Tilda’s Shoji Screen/Room Divider Directions

Hello!   Hope you’re having a good weekend. I’ve received a few emails asking how this screen behind Tilda on this card was made . . .

Here’s a quick photo tutorial on how I did it:

Supplies used:

I used the middle die from a Spellbinders Nestabilities Long Classic Rectangle LG set, which measures 1 7/8 x 3 3/4; However, I think a rectangle punch approximately this same size will work also.

cardstock

vellum paper

paper-cutter

Cuttlebug or other due cutting machine

adhesive

removable tape

• Cut cardstock to 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches, and cut vellum to 4 3/8 by 4 3/8 inches. (Sorry, I only had this dotted vellum in my stash as an example.)

• Place die on cardstock, centered on one half. Note, I’ve adhered it with a small piece of removeable tape to be sure it doesn’t shift in the Cuttlebug.

• Run this through the machine and move the die to the other half of your cardstock. Be sure to save the two inside pieces for later use.

• Apply adhesive to back of cardstock “frame”.

• And attach pre-cut vellum piece.

• The final step is to take the center pieces of cardstock and cut your dividing pieces. I just cut these without measuring, I believe they are about 1/4 inch wide. You don’t have to worry about the length, if you cut the longer pieces from one and the cross pieces from the other piece – they will fit perfectly.

• And attach these to your frame. Done! Your mini Shoji is now ready for Tilda. 🙂

I hope this was helpful! If you do use this idea for a card, I’d love to see it. Thanks for all your VERY kind comments!

Gray Highlighting Around an Image

This tutorial shows how I highlight with Copics and Distress ink around an image when attaching a precolored and cut image.

I REALLY love and highly recommend these particular Copic colors, which were recently added at 7 Kids College Fund ~ T1, T3 & T5, Toner Grays;  Copic 0, Colorless Blender;  Distress Ink in black soot; and Inkessentials stamp pad felt.

 

 

My first step is to use the darkest of the three recommended markers ~ T5 Toner Gray,  and outline around the entire outer edge of the image.

Then using T3 the medium gray, I go over the darker T5 line, going slightly wider.

I then run my lightest marker, T1, over both lines to blend.

And finally, lightening the edges slightly with my Colorless Blender.

For the bottom area to “ground” Luigi, I start again with the darkest marker ~T5  directly around his shoes.

Again going over this and slightly expanding the area with T3.

And, using T1 and 0 (Colorless Blender) going over this to blend.

I also add some Distress Ink to the background after the Copic outlining.   Using a small section of the stamp pad felt, I apply some Distress Ink in black soot around the image. If you’re interested, I have more specific instructions on this technique in this previous tutorial.

Here’s a picture of the Distress Ink highlighting on top of the Copic outlining around Luigi.

And a photo of the completed image.   A more detailed tutorial can be found here which shows each step of the process to complete this particular Luigi card.

That’s it!!   As always, if you have ANY questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Sentiment & Highlighting of Luigi Tutorial ~ Finally!

 

Please note, this is a BRAND new Luigi card, made specifically for this tutorial.

Yes, it’s true!  After almost TWO weeks I have FINALLY completed the tutorial on how I created the sentiment and applied the highlighting around Luigi!   BTW, Luigi is available here at 7 Kids College Fund.   

I’m really sorry this is being posted so much later than I had anticipated ~ please note, there are 39 photos included with this tutorial and several hours of editing!   Eeek ~ That’s a lot!   🙂    Just a warning!  This is going to be a long one ~ so grab your favorite beverage and get comfy!  

SENTIMENT:

The sentiment was made on my computer using Microsoft Office Word 2007.    The first step, in Word, is to click on INSERT at the top of your screen.

 

Then click on WORDART at the top of your next screen.

When you click on WORDART, this smaller box will appear showing all the different options available.  For this card, I chose the 3rd style on the top row ~ click on it.

You will then be taken to the text editing screen where you can choose your font, font size and whether or not you would like to add Bold or Italics for emphasis.

For this card, I chose the Harrington font, size 16 and Bold.    When finished editing, click OK at the bottom of the text editing box.

You will then see your formatted text in a blue box with a slight curve in the style you originally chose. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look exactly the same, the range of the curve can be changed.    Note, the blue box is strictly for editing purposes, it will not print.

Notice the marks in each corner and the top, bottom and side centers of the blue box?   These are what you use to either increase or decrease the range of the curve or the size.    We’ll start with the range ~  take your cursor and click on the mark at the bottom right, you can then drag (hold your cursor on the mark and move) the box down as far as you would like.   

