Altenew Educator Beautiful Details

Hello there!  I am back today with a project that is part of my Altenew Educator Certification Program.  Today's project is for the Beautiful Details Class taught by Marika Rahtu.  This class is one I had taken before so I wanted to try a new to me technique that I hadn't previously tried, which was coloring with Copics on the back side of a heat embossed Vellum image.  Marika used a Dull Embossing powder but since I didn't have any I used Pearl White.  It can be a little hard to see, but if you put something behind it, it makes it a bit easier.

I used 44# vellum from Papertrey Ink to do my heat embossing of the bloom and leaves from Altenew's Beautiful Heart.  It's a very heavyweight vellum and doesn't warp much if at all.  Just keep the heat tool moving and it will work out alright.  I used Copics in a variety of shades of  Red Violet to create the colors.  Unfortunately, I put them all away before I wrote them down, so I can't say which specific colors I used, but the shades were in the deeper pinks.  Initially, I was planning to do just the pink, but once I had the flowers and leaves done, I felt that the color kind of the bloom disappeared once I put it on the white oval die cut.  So I decided that I would put a white die cut behind it.  When I was putting the dies back into their stamp pocket, I noticed that I had one previously partially colored but unfinished in Coral tones.  When I popped the vellum layer over that, it really brought out a lot of color in my petals and so I decided to use the partially colored bloom for the base underneath the vellum layer.  Now my color wasn't lost in the sea of white. I don't have very many colored pencils but I did add a few coloring lines to the leaves to bring out a little more of the veining in the leaves.

Because I used White Satin Pearl Embossing Powder, I thought it would look pretty to used White Shimmer Cardstock for my background and the oval die cut.

Next, I used some Heidi Swap Gold Lamé Shimmer Spray to create droplets on the card.  When I put the card together, I felt it needed a bit more dimension, so I used Gold Pico Embellisher to add drops over the gold splatter.  Now comes confession time -- I liked it better without the pico embellisher and just the gold splatter. But you never know until you try it!  Since I glued down the vellum to the oval panel, I can't remove it and do it over.  It doesn't have to be our vision of perfection but I am happy when my projects are.  Trust me, no one says "oh, I see you did that wrong" when they get a card in the mail.  They only think of your thoughtfulness at sending it.  So while it isn't "perfect" in my eyes, it's still beautiful.

The technique I was using was Copic coloring on the back side of Vellum and I am happy with the way that looks.  I'd like to try it again sometime adding colored pencil details along with the Copics.

This past couple of weeks has been absolutely crazy between doctors appointments, getting my Mammogram and Bone Density Scans done, and now I have several MRI's scheduled because I have MS.  They like to get a thorough look every year or two in order to see how I am getting along, but I am not looking forward to a few hours spent inside a very claustrophobic tube to have it done.  Plus I've had all of the grandkids at various times this week, so I have been busy! 

 Anyhow, I will try to link as many supplies as I can remember, but I made this card a few weeks ago for this class and I'm just now getting the blog post written.

Affiliate Links Used Whenever Possible

Altenew Beautiful Day Shop at: SSS | ALT	Altenew Beautiful Heart Stamp & Die Bundle Shop at: ALT	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	PTI Shape Shifters Oval #2 Shop at: PTI
PTI Stamper's Select Vellum (#44) Shop at: PTI	PTI Stamper's Select White Cardstock Shop at: PTI	SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS
Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Designer Dies Shop at: SSS

The Paper Players #350

Today is a quick, no frills post for you because I am about to run out of time to post an entry to The Paper Players Challenge #350 which is a sketch challenge this week.

Yesterday's mail brought my Bouquet of Thanks Bundle from the most recent Simon Says Stamp Release and I knew right away that I wanted to use it for this sketch.  That particular bundle came with the Thanks Die, the Bouquet Die and the stamp set.

I've been practicing this week with my Copic Markers and I wanted to continue with that trend as I am getting a little more comfortable with them each time I use them. At this time, I think my issue is with the paper I'm using.  

