BEEN COLORING...AGAIN

Here's another page from the coloring book "Blossoms and Butterflies" by Dover Publications.  This one is called "Giant Swallowtail with Geraniums". 

I used my Crayola color pencils, and I had to research the butterfly and 

geraniums to know what colors to use.  Remember with colored pencils, it's the white eraser and the kneaded eraser that you use to remove color or for blending.

 

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These pictures were taken with the light box light on.  

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I hope you were inspired to do some coloring.  Whether you use copics or pencils or watercolor, coloring can be fun and relaxing.  Try it, you might like it.  We're all learning together, so feel free to leave your comments or suggestions.  They are appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by!



Tilda Shopping

I love Tilda, and I'm so happy she's become one of my little girls.  I posted this one on the Cricut MB for the weekly color challenge and the monthly challenge.   I cleaned up an oopsie, so now she's just fine.  I used Paper Wishes specialty papers and Dazzles, and of course, my copics to color.

  

Tilda Shopping

My sisters and I were doll lovers.  We would play with paper dolls and Barbies for days on end.  Like little soap operas.   There was always tension for Ken whenever a GI Joe was around because we preferred GI Joes.  GI Joes had muscles, and they could bend and put their arm around Barbie instead of just straight out like Ken. LOL

To make our Barbies pregnant, we would tape these tiny little baby dolls that were put together by rubber bands to their stomach until the birth date.  Red yarn served as tubing for a blood transfusion.  We were an imaginative crew, and my mother's soaps sparked the inspiration.

I still have a love of dolls and paper dolls.  I used to wonder why old ladies seem to have a lot of dolls.  Now I know, not that I'm old, but I do have a hankering to play with and dress up dolls since I'm not as busy as I once was.

I fell in love with Magnolia's Tildas when I picked up my first issue of Cardmaker magazine.  Little did I know I would eventually have a small collection of my own.  I've been coloring them with copics, and when they turn out almost as beautiful as the ones I see in the magazines my heart is filled with joy, and I wish I could have that feeling every day, all the time.

Thanks for stopping by.

Snowman Card

I made this card for a friend of mine who's been sick.  She asked me to make her a snowman card, and so I did.

I made this card from one of my cardmaker kits from Paper Wishes.  Like I say, I can't come up with anything new, but I can follow direction.  Thank God for instructions.

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BEEN COLORING -- AND IT'S SO PRETTY!

One of the reasons I started this blog was because I like to color and wanted to get into copics but didn't feel comfortable on the MB trying to learn about a  non-PC product.  There were others who wanted the same info, so the blog, a place where I can go and make comments about my coloring projects, including copics, and a place to learn and share with and from others.

Today's project:

Can you guess what I used to color with?  Crayola 24-pk color pencils.  Yup!

I got this picture from a book of 16 stainned glass images on vellum to color called "Butterflies & Blossoms" by Dover Publications that I purchased from The Cracker Barrel restaurant.  If you've never been to Cracker Barrel, you should go, but not just to eat.  Each one has a general store where you can buy all sorts of goodies from days of yore and not so yore.

My lastest go-to book for using color pencils is "The Ultimate Guide to Colored Pencil"  by Gary Green.  I so love this book.  It covers everything you would ever want to know about using colored pencils, from the types of pencils available, to tools, to techniques, to color charts of some of the most popular brands of pencils.  It's in a hard cover binder so it lays flat and comes with a 55-minute DVD where the author leads you from start to finish on drawing and coloring a rose. 

Watching Gary on the DVD clarified techniques and terms related to colored pencils.  This was money well spent.  And improvement is immediate. 

Here are the tools and techniques I used for this project.

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White vinyl eraser

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Kneaded eraser 

Kneaded erasers are to colored pencils what colorless blenders are to Copics. They're like clay, and you can make them as large or as small as you want, small enough to get into the tiniest of spaces.  To clean the eraser you just knead it like clay,  so you can use the over and over again.  

