Butterfly Bonanza Extended! - CUTFILE New Butterfly & Border Set

Hi all!

I wanted to get this done for the early part of this week BUT I ran into snags with my new computer setup and software.  I am also very rusty!  I almost have to relearn all my tricks! LOL

Because of this - Butterfly Bonanza is still in effect!  Use code BUTTERFLY  ( through STORE cart or via email order ) to get 20% OFF your order :)   CODE EXPIRES TUESDAY JUNE 6!

Anyhoo... I made another cutting file set! ... and a mini tutorial!

Blossom Borders & DFT Butterfly CUTFILE SET:

I re-envisioned the Blossom & Three Leave Springs cutfiles into a border.  The set includes all the cards, fronts and borders you see in the preview.    The butterfly is derived from the Doodle Flower Trio sets:

Doodled Flower Trio Cardfront COL SETDoodled Flowers & Butterflies SINGLES COL SET

Doodled Flower Trio with Butterfly/Flowers

Here is a card made using the diagonal border cardfront and the butterfly. 

 I added Ranger Diamond glitter to the butterfly and cut the base of the butterfly out of pink vellum.  I experimented with watercolour dabs on the border front and then added diamond Stickles glue dabs.  oooh GLITTER!...

Here is another card using the Blossom Border:

Here is a mini tutorial on how to make and use a butterfly embossing plate :)

First THE EMBOSSING PLATE:

First this is the embossing plate.  It is made out of 2-4 butterflies cut out of 110 lb cardstock.  The cutting file is the SwallowTail CUTFILE.   I glued each butterfly down onto a rectangle of cereal box board cut to fit in my cuttlebug.  You brush matte or gel medium onto the board and glue the cardstock butterflies with brushed on matte medium... even layers of matte medium between each layer and on the very top.  Let dry... a day or two!  You want it to completely harden. The embossing plate shown above has seen many butterflies and just gets better and more distressed with age.  When I make another one I will stick to only 2  layers of butterflies.  A bit shallower emboss would probably be better.

Cut a base solid butterfly same size as the cut butterflies on your embossing plate.  Colour with any medium.  I love watercolors.  This example I tried gouache.

Once dry, align the butterfly to the embossing plate.  

RUN the plate and butterfly through your embossing/cutting machine.  Use a sandwich of base plate/C plate + B plate/embossing plate + butterfly plate and butterfly face up + silicon embossing mat + another B plate/embossing plate.  You might need a card stock shim.  I did not.  Also before I forget ( like I did with this example) ... lightly spray the backside of your butterfly with water to soften the paper a bit to avoid cracking.  I got cracks but didn't care LOL!

This part is the most satisfying!   Swipe a black inkpad over the butterfly.  The raised areas will get inked.  The look is very pretty and distressed.  To get the look on my card, I had best striking results with Versafine and Ranger Archival Inks.

 I have also had fun with distress inks... a nice subtle effect with that.  I am going to try flowers and leaves next... this embossed inked look on  watercoloured flowers and leaves... so pretty!

The sentiments on the 2 cards shown are from a new rubber stamp set coming out June 15 from Sparkle N Sprinkle!  ;)

Have a great weekend!

:)*  Fred

Stencils - Removing WC paint with Baby Wipes

Hey all!

I've got another stencil technique I have been playing with.  I had these Elmer's Art Crayon Sticks since I think Nolan was in Pre-school ( not doing math today - but that was forever ago ).

They work like gelatos; they are waxy,  a lipstick consistency, very blend-able, and they are water soluble.   I have no idea where you can find them to buy.  But if you have gelatos, gel sticks, or watercolor crayons, even cheap watercolors, you will get near the same effect.  See my notes below after the VIDEO :)

For the video,  I used smooth white cardstock and a stencil I digitally cut onto transparency film.  

CUTFILE:  Doily Mandala 2

For the card above, I used Ornate Butterfly Digi that I watercoloured, glittered and added gems.  Background is a Darice embossing folder.

Here are the 2 panels I made using above technique.

Things I noticed while I was playing:

- I also tried the technique with  watercolor crayons and Koi watercolors.... all work.
- Cardstock works OK.  A clay coated cardstock works better.  Watercolor paper also gives a nice effect.  Another option that I didn't try but would work is a gessoed surface.
-make sure your paint surface is dry to the touch before securing your stencil.
-use a clean part of the baby wipe each time you start on a different color of paint or you get a "halo" of the previous color on the next area.

