Friday 28 August 2009

Weekend Workshop #13

Wow you really do like Sue’s colours this week the cards that are being entered are stunning. Don’t forget you have till Tuesday at 9am to enter the challenge is here.
Next week from 1st September things are changing slightly so that more ProMarker lovers can join in. We will also be welcoming our first 2 guest designers, they are going to be staying with us for 4 weeks and they are,
This week Caryn has done a tutorial for her image that she is using for her challenge on Tuesday,
******************
Glittery and Girly image tutorial - Caryn
This is the image I have chosen for my card for next week’s challenge. I start by picking out my chosen colours usually dictated by the patterned paper I’m using – in this case the Chester range from Me and My Big Ideas.
Firstly I have coloured the boots, skirt and top with red, rose pink and mandarin respectively. I then go over the darker areas again where you would expect to find shadows (folds and curves).
blogoversary card 001 blogoversary card 002
I then take a darker shade of each of the main colours – in this case, Berry red, orange and coral and go over the darker areas again to give more depth. For the skin I start with a base layer of Ivory and then add dimension with Vanilla and Blush.
blogoversary card 003 blogoversary card 004
I have then used the blender pen over the colours to smooth out any harsh lines. For the hair (I’ve opted for blonde on this occasion) I start with a base of Gold leaving areas where the light would hit off it.
blogoversary card 005 blogoversary card 006
blogoversary card 007
I have then gone over the Gold with Canary covering a part of the white area I left on the previous image. To give the effect of curves and shape to the hair I add depth at the roots and tips by going over again a few times with the Gold colour. In the final image I have coloured the wings with Satin and then used a quickie glue pen and sprinkled with Glamour Dust before going around the whole image outline with Cool Grey 1.
blogoversary card 010
Well, hope this wasn’t too patronising for you– I hate to think I’m teaching Grandmother’s to suck eggs (must find out where that saying comes from!) but it’s sometimes interesting to see how other people’s methods might differ from our own. Hope it’s been of use to some of you anyway. blogoversary card 009
Hugs,
Caryn xxx
******************
coming up NEXT WEEK – Blonde hair tutorials
If you do want to see anything else made into a tutorial just let us know, we have had quite a few suggestions that we are working on and we are hoping to get those to you very soon :)
Gina, Denise and the DT

Wednesday 26 August 2009

Week 13 - Top 5 Passionista

We know how much of a challenge last week’s Prussian and Pumpkin & halloween theme was for some of you but wow we had some wonderful entries!  It is Sarah’s turn to pick her top 5 but unfortunately she is away on holidays so the design team has stepped in an made a joint decision.  So without further ado, here is the top 5 passionista:
**** Carola ****
**** Brenda ****
**** Sue ****
**** Dianne ****
**** Cathy ****

Congratulations to all 5, you can now display the blinkie on your blog, if you so wish.

Don’t forget to check out our new challenge ‘passion for purple’ and check back on Friday for the Weekend Workshop. 
Hugs, Gina, Denise & Design Team x x

Tuesday 25 August 2009

Week 14 - A passion for Purple!

Hello again and welcome to another new challenge here at Passion for ProMarkers.  Firstly we would like to say a big thank you to everyone that entered our Halloween challenge last week, we know it wasn't to everyone's taste (including some of our DT!) but you all did a fantastic job!  Don't forget to check the sidebar to see if you are the lucky winner of the £10.00 voucher from Hotshot crafts
Onto this week's challenge, which was chosen by the lovely Sue.  The colour combo this week is at least two purples (you can choose from lilac, lavender, amethyst and aubergine).  Most of the DT have used all four colours but we know most of you may not have all four so we would like to see your creations using at least two of these purples as the predominant colours on your image.  Of course if you have all four purples we would love you to use them! 
Our sponsor this week is Letraset and our lucky winner will receive a pack of 5 proMarkers *colours may vary to the photo*
PMFMAS2-Pr
The design team have been busy again this week making some fantastic projects to inspire you:
Sue

Caryn

Debbi

Denise

Gina

Helen

Ida
ida
Maria

Michele

Natalie

Sarah

We can't wait to see what beautiful creations you come up with this week and look forward to visiting your blogs. 
The top 5 passionista will be announced later this evening so don't forget to check back and see if you are one of the lucky 5. 
Also don't forget to come back on Friday for the Weekend Workshop as this week it will include a tutorial on colouring blonde hair - definitely not to be missed. 
Hugs,  Gina, Denise & Design Team x x

