End of the Week Technique #45 - Water-Coloring with Markers

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Hey y'all. Happy Thursday! Just one more day until the holiday weekend. Woo-Hoo!

Know what else is just a day away? The end of our Spooktacular Savings Promotion. If you join my team before close of business tomorrow  now extended through September 16th, you get a FREE kit including the Googly Ghouls stamp set, a custom letterpress tray and all the materials needed to create your own special Halloween Home Decor. Want to know what's even better than that? You can then customize it for use throughout the year. It's the gift that keeps on creatively giving. Picture to follow later in this post. So for $99.00 you can get $125.00 worth of Traditional Stamping items or over $545.00 worth of Digital items (MDS2+ & $45.00 worth of digital downloads) or $500.00 worth of Digital and $45.00 worth of Traditional items. It's totally customizable to how you enjoy crafting. In addition to this when you place an order in your first 45 days you get 30% off the total price and 20% off any additional orders. Though there is Absolutely NO Commitment to ever ordering anything else again. Win-Win and Absolutely No Obligation, pretty nice!

Well, I got to thinking of when I first started and how I would have used that money to it's best potential. I wasn't doing any digital designing back then, so I would have definitely gone for traditional product. I already had a little cardstock and a few stamps, what I didn't have was ink. Now as you can imagine, it's hard to stamp without ink! I only had a few colors so I was really limited in what I could create. That's where the idea of the markers and this week's EWT came in. I had heard that you could use wax paper and our SU Markers to "watercolor" designs and new I wanted to try. So I sat down and created this card-

Thinking of you Card featuring
Wonderful Winterland Stamp Set and
Storytime DSP

Do you Love it? I do and you won't believe just how easy it was to create! I love getting the most bang for my buck and I love stamp sets that have multiple images and can be used for more than just one occasion. This Wonderful Winterland set can be used from the time it starts getting cool all the way through till spring. In fact if you inked this particular stamp up with a pen instead of the pad you could omit the scarf and make it a Spring/Summer stamp and literally use it all year long.

How sweet is that image!?! It actually only has the Momma duck and one little duckling but I wanted an extra sweet baby so I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig and added the third one in. So easy! I stamped them in Black Staz-On so I could water-color them and not have the inked outline bleed into my colors.

This is a very Clean and Simple layout, can you believe it, two in one week! I chose my color palate from the Storytime DSP that I used to cut my flag.  I think it's 3/4" wide. I attached this to my Wild Wasabi base with a little Tombow and left just the ends free so I could give them a little curl for dimension and the appearance of motion. I stamped my ducks in Black Staz-on, everything was inked/colored with my SU Markers. After stamping my sweet little family I used my Apothecary Accents Framelet to cut them out. I colored them in (Tutorial to follow) added the snowflakes, from the same set and the snow to the ground. This panel was then adhered with Dimensionals. Two buttons from the Brights pack, which I got for Free, were adhered with Mini-Glue Dots. Faux thread was added by coloring between the button holes with my White Gel Pen. My sentiment is from Easy Events. It says "hello baby" but I only inked the word hello with my Wild Wasabi marker. I stamped it on a piece of Whisper White c/s and punched it out with my Oval Punch. The edges were sponged before attaching it to a piece of So Saffron c/s that I punched out with my Scalloped Oval Punch. This was then adhered with Dimensionals and my card front was completed.

Here's the inside-

Thinking of You Card featuring
Winter Wonderland and Teeny Tiny Messages

Another C&S style inside. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is stamped in Wild Wasabi on a Whisper White background. The edges of the c/s are sponged as well. I stamped one sweet little duckling in the corner to continue the theme from the front. A little watercoloring and Dazzling Diamonds and this card was d.o.n.e!

