the CLASSroom

Coloring Gold Embossed Images

Good morning and welcome to the CLASSroom.  I don't know about you but I have become a little overwhelmed with all the coloring choices available to us today.  I have several different kinds of markers, watercolor paint, acrylic paint, watercolor pencils, etc., but I still love using Distress Reinkers when coloring gold embossed images.  My clean and simple card today was made using the cherry blossom images from the Impression Obsession Pink Clouds by Pink Ink and the sentiment is a sneak peek from one of Julie's new sets being released on March 4th.

Secure the flowers, foliage and sentiment stamps and white cardstock and in the Mini MISTI, apply versa to the images and stamp the images. 

Sprinkle the image with gold embossing powder and heat with heat gun.  I always use Ranger Super Fine Gold Embossing Powder for fine lined images.

Use a small brush and pure Spun Sugar, Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo reinkers to paint the images.  I like to use the lids of my coordinating Distress Inks as a palette for my reinkers so whatever is left when I'm finished will be there the next time I use it.

Cut out all the images with scissors to avoid having the white outlines left by die cutting.  There is nothing wrong with cutting out the images with dies and having the white outline around the images.  I just personally prefer using the images without the borders. There is a coordinating Pink Clouds die set you may want to use.

Use a Rose Pink Copic marker to create a border for the background layer that perfectly matches the pink flowers. Attach the border layer to the base image layer with ATG adhesive.

Apply mounting tape to the back of the image layer and attach to the card base.


Gently form the flowers and leaves using a molding pad and the stylus from the Garden Tool Set.

Create dimension and interest to the background image by arranging and attaching extra flowers and leaves with glossy accents.

I used the Pink Rose marker to add a little extra color to the flower centers but was very careful to use a soft touch so the alcohol ink wouldn't damage the gold embossing.

I love how elegant the colored gold embossed images look against the all white background.  The arrangement of cherry blossoms was a perfect choice to use with the Sending Good Fortune Your Way sentiment.  You are going to love the sentiments in Julie's new set. I can't wait for you to see all of them.  Thanks for coming by the CLASSroom and I hope you have a great day.

Impression Obsession Clear Stamps, Pink Clouds by Pink Ink

Impression Obsession Dies, Pink Clouds by Pink Ink

Ranger Distress Reinker, Spun Sugar

Ranger Distress Reinker, Peeled Paint

Ranger Distress Reinker, Vintage Photo

Neenah Cardstock, Neenah Heavyweight, Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb, 25 pk

COPIC Sketch Marker R81, Rose Pink

VersaMark Ink Pad

Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder, Gold

Elizabeth Craft Designs Susan's Garden Tool Kit

My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7)

Scotch Foam Mounting Tape

Ranger Accents, Mini Glossy Accents

Teflon Bone Folder

Tonic Maxi 12 Inch Guillotine Paper Trimmer (453E)

Scor-Pal Measuring & Scoring Board 12x12

Wonderful You Watercolor Card by Julia Stainton

One of my favorite creative pastimes right now is watercoloring. I just can't seem to put my brush and watercolors away! Recently I bought this gorgeous detailed stamp and watercoloring it was a technique I couldn't wait to try. As the image is very detailed, it's a little  unique and I'll be sharing a few tips I have along the way. Let's get started!

First of all this gorgeous stamp is from Pink Ink and is called Hawthorne and Roses. It's a beautiful red rubber stamp that stamps really cleanly and beautifully on watercolor paper.

I've mentioned it before but it may bear repeating... some watercolor papers have different finishes on the reverse side. Test out your paper before starting your project to see. For this project in particular with the all the detail, you really need a paper that is not going to bleed the color very much. In other cases, like for a background, you want the opposite.

My favorite go-to ink EVER is the Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink. I use it on almost every project and the only time I don't use this black ink is when I want to use Copic Markers. It doesn't work with Copics, but with watercoloring and everything else...it's a dream.

To start in the withe watercoloring I always want to add in a little base color in each of the areas. This gives you a place to start. You build up the color from there.

Next add in the smaller flowers and details. Allow to dry. Notice I'm leaving some white spaces. These act as highlights and watercolor always looks great with them.

THEN go back and add in shadows and details. I love adding a couple colors or tones if possible to things like flowers and leaves. They are not one solid color. While I didn't take a picture of it, after this stage I added in the background using lots of water and then adding in the color. Set the image aside to dry completely.

I thought this fringe tape would be a fun addition to the bottom of the card. It's a tissue-like very thin paper that is so fun and festive. It would be perfect in bright colors for making your own pinata. Here I think it adds a sweet and shabby look to the bottom of the card. Just cut each strip to size, then peel of tape backing and adhere.

Once the bottom section of the card was covering in fringe tape, I then adhered my watercolor panel and then stitched it directly to the card front. I love how it frames the image and adds stability to the heavy paper.

The sentiment is a die cut from the Wonderful die set from Ellen Hutson LLC. I LOVE how it curves and leads your eye through the design. It's die-cut from Solar White card stock, the same paper I've created the card base from. The second part of the sentiment is a Tim Holtz sticker from the Chitchat Stickers book.

Finally, the card is finished off with some sweet embellishments. A paper flower from Maya Road and a sweet Mirrored Heart from Tim Holtz, along with a little twine bow.

 Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom! Enjoy your watercolors and have a fabulous long weekend!

 Julia

Supplies:

 

Peerless Watercolor, Small Bonus Pack, Set of 40

Ranger Artist Brush Set (7 Piece)

Maya Road Vintage Paper Flowers, Small White

We R Memory Keepers DIY Party Fringe Tape, White

Ranger Watercolor Paper, 10 pk

Tim Holtz, Chitchat Stickers

Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Brushstroke Wonderful by Julie Ebersole

Plastic Paint Palette

Kuretake Umezara Palette

Neenah Cardstock, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, 25 pk

Tim Holtz Mirrored Hearts

Ranger Accents, Glossy Accents

Lawn Fawn Hemp Cord, Natural

Sizzix Big Shot Plus

Sizzix Big Shot White & Gray

Pink Ink Wood Mount Stamp, Hawthorne & Roses

Beautiful Backgrounds 5-Airbrushed Stencil Orchid by Sharon Harnist

Happy Friday, everyone!  As we leave May behind and get ready for summer, I was feeling bright and festive and wanted to share a fun background that will enhance your summer party invites, thank-you notes, or birthday cards!

Here's how to create this quick and simple background, using a stencil and the Copic Airbrush System (click on photos for a larger view):

1. Choose a stencil which contains a simple pattern that can easily be repeated, such as these Large Polka Dots or any other shapes with spaces between them, such as stripes, chevrons, waves, etc. Using washi or any other repositionable tape, tape the stencil into place over Copic X-Press It Blending Card and airbrush your first color (I used YR21).

2. After the first color is done, gently lift up the stencil and reposition it so the stencil openings are now in between the first airbrushed color; tape the stencil back down to your work surface and airbrush second color (I used BG000):

3. The finished airbrushed background with two colors. If you don't have the airbrush sytem, alternately you could color through each opening of the stencil with Copic markers, or use an ink pad and sponge ink color through the stencil.

TIP: To clean your stencil, use rubbing alcohol, alcohol prep wipe, or hand sanitizer.

4. Next, I stamped Pink Ink's Graceful Orchids #2212 with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card and added the "celebrate" sentiment from the Essentials by Ellen Wish Big stamp set, inking only the word and leaving off the long trailing lines. Then I die cut the stamped images with Taylored Expressions Label Stacklets 3 and while the cardstock was still in the die, I airbrushed more of the YR21 Copic marker around the edges.

To color the beautiful orchids, I was inspired by this photo I found in an Internet search and tried to mimic the coloring:

5. I started by base coating each petal with RV52, leaving a white edge on the inside of each petal.

6. Next, I used my darker RV55 to color the centers of each flower.

While researching orchid colors, I also discovered the anatomy of an orchid (which I previously knew nothing about, so I thought I would also share!):

7. To differentiate the three sepals from the two petals, I used lighter RV52 to pick up color from the darker RV55 and colored the sepals on each flower a little darker than the petals:

8. Next, to make the faint lines on the petals and sepals, I used each of the corresponding colors (i.e. lighter RV52 on the lighter petals and darker RV55 on the darker sepals) and made the lines with tiny rows of dots. This way, they are not just stark straight lines drawn on the flower. Darkest RV69 was used to deepen the color of the flower centers.

9. I used the green combo of YG61-YG63-YG67 to color the leaves and stems:

10. I used the combo of BG000-(same color used on the polka dot background)-BG01-BG02 to color and shade the vase.

Lastly, W1-W3-W5 were used to color the air roots and shadow under the vase.

To finish the card, I die cut a larger Label Stacklets 3 mat from Neenah 110 lb. Solar White cardstock and colored it with the BG000 marker, so it would match the background dots and vase perfectly! The colored image is popped up on Copic Foam Tape over the background.

I hope you'll have fun with this background technique!  ~ Sharon

Pink Ink Wood Mount Stamp, Graceful Orchids

Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Wish Big by Julie Ebersole

Taylored Expression Dies, Stacklets - Label 9

My Favorite Things Stencils, Large Polka Dot

Memento Ink Pad, Tuxedo Black

Neenah Cardstock, Neenah Heavyweight, Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb, 25 pk

COPIC Airbrush Starter Set 1N

Sizzix Big Shot White & Gray

Teflon Bone Folder

Glue Glider Pro Plus Refill, High Tac Value Pack 58'

Martha Stewart Scoring Board, Mini

Fiskars SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer (12")

High Tack Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape, 1/4"

COPIC Sketch Marker YR21, Cream

COPIC Sketch Marker BG000, Pale Aqua

COPIC Sketch Marker RV52, Cotton Candy

COPIC Sketch Marker RV55, Hollyhock

COPIC Sketch Marker RV66, Raspberry

COPIC Sketch Marker RV69, Peony

COPIC Sketch Marker YG61, Pale Moss

COPIC Sketch Marker YG63, Pea Green

COPIC Sketch Marker YG67, Moss

COPIC Sketch Marker BG01, Aqua Blue

COPIC Sketch Marker BG02, New Blue

COPIC Sketch Marker W1, Warm Gray No. 1

COPIC Various Ink Refill W5, Warm Gray No. 5

Blending Card by X-Press It, 25 Pack