Singing in the Rain | Sweet Sentiment April Coloring Class

Hello!

Right now, I think we all can use a little at-home self therapy - some find it through escaping into a book or movie, cleaning, baking, gardening, or coloring,  I think in the last week, I've dabbled in each of these.  My favorite, by far though, is coloring.  It keeps me occupied for a few hours, and in the end I have something pretty and unique to share.  

As I was looking into my stamp stash for the perfect image to color, I realized I hadn't yet shared the April Coloring Class from Sweet Sentiment.  In April, Jammie has an adorable set called "April Showers" with the cutest little bunny, and some fun spring sentiments.  Of course I had to pick one of the snarky sentiments to use!  I realized, as I went to color my image, that a few of the markers that I needed were dry, and I would need to reink them before I could use them again - and of course I didn't have those reinkers.  So, I switched to Prismacolor Pencils this month, and colored up this sweet image.  

I stamped the image in Whisper Amalgam Ink, onto Sweet Sentiment Premium Coloring Paper.  Then I colored in the image with a light hand, and lots of colors.  Every few layers, I would use a bit of Mona Lisa Odorless Paint Thinner to blend, so that I didn't have to press too hard with the pencil and burnish the tooth of the paper too soon.  I finished the bunny with his umbrella, and sketched in a background.  The final step was to add raindrops over the whole image with a gray pencil, and white gel pen.

Once the image was colored, I die cut it out, and adhered foam tape to the back.  I stamped the Flannel Life stamp from FSJ, in Whip Cream Ink onto Banana Cream card stock, and glued that onto a white card base.  I stamped the sentiment in Versamark, onto River Stone card stock, and then heat embossed it in white.  That was adhered with more foam tape (double stacked on the portion over the flannel background, and single layer over the image).  A few clear drops from Nuvo were added for a final touch.    

If you'd like to get your own class kit, including this exclusive stamp set, you can find it on Jammie's website.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used**:

Use this easy list to find the products I used in my projects. 

(Contains affiliate links - where I earn a commission from purchases made from my links, at no cost to you. Your support helps me keep this blog going, and continue to create - Thank you! Affiliates and disclosures can be found here.) 

 Please note, when possible, I try to offer multiple sources for the items I use. 

Pink and Gray Hello

Hello!

I have a pretty card to share today.  I used the WPlus9 Stamp Set Beautiful Bouquets:Dahlias to create this card, although you could easily substitute any pretty bouquet stamp. 

I stamped and heat embossed the bouquet onto the corners of a piece of Pale Rose card stock, using Rose Gold Embossing Powder.  I also stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto a strip of River Stone card stock.

I very lightly shaded the floral images with two colored pencils, and then applied foam tape to the back of the sentiment strip and attached that to the card front, and trimmed off the excess length.

Prismacolor Pencils Used:

Pink Rose PC1018, Nectar PC1092

 I adhered the card front to a River Stone card stock mat, and then attached the whole thing to a white top-folding card base. A few scattered self adhesive pearls completed the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:

Use this easy list to find the products I used in my project. (Contains affiliate links - where I earn a commission from purchases made from my links, at no cost to you. Your support helps me keep this blog going, and continue to create - Thank you! Affiliates and disclosures can be found here.) 

Creating for Creativation | Picket Fence Studios January Release

Have you ever had something happen, that, at the time, you had no idea the impact that it would have?  A few months ago, I was asked to do a few ink blended panels, using the Life Changing Blender Brushes from Picket Fence Studios.  Being someone who likes to push myself, I decided to see just how far I could go, creating with the two brushes I had.  I created a few backgrounds, and snapped a photo of each, just so I had reference about what ink colors I had used for the panel.  No pretty photos - just a quick snap with my cell phone.  

(ETA: I've had many questions about how I did the Blended Backgrounds.  I created another Under the Sea background, and made a video, showing you how I achieved these Blending Brush Paintings.  I hope this helps those who wanted to know how to begin creating backgrounds like these.) 

And off the backgrounds went.  Suddenly, a few days later, I was creating more cards for display at Creativation, which was super exciting. I sent those off just weeks ago, and suddenly found that i was GOING to Phoenix for the show for the first time!  It was a whirlwind and so exciting!

I shared some photos on my Instagram stories (see the "Creativation" tab in the Hightlights), but I wanted to pop in today, and share the card projects that I made to be part of the Picket Fence Studios booth.  There are a lot of photos on this post, and it would be difficult to give full directions for so many cards, so I have linked the stamp sets below each photo, and included what coloring mediums used on those cards that have coloring.  All of the stamp and dies will also be listed and linked at the bottom of the post.

And now I will stop rambling, so you can see the pretty photos!

