Category : Techniques

88 posts

When I purchased my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, I sent out an email letting my group of stampers know I would be providing classes on how to use these wonderful markers. The only requirement was they needed to purchase their own markers to use in class. I had four ladies sign up, and they went ahead and purchased all 168 markers through Consumer Crafts (they have the BEST price on these markers AND they offer 25% site wide regularly – just saying). We have had two classes so far, and I wanted to give a quick update about the progress of our Spectrum Noir alcohol marker colorist group has made as of this past week.

Note: These are NOT Copic markers and quite frankly, some of the YouTube reviews and compairsons do not do the Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers justice. These markers fit into their own category; they are versatile; produce a great colored image; they are VERY affordable; and if you will watch the Spectrum Noir – Crafter’s Companion tutorials, you will have great success and produce outstanding papercraft projects. That being said, you can find Accreditation Coloring Download at www.spectrumnoir.com .  You can print this off on an inkjet printer and follow along with their YouTube tutorials to learn, to practice, and to turn in to them to receive accreditation as a colorist.

My first class was learning some of the basics. We covered Smooth Coloring, Basic Blending, Palette Blending, Dimension, Layers, and Florals. The class had a GREAT time and came away with a lot of hands-on practice (we colored two images).  Here are the two sheets we have completed so far (note: the second class was skin coloring; therefore, the skin on the girl is colored in on the second sheet):

I found it very hard to get a good picture. The heart on the first sheet is a deep purple color and in “real” life, you can see this clearly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second class focused on skin tones. I researched Spectrum Noir recipes for skin color on Pinterest and I took those color combinations and either used them, tweaked them, or came up with my own. The cost for classes two and three (skin and hair coloring) included a Fun Stampers Journey stamp called Media Artist (see below).

This image of the girl is a fantastic stamp to practice color combinations for skin and hair. I stamped six images of the girl onto Fun Stamper Journey Whipped Cream cardstock. Note: The quality of paper is important when using any alcohol markers. A lower quality product will increase bleeding of your ink color into areas you don’t want to be colored. Stampin’ Up! Whisper White is a great cardstock to use as well. You can also purchase specialty paper through Consumer Crafts for alcohol marker coloring.

We completed our skin tones, and we all made a few mistakes (that includes me). On my #6 girl, I used the wrong base color (I switched my colors) and she was so dark that her nose couldn’t be seen. I was able to correct this with the blender pen chisel tip and going over and over the image until I pushed some color through the cardstock to lighten up the image. You can tell because the coloring is a little mottled. I found that some of the lighter colors in the combo I chose could pull color out (acting like the blender) instead of creating a smooth blend. You will be able to see this in the next picture. But, that’s o.k. because we are all new to this type of coloring and there is always a learning curve when you learn something new.  I will be gong back and stamping more images and honing my skin coloring techniques to share with my group of colorists. Our next class will feature hair coloring. The image below has the hair colored because I decided to play around after class to see what I could come up with. These are not perfect hair colors, but I just felt the girl’s looked a little naked without hair color. Here is the sheet from class:

Once these classes are finished, our group should be able to scan and upload our accreditation pages to Spectrum Noir and receive their stamp of approval. I will, then, develop YouTube tutorials on how to color with the Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I hope you decide to look into Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and begin to create outstanding colored papercraft projects.

If you have been reading my blog posts recently, it is very apparent I’m hooked on the Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I just LOVE them and the awesome results I get from using them on my card projects. This week’s Paper Craft Crew Card Sketch #207 inspired me to make a card out of C.C. Designs – Chameleon (You Color My World!) rubber stamp. I purchased this stamp through Impressive Ideas stamp store in Norcross, GA. Here is this week’s sketch:

He is trying to camouflage himself amongst the bright yellow, orange, pink background of the card mat. He’s just too darn cute. The base of the card is SU! Tangelo Twist card stock. The bottom mat was created from a piece of SU! Whisper White cardstock using SU! Daffodil Delight and SU! Tangelo Twist a sponge dauber and SU! Happy Patterns Decorative Masks. The top mat was created using SU! Whisper White cardstock and distressing the cardstock with Tim Holtz Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade inks. I squirted the paper with some water and blotted it dry and then allowed the mat to sit and dry completely before adhering all the elements. The square scalloped frame in the left hand, bottom corner is from SU! Layering Squares Framelits using Glitter Cardstock Matstack purchased from Hobby Lobby. I gave the card a little sparkle and glitz by gluing some Craft Medley sequins to the card. The gold twine, wooden heart, and washi tape are all from Stampin’ Up!. Note: The wooden heart was colored using the Spectrum Noir marker BP4 and then covered with Crystal Effects.