For the style of this image, I stamped it using Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink.  I used a single color marker on the stems (G24).  For the blooms, I used 4 colors; RV00, RV52, RV63, and V12. As in my other projects this week, this is very simple Copic coloring.  I'm trying to get more comfortable with the way the markers move and feel on the paper, so I just wanted to keep it simple. To that end, I ordered some X-Press It Paper made specifically for Copic Markers. I've used some super silky paper at CHA this year in the Spectrum Noir Booth and I'm looking for something that feels similar. I'll have to let you know later if it worked out or not.  Once I had it all colored, I went over all of the flowers with Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer then die cut it with the coordinating die.

To assemble my card, I started with a Top Folding Card Base made from Lavender Moon Cardstock. I die cut the MFT Striped Sentiment Cover Plate from True Black Cardstock and popped out the cut outs so the Lavender Moon could show through.  I adhered the flowers with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  I cut the "Thanks" from a scrap of iridescent white cardstock and a few sparkling confetti and iridescent black sequins finished off my card.

I'm going to link this card up over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for a second entry this week as well.  Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you'll come back soon.

This card won A Cut Above at The Paper Players

Simon Says "Anything Goes"

It feels like it has been forever since I got to play along with the Simon Says Stamp Challenges but today's card was made especially for this week's challenge.  I am pretty smitten with this stamp and die bundle from Avery Elle called Floral Bouquet. I almost never use black ink, choosing instead heat embossing with Antique Gold Embossing Powder, but Copic markers work better with Copic friendly black ink.  I have a particular one that I like to use -- Simon Says Stamp Intense Black. It was formulated to work with Alcohol Markers such as Copics. I have two other images already inked up and ready to be colored today with some lovely pink shades.  

This is pretty simple Copic Coloring with no special techniques.  I am not a master colorist and I've had almost no training. Most of what I know is from watching others on YouTube.  I'm also not trying to achieve perfection, I just want something that looks pretty.  It doesn't need to be photo realistic.  

I basically used 2 colors of green for the leaves and 3 for the blooms + black for the Stamens. The part of this card that really helps it pop is the My Favorite Things Striped Sentiment Cover Up.  I die cut it from Stamper's Select White and mounted it to a Deep Indigo Top Folding Card Base.

The Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp and is the Painted Hello Die.  I cut four of them and glued them on top of each other to make a thick embellishment.

This is it for today.  Thank you so much for stopping by to see my card.  I hope you'll come back soon.  

The Challenge #85

Hello everyone!  Like you all, I am so happy that Lesley is back to running The Challenge Blog since having her sweet little girl! I joined The Challenge last fall as a designer but not too long after that Lesley had to take a break due to complications with her pregnancy.  Now, The Challenge is back with a new Challenge each week on Thursday Morning.  Our first challenge back is an inspiration challenge and we can't wait to see what you do with it!

I always struggle a bit with anything rainbow and this card was no exception until I found a way to make it my own.  I started with a panel of Gold and White Linen Cardstock from a Papertrey Ink assortment that I picked up in their January 2017 sale. I always try to buy a few gold and white designer papers because I can customize the white to be any color I want using a variety of methods, from ink blending to Copic Markers. Getting a perfect match is no problem at all so if I like the design, I buy it knowing I can change it to suit my needs. This is what I did here using Copic Markers in the Red Violet to Violet Shades starting with R55, R25, RV09, V05, V06 and V09. Simon Says Stamp has most, if not all, of the sketch markers available individually.  I've had most of my markers for many years but have purchased a few there to fill in my collection.  I die cut the three balloons from Papertrey Ink's Balloon Bash Dies using another small patterned white and gold paper, then colored them using RV25, RV09 and V09.  I went over all of the stripes with Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer Pen. There's a few Gold and White Papers that don't take alteration well, so I always do a little test area before I go all in on a whole sheet of paper. Most of them can be changed.