Left - watercolor paper/crayon sticks, Middle- Koi watercolors on clay coated "stamping paper", Right-Neocolor II's on super cheapo cardstock.

In my opinion the clay coated paper and gelato-like crayon sticks "rocked":

Stencils:  Four Point Star Pattern,  Blossoms,  Whirlpool Splash

 

Have a great weekend!

:)* Fred

Flutterby paper, Distress Inks and the Flowerpot Freebie

Ranger should soooo hire me ROFL! I am in love with distress inks, and the blender tool, and the stickles, and the alcoholic inks... they are all just FAB. I wanted to show you some sample papers I made using the Flutterbies for your Flowers 1 background paper tool or digi-stamp or whatever you want to call it. To the very left is the paper, ( black butterflies on white) straight out of the printer and cut.

The next from left was made with the same paper by blending distress inks with the blending tool on a non-stick craft sheet - a highly recommended tool. (Spiced Marmalade, Antique Linen and Walnut Stain) Timmeh has an awesome video on this technique ( about 4:00 into the video)

Tim Holtz "Ranger Distress Ink Techniques"

THEN I embossed the distressed paper with a Sizzix embossing Folder (Medallions, Frame & Damask) and then picked up some more distress ink ( walnut stain) and lightly blended over the embossing... so cool!

The middle paper is the butterfly paper where I changed the colour from black to a teal blue. I plan to show you how with Artweaver by the end of the week. It is very easy. I blended Scattered Straw and Broken China distress inks then added Gold Ice Stickles to the butterflies.
The blue and white paper was made digitally by putting the White Flutterby paper( on transparent background) PNG over a light blue"sheet"... kind of like "stamping" with white ink ;) The possibilities are almost endless with the background paper tools.

Here is my go at the Flower pot Digi-Freebie. Tip: I know it is bad to hoard, but the little blue butterflies were punched from a scrap of leftover blue paper I had printed, you never know when a scrap bit of paper could come in handy LOL! Another Tip: my gold paper is CS sprayed with gold paint ;). I edged the image and butterflies with gold Lumiere paint and added dots to the flowers by dipping the end of my brush into the paint. The image is coloured with Pencils and OMS.



Don't forget to try out the Freebie Challenge ;) I have another freebie for you later but I am not tellin'!

:)*

Blue Floral Card

I am feeling "Blue" today! :D I used Fred's Flowers V1 edition A precoloured flowers. I added plenty of Stickles ( Waterfall on most of card and Lime Green on the leaves ) The verse ( computer generated) is one that just speaks to me at the moment :) I am feeling a tad overwhelmed and boy, this one gets you through ;)
The background is art pastels and versamark, I love it so much, I hope I can replicate what I did again LOL. The blue ink on the nestie frame is Broken China distress ink sweeped on, nestie used as a stencil. I can't believe how I lucked out on the matching!

I am posting the verse I used, and an alternate I made. Feel free to snag if you like. Just click on images to enlarge and save to your hard drive.




Digital GEEK TIP: I coloured the verse in Paint Shop Pro by adding a Flood-filled layer over top the text in my chosen colour with layer set to "Screen"; Photoshop, Artweaver & other similar programs should do the same thing. I am pretty sure you can change the colour in WORD and other word processing programs as well.

Big Hugs,
Fred

Playing with Chalk Pastels pt 2

I really wanted to get my part 2 up much sooner. Remember Part 1? Back in NOVEMBER??? LOL . I know this is probably not an original idea, but it is easy and fun.

It's kind of like the technique, Poppin' Pastels at Split Coast Stampers. But with embossed paper and soft pastels. The colour is a bit bolder/stronger.

You Need:
embossing/diecut machine
embossing folder
versamark pad
brayer ( optional)
sakura glitter pen ( or somthing similar)
artists chalk/soft pastels ( the ones in stick form)
cotton balls or a balled up tissue
spray sealer ( optional )

Technique:

Run some CS or paper through an embossing machine using an embossing folder.

Tap or brayer versamark ink onto the embossed areas of your CS.

Colour just the embossed areas of the paper with the flat edge of a pastel stick. Vary the colours if you want. For the birds example, I coloured the birds with the finer point on the pastel.

Rub the paper with a cotton ball or balled up tissue. Some of the pastel will softly colour the debossed areas and the stronger colour will be left where the versamark is on the embossed areas.

Lightly spray with sealer to fix the chalks. You may not have to do this, it depends on how well the chalk is sticking to your paper.

For EXTRA fun:
Try reapplying the technique with another coordinating colour. Reapply versamark to the already chalked paper. Be careful and use a cleaned brayer and versamark... so you don't mess up your versamark pad.

