When creating the stamp of the month packets I do my best to keep them simple. I want you to be able to complete these projects easily and in a timely manner and so I try not to overdue it - LOL! You can easily add an appropriate sentiment for your occasion to the front of this card or to the interior. You could also add additional texture by using a Cuttlebug folder, backgrounder or Scrapblock in a tone on tone ink, or pierce a design into the Wisteria cardstock. Sometimes though simple is good Ü
I am craving spring in a HUGE way and keep hoping that soon the Crocus will pop their little heads up and bring a bright, purple hue to our front yard! So with that I selected the new Lockhart Violet Cupcake for this month's project.
This little number came together SO easily being I had just received the newest releases from Memory Box Company. Dave has truly given us a special gift with his seven, YES SEVEN, new collections. I am going to give you direct links to them so that they will be easy for you to find.
- Brandywine (soft burgundy, brilliant orange and velvety golds)
- Butterfield (rolling hills, butterfly gardens and gorgeous scenery)
- Fernbrae (a quaint garden full of vintage florals and antique tile)
- Glitterati (lights, cameras and rock n' roll, ready for the ready carpet?)
- Poppyfinch (which is included in this month's stamp of the month packet is described as a bouquet of aqua, teal greens and soft violet)
- Rhubarb Tart (juicy reds, crisp greens and sassy patterns)
- Sweetbay (a lakeside collection of spring greens and frothy blues)
- and one more previous release, Sugardrop (petal pinks, bittersweet chocolate and mossy greens)
- OK - now I'm REALLY ready for spring after sharing these details - LOL!
Having arrived home from CHA sicker than a dog it is taking me a few days to try and get it all back together. I hope to head in to the office tomorrow and pair the papers up with the cardstock so that you will have a better idea as to which products they coordinate with. Each packet has (3) each of 10 different designs in it. What a fabulous value! They are all simply delicious!!!
When I first met Karen Lockhart I loved to color, but I didn't really have a way of sharing how it is that I did so in a manner that was easy to understand. Karen invited me to attend one of her classes as a "bystander", lending a hand where needed and just taking it all in. While attending that class Karen shared some wording that hit me like a bolt of lightning, being my background is interior design. She said as you color think of your image as a room you are decorating. Oh man!!! Why didn't I think of that??? Thank goodness for talented teachers like Karen! Analogies can make things so much easier to comprehend. So this is exactly how it is that I now convey to my students the message of how to color an image.
When beginning to decorate a room it typically starts with paint. Therefore the first layer that I use in "decorating" my image is a thin layer of primer. I start with my lightest colors to help define my image and I color the entire image, I PRIME it. I don't just do one wall, or one portion of my image, instead complete it from start to finish. I color the entire image, creating balance as I go. This also helps me define the sections within the image.
In the cupcake image above you can see how I selected markers that coordinate with my paper colors. When you purchase your Copic markers from us we supply you with a sheet of Neenah that has all of the colors we carry listed on it. We suggest that you use your marker to place a "swatch" of that color in each box as you accumulate your markers. That way you will know which colors you have to work with and will not have to constantly make little marks all over your work surface to figure out which colors you would like to use.
Next I PAINT my image, for this layer I typically use a darker color tone then the starting primer color. This is where I work quite differently than most Copic users. I have found that by working in the typical recommended way, my colors are much more "flat" than when I vary my color groupings.
The "typical" way of working with Copics is to select a color based on the first number in the series. For example I selected a BV000 to color the violets in the image above. The next number that would be recommended for use would then be a BV03-BV05, and if you really wanted some intense color you would then select a Copic marker that would be in the range of BV08-BV09. Note how the beginning number and letter all remain the same, with only the last digit changing. The last digit in the Copic markers indicate the lightness/darkness or value of the color, with the low digits being light and the high digits being dark.
I prefer to shoot off from that first number in the series and select from an associated color grouping. In nature when I look at a flower I don't see just one color, I see a multitude of colors and so this is how I select my colors. As you can see I first primed my image with the BV000, which is from the Blue-Violet family, but I wanted to make my image "pop." Therefore the next color I selected was V15, a color in the Violet family which has more red in it. In looking at many of the patterned papers you will notice that there are a huge range of colors in those papers. By selecting colors that vary somewhat I feel that I end up with a more natural blend of colors. Note though that the second number in my color selection does follow the general rule of increasing depth, that number being a 5, V15.
