Running With Scissors…

This is a little something I made for a friend — one of those “just because” sort of things.  I used my new JustRite Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II Ensemble with a flower from Summer Botanicals.  The stamps were colored directly with markers and I always like the somewhat distressed or painted look this gives the images.

For the tag on the clear box I omitted the outer ring.  The word, “friend”, on the card was cut from the center of one of the JustRite stamps in the ensemble.  Because the new JustRite sets are more than monograms there’s a lot of versatility in a single set, and this is one of my favorites.

The box is a 2-4-6-8 design which I return to often because of its simplicity.  I tried something a little different with this one and I’d like to share it with you.  It’s made with Crystal Clear Cardstock which I embossed with the same design as the card.  In case you’re not familiar with 2-4-6-8 boxes I’ve included a photo to help illustrate the concept.  Since clear cardstock is so difficult to photograph I’m showing it in gray.

Cut a half sheet of Crystal Clear Cardstock — 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″.  Score across at 2″, 4″, 6″ and 8″.  Turn and score lengthwise at 2″.  Cut along the score lines up to the lengthwise score line, as shown.  Cut away and discard the lower 1/2″ section.

Back to the clear cardstock now — This part of the process is a little difficult to illustrate but very easy to do.  You need to fold the box in half and insert it in your embossing folder with the bottom cut flaps hanging out the end of the folder.

Run it through your Cuttlebug and it will emboss the whole top part of the box at once.  It will feel a little tight as it goes through, rather like when your Cuttlebug was brand new.  I’ve only done this once — you’re looking at it — but it worked just fine.

The following is a picture of the box after it was embossed and removed from the folder.  Again, the clear cardstock is not the most photogenic subject, but I think you can get the idea.  It’s pretty cool and much more so in person:

Now you apply Sticky Strip to the outside of that little 1/2″ flap and fold the upper part of the box closed like a tube.  Then fold up the bottom flaps and adhere with Sticky Strip.

There’s always the question, then, as to how you cover the Sticky Strip.  Well, I think it’s hardly noticable, especially once the box is filled and pinched closed.  I used a little clip to close the top of the box.  The tag is tied to the clip, rather than through the top of the box, so it’s very easy to open and close the box.

I hope you enjoyed this very simple project.  I just love embossing the clear cardstock.  I’m sure this could be fancied up even more, perhaps with a little designer paper trim around the bottom or top.  You could add a handle and turn it into a basket, maybe add a row of eyelets along the top and lace some ribbon through.  It could be elegant or cute, whatever your heart desires.

This particular JustRite Harmony Classic Ensemble is perfect for a project like this and you can’t beat the flexibility.  So much fun in one set of stamps!  The ribbon, by the way, can be found here, and the Spellbinders circle dies here.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  Have a happy day!

• Stamps:  Summer Botanicals, JustRite Harmony Classic II
• Paper:  Crystal Clear Cardstock, Old Olive Orchid Opulence, Whisper White
• Ink:  Old Olive, Orchid Opulence, Close to Cocoa markers
• Accessories:  Floral Fantasy Cuttlebug embossing folder, ribbon, Spellbinders circle nesties, Sticky Strip, Scotch brand foam mounting tape, candy (of course — yum!)

Hello, friends!  This will be the last of the weekly coloring tutorials.  We’ve covered:

• Twinkling H20’s
• Watercoloring With Inks
• Three Step Poppin’ Pastels
• Sponged Watercolor Background
• Pencil Over Ink
• Watercoloring With Markers

All of these tutorials can be found here in the Coloring Today category.  There are certainly other methods of laying down color, some of which fall more in the technique category rather than actual coloring, and I’d like to share a few of those with you from time to time.  Rest assured they won’t require any contraptions or contortions to accomplish and the necessary supplies can be found in most stampers’ arsenals.

I haven’t ventured into Copic territory yet and Heaven knows there’s plenty of information available along those lines.  I’ve experimented with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits but every meager bit of knowledge I have about that came from Kirsten’s excellent tutorial here.

Today we’ll be using one of my favorite coloring mediums, soft chalks.

Chalks are one of the easiest methods I know for shading images.  One color brushes over the other smoothly with a soft, feathered edge.  There’s no worry about smearing or dissolving inks.  You can highlight an area by rubbing it with your finger.  Errors can be erased.  They’re nearly failsafe.

