Charcoal look

Just a quick post tonight while I'm still awake! :) While I was spending time (oodles of time!) over on Pintrest I saw something that really caught my eye. It was a video tutorial about using a black and a white pencil over kraft paper with OMS to mimic the look of a charcoal drawing. How awesome is that? So, I looked through my file of digis (printed some time ago) and decided that Poppy from Crafts and Me would be perfect to try this out. I think I got a little heavy handed, but practice will make me better at it (this was my first attempt). Don't be afraid to try it!

So after I colored her according to the video I cut her out with a nestie using the Out of the Box method I linked to in the last post.  Since the square die wasn't working well I trimmed off two of the sides to make it fit better and added the sentiment stamp to balance the right side.  This was layered over two pieces of black card stock that was punched with a Martha Stewart punch then over another nestie shape (a TJ technique) colored with Distress Ink.
The final layer isn't a layer at all - actually it's a line drawn in black pen with black pencil right up next to it that I blended outward with OMS to give it depth.  After rounding the corners and adding some white ribbon it was ready to go. :)
I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving filled with the best food, friends & family, and thankfulness that defines your day together!
Thanks for dropping by!

Mi amiga!

While I'm not back as quickly as I wanted to be, two weeks is *much* better than two months, right? :)
I have been getting back into the swing of making things just for fun instead of projects on a deadline.  It's an entirely different way of being creative.  I much prefer doing things on my own schedule... probably why I've never tried out for a design team! ;)
This card was made with my other purchase from Saturated Canary - isn't she a sweet little digi?  (although I admit, I have my eye on several more)  The whole card is very simple, just perfect for a quick note.  I cut the base down to 4 1/4 by 4 1/4 to fit the size of the digi better.


The girl was colored with copic markers and a touch of white pen then cut out using the Out of the Box technique I linked to last time.  You might notice that the original illustration and my girl have a bit of difference in the hair - unfortunately some of the wispy areas got (ahem) chopped when I was fussy cutting.  I did my best to clean it up so that it looked natural... but those are the hazards of fussy cutting! :D
The background was colored with a mix of distress inks (Pumice Stone & Weathered Wood - I have no idea why it looks so bright blue in the pic) and the edge of a scalloped circle cut from text weight paper.  I did add a little bit of clear spica pen in the water droplets with a drop of Glossy Accents over the top for grins, but you can't see it at all in the picture. :(
I measured and drew in the lines with a cool gray copic pen (*not* a marker) then went over them with the clear spica pen.  I stamped the sentiment with Weathered Wood distress ink but the base is so textured that I went over it with the same copic pen to get down in the lines.  I went over that with the spica pen too.  Isn't it a total bummer that you can't see any of the sparkle?  The final touch were the pearl colored dew drops - love the way they look. :)
Thanks for dropping by!