Add some glitter pen to the chalked areas ( example is the paisley paper )

Have a great day!

:)* Fred

Card - Dover Clipart

I coloured a lovely Dover Clipart bouquet with pencils and OMS, and stickles here and there. Notice you can do a nice scrumble effect with pencils shown here on my purple background colour. Just colour little scrumbly circles using very little pressure, then blend with OMS with a circular motion.

Have a great day!

:)* Fred

CARD - Faux Foldy Flowers - mach 2!

Here is a faux foldy flower card using a flower from my new " soon to be released" Pointy Petals Pack. Like the name? LOL I am just working on some new foliage and I hope to have it ready for sale tonight or tomorrow :) There will be 7 different flower shapes in varying sizes.

The flower is quite high; I didn't glue the middle down ( which would have made it less puffy) and it is, I am guessing, over 1/2" sticking out.

I used an "orange" General's watercolour pencil to colour and blended with baby oil using tortillons. This time I coloured in a "tear drop" shape on each petal and blended the middle then blended out to the edges of the petal. I did a bit of outlining with my stardust pen.

It is such a bright happy orange... just like an orange creamsicle, if you have ever had one... yum! The brad is a Doodlebug Sugarcoated Brad I bought from the new scrapbooking store we have in our little town... I can walk to it... Happy Dance!!!! OK I will put a "plug" in ... Karen's Creations :) I don't know if she handles international customers; her website looks like it is in the middle of updating.

OK back to work I go.....

Pencil Blending Tutorial with homemade tortillons and baby oil PT 2

This is a continuation of this tutorial. I will be colouring Faux Foldy Flowers and showing you different techniques and ways of colouring them using the pencil blending technique with baby oil and homemade paper tortillons. I am going to assume now that you have your sharpened pencils, primed tortillon, sandpaper and image sitting in front of you ready to colour ;) I also forgot to tell you to scruff up the end of your new tortillon so that it will blend better ( you can still do this even if there is baby oil on it). If you are going to be colouring with multiple colour families, I'd advise making many tortillons and have 4-5 ready and primed with oil/OMS. Then you won't have to scuff the colour off the ends of the tortillons near as much.

EDIT: A primed tortillon - dip just the tip of your tortillon into the oil and blot several times with tissue or paper towel. The tortillon is ready when the marks you make by scribbling with your tortillon on scrap paper are dry. Yes, the tortillon is dry and pushes the pencil color like magic! No need for all this nonsense with gamsol/OMS/Zest-it type solvents- just apply the OMS and go. A wetter tortillon with OMS will give you great effects and will need less blending muscle.

Another tip, if your tortillon doesn't seem to be blending as well, rough it up on the sandpaper occasionally, do this before you think you might need more baby oil. Also lightly mould the roughed up tip back into shape with your fingers.



Here is a "no fail" technique and good to start off with. It will never do you wrong LOL! Just above, I have shown a purple flower ( prismacolor used - violet pc932). I have outlined the edges with a medium color line and I have kept the right petal unblended. Once you have outlined your whole flower, take your "clean" primed tortillon and make tiny circles around the line, working your way along the lines, trying to pull the colour into the white area of the petals. You will notice the tortillon feels scratchy when blending - get used to it ;) Then blend the same way on top of the area you have already blended out to soften the colour and bring the colour faintly into the white areas. A tip - if you are running out of colour; go back to the coloured line and grab a bit of colour from it and continue on with your blending. Notice the petal opposite the unblended one is one that shows the initial blending step. Blending might take some working and reworking, don't be afraid to "work it", you will win! :)


Here is a "no fail" leaf with a bit of an extra twist. Outline the leaf with a dark green ( Olive Green pc911) and then outline that colour with a medium or lighter green ( Chartreuse pc989 ). If the leaf had inked veins, outline those too. Fred's fast and dirty method - blend with a circular motion through the dark and through the light green working your way to the white areas of the leaf. Proper way, blend the light green first then go back blend the dark green out. Notice how crummy my colouring job was - oil/OMS blending is very forgiving LOL!



Here is another leaf technique. I used Olive Green, Chartreuse, and Cream (pc914). Cream is one of those colours I would NOT be without, I use it in almost every project. I usually use it in the "white areas" of a flower because it is just "warmer" then stark white... ok now I found the word, it adds "richness" just like real cream LOL. Work your way from light to dark, then you won't contaminate the light areas.