There are 51 colors at my fingertips in this Stampin’ Pastels case from Stampin’ Up!  I used just two colors and one double-sided sponge make up applicator to color my flowers.

Begin by stamping three flowers in Chocolate Chip ink on scraps of Whisper White cardstock:

Apply Cameo Coral chalk to the flower petals.  Use a light touch and short strokes.  You can also use a patting motion to apply the chalk.  There’s no need to rub or scrub — it will just wear out your sponge and rough up your paper.  We’re going for a soft, hazy look.  Imagine pink cirrus clouds.

Apply Ruby Red for shading.  Concentrate some color in the flower center then pull some color outward — point the tip of your applicator at the flower’s center, then use light short strokes to brush the color toward yourself.  You’re pulling rather than pushing the color.  Imagine yourself brushing a speck of dust from a delicate surface.  Brush and lift at the end of the stroke.  Exact placement of color isn’t necessary — just bring some out from the center and brush along a few of the petal edges.  Don’t worry about obscuring the inner lines.  They’ll emerge refreshed once the spray sealer is applied.

You can use your finger to rub away color to create somewhat of a highlight in the broad area of the petal.  This would be a soft and subtle effect.  You can also use the eraser to remove color more distinctly.  I used it to remove some color from those petal edges that appear to be turned up.

Once the coloring is completed to your satisfaction, spray with a matte sealer.  Follow the directions on the can, applying three coats for best appearance.  It dries very quickly.  I always hold the image with tweezers and step outside to spray.

You can now cut out your flowers and place them on your card.  I dotted my flowers with Cinnamon Stickles and placed a rhinestone in the center of each.

If you want to color an area such as those little spots you can do so before spraying, either with a marker or by picking up a little chalk with a blender pen and using it like a marker on your image.  A blender pen will harden your chalks so be sure to touch it only to the corner or edge of the block.  A few swipes of the blender pen on scrap paper will remove the chalk and allow you to move on to the next color, if necessary.

For information on shading a background with chalks, please refer to this tutorial.

I’ve had this Stampin’ Up! Embrace Life set since it first came out and this is the first time I’ve used it.  I’d like to leave it on my table and create with it until I’m satisfied but I don’t know how much time I’ll have for that.  I’ll give it a try, though.  The papers and ribbon are retired from Stampin’ Up!.  They come and go so quickly but there’s always something new to look forward to.  The rinestones are from Flourishes.

I hope you found this information useful.  I’ve been asked about the chalks many times.  As always, practice makes perfect.  Thank you for stopping by.  Enjoy the rest of your day!

Surprise!  You might not have been expecting to see a Halloween card today…  Well, as it happens, Whipper Snapper is releasing two more of Anna Wight’s sets this very day and you know how I love to watercolor Anna’s images.  Doesn’t the ghost have the most lovely smile?  It looks to me like he’s been up to mischief.  He seems just a little bit too gleeful over a spell gone awry.

This card represents the set called Hocus Pocus.  All the characters have those big toothy grins, making them most endearing.  These are real happy Halloween sets.  I love them both!  The other new set is called Spooky Expressions.  You can see both sets here.  The rest of Anna’s team will be making cards with her new sets, too, and you can check them out here:  Pam, Jami, Carol, Trudee and, of course, Anna.

Since we’ve already covered basic watercoloring with inks, I thought we’d do some watercoloring with a slightly different means of applying the ink.  You may find this to be the easiest watercoloring ever.  It’s worthwhile to try several different coloring methods, not only for the various effects they provide, but because one of them may turn out to be just right for you — the one at which you excel.

These are the supplies I used for coloring my images –  just a few markers and a brush.  Of course, I also used water and watercolor paper.  The paper I use comes in a tablet and is 100% cotton 140 lb cold pressed grain fin.  My markers are Stampin’ Up! water-based markers.

Let’s get started by first stamping the image in Jet Black Stazon, which is a waterproof ink.  The witch’s legs and hat are separate images.  I stamped the hat first, masked it and then stamped the legs.

Use your marker to color a narrow line of black ink along the edges of the hat.  More color can be added later if needed so it’s best not to overdo it at this stage.  I prefer to approach small areas at a time because the ink is most workable soon after you lay it down.

Use a clean, wet brush to pull the ink from the edges to the center.  In this photo, the gray area of the hat is the ink that was pulled from the edges.  I wanted more shading on the right side of the hat, so I colored a little more with my marker.  It’s shown blended in the next photo.

