Archive for January, 2010:
How to mask your image and watercolour your background
I am so sorry for posting so late in the day. I narrowly met my deadline for posting my tutorial on Tuesday. But, as I said to my friends, Tuesday really isn’t over until midnight–LOL.
Today I want to show you a unique way of watercolouring your background, without damage to your image. By using Masquepen, you can mask the outline of your image and keep it safe from your background medium, whether it be watercolour paints, acrylic paints, or PearlEx paints.
This product is carried in art supply stores. If you live in the Sarnia area, you can purchase this product at Beer Creek Studio. If you do not have Masquepen, you can use a wax pencil or a sliver of paraffin wax with the same results.
Masquepen, wax pencil, or sliver of paraffin wax
Watercolour paper
Stamped image
Carefully outline your image with Masquepen and let dry naturally. Drying time varies. I left mine to dry for two hours.
Once Masquepen is dry, you can watercolour your background.
In this photo you can see I watercoloured the entire background.
Once the watercolour has dried, simply rub your finger over the Masquepen. This product rubs off extremely well.
This is a quick technique that is a lot of fun.
For a complete list of my tutorials, please see my Tutorial page.
Subscribe to the comments for this postRachelle Anne Miller Snowman
Happy Monday! The weekend went by quickly and here we are starting another week.
Design Team member Karen created this adorable card using Rachelle Anne Miller’s Snowman and can be purchased in my on-line store.
Thanks for stopping by.
Don’t forget to come back for tomorrow’s tutorial.
S&D Challenge 24: Winter Wonderland
Sunflowers and Dragonflies Creative Designs is having it’s 24th challenge. Where does the time go?! This week we thought it would be fitting for a Winter Wonderland challenge for you, since winter seems to be hitting everyone around the world. Yup, us Canadians are so happy you get to see what all the fuss is about. So tell us–are you enjoying the snow?
Let’s try to keep warm with a hot cup of hot chocolate in our studio, and spend time creating cards that remind you of winter. What?! No winter stamps? No need to worry–print out something on your computer, or cut out something winterish with your Cricut. The options are endless.
So, I’ll bet you want to see this week’s prize. It’s all about snow…
Let’s see what the design team has for you today.
Beth uses Winter Fairy
Jennifer uses Christmas Fairy
To be eligible for this weeks prize drawing, please post a direct link to your challenge project from either your blog or an online gallery to the Sunflowers and Dragonflies Blog, specifically on the Challenge #24 Blog Post, so we can view it. If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword SD24.
Deadline for this challenge is next Friday, January 22nd. One lucky winner will receive both the Christmas Fairy and Rachelle Ann Miller’s Snowman –all just for for participating in this challenge!
Fifth Avenue Floral
Stampin’ Up’s Fifth Avenue Floral is being used this week, as you can see. This time I decided to do the rose in orange. One of the reasons I like SU so much is the fact that ink pads come in the same colour as the paper, which gives a nice coordinated look.
On Tuesday I did a tutorial on using watercolour pencil crayons with Prismacolor pencil crayons. My artist friend, Bev Fish, wrote and asked me to mention two things to you. 140 pound watercolour paper is recommended because it does not buckle like 90 pound (sadly, I experienced buckling after spending so much time on an image). Hot press watercolour paper is smooth, while cold press paper has a bit of texture. Either one will work well.
Thanks for stopping by!
Technique Junkie Mono Masking
Would you believe that aside from the sentiment, this is a one-layer card. This technique comes from the February 2009 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter and is called Mono Masking. This would make an excellent technique for just about anything–including sympathy and ATC’s. I rarely use black, and am pleased with the results.
Pat is always happy to have new subscribers so why not go over and give her a shout. Tell her Beth sent you.
Stamps:Â Stampin’ Up, Fancy Pants, Stampabilities; Ink, Versafine
Smile, it makes people wonder what you’re up to.
How to use Watercolour Pencils and Coloured Pencil Together
Have you ever wondered about combining watercolour pencils with coloured pencil? Today’s tutorial will focus on combining these two mediums.  Rather than focusing my tutorial on step-by-step colouring, my tutorial will show you how these two mediums harmonize. Your work can be as complex or as simple as you like. For step-by-step colouring tutorials you can read my previous tutorials: Finishing Touches First, Let’s Start to Colour, and Colour Me Beautiful.
