A Lot of Coloring - Don't be Scared!

Even for those of us who love to color, seeing an image that requires a lot of coloring can kind of scare us.  My approach is to "chunk it up" -  identify chunks to color.  To help explain my approach,  I'm featuring images from Sheena's A Little Bit Sketchy EZMount Stamp Set - The Boat House. 

  For color inspiration, I used the colored panel the image came on - one of the wonderful features of ordering sets from Crafter's Companion. I pulled out my color chart and the color wheel that I made to help me select the Spectrum Noir Marker colors for the scene.  I stamped the images onto Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock.

  Working within one area - defined as a piece of the scene where colors will be blended -  I starting coloring with CT1, CG3 and JG2.  I used a combination of direct coloring to the cardstock and also pallet coloring - scribble a darker color onto an acrylic block and pick up with a lighter color. As you lay the color on the cardstock, the color starts out as dark and a natural blending occurs as the marker returns to its lighter color.  To see a video of this method of coloring, click here.  

I continued with the same color pallet of the three markers to complete all the areas for that color combination.

Next, I colored the golden brown bushes using CT1, GB2, GB8, GB9, and GB10. TIP: in some areas, using a light touch, I dabbed in a darker color and then dabbed over it with a lighter color to create a little bit of texture.

Filled in more areas using a different combination of colors already in the scene: CG3, GB2, GB8,  and JG2.

Added more colors. CG3,  JG2, LV1, LV3, PP5, and PP6

I finished off the land with BG2, CG3, GB2, GB8, TN2, and TN5

I added color to the water and sky with TB1 and blender. The sailboat is colored with LV1, TN2, TN5, and TB1. I used Double Sided Adhesive Foam Circles to pop up the sail boat.  The sentiment is 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 DT members.  You can see their latest designs by clicking on the names on the left side of my blog.

Thank you for visiting!!

Sheena - A little bit Oriental Blog Hop

Hello CC fans! Today we are excited to launch another gorgeous collection from Sheena Douglass called “A  Little Bit Oriental”. This collection has four beautiful stamp sets, four 5x7 embossing folders, a paper pad with 48 sheets of coordinating pattern papers in 16 designs. All of these wonderful new products are available right now on the Crafter’s Companion website.

To celebrate this wonderful new release, the designers have been busy making some wonderful projects and we can’t wait to show them off to you. Hop along and don’t forget to leave comments along the way because we will be selecting a random winner who will receive one of the lovely new Sheena Stamp Sets (winner’s choice). Leave your comments by  Monday, Sept 30 at 9pm (ET). The winner will be announced on the Crafter's Companion Information Blog. 

Here is a list of the designer's blogs who will be sharing projects today:

Chrissie Tobas
Christiana Reuling
Denise Coulter
Kendra Wietstock
Leah l'Orange
Mary Dawn Quirindongo
Roxanne O’Brien
Stacy Harper-Watson
Stephanie Severin
Trena Brannon (U R HERE!)
Tenia Nelson
Deb Felts (Guest Designer)

I'm featuring images from the Sakura and Oriental Silhouette sets. 

I inked up the tree image with a Faber Castel Big Brush pen and stamped onto High Gloss Cardstock. The pen is filled with India ink which is alcohol ink friendly - won't smudge.

I then dropped colors of Spectrum Noir Ink Refills - OR1, LV1,  and PP1 and blew  the colors around with a straw. I added more drops as needed to fill any large gaps of white space.  I then spritzed the whole scene with alcohol. I added a thin line of OR1 along the bottom  to create a ground (the dropper tops are wonderful for lines!) and dabbed with a paper towel to create a subtle textured ground.

I stamped the small medallion image onto gold cardstock, cut it out with a punch and popped it up  Double Sided Adhesive Foam Circles.

Please hop around to see all the fabulous projects featuring new Sheena's new images and have a chance to win.

Crafter's Companion has had several new releases. For more ideas, be sure to pop over to the Crafter's Companion Information Blog.