In this photo I’ve finished blending the ink on the hat.  I softened the extra color I added and used the ink on the brush to add a little more shading to the left side of the hat, too.  Be careful not to pull the fresh marker ink all the way across the hat.  Just soften the color, then clean the brush and use the clean, wet brush to smooth back into the colored edge.

I’ve also added green marker to the edges of the hat band and black to the right end of the brim.

In this photo I’ve completed the shading and blending of the hat in the same manner as described above.  Then I went on to color the legs, socks and shoes.  I’ve also added a rather shocking green outline to the entire image.  Yikes!  It looks like she’s been electrified.  Let’s tone that down a bit.

Use your wet brush to scribble back and forth on the green edge to soften the color, then pull it outward from the image.  Be careful not to pick up any color from the image.  The entire background will have a greenish tint with more color concentrated close to the image. 

See the area immediately under the hat brim — the left side shows where I added a line of purple marker for some darker shading.  The right side of the brim shows what that line looks like after blending.  I did the same thing under the shoes which you can see in the photo of the finished card.

Wasn’t that fun?  I painted the ghost the same way, with Amethyst ink.  I went over his teeth and eyes with the Inkssentials white opaque pen and added Stardust Stickles to one tooth.  I edged all the white panels with ink directly from the pad to the paper, and decorated the background with some retired Stampin’ Up! Halloween papers.

The sign dangles freely from the ghost’s hands, tied through punched holes with the fibers.

This card was a lot of fun for a change.  Some stamps just lift your spirits and take your cares away.  I think I need more of that.  Don’t we all?  I hope you enjoyed today’s coloring.  Have a joyful day!

Coloring Today is short but I hope you’ll find it sweet.  As I’ve mentioned before, there are so many ways to color an image and if you aren’t comfortable with one medium, perhaps you’ll find your niche with another.

This is pencil over ink, a very quick and easy process that produces nice results with a solid image on a dark background.  It’s not a new technique but it’s a fun technique to revisit.  While I’m sure many of you have already mastered this method, I imagine there are just as many new stampers who haven’t tried it yet.

Not much in the way of supplies are needed for pencil over ink.  For the coloring of this card I used the few supplies pictured below:

• White pigment ink
• Lavender, violet and orange Prismacolor pencils
• Stardust Stickles (optional)

I like Prismacolor pencils because they’re soft and waxy and the color goes down very smoothly.  The Metallic Art Pencils and Smooth Color Pencils that Stampin’ Up! sells are also very nice, though limited in colors.

Begin by stamping a solid image in white pigment ink on a dark background.  Lots of drying time is required for pigment ink before you color the image.  This can be accelerated by heating the image with a heat gun.

Color with pencils.  I colored the petals with lavender and shaded with violet, no special blending required.  The photo below shows where the darker color was added.  I *sparkled* up the flower centers with Stardust Stickles

And that’s all there is to it!  I white embossed a Hero Arts greeting and decided to make this a birthday card.  The flowers are Stampin’ Up!’s retired Petal Prints.

The designer paper I used is BasicGray Scarlet’s Letter which is so gorgeous I feel absolutely ill when I cover it up.  Cardstocks are Really Rust and Basic Black.  I used white ribbon (Offray) and brads to lighten up the overall appearance of the card.

I’ve included a couple more photos of pencil over ink cards that I made in the past.  The first card uses the Stampin’ Up! Garden Annuals wheel over Sahara Sand cardstock stamped with Linen in Sahara Sand.  The background doesn’t have to be very dark for this coloring technique to be effective.  It’s a great way to create your own designer paper.

The image on this card was stamped on velveteen, or sueded, paper.  The odd angle of the photo was an attempt to clearly show the velveteen paper.

These SU! Best Blossoms flowers (retired) were colored with SU!’s Metallic Art Pencils.  Another thing that’s pretty cool about this technique is that you can overlay images without masking.  I stamped the leaves first, then stamped the flowers right over top of them.  It was easy to see what was where and how to color it.

In case you’re wondering, the gold embossed Climbing Leaves background from CHF  was done on regular Basic Black cardstock.  The purple background is the Polished Stone technique, done on glossy cardstock.  I did not use metallic ink, however, so no spray sealer was required.

There really are a lot of fun possibilities for this technique.  I certainly enjoyed sharing these ideas with you!  Enjoy your day!