Don't you just want to pick him up and put him your pocket? Ok maybe your pocket's too small but I bet your purse isn't! :)

Here's a closer look at the focal point-

I've talked about watercoloring with the Blender Pens before but always with our Classic Ink Pads, using the ink in the lid method. As much as I love that Technique, it can be a little expensive to get all the pads at one time. In fact I got the Many Marvelous Markers before I got most of my pads for that very reason. I just wish I had know about this months ago, I might have waited a little longer to get all my pads and bought more stamps and paper first.

Here's a few numbers for you. We have 38 core colors. Each pad is $5.95. If you buy the pads individually (a little at a time) you would pay $226.10 for them all.  If you buy them all by color family they are $49.95 a piece for the colors and $39.95 for the Neutrals because there are only 8 of those. That's a total of $189.80 for all 38 core colors. However if you order the Many Marvelous Colors pack, you get all 38 core colors in a handy dandy tote that not only closes securely but has extra slots for your 10 In-Color Markers as well. How much for all this inky fun? You pay just $109.95. That's a 42% savings over the individual sets and a 53% savings over buying them individually! WOW!!! Yes! You read that correctly! By purchasing the Marker Set you save between 42 and 53% over purchasing the pads.

What can you do with the markers? I'm glad you asked. They are dual-end markers so you can use the brush tip to color images (direct to paper), and you can use the fine tip to either color in smaller images or for journaling. You can also use the markers to apply color directly to your stamps, it works equally well for solid or line images. And now I'm happy to show you that you can also watercolor with your markers. So while it may take you just a little longer to ink up your stamps with markers than the Clasic Ink Pads it's a Great option especially when you're just starting out or a little strapped for cash, and let's face it these days, that's a lot of us. Isn't it nice to know you can come here and find out something other than just the newest thing about me that makes you Lol?  You live and you learn and maybe just maybe you come around here every-once-in-a-while and stumble upon something new and fun.

Here's what you need for this week's EWT- Black Staz-On ink pad, Marker/s in the colors of your choice (I used SU obviously so I can only attest to how well they work with this technique), Stamp set and card stock in your preferred color and here's where the magic happens...Wax Paper, Yep, you read that right, good old fashion Wax Paper. I bet you've got some in your kitchen cabinets right now. Tear off a piece, get your other supplies and get ready to have some watercoloring F.U.N.!

Here's what you do ( I wish I had more pictures but it's kinda hard to color with your right hand and take pictures with your left at the same time)
1- Stamp your image in Black Staz-On. Trust me on this...you can't use regular ink from a pad or marker for this. Well, I guess technically you could but all of your colors are going to come out wonky as soon as they hit the outline because they're going to mix with the black. Ask me how I know. Yep I forgot to stamp in Staz-On one day and couldn't figure out why my Marina Mist was all of a sudden a violet color. *SMH*
2- Chose your color palate. You can only prep one color at a time, so decide which color you want to start with. Take the "brush-tip" end and color a small circle onto your wax paper. You will have a small pool of color, like the color in the lid technique, it will just be a little less wet.

 I put all the colors in this picture with the corresponding markers so you could see, but I took this picture after I was done with my project.

Using Wax Paper  & SU Markers to Watercolor

For my card I used Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Sahara Sand, Baja Breeze and Bashful Blue. I used the Sahara Sand to give a little depth to the ducks. Look on the bellies and heads and you can see a little bit of shadowing. The Bashful Blue was colored lightly, just a wash of color really, for the snowflakes and the snow on the ground. I then used a little Two-Way Glue Pen and Dazzling Diamonds to maximize the effect.

3- Using your Blender Pen, dip your tip into the pool of color on your wax paper and then color in your project. You may want to test the depth of color on your grid paper first. I usually dab off a small amount before applying the color to my image because I like to be able to layer my colors to get the depth of color that I want. Remember- you can always add color but you can't take it away. How easy is that!?!
4- Re-apply the color to the wax paper as needed to complete your coloring.
5- Smile when you see what you've created and smile even more when you think about the joy and the smiles it will bring to its recipient!