To see how the text will fit with your stamp, you can now do one of two options ~ the first would be to print out your text to compare it with the size of your stamp and then edit, if needed; 

Or the second, to measure the width of your stamp to determine what the width of your WordArt should be.

As you can see, Luigi is about three inches wide.  

Going back to your computer, you can now use the measuring guide in Word located just above your document on the screen ~  As you can see, the text below is about four inches wide.  Since my stamp is only three inches, I would like to make it a little smaller.   

To do this, click on the right center arrow and once again drag the blue box, this time  towards the left to make the width smaller.   This will NOT affect the curve style.

My WordArt is now about 3 1/2 inches wide.

I’ve printed it out for you to see that it fits much better with my stamp.

Now, time to add the bottom section of the sentiment.   

I measure the combined length of my stamp and the WordArt text  to determine approximately where I would like the lower sentiment placed.  This appears to be about 4 1/2 inches.

 

Back to the computer, this time working with the side measuring guide in Word, shown on the left below –  I hit the ENTER key until my cursor is at the 4 1/2 inch mark on the screen guide, and type in the text.

You can now use your normal editing features to format this text.   I’ve chosen ChopinScript (downloaded from Dafont.com), size 28, Bold and red for my font color.       (Oops, I also added an exclamation point, which wasn’t included above)

Print it out and do one final check with your image to see if it is placed where you would like.   If everything looks good, I then print it on my good cardstock.       Your sentiment is now finished!  Yay.

HIGHLIGHTING:

I usually stamp the image several times.   First on the cardstock printed with the sentiment and again on another piece of cardstock for coloring ~ I cut out my colored image and attach it with dimensionals, this way the highlighting does not affect the coloring of my image.  

  

 For Luigi, I have done a few extra steps – the pizza was colored and cut out separately after applying some Diamond Glaze to the cheese!  Since I like things to be authentic (and I’m a little crazy) I also stamped and cut out the pizza again on some silver foil cardstock for the pizza pan!    🙂    The oven mitts are paper pieced with a smaller check dp.  

  

  

For anyone who might be interested, here are the Copic colors used for each specific area:    T1, 3, 5 for the Hat & Jacket; E000, 00, 01, 11; R20, 30 for Luigi’s skin;  E41, 42, 44, 47 for his Hair and Mustache;  YR20, 31 Cheese;  E07, 08, 09 Pepperoni; E30, 33 Crust; C2, 5, 7 for Luigi’s pants; and W1, 3, 5 for his Shoes.

  

Oh, I almost forgot ~ Since I didn’t have any black buttons for Luigi’s Chef jacket, I colored them with Copics too!   I use stick pins to hold them so I can color a little easier.   (crazy, I know!)  LOL

  

Here are the supplies I used for the highlighting around Luigi.   I REALLY love and highly recommend these particular Copic colors, which were recently added at 7 Kids College Fund ~ T1, T3 & T5, Toner Grays; Copic 0, Colorless Blender; Distress Ink in black soot; and Inkessentials stamp pad felt.

  

My first step is to use my T5 Toner Gray marker to go around the entire outer edge of the image.

Then using T3, I go over the darker T5 line, going slightly wider.

And, then I run my T1 over both lines to blend.

Finally, lightening the edges slightly with my Colorless Blender.

For the bottom area to “ground” Luigi, I start with my T5 again directly around his shoes.

And, again, going over this and slightly expanding the area with T3.

Again, using T1 and 0 (Colorless Blender) going over it to blend.

Now, using a small section of the stamp pad felt, I apply some Distress Ink in black soot around the image.   If you’re interested, I have more specific instructions on this technique in this previous tutorial.

Here’s a picture of the Distress Ink highlighting around Luigi.

 Below is a photo showing that I’ve quickly colored the bottom image and cut the sides with my paper cutter.

I wanted the top to match the shape of my text, so I used this guide.

Voila!

One final step was to highlight around the edges of the cardstock, using Distress Ink in fired brick.    (Again, more specific instructions can be found here.)

A quick photo of the highlighed edges.

I then attach all the extra pieces to the Copic colored Luigi and attach him with dimensionals!

That’s it!!     Whew …       😀        As always, if you have ANY questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Steps on how I cut out and highlight images for my cardz

I’ve been asked by several people about the steps I take to both cut out my images and how the highlighting is done behind the images and on the edges of the die cut background.    Soooo, here you go!    🙂

I’m probably including too much information, but I have this ritural I follow for most of my cardz and thought I would share each step.    Hopefully, you can just skip over the unneeded info and find what you might be interested in.   AND, I’m asking Santa for a video recorder for Christmas!!   I think it will make these tutorials VERY much easier!!   