After applying this second color you can see that I have fairly distinct lines. I hope that the size of the picture above when opened is large enough for you to really see these details. To "meld" these two colors together I then bring my old brush (my primer or lighter marker color in this case, BV000) and once again color over these distinct areas. The alcohol in the marker will help the colors blend. The more you color the more blended they will become. You could achieve a blended look by using a colorless blender, but being there are NO color particles in the Colorless Blender marker you will lighten the entire image and end up "pushing" most of your color to the edges unfortunately this often ends with a more "muddied" color tone. This is why I most often prefer to use a light color tone when blending.
The colorless blender helps me fix mistakes, it helps me add special effects, it helps me add specific highlights in an image, and yes it does blend colors; but most often I blend using the color I primed my image with.
As you can see I did the same thing with my green leaves. Beginning with YG00 and adding YG63 as my paint layer.
Being I wanted the wrapper to have a more "papery" feel to it I switched from Copic markers to Prismacolor pencils. When first beginning to work with the Copic markers it was a natural transition to the Neenah cardstock. The Neenah cardstock that we carry in our store is the one Karen first selected to use with Prismacolor pencils. It has THE perfect tooth for working with the colored pencils. As I explored different papers and how they could be used with the Copic markers I determined that there really was no better paper out of all the ones I tested that could produce a result that was any better than when using Neenah. That is not to say that no other paper works with Copic markers - there are many papers that work, but I am a creature of habit when it comes to my coloring materials. Once I find one that works well, and Neenah works REALLY well, I stick to it. It is affordable and has just the right amount of tooth for coloring with Copics AND Prismacolor pencils. It is a wonderful surface for combining these two mediums. Yes, I started the Neenah cardstock/Copic marker frenzy and this is the reason I recommended it to everyone out here in cyberspace.
Back to the cupcake wrapper. To bring the color tones of the B00 more in line with the decorative papers I was using I needed to add some warm gray and a hint of periwinkle. If you look closely you can see how the Prismacolor pencils only catch the tooth of the paper and float over the top. The Copic marker soaks into the paper, thus going in to the recesses of the paper. This combination adds a layer of depth to your project that you cannot get when using the Copics alone. So if you own both Copics AND Prismacolor color pencils you can achieve the best of both worlds! Deep rich color, together with transparent depth.
Rather than pulling out the deepest Copic Marker value I pulled out my Prismacolor pencils to add that final layer to my cupcake. First we primed, then we painted and finally we ACCESSORIZE. When accessorizing a room you don't add a layer of accessories that covers your entire surface - you pick and choose the areas that you place your accessories. This is how I think of adding my "accents" or the layer that I use to draw your eye in to the image. This can be done in so many different ways - typically I use Prismacolor color pencils and glitter pens to add this layer to my image.
In the image above I selected Dark Green and Imperial Violet, both are intense, dark values. I hope by sharing this description with you it will help you look at your individual little images in a new way. When Karen used the words - PRIME, PAINT and ACCESSORIZE - a lightbulb went off in my head and it continues to shine through in such a natural way when I now color. As you practice think about these different levels and soon I hope that it will all start to happen naturally for you as well. Never fear trying to place two different colors together - you will most certainly not ruin your markers. You might end up with your image in that "round file" otherwise known as the garbage, but it is just paper and it is SO worth the experimentation! You will discover layers of color that would otherwise be lost to you. Give it a try - leave your thoughts here to share with others who are venturing out in to the unknown world of color. Color is satisfying and by adventuring in to it's depths you will discover exquisite beauty.
I finished the piece above by using my Mega Curved Rectangles to cut out my background papers and the Classic Circle for my focal point. I did cut out my cupcake and pop it up, but you need not do that when creating your own image if you find cutting tedious. I love the depth of popped up images and so I take the time to do this. The final touch of glitter pens, coordinating ribbon (you only need 3 1/2" for each card with this layout) and the addition of a few lavender gemstones and your project is almost complete. Using the Memory Box Envelope Liner Template I added a little of the accent paper to the interior of the envelope for an added touch. You could also use your scraps on the inside of the notecard aka Cindy Lyles Ü
I am thrilled to tell you that I found some fabulous goodies at CHA and my hope is that they will start appearing in our store over the next few months. Some were to ship immediately and others will take time (waaaah!), but that's the way the manufacturers do things and we just have to live with it - LOL! For now to keep your creative appetites satiated we do a have a ton of new Memory Box papers AND images, as well as all the new Lockhart images that were released this past month! We will do our best to keep the projects and ideas coming. Thank you for stopping by again today.