This is really an Amazing use of these pens that I loved so much to start with. I love my Classic Ink Pads, don't get me wrong, but if I had known about this technique last year I would have $189.80 in more stamps & extras and I would be getting the new improved pads to boot. If you are looking to maximize your crafting dollars this is one way I highly recommend. If you sign up as a demonstrator you can get all these colors plus a pack of 3 Blender Pens and still have just over $5.00 to spend on accessories like some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter or 2 packs of Dazzling Details Glitter Adhesive, a $125.00 value for just $99. Oh and remember that Spooktacular Offer I told you about?

Here's what you get-

You get everything you see here, Stamp Set, Frame, Stickers, Rhinestone Jewels, Bakers Twine and Ribbon. Ok, if you choose Clear Mount Stamps instead of Wood Mount the Mounting Block doesn't come in your kit, but I'll throw that in as my gift to you. Then you're ready to get creating. You'll even be invited to my House for an Exclusive Party where we'll design our kits together. Not a Halloween person? You can simply paint the frame a neutral color and design other layouts that you can change up for each season/holiday.

That's all I have for you today. I hope you liked today's card/technique and I hope it inspires you to try something new. Get out your wax paper and markers and have some fun. If you have comments or questions about today's technique I hope you'll leave me a message below. If you need supplies you can hop on over to my Online Store and get them delivered right to your door or better yet click on "Join the Fun" and get started saving on all of your crafting supplies.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! If you liked today's card and want to leave me a little blog love below, your comments make my day every time. I read them all. Thanks so much for the support and encouragement! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card the buttons are here on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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End of the Week Technique #41 (A Two-Fer) Coloring/Un-Coloring Stamps / PP106

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Hey y'all. Happy Thursday to you! I hope you're having a fabulous week. Just one more day to go until the weekend. Yea!!!

I've got lots of pictures for you today, so I'm just gonna jump on in. :) This card didn't start out with the intent to be a EWT. In fact, I was looking through my reader this weekend to get some challenge ideas and decided on The Paper Players Challenge. I went down to the studio to make my card and had a little "oopsie". Well, you know what they like to say about stamping..."There's no mistakes just creative design opportunities. That's what happened here. Gotta say I love when that happens and you end up loving your creation.

Here's today's card-

Masculine Card featuring
Forever With You

I know I talked yesterday about the only card as hard for me to do as Sympathy cards were Masculine cards. Luckily as I was reading through my feeds, I saw this challenge over at The Paper Players and thought I would give it a try. I usually like a little more structure to my challenges, which is one reason I don't often do Color Challenges.

 I decided on the Masculine, Dry Embossing and Blue options. I really love this stamp set, but I think it's easy to make a beautiful, romantic card for a female with it and a little bit harder to make one that's masculine. You know...all those flowers. :)

I started with a base of Midnight Muse (Check, Blue). Next came a Crumb Cake layer that I embossed with my Stripes Embossing Folder and my Big Shot (Check, Dry Embossing). I gently sponged over this with some Crumb Cake Classic Ink to make the embossing stand out more. Oh, I used my new Windows Framelets to cut all of my layers out. I then decided to layer on a piece of DSP from the new Comfort Cafe Collection. Even though this piece has a floral element, I don't think it's frilly or feminine with this card so, I think it works. Oh I also ran it through my Big Shot with my Lattice E.F. and sponged over it with more C.C. (Check Blue and Dry Embossing). Hey this might not be so difficult after all. :) Or at least that's what I was thinking at the time.

