How to make a custom stencil /Как да си направим стенсил

Hi, lovely ladies !

I find out that almost every time when I'm starting a new project need something especially for it. That way came the idea to make my own custom stencil and I'm going to share it with you.

 Here’s the list of what you’ll need to make you stencil:

• piece of clear or colored acetate sheet / I think colored one is much more easy to use for that purpose/
• small dies - I choose Diamond Press dies because they are perfrect size
• fine point permanent marker 

And the rest of the list for the card:

• Spectrum Noir  AquaTints Inks
• watercolour cardstock 
• Acrylic structural paste
• some stamps by choise and ink pad
• colored cardstock
• refillable spray bottle
• some emblishment & dies by choise 
• glue

Step 1

You have to create a pattern with your dies- chose the size of the dies and the distance between figures.  

I decide to try small and big pattern. For perfect stencil you'll need to lined the dies shape with marker first. Make it on the back side of the dies because it's easier to stick it with tape.

Here is my acetate sheet ready for work.

Step 2
Start cut the shapes. At the end clear the acetate sheet with cloth impregnated with alcohol to erase all the tracks of the marker.

And here it is your stencil in two really effortless steps!

Make a base for your card by using watercolor techniques.

After my AquaTints dries, lay the mask and make the design you like.
Use white structural paste and color it with AquaTints. That way you may have any color you like.

And after some decoration your complete card will be done !

 Spectrum Noir AquaTints Inks list:

06, 21, 26, 30, 24 - Bright & Primary sets

I hope you enjoy this and give it a try !

Share a card or other project you make using this tutorial with us on our Facebook page, tag us on Instagram (#spectrumnoir or #spectrumaqua) or on Twitter (@SpectrumNoir)! We’re also on Pinterest so tag us there as well for a chance to get re-pinned to our Colorist Creations board!

Tutorial credit: Mila Popova

Коледна декорация / Christmas Ornament

Този сезон персонализираните и ръчно украсени  топки за елха станаха много актуални.

Предлагам ви моя вариант :) и уроче как да си направим подобна декорация.

И за да не се чудим как да я закачим на елхата и да се вижда само декорираната страна, решението е лесно - украсяваме и двете страни - при мен отзад е посланието, но това зависи само от вас и вашето въображение.

Тадам...м и абсолютно готовата топка !:)

За зимното небе съм използвала мастилата Spectrum Noir AquaTints Inks:

02,07, 08 – Landscape & Primary sets

Ornament the tutorial / Декорация за коледна елха

Hi, lovely ladies !

The Christmas is almost upon us and there is nothing more special than receiving a present that shows attitude and personal touch.
That's why I offer you to make a traditional Christmas tree ornament. The theme is snowy winter night because of how much I like the color combination blue, white and gold. 
It takes less than half an hour and will be much fun.

 Here’s the list of what you’ll need to make you Christmas ornament:

• Spectrum Noir  AquaTints Inks
• watercolour cardstock 
• Plastic Christmas ornament -prefer traditional ball one but there are more shapes
• some stamps by choise and ink pad - use Crafter's C0mpanion clear stamp set
• colored cardstock
• refillable spray bottle, brushes
• some embellishment, paper flowers & dies by choice 
• artificial  snow
• glue

Step 1

I decided to recreate a snowy Christmas night into my ornament and I have chosen dark blues AquaTints Inks and a stamp with trees used as a foreground of my winter sky.  You have to create the background with your AquaTints Inks - I  did choose wet on wet watercolor technique.  

 Step 2
After making the background you need to outline the template that was into the ball.  If there's no template, outline the half of the ornament but in this case cut inside the shape to be sure the contour will fit into the plastic ornament. 

Step 3
Once you outline the shape continue and stamp the background. Make some snowy winter sky and trees. I wanted my winter night to be more realistic, so I stuck the warm yellow cardstock on the back of the wooden house. This way it looks like there's light through the windows.

Step 4
Decorate the second background. Use it for the back side of your ornament because it has to be perfect on both sides. You can use some sentiment like me or even put a picture of your sweetheart or a baby etc.

Step 5 
In the end assemble the Christmas ornament. You could insert some artificial snow or ice.
Add some embellishment for example I put paper poinsettia and a few tiny cones. 

 Spectrum Noir AquaTints Inks list:

02,07, 08 - Landscape & Primary sets

I hope you enjoy this and give it a try !

Share a project you make using this tutorial with us on our Facebook page, tag us on Instagram (#spectrumnoir or #spectrumaqua) or on Twitter (@SpectrumNoir)! We’re also on Pinterest so tag us there as well for a chance to get re-pinned to our Colorist Creations board!

Tutorial credit: Mila Popova

Be Happy

Здравейте, момичета
Минавам на бързо да ви покажа една картичка + бърз и лесен начин да си направим вкъщи стенсили с наличните щанци за рязане.
Надявам се да ви е допазнало урочето !

