Friday, July 25, 2014

Sheena Christmas

Sheena is coming out with new Christmas sets!  My design today features images from the Country Christmas set. 



I started with the background. I stamped the trees onto  Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock and applied color with an Ink Sweeper and  Distress Ink Pads - dusty concord, tumbled glass.  I came back in with a homemade stencil (made with a scalloped die) and Ink Sweeper to add some clouds.  I also created subtle snow lines with a torn piece of paper. TIPs:  (1) To apply the base color, pull color from the edges to the center, in horizontal strokes with a light touch. Do not fill in color completely - leave white spaces. For the clouds, start on the template and pull color onto your background for a blended effect.  


Next, I colored the deer with Spectrum Noir Blendable Colored Pencils - 088, 089, 116. I  lightly colored with 116 and 088 first.  I used 089 in the dark areas of the images - Sheena's detailed drawing helped me to identify the dark areas. 


I came back in with 088 to smooth out the color, blending the light areas into the dark. 


I colored all the deer and created subtle snow lines.


I cut out the deer, using a craft knife to cut the area in between their legs so the trees would show through and adhered them to the tree background.  I gave them some dots and white tails with a white paint pen. The sentiment is also from the set.  


Crafter's Companion has had several new releases. For more ideas, be sure to pop over to the Crafter's Companion Information Blog, as well as visit the Crafter's Companion Education  and Inspiration Team members.  You can see their latest designs by clicking on the names on the left side of my blog.
Thank you for visiting!!

Take care and STAY POSITIVE!


Monday, July 21, 2014

Challenge #12 Who's the Boss?

This week, Crafter's Companion and Spectrum Noir are sponsoring another challenge over at the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge BlogThe challenge is to show some embossing on your project. You can use dry embossing or heat embossing. You can use an embossing folder or a stencil. You can emboss with embossing paste or embossing powder. You can even create something with ultra-think embossing enamel. You probably have some sort of embossing apparatus in your hoard! Pull these embossing tools out and put them to use!

Here's my design!


 I did some experimenting with 6" X 6" Embossalicious Embossing Folder - Bird Houses. Folders are typically used to give nice crisp look, but there are many, many different techniques you can do with them. For my first experiment, I applied color with Distress Ink Pads - chipped sapphire, tumbled glass, vintage photo.  I used different ways to apply color to the folder - direct from the pad and brayering, before running them through my eBosser onto to Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock.


I wanted to try some different inking techniques to create a watercolor look.  I sprayed on the side of the folder with the name. First, I spritzed a little water, then sprayed color with Fireworks Sprays - pear tart, summer sky, grape, danube blue. I slide a piece of Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock and pressed down with my fingers and rolled over it with a brayer.  I repeated this step on a few more pieces of smooth cardstock, then tried it with High Gloss Cardstock and Kraft Cardstock. I just wanted to see the different results. I even ran one piece through my eBosser.


I stamped one of the bird images from Sheena's A Little Bit Sketchy EZMount Stamp Set - Free As A Bird onto watercolor paper and water-colored him with Distress Ink Pads - tumbled glass, broken china, spiced marmalade, chipped sapphire


After he dried, I added detail with Spectrum Noir Blendable Colored Pencils - 014, 061, 069.


To complete the card I used ribbon for the branch and popped up the main image with Double Sided Adhesive Foam Circles. NOTE: The ribbon was a bit wide, so I cut it to fit leaving a little rough edge - works for me, branches are not perfectly smooth.



To play along in the challenge, visit the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Blog

Crafter's Companion has had several new releases. For more ideas, be sure to pop over to the Crafter's Companion Information Blog, as well as visit the Crafter's Companion Education  and Inspiration Team members.  You can see their latest designs by clicking on the names on the left side of my blog.

Thank you for visiting!!

Take care and STAY POSITIVE!


Saturday, July 12, 2014

Vintage Christmas - New Release!

I have two designs for you today featuring sentiments from the upcoming new Vintage Collection Christmas release.  All the the sentiments I used are from Sentimentals Vintage Christmas - Friends & Family.



Included in the release are:
8 x 6x6 embossing folders
3 x 8x8 embossing folders
CD-ROM
4 x Sentimentals (Similar to Vintage Florals)
6x6 paper pad 

For the backgrounds, I used two of my favorite Christmas emboss folders, 8" X 8" Embossalicious Embossing Folder - Seasonal Music and 8" X 8" Embossalicious Embossing Folder - Christmas Baubles. I ran them through my ebosser on Shimmering Cardstock - black pearl and white pearl.


For design one, I used a lovely design paper from the Christmas release CD-ROM.  A really cool feature with the CD-ROM is you can print the designs any size you want. I printed it at 50% of size onto a  8.5 x 11" sheet of Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock and then trimmed it to size. 


 Another great feature of having the CD-ROM is you never run out a design paper you love. :)  


On the inside, I add a little color to the sentiment with Spectrum Noir Blendable Colored Pencils 026.


On the second design, I used the large bird image from Sheena's A Little Bit Festive - Christmas Visitors.  I stamped him with Memento LUXE Ink Pads tuxedo black onto  Shimmering Cardstock pearl white, sprinkled with emboss powder and heat set.  To color him, I stamped Distress Ink Pads - fired brick, tumbled glass, vintage photo, walnut stain - onto my non-stick craft sheet and picked up color using a water-brush. I softened the edges by wiping all the color off the brush and then using small circles. NOTE: I used minimum water as I was not using water color paper.  I also noticed that the ink was not as vivid after it dried.


 I used Spectrum Noir Blendable Colored Pencils 001, 024, 064, 104 to add detail and depth to the little bird.  I used 001 to blend and soften edges.  The ground is 087, 111. 
The finished card is 5 1/4" square.





Crafter's Companion has had several new releases. For more ideas, be sure to pop over to the Crafter's Companion Information Blog, as well as visit the Crafter's Companion Education  and InspiratonTeam members.  You can see their latest designs by clicking on the names on the left side of my blog.
Thank you for visiting!!

Take care and STAY POSITIVE!