Saturday, July 20, 2013

Time For a Giveaway!

It has been a long while since I've given anything away. 
 I would love to give all of this to ONE lucky person!
Here is what you get: 

1. Crafty Secret's Vintage Typography CD
2. Crafty Secret's Vintage Illustrations CD
3. Crafty Secret's Vintage Halloween CD
4. SEI Spiral Bound Journal
5. Pink Paislee Artisan Wings stickers
6. Doodlebug Halloween Ribbon
7. Maya Road Flowers
8. Pink Paislee Snow Day Dimensional Stickers
9. Cricut My Quiet Book cartridge.


So what do you have to do? 
Just tell me what project you are working on currently. 
That's it! :)

If you become a follower, mention the giveaway on Facebook, or pin to Pinterest, come back and let me know, and you will get an additional chance to win! 

I will pick one winner on Wednesday, July 24th at 10 PM CST.

Have a beautiful weekend!
:)

Friday, July 19, 2013

A Little Romance

Good morning and happy Friday to you all!  I am so happy that I got to "play" a bit in my craft room.  For one night I didn't do any DT projects, and it just felt good to just goof around and experiment a bit.  This week I saw the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger and knew I had to play along.
It is totally up my alley.
Lace. Soft pastels. Vintage. Love it.
When I first looked at the photo, my initial reaction was that it was entirely a cream color....but closer study showed that there was this soft blue and peach color.  I decided to incorporate those into my color palate. 
I loved the lacy look of this blouse and used 3 layers of lace to "ground" my flowers around the bottom of my frame.  I used a glassine bag as my backdrop to soften the entire card a bit. 
I kept the sentiment soft and embossed it in white.  I incorporated a doily behind the flowers. And flowers? I used lots of flowers!  I didn't want them to look too heavy, so I used creams and added a few vellum flowers that were cut using a Spellbinder's die. I added a few feathers, acrylic accent pieces, vellum leaves, and flower stamens I bought in the bridal department at Michaels. 
I popped the frame up a bit using dimensional foam circles.  As a finishing touch, a few pale pink sequins were scattered here and there. 
I have lots on the agenda today and will be playing chauffeur to my kids.  
Storms are supposed to roll in tonight to bring in cooler air.
I'm not a fan of storms, but cooler air would be welcomed! 
I am thinking I may do a giveaway this weekend, since I haven't done one in awhile.....so if you get a free moment, please come back to visit! ;)
Have a great weekend!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Another Copic Tutorial

Good morning friends!
I have one more Copic/die cut tutorial for you today. :)  This time I used a pineapple cut.  
Once again, it looks okay just like this, but to me it looks a bit "flat" and a tad boring.  So I am going to show you how I took this pineapple to the next level.  
These are all of the Copics I used. 
As I stated in my tutorial earlier this week, I usually start with my darkest color. 
I outline the perimeter of the die cut. 
I then take my medium green.....
.....and start "dragging" my darker color in towards the center. 
I take my lightest color next. 
I finish "dragging" my two other greens towards the center.  
The top of the pineapple was where my "sun" was shining, so I left the top very light. 
I love adding a bit of brown ink to the edges as a finishing touch. 
Now for the pineapple itself.....start once again with the darkest color. 
And again, outline the perimeter. 
Take your medium color next. 
And again "drag" the darker color in towards the center. 
And finish it off with your lightest color.
I again did the same thing for the brown die cut. 
And here is my final product!  
I hope you are inspired to use your Copics if you aren't already, on your die cuts.  :)
I am a gal of few words today.....I've gotta run, but will be back tomorrow!
Have a great Thursday! Stay cool!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Happy Summer!

It is hard to believe that it is the middle of July already.  It makes me shake a little seeing all the school supplies on the shelves! I am not ready to go back to a rigid schedule.  I love waking up later, not having a particular schedule to follow, and having long lazy summer days. Someone make time slow down just a bit okay? ;)
My card today reflects summer.  Beach. Waves. Seashells. I love the carefree quality of it. The Crafty Secrets, Vintage Silhouette's  image was printed on vellum and embossed in black. I created my own beach for the kids to play on.  I tore strips of kraft card stock and layered them using dimensional foam circles.  I inked the edges and added gold Stickles to the edges. I  made "waves" by making a shaker card and adding sequins for movement.
The background was created with a Spellbinder's seashell impressability template and texture paste. After it was dry I inked darker blue towards the bottom and lighter as it went up to create an ombre effect.  I added a few pops of red here and there for contrast and a Maya Road Stick pin topper to my bow. 
And seriously, what could be cuter than my girl in her pink inner tube wearing goggles? ;) She cracks me up!
We are heading to a pool party later this afternoon with friends! It certainly is hot and humid enough here!
Stay cool my friends!

Monday, July 15, 2013

Tutorial-Using Copics and Die Cuts

 I have a fun technique to share with you today on how to add depth to your cuts!  I’ve had many people ask for tutorials on how to use their Copic markers and I wanted to show you a couple of things you can do with them.  
I used one of my favorite cartridges, Animal Kingdom, to cut this cute lion.  He looks pretty good as is…..but a little flat.  
For the lion’s body I used these markers.  If you don’t have these exact colors that okay.  What I generally recommend is 3 colors.  A light, a medium, and dark in the same color family.  So my light color is E53, my medium color is E31, and my dark color is E33.  My Y26 I used as a contrasting color, but isn’t necessary.
Let’s start with our dark color first

When coloring an image I usually start with my darkest marker.  I create a sort of outline around the area I want to color.
Next comes my medium color, I am going to “drag” the darker color towards the center with a swiping motion. I also like to think about where shadows would be.  On this lion his belly would be darker as well as his legs. I went back over those areas with the darker marker a couple of times to create those shadows.
I then take my lightest marker and again, “drag” the two darker colors in towards the center with the same swiping motion.
The nice thing about Copic Markers is you can rework the areas over and over until  you get the desired effect. You are able to do this because they are alcohol based markers.
Now, I could have left the lion’s body alone, but I wanted to show you another fun technique to add texture.  You will need an old wash rag, Colorless blending solution, and a Copic Marker.
Simply squeeze a bit of the Colorless blender on the wash rag.
Then swipe the Copic marker where you placed the Colorless blender.  You have to work fairly quickly because it will dry pretty quickly.
Then dab your paper with the washrag.
It gives the lion’s body texture to almost resemble fur.  I’ve used this technique on grass, and just recently created a Halloween project with a tombstone and did this on grey paper to look a bit like stone.
I still need to finish the lion’s face, so I will use these markers……
I added a bit of pink to his ears and cheeks first, then went over it with my browns.  I also used the washrag technique so he matched his body. 
I am still not done because I have his mane to color.  Remember before? It was just a flat yellow piece of paper?
I am doing the same technique as before. I outlined the mane in my darkest color, Y19.
I took Y15 which is my medium color and dragged the darker color in towards the center with that same swiping motion.
I wanted the outside edges to be a bit darker so I went over it again with Y19.  I sometimes rework the image quite a few times before I am satisfied with it.
Again, I used Y15 to drag that darker color.
Remember my “flat” lion?
Well, here he is with his makeover!  : )
I added a little tag to his tail using the Sentimental’s cartridge.  : )
I hope I’ve given you a few tricks on how to use your Copic markers to add depth to your next project! If you have any questions please feel free to ask!
I will have another project later in the week using Copics and Die cuts.  

Have a great day my friends!!