Marker links

Some Marker Links:

A great write up by Julie on SCS about water-based and Copics (though I think you should consider breaking the no copics on heat-embossing rule, I love em on white embossing. Just let the marker cure (or dry well) & the stickiness goes away.

Faux Copics:

• The Copic look with Bics/Sharpies (video) by Jacquie
• more faux copic goodness--with BIC Mark-It markers (WAY cheaper than Copics) These are gorgeous

Trix with Copics:

• I Like Markers ROCKS
• Copic website (ideas section)
• Debbie rocks the Copics
• Faux watercolour with Copics by Kurtis
• Custom colour mixing by Sharon
• Copic Patterns by Nichole (stunning!)
• Ellen Hutson is brilliant with Copics too: Copic markers on Parchment
• Copics over patterned paper

Copics on Gesso

(lets you erase)

Copic fine brushstroke & gel medium Impasto
(+free digi link list)

Pouncing Copic technique:

(on gesso)

Copics on Microglaze:

Stuff to do with Stampin' Up markers:

• Maria's wicked watercolouring with SU markers tutorial
• Nicole's The Ink Blog has great ideas (scroll down to the "markers" subheading)
• Erin's watercolour with markers
• Emboss SU markers on gesso cardstock

Thanks for taking time out of your day, :0)

Some Links for Ya: Nifty Nifty Tricks

Happy Wednesday! Here's a tree doodle I'm workin' on ... (just to give ya something to look at) ;0)

& Here's a few random links to nifty nifty things:

Use a Black Frame in your card designing found thanks to Kristina Werner

Velvet Stamping by Ellen

Capturing little hands by Nichole

Faux Watercolour with Copics by Kurtis

Faux wood by Gina K

Scallop detail by Jenn

Coffee Filter Roses by Cassie Chappell on Martha

Watercolour Wonder Crayon Resist by Patty & her paper-smart 4x4 cards & her markers B4 you ink spectrum pads & her grosgrain ribbon trick

Lego-ma-jig by Laura

Glow Vellum by Cindy

Basic Grey style paper tutorial by Sophie

Mini Weaving by Diane(?)

Sun Prints (Martha et al)

Martha's stamping tricks

Martha dotted patterns esp monograms

Video from the Paper Studio (Has interesting card folds)

Mini Books tutorial by Daria

Amazing inspiration from Heather Moore found thanks to Doodlage!

Crackle with Glue by dsimthdesign

Misting with Markers by Beate (looks like watercolours)

The perfect tutorial for 3x6 cards by Sandy

Chore chart by Lolly Jane Boutique

Scalloped Rectangle slide by Nichole

24687 box basket by Nichole

Lauren's poppin acetate & Jillene's Embossing powder splash (Thanks to the fabulous Jennifer for linking these up; she always has awesome links.)

Distressed burnt edge by Monalisa & her tutorial & great resource technique talk on Cornish Heritage Farms

Tim Holtz's April technique: Emboss resist over layered designer papers. Great way to use up scraps and get textural interest happening.

Tricks with watercolour pencil crayons (TV Weekly video on The Scrapbook Lounge) (I am SO going to use an imitation Silpat baking sheet for a craft sheet--as soon as I figure out where the heck I put it, LOL.) Love her idea of tearing the paper edge and rubbing it in colour wash. Easy but slick! (Lil' Note: you can use Stazon instead of India ink)

Hope your week is going wonderfully, :0)

Chalk Pastels with Blender pen & Bellyband-elope Tutorials

I bought this With Love set from Annapurna & thought the flower from it might look neat with beads added to it. Then I got all crazy with another envelope type thingermajigger...

Wanna make one?....

BellyBandelope How to:

1. Cut a piece of cardstock to make your belly-band.
(I cut this one 12x 5 inches for my 6 inch card):

2. Score on either end of your card (leaving enough room for folding)
(I love using my Tim Holtz design ruler to find center.)