Today’s coloring will be fairly quick since we’re focusing mainly on the background.  The poppies were watercolored in the same manner that was outlined in last Monday’s post here.

I used Flourishes’ Poppy Patch for the main image just because they’re so darn pretty and the set provides a good variety of images for composing a painting.  They’re colored with Groovy Guava and shaded with Pixie Pink which gives them a nice pinkish-salmon color.

The background was accomplished by sponging inks on wet paper and then brushing over them with a clean wet brush to further blend and soften the colors.  It’s a very easy way to do a background.

I’d like to start with just a photo of the tools I used for this painting:

• Sponge daubers — Fits on your finger like a thimble
• Wedge — It doesn’t have to be a wedge, but it’s a nice, dense foam.  I really don’t know why it comes in a wedge shape.  I pinch it in my fingers to sponge with it.
• Flat brush — For painting over the background inks to blend
• Smaller brush — This is what I used for painting the poppies and for some of the smaller areas of the background

The first step is to stamp the poppies in waterproof ink — I used Jet Black Stazon.  Stamp them again to create masks — I used Eclipse Masking Tape.  It’s very thin and sticks to your image with a repositionable adhesive.  This is the image stamped and masks applied:

Begin by brushing over the paper in the area to be sponged with a clean, wet brush.  It only needs to be damp, not totally saturated.  This simply helps the paper absorb the ink more efficiently.  When applying several colors to a background, always start with the lightest color.  Sponge a drift of pink over the sky area.  Leave an area on the bottom part of the panel for creating a hillside.

Sponge blue next, filling in some of the empty areas and overlapping the pink a little.

Fill in the rest of the white areas of the sky with lavender and overlap the pink and blue.

To save time I’m showing one photo of the lower area of the background.  I did the same kind of sponging here, but with light green, dark green and purple in that order.  It’s rather dark and all the ink colors don’t show as well as in the sky.  It’s probably not even necessary to use that many colors, but that’s what I did — I was just making this up as I went along.

Once all the inks have been applied, use a clean, damp sponge, such as the wedge pictured above to press all over the background.  This will further blend and soften the inks. If so desired, use a clean, wet brush to paint over any area that appears to have too much color to suit you.  If you wet an area with the brush and then blot it with a paper towel it will lift some of the ink.  The brush can also be used to blend the inks even more if you desire yet more softness.  You’ll maintain the sponged look but it will become rather soft and hazy.  The photo below shows the image with the masks removed.

Paint the poppies now and begin the finishing touches.  Again, please refer to this tutorial for painting the poppies.  When you compare the painted poppies in this photo with the previous photo, you’ll notice a slight shading around the poppies.  Naturally, the poppies aren’t casting a shadow on the sky, but the subtle aura gives them a presence that would be otherwise lacking.  They need to “displace” the air around them, in a sense.  As described in last week’s watercolor tutorial, to create the aura, or “glow”, wet the area first, then dab with ink which will disperse, or blend, into the wet area.  I used lavender ink for the aura to keep it very subtle.  Where the poppy rests against the dark area, I used dark purple (Eggplant) for the aura.  Again, it’s very subtle but it makes a difference.

Also, notice the glow of light along the horizon and the right edge of the lower poppy.  This was done with Saffron ink in the same manner used to create the aura, or glow.

Finally, turn your painting into a card and send it to someone special!  I matted my painting on Naturals White, tied on some pretty ribbon and float mounted it on foam tape against a background of Artichoke textured cardstock and an Eggplant card base.

I hope this is helpful and I really hope it doesn’t appear as though I hurried through it as much as it felt like I did.  Whew!  By the time I finished this it was getting late and I have to get up early in the morning for work.  I’d love to think that those of you who would like to do this sort of painting are perhaps feeling encouraged by seeing the process outlined and realizing you can do it, after all.  Start with a simple image – you don’t have to do a whole landscape your first time out.  Please let me know if you give it a try.  I’d be so happy to see anything you create.  Have a wonderful day!

Today marks the release of two new sets from Whipper Snapper, illustrated by Anna Wight, and it’s my privilege to be among the folks who will be sharing designs with these images this month.  Anna has a lot more info for you so please check here to get the full scoop.  The sets I’ll be using are a floral set called Blossoms & Butterflies, and a collection of sentiments called Blooming Expressions — they’re perfect for each other.  The sentiments are many and varied and exceptionally useful.  The floral images are whimsical, sweet and drawn in Anna’s trademark style which has become so familiar and well loved among stampers.  They’re also perfect for what I have in mind for Coloring Today — some very basic watercoloring.