For my focal point I decided to color in the stamp with my Stampin Write Markers. I guess I could have inked it up all in Midnight Muse for an even more "Masculine" look, but you know me, always adding a little something more. Coco Channel would be so disappointed. I used my Stampin Write Markers in Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple and Wild Wasabi to color in my image and stamped it on Whisper White c/s. You know this has really been a week where none of my cards have been created  easily and without some little Oopsie happening. Well, I went to mount it to the C.C. mat (I cut a piece of C.C. c/s with the same framelet twice, and  cut it so I could layer it behind my W.W. panel to give just a narrow mat instead of a wider one) and realized that I should have used Very Vanilla instead of W.W. AUGH!!!! It was def way to bright against that card. What to do, what to do? You know what to do here..... Think, Think, Think, say it in your best Pooh-Bear voice. Why, I know I'll just add some C.C. ink to it and make it look a little antiquey/vintagey. So definitely not my normal style, but I definitely didn't want to re-color that whole stamp again. So I swirled on some C.C. ink all over the image and c/s. I'm not sure why but some of the colors blended out with the C.C. ink too. I had even waited a while to do this. The M.M. blurred into the center and edges as well as the P.P and R.R around the stamped floral elements. I was not  happy at all, but the more I looked at it, I decided it looked like a really old element and that it went well with the card, so I decided to just go with it. Here's a close-up of the center element-

I think it looks almost like a label or something from an old card. I actually really like it. :) I adhered the C.C. mat to it with Tombow and then adhered that with Dimensionals. The other two layers are also adhered with Dimensionals.

Here's the inside-

Oooops! *EpicFail!* As I went to pull up a shot of the inside, I realized that I must not have taken one. *Headdesk* Oh well, as far as my usual insides go it was pretty boring. Definitely "masculine" with out frills or glimmer. I stamped "Love You" from the Bitty Banners Stamp set in M.M.onto a piece of V.V. c/s.  I inked it with my Stampin Write Markers so I was able to get just the words and not the frame around it. Oh and I sponged the edges too.

So what do you think? I think it fits the challenge requirements and is pretty cool too, even if it is all vintagey. Lol!

Now for today's technique. I know this is a very basic technique, but it's one that I use a lot. You can really change the look of a stamped image by doing this and create endless looks at the same time.

Here's what you'll need- Stamp set of your choice (This works best with line images or stamps with lots of detail), Markers of your choice (Of course I used S.U. because they're amazing and I never have to worry about them coordinating with my c/s or embellishments), Cardstock of your choice to stamp on and last but not least a Blender Pen.

Here's what you do, it's so crazy simple. Really it is, and speaking of this how cool is it that we can now color our stamps different colors in MDS? I know random thought. Sorry. :)
1- Choose the color you want for each different portion of your stamp and color directly on the stamp with that marker.
2- Continue to do this until your entire stamp is inked up. If you're using lighter colors just tilt your stamp around under the lights to see the color and make sure that everything is really inked up. It sure does stink if you forget this step and you have a beautiful image except for that one little spot. Ask me how I know!!! Your stamp  might not look the best at this point, but don't be a Scaredy Cat. Have a little Faith.

3- Once you've finished step 2, other sections of your stamp are probably dry, so you want to make sure you "huff" on your stamp to re-moisten everything. I usually huff a couple of times just to make sure I've got everything "huffed on". Then stamp your image onto your c/s. That's all there is to it. See I told you, Super Simple. I love the effects you can get doing this. What I really love is the look on the faces of my clients when they do this and see the beautiful images they get. This never fails to amaze!
4- Smile when you see your finished project and smile even more when you think about the smile it's going to bring to the face of it's recipient! I L.O.V.E. this part! : D

Oh did you think I forgot about my Blender Pen? Nope you get two Techniques today for the price of one. And since that price is FREE, What a Bargain!!! This second one was the "Main Idea" for today's technique, but since I figure there might be some "newbies" out there who happen to have stumbled upon my little blog somehow, I'd throw the first part in as well. Hey, there was a time when I had never heard of it either. :)

Here's how to turn an *@#%! into an YES! If you've ever tried this technique you have probably encountered one of those *@#%! moments where you coughed, sneezed, heck maybe you just blinked, or could be that the lines were really close together. For whatever reason, you colored out of, or off of your line.