For the Balloon strings I used some gold wired cording I have leftover from Christmas.  You can also use Gold Thread and Gold Embroidery Floss. I've used both of those options previously with success.  I stamped the Altenew Label Love "Happy Birthday" sentiment 3 different ways, then heat set it to see which one I wanted to use. I used Versamark Ink with Ranger Black Sparkle Embossing Powder, Black Versafine Ink with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder and Versamark with Fine Detail Black Embossing Powder.  In the end, I chose the one embossed with Sparkle Black.  I don't normally use any type of black embossing powder because it is hard to get cleanly embossed image, but with all the gold on this card, the Black Sparkle just looked the best. I know you can't really see the sparkle in the photo, but I promise it's there.

I die cut the rainbow panel with the WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Die and attached it to a top folding card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  Next I adhered the balloons using some Thin 3D Foam Squares.  Pulling the strings as straight as I could get them, I put a bit of Ranger Multi Medium Matte behind the knot and stacked a few acrylic blocks on top to keep it from moving while the glue dried. The end result is a clean and simple design with a feminine feel. Please join us at The Challenge and see all of the great projects from Lesley and the Design Team.

Simon Says Fantastic Florals

Hello everyone!  Today's card features Copic Coloring and I'm going to enter a few challenges with it.  The Fusion has a "Pretty in Pink" Theme this week, Simon's Wednesday Challenge is "FantasticFlorals" theme featuring Altenew, and the Altenew February Inspiration Challenge for this month features Ivory with Pink, Green and White. For my Ivory, I used Altenew's Spicy Yogurt Card Stock for my card base.  I love this cardstock and the last time I got some, I purchased 50 sheets of it.  I'm glad, because it's still out of stock and it is a favorite for me.

I have been practicing with my Copic Markers, trying to get more comfortable and like anything else in life, practice is helping me to get better.  I want so much to portray how I see the petals in my mind and while I am not there yet, I'm improving each time I try so don't give up if you struggle with the same thing. We're always our own worst critics.

I really wanted to color my images using Copic Markers today, but I also really love the way Gold Heat Embossing looks so I was just careful not to run my marker over the embossed edge with my markers when I was coloring. I'm also using my Copic hex chart that I got from Sandy Allnock and I find that to big a big help in selecting colors that work together. The marker numbers just never work how I think they should and the Hex Chart is a visual reference that makes it easy. You can find Sandy's chart here. There's a colored in version than you can print, but you have to know the color will only be as good as your printer. There's also a blank version that you fill in as you get colors. There is no need to have all the colors.  I love pinks and purples so those are the colors I have the most of but yours might be green or blue.  It's a downloadable file so you get it right away.


My colored in hex chart is printed, put in a sheet protector and stored with my ink swatches using the same system Jennifer McGuire uses with the coin pages.  I made my own files for the swatches on my computer but Jennifer has downloadable ones on her website. Since I don't buy or want to buy every kind of ink out there, I found it easier to make my own.  I have 36 Altenew Inks, 36 Distress Inks and about 46 Papertrey Inks that I have swatched. I also have some of the full size ink pads from other companies, but I enjoy the smaller size as long as I can keep the lids on them.  Those are the inks I use 90% of the time. In fact, I recently got a new organizer for my ink cubes. It was more expensive than what I wanted, but I really love this.  With my old system I was constantly knocking over my ink pads and dumping them into a trash can so this has been awesome. I'm using a similar system with my Copic Markers since I have both Ciao and Sketch Markers and I've grouped them in color families.  For the inks, each drawer holds 24 inks so right now I have 2 drawers for each brand and the extra drawer holds my most used tools.  At some point I may have to give up that drawer to more inks but for now, I'm good.

