New Letraset Flexmarkers

I finally got some time to have a play with the new Letraset Flexmarkers the other night, I've been dying to try these out!

 

I used them on my 'Alice in Wonderland' digi stamp (printed onto bleedproof paper)I've used a slightly different colour scheme as I have mostly light and bright colours so this is like a candy coated Alice in Wonderland scene!

I definitely need some more practice with these as the whole feel of them is very different to Promarkers, you have to have quite a light touch with them as the ink flows a lot more freely through the brush nib and you can quickly find yourself with a lot of ink to move around on the paper. I still need some more practice on this as it was bleeding slightly on some edges despite being bleedproof paper (which is usually fine with Promarkers) you can also get much finer details (although the Promarker fine nibs have helped with this a LOT!)

One of the great things about them was that I noticed the effect of building up shading with just one pen was much easier to achieve, I don't know if thats just the increased flow of ink, but I only had to go over the areas one additional time to get good results, but the thing I loved most about these are the new very pale colours, they are just gorgeous!

One thing I will mention about the pale colours, don't get disheartened with them when you first use them, I started colouring Alice's face and it went grey and I thought 'oh, great, I've got zombie Alice!' and I got very frustrated and put it to one side thinking it had messed it up, but given a few minutes the colour develops into what it should look like - it's just where the alcohol wetting the paper is darker than the colour, once the alcohol evaporates the colour is gorgeous.

This weekend I'll definitely be doing some more practiscing with these (and making a card from this image I've coloured!), if you're used to using Promarkers as I am, it will take a few times to get perfect results but the new colours alone make it worth persevering!

Have a lovely weekend!
Sarah x

p.s. if you're looking for the DT call please see below...

Happy Birthday (to me!)

Just a short post from me today, as it's my Birthday and I'm officially taking the "day off" ha! But I wanted to share with you this free Birthday Cupcake Digi Stamp.

Click on the picture or here to download!

Thank you to everyone for the many many birthday wishes on Facebook and Twitter - you're too kind :o)

And I'm so excited to say that over half of my first order of stock of 'Oz' previewed yesterday (see below) has already been pre-ordered - in less than 24 hours!!!!!! I think this will be more popular than Wonderland (happy happy!) so make sure you pre-order yours to guarantee your copy from this first batch.

Sarah x

A *New* Release - By Popular Demand!

As I've mentioned before I'm having real trouble keeping my Wonderland CD in stock, despite me increasing the order each time!! (I actually do have a few in stock atthe moment - wooo!) of course I'm super pleased it's proved so popular but I have been asked by people when they have been out of stock if I could do some digi stamps so there was an instant download option.

So by popular demand, there are now 10 Digi Stamps available of Alice, The Mad Hatter, The White Rabbit, The Queen of Hearts and a group of them all together, each stamp is available in black and white and colour.

Of course, the original CD is also available along with the matching ink sprays and all can be purchased through my shop!

And in other news.... I'm still working on new designs - yay! and I'm off to Durham on Sunday night to see my parents and sisters. One of my sisters just got engaged (the other two are too young yet! LOL) and I can't wait to check out her engagement ring in real life, the pictures are gorgeous. She went for a pink stone and mine is yellow - I guess we have a thing for coloured stones in my family!

Have lovely weekends!

Sarah x

A Card!!!

Surprised? I am, its been soooooo long since I done any crafting and this was made in a bit of a rush at 6am before my day really got started, but still I made it, its the first thing I've made with my 'Wonderland' CD that I have been dying to use since I started designing it so I'm happy!

I also received this gorgeous Cosmo Cricket fabric in the post - YUM-MY! as well as some lovely October Afternoon goodies that I cant wait to have a play with.

I NEED some crafting time soon! First though I have to finish my studio - it's mid 'clear up and organise' so looks great one side and like a tornado went through the other side *sigh* it's definitely being done in the next 24 hours, If I don't get some pretty paper time I will fall into a pit of despair!

A couple of other things I completely forgotten to mention are:

I have a sale on at the moment with free shipping using the code 'FREESHIP' at checkout - see here for barginous bargains galore!

This is the last week to submit your links if you are a mixed media artist / art journaler to try a fabby new product - go here or email me if you arent a facebooker

I just want to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments the last few days :o)

Thats all folks!

