Copic Colored Flowers Thinking of You

Hi Everyone!

Thank you for visiting me today, I hope you’re all having a great day. I am so excited to share today’s card with you. I recently treated myself to a couple new crafty items and one of them was the Cosmos background stamp from Simon Says Stamp. I knew as soon as I saw it that the possibilities for coloring it were going to be endless! I have another example to share with you later in the week; but first, let’s talk about this one.

I stamped the background stamp in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 80lb Neenah White card stock. I know there are a lot of Copic friendly black inks out there; but this one is my favorite. I will always reach for it first, with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink being a close second. I let it dry for about 15 minutes and then just for a little added insurance, I took my heating gun and just lightly ran it over the image just to make certain the ink was completely dry. Once that was done, I set to coloring. I won’t bore you with all the blending details. Let me just be clear, however, I am NOT a Copic Color artist! I’m not certified, I’ve never taken a class or anything close to it. I just do what works for me. I take the tips and tricks and tutorials I’ve seen on You Tube, Pinterest and other blogs etc and try to learn from them and then apply it. So, please don’t criticize my coloring!

Red flowers: R35, R46, R59.
Turquoise flowers: BG45, BG15, BG49.
Yellow flowers: YR15, YR16, YR09, R59
Flower centers: E25, E29
Leaves: YG03, YG17, 25, 67
Background: W1, W3

After the coloring was completed, I added some highlights with a white gel pen. I die cut my new “Thinking of You” die 3 times from white card stock and once from black card stock. I stacked all the white die cuts together and adhered them to make a 3D type sentiment and then I off centered it with the black one, to give it a bit of shadow or depth behind it. Without that black piece behind it, the white words just get lost against the background.

That finishes the card. I have to admit, I was rather tickled with the results. I hope you like it too! Have a great weekend and I will see you all again soon!

1. Addicted to Stamps and More: Anything Goes
2. Crafting by Design: Anything Goes (2nd Entry)
3. Crafty Creations Challenges: Anything Goes
4.  The House that Stamps Built: Anything Goes
5. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
6.Brown Sugar Challenges: Anything Goes
7. Jo’s Scrap Shack: Anything Goes
8. Polkadoodles: Anything Goes
9. Simple Create Too: Anything Goes

Mojo Monday 521: Friendship has its Perks!

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope you are all having a great start to your day! I’m so glad you’re taking a moment to visit with me! Today’s card is for a Mojo Monday sketch. I haven’t done one of these in SUCH a long time! I was sad to hear Julee closed the Verve Shop last year. Many of my favorite stamp sets are from Verve and I continue to use many of them frequently. (Having said that, I did go with a stamp set from Simon Says Stamp for this one, however.)

This sketch was fun and easy to work with. I decided to break out some patterned paper for this as well. I don’t use it very often but it definitely makes the card easy to put together! I just pulled some pieces from my stash that seemed to go together.

The stamp set from Simon Says Stamp is “What’s Brewing” and it came as part of a stamping kit of the month  a couple (?) of years ago. I stamped the mug from the set and then colored it with Copic Markers (E09, E19, E84, E87, E29) I stamped the “hello” sentiment in SSS dark chocolate ink and then I fussy cut it out and added it to the mug. I stamped the other sentiment in red ink (honestly...don’t remember which one) I die cut some circles, blended some ink over them for a little added color and interest. I layered the card as shown and finally added two small sequins in the corner of the small patterned paper piece and finished the card!

That is it for me today! Have a great one, and I will see you all again soon!

Challenges:

1.  A Bit More Time To Craft: Anything Goes (2nd Entry)
2. Arty Divas: Anything Goes
3. Crafter’s Cafe Challenge: Dots or Stripes
4. Crafts Galore Encore: Anything Goes (2nd Entry)
5. Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper Challenge: Use patterned paper
6. Lemon Shortbread Challenges: Anything Goes
7. Mojo Monday: Sketch 521
8. Love to Craft: Anything Goes
9. Through the Craft Room Door: Anything Goes
10. The Creative Crafters: Anything Goes (2nd Entry)

Die cuts and Stencils Thank You

Hi Everyone!

