Thursday, April 13, 2017

Bebunni and Spectrum Noir Markers

I made this sweet Bebunni birthday card with Crafter's Companion's stamp set called Yum, Yum, Yum. I colored him with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. They are fun to color with and easy to get professional blends and textures.
Here is a close up of the bunny's fur texture. I colored the bunny with grey markers and then used the colorless blender to get the texture. I used a small piece of terry cloth towel, then added the colorless blender to the cloth and just tapped the image where I wanted the texture. I colored the bunny then did the texture technique before I colored any other part of the image. That way I didn't have to worry about accidentally getting blender on other parts of my design.

Check out Crafter's Companion on Facebook or Pinterest for more ideas and projects!

Monday, April 3, 2017

Crafter's Companion Bebunni


A quick hello and fun card for you today. I colored the bunny with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. (Bunny: GG1, GG3 Envelope: AB1, AB3 Tag: MB1, Blender  Ears of bunny: AP1, AP2, PP2 Cheeks and Nose: PP2) To add texture to the bunny, I used some blender on a towel, blotted it on the colored bunny and let it dry.

I watercolored the background with Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens. (Blue Topaz and Emerald Green)
The Bebunni stamp set is also from Crafter's Companion. The set is called, "Sent With Love".
I hope you try watercoloring with the Sparkle Pens. (The sparkle remains but is subtle.)  The result is amazing!



Monday, March 27, 2017

Coloring fun with Spectrum Noir

Had some fun this weekend coloring with my Spectrum Noir Colorista colored pencils. I also blended out the pencils a bit with some mineral spirits to give it a smooth look. Shading is a breeze with this technique. Give it a try!


Crafter's Companion Coloring Ambassador!

 

Check out the new Crafter's Companion Design Team and the Coloring Ambassadors! I will give you a hint......I MADE THE COLORING AMBASSADOR TEAM!!!!  There are also great ideas at the Crafter's Companion Facebook page where you can also get the links to their Pinterest page, Instagram and blog.

Stay tuned, there will be some exciting projects coming up made with products from Crafter's Companion. Until then you can do some shopping at their store crafterscompanion.com.





Friday, August 5, 2016

Paper Smooches Shaker Card

I made this adorable shaker card with the Paper Smooches' stamp set called, Space Cadet. 

 
I made the background inside the shaker to look like space. It is an easy technique to do. First cut a piece of white cardstock 4.25 x 5.5 for your base. Then sponge a faux galaxy using any type of stamp pads. I used Distress Inks (Squeezed Lemonade, Chipped Sapphire, Festive Berries, Black Soot) to sponge in some color and then swirled Black Soot on top of them. Leave some color showing to show depth in the galaxy. Then water down some white acrylic paint and using a stiff  brush flick the white paint across the Distress Ink sky. I also love glitter so I flicked some Wink of Stella across the galaxy too!

Set that aside to dry and start on the front of the card. Take a 4.25 x 5.5 piece of black cardstock and cut a circle in it with your favorite circle die set. I used CottageCutz Circle Dies. I used the second and third largest circles. The size isn't important. Just use a circle die you like for your opening. Then use the next smallest circle die in the set and put them both together and cut out a circle to go on the opening of your shaker. I chose a dark fuchsia. (Taping them together before you run though your die cutting machine helps keep them from moving. You want to make sure the smaller circle is centered in the next circle die evenly.)

Let's add some texture to your card front! You can use any embossing folder you have. Again, it is not important to have any certain one. Just use something that has texture. Run your black cardstock through the die cut machine, I am using a Sizzix Big Kick and a Sizzix embossing folder that is retired. Flip the piece over and run adhesive around the opening. Use a strong adhesive, I used ATG tape gun. Cut a piece of plastic to go over the opening covering the tape. (I recycle plastic packaging for my shakers. You can also use sheet protectors or plastic overlays. I like to cut my plastic a bit smaller then my card front, then I know it won't come apart and my shaker pieces won't go all over.)


