I have been seeing wonderful cards with fun clouds in the background popping up here and there around blogland and have been wanting to try my hand at it.  I have been experimenting and think I finally found a trick to it.  Although I went a bit crazy here I like how it turned out.  If you would like to share your tricks on how to create clouds I would love to read them. 

This adorable little girl is Kei (with net) from Spesch Designer stamps and is another cute digi I picked up.  I just love her expression!!!  I first colored her with Copics.  To create the clouds in the background I used a punched out cloud stencil, Colorbox pigment ink in Sky blue and a sponge.  I really got lucky, because I didn't mask her and there were no lingering blues on her!  I was experimenting here so if it came out bad it would have been back to the drawing board, or in this case coloring board, but it worked out well!  So what I did was using the stencil I moved it around the image and sponged on the ink around the edges, overlapping all the way down.  Like I said I went a bit cloud crazy, but hey I was experimenting.  She actually looks like she's high up on a mountain top trying to catch butterflies.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  lol..  I also practiced making grass with my Copics.  That was really fun too.  Here is the finished card.  It makes me happy it's so bright!

I can't wait to try either of these techniques again.  I would like to try my hand at less cloud coverage so will definitely practice.  Mahalo for stopping by today!

Hugs,
Leanne

Card recipe:
Will be updated later

Mad for Markers big COPICal hop

Hello and welcome to the Mad for Markers BIG Copical blog hop!  We are excited today to be hopping around the blogworld with bloggers from all over the world who all LOVE colouring with COPICS!

If you came here from Kerry's blog then you are right on track.  If not, then please go to Sammi's blog (http://www.stuffbysammi.blogspot.com/) to start at the beginning!

Once you have completed the hop please leave a comment on the Mad for Markers blog and vote for your favourite creations...  You and the person you voted for might receive a little surprise prize!!  But to get there make sure you follow the hop and leave some love for all the participants... Thanks!

I am by no means an expert colorist, but I have learned from other bloggers some helpful and fun techniques along the way.  This is the best thing about this crafty blogging world, people love to share their ideas and their experiences.  What also helps is practicing.  What's that saying?  Practice makes perfect?  Well I don't know about perfect, but it sure does help.  (hehe)  So here is what I made for the hop, I call it "Hide & Seek":


Hide & Seek with Lidia and Friends

I love how my card turned out.  I actually used one image and the rest is paper!  I found that BG paper at Michael's.  I had to grab it it was just too cute to pass up.  I also found that adorable image on the Spesch stamps store.  I just love her!!  Her name is Lidia created by Suzui, one of the talented artists at Spesch stamps and you can purchase her HERE as a digital image.  I did color her with Copics, and I really had so much fun with it.  I chose browns for her hair, which incidently is also the current challenge at M4M.  And for her dress, I used some wonderful reds and oranges.  I colored in her eyes, first time for me and I love how they turned out.  (Sorry you are probably wondering what is she talking about?  Well I had to actually draw and color the inside of the eyes as the digital image itself is just a blank circle)  Here is a close up of Lidia, she's just adorable.

I sprinkled some pearls here and there and colored them with different colored Copics.  Lastly, I wrote in a few fun words & phrases in and around the card because I didn't want to cover any of the beautiful paper.  Here are a few close-ups:

Your next stop on the hop is JANET you will so enjoy her creation and inspiration... 

Mahalo for stopping by!  Have a colourful day & enjoy the HOP!!
Hugs,
Leanne

7/3: Wonderful news!  I am blessed to have been chosen as the brown colored hair winner for this fantastic hop! Thank you to all that left beautiful messages and voted.  My prize: Xpress IT paper! woo hoo!! Thank you M4M! Click HERE to see all the winners.
Card Recipe:
Light peach cs (Hanko Designs)
Lidia digi (Spesch stamp design)
White cs (Neenah)
Light green cs (Bazzil)
Design paper Olivia (Basic Grey)
Pearls (Recollections)
Border punch (Recollections)
Copics:
Hair: E31,33.35.37, 29
Skin: E000, 00, 02, R20
Eyes: Black multi-liner, YG17, G14 & G82
Dress: YR04, 09 & E07
Shoes: E29, 37
Pearls: R85, TG17, BG01, YR09