The Kettle's on ........

Good morning friends! Hope you are all well today. We're just starting the second week of the school hols here at Casa Mia, and I have to say that I'm feeling quite rested! 

It being the first Monday of the month, it's time to bring you the new challenge from Incy Wincy Designs and this time we'd like you to Colour Me Wonderful! We'd like to you to use your favourite colouring medium and, to be eligible for a prize and / or Top 3 place, you must state in your blog post what your favourite colouring medium is.

We've got 2 great sponsors lined up for you:

Our first sponsor is a new one to us, but Anne-Marie from AMB Illustrations has some great designs in her store; perfect papers and clip art for card making and scrapbooking! Anne-Marie is offering a great prize to our first random winner which is 5 free packs when you purchase 10 packs from her store ... that's 3 for the price of 2! Even if you aren't our winner, Anne-Marie currently has a Spring Sale on in her store - the details are on the store home page.

Our second sponsor is Heather and her team from Lacy Sunshine Stamps who are offering another prize pack to our second lucky winner.

Both of our sponsors have very kindly given the DT some images to showcase for this challenge, so here we go for something a bit different from me using my favourite Alcohol Markers and favourite Distress Inks, and featuring art work by Anne-Marie of AMB Illustrations:

Yup, I've made some ATCs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Would you like an adventure ......

For this ATC, I have stuck with my usual Alcohol Markers and used them with an Alcohol Resist technique following a tutorial by Alyce at Kit and Clowder. I discovered this technique because February's Create and Learn class came with the bonus of 4 background tutorials too! Thanks for these Alyce ;o) ! My ATC recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is Neenah Solar White Cardstock onto which I "drew" a 3½" x 2½" rectangle using my word processing programme
• Image - of a butterfly and floral swag comes from the Garden Party Clipart Set by Anne-Marie, which I opened in my word processing programme and then layered it onto my ATC rectangle before twisting it so it sat in the corner
• Sentiment - is called Word Art Adventure or Tea and it comes from a bundle called Sugar & Sweet by Marisa Lerin at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. I also added this to my ATC rectangle in an appropriate place ... and then I printed my ATC out.
• Background - has been created using my Spectrum Noir Pens in colours PP3, PP5, HB1, BT2, BT4 which I coloured in blocks over the ATC. Once these inks were dry, I used an Alcohol Resist technique with surgical spirit and a cotton bud to created highlights. 

It's Always Tea Time .....

For this ATC, I have turned to my favourite Distress Inks, which is what springs to my mind when I'm thinking background colouring. I have used this "Smooshing" Technique before, and the contrasting colours of ink have made a lovely blended colour. My ATC recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is Snow White Silver Centura Pearl which I've cut to a 3½" x 2½" ATC
• Background - has been created on Watercolour Card with Distress Inks in Salty Ocean and Picked Raspberry, a water spray and a piece of acetate using a "Smooshing Technique". I patted my first ink pad on the acetate, gave it a quick spray of water and then just "smooshed" it onto my card. Whilst it was still wet, I changed to my second ink pad and using the same technique added more colour to the card. Where the pink and blue inks have merged, I've created a lovely purple colour! Once this card was dry, I cut it ¼" smaller than my ATC so that it fits nicely.
• Image - is again from Anne-Marie's Garden Party Clipart Set; this time it's the silhouette of a teapot on a circle with a butterfly and swag, and this design comes in several colourways. I've cut this image with the second smallest Die'sire Essentials Circles Die before mounting it on my ATC.
• Sentiment - is called It's Always Tea Time and it comes from the English Breakfast Mini Kit by Marisa Lerin at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. This was die cut using my second smallest Die'sire Essentials Rectangles Die before it was mounted onto my ATC.

Tea Time .....

For this ATC, I have again turned to my favourite Distress Inks and "Smooshing" Technique, this time with toning colours. My ATC recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is Watercolour Card onto which I "smooshed" Distress Inks in Milled Lavender and Seedless Preserves. Because these colours tone rather than contrast, the blended colour is much more subtle. Once the background was dry, I cut the card to a 3½" x 2½" rectangle
• Image - is a further image from Anne-Marie's Garden Party Clipart Set; this one is very similar to the one on the previous ATC, but the elements are not "grounded" by a shape. I cut this out using my second smallest Die'sire Essentials Scalloped Squares Die and then, to avoid it disappearing into the background, gently distressed the edges with more Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.
• Sentiment - is another one by Marisa Lerin at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. This one comes from her Handwritten Kit #3 and is simply called Label Tea Time. It already had the border around it, so I simply cut this out, and attached it to my ATC.

So, I hope have inspired you to dig out your favourite colouring medium and that you'll Colour Me Wonderful over at Incy Wincy Designs this time. Don't forget to let us know what your favourite colouring medium is! However, if you're in need of further inspiration, please do check out the other great creations by my team mates. We'll be back with our next challenge on Monday 18th April 2016.


I would like to enter these projects into the following challenge:

• Challenge 357 - Create your own Background Paper at C.R.A.F.T. Challenge
• Challenge #16 - Anything Goes with option of Weather at ATC Around the World
• Challenge #115 - ATC or Small Card at Card and Scrap

My "Would You Like an Adventure" ATC into the following challenge:

• Monday Challenge - Try to Resist at Simon Says Stamp Challenge

And my "It's Always Tea Time" ATC into the following challenge:

• Watercolor - at Make My Monday Challenge - I'm hoping that "smooshing" my distress inks with water counts as watercolouring ..... if not, please feel free to delete my entry.

Whatever you're up to this week, I hope you have fun!

Hugs, Helen x