This is watercoloring with inks – something every stamper has.  To get the very best results you really should use watercolor paper because of its ability to absorb water without warping.  It’s not hard to come by.  The first watercolor paper I bought was a tablet from Wal-Mart.  It worked just fine but the surface wasn’t very smooth.  The paper I use most frequently now was purchased in tablet form at a local art supply store — 100% cotton, 140 lb, cold pressed grain fin.  It has some texture but not too much.

Usually I’ll just squeeze the closed stamp pad to press a little ink into the lid.  Hold the pad with both hands with your thumbs in the center of the lid.  Squeeze until you feel the lid make contact with the pad.  You don’t need reinkers for watercoloring but they’re convenient if you’re covering a large area.  Also, if you do a lot of watercoloring you’ll probably need to reink your pad more frequently.

Below are two of the Stampin’ Up! pads I used for watercoloring my image.  The Mauve Mist (retired) on the left is shown with a drop of reinker.  I use the lid like a palette — use a wet brush to pull a little ink from the drop and mix it with water from the brush to dilute to desired shade.  Add more water or more ink, if necessary.  I keep a scrap of watercolor paper handy on which to test my color, but I’m not real fussy about it.  I use it either very dilute or very pure — I put more emphasis on the amount of water I have on the paper, which we’ll talk about in a minute.

The Close to Cocoa pad on the right is shown with ink squeezed into the lid.  I pull the concentrated ink to a different area of the lid to mix with water, using the same principles as stated above.

Stamp the image in waterproof ink.  I used Jet Black Stazon for this image.  It’s one flower stamped twice.  The first image was masked.  The butterfly is a separate image.

I like to start by coloring the whole image with a very dilute base coat.  I used Mauve Mist, Close to Cocoa and Certainly Celery.

The next step is to add a little shading.  Start with just one petal.  Paint the entire petal with water first, taking care to stay within the lines.  Then dab or paint a line of ink along the edge of the petal.  The ink will disperse and gradually fade out.  When it hits a dry area it will abruptly stop spreading, which means the ink won’t spread outside the petal unless you painted the water outside the lines.  The wetter the paper, the more the ink will spread.  In a small area like this petal, you won’t want too much water or else the ink will spread all the way across the petal – then you won’t have shading, you’ll just have a darker petal.  Try it out on a scrap piece first.

This photo shows the shaded flowers.  The flower on the left was shaded with Mauve Mist, the same color as the base coat but applied full strength to the wet petal.  You could stop there and call those petals finished and they’d look just fine.  However, I decided to add more shading with Bravo Burgundy.  I did it the same as described above, but with less water.  I also shaded the flower’s cone with Close to Cocoa.

When you use less water, there’s a chance the line won’t blend as smoothly.  When this happens, use a clean wet brush to paint toward the shaded line — water only.  You don’t want to pull the darker ink into the light areas, you simply want to soften the blended edge.

A little tip:  Is the painted area too dark?  Did you apply too much ink in a certain area?  To remedy this, paint it again with water, then press with a paper towel.  It will effectively lift enough ink to give you a chance to start over.

Another tip:  Can you see right off the bat that you put too much water on your paper?  Is it sort of pooled up on the paper?  Touch the edge of a paper towel to the water and the excess will be absorbed.  Don’t press the towel onto the image unless you also want to remove ink.

You can add a glow if so desired.  This photo shows the entire image painted and shaded as described above, with the glow added around one flower and the butterfly so you can compare them with and without the glow.  I call it a glow because I used So Saffron to highlight the image.  This same process would be used with a darker ink to create a shadow.  The glow can be any color your heart desires.

It’s very easy to create the glow or shading around the image, using the same process that was used for shading the rest of the image — wet the paper first, then dab ink into the wet area.  When doing the glow I always wet a larger area than I actually need — this allows the gradual fade out with no abrupt edge.  The wetter the paper, the more the ink will spread and the softer the glow will be.  The glow will not spread into your image if you allow the main image to dry first.  It doesn’t take long.

So there it is, main image complete with a subtle glow.  I kept my layout simple, using my new Prism papers — Spring Willow light and medium, and Iced Azalea.  The sentiment stamped very nicely on the lightly textured paper.  It reads “Count your blessings one petal at a time.”  The Blooming Expressions set is full of flower related sentiments as well as birthday, thinking of you, sympathy — it covers many different occasions.

