Thinking Inking

Coloring for Grown-Ups. . .

I'm never sure exactly what to say when people ask what my job is, because "I teach grown-ups to color again" sounds a little odd, to be sure! Odd or not, it's the answer that I most often give, followed by, "It's a great gig!" A few of weeks ago I was sent two of Marianne Walker's new Copic Coloring Foundations Collection kits. (Both Flowers and Faces and Hair kits are available.) These are stepped-out, instructional books that take you through coloring simple images as well as more advanced images. The kits include several 8-1/2" x 11" art pages to color along--yes, coloring pages for grown-ups! :-) 

I've been plodding along on one of my favorite coloring sheets from the Flowers kit, so I thought I would take pictures as I worked.

I began with my Copic greens--warm, saturated, intense greens, for the most part, with just enough of the cooler greens thrown in the make some of the leaves recede. [I removed the "click to get a larger picture" feature because it was really messing up the resolution on my blog images; so I'll list the colors that I used as well as giving up a picture.] 

YG01, YG03, YG05, YG17, G20, G21, G24, G28, G29

Here is what my sheet looked like when I finished the leaves.  I kept the leaves on top warm and sunny, but I added cooler greens to the leaves that were tucked behind others or peripheral. (I did go back at the end to add some cast shadows and darken the tips of several of the leaves to make them look like they curled down.)

For the zinnia centers, I used Copic Yellows and Oranges. 

Y04, Y06, Y38, YR02, YR04

Here were my zinnia centers. (Again, I went back at the end and deepened some of the shadow areas.)

Here are my Copic yellows, oranges, and reds for the first three zinnias. I mostly copied Marianne's colors on those three so I didn't have to think about were to start! 

Y06, Y08, YR02, YR04, YR09, R59, BV23 (shadows)

Here are my first three zinnias, almost finished except for a few more cast shadows that I added toward the end.

Next I choose some Copic pinks, peaches, and reds for some two-toned zinnias. (I googled "Zinnias Images" to get ideas on color combinations that zinnias come in.)

E01, E02, R81, R83, R85; BV20, BV23 (shadows)

Here are my peachy-pink zinnias, finished except for a few shadows that I added later. I like these!

I thought that since I had pulled in some cool pinks in the previous flowers, I might be able to tie in Copic Violets for a couple of the zinnias. (I forgot to take a picture immediately after I finished the violets, but you can see what they look like two pictures below.)

V12, V17, V05, V09, BV23 (shadows)

Next I headed in the direction of plain pink zinnias with my Copic Red-Violets. These were really intense; I had started with just the RV0's, and I ended up adding the RV50's over the top of the RV0's to tone down the saturation level a couple of notches. I added a few strokes of the BV20's to help tie in the pink zinnias with the violet zinnias.

RV02, RV04, RV06, RV09, R52, RV55; BV20, BV23 (shadows)

Here I have added more cast shadows, as well as using BG90 and BG93 behind the zinnias. They needed something other than white space around them. Now, should I, or should I not tell you how long I spent coloring this 8-1/2 x 11 page? Hmmmm. I color s-l-o-w-l-y. . .  (Okay, it was close to eight hours. Yikes!)

Do you find coloring relaxing? Maybe you should consider trying some larger format work as well! Again, if you enjoy coloring either Faces and Hair or Flowers, you'd probably enjoy Marianne Walker's new Copic Coloring Foundations Collection kits. Happy almost-November!

A Frosty Guy. . .

Welcome! Yes, it's getting to be that time of year again. In fact, we had a few snow flurries last night--nothing that stuck, thankfully. As I was digging through my stamps, I ran across this little MFT Stamps Pure Innocence Holiday Hugs Snowman--hmmmm, a stamp that I hadn't used yet AND  that was seasonally appropriate! (The sentiment is from a different MFT Pure Innocence set that must be retired--at least I didn't see it online.)

I colored Mr. Frosty with the Copic markers listed above. Papers are from my older scrap stash, an Echo Park Holly Jolly Christmas 6 x 6 paper pad. I used Die-namics Blueprints 24 to cut my focal image panel, as well as to make the little start ornament that Frosty's holding (colored in red then covered with glitter). I used Die-namics Blueprints 15 to "stitch" the red background layer. This was a fun little card to make, and a welcome addition to my as-yet-small Christmas card stash! 

