Smile - It's Spring!

I hope today's card brings a smile to your face.  The colors are sunny and remind me of spring.  They are the colors for this week's color challenge (Daffodil Delight, Pink Pirouette and Old Olive) at Splitcoast Stampers and I will be posting this card in that challenge.

I was also inspired by Wei, a fellow design team member at CAS Colours & Sketches (CC&S), who posted a beautiful card using stitched flowers.

I started with an A2 top fold card base in white and adhered a piece of striped paper along the bottom. I cut an angled panel from white cardstock but you could also use an angled die to do this. I adhered this over the striped panel.

I die cut and assembled the flowers and the bee.  I made seven, but after laying out everything on the card I decided to use only three.  Now I have some leftovers for another card!

I placed the foliage on either side of the panel's point and used a foam dot to pop up the main flower.

Finally, I added some shimmer pen to the bee's wings.  I thought the card could use just a bit of sparkle!

Dies: Cottage Cutz Stitched Flowers, Stitched Honey Bees and Smile Phrase

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3-D Thursday Shaker Card (with Watercolor Pencils)

As promised, some of my 3-D Thursday cards will be more interactive than 3-D.  And today's card is a shaker card. Technically, a shaker card is three dimensional since you have to have some height for the shaker elements.

The image on this is part of Stamping Bella's recent release.  I LOVE these butterfly Tiny Townies - so pretty!  I colored this one using Derwent watercolor pencils.  I wanted a real soft feel, so in addition to the watercolor pencils, I used paper with that same look.

Usually the backgrounds of my shakers are solid but I liked the way the watercolor flowers give this card a fairy garden quality.  The wreath die adds to the effect.

The inside of a shaker is always hard for me. Deciding how much filling is needed can be tough. It seems I either have too much and it is one big wad, or not enough and the filling lands in the corners and can't be seen.  I tried a few new techniques here that seemed to alleviate some of this.

To make my shaker "box", I used a skinny foam strip (about 1/8 inch wide) that I could bend into a circle that closely followed my opening, rather than just taping a square or clunky shape with straight sides.  This allows very little corner room for the shaker sequins.  The next technique I picked up from one of Jennifer McGuire's videos.  I glued a few sequins to the background at various places.  This gives the other sequins places to "sit" after you shake it, rather than all fall to the bottom.  It really helps!

My last step was to add my butterfly gril to the card. I used a shimmer pen to add some glimmer to the flowers in her hair and the edges of her wings.  Kind of hard to see here but it does sparkle in person.

Stamps: Stamping Bella Tiny Townie Butterfly Girl Bess (and matching die); Stamping Bella Butterfly Sentiments
Dies: MFT Tag Builder, MFT Circles, Cottage Cutz Spring Wreath
Pencils: Derwent Watercolor Pencils

 

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Coloring with Polychromos Pencils

Hi everyone! It's Tuesday and another challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches.  For today's sketch challenge I used my brand new Polychromos pencils!  YAY!  I was sooo excited to get them in time to use this weekend.

This is the sketch that was posted:

I picked my paper first intending to use it for the banner and choosing my image colors from that.  After coloring the image I didn't like it on the patterned banner, so I went with a solid banner and used the pattern for the background.  Normally I like solid colors for the background on a CAS card but this pattern is not too fussy or busy so I feel it works.

This is my first time I've colored with the Polychromos pencils.  I've used Prismacolors for over 30 years.  But I received an Amazon gift card for Christmas and just couldn't wait any longer.  My first impression is that they are as nice as the Prismacolors, but not necessarily better.  They are oil based while the Prismacolors are wax based.  I am able to get a smoother blend with the Prismacolors but that may be because I'm used to them.  These still blended very well, but I do notice that I see more of my pencil marks with them.  I did not lay down a base of Copic markers as I often do with the Prismacolors.  This always gives a good undertone base to the colors and helps smooth things out.

I liked the feel of the pencil in my hand - it has a nice weight.  And as for colors, there is a good variety although at first glance it seems there aren't as many neutrals as the Prismacolors.  (I have full sets of each - 150 Prismacolors vs 120 Polychromos - but I did not count how many of each color family there are.)

Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase.  I'll keep you updated on how I feel about them and may even try a side by side comparison!

