Hello and happy Fall! I'm excited to be back in the CLASSroom today after my family's move further south in my home state of Texas. At least in some parts of the country I hear Fall is starting to make an appearance -- down here in the southern coastal part of the U.S. I think it's still quite a way off (which is fine by me)! Nevertheless, it's my favorite time of year -- I love the crisp mornings and the deep, rich colors of Fall, so I wanted to challenge myself to try and get some extended versatility from what may be considered more Spring/Summer stamp images -- like these pretty ones from Penny Black's release earlier this year that I hadn't had a chance to ink up yet!
I made another one of my 6-inch calendars, by creating a custom background paper with my Copic Airbrush System. Here are the easy steps:
1 - Cut a 6-inch piece of Neenah Natural White cardstock, then airbrush your different chosen Copic Sketch Marker colors in any pattern you'd like. I use my Copic ABS-3 with my Sparmax Windstorm Airbrush Compressor, but you could also use the all-in-one Airbrush System 1N which includes a large can of air:
Here, I used YR68, YG95, BG57 and V17 Sketch markers. Notice all of my chosen colors are amongst the higher end of the brightness scale, ending in the 5 to 8 number range -- meaning they have close to the same amount of gray added to them so they'll have a better chance of coordinating together. Use the chisel end of the marker for a smooth application of color:
2 - Next, to tone down the colors a little bit and give them more of a Fall feel, I lightly airbrushed E27 over all the colors. I used the brush end of the marker, for a more splattered "grainy" look:
3 - After airbrushing, pounce and rub Inkadinkado's Embossing Magic Bag (shown on the right) all over the area to be embossed. The airbrushed markers can sometimes leave the paper surface feeling a little "tacky" and the bag will be sure to remove that tackiness so the embossing powder will only cling to the intended stamp image.
On the left in the photo above, I've already stamped Penny Black's Clear Lace Trims stamps (I just left them on the clear storage sheet) with Distress Embossing Ink and covered the images with Ranger Seafoam White Embossing Powder.
4 - Here's what the pretty borders look like after heating them with Ranger's Heat It Craft Tool:
Next, I stamped Penny Black's Cling Garden Assistant with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Neenah Cream cardstock and colored her with these Copic Sketch markers: E00 & E11 (skin); YR21 & E23 (hair & flowers); YG93, YG95, YG97, YR65 and YR68 (floral patterns), E25 & E27 (hats). She was hand trimmed and popped up on Copic Foam Tape.
5 - For the 6-inch base of the calendar, I used Hero Arts Pool Layering Paper but the color wasn't quite as deep as I would have liked, so I darkened the edges that would show with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and Ink Blending Tool with Foam pad:
6 - After die cutting Memory Box Mango Cardstock with Tim Holtz's Scallops On The Edge Die, I sponged the edges with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, to deepen that color as well:
7 - Finally, the custom background I created was also die cut (with the other holey scallops included on the same Tim Holtz Scallops die) and added to the orange scalloped background layer:
As I've suggested before -- if calendars are not your thing, you can use this same project idea as a scrap page (I finally remembered to snap a photo before adhering Ellen's 2013 Ring Binder Calendar PDF Download!). I printed the calendar on Neenah Natural White cardstock at 80%, which yields an approximate 3.25" x 3" calendar.
8 - The calendar was finished with Ellen's Iridescent Pool and Iridescent Melon Essentials Sequins.
I hope you have a lovely first-of-Fall weekend! ~ Sharon
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