3. Fold the ends in & Do a dry fit with the card inside it
(to be sure your belly band will fit before moving on. Trust me I skipped this step--see no card in there-not good...and I paid for it: had to trim my card so it'd fit LOL.)

4. Trim off some of the ends to allow for embellishing
(I cut off 1 inch on each side)

5. Cut pieces to embellish it; I used 4 pieces of this patterned paper
(2 pairs of pieces measuring 1 x 5 inches & 2 x 5 inches)

6. Cut some cardstock & scallop it--this was 11.5 inches long.
(Trim to fit 2 pieces to your belly-band length)

7. Punch holes in the scallops so you can add eyelets
(SU's corner punch leaves circle divots you can use as a guide)

8. Add eyelets to the holes
(makes the holes strong for lacing)

9. Adhere scallop piece to the back of the patterned paper

10. Dry fit scallop pieces on top of belly band
(place on top to see where you want them to fit)

11. Stick scallop pieces onto the belly-band
(add faux stitches if you like)


12. Laced up, the belly-band should be able to slide off the card
(but I like to embellish the inside in case someone unlaces it)


13. To lace easily, cut the ribbon on an angle
(sealing it with a lighter makes it even easier)

14. Lace that puppy up
(just like tying a shoe!)

Card Details:

The flowers were coloured using "pastel & blender pen" technique which works great on normal cardstock (but this image was embossed on patterned Gesso cardstock.)

Pastel & Blender pen technique:

Supplies: Blender pen & Chalk Pastels (I used the ones made by Stampin' Up! here)

1. Stamp or emboss an image
2. Put chalk pastel on blender pen
3. Apply to paper

Easy hey? The blender pen acts like a binding agent to seal the chalk onto your cardstock. You can get some really soft looks with it. :0)

Neat lil' tip: if your embossing powder looks chalky after you add your chalk, you can use a clean blender pen/q-tip to clean off the worst of it, but the really cool thing is that re-heating it a little will bring back the sheen of the embossing. Like magic! ;0)

The beading & the sentiment, etc...

Beads are added two easy-peasy ways on here:

Just gluing on with Crystal Effects & sliding them onto the stitching. [Sorry, can't stop adding beads and rambling about it. ;0) It's so easy but it adds a lil' sumthin' sumthin' (and there's so many colours of super-dee-duperly affordable beads out there!) The ones threaded on here were a mixed batch from the good ol' dollar store.]


The sentiment was made by:

1) Punching a word window out of black cardstock

2) Punching a key tag around it & another key tag for the back

3) Embossing the sentiment ("friends" is from Blooming Flourishes by CTMH) in black, on white cardstock.

4) Trimming the sentiment to fit sandwiched between the two key tags (with the word window one in the front so "Friends" shows through.)

5) Adhering the whole thing


Other card details:

Main card: Naturals White (stamped with Stitched in Certain Celery ink) Patterned paper: Basic Grey LilyKate Wisteria LIK-567) Mats: Basic Black, Certain Celery Ribbon: (SU's Certain Celery 5/8" grosgrain) & white satin ribbon to lace the BellyBandelope (from Michael's)


Well th-th-th-th-that's all Folks! :0)
Thanks so much for visiting,

Faux Watercolour with Markers (& quilted envelope)

I wanted to make a special card & envelope for dear friends of ours who are getting married. The envelope turned out to be the most exciting part (to make anyway) because thanks to Noreen (aka Swedie but I think should be called Sweetie!) I have a Scorepal!!!! She sent it to me as a surprise (how sweet is that!?!) After opening it, I had a happy little cry at her extreme generosity and sweetness. (I'm still in shock I think!) Thank you Noreen! :0) Then I set straight to playing with it. Now I'm hooked. It was so easy to make this quilted envelope:

A little unusual to have so much colour on a wedding congrats card maybe, but they're extraordinary people & I wanted to have some colour on here to express how happy we are for them. The envelope just slides right off, so no need to untie all of those double knots.

