IndigoBlu moving forwards into July!

Hello there and Welcome to the brand New month of July ahead of us.

As everyone in the UK will know, we have been experiencing something of a heatwave which is quite nice but I am longing for a little rain and a cooler breeze. Yes I know, never satisfied with the weather. I'm sure there a lot of people who won't agree with me but there you go.

Kay and Alfie had a busy last month travelling around with their Dirty Weekend plus a couple of Craft shows and everything else that needs to be done running IndigoBlu. As a special summer treat they have added a 20% Discount on the IndigoBlu web page and Free P&P running until midnight tonight (1July)!

July is set to be another busy month for them. 

As some of you may already know, Kay has produced a beautiful step by step project in the August 2018 Craft Stamper Magazine. I can't share the project here with you but you really must check it out by getting your hands on this amazing magazine, not only to see and read how Kay put her project together but its a great magazine filled with so much for those of you who enjoy Stamping or anything to do with mixed media.

Moving on from Kay's project have you seen the "Challenge Yourself Event" on the Face Book Group 'I Love IndigoBlu yet'! Until the 20th July we are inviting you to create a project using IndigoBlu products to depict 'Summer'. 

Its as easy as that and there will be a surprise price from Kay for the winner. We hope you do join in as we love seeing how you use the IndigoBlu products. Even if you don't have time to join in with this Event we still want to see what you have been making so please join in and share your work on the group.

Kay and Alfie will be back on the road travelling to Endinburgh for another of their Dirty Weekends on the 14th & 15th July. Although this workshop is fully booked you can still go and buy from the IndigoBlu Pop-Up-Shop.

If you would like to attend one of the IndigoBlu Dirty Weekends there are still some places available on the Maidstone (Sept 15th-16th) workshop

&

Exeter (Nov 17th & 18th) workshop

One last thing to mention before I go is the Next Hochanda Show with Kay.

This will be a One Day Special (ODS)

On Tuesday 17th July ( 6pm, 8pm) & Wednesday 18th July(9am, 1pm & 5pm) 

Myself and others in the TV design Team have had lots of fun creating samples for Kays show and I think you will be blown away with what Kay is bringing you. Not only are there New Stamp Sets but a lot, lot more. Sorry I can't say anymore, just that i'm really excited and have so enjoyed using these new items.

Thank you for stopping by and having a read. Have a brilliant July, I know I will.

Happy Crafting,

Sue xx

Guest Designer Trish Latimer

Hi there!

Trish Latimer here, very happy and honoured to be sharing a post today on the blog!

For those that don’t know me, I’m a messy painty mixed media artist, into all things colourful and quirky! I also love drawing faces and figures, and I have my own range of WhimsyGirl rubber stamps 

Oh, and I am also Editor of the best mixed media magazine around, Craft Stamper!

In February, I was thrilled to be asked to be a guest demonstrator for IndigoBlu at the UK trade show, Stitches. I had an absolute blast, and loved showing people how I created painty backgrounds for the figures I had made using the stunning face stamps by Kay. The journal pages I created there have since been featured on Hochanda (squeeeee!), with Kay doing an AMAZING job showing how to recreate the look!

I thought I would share a step by step tutorial on how I create figures from the faces, but first, here is the finished piece…

So, how to create the figures? (Please bear in mind that these are ‘quirky’ people, so might not be anatomically to scale)

Firstly, stamp the head, and then sketch in the ‘body’ (or shape of the dress). As a general rule I simply extend the lines from the sides of the neck, flaring out slightly as I go…

Next, extend the lines of the shoulders. For most of my figures, I’m not sketching actual body shapes, these are the clothes shapes, so the shoulders can be exaggerated to form sleeves.

For this dress, I wanted a collar, so this gets sketched in next…

The sleeve shapes can be finalised…

I’m rubbish at drawing hands, so most of my girls either have their hands behind their backs, or I draw an extra ‘something’ that they can be holding without the need to draw an accurate hand! This little lady had her hands behind her back…

Details can now be added, then the sketched lines that you want to keep can be drawn in with a permanent fine liner pen. You may notice that my figure ‘stops’ halfway down! I know the size of the background I’ll be placing her on, so I don’t need to draw in the rest. Of course, lines can be extended down, and legs and feet added if the whole person will be on show.

She can now be coloured! The ‘extra’ bit of stamped neck that was present in the collar was simply gessoed over before colouring.

All kinds of clothes can be drawn for your figure, check out fashion magazines or web sites for inspiration about necklines or dress shapes!

I then created a painty background using IndigoBlu paints, and background stamps collected from lots of different IndigoBlu stamp plates. No space here today to share just how I created the background, but if any of you are curious then I have video tutorials showing the process. The links to these can be found on my blog: http://www.inkpaintbeads.blogspot.co.uk/

The finishing touch was a wonderful phrase from the Mindfulness plate. I hope you like her!

 

Thank you so much for having me!

Trish xxx

http://www.inkpaintbeads.blogspot.co.uk/

www.etsy.com/shop/startrishdesign

www.craftstamper.com