Saturday, November 29, 2014

Northern Lights Tutorial

Hi Everyone,

Barb here with a fun tutorial using Copics and an Airbrush to create Northern lights in a starry sky.  I found some photos on-line to use.  Here is an example that I used.

Aurora-Chandalar


Here's what you'll need to get started!
Copic markers, airbrush, Express It Copic paper, craft mat.

Step 1:  Airbrush Y17 in 3 stripes across paper.  Leaving
the lower third white.

Step 2:  With V09 add 3 stripes right next to the yellow.

Step 3: With B29 spray all strips lightly to blend and
go heavier around the upper 3 edges creating a sky effect.

Step 4: Spray E23 to lower 3rd creating the ground.
Go back over with E18 around edges on lower 3rd to
create depth. This takes practice.  It took me a few tries
to get the look I wanted.
  
Step 5:  Now stamp your image.  

Here's the finished card!

A close up of the image


I hope if you own a Copic airbrush you will give 
this easy technique a try!  Happy Holidays!




Thursday, November 27, 2014

Grateful For You

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It is so much fun to work with these quality images from Prickley Pear.  No wonder I fell in love with them long ago.  But I just had a couple.  It’s nice to have the variety and all of their images evoke a nostalgic feeling in me.  I’m grateful for them.

Wishing you a grateful Thanksgiving from our home to yours.  Isn't this just a wonderful time to think of all the things that bring us so much joy? Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  All that family fun with laughter and “remember whens”. 

I was inspired by this  red rubber windmill image and the hope of harvest to create this earthy card.  I stamped my image in an olive green color and then used two little playing card size card stock pieces to layer it with.  I used my corner chomper to round the corners on all my pieces.   After distressing my paper with some distress inks in Pumice Stone, Tea Dye and China blue, I used a tooth brush to spatter some green ink around the wind mill image.

Next I took the circle image from  the Fall Circle Set and stamped it twice.  Once in a soft wheat color and then again in the same olive green as the wind mill.  I used the Prickley Pear circle die to cut it out and then fussy cut the inside of the circle out with small scissors to make a wreath like circle.

What I love about the Prickley Pear clear stamps is you can cut the sentiments and straighten them out for an entirely different look.  They are so versatile when you do this.  (it only hurts the first couple of times that you do this) then you get over it and see how much more it gives you. Disappointed smile  I’ll show you a picture of what I did for this.  I got two sayings by stretching out the sentiment and using a marker to color the words I wanted.  They are such high quality stamps that they spring right back to their original shape and you can use them that way, also.
Then I used the grateful sentiment with it’s sweet font and embossed it in white on a little tag and added a white brad to it.  I pulled some ribbon through my card and put some dimensionals on the  tag and layered it over the ribbon.
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See how easy this is?
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Here’s a list of the Prickley Pear Products that I used.
Scallop Circle  Nesting Dies
Circles Set – Fall- Clear Stamp Set  (I got so much use out of this one little set this fall.  It amazed me.)

Monday, November 24, 2014

Winter and Fall, Something For All!

This is a great time of year for crafting and stamping...we have to fun holidays to design for...we have a fun mix of inspiration for you today.

So, tell us what you are up to creating these days...are you working on fall projects or holiday projects?  Leave us a comment for your chance to win a few fun images to help you along in your endeavors!  Winners will be announced next Monday!

Designer Angela Bode using: GG0095 It Came Without Ribbons DD031 Poinsettia Leaf DieD040 Pine Branch DieCLR031A Poinsettia 2 Holiday Clear Stamp.











Designer Rita Wright using: HH0109 Winter Birds

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Pretty as a Rose...

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Isn’t this just the prettiest little rose?  This is one of the red rubber images from Prickley Pear.  They stamp so clear, so beautiful.  I had this piece of cardstock left over from a previous project with the bricks on it and thought it would make a great back ground for this pretty rose.
This was pretty straight forward stamping so I only have the one picture.  Wish I would have taken pictures at the time I was using that pretty translucent embossing paste.  I just added a bit of black ink from a distress marker to give it a bit of brick color look.  Since it was a scrap the bricks are only on part of the piece I used which gives it a really nice look, I think.