The advantage of watercolouring a large area first, is that there are no uneven lines. This is particularly helpful when colouring a solid background.
To avoid your paper from buckling, I recommend using Stonehenge or watercolour paper. The ink that you use is also important, as you don’t want it to smudge. India ink or Stazon will work well.
Let’s begin by looking at today’s supplies:
Prismacolor Pencil Crayon
Watercolour Pencils
Odourless Mineral Spirits (OMS)
Blending Stumps
Paintbrush
Stamp(s)
Waterproof Ink
Colour your area with watercolour pencil crayon.
Place your brush into water and dab onto paper towel, and then blend your colour around until smooth. Let dry completely.
Using Prismacolour pencil crayon, colour recessed areas sparingly and blend with OMS. Note that the coloured pencil is coloured and blended in the appropriate directions. Do not carry the colour to the end. You want the natural colour of the watercolour pencil crayon to show through.
Continue colouring your image until you are happy.
I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson. Join me next week when we will create fun backgrounds for your images.
Card Details: Rose is from Stampin’ Up’s Fifth Avenue Floral set; Designer Paper is BasicGrey; Cardstock is Stampin’ Up’s Real Red and Crush Curry. Scallop paper created with a Martha Stewart punch; Decorative Square is from Spellbinder’s Nestabilities.
For a full list of tutorials, please see my Tutorial page at the top of my blog.
Happy Birthday Adam
To my son, Adam, who turned 21–Cheers!
Adam and I drove in his car to the movies last week. Underneath his car he has cool coloured lights that change colour. Driving to the movies at nightwas fun–seeing those lights underneath the inside dash as well.  Shhh, we won’t tell anyone that we went in to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. That wouldn’t be cool 
Stamping Bella’s Fella was watercoloured with Tombow and SU markers. Buttons were cut out of the SU button die, and DP is Basicgrey paired with SU Cool Caribbean
S&D Challenge 23: Faux Stitching
Faux stitching has been a popular technique that adds pizzaz to your cards. We like it so much, we encorporated this technique into our S&D Challenge 23. Feel intimidated? Don’t be–I have demonstrated how to do faux stitching so you can join in the fun too. This week’s randomly selected winner will win four stamps from our Beautiful Life series. You will receive both Amber and Melody as well as their coordinating flourishes.
Card Details:Â Melody and Melody Flourish was stamped out onto the Technique Junkie Watercolour Distress technique.
Faux Stitch Tutorial
Using a ruler, punch holes into your cardstock in even increments.
With a ruler (or without) draw a line from one hole to another to imitate sewing machine stitching.
To do a zig zag pattern, draw a line on the back of your cardstock. Do this on all four sides, or the areas you wish to place the faux stitching.
With a ruler, draw lines at regular increments. Draw a second line underneath the first, and place a dot in between each draw line above.
With a ruler (or without) draw a line from one dot to another to imitate sewing machine stitching.
This Week’s Prize
Amber, Amber Flourish, Melody, Melody Flourish
Design Team Cards
Beth uses Mixed Berries Cupcake
Jennifer uses Queen of Hearts
Won’t you join us in this challenge?
To be eligible for this weeks prize drawing, please post a direct link to your challenge project from either your blog or an online gallery to the Sunflowers and Dragonflies Blog, specifically on the Challenge #23 Blog Post, so we can view it. If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword SD23.
Deadline for this challenge is next Friday, January 15th. One lucky winner will receive both Amber and Melody stamps and the flourish design stamps you see in the background behind them–all just for for participating in this challenge!
Don’t forget to come back on Tuesday for my weekly tutorial
Ringing in the New Year with Emma Lulu
Stamping Bella has cute images that I enjoy colouring so much. Typically I watercolour or use Prismacolor coloured pencils. Copics have not won me over yet because I just don’t have the time to learn another technique to make my images pop. Lucky you if you are a lover of Copics–I hear they are so much quicker to use. Isn’t Emma Lulu cute?!
I used this week’s Splitcoast Stampers Sketch and paired it with BasicGrey DP.
What’s in-store for 2010
Tutorials resume next Tuesday. For all you coloured pencil lovers out there, you will be happy to know that I am going to do tutorials for you for the remainder of the month. I am learning so much in my research and want to share it all.
If you have any requests for tutorials, please let me know. Please keep in mind that if the Technique Junkie Newsletter has published your requested technique, I will not republish the technique on my blog, in fairness to Pat.