Using "Pain In My Ass" Stamp Set

Using "A Bride's Bouquet" Stamp Set
Coloring Medium: Prismacolor Pencils

Using "Swallowtail Beauty" Stamp, and "Seriously Absolutely Always" Stamp Set
Coloring Medium: PanPastel

Using "Eat, Sleep, Yoga" Stamp Set, and coordinating dies
Coloring Medium: Copic Markers, and Prismacolor Pencils

Using "Beauty and Song" Stamp Set
Coloring Medium: Fun Stampers Journey Color Splash pencils

Using "Glass Window Rainbow" Die, and "Seriously Absolutely Always" Stamp Set

Using  "Girls of All Seasons" Stamp Set, and coordinating dies,
and "Boys of All Seasons" Stamp Set and coordinating dies
Coloring Medium: Copic Markers and Prismacolor Pencils

Using "Peach and Piper Checking the Post" Stamp Set, and coordinating die
and "Loads of Mail" Stamp
Coloring Medium: Copic Markers and Prismacolor Pencils

Using "Walk Crawl or Run" Stamp Set
Coloring Medium: Copic Markers and Prismacolor Pencils

Using Eiko Girl Stamp, and coordinating die
Coloring Medium: Copic Markers and Prismacolor Pencils

I think the last two cards are absolutely my favorites, but it is so hard to choose!  Which is your favorite? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used**:

Use this easy list to find the products I used in my projects. (Contains affiliate links - where I earn a commission from purchases made from my links, at no cost to you. Your support helps me keep this blog going, and continue to create - Thank you! Affiliates and disclosures can be found here.) Please note, when possible, I try to offer multiple sources for the items I use. Products with two or more logos - underneath, or on the side, give you options of where to purchase, in case the item has sold out at one shop. To visit the first store, click on the photo of the item. To visit the second (or greater) source, click the logo for the second shop - you will still be taken directly to the product. 

**If a particular item I used was out of stock when I was preparing my post, or the item I used was discontinued, I have provided a link to a similar item - that is available - when a substitution would not affect the card design.

Sweet Sentiment December Coloring Class

I had the opportunity this month, to take the December coloring class for Sweet Sentiment.   Jammie colors beautiful images with Copic markers, and does a coloring class each month.  There are even previous months classes available, if you want to take several.  As part of the December class, you get a kit with a full size stamp set, some embellishments, a list of all the Copic markers used in the project - along with the Spectrum Noir conversions - and a step by step video tutorial on how she has colored the image.  The stamp set is exclusive to Sweet Sentiment - the first in a new line.    

I started coloring images for cards nearly a decade ago.  I quickly learned that it was a bit more difficult than I originally thought.  Trying to get the perfect color combo, and even just achieving a smooth blend takes practice. I'm still learning, and I find that I pick up new things to try, nearly every time I work along with a coloring tutorial, or just watch an artist work through a project.  New techniques, new color combos, there's always more to learn.  In this coloring tutorial, I found that Jammie explained things very well - including the whys of things, which always sucks me in - the class was thorough enough to be great for beginners, but not at all overly simplified.  I was hesitant at the darkest shading color she used for skin, but was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked.  I loved the technique she used to "blush" the image as well.

Get the December Class kit here

I will also tell you, that I didn't have all the marker colors Jammie used in her coloring (I'm not sharing the colors used, because they are part of the class).  In fact, I only had about half.  But, I was able to do some swatching and testing, and find similar blends in the colors I did have.  Not having the specific colors just meant getting creative, it didn't stop the finished image from being adorable, or from learning the techniques. 

I stamped the image onto Sweet Sentiment Coloring paper, in Barely There Amalgam ink.  Then I colored the image along with the video tutorial.  Once colored, I fussy cut the image and added her to a background created from Cozy Prints papers.  The sentiment came from the stamp set, and was stamped in Blue Lagoon ink onto Cool Pool card stock.  I added  the card front it to a white top fold card base.  I added a few rhinestones around the sentiment, and a little Sparkle Silk was water colored onto the gift.

Lately, I've been experimenting more with under painting (adding a layer of color for vibrancy) with Copics, and then finishing off the details with pencils.  I wanted to try this way of coloring with this image.  I found that I was incorporating a few of the techniques, and new uses for a color I would never have considered for that use, from the video into the pencil coloring.  Pencils do result in a "softer" image,   

For this card, I stamped and colored the image onto a card front sized piece of Sweet Sentiment coloring paper.  Again, this was under painted with Copics, using some of the colors from the same batch I used in the first piece, then the I added details and shading with my Prismacolor pencils,  I added a circle to the background, colored the same as the image  and the lots and lots of white dots were added with my gel pen.  The sentiment was stamped in Catalina Splash ink, and then the card front was matted with white card stock, and then attached to a top folding white card base.

I had a lot of fun with this December class.  Even if you have done Copic coloring for some time, I always encourage learning more.  (Plus you get that super cute stamp set with this class!)   You never know when you're going to find a technique that takes your coloring up a notch!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used**:

Use this easy list to find the products I used in my projects. (Contains affiliate links - where I earn a commission from purchases made from my links, at no cost to you. Your support helps me keep this blog going, and continue to create - Thank you! Affiliates and disclosures can be found here.) Please note, when possible, I try to offer multiple sources for the items I use. Products with two or more logos - underneath, or on the side, give you options of where to purchase, in case the item has sold out at one shop. To visit the first store, click on the photo of the item. To visit the second (or greater) source, click the logo for the second shop - you will still be taken directly to the product. 

**If a particular item I used was out of stock when I was preparing my post, or the item I used was discontinued, I have provided a link to a similar item - that is available - when a substitution would not affect the card design.