This happened to me. I had colored in the entire center section and was outlining the outer rings when Mayhem struck. No, hes' not only in those insurance commercials (but don't you love him in those...so funny!) Any-whoo, I was almost done and BAM!!! (and not the Tasty, Emeril Lagasse kind of Bam!!! either). My hand slipped and I colored the tips of a few of my leaves Midnight Muse. Now on some of my colored images a little color sharing might be ok, but I was not having it for this one. Here's what I mean-

Sure wish I knew how to add in those handy little arrow pointers, right about now

Well let me just tell you- I was not in the mood to clean that entire stamp and start again. Now, I had heard that you could use your blender pens to "erase" these kinds of mistakes. Having never tried it for this (only on paper and it really doesn't work so well then, kinda like shutting the gate after the cows gone through it) I wasn't sure if it would work. Maybe it was one of those crazy Urban Legends. I figured it was worth a shot. What's the worst thing that could happen? It didn't work and I would have to start over again. I decided to take my chances and try-

Do you have any idea how hard it is to un-color your stamp
at the same time you are trying to photograph you un-coloring
your stamp with a B.B.?

Here's what you do-
1- Carefully swipe your Blender Pen over the misplaced ink until it's all removed. If your area is really big you may have to clean your blender pen at some point during your removal process. Mine was small so I didn't have to clean it till I was done.
2- Do a little *HappyDance* because you don't have to meticulously re-color your stamp.

Woo-Hoo!!! It worked. That Blender Pen just soaked up the color. It's just like touching the end on them on your ink-pads though (Not a good idea BTW! Ask me how I know.), you will really have to wipe it quite a bit to get it all out of your pen and on your scrap grid paper. But it will eventually come out and then you're stamp will look like this-

All clean and ready for the correct color to be applied. 

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked not only my card, but the techniques as well.  I really hope today's post inspires you to try something new today, whether it's a challenge or a technique or heck even something out of the crafting/designing realm. You know the motto here- Just try.

If you liked today's post or had questions about it, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to leave me a comment. I read all of them and will be sure to get back to you. Your comments really do make my day! If you  would like to +1 or Pin today's card, I've put the buttons here on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are so appreciated! I hope to see you back here real soon for more fun projects or if you like...more excuses to smile and laugh at my mis-adventures. Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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2 Challenges in 1 and A Sneak Preview

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Hey y'all. Happy Humpday! I hope you're having a fabulous day and an amazing week. I've go two cards to post before they close, one at midnight and one first thing in the morning so I'm actually going to do 2 posts today. This is #1.

So, Nacho Average Challenge is a new challenge site and I entered their 1st challenge, a sketch challenge, last week. Their plan is to alternate between sketch and color challenges. I think I've only done one color challenge on here in the last year, because as a general rule, I'm really just not that creative. There's just too many possibilities...all the potential combinations....AUGH!!! Which is why it's so funny that I have 3 cards and 2 color challenges to show you today.

You know by now, that I show the good with the bad here and I'm pretty honest with y'all about my shortcomings and faults. Color challenges and me....well, I'm pretty inept at them, really just too many possibilities, so I just don't do them. Yeah, yeah, Scaredy Cat and all that. I'm working on it.... Well, I saw the challenge colors yesterday and decided I would just have to give it a try. What's the worst that could happen? I'd have a sucky card to show you, so you know my cards don't always turn out. (As if you didn't already know that! LOL) On the walk to the slug-line, I started thinking of the stamp sets I had at home, and which ones could I possibly use with this color combination. Believe it or not I had two different stamp sets and two different card ideas come to mind. *Score!*

Here's the first one-

Happy Birthday Card featuring
Apothecary Art

Here's the Color Challenge (if I put the images of the sketches/color chart first then that's the image that shows up in my rolling top-ten list)

Wow! I wasn't sure about these colors outside of a fall/autumn type card and there was already one of those in the DT cards. Normally I wouldn't look at the DT samples first, but I was afraid I might need some inspiration. Good thing too, or I might have used my Gently Falling set and looked like a copy-cat!