1.   The first thing I do when creating a card is to choose my papers, so I can match the colors in the DP to the Copic markers I use.   Obviously, this isn’t a necesary step for this tutorial.  

This little cutie is Vanessa from InStyle Stamps Club Anime – already colored with Copics.   I’ve printed the image twice – once to color and the other will be the mounted background shape.  

(I generally use a Spellbinders Nestabilities die  for my background shapes, but unfortunately, I really wanted to attach Vanessa to a heart shape and she was a bit too large for the Spellbinder hearts, so this heart shape will not have any embossing on the edges.)  

2.  The other supplies needed are a good pair of scissors  (these are very cool Squishy Scissors from Marvy Uchida);  Ink for highlighting – I generally use Tim Holtz Distress inks;  a small rectangle – about 1 1/2 inch by 3/4 inch piece of  Inkssential Cut-n-Dry Stamp Pad Felt from Ranger   (This really is my FAVORITE material for a smooth, even highlight); and a permanent black marker.  (Since the marker is used for the edges of the cut image, I don’t use my Copics for this part.  I’ve found out the hard way that it can damage the tips!)

3.   To make my detailed cutting a little easier to get to, I cut roughly around the image about a  1/4 to 1/2 inch.

4.   I guess  because I’m right-handed, I always begin cutting on the right side of my image, always beginning with the most difficult cuts. 

 

5.  I cut as close to the outside of the black line as possible, moving both the scissors and image as I’m cutting.   This always reminds me of peeling apples for PIE!   I usually end up with one long connected piece –  since you are never really taking a full cut, just moving the scissors around your image.    (Yikes!   I hope that makes sense!    Once I get a video recorder, I will try to redo this to actually show you this “in motion”!)

6.  Now, time for that black permanent marker – Carefully run the side of the marker around the edges of the entire cut image.   This just makes your cutting look cleaner –  yes, there is a word for people like me!   🙂 

7.  On to uncolored background image.   My first step is to use one of the Gray Copics to add some shading around this image.   I used W3 here.

I usually take my Colorless Blender pen to soften this line so it doesn’t appear too harsh.

8.   Since I will be attaching the cut image with Pop It!  Dots, I color the outer sections so that when the card is viewed at a side angle you will see a colored image rather than the white uncolored one.   (yep, that word again!)

9.   Finally time to sponge the background of the shaped image.  

I do this in a light circular motion – I start out directly on the image – since the first touch to the paper generally is darker.  

Just keep lightly going around the image always starting from this point – always in a circular motion, until you achieve the desired level of color.   If you need to pick up more ink on your piece of felt, start again from the center of the image.     

If you look closely, you can see the darker “starter points” on the center of the image –  Don’t worry, these will be covered with your cut image!

10.  And  to add color to the edges of your shaped image –

If I’m using a different color, I just use the other end of my piece of felt.  

It’s best to have a piece of scrap paper under your image for this step. 

This time, I begin my ink actually on the scrap paper, holding my shaped image tightly with my left hand.  

Put your inked felt straight down onto the scrap paper and pull it up and over onto your shaped image, continuing around the entire shape in this same motion.   Again, always starting lightly and going over the area again if a darker color is desired.   

I always keep turning my shaped paper rather than the inked felt around the edge, so the ink impression flows in the same direction.     (Somebody REALLY needs a manicure!) 

11.   That’s it for the highlighting!   

Now, just apply those Pop It! Dots to your cut image and stick it onto your highlighted, shaped image.

12.   And she’s ready to be made into a card!!      Pretty easy, right?!    

Here’s a link to the completed card.    Thanks for stopping by for this lonnnnnnnnnnnnng tutorial!   If you have any questions – please don’t hesitate to ask.    And, hopefully, if Santa brings me a video recorder, I can redo this whole thing and it might make more sense!!    lol

Tooth Fairy Box(es)!

It’s my turn for an Instyle Stamps Method Monday.   Today I will be making Tooth Fairy Boxes for my granddaughters using Ava, an ISS digital anime image.  