Here is another leaf showing the difference of adding a light yellow to the white areas before blending. It is much more pronounced in RL than in this scan. This helps add POP when your dark green doesn't have much yellow tones in its pigment. I used apple green (pc912) here and it does have a fair bit of yellow tone.


This flower is on the small side in RL. Notice how I shaded it on the unblended petal. Also after blending was done, I took a pale pink and "scrumbled" a bit of colour in the lighter purple areas ( you can also blend this out but not necessary). Scrumbling ( well for me in this example) is making tiny circles with very light pressure - see the pink "blob" to the right of the flower. Colours used - Violet pc932, Lilac pc956 and Pink pc929.



Here is another technique. Work your tortillon into the pink colour at the base of the petal and then work the tortillon back and forth in a straight line out to the top of the petal, you will get a blended streak/crease. Then continue on "circle blending" from the base and outlines to shade the flower. I am pretty sure I used Pink in this one ;)



Please click to enlarge - a must see up close :)

I don't know what to call this technique, Variegated perhaps? Colour like above ( I used Cream and Mulberry pc995). Blend the cream first to smooth it out. Work your tortillon into the base colour to get as much colour on to the tortillon as you can then do that straight back and forth blending like the pink flower in a straight line, keep adding "streaks" like in the middle flower; you can blend out the top of the streaks to soften. Go back and do circle blending at the base and work up a bit. Isn't that cool!? The smaller flower to the right is done similarly, but you are working down the petal.


Here are some more examples and "teasers"! Have a great day and I hope you enjoyed this tutorial :)



Colours - Carmine Red pc926 & Deco Yellow ( retired )


Colours - True Blue pc903, True Green pc910 & Canary Yellow pc916



Colours - Dark Brown pc946 & Yellow Ochre pc942

Pencil Blending Tutorial with homemade tortillons and baby oil PT 1

I thought I would show you some methods of pencil blending that I use, I have modified this technique so that it uses materials you should have around your house AND less toxic to your lungs LOL! Before I begin, I must admit, I have just spent this week trying out the baby oil ( instead of OMS) to see what the pros and cons were. A big thank you to AmzdByHsGrace and Darsie from the CoC board. Darsie wrote a tutorial on how she used baby oil and Derwent Inktense pencils ( on Fred's wishlist!) on watercolour paper. Well I have bucked the idea of using baby oil on cards as it can leech out of your paper and onto anything near it. BUT, if used sparingly, I think it should be okay for your projects ( please chime in if you agree or disagree :) ). Furthermore, there are a ton of awesome tutorials out there in web land to try. I posted a few links a few blog entries back. Here is another one from Sue Nelson to add to the list - I love her cards! ... and I can't use "love" too strongly here LOL

I will show you what "I do" with the flowers. This Part 1 will deal with your materials and getting you ready.

Pros of Baby Oil/Mineral Oil:
- it is cheap and readily available
- no toxic fumes! ... and smells baby fresh!
- a little goes a LONG way - I applied the oil once to my blending tortillon and I blended a whole sheet of flowers with it and it was still ticking! The oil doesn't evaporate, but it will dry eventually . OMS evaporates fairly quickly and you are usually reapplying it to your stump during a project.
- I got pretty smooth blending results - I think as good as OMS - WITH a paper tortillon. I did not try my regular blending stumps as I only have a few and didn't want to mess them up. I achieved SMOOTHER results with the paper tortillon and oil on copy paper than I did with my OMS and stump. I also got better results with the tortillon and OMS, go figure.
-they work on just about any pencil, waxy colored pencils, watercolour/watersoluble pencils, chalk/pastel pencils... I have tried them all and they work.
-baby oil did not bleed/smear the ink outlines from my printer.

CONS of Baby Oil:
- oil spots on your paper! If you use too much OMS it can make spots on your paper, but it will evaporate and disappear. Not so with oil. This is what I did. I dipped just the tip of the tortillon into the oil then blotted the tip with tissue, I used the tortillon on a scrap piece of paper and checked to see if oil leeched to the back of the paper or made a spot on the front. If not, I was good to go. If still too much oil, reblot with tissue/papertowel or draw with the tortillon on scrap until the marks are "dry".

EDIT: Carolivy gave me a good tip. If you have it, essential oils are good as a blending fluid. She uses Rosewood essential oil for dorsing in parchment craft and says it works great and doesn't leave oily spots. She also thinks Lavender oil would work as well. Oh can you imagine the wonderful smell while you craft.... :)

ON WITH TUTORIAL:

So you need materials:
-baby oil or mineral oil, ..... OMS/Gamsol/Zest-It, etc if you have it.