As a little side note, I got to meet Jennifer McGuire at CHA.  I couldn't believe it when I saw her standing there, not at a booth where she was doing a make and take or otherwise with a group. She was standing alone, waiting to see her friends (Kathy Racoosin and Kristina Werner who I also got to meet) as she had just arrived at the convention center and they had a designated meet up spot. When I walked up to Jennifer and introduced myself I put out my hand and she insisted I give her a hug instead of a handshake. It was a long hug too! I've had a little bit of communication back and forth with her before this, but she totally remembered who I was. I had even brought a gift for her in case I happened to run into her and I must say, it made my trip!  She is every bit as warm and lovely as she seems in her videos.  Even my husband knew that meeting Jennifer and Yana in person was really the only thing I hoped to achieve at my first CHA. The only person I wanted to meet but didn't was Heidi Crowl. Another time I hope!  

Altenew's Beautiful Day is one of my favorite sets and is much loved and often used.  The size of the blooms makes them a good choice for coloring.  Since I'm trying to familiarize myself more with my markers I used a couple of different color combinations today but I put them away before I remembered to write down the colors.  For the leaves, I colored them using G21, YG63 and G46.  So far, this is my favorite for green leaves and such so far.

The Fusion Challenge has a theme this week of Pretty in Pink and since I couldn't decide which pink I wanted to use, I did a few of these blooms. For these, I used RV91, V93 and V95. Red Violets seems to be my preferred color palette which is not a surprise to me.  These colors remind me a lot of Lavender Moon from Papertrey Ink, which is actually a pink tone more than a purple one.

I have several other projects to work on today so I better finish this post and get moving on to something else but I think it's highly like that you'll see additional entries for the Altenew Challenge before the month is over.  Have a great day everyone, and thanks for stopping by! I apologize in advance if this post seems rambling - it does to me too!  

Make It Monday #269

Edited:  I am popping back in with an edit to this project.  The more I looked at it, the more I felt it needed something more.   *Ü*

The Copic shading around the snowflake adds so much dimension but I couldn't help but add one of the snowflakes embossed in Ranger Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder.  I hope you like this change as much as I do.

This week over at the Papertrey Ink Make it Monday #269, Betsy Veldman showed us a technique for embossed and outlined images.  This reminds me of a watercolor class I took last year where we added the most depth around the outside of the images.  The effect is identical, making your images pop off the page.  This effect is achieved by using a Copic Marker around the outside of heat embossed images, then a bit of ink blending on top of that in a coordinating color.  I used all the same colors and products as Betsy did; What The Doodle Snowflake, Copic Marker in BG13, Hero Arts White Embossing Powder, Hawaiian Shores Cardstock, Tropical Teal Ink with a Mini Ink Blending Tool.  I finished it off with a few Sparkling Clear Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

The die is from the Sparkle & Shine Words Dies and was one of the first things I purchased from Papertrey Ink.  I also used the new Noted: Scalloped A2 Vertical Die to cut my card base.  This die is so fantastic and is achieved in 2 passes through your die cutting machine.

I experimented with a few other colors as well and did one in Winter Wisteria Cardstock using a C3 Copic Marker which is a cool grey.  Neutral Grey tones work well for adding depth of color to any kind of images if you don't have a good match in a more specific color.  I happen to like cool greys vs. warm ones. There are some great examples using other kinds of stamps at the Papertrey Link-up so be sure to check it out.  I'm also linking this up at The Paper Players Challenge #324.

I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy card and give it a try yourself.  Be sure to follow the link above to see Betsy's Tutorial. Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Hey everyone! It's time for another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week's theme is Thanks/Thanksgiving. I have several projects on my desk right now but I took time to color this the other day. It's a digital image from Power Poppy and I can't wait for them to actually make it into a stamp.

I found out quite by accident that I can print digital images from my printer and they are Copic friendly. I printed this on Stamper's Select White #110 Cardstock.  I still prefer watercoloring or stamping over Copic coloring, but it's nice to know that I can improve. Some people have absolutely MAD coloring skills, but I don't fit in that category just yet.  I'll keep practicing though.  I hadn't realized until I went to do this blog post, that Simon Says Stamp carries not only the sketch markers, but also the refills and replacement nibs.  You can head here to see the full line-up of  Copic products. My overall experience with Simon Says Stamp is that that carry almost everything. And if they don't you can send an inquiry to Customer Service and ask.  

