A Star is Born

A friend of mine has just given birth to a beautiful baby boy - aaaaah! Gives me the warm and fuzzies knowing there's a baby about.  Obviously, it also gives me an opportunity to create something and, as I missed Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge last week (shock horror!), I thought I would redeem myself by entering this week's challenge, which is 'Babies, ribbons and bows' - how timely!

Image: Mo's Digital Pencil, 'Reach for the Stars'

Papers: Textured cardstock from local Paper Mill shop; glittered vellum from stash; October Afternoon

Template: Papertrey Ink, My Timeless Templates, 'Around Town Tote'

Other: Chipboard star, painted with yellow acrylic, from stash.

I'm a real fan of Lauren Meader's templates, available at Papertrey Ink.  They are quick and easy to put together and make this sort of project an absolute breeze.  This beautiful little tote bag is about 8.5 inches tall (20 cm) and has plenty of room inside for a gift.  The photograph below shows the side of the tote, so that you can see the depth of it.

I made the tote out of some wonderful textured card I bought yesterday at our local Paper Mill shop - it's a fantastic place to have so close and it cuts the cost of my paper needs in half (thankfully!).  You should be able to see the texture if you enlarge the photo. 

I wanted to avoid going too pastel with this project - at least with the tote itself.  I couldn't colour the sky in the image an inky dark blue (as it would be if the stars were out) as it would have spoiled the feel of the image.  So I chose the dark card for the tote to offset the paleness of the colouring and give the big yellow star a night sky to sit in. 

I coloured this beautiful little chap with my Copics and added the sky shading with my Prismas, going a little darker than I usually would just to give some depth. 

All I have to do now is decide what gift will go in this little bag for baby.  That's the hard part!

By the way, just a reminder that there's blog candy up for grabs - if you've hopped here from Mo's Challenge Blog, take a look at this post for a chance to win.

Right, I shall now go and bring in the washing that, until a few moments ago was almost dry but is now sopping wet again due to a very heavy downpour!  Oh hum! Bank holiday weather, unfortunately!

Happy crafting.

xx