The chameleon was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Ink and colored using Spectrum Noir Markers. Here is the list of markers I used: LV1, CT4, OR1, OR3, CR10, CG3, GB7, TN7, CR6, CR7, CR11. I added SU! dimensionals under him to add depth and dimension to the card. I just love him. He’s sending everyone hugs and kisses!

PCCCS207

I hope you enjoy this chameleon as much as I do.

Just found out I was the winner of the TGIF#66 Card Challenge! Here is a picture of my card that won the challenge along with the link here for the original blog post (this post includes links for Heartfelt Creations and Marisa Jobs blog). Love, Love, Love the Heartfelt Creation product line. They are awesome. Thank you to Marisa Jobs for her design I modified to create a winning card. Also, thanks to Cheyenne Luken for being my stamping cohort.

Heartfelt Creations inspiration from Marisa Jobs

Heartfelt Creations
inspiration from Marisa Jobs

This post is showcasing a card my friend, Cheyenne, and I completed this past Tuesday. We case’d the card from Designs by Marisa with a few additions to our cards. The card is made with stamp sets and 12 x 12 paper stack from the Farmer’s Market Collection sold by Heartfelt Creations. The coloring of the stamped images was completed using Spectrum Noir alcohol markers.  I had been researching alcohol markers and trying to decide which ones I wanted to purchase. The Copic Ciao and Sketch markers seemed to be the best investment because you can refill them; and, they would have been an investment. They are definitely not inexpensive. I had also considered Prismacolor alcohol markers, but they are not refillable and they are not much less in cost than the Copic markers. My friends, Debbie and Cheyenne, had purchased Spectrum Noir alcohol markers but neither of them had really used them for any card making sessions. By the way, Spectrum Noir markers are refillable and are sold at a great price point. So, Cheyenne suggested we use her Spectrum Noir alcohol markers to color the stamped images on this card.  Prior to Cheyenne’s arrival, I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials on how to use the Spectrum Noir markers and felt confident I would do well using them.

Once she arrived at my house, I stamped a fairy image onto some SU! Whisper White card stock and gave the markers a go for the first time. I think my coloring turned out well. I noticed when I cropped the photo, the mushroom doesn’t look well blended, but in “real life” it looks well blended and great. Here is my first attempt with the Spectrum Noir markers.

spectrum noir

Now, to the show piece. This card took us all afternoon to create. The base of the card is a stair step fold using SU! Elegant Eggplant cardstock. We started with the peaches first and colored them using the Spectrum Noir markers (no, I did not write down the numbers we used – too excited to color and couldn’t be bothered to slow down and take notes – lol). The rest of the peach stamped image was colored using the Spectrum Noir markers as well as the blackberries, apples, vines, olives, and bottles. The glass part of the three bottles and the bottle on the tag, along with the blackberries were accented with SU! Crystal Effects. The peaches and blackberries were dusted with fine glitter. I found one of Cheyenne’s sunflowers from our last card session and claimed it for my card.

We should video our creative sessions because they are quite humorous. We compete against each other to see who has the better card. And, many times we pull our own card apart to do what the other one is doing. At the end of our sessions, we text a picture of both our creations to friends and family and have them vote on the one they like best (we don’t tell them who made which one). It’s usually 50-50 and we both agree the other ones card is better. Although, this go round, I think my bottles turned out better than Cheyenne’s (yes, Cheyenne, they are better than yours – ha), but her apple looks better than mine. My apple looks really good, but i had to cover my yellow highlight area because I put too much dark red near it and it had to be blended out.

All in all, I am sold on the Spectrum Noir markers. In fact, I ordered as many of them as I could from Consumer Crafts (www.consumercrafts.com). They are having a sale today, August 11, 2016, until 9:00 p.m. You will receive $10 off of every $40 spent. That is a great deal. For all of you local ladies, I will be having technique classes using these markers. You will need markers to take the class. You don’t have to buy all of them. You could start out with the following 6 packs: yellow, red, green, essentials, and a blender pen.