I’ve used a metal tin for the Tooth Fairy Box:

My first step is to trace the cover of the tin onto some heavy card stock to make a template for the top of the boxes:

 

Then I used this circle template to trace onto my DP.  I also used a marker to color around the edges of my cut circle and glued this to the top of the box:

 I then cut a thin strip of DP for the sides of the bottom, again colored the cut edges with my marker, and adhered it with some double-sided sticky tape:

I wanted the inside to be a little sparkly and special for the girls, so I traced the bottom of my box to make another template:

Using some poly foam in a one-inch width,  (found in the section of the craft store with products used to stuff pillows, etc.)   I used this template to cut out a circle of foam:

And, for the sparkle, I cut a circle, slightly larger than my foam piece, from some white felt with glitter on it:

 

 I applied some double-sided sticky tape to the inside bottom of my tin, gathered the felt material around the foam piece and pressed it down.    You now have a sparkly, secure “pillow” for a tooth!:

And, finally, the fun part ~ Decorate your Tooth Fairy box as you wish, color and cut-out Ava and attach her to the top!     Here’s the finished box:

Of course, since my granddaughters are twins, the boxes needed to be the SAME except for the colors!  Hailee’s favorite color is Pink and Joydynn’s is Purple!   🙂

**************************************************

Copics Used:   R11, 81, 83; RV000; BV00, 02; V000, 12, 91; E000, 50, 51, 53; YR00; B00, 23, 24, 29

Design Paper:  rouge de Garance – Fly Fairy Fly & Wish Come True.

Copic Coloring of Brunette Hair

 

I thought I’d do a photo tutorial to show you my personal technique for coloring brunette hair.  I like to use several shades of brown Copic markers – light, medium & dark – to give the hair LOTS of  glimmers of  low-lights, highlights and reds, as if the sun were shining to catch each color!  

Once again, please keep in mind, I am not a Copic instructor, I just love my Copic markers!   🙂

 [You can click on any of the photos for a closer view.]

Here’s a list of the markers I used to color my image, from lightest to darkest.   (Of course, these are all available for the best price in town at 7 Kids College Fund!)  

 

E000 – Pale Fruit Pink;  E50  –  Egg Shell;  E51 – Milky Way;  E53 – Raw Silk;  E31 – Brick Beige;  E43 – Dull Ivory;  E37 – Sepia;  E39 – Leather;  E29 – Burnt Umber; E47 – Dark Brown; and E49 – Dark Bark.

 

And, a picture of the AMAZING  lineart image I will be coloring.  (More details on how to download this image can be found here.)

Lady Rose Dragon

 

My first step is to color the entire hair area with my second lightest color, E50.  This step is actually quite similar to coloring wood (see my tutorial here), there is no need to worry about streaks since lots of other colors will be applied on top of this.

E50

 

Moving on to the next darkest color, E51 – I add streaks throughout the hair area.

E51

 

Note:  As Marianne Walker (I Like Markers) suggests, always use a light feather stroke when coloring hair, and always go in the direction of the hair strands.

 

I continue to add feathered streaks, each time with a slightly darker color…intermittently throughout the hair area. 

 

E53

 

E31

 

E43 for some medium shaded low-lights ~

E43

 

E37 ~ a slightly auburn color for some red highlights

E37

 

E39 ~ a darker auburn color for some red low-lights

E39

 

E29 ~ the start of your darker brown colors to begin the brunette hair color

E29

Please note:  The darker streaks may appear a little harsh at this point, but keep in mind you will be going back later and blending with your lighter markers.

 

E47 ~ A darker brown ~  for the areas I want to appear darker and more shaded, such as the hairline

E47

 

And the last dark brown, E49, used sparingly, only at the hairline for the effect of a darker root color

E49

 

I now begin the blending process  ~  lightening some of the darker highlights and blending all the colors somewhat.  Remember to also do your blending in streaks, to retain some of the lighter highlight colors. 

 

I begin this blending process with E43, moving on to E31, then E53, all the way back to E50.

E43, 31, 53, 51 & 50

 

My final step is to go over any area that I would like to appear lighter and to blend any areas that remain too dark for my liking, with my lightest color – E000. 

 

Yay!   This is my completed brunette hair image.

E000 - Blending

 

And, finally, here’s the image with the other elements colored and some flower embellishments added.  

 

 

I know this tutorial uses LOTS of Copic markers, and I’m sure you can skip one or two from each group – light, medium and dark – to also attain a suitable brunette hair color.  However, as I mentioned, I just LOVE to see all the low-lights, highlights and reds on my images with brunette hair!  🙂

 If you’re interested, here’s a link to the complete card with this image:   BRUNETTE HAIR.

Thanks for following this….I hope it was helpful to you. PLEASE don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Copic Coloring for Distressed Wood

I was trying to achieve a distressed/worn/aged look on a wooden fence for the Copic Creations  challenge of WOOD.  Aside from the great Marianne Walker’s I Like Markers blog, I wasn’t able to find any other tutorials on this subject!   So, I thought I would show you the steps I took to color this fence stamp.   Please keep in mind, I am not a Copic teacher – merely a Copic lover!  🙂 

The Copic colors I used are:  

E31 ~ Brick Beige (my lightest color)

E33 ~ Sand (medium color for shading)

E43 ~ Dull Ivory (medium color)

E57 ~ Light Walnut (darkest color)

Using my lightest color, E31 ~ Brick Beige, I outline each section of the fence.