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Light box  - Martha Stewart Craft Station

 The darker pictures have the light on my MS Craft Station turned off.

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Techniques:

In these next pictures you can see the debris left by the pencil.  You use the kneaded eraser to remove the debris, blend colors, and/or remove color.

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Working between the pencils and the erasers, you can lay as much color as you want, use the kneaded eraser to remove debris, blend, and leave a smooth, shiny finish.

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 The following are pictures at various stages of the project.  Some have been zoomed in, some are darker or lighter, some show before and/or after blending.

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The finished product is transparent (vellum), intensely colored, beautifully blended, with a smooth and shiny finish.

This project was fun, relaxing, and satisfying.  If you have any questions or comments about this project or post, please feel free to leave them.  This is a learning experience, and your comments are very helpful and encouraging.

Thanks for stopping by!

DO YOU HAVE A PORTFOLIO?

I liked to think I did, I really didn't.  The more I learn, the more artistic I feel.  Someday someone will ask me "Are you an artist?" And I'll be confident in saying "Yes, I am.

How would you present your work if someone wanted to see it?  If you're like me, you probably have boxes with cards that came out somewhat right, but a little wrong, swatches, or maybe you have a stash of cards made up for certain occasions.  And, of course, you have all those pictures online that you've uploaded. I read an article today about the importance of having a portfolio to showcase your work. 

I don't like scrapbooking, but I'm going to be more aware of putting together a hardcopy portfolio to showcase my work, if only for myself.  I'm also going to organize an online portfolio that will showcase my work.

If someone wanted to see your work immediately, you don't want to go through files and folders online or boxes of cards around your crafting space to put something together.  You want to be able to respond "Just say when and where". 

Along with actual cards, it would be a good idea to include references or some of those job-well-done letters in your portfolio, too. Your portfolio should give an instant indication of the type of artist you are, what you do, and how well you do it.  Opportunity can come to call at any time.

A portfolio could be something that will inspire you to keep working and improving your craft.  I like to think that if I had a portfolio, it would be something that I would leave behind when I die and that it may be valuable to somebody as a great collector's item.

So let's get on to making a portfolio that we would be proud to share with someone who wants to see what we do.  Online portfolios are good to have, but you may be required to produce hard copies of your projects as well in some instances.   It may turn out that your portfolio turns out to be a brag book of your cards or layouts.  You never know when opportunity might present itself, so you want to be ready.


                                    Thanks for stopping by.

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS FEBRUARY

This week over on the Circut MB we're supporting breast cancer awareness by creating a set of boobies during the month of February.  That's right, boobies!!!

This is one of my first posts.  It's Jersey inspired.  (Do you think *nookie would like it?)

Come over and check out the submissions from the other supporters, add one -- or two, three -- of your own.  It's been a real treat.  So fun!

http://www.cancer.org/Involved/Participate/MakingStridesAgainstBreastCancer/make-a-pink-ribbon-lapel-pin

Thanks for stopping by.

 

SMOOCH INKS

This is my post from the Cricut MB for Barbara.  A few days ago Barbara was clearing out her craft space and asked on the MB what was a Smooch and should she get rid of them. 

 "Hey Barbara,

This is why you need to keep your Smooches.

Found this in among my swatches. It's a reject because it has a big oopsie. (One of the hearts got messed up and I tried to fix it.)

This is a dry embossed place card, made with a stencil and stylus (also from Paper Wishes), and then patiently painted with Smooches. Isn't it so pretty and girly and sweet?

Anyway, as you can tell the Smooches are pearlescent. The color is intense and the brush makes it possible to get into the tiniest of places. I love my Smooches. There's even a pearl white.

SMOOCHES!
 Let's do lunch."

Now, in case you don't know what Smooches are, they are "Pearlized Accent Ink." I like to call it nail polish for paper.  You can get Smooch ink in lots of colors from PaperWishes.  Look around while you're there.  It's one of my favorite places.

Thanks for stopping by.