Fight Like a Girl

Today I'm sharing a card I made for a co-worker who is going through a tough time right now.  This is a digital stamp from Tiddly Inks called Fight Like a Girl.  

I knew I wanted to use water colors but since this was a digital image, I didn't really have a way to stamp it with a water proof ink and I wasn't sure if I would be able to water color over printer ink.  But it worked! There were some areas that you could see a faint blue or grey when I applied water to the image, but it was so faint that you can't tell once the color is added. The hair looked a little "smudgy" to me though, so I just darkened it up to disguise it. If I didn't tell you here, you would never know by looking at the finished card.  I'll have to try this a few more times to see if I get the same great results but I would consider this first test as a PASS on the water color test for digital images.  This may vary depending on your printer and the kind of ink it uses as well.

I used Canson XL Watercolor paper.  I trimmed it down slightly so it would fit in my printer as the pages in the paper pack are 9 x 12 and don't fit in my printer. The watercolor paper is very thick but it went through my Canon printer with no issues.  Once the image was printed, I heat set it with my heat tool and then let the coloring begin. I used my Koi water color set to apply color to the image.  I didn't have a stamp for the sentiment so I just used a text box and made up my own sentiment by printing it out on the card at the same time I printed the image. 

After painting the image, I applied a pretty good layer of water on the background before applying the color.  This helps the color to move around the page.  After painted and dried, I added some details with my Prisma Color pencils, because I just like to fuss with it!  I also added some Wink of Stella to the gloves.  I just have to add it to almost every card I make.  I love the hint of sparkle it gives without being over the top. I used my T ruler to add a dotted line around the edge of the card and finished it off by hand drawing a tiny little heart in the bottom corner.

As you'll see in the video, I had a few struggles but I feel like I learned from my mistakes.  Isn't that what it's all about?!   First, I believe I should have used a larger brush. 2nd issue (it's a personal struggle)  as mentioned above, I fuss.  I'm a fusser.  It's what I do!  I just can't stop messing with things LOL!   In some cases it's ok but when working with watercolor, I think it's really important to be patient because the color changes and softens as it dries. I'll have to practice my patience with this in the future before I add layers to something that may be just fine to begin with.  

In the video, you'll also see some alterations I had to make to my original card plan but that's part of crafting and being creative. To me, it's the BEST part.  Some of my favorite idea's have come out of a "mistake" or a plan that didn't work out.

Water color isn't something I've had a lot of practice with but some artists like Kristina Werner inspire me to try it from time to time.   I hope this video inspires you as well to get out some paint or markers or whatever you like to do and be creative!

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Have an amazing day  

Cue The Confetti

Look at this little cutie I found over on the All Dressed Up Challenge Blog.

I'll be entering this card in the All Dressed Up Monthly Challenge.  You can find information about that challenge HERE and there's still time if you would like to enter.  This cute little image was one of several freebies that you can use to enter the challenge.  However, you will want to make sure and check out all of the wonderful images at All Dressed Up  because they are all so adorable.  

In making this card, I printed this image at the bottom half of my page knowing that I would be folding it in half to make a top folding card. I chose to make the image just slightly taller than the fold so that part of the balloon shows on the backside of the card, as shown below.

 You can watch me color this in my video below.  As I explained in my last blog, I like to use a piece of paper as inspiration for my colors. In this case I found a piece of purple paper that I liked and although it wasn't really patterned, I used it as my inspiration for the color in her dress and then later used it to line the inside of the card.  When putting the purple paper on the inside of the card it was too long but instead of trimming it off, I thought it would add another element of interest to just fold the paper back onto the backside of the card. Once I determined the sentiment for the card,  I knew I had to have confetti.  I used some tiny pieces found in the bottom of a package I had purchased quite a while back and then trimmed some pieces of the confetti into slightly larger shapes so the pieces of  would be more random and not all appear to be the same thing or same size.

Copic used are:

Skin: E04, E11, E00

Dress: V20, V22, V25

Hair E43, E44, E47 

This coloring was a bit of a hot mess but in the end my card turned out pretty cute, which only proves my theory that you should keep working on a project even if you make a mistake. Just keep working with it.  In the end you may be surprised how well it turns out and if you still don't like it, consider it as good practice. Also, I find that I am able to fix a lot of things with colored pencils after I am done with my Copic Markers.  I can add finer details and clean up area's that need it.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and watching my video. Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Card

Today I'm sharing a card I made for my sweet mom for her birthday.

This is a digital stamp from Tiddly Inks called Sweet Tooth-Let us Eat Cake.   I fell in love with this stamp when I saw how some people were coloring in her skirt with many many pleats.  My card above would NOT be a good example of this ha ha.  I just haven't gotten the hang of it yet. To be honest I haven't put in the practice and I don't know about you but I really have to practice.   I will keep trying to fit in some time here and there to get the technique down.  A great example of what I'm talking about CAN be found on the Tiddly Inks site HERE.

I keep a notebook on my desk where I list the Copic colors I use when I've done a card. Well I  couldn't find my list of Copic colors used with this image.  In my haste of trying to get this done in time for my mom, I don't know if it was tossed or misplaced but that doesn't really matter because you can choose your own colors! And with that in mind, I thought I would explain my process when trying to choose colors for an image. Here are a couple of things I do to begin the process:

• My favorite and most used method of choosing a color group when starting to color an image, is to find a piece of patterned scrap paper in my stash and try to match the colors in that paper to the Copic markers that will be used. It doesn't really matter if you're going to use that paper as a background for your image or not.  Generally I do, but either way, it's just a quick way to get a color scheme selected.  I'm a little lazy when it comes to picking out the colors, I'll admit it, ESPECIALLY if I'm in a hurry.  I mean, sure, if I'm feeling creative and just have time to sit down and have fun and color or craft, I wouldn't do this but generally I don't have that luxury and using this method helps me speed the process along.  
• Another tip - I try to stick to the same colors for the whole image. For example, if I am using G25 and G20 for the clothes in an image, I would try to use those same greens in the tree or in the grass, and if I used a set of browns for the hair, I would use those same browns in the trunk of a tree or in whatever else in the image would be colored brown.  This keeps the number of markers down that are being used, it reduces the time you spend trying to figure which colors to use for each individual item and  I really feel like it makes the image more balanced.  
• Once I've colored my image with my Copic markers, I always use other items to add little details. These LITTLE details can make such a BIG difference.  Items such as colored pencils, gel pens, white pens, Wink of Stella etc. After I colored this image I went over some of the areas with my colored pencils to highlight some areas and deepen the color in the shadows. I added white dots to the bodice of the dress and a gel pen to add sparkle to the crown. Clear Wink of Stella was added to give sparkle to skirt.  You can't really see some of these things in this picture but in real life it really makes a difference.

Well I guess I've rambled on long enough today.  I hope you have a wonderful day and fit in a little time to be creative.  If you have a process you use when choosing colors for an image I would love to hear what works for you.

I hope you have a great day. I know those of us in the KC area are faced with a cold and icy drive to work so be safe out there.

Thank you for visiting my blog! I try my best to give you accurate information. I am not affiliated with any of these companies nor did I receive compensation or free product for mentioning them. All products used and mentioned were personally purchased... except any digital stamps won through challenges, which were received from the company with no expectation. This blog is NOT sponsored, requested, or paid and I did it only because I wanted to. The information provided in this video is based on my own personal experience and opinion. I am not an expert nor do I work for these companies.