Here's how the envelope looked before I tied it shut:

Here's how I made it:

1) Cut the 12x12 Naturals White cardstock for the "envelope" (just a little larger than my card: 6 by 12 inches)
2) Scored it using the grid technique (the folds were SO easy to score too--Noreen you're the BEST!)
3) Cut two strips of matching cardstock & added 7 eyelets to each of them
4) Put a narrow strip of double-sided tape on (cleared the tape away from the eyelet holes)
5) Cut the two colours of satin ribbon (from Michael's) & sealed the ends of them with a lighter
6) Slid the ribbon through the eyelets & added more adhesive.
7) Folded the ribbons over and stuck the eyelet piece on.
8) Finally, the score lines were the perfect place for little seed beads to sit. (They're glued on there with Crystal Effects.)

You could replace the beads with little gems or with Stickles (which mail nicely too I imagine) :0)

The image is clip art that I printed on gesso cardstock. It makes faux watercolour with markers a dream (You won't believe how easy it is.) You can also use watercolour paper, but I like that you can emboss by printing out clip art.

I used my new Close to my Heart markers (that I bought from my friend Annapurna. Lurrrve them SO much!) & Lumiere on gesso paper with clip art from this great site.

It was really really really easy to colour this. Just leave a little bit of white, maybe layer a bit of colour here or there then let an aqua painter or a wet brush do the work. The bride is painted with some Lumiere to give her some sparkle. And that's all she wrote!

Go to the Gesso Index (7 techniques)

Hope you're having a fantastic day, :0)

Can't stay away! A sneak peak...

I just missed you guys too much! This isn't a real post, but a cheaty sneak peak one of some Close to my Heart markers & Lumiere on gesso paper with clip art from this great site:

Here's a couple I really like that you might like to use too: Geoffry clip art & more & some more.

You can emboss it! If you have an old printer (or are crazy like me) you can print it on paper painted with gesso. Some safe alternatives: Photo paper & vellum & overheads should work well too--if you have the embossing powder on hand to emboss it while it's still wet. :0)

Here's the search page for Clip Art etc in case you feel like lookin' for some clip art.

Happy Sunday! :0)

Casing a gorgeous RAK from Annapurna (with her handmade Fresh Cuts Technique & Template!)

A super quick post, since I'm feeling blechy, (but nothing serious just wiped out with some bug etc...)

Annapurna (aka Anna DaGenerous) :0) sent me this gorgeous card and I just had to case it. (Mine is the one with waytoo much bling on the left. You can read about how she was inspired to invent this cool technique and how she made the card here! <--She also made a template in photoshop that I used to case her card. I love how she took her inspiration from a pillow to invent this new technique. All you need to try Annapurna's technique is: a hobby knife & paper (unless you're wicked awesome with scissors.) here are some other templates that you can try it with too.


Annapurna was kind enough to award me this award. Thanks so much! I SO behind with award posting (but they're such an honour that I love passing on to all you great stamp-artists.) You all inspire me daily, but since I can only pick three, here are a couple of rockin ladies:

Malieta
Lisa
and last but not least Chrissy

Card details: Crayon rubbing like Annapurna's original with a white crayon over a wooden Batik block and coloured with Purely Pomegranate reinker. Layered over Vellum cardstock & Paisley Print background stamped onto white cardstock. I didn't have a butterfly, so I used the one from Merci (saleabration '08 set.) I didn't have a stamp stamp either so I used a word window and the sentiment from Best Blossoms.


Thanks for stopping by & lookin' or commenting. It makes my day!



P.S. I'm takin' a day off tomorrow. Sorry, I'm run down (and I had the most wicked mail day yesterday that I need time to play with..Someone very very kind sent me a very special surprise & some special things that I bought from Annapurna came too! (Love doin' business with her!) Here's her Close to my Heart website for you to check out & get your own goodies.

I've developed an expensive habit...

