Papertrey Ink June Blog Hop

It's already that time of the month again, time for the Papertry Ink Blog Hop! I managed to get some time all to myself in my craft room to create something special for this month's festivities.

Well, almost alone. Pixie decided that he needed to supervise, and to make sure that just the right amount of black fur was shed on my work surface to make me crazy wiping it off my white cardstock every few seconds.

This month's challenge was to draw inspiration for a project from this photo (photo credit HERE):


I took my inspiration from the beautiful horizontal striping of the walls and the dragonfly wall hook to create this card using the new June release set "Happy Trails" from PTI.

I broke out my Twinkling H2O's for the first time to create the background, working with them as watercolors and brushing them horizontally across a 4"x5.25" piece of Stamper's Select White cardstock. I also took a scrap of the same cardstock and brushed with the H2O's to match the area I would stamp the dragonfly on and die cut the dragonfly from it.

I stamped the dragonfly on the die cut first and placed it on the background piece, marking the top and bottom of the body so that I knew just where to stamp it again on the background. I adhered the die cut with a glue line and fluffed up the wings. I stamped the trail using Jenni Bowlin Stick Candy ink, and then lined up the sentiment where I wanted it and stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I added some PTI satin ribbon and accented with a Tim Holtz pin and some random beads from my stash. Finally, I mounted the background to a Stampers Select White card base using foam tape to give a little extra depth.

Here's a detail shot where you can see the shimmer of the Glimmering H2O's.

Thanks for stopping by, and have fun hopping! (You can get back to Nichole's blog HERE)

Make It Monday - Reverse Masking

This week's Make It Monday challenge from Papertrey Ink is to use reverse masking on a stamping project. And it just so happens that I received my June release order on Monday, which included Dawn McVey's super fun new set, It's a Jungle Out There. When I ordered it, I had this technique in mind for use with the zebra so the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

I took the coordinating die and cut it from a piece of scrap paper. I then took the die cut reverse image and used repositionable adhesive to make a mask with it and applied the mask to Kraft cardstock. I used post-its to cover the holes for the giraffe and cheetah. I used my trusty Tim Holtz ink applicator tool and foam to apply Fresh White ink. After removing the mask, I stamped with the zebra stripes image. I used the zebra pattern impression plate on a 4x5.25 piece of Simply Chartreuse cardstock which I wrapped with button twine and then adhered to a True Black card base. I did a pen outline around the kraft piece and added the "Hey There, wild thing" sentiments and some Glitz frosting jewels. I then attached that to the card with my Tim Holtz tiny attacher. I also sponged on some True Black ink on the Simply Chartreuse background to pop the embossed pattern a bit. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm Certified! (or maybe certifiable?)

On May 26th, I had the good fortune to attend a Copic certification class in Eden Prairie, MN taught by the fabulous Debbie Olson and Lori Craig. I've been dabbling in copic coloring for a little over a year now and have taught a couple of basic copic coloring classes, but this was a great opportunity to learn more in depth information and also to ask questions of the "experts".

Here's an example of the coloring skills we tried out in the class. The flowers here were colored using the feathering technique for blending, taking two tones and meeting them in the middle. We also had a chance to work with the airbrush system and try coloring on different types of paper including glossy and vellum, all of which was new to me.

Here's a picture of me with the fabulous Debbie Olson, who is sweet as pie!

And here I am with Lori Craig, equally sweet as pie! Special thanks to Lori for helping me with my "hair" coloring!

And here I am at the end of class - I'm certified! (or some may say certifiable)

The key to getting good results from Copics is to PRACTICE. So I've been doing just that in spare moments here and there. And with the added knowledge I received from taking the class, I am enjoying the process much more because I'm seeing good results.

This image is from Pure Innocence for MFT. I especially like how the shading turned out on her pants, and the rosy cheeks turned out pretty good as well.

I am totally in love with these stamps from Belles 'n Whistles. I scoured the internet to find the sleeping Eden image in stock and I'm so enjoying coloring in this little cutie.

And here is little Eden with her teddy bear.

There you have it, a peek at what has been consuming my spare crafty moments. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some more coloring to do...