Sunday, July 31, 2011

Make a Wish

I wanted to incoporate some feathers into a card. The papers are from my stash. Copic colored image using Stickles, CTMH ink, Nestibilities, oval punch and only one piece of bling.
Entering challenges
Cardmadfairy's Girly Challenge
Sew Many Cards Anything Goes
Card Cupids Birthday
Birthday Sundaes Cakes & Cupcakes

Until next time!
sparkle - http://www.sparklee.com

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Make It Monday Challenge

I made this card yesterday and am posting it on Make It Monday.


Is this a summer card or what? The inside reads. "Don't forget the sunscreen!" For the water/sky I used the Fiskars Wave crimper. I sprayed it with my homemade glittermist which you can see if you zoom in on the photo. Next I used a Fiskars Wave ruler to tear the shape of the sand and embossed with a Fiskars embossing plate. I inked the edge of the sand for a more dramatic effect. The sun and the "Fun in the Sun" sentiment were from the same $1 bin stamps at Michaels. I used CTMH ink to stamps the sun and sentiment and added Glossy accents to the sun's glasses as well as added Stickles to the sun's rays. The palm tree was on a different $1 stampI and inked the image with Uchida markers and fussy cut it. I added the Copic colored digital image, used foam dots on the back and finally added the handrawn "birds" in the sky.
sparkle - http://www.sparklee.com

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Copic Coloring versus Prismacolor Pencils

Copic coloring is all the rage right now and it seems the Prismacolor pencils used with Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS) have been placed in the back of the drawer.
On the plus side the Copic colored images (orange) are vibrant and have an enormous about of depth. On the minus side the Copics can cost upwards of $7 a piece and the paper you use can be quite pricey as well. You also must understand blending and shading to use them to their full potential.
On the minus side Prismacolored images with OMS lack the depth of the Copics and can look quite grainy. On the plus side the Prisma pencils are not nearly as expensive as the Copics and quite frankly just about any colored pencils, including the Dollar Store variety, will give the same results. While an understanding of blending and shading will certainly help, you can easily have quicker success with colored pencils.
Both images below were colored on Georgia-Pacific paper which is very economically priced but I don't like the Georgia-Pacific with the Copics. It is much too porous and dries too quickly to blend as well as I would like. On the other hand I absolutely loved it with the colored pencils.
So what is my personal preference?--Copics--and probably not for all the reasons you think. I do like the vivid colors of the Copics and the depth but believe it or not one of my main reasons I like using them is because I have always held my pencils too tight. As a result I have an unsightly knot on my middle finger. Coloring with the Prismacolor pencils is no different. My hand becomes easily fatigued and I just can't do as much as I would like. I have missed using my pencils and am going to make a conscience effort to use them more often. BTW I have no affiliation with either company, have not taken any classes on using either product and am not an artist by any means...I can't even draw stick people. These are just my personal opinions.

I wasn't very happy with the picture of the card I uploaded previously. One of my digital cameras is really weirding out so here it is again. I'm entering it in the Birthday Sundaes "Anything Goes" Challenge and Copic Coloring Challenge at Color Me Copic.


Below is the card I colored with the Prismacolor pencils and OMS


I'm entering it into the Bling It On Challenge "Anything Goes."

sparkle - http://www.sparklee.com

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Sassy Saturday Sistah

The graduation card I created for my great-niece's graduations was chosen for "Sassy Saturday Sistah" over at Sassy Studio Designs!


I absolutely love their digital images and created the card below with one of them.


I've always used Neenah paper for my Copic colored images but have been reading about card makers using Georgia Pacific cardstock available at Walmart. I decided to give it a try. Although I love this card, it will be my first and only time using the Georgia Pacific cardstock for Copic coloring. I am not happy with the way it blended. I've also tried the XPress paper and while I like it, I don't love it. I'm going to do what my mother always says, "if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it." I'll be sticking with the Neenah paper

I'm entering this card into the:
sparkle - http://www.sparklee.com

Friday, July 8, 2011

Is it really your birthday?

I colored this image with Copic markers and found the background paper in my scraps stash. The birthday sentiment is from the $1 bin at Michaels. As always I have to using Stickles and bling and my favorite Gelly Roll faux stitching to add some depth to the card. Birthday Sundaes has an "Anything Goes" challenge with the only requirement being there must be a birthday sentiment on the front of the card.

sparkle - http://www.sparklee.com

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Two page layout

 I took these pictures at my great-niece's open house.



I can't believe I've already scrapbooked photos that were taken less than 30 days ago! Woohoo!

sparkle - http://www.sparklee.com