...good thing I have some cheap tricks to feed it!

Okay, that sounds awful (heeheehee.) What I mean is I am in love with watercolour paper. (I was really cheap before and wouldn't buy it, but I caved so I could use it with Maria's seriously awesome trick with of watercolouring with SU markers and now I love it.

So what are the cheap tricks? Some old, Some new-ish:

1. Using beads as ephemera
2. Dying your own embroidery thread
3. Homemade primas (again, LOL)
   
4. Using crystal effects to highlight d.p. details
5. Gesso paper to make embossed sentiments
6. Cuttlebugged faux metal paper
   

Using beads: You know me, I loves me some cheap tricks and beads look cute, but are SO affordable. I got the ones along the scallop here at the dollar store. It's a piece of cake to add them to stitching--just slide them on to your stitch before you go back into the cardstock--(of course the only trick is to make sure you have beads that'll fit over your needle, heehee) I love using embroidery thread but it's fat. I lucked out that I had fat beads to go with it. :0)

Homemade Primas: Recognize these ones? ;0) I use beads all the time for flower centers. These blue flower centers are beaded with clear seed beads that have a silver center. (Stuck on with some Crystal Effects) The flowers are made by embossing the wee flower (from Delight in Life) in Not Quite Navy Craft ink (with clear embossing powder) onto naturals White cardstock. They're watercoloured with Not Quite Navy & Soft Sky reinkers. I make a bunch ahead of time for faster cards. You can even leave them uncoloured until you need them (Dee's clever brain child.)

The white dotted petal outlines under the centers are made with Provocraft's Flowers die cut out of Basic Grey paper (Dasher Flurry DSH-633.)

Dying your own embroidery thread: Isn't it exciting & a little like alchemy to be able to turn one colour of embroidery thread into as many shades as you want? You can make hundreds of colours with reinkers. Adding less or more water to the mix gives you various monochromatic strengths of hue too! :0) Here's how to:

1. Mix a little water with re-inker
2. Drop your thread in & stir around
   
3. Take out & blot on some paper towel
4. Dry it (use a hairdryer or just let 'er dry)
   

Using Crystal Effects on designer papers: You might have to click the pic to see what on earth I'm taking about, but I really like these little dots with the numbers on this Notebook designer series paper, so I added Crystal Effects to 'em. You can add Crystal Effects to details on your homemade patterned papers too. It looks like enameled embossing. Almost free & fun. :0)

Gesso paper to make fast free embossed sentiments: You may never need to buy another sentiment stamp again (shut my mouth! I know. I'm just jokin') ;0) but you can make easy embossed handwritten sentiments. Just write on a piece of cardstock that's got gesso on it with a Stamp'n'write marker & then emboss it.

It can be kind of neat to have handwriting too; I was hoping this looked like something someone wrote on their "To Do" list (hence the sentiment on the card front.) :0) You could write the whole little message inside your card embossed this way if you wanted to.



Cuttlebugged crayon resist ( 6 cent [or $200.00] faux-metal paper): Cost is obviously not the first consideration in stamping, but isn't it so thrilling to make something pretty on the cheap? This piece of paper cost 6 cents (assuming you have a Cuttlebug & embossing folder, some crayons, & ink--ROFL If not, I guess that makes it a $200.00 piece of paper--Ew!) Wanna make some $200 paper of your own? Just emboss it, rub with crayon & ink (There's a detailed tutorial here.)
Other card details: Cardstock: Watercolour paper, Kraft, Cool Caribbean. Hodge Podge hardware. Scallops made with corner rounder & hole punch.

Thank you so much for visiting! Hope you day is crafty-bliss, :0)

Water window Turtle & eat cake Fishy!

Just a quick post today with a little bit o' cute. This guy is a water window gate-fold card made with hair gel (fun to squish!) --added some Stickles to this one & so there's a bit o' glitter. I have a thing for that cute lil' eat cake graphics fishy, love his little smiling face!