Thank you for visiting!!

Take care and STAY POSITIVE!

Sheena in the Spotlight - Ageing Beautifully#2

 For this Sheena Spotlight project with  Sheena's A Little Bit Sketchy EZMount Stamp Set - Ageing Beautifully, I'm designing with ceramic tiles and Spectrum Noir & LUXE  inks.

I picked up some distressed looking tiles from my local Home Depot store. First, I cleaned the tiles with alcohol.  Next, I dropped in lovely, rich color - TB4, BT4, and JG2.  Spectrum Noir Ink Refills have a dropper top which makes it so simple for these type techniques!

I picked up the tile and tilted it around to move the ink together and blend.  I put a tile underneath to catch any ink than ran off.  I added more drops of color as needed. I followed this process until all the tiles were full of color. NOTE:   My fingers got really inky! :o) The ink moves so quickly on the tile. I used my finger to fill in color around the edges. 

After everything dried completed, I stamped images randomly from the set in black and white, using Memento LUXE Mixed Media ink pads - coming soon to Crafter's Companion. 

To seal the ink, I painted the tiles with a varnish.

Shout Outs: Cathy Taylor, June Rollins, and Patti Parrish.  I've learned some great tips from these lovely, talented women.  Click on there names to see their artwork. 

Organization Tip: I store my ink refills in two of my craft storage drawers. I put them in order to match the color chart and use pieces of card board to keep them in rows. I wrote the numbers on the drawer so I could quickly find the colors I'm looking for. I admit I'm a bit of an organizational enthusiast. :o)  I like to spend less time looking for the right color and more time coloring. 

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 DT 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!

Sheena in the Spotlight - Ageing Beautifully#1

If you follow my blog, you can probably tell that I'm a big-time Sheena groupie. I just love creating with her images! I'm going to start featuring her sets in a Spotlight series of blog posts - starting with Ageing Beautifully. 

I'll be using a variety of coloring techniques, as well as there may be times I include additional Sheena sets as part of my overall design.   For this design, I started with my lightest color and a piece of  Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock. I applied color with a blending tool and a light touch.  TIP: leave some white space somewhere in your scene for a background highlight.

I applied the next layer of color around the edges and created a horizon line and mountain using paper edges and torn paper as masks.

I deepened the color around the edge and added a closer mountain range.

Next, I added the ground with the cracked image in the set. To make the ground subtle, I stamped off.

 To give the illusion of trees along the base of the mountains, I used one of the corner boarders in the set and a stamp positioner.

 I cut the card to size and used the other corner border around all the edges.

To help frame the scene, I added branches and foliage from Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic - Silhouette Highlands set.

On the inside I added a strip of the scene.

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 DT 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!

New Sheena Sneak Peak!

Sheena has a new release of four fabulous Oriental sets!   What excites me most about these sets is that they will have matching embossing folders and designer papers!

I stamped this lovely branch and flowers from the Sakura set onto a vellum paper. I dabbed a corner of Rich and Radiant Delicata ink pad onto my non-stick craft sheet and used a paintbrush to pick up color and apply to the backside of the stamped image.

After it dried, I turn it over and added more gold to the pedals.  While I was waiting for the ink to dry, I worked on my background layer. I ran the the 5" X 7" Embossing Folder - Circle Background with Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock  through my ebosser.  Next, I layered the vellum piece over a piece of  High Gloss Cardstock and cut to size. I used the brads from my stash to "adhere" the vellum to the cardstock and layered it over a piece of gold cardstock.  I added a sentiment from the same set to this card and popped it up with dimensional dots. It was stamped on vellum and layered over gold cardstock. I like both with and without the sentiment. :o)

There are so many beautiful images in this release! For more ideas, be sure to pop over to the Crafter's Companion Information Blog, as well as visit the Crafter's Companion DT members.  You can see their latest designs by clicking on the names on the left side of my blog.  I'll also be sharing more next week!