I did the simplest style of coloring possible as I am still learning my way around the numbering system that Copic uses for their markers. In fact, I forgot to write down all the colors I was using and had already put them away before I remembered that I needed that information.  I used two shades of green for the olive branches, two shades of orange with 1 red for the oak leaves, and three purples for the olives n the photo.  

If you want to find out how to use Copic and other alcohol markers, you can find lots of tutorials on YouTube.  They are a significant investment so make sure you do your research before you start buying.  I have had mine for about 10 years and most of the markers I have are Ciao Markers rather than Sketch Markers.  I understand that the main difference is that Sketch markers hold quite a bit more ink than Ciao meaning you have to refill or replace less often.  I got mine when Copics were just getting to be popular in the stamping world and we were advised to get Ciao over Sketch.  They are slightly less expensive but it would probably be worth it in the long run just to get the Sketch Markers, especially based on availability. Ciao Markers can be more difficult to find but you can find them at DickBlick.com or MerriArtist.com.

Once I had this image colored, I die cut it with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die then laid it back into the side with a bit of two edges showing and cut it again so that it was just a little smaller than the size of the die. This lets me have a background mat for the image. I cut that from some textured coppery paper that I had on hand and attached the colored panel to it using my ATG adhesive. Next, I cut the Simon Says Stamp Grateful Die from Gold Foiled Cardstock and cut the shadow from some Chocolate Brown shimmer paper. The die comes in two pieces with the word in one part and the shadow is the other part.  You can also use the word without the shadow and have it just as striking. I attached the word with Multi Medium Matte. The coloring took some time, but I did it the other day while I was listening to the TV so I didn't really pay attention to how long it took.  Just like anything else you do in life, mastering the technique requires practice.  

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.  I'll be back soon with another project!  This is a really short post for me but I didn't feel I could add much more that would be of use.  So I hope no one minds the shorter post.

This card will be entered at the Card Concept Challenge with their Thanksgiving theme.  

Papertrey Ink's November 2016 Create Along With Us

It's time for the Papertrey Ink Create Along With Us Challenge for November 2016. The idea is that we are inspired by one of the projects from the Design Team during release week.  I had a hard time deciding which direction I wanted to head this month. The projects from Nichole and the whole team are always inspiring but I loved the projects that incorporated a tag into the cards done by Betsy and Melissa.








I started by die cutting the Tag Sale #4 Die from Coaster Board and Hawaiian Shores Cardstock.  I glued the Hawaiian Shores layer to the coaster board layer using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  Next I cut the 2nd largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Circle from Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper.  This die just happens to be the exact size for the tag die. After treating the circle with my powder tool, I stamped the Papertrey Ink Splits - 'Tis the Season onto the circle and heat set it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  This is still my go to powder for most things.  I love that its a really warm gold. I just used an acrylic block to do my stamping.

I had originally planned to watercolor this part of the "ornament" but I ended up using my Copic Markers doing some very basic coloring.  I used two colors on the candles but one color for the greenery (G17) and another for the holly berries (R29).  The candles were colored using BG01 and BG05. Once the coloring was complete on my circle, I misted it with some shimmer spritz and let it dry.

Several months ago I got a paper pad from Hobby Lobby called Be Bold, Be Bright and it has all these gorgeous foiled prints in it.  I really only use these papers as backgrounds from time to time and I have hardly used any at all, but when I want something really special looking, I love to pull them out.  I die cut a piece with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die and mounted that to a Top Folding Card Base made from Stamper's Select White.  I pulled the banner greeting from the Botanical Blocks IV set and stamped it onto the banner from Tag Sale: Quilted Die cut from the same watercolor paper.



This was another super fast card to put together but still allowed for a little bit of a handmade touch and would be easy to do multiples of.