Here's the inside view of the gatefold:

The dark swirly cardstock framing Mr. Turtle Dude is done with hot Cuttlebug embossing:

1. Cuttlebug emboss your cardstock
2. Swipe with Craft ink
3. Add clear (or other embossing powder)
4. Heat it up :0)
   

(A variation & more detailed instructions here.)

The swirly Cuttlebug paper is matted with white & Cool Caribbean cardstock, the main card is Soft Sky c.s. embossed with the flourish from Baroque Motifs (Versamark & clear e.p.)


The turtle dude reminds me of the surfer turtle from Finding Nemo (he's from the Silly Sea Life set) I coloured him(and his fishy buddies) with SU's watercolour pencil crayons:


Here's a Water window tutorial if you wanna try one, and a couple other gel cards: Mara mermaid floats & a Shark water card.


Hope you have the most fabulous day! :0)



P.S. Just a little note on how these gel thingers might last for you. My hair gel evaporated eventually (a few months) so I was happy I added the Stickles so there was still some interest left. Not sure how they mail, but squishin' that gel is irresistible fun! :0)

P.P.S. 82 things you can do with your Cuttlebug here
in case ya missed em the other 12000 times I mentioned 'em, like a broken record, heehee. (Well, You never know!) ;0)

Wee Thumbelina's Giant card (Maria's sweet sketch & a challenge)

This card is ironically large (6x6) for such a tiny subject: Thumbelina clip art. She was all printed out on gesso cardstock. She was embossed & coloured and I was tryin' desperately to make her into a 15 minute card (like some people(!) who must have a genetic advantage or take stamproids!] heehee. ;0) So the 15 minute card stretched into the 45 minute card & I gave up timing myself: it was only the image on a plain card! (I must be part sloth.)

Then, I converted it into a "real card" (feels like my first real card) 'cause I used Maria's wicked sweet sketch (here's another of her gorgeous examples using that same sketch) & here's the challenge to use it. If you haven't seen Maria's creations, then come on outta that cave and check her out; she ROCKs! This is the first sketch I've ever followed & now I'm hooked on her sketches. Good thing she has hundreds. :0)

The Sentiment:

This is an SU scallop punched, then cut into a daisy, then embossed with my favourite background stamp: a paisley (large design category) from Above the Mark (56005 I). (I used Versamark & clear e.p. on the scallop & on the main Coral coloured card too.) The sentiment inside of the Platinum Hodge Podge hardware is from Noteworthy (I touched it up a bit with a marker) & it's punched with the small oval punch. I put Silver Ice Stickles on it for some glitteriness. It's all layered on two Nestabilities scallops which are sandwiched to hide the brads & then I added black dots in permanent marker & some wee dots of Stickles. The whole thing is raised up on lots of Dimensionals.

The Butterflies:

The little butterflies are also raised on Dimensionals. They're 2 stamps from Fancy Pants From the Garden set. I stamped them on gesso cardstock so they'd be sturdy in Pretty in Pink & Cameo Coral marker (embossed with clear e.p.) They weren't workin'--just white with a faint pink at the point--and I wanted them to match the big butterfly in the clip art image...So, I outlined them with a fine-tipped permanent marker. The large butterfly was also coloured with Pretty in Pink & Cameo Coral markers but I embossed him with Iridescent Ice so he'd be blingy.

Other markers used to colour the image: SU markers: Blush blossom (Thumbelina) Certain Celery (gras & Lilly pads) & Only orange (for the fish) Close to my Heart markers: Breeze & Twilight. The faux stitching around the image is done by sketching in black stitches with a Stamp'n'Write marker & then dotting in silver Zig Painty pen details.

Cardstock: Cameo Coral & Cameo Coral Textured c.s. Certain Celery, Soft Sky, Cool Caribbean, Basic Grey patterned paper: Stella Ruby Clouds in the Park ste-731)

Thanks so much for stopping by! :0)