Pat generously gave me the most recent Technique Junkie Newsletter on CD to give away as blog candy, so stay tuned for that. You do not have to be a subscriber to win this wonderful prize.
You will start to notice that I will be sponsoring a variety of blog hops in blogland.
New products will continue to arrive regularly, including new stamp lines, Spellbinders Nestabilities, and embellishments–to name a few.
Sketches will be added to our Saturday challenge. Jennifer is a whiz with putting sketches together and offered to look after them for us.
Kim will be taking over the gallery and forum so we can hear from you, our valued friends.
Meet My Design Team
Good morning! Today is a very exciting day because I get to announce my new design team. I would like to thank all of you who submitted to be on my design team. When it came to making a decision, it wasn’t easy. Everyone had such wonderful talent. Please give my design team a warm welcome.
Hi, my name is Karen. I am a creative, fun loving person who is often described as being caring, outgoing, and very detail oriented.  You can find more of my work on my blog The Stampin Place.
Hello, fellow stampers! My name is Cathy Yamashita and my home is Indianapolis , Indiana . I am a retired engineer, now a full time crafter. I think I’ve tried just about everything that has come along, starting with hand-sewing my first Barbie dress when I was nine years old. Among other things, I’ve done basket-weaving, hand-made paper, pottery painting, stenciling, calligraphy, One-Stroke Painting, encaustic wax, silk ribbon embroidery, all manner of paper arts & stamping, and even entered a wedding gown (made for a sister-in-law) in the State Fair. One thing I have waiting in the wings is a hand-felted purse project. Oh, to have more time in the day!
Recently, I was very fortunate to get my Copic Marker certification, and have been teaching at two local scrapbook stores. Long ago, I stopped counting, but I’m sure I own in excess of 6000 stamps! I love taking classes with my stamping buddies, and I LOVE teaching and sharing what I do. I also love digital art using Corel Paint Shop Pro. A few months back, I started a blog called Artful Observations and digitally designed my own banner. One of my goals is to find time to post more regularly this year.
I sincerely appreciate being invited to the Design Team for Sunflowers and Dragonflies and look forward working with the other talented ladies!
Hello,! My name Kim (K) Hutchinson. I am a SAHM of 2 wonderful high-spirited boys and wife to the most wonderfully, supportive husband. When I’m not out treasure hunting with the boys, you will find me tucked away in my studio with a cup of coffee or a Coke Zero in my hand. I have been creating art in some form for as long as I can remember. I got into rubber stamping about 10 years ago when I went to a Stamping Up party! Now through my blog and Design Team positions, such is this, I am able to share my enthusiasm and inspire the creativity others! To see my work you can visit my blog Running on Ink.
Hello, My name is Jennifer Emmi and I live in Macomb, Michigan, which is approximately 25 miles North of Detroit, with my Dear Husband. I have always been involved with crafts for as long as I can remember. I loved taking art classes and pottery in High School and Floral Design in College. However, about 6 years ago I was introduced to papercrafting through the internet and I have been hooked ever since. Over the years my papercrafting styles have developed toward stamping and card making and now I thoroughly enjoy making greeting cards for all occasions. I find the time I spend doing it very relaxing. Just like a kid, my favorite part is coloring images. While coloring I try to imagine the layout I’m going to use for that card so when I actually do it, everything sort of falls into place. My work has recently been published in Spring & Fall 2008 issues of Just Cards! Magazine and in the May 2008 issue of Scrapbook Trends CARDS magazine. I am honored and very excited to be a part of the Sunflowers and Dragonflies Design Team. I look forward to sharing my work & crafting style with you. Stay tuned to my blog: www.inknscraphabits.blogspot.com where you can read more about me and see my latest projects.
Hi my name is Beth Ullman,
I am a retired postal worker who has only been stamping 6 or 7 years. I really got into stamping when I moved to central Virginia 5 years ago after retiring, and got involved in Stampin Up. I love to dive into to new techniques and tutorials. Have been crafting for what seems to be most of my life I also crochet and knit. I am married to my best friend. We have been together 42 years, have 2 grown children and 3 grands,and the grands love to craft with me.
Met Beth on Technique Junkies and follow her blog every week. Love doing her tutorials I’m so looking forward to playing on her design team know it will be so much fun.
If you would like to see my work check me out here Nana’s Memories and More.
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