Eто и къде ще я включа - при Картишоците :)

For My Sweet Little Princess- Decoupage on Textile / Декупаж върху текстил

Hi, lovely ladies !

I would like to share with you a step by step decoupage on textile tutorial that I made with my favorite  Spectrum Noir Markers . I’m going to show you a really cute and easy to made personalized gift. A few weeks ago, I made a common white bodysuit for my baby girl looks so special transferring an image on it.

Здравейте, момичета !

Искам да ви споделя уроче, което направих за декопаж върху текстил и идея за много симпатично и персонализирано подаръче. Преди няколко седмици превърнах едно обикновенно бяло боди за дъщеря ми в нещо съвсем различно като трансферирах картинка картинка оцветена с Spectrum Noir Markers на него.

Here’s the list of what you’ll need:

• a white or light color cloth / I use white short sleeve bodysuit – it’s  depends on the size of your stamp and colors you choose

• a rubber / clear stamp by choice  (I choose this one because it’s a fairy tale one )

• your favorite Spectrum Noir markers

• ink pad– I use StazOn

• a sheet A4 printable paper or white cardstock

• white tissue paper

• decoupage vanish & glue or textile glue

• brush for the glue

• some decorations as desired

На снимката са всички материали, които съм използвала.Аз печатам със StazOn, знам че е не типично за алкохолните маркери, но според мен се получават доста по-добри изображения и контури с него, пък дори и с алкохолни маркери.

Тук може да видите, че оцветявам на обратната страна на тишу хартията.

Картинката вече е залепена на текстилната повърхност.

И за финиш, след добре изсъхнала картинка съм нанесла и още един слой декупажно лепило.

You can find the full step by step tutorial on Spectrum Noir page.
Пълното описание стъпка по стъпка може да видите на сайте на Spectrum Noir.

Here is the color list:

Skin: TN3, TN5, FS4, FS6, FS9, BG2, BG6, CR3, CR5
Hair: EB1, EB2, EB7, BG2, BG6, True Black, DG4, CG3, CG4, GB3, GB7, GB9,CT3, Blender
Dress: BT2, BT3, BT4, BT6, BT9, TB9, BG2, BG6, GB3, GB7, GB9,CT3, Blender, True Black

Надявам се да ви хареса и да пробвате и вие :)

How to correct photos with Photoshop in easy steps / Лесни стъпки за корекции на снимки в Photoshop в

We all love posts with perfect pictures but it can be a real challenge to take ones if you don't have proper light or a professional skills or camera. Even if you’ve taken a good photo, chances are it can be improved or it needs to be adjusted to work in a collection.
I prefer to use daylight for my artwork but sometimes it's a hard task too. At the evening you can use light tent for product photography or you can make one by yourself too, there are many tutorials in the internet. But the mean problem how to correct your images is still on.
At the end you'll see that it's not necessary to become a professional photographer to make good shots. The only thing you need  is a right editing program.
I'm going to show you how to do basic image corrections in Photoshop in some simple steps. I use the full version but there is a light one too. It's easy to use and you don't have to install it just start it.

Images for above pictures before and after editing.

Step 1.
Start the program and open the chosen image from file menu . I'm going to use this card because of it's vibrant coloring.

Step 2.

Open the palettes that we are going to use - adjustments, layers, history, properties / if they are missing on  the right side on the screen/. Find them in window menu, mark and they will appear on the right place.
Go on the Adjustments panel and create a New Levels Adjustments layer by clicking the level icon.
Then on the screen will see a Level histogram.

The Levels Adjustments use to correct the tonal range and color balance of  an image by adjusting brightness, contrast and tonal range. The only thing you have to do is to specify the location of shadow, highlights and mid-tones in a histogram. It'll help you better to represent tones.

Use Adjustment Layers whenever possible, because they can be changed later if you don't like the result for example.

The Levels tool can move and stretch brightness levels in a histogram using three main components: a black point, white point and mid-tone slider.

Moving the right slider brings in the light, the left gives a little more contrast but most important is the middle one because it controls the most of the vibrant colors in the image.

Step 3.
Let's use my favorite image adjustment tool- Curves for the final touch.

Go on the Adjustments panel again and create a New Curves Adjustments layer by clicking the curves icon.

At the beginning the curves box opens as a straight line because you haven’t made any changes yet. That means that the brightness values before and after are the same. You will effect a change by changing the shape of the curve.

The points from left (bottom) to right (top) affect: blacks, shadows, midtones, highlights, and whites. By altering the position in these regions will affect the corresponding tonal range of your image. Leaving the line in the center will leave the tones unchanged.

Note that you can’t increase contrast in one region without decreasing it in another. The curves tool redistributes contrast.

Step 4.