Now let's work on the shaker. (Here is a video of how to make a basic shaker incase you don't understand the written instructions and need to SEE it in action!) Get some foam tape. Double up on the thickness for shaker cards by folding the tape on itself. This way your pieces can move about freely inside the shaker shape. Make a border around the outside of the circle on top of the plastic. (Don't let any of the foam tape show through the opening of the shaker, it will distract from your shaker pieces.) Also, make sure you don't have any holes between the tape pieces. If you do, your shaker pieces will escape though them. (Do not remove the top release paper yet.) Now fill up your shaker space with goodies! I used sequence, seed beads, tube beads, glitter stars and colored plastic beads. Fill it pretty full so when your card is upright, you can see your items. You can also glue a few goodies to the plastic to keep some items from falling to the bottom while the card is in its upright position. I glued a few stars at the top. I used the Space Dies from Paper Smooches to cut stars out of glitter paper. I colored the back of my glitter paper yellow so if they were to flip over I didn't have a bunch of white paper stars showing. Add some doubled up foam tape to the bottom of your card too so when you add the galaxy cardstock, the top and bottom are the same thickness.

It's time to remove the adhesive and put the backing on. Make sure you have the galaxy you made showing through the circle shaker you made before you stick it all together. Once it is stuck down, it is hard to remove without ruining it.

 
Time to make the cute space man for the front of the card. I stamped the image of the space man and the words, "Get better in warp speed", from Space Cadet, on Copic friendly cardstock. (I used Black Soot Distress Ink which is Copic friendly) I used various markers to color in my guy. Don't get too worked up in picking colors. Just pick a light and a dark for the grey and purple. I also used a tan for his face with some pink for the cheeks. Your choice of colored cardstock will determine what Copic markers you will need to color with. (I added a tiny Kleenex to his hand. I figured if he is there to help a sick friend, he can at least offer them a Kleenex!) I cut the words into a banner and added a tiny glitter star to tie into my shaker pieces.

Pop up the space man with triple foam tape and the words with double foam tape. At this point you are done! Have fun shaking your card!! I know your recipient will enjoy shaking it too!!

Thanks for joining me. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see a tutorial on. I would love to help you out if you have any questions!

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Paper Smooches Guest Designer Call

Oh the places you'll go!!!
 

 
This adorable guy is from a stamp set by Paper Smooches called "Smarty Pants". I stamped him on Copic friendly paper with Black Soot Distress Ink from Ranger. I colored my images with Copics but I did not record the colors, sorry! Just choose colors you like. I also added a bit of black cardstock to the back to make him pop off the map paper.
 
I used a Lawn Fawn die called "Say Cheese" for the instant photo frames. I has some discontinued patterned paper I used for my photos. Use any images you would like for your photos. It was fun looking through papers to find stuff to frame. I also used a map paper for my background from a very old paper pad from Paper Pizazz called "Vacation". If you can't find any map paper, use a real map or print one off the internet. It would be fun to print a map of someplace you have visited or want to visit. You can even use real photos of your family in the frames and a map of where you were when you took the pictures! Be creative!
 
For my sentiment I used this quote from a Dr. Seuss book. I just printed it on cardstock and die cut it with a stitched rectangle die. I also added a small border of black cardstock to set it off from the white faux polaroid photos.


I also added a little bit of Glossy Accents by Ranger to my little guy's glasses to resemble the reflective glass. When that was dry, I mounted the whole thing on black cardstock and attached it to a card blank. That's it! Another fun card ready to send to a friend!

I am entering this into the Paper Smooches Guest Designer Call for June. Check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Crayon Rain with Paper Smooches

This easy watercolor card was made to enter in the Paper Smooches Rainbow Challenge.
 
 
I used the set Smarty Pants from Paper Smooches for this cute card. I got my inspiration from my daughter who recently did the crayon canvas thing.  I also used an umbrella stamp from Pink Paislee called " Hello Sunshine". (Unfortunately, it has been discontinued. Just use any umbrella stamp you have or draw one with a waterproof marker.) I masked off part of the professors hand so I could stamp the umbrella to make it look like he is holding the handle.

I then stamped the crayons across the top of the card. I used Versafine ink. It is waterproof and gives great detail to your stamping. Then fun starts! I used Zig Clean Color Watercolor Brush Pens to paint my design.


When the card was dry, I added some Glossy Accents by Ranger to the crayons and the Professor's glasses. I mounted it on black cardstock and taped it on to a card blank and I was done!

Thanks for stopping by!!