Stamps: Stamping Bella Snapshots - Lean on Me; MFT You Make My Heart Melt
Dies: Stamping Bella Polaroid; MFT Tall Tag Duo and Blueprints 29

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Quick Copic Coloring

Happy Monday!  Today's card was made for the Fusion card challenge and features some very quick coloring.  I colored the three main images on this card in under twenty minutes.

Here is the posted challenge:

I've been pretty busy this past week so I wanted to make a fairly quick card for today.  I decided to participate in this challenge as I have this stamp set that I had never used and is PERFECT, and the colors and the layout pretty are pretty much pre-determined by the challenge.

When I color, I often try to make the shading ultra smooth and I think about things like light source and shadows.  Sometimes I just don't have much time to color, or the image doesn't really need a lot of attention to detail.  Like the images here.  As I began coloring this little person I realized she (or he) was so stylized that trying to be ultra realistic probably didn't matter much.  Getting some shading on her to give dimension was really all that was needed.  And it went much faster!

When coloring I sometimes ask myself  "what's fake about this?"  If the answer is "just about everything - he has no mouth, dots for eyes and he's holding an umbrella for a bear in a slicker" then I know that taking some liberties with things like shading and light source probably won't detract from the realism or lack thereof.  In this case I picked a random light source (front, lower) and went with it.  To be completely accurate, I would have had to think about things like the cast shadow from the umbrella, etc. and it just wasn't worth the time for an image as stylized as this.

Don't get me wrong, focusing on details does kick your coloring up a notch and can really make a difference.  Most images look gorgeous when colored in fine detail with all the correct shadows.  And I love coloring this way.  But many of the images we color are stylized and finding YOUR style and way to color is what makes your projects uniquely you!

To finish this project, I used Distress Oxide inks and a stencil to create a cloudy background which I sprinkled with water.  The sentiment is heat embossed in white.  When I realized that it was slightly off center in the tag I added some enamel raindrops to it.  This fools the eye into making it look more centered by taking up the extra space.

Stamps and Dies: Mama Elephant CHance of Rain
Dies:  MFT Tag Builder and Stitched Rectangles
Copics: Slicker Y13,Y15, Y17, Y19; Umbrella RV10, RV11, RV13, RV14; Skin E000, E11; Hair E21, E25, E29; Bear E33, E34, E37, E39, Blender
Accessories: Stampin' Up! Glitter and Clear Epoxy Shapes

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"Mush" Love and Designing as You Go

Happy Friday!  I fell in love with the Stitched Mushrooms set and the snail from the Stitched Garden Friends set from Cottage Cutz as soon as I saw them.  They are so cute!

 

I picked my colors for the card based on some patterned paper that I have in my stash.

Next I die cut all the pieces from white, Smoky Slate, Pool Party and Calypso Coral. You may notice that a couple of pieces I ultimately used are missing from this photo.  That's because I sometimes "design-on-the-fly"; that is, I make decisions and change the design as I create.  I usually like to plan everything out, but that doesn't always work out.  I'm guessing it's the same for many of you.

I used a stamping platform to stamp my sentiment.  (I purchased a set of mushroom themed sentiments because a very good friend is a morel mushroom hunter - who knew such people existed?)  I placed everything in the platform, arranged my elements with sentiment on the circle, then carefully moved the elements and set a magnet in place.  I knew that the sentiment would now be in the correct place.

I quickly arranged everything on the card to see how it would look, however I felt the main image didn't "pop" enough.  Here is my "design-on-the-fly"; I decided to add another element under the white scalloped circle.  I decided this stitched circle would work well.  Since my ribbon is coral, I made the circle blue.  I folded the ribbon behind my panel and glued it, then adhered the panel to the card front using foam tape to add dimension.

I glued the scalloped circle to the blue circle and adhered it with foam dots to the front of the card.  My second "design-on-the-fly" element is this cute button.  I was going to use a real button even though the color wasn't a perfect match, when I noticed that I had also cut a button (normally for the flower center from the Stitched Garden Friends set) when I cut my snail shell.  It worked perfectly!  Just the right color and size!

Dies: Cottage Cutz Stitched Mushrooms and Stitched Garden Friends, Scalloped Circles, Double Stitched Circles
Stamps: Altenew Love You So Mush

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Little Skunk Card-in-a-Box

Welcome back to 3-D Thursday!  I have another card-in-a-box.  This one is for spring and features an adorable skunk!

