(See post below this one for Big Blooms winner. Thanks!) Are some of you working on your Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, or other end-of-the-year cards yet? I really need to get started earlier than I usually do, so I have decided to try to get at least a couple done each week. I'll try to post one on Fridays if possible. Tonight you get two!
First, I had to try Baroque Motifs as a Christmas card. Card stock: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, and the new Purely Pomegranate (which is similar to Rose Red, but a bit darker, almost a cranberry color--lovely!) Ink colors were Always Artichoke and Purely Pomegranate as well. I added a bit of spice with my trusty Gold Painty pen as well as a couple of dots of clear Stickles and some gold brads. I also used my SU ticket corner punch and a small Carl corner rounder. The gold metallic ribbon is some that SU offered in the past--pulled it out of "the Stash." This would be a relatively simple card to mass produce if I left off the one hand-trimmed bloom. The Merry Christmas is from another new set, available July 1, Holidays and Wishes.
For the second card, I used one of my Lockhart angels (Star Angel 6011) and my COPIC markers. I have had pretty good results with both Palette Noir and Versafine Onyx Black inks used with Copics; the one exception is that the Versafine still seems to smear occasionally if I use my SU Whisper White. I have used other ultrasmooth whites without a problem, so I have an idea that it's the coating on the Whisper White that prevents it from drying completely enough to prevent smearing. (Of course it's that same coating that gives it such a lovely finish for solid stamping as well!) I have also used a black chalk ink with good results. Markers used were: Y19, YR31, Y00, B000, B21, E21, C1 (10% cool gray), and 0 (clear). I used the Copics rather than other markers because they blend so easily. For example, on the angel's dress, I used the pale blue (B000) around the perimeter, then quickly went back with my clear marker and was able to blend the edges and leave it lighter in the middle--much like you would use a watercolor pencil and blender pen. I outlined my image in a light cool gray just to add some depth. Stars are dotted with a Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll.
A few of you asked questions about Copic markers, and one of you said that you'd bought them and needed to know how to use them. I'm quite sure that I am not an expert with these yet, having only a few weeks' experience, but I will try to give you a few tips as I learn anyway. I have been e-mailed about these asking which assortment I liked best as well, and I have to admit that I don't have any of the regular assortment sets; I have certain colors (48) that give me a good range of color, some comparable to my SU colors, and some not comparable, but still necessary in a good color range. Whose advice did I take on marker colors? Ellen Hutson's, of course! Ellen has never steered me wrong in a recommendation yet, and this was a good one as well. You can read more about Ellen's Copic color choices in her post here. (I will tell you more about them as I use them for different projects.)
Finally, on to the angel's background: I used SU's new Soft Sky card stock, along with a Blue Bayou mat layer. Organdy is non-SU pale aqua. I used my Big Impressions Paisley texture plate to emboss the background. Several of you have asked in the past how to get a good impression with the texture plates, both Big Impressions and Fiskars. You will not get as deep an impression with a texture plate as you will with the A-2 Cuttlebug dies simply because they are one-sided and not cut as deeply as the Cuttlebug dies. In the past I have resorted to misting my card stock with water and adding extra fun foam to try to get a good impression from a texture plate. Tonight I used my newest die-cutting/embossing machine: a Spellbinder's Wizard (another Ellen-recommendation.) Wow. . . I did not have to mist my card stock or fiddle with adding extra layers. It just plain worked the first time! I will probably stick to using the Wizard for my texture plates from now on.
Thank you for visiting!