And at the end  have to crop the image with the proper size to create focus on the right detail. Use crop tool from Tools Palette on the left. Click on the tool icon to select that tool and then select an area of an image and discard everything outside this area.

Skin: FS2,FS6,FS9,HB1,CR2,CR5

Hair: CR5,CR6,CR9,DR3,BG2

Hat: GB1-3,GB5,GB8,BT2-5,CR5,CR9,DR3,OR2,OR3

Clothes: BT2-5,CR5,CR6,CR9,DR3,GB8,OR2,OR3,CG2,CG4,DG3,Blender

Ballons: BT2-5,BT9,BG2,GB1-3,GB8,OR2,OR3,CR5,CR6,CR9,CR11,CG2,CG3,CG4,DG3

Floor: BG1,BG2,Blender

Now see the huge difference between unedited shot and the final one ready to be posted! :)

Coloring Transparent Wings/ Оцветяване на прозрачни крила

We all love coloring fairy creature. That's the reason why I decided to show you a step by step coloring tutorial on how to create a transparent fairy wings and make your image much more realistic.

I choose this very detail digital stamp by Sara Burrier because it's perfect to show you how to do a transparent wings. You'll notice that artist draw the wings looks like they are transparent too.

First of all, you have to color your image and leave the wings completely blank.

The most important rule that you need to follow when you are coloring something transparent especially wings is that you only color inside the transparent area and have to leave a white gap close to the border of it because the white line will make it looks like it's shining and the transparent objects always have some kind of  the sheen to them.

I mark with a pencil the imaginary lines of  the fairy hair which is behind because if my wings are transparent I have to see the hair too. I need to add some details to the hair to match with other side of the image so I'm going to use lighter hair colors - GB2, Blender and darker ones - GB8, BG4 to define the hair a little bit more. Remember this part of the hair must be lighter then the other one.

Once the hair is ready it's time to start with the wings- the one that's over the hair and do over the area that want to looks like a transparent and do not color all the way to the border of the wing. I add some details like I did with the hair and gently blend the wing colors and hair ones.

I do the same thing with the other one but now I have two wings which are overlapping each other so I need to differentiate which one is standing in front of the other. The overlapping part of my fairy wings have to be darker just because they are transparent and the other thing that I can do is to add a shadow around the front one.

The here is the complete color list:
Skin: TN3, TN7, FS2, FS4, FS6, FS9, BG4
Hair: GB2, GB4, GB8, GB9, GB10, EB6, BG4
Dress: BG2, BG3, BT6, BT7, GT1, GT2, GT3, DG3, CG3, CG4
Hearts: PP3, CR4, CR6, BG2, BG4
Wings: BG1, BG2, BG4, GT1, GT3, BT7, Blender

I hope you enjoyed this fairy coloring tutorial !


´the part of the frontal one that overlap the back one is .
To make it clear  which oare overlapping each other

make it clear /
Now the two are already colored.

I need to make it clear which one is frontal because they are two wings overlapping each other.

 We are losing a little bit of definition because we have two wings which are overlapping each other so we have to workout which wing is standing  in front of the other s owe can do a shadow around the wing.

Coloring Transparent Wings

• Categories: Uncategorized
• Comments: 0
• Posted by: Mila Popova on 24th Mar 2014 at 2:51am

We all love coloring fairy creature. That’s the reason why I decided to show you a step by step coloring tutorial on how to make a transparent fairy wings and  your image will become much more realistic.
I choose this very detail digital stamp by Sara Burrier because it perfectly fits to my idea. You’ll notice that artist draw very detailеd wings that look like they are transparent.
First of all, you have to color your image and leave the wings completely blank.
The most important rule that you need to follow when you are coloring something transparent especially wings is that you only color inside the transparent area and have to leave a white gap close to the border of it because the white line will make it looks like it’s shining and the transparent objects always have some kind of  the sheen to them.
I mark with a pencil the imaginary lines of  the fairy hair which is behind because if my wings are transparent I have to see the hair too. I need to add some details to the hair to match with other side of the image so I’m going to use lighter hair colors – GB2, Blender and darker ones – GB8, BG4 to define the hair a little bit more. Remember this part of the hair must be lighter then the other one.Once the hair is ready it’s time to start with the wings- the one that’s over the hair and do over the area that want to looks like a transparent. I do not color again all the way to the border of the wing and add some details like I did with the hair, gently blend the wing colors and hair ones.I do the same thing with the other one but now I have two wings which are overlapping each other so I need to differentiate which one is standing in front of the other. The overlapping part of my fairy wings have to be darker just because they are transparent and the other thing that I can do is to add a shadow around the front one.

Finally, my image is ready and I can put it on a card or another paper project!

