Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Monochromatic Vases

Vases

I was going stir crazy so I  decided to create this card for you today.  It is one of the new stamps I got in the mail from Serendipity Stamps called Vases.   I decided to try a subtle monochromatic technique with a POP of color.

Technique:

  • Copic Alcohol Ink Markers
  • Monochromatic
  • Copic colored embellishments 


Paper:

  • Crygogen (Curious Metalic)
  • Pure Luxury Black Onyx (GKD)
  • Pure Luxury Moonlit Fog
  • Peach colored earth tone card stock (Recollections)
Click image to enlarge

Copics:
Vases:  C9, C7, C5, C3, C1, C00
Flower:  YR0000, YR000, YR21
Grounding:  W3, W0
Embellishment:
Pearls colored with Copic Marker C5

I am entering this card in the following challenges: 
  1. Make It Monday - Anything goes!
  2. Cute Card Thursdays  You're A Gem!
  3. Outlawz Challenges - Friday Copic/Promarker - Anything goes!
  4. Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Diamonds or Pearls!

Thank you for stopping by.  I will post the picture for Stamper's Quest when the tutorial posts.  In the mea time....   I will have a fun card posted here that I created for my iCopic Lover DT card so please stop by!  iCopic Lover will be having a fun challenge... just wait and see!   Don't forget to join in on the fun for the Color Me Creativehallenge that is going on with the theme of Icy Frost! 




Friday, January 27, 2012

iCopic: Life Happens - Texturize!




Hello all you Copic Lovers!  Marie here and I wanted to share two texturizing techniques today.  I am using this adorable stamp called Get Well Toby by Wild Rose Studio  I think this little guy is just so cute, and it is the perfect stamp to practice adding texture to your images.  

In the post iCopic Lover: Just For You I texturized Toby by using a "tapping" method with my Copic Alcohol Ink Markers.   Let me show you two other ways to texturize!


Color your focal image as you would normally.  Do not over blend.  You do not want to over blend.  You want to keep the texture.


 Apply rubbing alcohol to a small piece of wash cloth.  You can also apply Copic Colorless Blender Refill to the cloth and lightly dab the part of the image you want to texturize. Be very careful not to oversaturate your cloth because Colorless Blender is a "mover".  Contrary to it's name, the Colorless Blender is NOT a blender, but it moves ink from one location to another.  

If you get over zealous, your ink will run outside our lines.  Yes, it is the voice of experience talking here!   Dab the cloth lightly and you will be fine.  When you do this, stay away front he edges of you image to avoid the color from running outside your lines.  Try this with different types of fabric.   You will get a different look.  How about an old pair of jeans!   

The second method is to tap or  touch the tip of your Copic Colorless Blender Pen to your image you want to texturize.  Remember that the color will become lighter when it dries.  You can always go back and texturize the image again later if you want a more dramatic effect.  


 This is how Toby looks after I added texture.   In this particular example, I used the alcohol directly to a small piece of wash cloth.   You can see that it gives a more natural appearance to the fur.     

I lightly shaded the bandages with C3 and C0.  I shaded a little heavier than I would usually for coloring white.   As a nurse, I rarely see a bandage that stays "white" for 5 minutes after it's application.... so - need I say more!


I lightly shaded around the image with BG0000 and placed a few light dots of E000 and R20 and then blended again with  BG0000.  I grounded Toby with W3 .   

Thank you for taking time to stop by.  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on adding texture and please come back soon.  Don't forget to check out iCopic Lover Blog tomorrow for our Saturday Spotlight.


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

CMC Challenge: Winter Frost



Hello!  I have a week off and wanted to invite you over to  Color Me Creative Challenge where we are wanting to see all your creativity around "Winter Frost".   Brrrrrr!  I know many of you have snow and frost and may not want to see any more but just think of the many sources of inspiration you will have! LOl.   Follow the link HERE and join in o the fun!
Brrrrrr!

This week's sponsor is  Lily of the Valley  Visit their store for a great selection of digi stamps to use for your Copic, Promarker or colored pencils.   One lucky winner will win a generous gift voucher!



In addition




Each month Suzanne Dean  will take EVERY CMC Challenge Entry for that month and pick a random winner!  That winner will win a $50 Gift Certificate to Oozak.com!

So we will have 1 Challenge Winner for EACH Challenge (prize listed below each challenge) AND 1 winner from all that month's challenges to win the Oozak Gift Certificate!  Two ways to win,but you gotta play

I selected this adorable image from   Lily of the Valley.   It is just the cutest little digital image that really get's one into the "Winter" spirt.   Even little Toby is enjoying the winter fun!   

