Mami Doodles Challenges Freebies Inspiration Tutorials

Sunday, June 26, 2011

More heavy metal cards!

I've updated the challenge #29 post to include Khalinne and Wendy's fabulous entries. Check it out here!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Challenge #29 Heavy Metal

The winner of the 28th Challenge is entry 42 Juelmarie with the Supe Hero Dad card:


She was with staying in hospital looking after her son, hopefully this will cheer her up a little bit! Please email me to get your prize Juelmarie!


The challenge for the next two weeks is by Manuela is:

"Heavy Metal"

Please link your card/layout/project at the end of this blog. This challenge will run until the Thursday 7th of July midday. The prize will be the last 3 images released (Millie, Ligia and Balloons), plus one of your choice. Cards using Mami Doodles images - including freebies - will have two entries on the draw.

Jackie

'My double take  on "Heavy Metal"'



Lisa


Manuela


Ren-Yi

"The pinwheel is made out of aluminum foil"


Stephanie



Trinh

"Looks like Stephanie & I were on the same wavelength for this challenge!"








Friday, June 17, 2011

Friday Gallery - Now with PRIZES!

Wendy spotted this card by Lisa Oliver, (which uses one of the bees from the Bee's Party kit), while blog hopping:



Isn't it a gorgeous card? So much so that it won a prize. And now it won another one, as I will be giving a little present to one of the cards featured in the Friday Gallery. This week it will be Ligia, my latest image - Ligia Playing Dress Up. Lisa, please email me to get your prize.

Talking of Ligia, have you spotted Jackie's set of cards in her workshop blog?

Here's a sneak:



More here.

I had lots of fun creating Ligia and her dresses, it brought back memories...

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Ligia Playing Dress Up

Sometime ago, Jackie and I were talking about paper piecing and I decided to make an image which allowed for easy paper piecing, a drawing with no hair or hands on the way. My girl, Ligia, comes with two different hair styles and 4 clothing options making 8 images altogether.

The clothes include a bikini for summer cards and an uniform for back to school cards.



Available in the Mami Doodles shop, direct link here.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Learning as I go: Part 4 - digitally colouring the background

I think an image really pops when you add a little "halo" around it, like Jackie did in this card and Wendy did here.

I am sure both got their effect using their markers and watercolours, but here I am going to show you how to get the same effect digitally.It is a handy technique when the image has lots of details which make  it hard to colour by hand.

Don't be put off by the number of steps. Probably you already know how to do most of these things but I wanted to make it as detailed as possible.

I used PSE (Photoshop Elements) but the same idea would work in any other graphic editing software which support layers such as Paint Shop Pro.

First you have to know a bit about PNG files and layers. Excluding some of my earlier images, all others are provided in PGN format as well as in JPEG. For this tutorial  you will need the PNG file.

As for layers, think of layers as sheets of paper, one on top of each other. Some sheets can be transparent or partially transparent, in which case you can see what's underneath.

OK, that's enough, it will be clearer when you see the tutorial.

1. Open your PNG image. See the checkered part around the image? That's the part that is transparent. (if the background is not transparent, this technique won't work, but all my pgn files have a transparent background).


2. Create a blank file. I like to create a blank file the same size as my card size. Go File→New→ Blank File...


3.  Like so. Check if the layers window is open on the right hand side (red arrow). If not, to open it, click on Windows→Layers.


4. Click on the image. Go to the layers windows and drag and drop the image on the blank page (see red arrow). Resize it if needed. To resize, select the tool pointed by the blue arrow. 



5. Select the brush tool (red arrow). Change the colour of the "paint" by clicking on the foreground colour (blue arrow, left box). This will open a new window (green arrow) which will allow you to select the desired colour.


6. Select the brush type:  Click on the little downward arrow pointed here by the red arrow. This will open the Brush types window. Click on a blurry one, like #35 in the Default brushes list.




7. Select the layer you want to edit by going to the Layers windows and selecting the background layer. Click where the red arrow is.



8. Start colouring the image with your mouse. Click and hold the left button of your mouse and start to colour. Did you notice how the colouring only shows behind the image? That's because the image layer is on top of the background layer and the image is opaque.


If you think the colour is a bit too strong, or the brush is too big or too small,  press Ctrl Z to undo it. Then change the opacity/size of the brush. To change them, look at the blue arrows in step 6.

10. Keep on colouring around the image and voila. Now it is only a matter of printing it.


I asked the DT what they thought of the tutorial, if they could follow it and here's Jackie's using the same technique:

And Trinh used the gradient tool instead of brushes, check it here:

Friday, June 10, 2011

Challenge #28 Card for a boy or a man

The winner of the 27th Challenge, chosen by random.org,  is Linda B who submitted this beautiful, starry card:


Linda, please email me to get the prize!

The challenge for the next two weeks was set by Ren-Yi:

"Make a card for a boy or a man"

Which is fitting as Father's Day is on the 19th of June. (Or at least is if in Ireland. Back home we celebrate it in the second Sunday of August.)

Please link your card/layout/project at the end of this blog. This challenge will run until the Thursday 23rd of June midday. The prize will be the last 3 images released (Hot Air Balloon, Bookworm and Daddy's Boy), plus one of your choice. Cards using Mami Doodles images - including freebies - will have two entries on the draw.

Here are the lovely Design Team cards:








Friday, June 3, 2011

Friday Gallery

Sometimes I spot a card with a Mami Doodles images while I am blog hopping or looking at forum post. Sometimes someone  kindly emails me photos of their cards. Sometimes there's a submission for the challenge using of one of my images. I love it happens, it makes me so happy.

If you are like me, looking at inspiring work fuels my wish to create. So, every second Friday, that is, the Fridays between challenge posts, I'll have some cards for you. Between one to five, some found from my web surfing, some might be ones  emailed to me, some could be even (gasp!) mine. And if you are kind enough to link a card to in this post, I'll make sure that at least one will be featured in my next gallery post.

This card is by Maureen Shannon, which I first saw in the Cara Craft Supplies forum. It is for her daughter's Home Economics teacher. I love that the card is perfectly suited for the teacher, look at the cute kitchen utensils.


This one is by Heather, look at the texture of this card, fabulous!


Jackie Schachter's baby card is all blue, green and yellows. Adorable!



Thursday, June 2, 2011

Hot Air Balloon

I wanted something suitable for a boy or man's card. I hope you like it.

Available at the Mami Doodles shop, direct link here.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Bookworm

First a quick note, check Khalinne's beautiful box for the last challenge, which was added later due to internet problems.

This is my most recent image, a girl whol loves books.

This item is free with any purchase for the month of June 2011 in the Mami Doodles shop, direct link here.

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