Welcome back to my blog! I hope you all had a great weekend. I am back with another card using masking with die cuts and stencils. This card uses the mask of the die cut in the center to keep it protected while I stipple brushed distress inks in the background. For this one, I used Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint and Iced Spruce. Honestly, when I first thought about these colors together, I wasn’t quite sure I was go into like it! They just sounded very odd together. I should know by now, however, to just trust Kristina Werner’s keen color sense because I LOVE this color combination so much!

After adding a soft layer of color, I layered the swirl stencil from Hero Arts and secured it in place with some purple tape and added a darker layer of the same ink colors. I die cut the U several times which is from  an old Verve Stamps set and then stamped the Coordinating “U” stamp in Chipped Sapphire. I layered them all together for a “chipboard” type letter. I stamped the “thank” part of the sentiment which is from the same set in Iced Spruce and then layered it on the U as shown.; and then adhered it in the center of the die cut. I added a layer of diamond stickles to make it all sparkly and shiny.
That wraps it up for me today! Have a great start to your week and I will see you all again soon!

Challenges:

1. Crafty Calendars: Anything Goes (2nd Entry)
2. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: Anything Goes (2nd Entry)
3. The Corrosive Challenge Blog: Anything Goes (3rd Entry)
4,  Dare to be Artsy Challenge: Anything Goes: (3rd Entry)
5. Get Creative Challenges: Anything Goes (2nd Entry)
6. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies: Anything Goes

Masking with Die cuts and Stencils: Friend You are Awesome

Hi Everyone!

Welcome back to my blog. Thank you so much for spending some of your day with me, I do so appreciate it! I have one more cross-stitch card to share with you; but I haven’t photographed it yet, so we’ll take a break from those for a couple of days and move on to some other cards I’ve been working on. Sometimes, I scroll through Pinterest or Instagram and I see all the manufacturers in the industry promoting their new sales and new releases and I ooh and aah and start immediately planning in my head all the “really cool things” I could do with all “that new stuff” Then, I pause a moment and look around at my desk and my bookcase where I store the majority of my items and I think to myself, “look at all this stuff you already have, Dori. Why not take a look through and see what you haven’t used or think of techniques you haven’t done in a while?” So, that’s what I did! And way in the back of a container I have, I rediscovered my stencils! I haven’t done anything with those in SUCH a long time. So, I scoured Pinterest and You Tube for some inspiration and went to work!
The card I’m sharing today started with a white card base, top folded. I cut a Pendant Nestablities die cut from Spellbinders and then used the negative piece of the mask to put over my white card card front, so only shape of the die cut was in the center. I then took my Martha Steward stippling brushes and brushed on a light blending layer of Cracked Pistachio, Faded Jean and Dusty Concord Distress Inks (yes, just the regular ones)

After that, I took my Swirls Stencil by Hero Arts and carefully laid it over the front of the card, positioning the areas I wanted over the die cut piece in the center. I secured it with some purple tape (which is a new purchase and fabulous!) and then took my ink blending tools and layered on a heavier coat of the same colors of ink over the stencil I pulled the stencil away, removed the mask
negative and viola! I had a very cool die cut center on my card.
For the “Friend” in the center, I took some of my old Quikutz dies and cut the letters individually. Each letter, 4 times in white and once in black. Yes, it took a long time...no, I didn’t mind. I stacked the letters and adhered them all together; and then placed them across the center of the die cut. I used a T square ruler to try to get it all straight and centered; but I think I still managed to get it a little crooked somehow!  The simple sentiment “you are awesome “ is from Altenew’s “You are” set that I’ve been reaching for a lot lately. Finally , I added some small clear sequins and some little white paint dots to the stencil background for a little pizazz! For the final touch I ran the edges of the card along my cracked pistachio ink pad just to bring a little more definition to the edges of the white card.

Phew! are you exhausted from reading all that! I think it took me longer to type out all the steps the card took than it did to actually make the card! If you haven’t tried this technique, I encourage you to give it a whirl, it’s a lot fun and really easy to get great backgrounds. Have a great day and I’ll see you all again soon!

Challenges:

1. Crafting by Design: Anything Goes (2nd Entry)
2. Crafty Creations: Anything Goes
3. Creative Moments: Anything Goes
4. Simon Says Stamp: CAS