Thank you so much for stopping by to look at my project today.  It always means a lot when you take time to leave kind and encouraging comments.

Just for Laura

I have a scrappy friend who lives in Belgium and is at University studying to become a Kindergarten Teacher.  She has a huge following, especially on YouTube where she has more than 8500 subscribers for her more than 120 videos.  She is only 18 years old but has been making cards since she was 12 years old.  Her's was one of the first YouTube videos I watched when I started making cards this past Spring and I've followed her ever since.

Now that my friend has started college, there are many projects to make as part of her education and she doesn't have as much time as she did before so she is taking a break from weekly videos and blogging.  I still haven't mastered shaker cards which was the first video I saw her do. But I still remember the sound of her voice as she told us on the video that the card she had made was going to be the one she gave to her parents because she adored the cute little critters. Subsequent videos with critters are among some of the best she has done and she is the queen of shaker cards!  She is also known for her love of and ability to duplicate soft colors. 

Because of her love for critters, I wanted to create a Christmas Card for her this year that had little critters in it.  I'm actually hoping to make another one with critters for my grandsons this year.  I have a cute idea for a little deer.... 

I started by stamping the little penguin on Canson 140# Water Color Paper from the WPLUS9 Winter Pals Stamp Set with my lightest gray ink, Smoky Slate, and heat embossed him with WOW! Pearl Embossing Powder. When you use the Pearl, it picks up the underneath color - so paper color or ink color.  With dye inks, you have to be really quick with the embossing powder, but you can do it.  I just stamp each item one at a time so I can get the embossing powder on there and then I heat set everything all at once.  For the little bear and the sled, I stamped in Sahara Sand Ink with WOW! Pearl Embossing Powder as well.  The little pond was first stamped with Versamark and then heat set using Iridescent Sparkle Embossing Powder. I also went over the little pond with a swipe of Versamark so it would take the Iridescent Sparkle Embossing Powder over the whole surface to make it seem icy.  I used the companion dies for all of the cutting.  I detest "fussy cutting". Some people actually think it is therapeutic, but I am not one of them. 

Once I had all of my Copic coloring finished and everything cut out, I used Simon Says Stamp Surf Blue Card Stock to cut Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle panel for my card front.  I stamped the "Merry and Bright" from the Mama Elephant Jingle Greetings Stamp Set and heat embossed it using WOW! Metallic Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder.  The Platinum color is a bit warmer than Silver.  This Mama Elephant handwriting belongs to one of the owners of Mama Elephant and it is my favorite!  I have several Mama Elephant word dies in the same font.   

I still don't feel very comfortable with Copic Coloring but I think these little critters are pretty passable. Copics are another medium that you have to learn to walk away from for a bit to see how the color comes out.  Since they are alcohol based, they dry pretty quickly allowing the color to absorb into the paper.  I used C1, C3, C5 & C7 to color the penguin and W1, W3, & W5 for the bear. Surprisingly, I did not use any black on the penguin except for a black glaze pen on the eyes. 

For the white parts of the face I used a tip to tip technique using a colorless blender with C1 for a minimal amount of gray shadow.   I used clear Wink of Stella on the white parts after he was colored.  When I first started the penguin, I was pretty sure that I had ruined him with my first strokes of the gray, but it came out alright in the end.  Copic Markers come in two types -- Sketch and Ciao.  I have all Copic Ciao Markers but I see most people using Copic Sketch Markers.  I do not know what the difference is.  Some people used to say that Ciao Markers couldn't be refilled, but they can, so I still don't know the difference.  I've had my markers for several years so I guess it just not that important to me to know the difference.  Way back when I got mine, I got what was recommended by a couple of guys that were Certified Copic Instructors. I don't use mine often enough to feel the need to know.  I much prefer watercolor for most of my images but I couldn't get these little pals colored in a way that I liked, so I switched mediums.  

The theme this week at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge Blog is "Let it Snow" and I'll be entering this card.