I then continue to color-in each section with the same E31.  To quote Marianne, it’s okay if your coloring at this point is streaky, just be sure to color with the grain of the wood.

My next step is to add “streaks” in the mid-range color, E43 ~ Dull Ivory.

To add the darkest color, you do not want to be very heavy-handed ~ add very thin, short highlights.  I used the point of the broad end of the marker for this process, using E57 ~ Light Walnut.

Next, I again used E31 ~ Brick Beige to lightly blend the two darker colors together.

The final step for me is to use another medium toned color, E33~ Sand to add some shadow tones to the fence in areas that I wanted to look a little more distressed.

That’s it!   Obviously, there are many brown choices in Copic colors, but I wanted to show you my choices for an aged wooden fence.

Hope this is helpful… please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

 Here’s  the completed card.

Distress Ink Coloring Tutorial

I’m soooooo excited…7 Kids College Fund is now carrying my FAVORITE inks ~ Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger!!  I LOVE these inks, and use them in so many ways!   I’ve put together a step-by-step guide showing the Distress ink colors I have used to color a Stampabilities House Mouse image, Jelly Bean Heist, also available at 7 Kids College Fund.

In this tutorial, I will be showing you TWO ways that I use Distress inks ~  coloring the images and also highlighting around the images. 

1.  Supplies used:   Various Distress Ink pads, water brush (small), water color paper, Neenah Solar White card stock, black pigment ink pad, marker for outlining image, sponge for highlighting.

Supplies

2.  Using the pigment ink, I always stamp at least two images….just in case something unexpected happens while I’m coloring so I don’t have to fool around with re-stamping!

I have stamped two images with black pigment ink on each type of paper ~ watercolor and Neenah card stock ~ the watercolor paper is for the actual coloring of the image and the smoother card stock is for the highlighting.

Stamped Images

3.  The first step in coloring the images on the watercolor paper,  I try to start with the lightest color for my image, in this case the faces, hands, feet and tails.  I’ve used tea dye Distress ink. 

One thing I do is start out with a very wet brush.  I find it’s easier to start lighter and add more color later.  I put a few drops of water into the cover of my ink pad and try the color on a scratch piece of paper before I color the image…if it’s too dark I feel I have more control to pick up some of the water from the cover.

Extra water in cover

tea dye

4.  I can then go back with the same color on my brush, with less water ~ for more concentrated color to add shading.  I’ve also added some rosey highlights to their cheeks, noses and ears with tattered rose Distress ink.       [Please note:  Since I plan to cut out the image, to show you the highlighting technique, I am not being too careful to “color within the lines”  – I’m such a rebel!]

tea dye shading

5.  I’ve colored each of the three mice in a different shade of brown for some contrast.  The first (middle) mouse is colored using brushed corduroy, the second mouse (left) is colored with frayed burlap and the last (right) is done with vintage photo.

brushed corduroy

frayed burlap

vintage photo

6.  The jelly beans are colored with a light color and highlighted in the coordinating darker color – worn lipstick & fired brick, shabby shutters & pine needles, mustard seed & scattered straw, milled lavender & dusty concord, and spiced marmalade & dried marigold.

jelly beans

7.  I also added some light weathered wood for shading on the glass jar.

weathered wood

8.   The second technique I would like to show you is to use the Distress inks to highlight an image.  I do this alot and have received many questions on how it’s done.    Here we go …

First, I cut out the colored watercolor paper image; Then took my Neenah card stock uncolored image and added marker around the entire outer edge.   And, using a sponge with (in this case) broken china Distress ink, in a very light sweeping, circular motion go around the areas you wish to be highlighted.  I always start my sponge on the center area of an image, knowing that will be covered when I attach the already colored and cut out image.  

broken china

The last and final step is to glue the cut-out image onto the highlighted card stock. 

That’s it!    🙂    Your image is now ready to be made into a card.   (which I’m hoping to do very soon!)    [Update:  I did actually use this for a card, which can be found here. ]

Jelly Bean Heist

I hope you will give this a try.  The Distress inks are such amazing versatile inks that can be used in sooo many ways.  7 Kids College Fund will be carrying ALL the Distress ink colors available….at a FANTASTIC price. 

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions on any of the above steps.     Thanks for stopping by today!

[Special thanks to my wonderful photographer – John Montgomery!   He’s the best!!]