As we near the end of the year, I always like taking a look back to re-visit some of my favorite stamping techniques. One of my all-time favorites has always been watercolor ... combine it with Copics and I'm in love! :)
I'm also in love with these two cuties, so while they were in good humor recently, I caught them in front of the Christmas tree and decided to capture the moment in print and a scrapbook page! Another one of my favorite trends/styles from this year has been chalkboard. So to create the 8-inch page background to resemble a chalkboard, I stamped this fabulous mixed font Hero Arts Clings Be Jolly background with Versamark ink a few times onto Ellen's Black A5 Cardstock and heat embossed it with Detail White Embossing Powder. Alternately, you could stamp with white pigment ink and clear emboss it, but I originally thought I might want to highlight a few of the words in the background with Copic markers (but then decided against that).
TIP: No matter how careful you are with white embossing powder on dark cardstock, you are probably going to get some bits of white powder somewhere it's not intended -- even with using an anti-static embossing bag! So my trick is to use a Copic marker color that matches your cardstock and just dab over the unwanted white embossing and it will disappear into the background! I usually use the less-used chisel end of my marker to do this, because the embossing powder may contaminate and/or clog your marker tip.
I love using unexpected colors for things every now and then, so when I started this page I thought it would be fun to use the new 2014 Pantone Color of the Year, Radiant Orchid. I tried matching it to what I thought would be the closest Copic version (my best online viewing guess) and came up with a combination of RV63, RV66, and V06 (which looks closer to me in real life than these electronic representations):
Isn't that Penny Black Warm Wishes poinsettia stamp gorgeous?!! Here's how I made it:
To begin, I stamped the poinsettia with VersaMark ink onto Essentials by Ellen 8.5" x 11" warm white watercolor paper paper and heat embossed it with Ranger Clear Embossing Powder and Heat It Craft Tool. The reason you want to use clear embossing powder here is that a white embossing powder might tend to get tinted with some of the Copic ink, whereas I've had less of a problem with that by using clear powder.
Next, I placed drops of my chosen Copic Various Ink Refills on a Plastic Paint Palette and used a Niji Waterbrush, filled with Copic Colorless Blender Solution, to pick up the colors and brush over the poinsettia, beginning with RV63-Begonia:
Since I knew I would be cutting out the poinsettia, I didn't worry too much about coloring outside the lines. You can color right over the embossed lines – the embossing powder resists the ink, leaving all of your lines nicely defined! Then I went back with the darker RV66-Raspberry Various Ink Refill and added some shading:
The poinsettia was hand trimmed and popped up with X-Press It Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape over the photo.
To create the photo mat, I used My Favorite Things' largest Mini Album Square Scallop STAX die to cut more of the watercolor paper, then airbrushed the edges that would show with Copic V06 Sketch marker. The reason to use the airbrush here is two-fold: it covers a large area quicker and will use less ink than coloring with the marker tip directly on the absorbent watercolor paper (which tends to drink up/wick the ink faster when the marker tip contacts the paper). I ended up airbrushing a little of the RV66 marker over the top of the V06 here, to tone down the purple a bit:
To finish the page, I tied white wide silk ribbon around the page, with a silver jingle bell and tag stamped with the 2013 year. The "Holiday Memories" is a fabulous MFT December Memories word die, cut from more of the watercolor paper. Use a fine tip glue pen to adhere these thin types of die cuts:
As this is my last CLASSroom post before Christmas, I'd like to wish you all a very merry one! ~ Sharon
{Supplies}