Thanks for visiting,

Thankful for Your Kindness: Peonies

Good morning! I got back from the Portland Copic Workshops on Monday afternoon, then remembered about the time I set dinner on the table that I hadn't made my card for today yet. . . Some days are just like that! Today I'm happy to get to share a card using the new JustRite Peonies Clear Stamps and Peonies and Mason Jar Dies. 

 

These are the Copic markers that I used to color the peonies images. I airbrushed Copic Y35 onto the white panel before attaching the mason jar and peonies with foam tape.

I took a couple of angles of pictures, hoping you could see the stacked layers in one of the pictures. 

Patterned papers are from Crate Paper's Flea Market 6 x 6 pad. I hope you get a chance to go see what the rest of the JustRite girls created with the lovely Peonies clear stamp set and the companion Mason Jar and Peonies Die set! Thanks for stopping by,

JustRite Inspiration
Debbie Olson (here)
Marisa Job
Heidi Blankenship
Michele Kovack
Kathy Jones
Kristi Schurr
Darsie Bruno

You Are a Blessing: Doodled Roses

Welcome! I'm popping in this lovely Sunday morning to share another new JustRite October release stamp set, Doodled Roses clear stamps. Isn't this a fun image? I kept it simple; I embossed the focal image with white embossing powder and then watercolored the roses with Distress Inks. 

A bit of stitching, a string, and a button, and that was it--easy! The little strip of patterned paper was from Echo Park's Summer Bliss 6 x 6 pad--one of those bits and pieces sitting beside the paper cutter. If you'd like to see more projects made with JustRite's Doodled Roses clear stamps, I hope you get a chance to see the blogs below!

JustRite Inspiration
Debbie Olson ((here)
Sheri Holt
Michele Kovack
Heidi Blankenship
Kristi Schurr
Darsie Bruno 

Thinking of You: Morning Splendor

Welcome! I'm coloring today in Vancouver, Washington, just across the river from Portland, Oregon. Just before I left home, however, I had a chance to play with a couple of new sets of JustRite PaperCraft stamps, one of them being the Morning Splendor clear set that you see used above. 

Shown above are the Copic markers that I used to color the Morning Splendor image. I suppose morning glories may come in a variety of colors, but the ones that I grew up around were always blue! 

Patterned paper in the background is from Crate Paper's Flea Market 6 x 6 pad. I used a heavyweight vellum to heat-emboss my tag sentiment--easy! 

Would you like to see what the other DT girls have created with the Morning Splendor clear stamps set? Check out the links below, and thanks for stopping by!

JustRite Inspiration
Debbie Olson
Michele Kovack
Marisa Job
Darsie Bruno
Kristi Schurr
Kathy Jones
Angela Barkhouse

Notecards Galore!

Welcome! Just popping in to share some notecards that I made a couple of days ago. If you been stopping here for very long, you might know that I'm not fond of mass production. I don't have a problem with anyone else doing it; I just get bored easily if I have to do it! I needed a couple of thank you notes--preferably easily mailable ones. But when you're making two, you might as well make three, just to have an extra for the stash, right? The funny part was that after getting three started, I remembered that I needed seven more cards to put on gift bags for an upcoming church event. Hmmmm, might as well just keep going. . .

So two turned into three, and three turned into ten. For someone who isn't fond of mass production, that was an an accomplishment! :-) Unfortunately, I almost used up my remaining Echo Park Sweet Girl 6 x 6 paper pad. (Sounds like a good reason to shop for new paper, doesn't it?)

For the sentiment, I used Papertrey Ink's Simple Sentiments stamp set. It's an oldie, but definitely a versatile goodie! I used plain cotton crochet thread for my little string and bows, dyed with Copic Reinkers after I finished the first card and decided than I needed a pop of color for the lone embellishment. I machine-stitched a couple of lines on either side of my sentiment after using one of my MFT Die-namics Blueprints 15 dies to create faux stitching around the patterned paper panel perimeter. A bit of sanding and a bit of distress ink, and I was finished--ten cards in an evening, and I'm almost caught up! 

On an unrelated note, next weekend I'll be in the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington area with Copic Color and Ink Workshops. After almost every trip, I hear from someone who says, "I would have been there if I'd known!" That's why I'm letting you know--hope to see you there!