-tortillons ( stumps if you have them) I will show how to make them yourself!

-tissue or paper towel for blotting

-Sandpaper paddle, sanding block, piece of sand paper, or emery board - to sand off colour on tip of tortillon so you can use it for another colour.

-pencils - wax based Prismacolor is what I am using, watercolor/pastel pencils will work too. I prefer wax based, the colours are brighter, although I think those Inktense pencils would rock!

-a pencil sharpener! I almost forgot that one! LOL

-white CS/watercolor/regular paper, something matte not glossy

-image to colour - be it stamped or printed or hand drawn with a black pigment pen.

HOW TO MAKE A PAPER TORTILLON:

Find some regular weight paper, the more fuzzy/fibrous the better, eg recycled paper, copy paper, try different kinds, see what works best for you ;) ; you will also need some tape and a "pushing tool" (darning needle, skewer, chopstick, thick wire, etc.)
Cut a full sheet into thirds, no real science or measurement, roughly 3.5" by 6-8". The new cut sheets are then cut straight on a diagonal lengthwize starting about 1" from one side to 1" on the other. I used this tutorial ( great diagrams ) to make mine but did a few adjustments, I rolled the paper on the needle of a paperpricking tool or bamboo skewer ( something skinny and you can hold onto easily while rolling). Roll your paper pretty tight. When rolling, roll the flat side so that it is even and when done rolling use your push tool to push the roll out through the flat side until it comes to a sharp point. I used a bamboo skewer or a chopstick to push the paper roll out. Hold onto the tortillon and roll tape around it to secure. Here are some of mine.




I will post PT 2 soon. Here are some flowers I made. I haven't had time to turn them into cards yet. Yes, I am a tease! TaTa for now!

Magic Colored Pencil / Gamsol Magic Technique

I have had some questions regarding this technique. Here are some links to explain it more:

Debbie Gimbel's Tutorial at " A Lifetime of Color"

Gina K Designs Blog - Prismacolor Pencil Tutorial - love this one - simple and clean

Gina K Video Tutorial - Wonderful!

Inky Antics - where you can find all your supplies! On front page there is a tutorial link in PDF format

Anna Wright's blog - I love this image and the shading! Her stamp designs are awesome!

Where the fascination all started for me at Splitcoast Stampers:

Splitcoast Stampers: Gamsol Magic


Notes from me: ( BEWARE my personal opinion and a bit of rambling - don't read further if you don't want to LOL!) - for the people who are very interested or have tried this technique.

-I bought my supplies in Canada and I am using Odorless Paint Thinner from an online art supplies store. A less toxic alternative is Zest-It, you can use rubbing alcohol/surgical spirits ( I tried it and my paper began ripping! but it did blend) or baby oil ( good when you are working on an area with a good lay-down of color, you must be careful in white/open areas - you can get oily spots). I am pretty sure I am using the "wrong" made in China stumps. They are working for me. In the future, I will try the Made in Taiwan stumps and see if they blend better.

-just about any waxy/or oil based pencil will work, the OMS breaks down the wax/oil to move the pigment around (NOT WATERCOLOR or AQUARELLE pencils). I shelled out for the 48 Prismacolor Premier Artist-grade pencil set - they are good but are soft and you must be very careful with sharpening - they break easily. THE SCOOP! I already had a 60 set of the Berol Prismacolor Scholar grade pencils ( Canada - less than $25 at Walmart or Staples) and the pencils and numbers pretty much coincide with their more expensive siblings! ($56 CAD for my 48) I tested the colors and blending.... almost identical! ( OK red was less intense - but not horribly so - I tend to blend several colors together and after this I found no real noticable difference) AND they didn't break nearly so much when sharpening - ok I don't remember them breaking LOL. ANOTHER SCOOP! If you are in Canada, we have a brand called Laurentien that is the brand we all bought in grade school to color with. I found my son's remnants from a 60 set we purchased, and I found they were also good and had great colors to supplement my stash like Kahki, Raspberry ( very vibrant) and some nice reds ( cherry red and crimson - very vibrant) and blues ( great variety). I have priced the 60 Laurentien set and it is well under $14 CAD! My personal opinion? I would have just bought a Laurentien Set ( great well rounded choice of colors) or a Prismacolor Scholar Set ( if I wanted the same colors as the expensive ones). Guess what? They are both made by Sanford! (company that makes the Prismacolor Premier) I have added a quick scan of a comparison in the reds ( the laurentien also has a crimson red but much darker).