I'd been wanting to use this image from the Apothecary Art set as it hadn't yet seen any ink. How sad is that? So I inked it up with Black Staz-On and stamped it onto a piece of Whisper White c/s. I ran this through my Big Shot with the corresponding Labels Framelet. I used my Blender Pens and Classic Ink Pads in the challenge colors to color in the image. It's a little hard to see at first glance but the inside portion of the flowers are in More Mustard. Do you know, I think this is the first time, I've used my M.M. products. I had to open the paper and the pad I know had never been used. I don't even think I've used the marker. Hard to believe how light the Riding Hood Red can appear. I love how using the blender pen you can make the colors almost a "wash" and then go back and layer in more to add depth and intensity. I wanted to add a little ribbon and as Riding Hood Red was all I had (from Christmas Cards last year) guess what I chose. I opted to put it across the center of the focal point instead of a sentiment.

Here's a close-up-

I decided to use Lucky Limeade as a mat. My original idea was to make two and cut them down so I'd a have just a small mat, you know like we do with labels but, silly me, I cut out two of the next larger size instead of the same size. I decided to just go with it and for a little added something-something I ran it through my Big-Shot with the Perfect Polka-Dots E.F. Now why I didn't think to just put the smaller framelets on the larger ones and cut them out is beyond me. Who know!?! As a stand-alone mat I was happy with how it looked so I decided to go with it. If I had it to do over again I would try it with the smaller mat. In fact I may still try that at home. That just left the More Mustard. What to do, what to do? Think, Think, Think, (you know what to do here (:  ) I decided to keep it simple with just the card base and no additional layers so I ran it through my Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper E.F. I then sponged it with M.M classic ink to bring out the detail.

For the inside, I used the sentiment that came in this case and the other floral image as well.

I stamped the sentiment in Soft Suede as I thought Basic Black might be a little strong. The floral image is actually from the journaling stamp that comes with this set. I masked off everything except the floral image and then inked it up with Black Staz-On.

Sorry, about the lighting. Not sure why the flash didn't go off. I used the same colors and blender pens to color in both stamped images and then let Tink have just a little bit of fun.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. With the exception of trying a smaller mat, I think it's o.k.  Now the challenge doesn't end until midnight Saturday so why am in such a rush to post today? Well, as I was mounting the focal image on my card front it struck me that it would fit in the Stamping 411 challenge too. Yes, I know I've already entered that one, but it never hurts to enter twice. : D In case you missed that sketch yesterday, here it is again-

Remember when I said I had two sets come to mind yesterday as I was brainstorming on the way to the slug-line? Well, I made a second card last night for this color challenge. It's actually my favorite of the two, but I'll do the complete post either later this week, maybe Friday or on Monday.

Here's a preview-

So excited about how this one turned out!!!!

Don't forget to stop by Stamping 411 and Nacho Average Challenge. There's still time for you to play along.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked my stab at this challenge, and if not I hope you can at least appreciate the challenge it was for me and commiserate with me. :) I hope it inspires you to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day and stopping by today. You are so appreciated!!! If you liked today's card and have a moment to drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you. Your comments make my day! I read all of them and try to respond to them as well. If you liked today's card, or any here, and would like to +1 or Pin it, I've put the buttons here on my blog for your convenience. Friends and followers are always welcome too.

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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Sending You Love SSC #261 / My Challenge #28

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Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday. I hope you are cool and getting ready for a Fabulous 4th of July tomorrow. I'm planning on spending the day with friends. It's nice to get a little mid-week break but it's kinda hard to plan on going out to see the fire-works knowing I have to be back at work bright and early on Thursday morning. I guess I'll either watch them on t.v. or catch up on my dvr'd shows. :)

It's time for another challenge card. I'm so excited to know that I have done at least one challenge a week this year which means I'm keeping up with my New Year's Resolve for a least one thing. I really feel like this has been such a positive thing for me to do and that I'm growing creatively and becoming more confident in my designs and my design choices. I challenge you if you are not doing challenges (wow, I challenge you to challenges.....hahahahaha) find some you like and do some on a consistent basis. It doesn't have to be weekly like me. Even if you do one challenge a month, I'm sure you'll find a difference in how you look at things creatively.