Techniques:  
  • Copic alcohol ink marker
  • Sponging


Click image to enlarge

Copics:
SkinTones: E000, E11, R20
Hair: C3, C5, C7
Pants/Hat/Scarf: B000, B01, B93, B97
Pom Pom on Hat: C3, C00
Coats: R20, R22, R24, R27, C3, 
Dog: C3, C5, C7, C9
Ski's: C0 C3, C5, C7, C9
I am entering this in the following challenges:

Thank you for stopping by!  I really enjoy reading you comments and try to hop by and see your wonderful creations!   I find the cards and projects from all our cyber-friends so inspiring!   

I am off to the ocean for a few days and yes..... my copies and camera will go with me!    

Stop back soon,   


Friday, January 20, 2012

Nicecrane Designs: Apple Pie II

Hi everyone!   It is just pouring here in California!   I have a day off and just want to snuggle up in my craft room, do some art and keep warm!   Brrrrrrr!   I am not used to this  since I moved to California.  

I just wanted to show you a new vintage digital design by Graphic Designer, Ignacio Molina called Apple Pie II.   It is just perfect for all of you vintage lovers.    You can find this digital in a downloadable format at Nicecrane Designs.

Ignacio's wonderful images are created from illustrations by famous historical artists. You may recognize them.   Take the time to check out his site and see all his wonderful colored and uncolored digital images!    The Apple Pie series I selected to use for my DT card was originally published by the McLoughlin Brothers.  


I am still working on trying to learn to quill better. I added some quilled blue flowers to my fininished card.    If you want to see some stunning quilling, Check out Dr. Sonia's wonderful work at  Cards and School Projects.  I am amazed at Dr Sonia's wonderful work and can spend hours looking at her beautiful designs - not to mention all the other beautiful projects she creates!   

I am linking this card to:


I hope you are keeping warm and healthy.   Out emergency room at work is bursting at the seams!   We are just about maxed out on beds at the hospital.   So the message for today is....  Stay Healthy!

Hugs, and come back soon.   I have a wonderful challenge from Color Me Creative to  tell you about in a couple days!  Don't for get to check out our wonderful  iCopic challenge that is currently going on!   





Monday, January 16, 2012

iCopic Weekly Challenge 65: Unloved Colors



 Little Rocker Luka from La-La Land Crafts. 

Hello everyone!   I had a fun filled weekend. Yep, I got to see one of my all time fav comedians Saturday.   I attended the Gallo Theater in Modesto and enjoyed two hours of Lily Tomlin.  Wow! is that lady energetic and super interactive!  She was a delight!   I had some wonderful friends over yesterday and we attended a concert at the Black Bart Theater and the proceeds went to our county's  autism program called Mind Matters.  that was followed by all of us having fun football food and watching the New York Giants BIG win!   Life can't get any better than that....  unless you were a Green Bay Packer fan....   sorry DK!

And now for more exciting news...   iCopic Lover is having their WEEKLY CHALLENGE #65 up and rolling now.   I got to be the one to post the inspirational picture this week!    Yes, I know how it is....    I do it too!   We get comfortable with a few color combos that we get used to and just seem to stay in our comfort zone.  Well this week, we are kicking you in the "patudi" and challenging you to try new color combos that you just haven't got around to trying.  
  


I used the cutest stamp  called  Little Rocker Luka from La-La Land Crafts.   They have the cutest little stamps!   I just love them and know I will be visiting them again!     I decided to try a couple different skin tones....   It is so hard for me to venture away from my standard E000, E00 and E11.      I decided to  try a skin tone with a little more yellow tone to it....  and one that has a deeper reddish color tone. I also decided to use the "W's" for his hair and used some BG colors I have not used before.   I also wanted to try using Diamond Glaze on the guitar and  and some new Mixed Berries Fairy Dust Glitter by Donna Salazar on the star on his,    Here goes:


Lil" Luka with a light yellow-red skin tones
Copic: YR0000, YR000, Y11 and  R20
                                                                                                                                  
Challenge: 65 Unloved Colors (Use those colors you have not used in awhile).
Stamp: Lil' Rocker Luka (La-La Land)
Copics: New or rarely used combo's for skin, hat/jeans and hair.
Skin Tones: YR0000, YR00, E02
Hair: W7, W5, W3, W1
Hat and Jeans:BG75, BG72, BG70 and touch C3 on underside of brim.
Shirt: R27, R22, R20, R59
T-Shirt: C3, C0
Shoes: R27, R22, R20, R59 and C3, C1
Guitar/Star: Y26, YR28, YR23, YR21, YR00, YR000, Y000
Diamond Glaze
Mixed Berries Fairy Dust Glitter (Donna Salazar)

So the Tip of the Day is.......   Get those Copic markers out... Ya, you know the ones that you are not using that much.  You just might find a new fav like I did..... You can bet I will try my BG70, BG72 and BG75 a lot in the future.   And did you know.....  it will allow your "older" fav's to last longer...  The shelf life of a Copic marker (if the cap is closed securely) is 3 years....   But just think how much longer your others will last without having to refill if you use a variety of combos!  :D   
   

Lil' Rocker Luka with darker reddish skin tones
Copics: Y000, Y11, Y15

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Hop on over to ICOPIC LOVER and join in on the fun and who know's you may find that you will be pulling out those color combos that have been gathering dust!

Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment and come back soon!   



Wednesday, January 11, 2012

iCopic: Leaning Tilda

Hello to all my wonderful cyber friends!   It is my turn to post for the wonderful iCopic Lover Blog.
I selected an adorable Magnolia stamp called Leaning Tilda.  This wonderful, versatile stamp is currently in stock at iCopic at this time.   Check out all their adorable Magnolia stamps.


 Leaning Tilda (Magnolia)

The technique I am using today will be  "MASKING".   This is a great technique when you want to provide a background for your image or you want to ground your image.   My little Leaning Tilda image needs to be positioned within a circle or she needs to lean on something.  I did not want to sketch anything today so I used a stone wall stamp that I already had in my stash.   Take a sneak peak at the new stamps I will be able to use with my little Tilda in the future HERE and HERE.    How Cool is that!  (So Christmas isn't over, wink, wink!)

I stamped my image on Cryogen (Curious Metallic, Inc)  Not all paper is equal.  Some paper will leave a waxy coat on your Copic pends and ruin your nibs.  This paper is wonderful and will not cause problems with your precious Copic Markers.



The image is stamped a second time  on some scratch  copy paper (any lightweight paper) and cut  out with a fine tip scissor to form a mask.  I like to use the Cutter Bee scissor  (Ek Success).  I find that post-it Notes make great masks as well.   Cardstock is too think for me and I find that when I stamp over the top, I do not get a clean finish.    Place the mask over the top of your focal image and stamp the stone wall image on top.   

                                         
Image with mask on top

The image will look like this.    TIP:  Save the mask!.  I use them over and over again.   As you can tell, this Tilda mask has been loved and used many times!   I place them in a see through envelope and keep  the masks with their respective stamps.  That way, they are easy to find and it saves a lot of time!

Remove the mask and .... it's magic.  You have the little Tilda leaning on a stone wall.  


  Finish coloring the stone wall and your  focal image with your Copic Alcohol Ink Markers.  
Copics:  
Skin Tone:  E000, #11, a touch of E13  and R20
Hair:  C0, C3, C5, C7, C9
Blouse:  R000, R20, R22, R24, R39
White Ruffle Trim: C0, C1
Jeans: B21, B24, B27
Stone Wall:  W00, W0, W3, W5 highlighted with R0
  

This is a close-up of the cute little image. Isn't she just the cutest little thing?  

This is a close up of my hand quilled flower I created to coordinate with my flowered designer paper.  



I plan to enter this card in the following challenges: 
Thank you so much for stopping by and spending some time!   I enjoy having you here!





Sunday, January 8, 2012

CMC: Make It Retro!



Feeling Groovy!

A BIG hello to everyone!  Let's have some fun!  Color Me Creative is having a wonderful new challenge that you have you need to check out...   Make it Retro!  This challenge will run through January 19th.    Pull out those  "C" colored Copic markers and the Hot pink cored markers and let's see what you come up with!    

Everyone is WELCOME to join this group no matter your skill level!  You do not have to take a class at  Color Me Creative   to join our challenge group!  It's all about having fun with your Copics!!
I can't say this better..... so in Suzanne's own words.... 
Each month Suzanne will take EVERY CMC Challenge Entry for that month and pick a random winner!  That winner will win a $50 Gift Certificate to Oozak.com!
     
 

So we will have 1 Challenge Winner for EACH Challenge (prize listed below each challenge) AND 1 winner from all that month's challenges to win the Oozak Gift Certificate!  Two ways to win,but you gotta play
                                                                                                                                                              
Your challenge this time is all about

 ** RETRO FUN--Hot Pink/Blacks/Whites**
Show some retro fun by using a hot pink-black-white combo!  


CHALLENGE RULES

-Use any image you want BUT MAKE SURE YOU LINK BACK TO THE CMC CHALLENGE in your blog post!!

-ALL PROJECTS MUST BE NEW & NOT BACK-LINKED!!
-Image MUST be colored with Copics or ProMarkers or Colored Pencils!

UPLOAD YOUR ENTRIES to the Photo Gallery and TAG them with the word "RETRO" so they can be seen easily!

