Challenge 24 inspiration plus winners

Good morning crafty friends and welcome to our inspiration post here at We Love 2  Create!! 

We're keeping it nice and easy for you and our theme is ...

Anything Mixed Media/Creative Goes

if you're visiting to link up your challenge entry

just click here to go to the linky

You still have a week to play along and you don't have to use our products to play along but of course we love it when you do! As always we've got some lovely crafty goodies up for grabs for our lucky winner thanks to our generous sponsors Premium Craft Brands so don't miss out on your chance to win!!

Before we check out what our DT have been creating this week, we'd better announce our lucky winner from Challenge 23. This time around, Random.org has chosen

7 Erin B

Congratulations hun, email us (details in sidebar) with your winners code (PPWK002401) and snail mail address and your prize will soon be winging its way to you!

As always it was a difficult task for our DT to choose their Top 3 but this time around, the honours go to

3. Ingrid Kristina V

24 Jerrie

39 Jill Holmes

Congratulations ladies, your projects were awesome!! Don't forget to grab your Top 3 badge from the sidebar.

Now what have our lovely DT been busy with this week. as always they've created some stunning projects to inspire you...

Nikky...I coloured this Oddella image up a few weeks back for the Graph'It colouring challenge and when I looked at it the following day I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to make her into a journal page which I have not done for absolutely eons...and I mean eternity eons! I've recently had a disaster purchase - I needed to bulk buy some diaries and like the numbskull I am I bought 50 (yes, that's 50!!) diaries - then realised when they arrived they were 2015 GRRRR!!! So I have 50 journals to use up this year haha!!
So I didnt lose the mojo for her I rushed upstairs as soon as I got in from work and decided I was only allowing the time it took for the pizza to cook and no more - I'm trying to set myself time goals so I just go with the flow and dont procratinate too much as it's killing my melon, man....
this was the coloured image before and after... 

 I just got all my fave colours out and random stamps which just happened to be the nearest to hand which were all my textures from Premium Art Brands and threw it all on. I did actually spritz and seal between layers but because I was rushing they did get very muddied and I used a lot of yellow ochre which I dont normally do. Not what I was aiming for at all but this was pizza journaling!!...

 I just ripped the image off the paper and glued it down with photo glue then applied all the Pan Pastel colours around it, using a Versamark inkpad to overstamp - love using Versamark ink as they just stick to the Pan Pastels like glue and make it so vibrant...

 A bit of doodling to finish off using a black Graph'It marker which will go over virtually anything and the must have Graph'It White Shake marker...

colours used: magenta, perm red, yellow ochre, phthalo green, black coarse sparkle medium, white sparkle medium, violet

Walnut distress ink to stamp, Versamark to stamp, Graph'It white Shake pen, Graph'It Black alcohol marker, Graph'It Glitter shake silver and gold (character)

Permanent Red

Orange

Soft Tools

Pan Pastel - Magenta

PanPastel Ultramarine Blue

Black fine Pearl

Lou: I used my pan pastels to both colour my background but also my stamped images to create a simple and quick card. I wanted the bricks to stand out so embossed them first running it through my die cutting machine.

Next using Perfect Medium, I stamped my flower images and coloured them quickly with pearlescent yellow and orange pan pastels creating highlights using a rubber. One of the many benefits of using pan pastels ... rub away what you don't need or even any mistakes!

 and repeated the process with the leaves and rose buds using the Sofft Tools ...

Finally I added everything to the brick background to create a pretty floral card. This really is a quick way to create your elements as probably the longest part is cutting the images out.

More photos and step by step instructions can be found on my blog. All products and links are below. Just open the images ...

Pan Pastel pearlescent yellow	Yellow Ochre Pan Pastel	Raw Umber PanPastel	Pan Pastel pearlescent orange	Orange Pan Pastel
Pan Pastel pearlescent green	Perm Green Pan Pastel	Bright Yellow Green Pan Pastel	Perm Red Pan Pastel	Pan Pastel Colourless Blender
PanPastel - Sofft Tools Kit	Dutch Doobadoo A5 brick stencil	Premium Art Brands Roses stamp set

Hope you all have a messy creative week and don't forget to pop back next week to 

see what the DT have created for the new challenge.

How to use Metallic Pan Pastels video tutorial from Nikky Hall

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to share a quick video with you all using PanPastel Metallics!

As you all know by now, I am completely addicted to this amazing new product and as it's so difficult to sometimes photograph metallics in their full glory I hope this video shows you the true effects a little better.

Enjoy! (and don't forget to make sure you join in the Blog candy below this post, it's awesome!)....

I'll be back later in the week with another video for you!
x
Nikky

Getting busy with Metallic Pan Pastels!

Hi everyone!
Hope you're loving the new look blog - we're having a couple of issues with the blog feeds and Google+ so to make sure you still get all our posts and makes please make sure you refollow and sign up for the feeds - we have some amazing blog candy coming up so you don't want to miss that!

I just thought I'd share a project with you today featuring Metallic Pan Pastels - this is my absolute FAVOURITE product ever right now, the results you can achieve with card, the 6 colours and a Versamark inkpad are just stunning. If you haven't seen these yet or tried them they are really really high on my recommended list! Well worth the money and VERY versatile - you will think they are a cream like all other metallics or a wax, but they're not, they genuinely ARE the same texture and consistency as your other Pan Pastels! This means that they can be used in exactly the same way and with all the same great techniques you use normally - but with the added bonus that when mixed with the original colours they then become metallic too! AWESOME!

This really simple make was done by embossing black card with a Sizzix embossing folder then covering it with Versamark ink. Dab on a mixture of all 6 metallic colours then smooth them together with your Sofft sponge (If you use a normal sponge you really must switch to the Sofft sponges and applicators, we guarantee you will get better results!)...So smooth out the colours until you have a great coverage, then take a soft cloth or tissue and gently buff off the excess powder - this really will bring up an amazing shine! My top tip for using the metallics to give you a really great brushed metal effect... once you've finished, take one specific lighter colour and then sweep it slightly over any raised embossed areas and around all the edges. And voila! Completely looks like metal.

On this card I Also used a few die-cuts, again pressing them into Versamark first to make the Pan Pastel adhere better - if you do this you get a much more intense laydown and richer finish.

Look at the shine on the Butterfly, this blows me away every time I see it! The flowers are actually coloured with normal Pan Pastels (is there such a thing as 'normal'?) but because I used the autumnal browns and greens the metallic has completely changed the look of them and made thos look metallic too! Don't forget you can also use a cheap hairspray as you apply the colours - this will seal each layer so that you can then work on top and keep gaining a more intense and layered effect to your work.

So that's it from me today - please come back and join us on Sunday for our newly revamped Challenge!

Nikky x