This week's challenge card is another Stamping 411 card. These ladies are Amazing! They have great sketches and the design team samples are great. Of course I try not to look at the D.T. samples until after I have my card in mind, so I feel like I'm coming up with my own idea and not influenced by their work. I know I say this all the time, but not only are the sketches wonderful, but they take all the guess-work out of the equation by giving you measurements to get you started. The OCD in me goes a little wonky when I have to figure out measurements, especially if there are multiple layers. In case you missed the posts, I have been known to mathematically figure out the correct dimensions by measuring the sketches and then figuring out the correct proportions. :( Like I said, it gets a little wonky sometimes.  Here's this week's card-

Challenge Card Featuring
Easy Events Stamp Set and Twitterpated DSP

Other than the fact that I can see that my ribbon is somehow not level, I'm really pretty happy with this card. For those of you that are new here- I'm a little inept at mixing and matching DSP papers even though I know they all go together. It literally gives me anxiety. Since I know the OCD is not going anywhere (completely), I figure the least I can do is try to conquer small bits of it. Hey, I'll take small victories wherever I can! When I saw this week's sketch I knew it would be perfect for lots of mixing and matching. Although I'm not sure just how well I succeeded, I did try and it doesn't look like a "Hot Mess" so, I'll take it as a small win. I know it's hard to see in this picture but the scalloped pink layer is DSP, meaning I have 5 different pieces of DSP on this card. Woo-Hoo! *Happy Dance* Flowers and Patterns and Stripes, Oh My!

I took my color inspiration from the main DSP panel with the flowers and then went from there. I used a base of Baja Breeze with a layer of Island Indigo to hold all of my DSP. That layer is raised up with Dimensionals. I used my Scalloped Border Edgelet on the pink DSP and then used my Adorning Accents EF on it as well. I love the added touch, plus the top of the embossed area gave me a level area to mount my floral piece to. :) *Bonus* I inked up the sweet little birds from the Easy Events stamp set with Black Staz-On so I could color with my blender pens. 

Ok, truth be told I did it with Staz-On the second time. I almost always forget the first time. Do you do that to or is it just me? I didn't even think about it until my Bashful Blue birds turned a weird violet color because it was mixing with my Classic Black Ink. *Head-desk* So I had to start again. I also switched the sentiments and used one from another stamp in the set. Love how that worked out. This was punched out with my 1 3/4" circle punch, sponged lightly with Island indigo and then mounted with Dimensionals to a piece of Baja Breeze c/s that was punched out with my Large Scalloped Circle Punch. I sponged it lightly with some Island Indigo as well and mounted it with some Dimensionals. A little love from Tink made the little heart and the bird's wings sparkle just a bit. Oh, the wings on the birds are Pacific Point and the heart is Primrose Petals.

Here's the sketch-

Oh, I miss that cute little butterfly! The new one is very pretty, but this one always made me smile.

Here's the inside-

What a pain to stamp those little birds separately! The branches are so close together. This was my 4th attempt to get them just right. It sure would be nice if there was a Staz-On Pen like the Versamark one! You can't tell but their wings and hearts got Tinked here on the inside too. Although it was a pain, I think the inside turned out so pretty. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is stamped in Island Indigo. The edges of the W.W. c/s were sponged with it as well.

I hope you liked today's card as much as I enjoyed challenging myself during the making of it. LoL! I really do love hearing from you and I read all of my comments, so if you get a second to drop me a line, it would make my day. If you liked today's card and would like to +1 or Pin it, I've put the buttons on my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today! I hope I've inspired you today to try something that you don't feel comfortable with. I wish you all a safe and happy holiday full of Family, Friends and of course time for creativity. Hope to see you back here real soon. Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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End of the Week Technique #2 Blender Pens & Pastels

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Hey Y'all! It's Thursday and I have a few minutes so I thought I would go ahead and try and get my second installment of End of the Week Technique in the bag and on the web.