Sarah x

Feeling Lucky

Its been a funny day today, nothing magical has happened, I started with a visit to the docs (35 mins, *sigh*) which went OK, no more tests or poking and prodding for 2 weeks (yay!) then a few emails caught up on, then a wave of exhaustion hit and I fell asleep. But somehow today I'm feeling incredibly lucky, so happy with my lot. Funny isn't it, how nothing can really change except maybe your attitude but all of a sudden you feel 10 times better. Obviously not everything is perfect, I have yuk days, I wish I lived closer to my family (although I'm lucky OH's mum and brother live close by), I'd like to lose a few pounds (or maybe more than a few) I'd like to have more money (wouldn't we all!) I wish my hair was straighter, I'd like to be about 5 inches taller (although then I wouldn't be able to wear giant heels when I go out with OH, so maybe not!) but overall I'm not doing too bad and today I have a big smile on my face, feeling blessed :o)

Yesterday I ventured out in the cold and rain for a little solo shopping trip, I don't venture out that often these days as I'm usually working pretty much 7 days a week, and even more rarely do I go out alone as usually it's OH dragging me out to remind our friends what I look like! and I do feel anxious in crowded places. But yesterday I braved the crowds and the elements and hit the shops! I bagged myself these lovely bargains (I'm not showing the bags of clothes!!! LOL - in my defense it has been a while)

and got back soaked to the skin and freezing cold but feeling quite proud of myself! Of course, being soaked through gave me a great excuse to change into the new PJ's I bagged (I do have a bit of a PJ obssession!) although my hair was beyond repair!!!

Tomorrow I really must do something creative, despite my NY resolution I'm yet to do much drawing or crafting, although I have done some digital work, but I can't show that to you yet as its for a client.

I forgot to mention yesterday that this weeks challenge is sponsored by Letraset so pop over and try and bag yourself some Promarkers!!! I'll be getting mine out tomorrow and I can't wait :o)

I also realised I'm still yet to show any pics from Wonderland, although you can see some projects my lovely DT made with it over at the Challenge Blog so pop over and take a quick look! - I'll post some more piccies in the next few days but here are the characters, these come in lots of variations including digi stamps and coloured images - I've printed out some stuff so I can make some goodies with it myself tomorrow, can't wait!

I also have to tell you about 2 wonderful new companies that I'm working with but I must save something for later - I think that was quite possibly the longest blog post in history so I shall shut up now!!!

Sarah x

A Little Freebie!

Today the last of the 'Wonderland' CD sold out - a big thank you to everyone that ordered, we literally couldn't pack them up quickly enough - even the DT haven't had theirs yet!! New stock has been ordered and is on its way so you can still order here for delivery by Christmas.

Today I have uploaded lots of Calendar downloads to the shop - these were very popular on the Christmas Cheer! CD so now you can download the Calendars individually from the shop here or you can buy the Christmas Cheer! CD with all of them (plus all of the other stuff!) here (remember there is free shipping on everything until 20th December with the code FREESHIP at checkout!)

The freebie today (as promised!) is a Black and White calendar, you can use as is,print out on coloured or patterned paper or re-colour with your Promarkers, Pencils, Spray Inks etc.... Click the image below to download yours :o)

Have been hard at work today on some fab new products for the New Year (which is scarily close now!) but I'm off to try and reclaim the remote control in time for X-Factor now, it's completely off limits at the weekend when OH has a 2 day sport marathon - I did ask if today we could watch Footballers Wives instead of Football, but apprently it's 'not the same thing'.......

Tomorrow I must making some Christmas Cards, so far I have a grand total of......... one! eeeeeeeekkkkkk!

Also, please pop over the the Challenge Blog for some fab Christmas challenges :o)

Sarah x

p.s. I am currently looking for some mixed media artists / art journalers to work on a project with a brand new product. If you are interested please pop over to the Ink-A-Ball page on Facebook and leave your blog link!

My news......

I can finally share my news with you today - I'm sooooo excited!

if you cast your eye to the left where the "people I design for" list is you will notice a new addition.......

Thats right, Derwent!!

How exciting, Derwent have asked me to work with them on marketing their products in the craft industry and testing out some of their products - how can a girl refuse?! I love Derwent and have used their products since I can remember! When I made the decision to go freelance my OH asked me what I wanted as a celebratory pressie and I chose Derwent pencils - thats how much I love them!

I'm so obssessed with colour as you can probably tell from how much I treasure my Promarkers! so I'm looking forward to trying out the things I havent yet tried! You will be seeing lots about my progress over the coming weeks I'm sure :)

You can see why this cheered me up so much yesterday!

On another note I'd like to thank everyone that has pre-ordered the Wonderland CD - I have had to increase my initial order and I haven't even done any sneak peeks yet! Seems you are all as obssessed with Alice in Wonderland as I am!

You can also now become a 'fan' of the Ink-A-Ball on facebook - here! There will be some competitions and giveaways and more exciting stuff soon so pop over there and 'like' it :)

Thats enough excitement for one day!

Sarah x

Sharing....

So some of my news I can share and some I can't just yet!

Firstly, please come and join us over at the Christmas Crafting blog, this will run from now until Christmas Day, giving you inspiration, prompts and project ideas from me and the design team - we have lots of stuff ready to go up over the next few days!

Secondly, my new CD 'Wonderland' is now available for pre-order! There is also a special offer for the CD and co-ordinating ink spray set - have a look here for more details.

There will be some sneak peeks of this coming over the next week or so :o)

Finally I'd like to say a BIG congratulations to one of my DT girls - Amanda has made the Teresa Collins Design Team!!

Back with more news soon......

Sarah x