Коледна свещ / Christmas candle

Днес ще ви покажа нещо забавно - предложение за Коледа :)

Изключително лесно за изпълнение и в същото време оригинален вариант за подарък. Лично аз много харесвам сладурските печати на Sugar Nellie и именно един от тях ползвах за този проект. На сайта на Spectrum Noir може да намерите мойте подробни указания стъпка по стъпка как и да се възползвате от тази идея :)

You can find a whole step by step tutorial of this Christmas candle on the Spectrum Noir site

Оцветяването е с маркери Spectrum Noir, а ето и използваните цветове.
The colors used on this stamp are:
Skin: CR1,CR3, FS2, FS4, FS6, FS9, BG2
Hair: TN3, TN5, EB4
Cloths: DR7, CR8, CR11,GB2, CT3, CT4,  BG1, BG2, BG4, BT5, BT6, BT9, Blender
Basket & Cookies: EB3, EB5, TN3, CR5, CR7, OR3, BG1, BG2, BG4, Blender

Забавен магнит / Funny Magnet

Ще ви покажа как много лесно можете да си направите сами свой уникален магнит и да разнообразите скучната визия на вашия  хладилник :)
I’m going to show you a really really easy way to make your own unique magnet and turn your fridge into a funny place.

Ето и списък с необходимите ви материали:

• печат по ваш избор / аз лично избрах този защото би бил лесен за изрязване/
• картон за алкохолни маркери - моят е Neenah
• алкохолни маркер Spectrum Noir markers
• лист чер картон за гърбът на нашия магнит
• магнитен лист  / като тези които ползвате за съхранение на металните си шаблони/
• лист принтерна хартия A4 / 80g/
• glossy ascent или ultra thick embossing enamel / аз в случея  ползвах UTEE /
• нещо за декорация по ваш избор – аз ползвах декоративна камъче

Here’s the list of what you’ll need:

• a digital or clear stamp by choice / I took this one because it's easy to be cut off/
• a sheet of  Neenah cardstock
• your favorite Spectrum Noir markers
• a sheet of  black cardstock for the back side of our magnet
• a magnet sheet / same as this one that you use for your dies/
• a sheet A4 printable paper / 80g/
• glossy ascent or ultra thick embossing enamel / I used UTEE /
• some decorations or/and embellishments by choice – I put a gem stone on  mine

И така първото нещо, с което ще започнеме е да принтираме /моя печат е дигитален / или отпечатаме печата, който сме избрали на подходящия картон.В случея с алкохолните маркери за мен това е Neenah. Принтираме още веднъж изображението на обикновенна принтерна хартия 80g A4 и го изрязваме. Този втори принт ще ползваме като шаблон и го очертаваме на черния картон.След това го изрязвате от черния картон / ако черният картон е подходящ може да принтирате и директно на него и така ще си спестите малко рязане ;)/.

So let’s get started!
First: Print or stamp the chosen image on Neenah cardstock and then do the same on a printable paper and cut that image off . The second one we use like stencil and outline on black cardstock. After this you have to cut off  the black shape.

Второто нещо е да отрежем кръг или правоъгълник от магнитния лист, в зависимост от формата на нашата картинка.

Second: Cut off a circle or rectangle, depending on the image shape, from a magnet sheet.
След като печата е вече оцветен трябва да се изреже по контура много внимателно. И едно малко съветче от мен ако решите да правите малък магнит, то би ви било по-лесно при оцветяването да да не ползвате междинни тонове при блендването.

Third: Once the image is colored you have to cut it off.  I choose this sweety because she is so cute and the shape is easy for cutting off.
Here is my coloring tip for you -  If you chose to make a small magnet, it will be easier to color it and you can skip some of the middle shades when blending.

И на края - залепяме черния картон на гърбът на оцветеното изображение, а върху него залепяме и формичката от магнитния лист. Вече сме  почти готови, но за да предпазим картинката покриваме повърхността с UTEE /или glossy ascent/, и когато истине /или изсъхне/ може да се помисли за някаква декорация.

Fourth: At the end - glue the black cardstock shape on the back of your colored image and then the magnet circle on the black back.
Your magnet is ready ! The only thing left to be done is to coat the front surface with UTEE /or glossy ascent/ to preserve the colored image. Once the enamel is harden, you can decide how to decorate the magnet.


The colors used on this stamp are:
Skin: TN3, CR2, FS2, FS4, FS6, FS9, BG2, BG4
Hair: GB2, GB8, GB10, BG4
Dress, Shoes & Hair Accessory: DR6, DR7, CR8, CR11, BG1, BG2, BG4, BT4, BT5, BT6, BT7, Blender
Basket & Cookies: EB3, EB5, TN3, CR5, CR7, OR3, BG1, BG2, BG4, Blender

Надявам се това малко уроче да ви е харесало :)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and give it a try on your own! It would be a perfect wee gift especially if you make a matching card to go with it