This week's technique is using blender pens and pastels. Did you know you could use your blender pens to color with your pastels? I've been stamping off and on for about 5 years now and had no idea! Who Knew?!? Well apparently there's this thing called You-Tube and you can find all sorts of cool ideas and techniques there and well, that's just what I did! :)
Here's this week's card-

For the life of me, I can't think of the name of the stamp set but it's in the current Stampin' Up catalog. Isn't it Cute? Want to know a secret? It's not 6 different stamps. It's one long one, and I just masked off the ones I wasn't stamping and stamped them one at a time. Gives you a totally different effect. I used Poppy Parade for my card base and Just Add Cake Striped DSP for the second layer. I stamped the images on Whisper White cardstock and then used my 1inch punch to punch out each of the images. I then mounted them on 1 1/8 inch squares of So Saffron, Wild Wasabi and Pacific Point Cardstock. I sponged the edges of both the white and the colored cardstock with matching colored ink. I used Tombow Adhesive to adhere all the layers so they would really stick and then stamped my sentiment with Basic Black in the center bottom.

So, for today's technique I took my blender pens and stroked them over the Stampin' Pastel Color block that I wanted to use and then just colored. How easy is that? Let me tell you, it is so much easier than using the little Q-tip swabbie things that come in the Pastel kit! Plus there are only 3 of those. Boy, I wish I had known about this earlier! I can't tell you how much easier it is to apply color, especially in small areas with your blender pens. It's also easier to get the color off your applicator. When you're done with one color simply make some strokes on your grid paper (scrap) until no color shows and then go to your next color. With the blender pens you can also add depth and intensity to your color. I Totally Love this technique! One thing to remember is to not push down on your blender pen tip. You don't want to smoosh it, you want to keep it nice and angled. BTW- a really nice bonus on the blender pens, they come in packs of 3 and they're double ended, so plenty of use there. When you use them with your ink pads they will get stained, but don't worry, they still work fine, just always swipe them clear when you're done with one color and you will be good to go.

Here's a picture of the card's inside- you know I usually like to put a little something extra in there as well.

Two things about this picture-
1- after I colored, cut out,and adhered my image, I used my Two-Way Glue Pen and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to add a little sparkle to the image. You can see it a little in the picture. After all, you can never have to much Bling or Glitter, right? Besides, why shouldn't the inside of the card be just as pretty as the outside?
2- If you look real close at the left hand border of the image you'll see the black outline of an image. That's right, it's an OOOPS! Here's the thing- You know I love Clear-Mount Stamps right? I love that I can see exactly where I'm stamping, which reduces my OCD-Stress etc., they take up less space, cost less, I could go on. The one downside is technique related. You have to make sure you take the time to adhere the stamp to the block correctly. Press and hold for at least a count of three. You can not rush this! Also make sure to use the correct size block for your stamp. Ask me how I know? Well, you can see how I know, just look at my card. I didn't take the time to make sure the stamp was secure and I had the first image, which is probably about 3/4 of an inch of a 4-5 inch image on the edge of small stamp block, with the rest hanging off. When I went to stamp, it fell off the block and onto the edge of my card. OH NOES! OK, that's not really what I said, but let's not go there. :) So I had to find a way to fix my boo-boo. Hence, the stamped and cut out image, which is, yes, sitting at an angle. No, it's not your eyes playing tricks on you. You can see the edge of the outline because I felt the image would look silly if I had a bigger border. However, in real life it's really not that noticeable and I'm still really pleased with how the card came out.

So, hopefully you learned two things this week, I know I did!
Some of the items used for today's card are listed below. Remember you can shop for them and more 24/7 at my online store. Just click HERE.



Blender Pens



Stampin Pastels





Just Add Cake DSP







Well, that's it for this week. I hope you let me know what you think and I hope you give this technique a try. I know you'll love it as much as I do! If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

I hope you all have a fun, relaxing and safe holiday weekend. Hope you'll check back in soon.

Be Safe,

Shan

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