Aren’t these images cute?  I’ve always loved Anna’s style.  They’re the type of images that allow you the freedom to do pretty much whatever you want with them — such as a green butterfly.  Every year my kitchen window screen becomes peppered with such an interesting variety of moths.  The prettiest is a small one that’s a lovely, delicate shade of green.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  Once again, it’s long but I wouldn’t want to leave anything out.  It takes longer to explain the process than it does to actually do it.  Take care, now, and have a wonderful day!

I’m thinking ahead to my September anniversary for today’s coloring tutorial.  I may change my mind later…there’s lots of stamping to be done between now and then.  You know how anniversaries are named — golden, silver, etc…  Shouldn’t there be a chocolate anniversary?  Why was that option overlooked?

My card uses Kitchen Sink Stamps’ Hearts & Roses set.  This set, which I’m sure you’ve seen before, features exquisitely detailed multiple step roses, both in bud and full bloom.  It’s the multiple steps that make it perfect for this coloring technique.  Why bother with chalks when you could just stamp it in ink?  Well…because it gives it a whole other look — sort of soft and velvety and rather romantic.  There’s also the fact that it’s just plain fun to do something different once in a while when you’re playing around with your art.  That’s really what stamping is all about — enjoying the pastime.

This is the same rose stamped in ink:

1. So Saffron
2. Creamy Caramel
3. Close to Cocoa 

They’re the same colors I used in chalks but the results are very different.  The details of the ink rose are quite distinct.   It’s an amazing image and will make a beautiful card — another time.  Today I wanted something a little more dreamy.

Here’s the supplies required:

• Stamps (stem and sentiment not pictured) 
• Soft chalks
• Foam applicators
• Versamark ink
• Spray matte sealer
• Acrylic blocks and craft foam pad for cushion under stamping (not pictured)

Please pardon me for showing these first few images in a horizontal orientation.  I decided to go vertical when the image was half finished but didn’t have time to start over with the stamping and photographs.

Stamp the first step rose buds with Versamark ink on vanilla cardstock.  The Versamark is nearly invisible but apparent enough for our purposes.  Using a foam applicator (make up brush) pat saffron chalk onto image.  As the chalk is applied, the image will take shape and it will be easier to see where you’re going.  At this stage the rose buds look like funny little heads with big kissy lips, don’t they?

Stamp the second step rose buds with Versamark ink over the first images.  The Versamark will lift some of the chalk from the first image so be sure to clean between stampings so you don’t get chalk in your Versamark pad.  Apply caramel chalk to the areas of the second stamping.  Go easy until you see the image emerge and its lines become more clear.  Blow away the chalk powder once in a while.  Keep applying the caramel chalk until you have a good contrast between the saffron and the caramel.  The chalk will stick more to the fresh Versamark stamping than it will to the first image.  In an image this detailed, some of the finer lines will become obscured — that’s okay.  We’ll still have a beautiful image.

Stamp the third step and color with cocoa chalk.  Again, remember to clean between stampings.

Stamp both stems and color with olive chalk.  It’s okay to go outside the lines because we’ll be shading around the image next.

Shade around the entire image with mustard chalk.  Press the tip of the applicator onto the paper to get a more distinct line close to the image.  Apply cocoa chalk in the areas where you want deeper shading, such as directly under the buds and on inner curves.

Once the outline has been established, use a light circular motion to spread a hazy glow of mustard chalk outward from the image.  Blend and smooth the lines with your finger.  Stamp sentiment with Rose Red ink.

Compare these chalk roses to the ink rose I showed at the beginning.  Deep, rich and velvety.

The final and essential step is to spray with a sealer.  I use matte most frequently because it’s more appropriate for the soft look of chalks.  The brand I find at Wal-Mart is Plaid.  Follow the directions on the can, applying three coats.  The can directions tell you to wait 15 minutes between coats but it dries pretty fast on paper and I usually give it about 5 minutes.  Maybe it depends on humidity?  It’s not very humid here on the Oregon coast.

Why the sealer?  Just as you were able to blend the chalk with your finger, the chalk will wear off the image with handling.  The Versamark with chalk has a tacky feel to it and a chance of smearing when handled.  The spray not only seals the image and makes it touchable, it pops the colors and gives your card an extra special quality with a professional-looking finish.