**IF you post your project in your blog MAKE SURE TO LINK BACK TO THE CMC CHALLENGE **
Entries MUST be tagged and uploaded to the photo gallery by Jan. 19th at 8:00 pm EST!

PLEASE ALSO PUT YOUR PROJECT IN THE LINK SYSTEM BELOW THE PRIZE INFO AS WELL SO WE CAN SEE THEM ALL!

********************************
OUR SPONSOR FOR THIS CHALLENGE IS
Visit their store for a great selection of digi stamps perfect for copic/promarker/pencil coloring!!
One (1) Lucky Winner will a fabulous prize from
GuyLou's Inimitability


This was one of the cute images provided by our wonderful sponsor at GUYLOU'S INIMITABILITY DIGI STORE.  Check out her wonderful selection of dig's!  

Thank you for stopping by and check out my new post on Wednesday  for a tutorial on "masking"!



Tuesday, January 3, 2012

iCopic Design Team

Just For You!

Year 2012!  WOW!

Happy New Year to all my friends in cyber-land!   I have some wonderful news.  I feel so honored to be selected to serve on the iCopic Design Team.   It has been hard to keep this a secret.... but I can finally shout it out and I am "bursting with pride"!   The community is filled with tenthusiastic, talented artists and I feel I learn so much from them.  I am ready to jump in and get started.

ICopic Design Team!

My first card for iCopic is a cute little image from Wild Rose Studio called Milton with Barrow. Isn't he just the cutest little guy?   There are some exciting changes that will be happening at our iCopic Lover Blog.  The design team members will each rotating days to post fun and creative cards and projects for you to enjoy.  There will be a different focus each day.   My first post will was today, Tuesday and I was to  was to share a tip or trick that has to do with Copics or stamping.   So, what did I do?........I used Copic Alcohol Ink Markers for my focal image and I used  Copic Various Ink Refills   to show you a quick and easy tip for making a product that looks similar to Flower Soft.  You know how it is when you want to use some Flower Soft and you run short on supplies or need a specific color to coordinate with your card.  Presto!  Read on!

The image was stamped with Tuxedo Black dye ink by Tsukeniko on Cryogen paper from Curious Metallic, Inc.   My highlights came  from the right side.  I selected this side because I wanted attention drawn to the flowers.  I also made the flowers at the top the lightest in order to be consistent with my light source.

These are the Copic markers I used to color Milton. E59 will be the darkest of the shadow area.  E31 will be the highlight.   E31 and E50 will be used around the nose.

The bear was completely  colored with E31 in order to avoid having any white spots in your finished image.  The darkest shadow area was colored sparingly with E59. A dotting method was used to apply the color in order to achieve texture in the fur.   E25, E35, E33 and E31 was applied.  The majority of the image was colored with E35 and E33.  R20 was added to the inner ear and the little pads on the bottom of Milton's little foot.    E31 was lightly applied over the top of the R20.  The muzzle area around the nose was colored with E31 and E50. 



The scarf was colored with YG13 and YG01.   For the wheel I used  C0, C3, C5 and C7.  The barrow was colored with E29, E27, E44 and E31.  I just selected some colors to  use on the flowers in order to get a feel for where I wanted to use my texture.   There was no need to shade the flowers because they  were covered with colored styrofoam.  Adhere the layers of the card at this time.  It is important that you complete this step before applying the colored styrofoam.  


Tip of the Day:  Adding  texture to parts of the focal image can add interesting and make the card memorable.  One way to add texture is to add Flower Soft.    If I do not have the correct color of Flower Soft on hand, I take two pieces of styrofoam and rub them together to create fine granules.   Color the styrofoam granules with a  drop or two of  Copic Various Ink Refills.  You only need to make the amount to need.  No storage and no waste! 

This is a sample of the styrofoam I colored with Copic R17.   It is important to allow the styrofoam to throughly dry.  Flower Soft Adhesive or Elmers Glue was applied to the  image, one color at a time.  Gently press the styrofoam down and allow to dry.  This process can be repeated with as many colors as you choose to use.  Just think... this can be coordinated with all your Copic markers!   You just have to add a drop or two  of any Copic Various Ink Refill to the styrofoam granules  and thoroughly mix  together.  You  can also try to mix the granules and producing a medley of color.   For my card, I wanted to be consistent with my light source.  The styrofoam  texture will not reflect light well  so I chose to trick the eye by positioning  my brightest color  at the top where the light source would shine.

This is the finished card.   I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.  Play with the  Copic Various Ink Refills and see what creative projects you can come up with!

I am interring this card in the following challenges:



Thank you for stopping by!   Please come back soon and from my home to yours - Have a safe and happy NEW YEAR!