Thank you for visiting!!

Take care and STAY POSITIVE!

Makey Bakey Mice - New Relase!

This design features an adorable little mouse from an upcoming new Makey Bakey Mice release. 

He is from the Thanks Petal set.

 I stamped the images onto Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock and colored them with my Spectrum Noir Markers. 

mouse: CR1, GB1, GB3, TN3, TN5, EB4, Blender

flowers & leaves: CR1, CG1, CG3

lady bug: CR9

For the background I inked up an image from Sheena's A Little Bit Sketchy EZMount Stamp Set - Lakeside Shore with Memento Ink Dew Drops greens and a black Marvy Memories - Pigmented Calligraphy Pen , and stamped onto High Gloss Cardstock. 

I filled in color on the ground and in the sky with more Memento inks pads and a blending tool. TIP: Use a very light touch, building up color.

I cut out the cute little mouse with his flowers, adhered him with dimensional dots, and added bling to the flowers. I used a sentiment from the set and added a little blue ink to match the sky.

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 DT 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!

Crafter's Companion Challenge - Embossing Folders

This month's Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog theme is  Embossing Folders.  I'm featuring the Embossing Folder - Multi Circles and an image from the Stamp-It Australia EZMount Stamp Set 68 - In The Wild. 

 I googled zebra heads for color inspiration and I found this lovely brown zebra.

I used Memento ink pads - the colors of rich cocoa and peanut brittle for the zebra. I laid the image face up and dabbed the colors onto the image, and then stamped onto Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock. I enhanced his colors with my Spectrum Noir Markers.

nose:  EB7 and EB8,
shading: BG2.
inside of his ears: GB2, GB5
eye: True Black  

I used a white gel pen to give it a tiny highlight

For the background layer, I used the same ink pads and applied color to the raised part of the Embossing Folder. I ran it through my ebosser and all the fabulous color was pressed into the design on Luxury Centura Pearl Printable Snow White Cardstock. NOTE:  I wiped the embossing folder off with a baby wipe to clean it.

The sentiment is from Stamp-It Australia EZMount Stamp Set Spring - Dreamy Daisies. I stamped it on the pearl card stock and edged with the rich cocoa ink pad. I adhered a small piece of the design layer inside.

Every month, there's a fun challenge with a chance to win a voucher to shop at Crafter's Companion. Visit the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog for all the details on this month's challenge. For inspiration, be sure to visit the Crafter's Companion DT 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!

Simply Wonderful

I created this design card for a Style Challenge - Colors: Red, Orange, Kraft / Element: Apples when I was on the Ai DT. My DT duty ended, but Ai is still near and dear to my heart.  I stamped the Picket Fence (Sku#G1215) in white craft ink onto craft cardstock, sprinkled with emboss powder and heat set. 

Next I colored with markers.  For the very small section, I lightly dabbed color in.  The alcohol markers blend nicely on the craft cardstock. For areas where I colored over the image, I used the 0 blender to remove the color.  NOTE: I usually use clear embossing powder with my alcohol markers. I thought white would be ok, since it's almost clear.  :o) I do not use my markers with color or metallic embossing powders.

I cut my circle before stamping Flying Ducks (Sku#I3256). The sentiment if from the Lakehouse TF (Sku#4204) set. I cut around the sentiment with my paper trimmer. I added the embossed line by setting in my paper trimmer and using an embossing tool in the little track to create a straight embossed line.

On the inside of the card, I added Apples (Sku#AA3290) in a Wooden Barrel (Sku#F1730).   I stamped the barrel first, sprinkled with embossing powder and heat set.  I masked the top with a paper towel and stamped the apples to look like they were inside. I sprinkled with embossing powder and heat set.  I masked those apples and the barrel, stamped the apples one more time, sprinkled with embossing powder and heat set.  And then, I colored. :o)

Thanks for visiting!

Take care and STAY POSITIVE!