Thank you so much for dropping in on me today.  Perhaps you know how much I love my chalks and all the things that can be done with them.  Using the Poppin’ Pastels technique for two or three step stamping is just one of their many uses.  I hope there’s at least a little bit of information here that was helpful.  Have a wonderful day!

Welcome to the first edition of my new weekly feature, Coloring Today.  Barring unforseen events, I’ll do this every Monday until I run out of ideas.  I know a lot of you are old pros at coloring, and I’m no expert by any means.  Heaven forbid a trained artist should see this  and want to shout, “no, no…you’re doing it all wrong!”  I’m just one amateur hoping to share a few things I’ve learned along the way and possibly help other folks have an easier time of it.

Unlike today, when I first started stamping I had very few resources to turn to for enlightenment.  I stamped, but my images had no life.  I almost wanted to give up.  Shortly after I got my first computer I read an online article titled “A Lifetime of Color” and it was the turning point for me — the beginning of my lifetime of color.  I was hoping to share the article with you but it appears to be gone.  Too bad, I’d love to pay tribute to the person who wrote it.

Today’s article is about watercoloring with Twinkling H20’s.  It’s rather long, but I promise all the coloring techniques I’ll focus on won’t be quite so involved.  I’m using the Lilac stamp from Flourishes for my example.  The H20’s are from Flourishes, as well.

Stamp image.  This is the raw image shown with my light and dark purple H20’s which will be used to color the lilac bloom.  I stamped it on the smooth side of heavy weight watercolor paper with Timber Brown Stazon.  Stazon is completely waterproof.

Watercolor paper isn’t the most ideal for stamping on and you’ll want to apply good and even pressure to get a decent image.  However, some imperfections won’t show in the finished product.

For this entire image I used a natural bristle petal brush, sometimes called a tulip brush.  It has flat sides and a rounded tip.  When I use my H20’s I dip my wet paintbrush directly into the paint pot.  Swish it around until the surface of the paint and water mixes to form a paste of the consistency you can paint with.  You’ll want it to brush smoothly over your paper without running all over creation.  Experiment on a scrap piece.  Too wet?  Swish again to bring up more paint in the pot.

Add pale lavender.  Paint the lilac bloom with the pale lavender.  Don’t worry about shading.  That comes later.  It’s going to look great!  If you go outside the lines you can remove some of that color with a clean, wet brush and then blotting with a tissue.  Any remaining errant color will be blended in and become part of the finished image.  That’s part of the beauty of watercoloring — it’s very forgiving.

Add dark purple.  This photo shows the image with the dark purple added.  Simply dab spots of dark purple paint all over the lilac bloom.  Hold your brush straight up and use the tip to pounce it onto the image, much like stippling.  Less water gives darker color.  Too much water will disperse and bleed the colors — you don’t want that.  Try to have some dark and some light, but allow plenty of the first coat of light purple to show through, too.

It’s shaping up nicely!

You may think you’re turning your lilac into a blob, but you’re actually making a series of mini-blobs that will become a beautiful painting in the end.  The following close up may help when you see how impressionistic it is:

Add light green to the leaves.

A little note here:  The lilac bloom should not be sopping wet, but if it is you’ll want to let it dry a bit before adding green to the adjoining leaves.  Any paint or ink will spread into a wet area and we don’t want that at this point.

Paint the leaves a solid light, bright green.  Don’t worry about shading yet.  Just try to cover the leaves with an even coat.

I’ve noticed the green seems to be a little extra shimmery — fun!  Your colors will look different when turned at different angles.  This bright green appears more of a soft moss when viewed straight on.  It’s the nature of the twinkle in the H20’s.

Add dark green shading.  Here are the leaves with the dark green added.  I propped up the image for this photo so you can see the difference in the green.  See how the purple looks darker, too.

When adding the dark green shading you need only think about where the light and shadows would naturally be.  Where something overlaps there’s a shadow.  The lower edge of the leaf would be more shadowed.  Inner curves are darker than outer curves.

Moving Twinkling H20’s around on your paper is a little different from inks or other paints because the H20’s are loaded with mica chips.  When it comes to doing the blending and shading it sometimes appears you’re just pushing those mica chips around.  A light touch will usually yield better results.  I use a combination of brush strokes and patting with the flat side of the brush.  As always, experimentation and artistic interpretation are key.