I love these boxes because they are so fun to fill and decorate.  I used two supports in this one and filled it with lots of foliage.  The boxes themselves are fairly easy to make or you can purchase a special die.  For this one, I cut all the box pieces using a paper cutter. It's a little moretime, but what is great about that - if you don't own a Big Shot or other die cutter, you can make the box and use punches or fussy cut pieces to fill it!

The box folds flat to A2 size (although the ribbon on this one means you need to larger envelope.)

A few other views:

I hope you enjoyed this card today.  I have a list of some of the supplies with links to my Stampin' Up! website below.  If you order please use Hostess code 6924WDJ - valid through March 28.  (If you order $150 of products-before tax and shipping-do not use the code so YOU get the hostess benefits.)

And through March 31, a $50 order qualifies you to earn a FREE product from the Sale-A-Bration catalog!  Details here.  And if you place an order with me, I'll send you the PDF instructions on how to make this box!

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Falling Flowers; Stampin' Up! Thoughtful Banners
Dies: Stampin' Up! May Flowers Framelits
Punches: Stampin' Up! Fox Builder; Stampin' Up! Duet Banner
Ribbon: retired - substitute Flirty Flamingo 3/8" Grosgrain Ribbon 
Enamel Shapes: Brights; Subtles

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Color Challenge Tuesday

Good morning!  It's another color challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches blog.  I love the colors that Fiona chose this week - Bermuda Bay, Pumpkin Pie and Rose Red. 

These are very tropical colors and my first inclination was to do a floral card.  However, I was traveling last week (in Hawaii of all places - and perfect for the colors, I know) and did not have all my supplies.  I had taken some pre-stamped images, my watercolor pencils and blender pens.  So.....

Of the images that I had with me, I decided this little chick could be turned into a blue bird and it would fit the challenge.

One fun thing about color challenges and coloring - you can often make shades or additional colors by mixing the colors!  Is this "cheating"?  I don't think so.  Here you can see that the tips of my leaves are Pumpkin Pie and the bottom Bermuda Bay....

If you look closely in this photo you'll see they are sort of a greenish brown near the stems after I blended them together.

I did not have a Rose Red pencil (Stampin' Up! doesn't make one) so I made Rose Red by combining Real Red and Calypso Coral.  These are the only pencils used along with a blender pen.

I came home late Sunday night, so today I made it into a card by adding the frame and heart and then popping it up off the card using foam tape.  I wasn't sure what sentiment to use but this one seemed pretty generic and I love how the font mimics the string of hearts.

This is a fun color challenge - please join us this week!  We'd love to see what you create.

Stamps: Stamping Bella Marching Chick, Technique Tuesday Chickadees
Dies: MFT Stitched Frames; Cottage Cutz Stitched Nested Hearts
Pencils: Stampin' Up! Watercolor Pencils and Blender Pens


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Happy Birthday!

Happy Monday!  I have a birthday card for you today.  And it also happens to be the birthday of a very dear friend of mine....Happy Birthday Marcy!

The image is colored with Copic markers.  I picked the colors based on some patterned paper that I had planned on using at the bottom of the card.  However, by the time it was all finished, I decided to use glitter paper at the bottom.  Although the colors look fine together there was no apparent reason for choosing them other than they look nice together.  Does this happen to anyone else?  You start in one direction and end up totally different (or at least not doing what you had planned)?

This was a quick and fun card to make - great for any kitty lover!

Stamp: Stamping Bella Sanford the Birthday Boy Stuffie
Dies: MFT Stitched Basic Edges

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Clean and Simple Easter Card

I'm a big clean and simple (CAS) design fan.  Many of my cards are in that style.  When doing a CAS design I love using dies because they come out so crisp and graphic, keeping everything - clean and simple!  My card this Friday illustrates that.

These little bunnies from Cottage Cutz "Some Bunny Loves You" are adorable and highlighted perfectly by the color offset squares.

Out of white cardstock, I made an A2 side fold card base, then embossed a panel 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches and adhered it to the base.  I used this basket weave since I thought it perfect for that "Easter basket" look.

Next I die cut the bunnies from Sahara Sand and three squares each from white, yellow, pink and purple.

For each of the three colored squares, I stacked and glued them, then offset a white square and glued a bunny on top.  Then it was time to glue them to the card front.  It was fairly easy to line them up on this card since the basket weave gave me a natural alignment tool!  A tip when lining up three items - do the top and bottom first then center the one in the middle.

