Bit By the Bug Tuesday: Sick Lolly

Hello everyone!  It is Bit by the Bug Tuesday! If you are new to the blog it is that day of the week when I share with you all, the latest freebie available over at Creative Bug on the Loose.  Now if you happen to follow Naomi or just take advantage of the wonderful freebies she has available every Tuesday, you may have noticed that she is MIA.  Unfortunately, her medical condition has really flared up leaving her in a place where she is unable to craft or post right now.  However, I've stepped in to help her out so for the next few weeks, you'll still be able to take advantage of her weekly freebie.  Keep reading to find out how to nab it.

Now this image is certainly appropriate.  Sick Lolly is need of some tender loving care just like his creator Naomi.  In fact I've created a get well card for her using her adorable new image.  

Here is the front of the card...

Here is a closer look at that precious image...

Here is the inside....

Here are the card details, I hope I haven't forgotten anything...

General Information:

• I took some time and had fun working with this image.  Thanks to the lovely Charlene from Crystaldolphins' Blog who lead me in the right direction to learn how to make the background of an image transparent in Photoshop Essentials and the ever wonderful Vicky from Crafting Vicky, who taught me how to make segments of an image transparent in Gimp.  I played around in both programs to do my first ever real digital paper piecing (see below to find out what papers I used and where they came from).  Thank you ladies for your notes that lead me in the right direction and yay me for figuring it out.  We all need to pat ourselves on the back sometimes.  Go ahead, it will lift your spirits.

Digital Image:

• Sick Lolly (front):  As mentioned, this image is available as a freebie this week over at Creative Bug on the Loose.  Get it while you can because it will be gone by next Tuesday.  
• I was lucky enough to find some amazing free for PUO fur brushes on line.  Now I've never worked with different kinds of brush textures before and didn't do the best of jobs but it is a start.  It can only get better from here right?  First I dititally coloured in the whole area of the dog with a lighter colour and then brought the fur in with a darker colour.  I also made the spots darker.  The pillow was also coloured digitally.
• I came in with Copic markers to create shadows and also add the fore and background. Colours used to create shadows for dog: E21, E31.  Colours used to create shadows for the doggie bed:  W1.  Colours used to create shadows for pillow: E00.  The background was created using E000 and E00.  The background is a bit washed out due to the lighting in the close up but you can get a better idea of what the colouring looks like in the first image.  The floor was created using BG70 and the shadow was put in using the tip to tip marker method with BG70 and BG72.
• The doggie blanket and the doggie bed were digitally paper pieced.  You can find out the details of the papers used below.  I had some fun here too because not only did I have to bring separate layers in but then had to make sure that I cut out areas of each so that there would be no overlapping of papers in the wrong spot.  There was probably an easier way to do it.  One of these days, I just may figure out how. 

Digital Sentiments:

• Front sentiment:  One I created.  Hee, hee I thought it fit perfectly with the image and of course the inside sentiment.
• Inside Sentiment:  Once again, I find the absolute perfect inside sentiment from my stash of Create With TLC freebies. Thanks again Paulette!

Paper Products:

• Card base: Michael's Recollection's Cardstock, white.
• Designer Papers:  All the DP's used in making this card are from Recollection's Bold & Basic Paper Pad.
• Doggie Blanket Digital Paper:  The absolutely awesome and totally appropriate paper I used for the doggie blanket was a freebie I also picked up from Create With TLC.  Not only does Paulette offer up fabulous sentiments every day she also lets us get our hands on many of her wonderful papers. Then of course there are all those vintage graphics she shares too. If you haven't found Create with TLC yet, you are missing so many goodies. I'm hoping to convince her soon to let me do a Saturday Showcase on her amazing blog. Keep your fingers crossed everyone that she says yes!
• Doggie Bed Digital Paper:  While you can't really see it due to its small size, the paper I used for the doggie bed does have a bit of texture.  I wanted to use something that was light with a bit of texture that would blend well with all the colours and I found it in a folder I have of some free papers from Karen's Scraps and Graphics.  While this particular paper is PUO, Karen often offers up items that are commercial use (CU) and commercial use for commercial use (CU4CU).  She often has freebies too so you should check her out. 

Challenges I hope to enter include:

• Word Art Wednesday -- Challenge #77:  Anything Goes
• 613 Avenue Create -- Anything Goes/Picture Inspiration Twist
• Creative Inspirations Paint -- Inspired by...Anything Goes
• Crafter's Digital Art Centre -- Anything Goes

Some more challenges may be added to this list later this week and/or month.

 Now Naomi, if there is a chance that you are up and about today and you are reading this, STOP RIGHT NOW or it will spoil the surprise.

Okay, hopefully if Naomi popped in to check out my post, she will have stopped reading.  If not, boy oh boy...

I would like to do a card drive for Naomi to send her some feel better soon wishes.  I will be creating a special post over on Naomi's blog on May 12th to showcase the cards of everyone who participates.  If this is something you might be interested in participating in, please click HERE.  This will take you to the post I created on Naomi's blog today and will provide you with all the details you need in order to participate.

In order to take advantage of this week's free digi stamp, Sick Lolly, head over to Creative Bug on the Loose and follow the instructions on how to grab it.  While you are over there, don't forget to check out all the great digis Naomi has available in the store for purchase and don't forget to leave her a little love too.  She could definitely use some right now.

I've caught the bug,

have you?

Until next time,

Note: I apologize if there are any formatting issues.  This is a scheduled post and we all know Blogger has a mind of it's own.  If it turns out that something looks wonky, i.e.--part of the sentence is a different size, font, or colour than the rest, I'll fix it as soon as I'm able to.