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Every Christmas I debate with myself over making a batch of
homemade cards. I mean, with a whole
stamp company at my disposal you'd think I would delight in the task, but time
is precious in December, and finding the hours to make 25 + cards by hand can
be difficult. But this year in
particular, it seems as if peace is a very precious thing as well and to sooth
my soul I wanted to make a card to sort of "wish the world" a Merry
Christmas.
So I used Pink Ink's "Angel On High", "Peace
On Earth" AND "Peace & Love" stamps to get my message
across. I knew I wanted a pretty, soft
subtle card this year. I just haven't
been in the mood for boisterous Santa Clauses and sweet candy canes. Instead I chose a palette of soft sage green
with muted gold metallic accents.
To create my "factory" I first color the
images...adding a touch of gold metallic paint to the angel's dress ribbon,
then I cut the images and all background papers to size. I measured and cut 2 lengths of olive green
organdy ribbon (4.5 inches each) for each card.
Next, I attached my angels to gold metallic card stock "mats"
and placed four squares of foam tape on the back corners of each angel with
gold backing unit (leaving paper covers on).
At this point I attached the smaller green paper piece to
the center of the larger one. I then ran
my tape runner around all four sides of the back of the larger piece and
wrapped the ribbon pieces diagonally around each corner, pressing firmly on to
the adhesive. (You could also tape the
ribbon ends down with regular scotch tape for extra security). Now the two
separate pieces are assembled; sticking down the larger papers on the center of
my card and attaching the matted angel to the center of the green papers.
The last part of my little assembly line was
dotting each card with 8-9 dabs of Stickles platinum glitter glue and (after
dry) using a metallic gold prisma pencil (#PC950) to add "star shines"
around each glitter dot.
Homemade cards take time and thought, but I cherish all
those on my "list" and want them to receive something pretty, made by
my hands, and to wish them peace this Christmas.
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Showing posts with label prisma color pencils. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prisma color pencils. Show all posts
Saturday, December 12, 2015
My Little Factory
Thursday, October 22, 2015
A Kraft Paper Christmas Class
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Kraft paper is humble, yet beautiful. While it is the source for paper grocery bags
and cardboard boxes, it also is used for "decorator quality" hand
blocked wrapping papers, totes and gift boxes.
In other words, it's country, but it's cool! I love this look ~ so different from stamping
on white! Here are some close up
examples from the "Kraft Paper Christmas" pencil coloring class that
I recently taught.
And to share with you...my notes from the class!
MID TONE Tan kraft
paper is a mid toned color, consequently, it provides a nice middle range value
that lessens your coloring time. In
class, we will focus on deepening it with shading and lightening it with
highlights of pastel and white.
PAPER TOOTH Kraft
paper does not need to have an initial layer to smooth out fibrous paper tooth
with pencil wax. The rougher surface of the paper and grainy look of the
coloring adds to its homespun
charm.
WHITE Color whites
in first...you can color over white
pencil, but white pencil doesn't fully cover over colors. A good way to shade on top of the white is
with pale grey. Try using a pencil
stroke that follows the direction of your object, for example:
the flow of Santa's beard, the furry trim on his suit, the slope of the snow
drifts.
EXPERIMENT It's
always a good idea to use your sample swatch to test colors. They will look a bit different than what you
are used to seeing on white stock.
COLORS I suggest
adding lighter colors first, then darker colors on top. You can always go back and add a second layer
of light color again to brighten it up.
SHADING Make the
paper tone work for you! I have let the paper be part of the shading on Santa's
beard, the window shutters and the Christmas tree boughs as it provides a nice
undertone that is perfect for these objects - no initial layer is needed.
FILLER After
counting, I found myself adding about 50 "snow" dots to each Woody
card. Dots are made by wiggling the
point of the white pencil in a teeny circle.
Don't make them too big, or they will morph from falling snow into a
polka dot look.
METALLIC Silver,
gold (and copper - if you can find it!) look great on kraft paper stock! Their shimmer is a perfect foil against that
"paper bag" brown. I think a black,
white and metallic color theme on kraft would be a very elegant look.
FUN Have fun with
this different paper surface...that's what it's all about!
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