For the sentiment I used a fourth color and die cut Happy Easter.  I love the playfulness of the font used in this die.

This card gets a bit of extra punch from the use of four bright colors and the whimsical font for the sentiment.

Dies: Cottage Cutz Happy Easter Egg, Some Bunny Loves You, Cross-Stitched Squares

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3-D Thursday and a Z-Fold Card

Aloha!  I'm in Hawaii for this 3-D Thursday so I thought I'd post a tropical card!

This is a landscape Z-fold card.  A super easy dimensional card to make.  Start with cardstock that is 4 1/4 x 11 inches and score and fold it at the 5 1/2 inch mark.  Next, score the front of the card at the half way point - 2 3/4 inches.  Fold this back on itself. The front of the card is now only half as wide as the back and the folds are opposite - a Z!

To make the support for the "fun stuff", cut a strip of cardstock or thick patterned paper 11 inches x at least 1 1/2 inches high.  My example is 2 1/8 - half the height of the card.  This really is dependent on what you are putting in the card, but you want it sturdy enough for all your die-cuts!  Fold this in the same manner as the card itself, just opposite as shown above.

For the inner supports, cut strips 1/2 x 3 3/4, scoring and folding 1/2 inch from each end.  These get inserted in the open area created by the large support strip.  I usually use two, however you can use more or less to suit your needs.

I colored this image with Copic markers and decorated it with some tropical paper that I had.  The colors in this paper had never seemed that "tropical" to me but with this image, I love them!  I used the dies that coordinated with the paper to create the foliage.

Stamps: Stamping Bella Tropical Squidgies
Paper and Dies: Stampin' Up! retired 

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Lucky to Know You - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's Tuesday and another sketch challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches!  When I saw the sketch for this week I immediately thought of this die.  And I love St. Patrick's Day!  My Irish mother always celebrated it in a big way.  So the die, the sketch and the week of St. Patrick's day all just seemed to come together.

The sketch:

I created the card using Strathmore Mixed Media paper.  I first cut the sentiment and then watrecolored the images.  The die cut sentiment is then inlaid back into the negative space for a subtle look.  I wanted to keep the card CAS.

I stamped images from three different stamp set.  Then I used ZIG Kuretake Clean Color Brush Pens and an aqua painter to color the images.

To finish the card, I used a shimmer pen on the shamrocks, hearts and flowers, and added enamel glitter dots. 

Stamps: MFT Lucky, Lawn Fawn Hats Off to You, Stamps of Life - unknown name (I think it was a bonus set)
Die: Simon Says Stamp Lucky to Know You

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Watercolor Pencils Tips

Happy Monday!  Today I have a housewarming card that I made for my niece.  What I love about this the Flying Home stamp set is that it can be used for a lot of different purposes.  In addition to the usual thank you and birthday, think Mother's Day, new baby, housewarming, moving, etc.  In this case, my niece moved into an apartment - and the image of the three birdhouses works well.

I colored this with watercolor pencils and blender pens - one of my favorite ways to color.

Pencils allow me to control the color, at least for the most part.  I did accidentally color outside the lines on the middle house - oops.

Some tips for using the pencils:

Use a GOOD pencil sharpener and keep the tips sharp

Use a light touch with the blender pen

If you want a darker tone use a heavier pressure with the pencil

Shade and combine colors before using the blender pens as much as possible - the pen adds a bit of a coating to the paper that can be hard to color over

Blend light into dark - if you blend into the light area you may end up getting the light area too dark

Add a little shadow under areas where there should be shadow to give depth (see the houses just under the roofs)

To finish the card I made a banner with the sentiment from "Beautiful Bouquet" and stapled it with some ribbon underneath.  It has taken me awhile to like the "stapled to the card" look, but I think it can add a casual, fun feel to a card.  I used some colored staples here.  I'm not sure I would use regular staples - that's a little TOO casual for me!


I hope you enjoyed this card today.  I have a list of some of the supplies with links to my Stampin' Up! website below.  If you order please use Hostess code 6924WDJ - valid through March 28.  (If you order $150 of products-before tax and shipping-do not use the code so YOU get the hostess benefits.)

And a $50 order qualifies you to earn a FREE product from the Sale-A-Bration catalog!  Details here.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Flying Home, Stampin' Up! Beautiful Bouquet
Ink: Basic Black, Stampin' Up! Watercolor Pencils 
Tools: Blender Pens
Accessories: Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon

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