Here are several pictures showing the card we created (I used Spectrum Noir packs – yellow, purple, red, green, blue, essentials, and pink):

Hearfelt Farmers Market

 

Heartfelt Farmers Market

 

Heartfelt Farmers Market

The Pals Paper Arts Challenge 312 sketch was a great sketch to showcase the Elizabeth Craft Design Hydrangea Die I purchased at our recent Scrapbook Expo held in Duluth, GA.

ppa312

To keep the main focus on the hydrangea, I kept the background and the cardstock band neutral. The Elizabeth Craft Design die comes with an irregular shaped circle, a die for the petals and several different sized leaves.  I cut three of the circles and cut the second and third down to create a stairstep affect on the bottom circle. I adhered each of the circles onto the larger circle using SU! dimensionals. This adds greater dimension to the hydrangea.  I sponged a little SU! Pool Party on to some Whisper White card stock and then cut out the petals. I shaped the petals using the Elizabeth Craft Design tool kit for flower shaping; then, I cut the leaves out of SU! Old Olive and sponged the edges with SU! Old Olive ink andshaped the leaves. I  adhered the flowers on the cardstock circles and I took a dry watercolor brush (a stiff one) and took up a little Pool Party ink from the ink pad lid and brushed the color lightly across the petals.

The band is cut from SU! Crumb Cake cardstock and embossed with the SU! brick wall embossing folder. I cut the strips on top of the Crumb Cake from Old Olive using the SU! Swirly Scribbles Thinlits. The sentiment is stamped in Old Olive and is a Bo Bunny – Amen stamp set which I purchased on sale from Hobby Lobby. The mat and base are SU! Very Vanilla cardstock.

If you have been keeping up with my posts, you know I have really fallen in love with 3D flowers. I think this card is clean and simple and would be a great card to give someone as a sympathy or get well card.

PPA312

Enjoy!

After seeing this past TGIF challenge winner, Bronwyn Eastley’s fancy fold card, I decided to CASE her card and create my own fancy fold card for TGIF #66 Case Your Fave challenge. If you have been keeping up with my previous posts, I attended Scrapbook Expo 2016 held in Duluth, GA. I fell in love with the Heartfelt Creation flowers, dies, and paper stacks. My fiend Cheyenne and I created a side-step card initially featured in Heartfelt Creations gallery but with a few changes (here’s the artist’s post here). We love Marisa Job’s designs! This side-step card creates a unique blend of 3D flowers in a 3D card. I LOVE this card!

Before I post the picture, I should say this was an all day project. Cheyenne had just purchased the stamps, dies, and paper to create sunflower cards and since we do not have a lot of practice flower shaping, it was a long arduous task but very satisfying. We first stamped our flowers on SU! So Saffron cardstock in SU! Soft Suede ink. I sponge daubed my flowers with SU! Hello Honey in the center of each petal and in the center of the flower. I then sponge daubed the edges and the outer portion of the flower center with Tim Holtz Spiced Marmalade distress ink. The leaves were stamped with SU! Old Olive ink onto SU! Old Olive cardstock. We shaped the flowers and leaves and set them aside to create the card base. We used SU! Crumb Cake cardstock with Heartfelt Creations Sunflower paper matted on SU! Mossy Meadow cardstock. We cut out some Old Olive from the SU! Swirly Bird dies and a Sizzix die Cheyenne picked up from Hobby Lobby. This was one of the design changes due to neither of us having the corresponding die to match their gallery pic. Once the base was created, I added black beads from Hobby Lobby in the center of my flowers and glitter to my flowers. Note: Add glitter first to your flowers, because the beads held the excess glitter and I had to add extra beads to cover the shine. I placed my flowers on my card and adhered everything together. Now, this sounds very straight forward, but . . . . . Cheyenne and I both are perfectionists to a certain degree, and we just weren’t satisfied with the balance of flowers on our cards. We pulled flowers off and re-adhered them many times until we were satisfied. This was not an easy thing to do because Heartfelt Creations glue is a very strong adhesive. I, also, had to pull the large bottom flower off and move it down so the sentiment was not covered up. Here’s another tip: If you decided to watch a YouTube video to created a specialized fold card, make sure to watch it all the way through. We were following along with the video, when the woman creating the tutorial said she messed up. What!!!!???? She didn’t edit that part out or add text prior to the goof? We had to cut more paper and start over. Sweet Shananigans!

#tgifc66

I can’t wait to create more 3D projects using flower shaping!

Friday, at Scrapbook Expo 2016, Cheyenne and I had a class with Heartfelt Creations. It was Flower Shaping 101. Cheyenne and I have wanted to learn how to make 3D flowers since visiting Heartfelt Creations booth last year. This class was awesome. We made four flowers.

 

Heartfelt Creations Flower Shaping Class

Heartfelt Creations Flower Shaping Class

I think my flowers came out really well.

Our second and final class was Hearfelt Creations Sparkling Poinsettia Class. We made three gorgeous cards. This class was definitely fast paced and we barely finished in time.