Friday 21 August 2009

Weekend workshop #12

Another weekend approach’s, how quickly they come round but it gives us all a chance to catch up on our blogging and hopefully get a bit of crafting in too :) This week Helen has done a watermark tutorial for us, again it does not have nothing to do with PM’s but it is a question we get asked quite a lot, the other tutorial this week is another gorgeous flower tutorial from Michele, both will be available on PDF in a couple of days….and yes I am still behind :( sorry about that.
******************
Watermark Tutorial by Helen
We’ve had a few questions about creating your own watermark/signature so I thought I’d show you how I do it.
For this I use a program called gimp which is available free from here http://www.gimp.org/
This is how I use it
clip_image002
Click file, then open as layers then choose the image you want to use from your files
clip_image004
Click on the large black A in the toolbox on the left of the screen this will bring up a gimp text editor box
clip_image006
Move the mouse curser over the image and click and drag out a box the size you want the text to be then type your text into the
Gimp text editor box. then click on the close button.
On the left hand side tool bar use the text tools to choose the font and font size you want and the colour you want your text to be. I use white as it is neutral
But that’s just my preference.
clip_image008
On the right hand tool bar as shown above drag the opacity bar to the left and this will fade out the text on your image play around until you get the level you like.
Once you are happy with this click on SAVEAS as you would usually, then this box should open
clip_image010
Click on Export then this box should open
clip_image012

Click Save.
And there you have your finished signature/watermark.
Hope this is helpful
Hugs Helen x
******************
Flower #2 Tutorial by Michele
Hi there me again with another flower tutorial for you.
Here is a list of the items that I've used to make up this flower.
image
Sizzix Flower Layers Die or any 5 petal shaped die/punch will do
1 large bead
Apricot ProMarker pen (again any colour will do)

For this particular flower I've cut out the 3 smallest flower shapes twice
image
On the back of each flower, roughly draw a circle in the centre
image
For each flower cut down the sides of each petal until you reach the circle you drew earlier (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3)
Now keep cutting down each petal until they resemble pictures 4, 5 and 6
image
Now on the right side of your flowers, draw a line starting from the centre outwards with your ProMarker pen on each of the tiny petals.
image
Now on the wrong side of each flower, start embossing each petal until they resemble the pictures 1, 2 and 3.
image
Now on the right side of each flower, emboss the centre till it resembles the picture to the left.

image
Pop on the back of 5 flowers some PVA glue and then start layering them up. To finish the flower off, put some PVA glue in the centre and place the bead in.
image
This is what the flower should look like in the end. For a bit of sparkle, I've used spray adhesive and Making Memories Scrapbook Shimmer Spotlight.
dscf6770
And this is what it will look like on your card.
I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and I look forward to seeing your creations.
Hugs Michele x
****************
Well that is it again for this weeks Weekend workshop, hope you are still enjoying them, please feel free to leave any comments or ideas for future tutorials of what you would like to see :)

Hugs Gina, Denise and Design Team xxx

Thursday 20 August 2009

Top 5 Passionista’s

So sorry you have to wait (slap my hand) :), Denise is on her hol’s at the moment, and with Bandwidth problems, family visiting, new ProMarkers being released it has completely slipped my mind, thank you Theresa for the reminder :)
Ok here is Natalie’s top 5
***** Anelma *****
***** Anglea *****
***** Tracy *****
***** Mervi *****
***** Clare *****
Here is the blinkie for you to use, if you have any problems just email me here
Passionista
Hugs Gina, Denise and DT xxx

Tuesday 18 August 2009

****NEWS FLASH****

Just had some very exciting news to tell all about. I know how you all love your ProMarkers and would like to know if there are any more colours coming out ............well there are YAY

Letraset are bringing out 56 new colours for us drool over, there are lots of pinks and purples, something we have all been longing for, if you would like a peek at them Wendy has them on Pre-order here http://www.secretcrafter.co.uk/index.php?page=4&act=viewCat&catId=70 with all of the new colours, they will be available from mid-september for us all to buy Woohooo :)

new colours 
Hope it is not just me that is so excited :)

Hugs Gina, Denise and DT xxx

Week 13 “Pumpkin & Prussian + Halloween theme”

Welcome once again to Passion for ProMarkers! We had some gorgeous entries last week for Natalie’s colour challenge you really did love the colour combo! Check the sidebar later to see who the lucky winner of the £10 voucher from Yellow Moon. We will be announcing Natalie’s top 5 passionista later this evening, so check back to see if you are one of the lucky 5!!
Onto this week's challenge which was set by Sarah and is Pumpkin & Prussian BUT there is an added extra of Halloween, so you need to make sure you have a Halloween theme for this weeks card :)
Our sponsor this week is Hotshot crafts and this week's prize is a £10 gift voucher
Hotshot craft Logo (2)
Our fabulous design team have been busy again this week and have created some gorgeous samples for your inspiration:
Sarah
Sarah
Sue
Sue
Caryn
500 Caryn
Debbi
Debbi
Denise
Denise
Gina
Gina
Helen
Helen
Maria
Promarker Challenge
Michele
Michele
Natalie
Natalie
We hope you can join in the fun again this week, and we all look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing your wonderful creations.
Hugs, Gina, Denise & Design Team xxx