I added dark green where the leaves meet the blossom and along the lower edges of the leaves.  Paint a distinct line and then diffuse it with a clean, wet - but not too wet - brush.  A little blotchiness is okay as long as you maintain some shading in the specified areas.  Step back a time or two for an overview and remember, it’s a watercolor painting — it won’t look like it was colored with Copics.  I painted the stem brown and then used a clean, wet brush to remove a little paint to create a highlighted area.  Here’s a close up:

Add copper and green wash.  This is the final photo of the process, showing two steps at once.

The first step is to add the green wash.  I scribbled a little paint here and there, as shown, and blended it with a wet brush.  The scribbled spots help to assure a background of varying tones, rather than a flat appearance.  It may be necessary to add more green to achieve the desired effect.

Next, I painted a line of copper around the entire image and diffused it with a wet brush.  Again, more paint may need to be added.  I’ve shown the right side of the image with just the copper and the scribbled spots of green hoping to better illustrate the process.

And, finally, there’s nothing left but to frame the finished art piece and mount it on a suitable background.  I covered an entire card front with some designer paper scraps and mounted my painting on foam tape to float it off the background.  The swirl clip with the ribbon and cord off to the side add an accent without covering the image or adding too much bulk.  Done!

If you feel this information is helpful and you decide to give it a go, please leave a comment here with a link to your art because I’d love to have a look.  We could really set the world to Twinkling!  Thank you for dropping in today!

I used some scraps for this card and that always makes me feel good because I can tell myself I was cleaning my room at the same time.  These magnolia blossoms from Flourishes’ Lilac set were left over from another project, already colored and cut out but still laying on my table.  The vase was punched from a brayered background that was heading to the scrap drawer but hadn’t made it there yet.  So, you see, I was tidying my room.  Did I wind up with a bigger mess than when I started?  Ummmmm…yes!  But at least the magnolia blossoms found a home.

To make the vase I punched a 1 3/8″ circle and snipped the ends off, more at the top so the mouth is wider than the base.  I made another one so I could show you a photo for visual aid:

Great big punch, little bitty vase.  I love my punches.  I rarely make a card without using some kind of punch.  They provide so many easy design possibilities.

This card’s gorgeous background paper is BasicGrey Sultry.  Every design in the collection is to die for and my favorite is whatever I happen to be working with at the time.  Its colors lean toward chocolate and pink but I saw the gray in this sheet and decided to go with that instead.  The ribbon is one of my favorites from Flourishes – Silver/Gray velvet.  I’ve become quite a gray-aholic lately.  I even switched my photo backdrop from white to gray.  It seems to be less competative with the card when it comes to light metering.  I know in photography there’s something about light metering and gray cards which I’m not capable of getting real technical about, but it seems to have solved some of the problems I was having.

I’ll finish up with a list of ingredients and a wish for a wonderful day.  Take care!

• Stamps:  Lilac (Flourishes)
• Paper:  Going Gray, Naturals white, BasicGrey Sultry designer paper
• Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Late November Spectrum pad (for brayered vase)
• Accessories:  Soft chalks and spray matte sealer (for coloring and sealing flowers), velvet ribbon from Flourishes, silver elastic cord, eyelets, 1 3/8″ circle punch, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

This is a coffee shop gift card holder I made for a guy who’s not afraid of a little color.  He’s a coworker and such a lovable character, I just wanted to do a little something for him on his birthday.  He’ll be able to use this at the coffe shop in the clinic where we work.

It may look like the only thing stamped on this is the sentiment (from Flourishes’ Sweet Treats) but, actually, I used my Coffee With Friends set, too.  I stamped the tall coffee cup on the reverse side of some slightly textured white and cut it out, leaving the handle and the saucer behind.  I fashioned a sleeve from some textured kraft cardstock I just happened to have.  The lid is made from the saucer, turned upside down with the ends snipped off, and there’s some Creamy Caramel sponged on for definition.

The paper is Kaleidoscope, a double sided designer paper by My Mind’s Eye.  It’s almost a cardstock weight, really.  Although my friend likes color, I found that I felt better about it when I sanded off a little of the intensity.

This is a very quick and easy design with a finished, folded size of 3 1/2″ x 5″.  Cut cardstock 5″ x 7″.  Score at 2″ and 5″.

Apply red liner tape to the edges of one of the 2″ flaps.  Punch a notch.  I used a 1 3/8″ circle punch.

Fold up the flap, decorate the front, apply half a velcro dot and it’s done!

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy your day!