Here are the cards we made in class:

Heartfelt Creations Workshop Card

Heartfelt Creations Workshop Card

 

Heartfelt Creations Workshop Card

Heartfelt Creations Workshop Card

 

Heartfelt Creations Workshop Card

Heartfelt Creations Workshop Card

I plan on saving money each month to take more workshops; especially the Heartfelt Creation workshops. In addition to making wonderful samples and cards, we could pick out for each workshop a FREE stamp set up to a $19.99 value. Here are the stamps I chose. I would have the 12X12 paper stack I purchased (Berry Cafe), but I think I put it in Cheyenne’s bag of Heartfelt Creation haul after we made our Bee Hive Card.

Heartfelt Creation Free Stamps

Heartfelt Creation
Free Stamps

I will be posting either today or tomorrow the cards Cheyenne and I made with her haul of Heartfelt Creation products.

 

I just saw I had made one of the Top 3 for SUO Challenge #149 (click on Top 3 and see the Top 3 cards for this challenge).

Here’s a shout out to Promise Armstrong and Kayla Cansler for providing me an opportunity to create such a cute card. When Margratha (Promise’s mom) told me Kayla loved elephants, I just knew I had to make a card with them included. Congratulations!

Here’s the card:

Top 3 SUO #149

Click here to see the original post.

SUO Challenges Blog’s challenge is a card created with weddings in mind. This was the perfect timing for a card I created to a friend’s son’s engagement party.  They are both missionaries in Hong Kong. She is here preparing for their June wedding, but he is still in Hong Kong and will travel here closer to the wedding date. My friend told me her future daughter-in-law LOVED elephants. So, when I could pre-purchase the new Love You Lots SU! hostess stamp set, I didn’t hesitate to purchase it just for the elephant.

There is only one elephant in the stamp set, but I wanted two elephants kissing each other with their trunks; so, I looked up a couple of techniques on YouTube for stamping reverse images. I found one where you turn a large enough polymer stamp upside down on a block and then stamp your image onto it and then quickly stamp it onto the card stock – no successful – in fact, epic failure. I, then, saw a Jennifer McGuire tutorial where she stamped onto a sheet of acetate and then restamped onto the card stock. I tried it and I got a good enough image to work with. I did have to take a fine tip sharpie and fill in some of the outline.

I then took Basic Grey and Smokey Slate and added some shading onto the elephants. I gave a wash of color onto the elephants using an aqua painter with some Smokey Slate. I stamped the heart in Real Red from the SU! stamp set Wood You Be Mine? Then as an accent to the bottom of the page, I used a stamp from the new SU! stamp set Swirly Bird. I stamped off using Basic Grey ink. The sentiment stamp is from a SU! card kit Watercolor Wishes. The stamped portion of the card is raised with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I think this is the perfect engagement card for elephant lovers:

SUO Challenge #149

Update to Initial Post: Last night 5/27/16, I had an email Pinterest alert for the cutest card ever. It was like mine but different. Here is the link: http://swathicrafts.co.uk/love-you-lots/pinkies-blog-hop-card-featuring-affectionately-yours-speciality-designer-series-paper/  Why didn’t I think of making the other elephant PINK!!!!! And, on top of that, she had great instructions on how to transfer the image from the acetate to the card stock. She used a bone folder to press down on the acetate to make a crisper, fuller image. I wish I had ran across this tip when I was doing my card!

Supplies:

Stamp Sets (All SU!): Love You Lots, Wood You Be Mine?, Watercolor Wishes
Inks: Basic Black, Basic Grey, Real Red, Smokey Slate
Card Stock: Whisper White
Accessories: SU! dimensionals, black Sharpie fine tip marker, SU! blocks, SU! paper trimmer

A friend of mine took me to a stamp store, Impressive Ideas, in Norcross, GA. It is like a candy shop. All the stamps and accessories I’ve seen used on YouTube videos and various rubber stamping websites were all in one place! I really didn’t need anything, but ……. I just couldn’t pass up the blow fish blowing out candles on a birthday cake (Art Impressions – unmounted ZooCrew Deep Breath Birthday – 4471); so, I bought it along with a few other things and then….. I went back to the Dienamics aisle and picked up two dies (the stitched rectangles and the rolling hills). There went my budget of not spending anything on stamps until I have a few more make-n-take classes. LOL

Anyway, a girl in my small group from church had a birthday the next week. I thought this would make a great card to give her from the group. I pulled out scraps to make the card along with my Blendabilities and came up with this.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Jess’ Birthday Card

Enjoy!

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