I colored the image with colored pencils and let the Dove blender pen soften the colored lines.  Then using a punch I made a little frame for the image.  What I learned about corner punches is you need to cut your layering piece (the layer you are going to punch) 1/2 in larger than the piece you are going to put in the frame.  So if you have a two inch square image piece you need to cut your frame piece to  two and half inches and then it will fit perfectly.


I added the greeting from the Hibiscus set, trimmed out a banner for it and added a tiny piece of braided thread I snipped off a clothing tag.  A few spatters of “paint” with a brush and mounting the frame piece with dimensionals made this a really simple card with lots of elegance.  As I looked at it though, if felt it needed a touch of stickles glitter and that just finished it off.  This was a wonderfully simple card to make.

Prickley Pear Products that I used:
Rose Bunch –Red Rubber Stamp
Hibiscus 2 Clear Stamp Set

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Janeen Thompson - Guest Designer

 
 
Hello All,

Where does one start to write a short bio? It was a dark and rainy night??? Ha-ha.
I’m an advanced stamper, in years that is. I will be able to collect my social security check next year. I feel a bit out dated amongst all these young stampers but I love it and you all keep me young.

I’m a wife of forty four years to a husband that has always encouraged my growth and completely supports my stamping addiction interest. I’m a mother of two adults. How can that be?

Water and beaches and warm climates and I have an affinity for one another. I’m still pondering the strength of a love that moved me to a frigid climate here in Wisconsin with our long winters. Ahhh, love, it does strange things to us. The rest of my family all moved to the south.

The first time I stamped I didn’t enjoy the process at all but once I learned about coloring stamped images that was a whole new story. I love to color. I have so many coloring mediums and I use them all. I love to practice with water colors. That has been my most recent endeavor. I love water color pencils, markers, paints. I love crayons, copics and oil based pencils. It’s so fun to see how the color reacts on different papers, with different techniques, with different layers. I like to color images and have them ready to go and can just stamp and color for hours.

I’ve been a stamper for many years but I feel like a slow learner. I’m an impatient card maker. I like to roll in and make a card in thirty minutes or less. I time myself with a timer and try to beat the clock. It doesn’t matter to me if I take longer but I just like to move things along. I’m always using a heat gun to speed things up. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the process, I just like it to be quick. Because of this, I’m also a very messy stamper and am constantly cleaning my craft space.

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You all know how much I have enjoyed playing with my oh so cute, softly vintage Prickley Pear Stamps.  Oh my word.  I have had a hard time keeping this under my hat.  It was so exciting to be chosen as a Guest Designer for them.  I was so excited to receive my box of stamping goodness from them.  Dies, stamps, clear stamps, red rubber, sentiments…..what to make first???


Since Thanksgiving is upon us I chose this beautiful harvest pumpkin.  Using my distress markers scribbled onto my craft mat I picked up the color with a water brush.  This is done on regular card stock and  I tried to use a light hand at coloring in the image.  This image was a bonus because it has the dies to go with it. So easy, so much more fun than fussy cutting everything, eh? I was able to cut the leaves and the pumpkin at the same time and then stamp the image onto the already cut die. For the leaves, I spritzed my colors on the craft mat so they ran together and then pressed the leaves into that color.
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For the main panel I used the Scalloped Circle die in two sizes and embossed them instead of cutting them for a nice classic look that wouldn’t detract from that beautiful harvest pumpkin.  I then curved the sentiment from the clear stamps and placed that inside the scallops.  I mounted the sentiment onto a see through stamp press with grids.

 
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Before mounting the pumpkin to the Kraft piece I turned it over and used my stylus to rub on it and give it some dimension.  It really added a nice touch of realism to it.

Thanks for taking the time to visit!

PRODUCTS USED:
Scalloped Circle Nesting Dies
Pumpkin Set 2 Clear Stamp Set