Colouring with a difference !

Now this is just a quick plain card to show you the colouring i have used ...

I have been itching to show you this ! but needed a little practice myself first !
I can't say im great at colouring in - i struggle with blending and light and shade , i think most people can relate to that at some point !

Whilst trying to get a different look to my colouring , i started experimenting and came up with this ... now my friends at craft club have seen these colouring comparisons and they said there was a big difference in depth and vibrancy .

Theres also a special little tool you use to get the effect as well - more about that later !

So im gonna show you a few comparisons first ...

here are some images i had started to colour.....




here we have whisper pens on the left and prismas on the right
although i try to imitate the whisper colouring with the prismas - there is still a slight difference.
now then ... look at this one .
.



you can see the difference and ive only been practicing a few times with this .

How did i do it ?
Well i started off with a great little find ..... these little beauties !These are an absolute must and my special tool !


cut and dry pens nibs - these where brilliant for this AND also just for blending in tricky areas that are too small to blend with paper stumps and prismas. You still need paper stumps for large areas - but i wouldnt do without these now .. You get 10 in a pack - but you can sharpen the other end , then snip it to a point , which means its really 20 your getting. They last alot longer than paper stumps and theres no having to file to a point everytime. A little snip after many colourings would bring the point back.

First start as you normally would with you prismas.
draw heavily around the outline of the image and shade alittle in the middle lightly.

2. blend in the colour with a paper stump and sansador.Use small circular movements with the stump.



3. Next take a darker shade and go around the outline again and also where it would be shaded..
This time use the Pen Nibs , it is much more precise .

Now the special part !
Take your whisper pen ( pic 1) - chose a slightly darker shade than the prisma colour.
outline a small part , this is important - only do small areas at a time and work quickly

dip your cut and dry nib into sansador , and spread the whisper colour this time with strokes AND circular movements - sliding the ink away from the edge - the ink should sort of slide on the card. (pic 2) This is because you have used prismas and sansador first.
dont colour or go into the the lighter parts of the image.



Pic 2.



Do this again - building the depth up deeper with this layer and dipping the pen nib in sansodor - dont rub card as this will make it too wet.

TIP .. If colouring with blue - rub some red onto a piece of plastic ( or acrylic block) and lift off the colour with the blue whisper pen - add that to the final outline and shading to jeans and wow if gives it a beautiful violet blue overtone !

So after your third layer of dark blue , take your white prisma pencil, and lighten all the parts that catch the light now because the vibrancy is strong with whispers colouring the white really does show up well.


continue in this manner until all the image is coloured .




Now i am going to show you how i made the little decorative brads in the middle of the flower stamps on the card.


In the middle of the flower there is a brad in fimo.


Right ... first thing is to roll two small balls of fimo and flattern with the pad of your finger
.

Next roll two smaller white balls of fimo and again flatten each one
.

Place ontop of the larger flattened balls .
Using a straw , push into the middle and twist out, do the same with the other end of the straw on the next flatterned ball. This will be your hole for the brad.

bake in the oven as per instructions on the packet ( very important to have right temperature !)
When baked push a brad into the middle .

next i stamped a mini stitchels flower stamp and cut the image out .coloured the image and then i outlined the image with a white pen -
I cut some flourishes from some paper and outline this with white pen again . I attached the brad and fimo to the flower image and then attached to the flourish.



Now throughout this tutorial - i was interupted by something with pink ears ... to find out please take a visit to my blog ...It also has the supplier of pen nibs and fimo .
madimaginations

Magazine storage binder tutorial.

Hi all :)

In the past week, i must have read at least a dozen requests for advice with magazine storage on various sites. This is always going to be an issue as long as the publishers keep bring out great crafty mags!

In the past I've mentioned wooden storage racks that I've made, but these aren't quite so easy to knock up in your craft room in 20 minutes. This however....is!

I thought of all the ways I'd seen magazines stored before, and when i was 12 years old, i subscribed to a magazine which i bought the binders for. I've modelled this crafty version on that storage idea.

All you need is an A4 ring binder, some pliers, some ribbon lengths and an eyelet setter.
Ok, here we go....first take your standard A4 ring binder.....

Now we want to get rid of the metal ringcontraption in the middle. This is going to be the hardest part of this project. It is only held in with two eyelets, but they are tough little fellas, so i got some pliers and sort of pinched the edge of the eyelets together until you could shove it back through the hole in the binder.

Take it off back and front, eyelets too. You should be left with holes like this.

These can be easily covered up with a strip of card/paper.

The outside bit gets covered up the same, however you can fancy this up a bit more, even write a label so you can see what is stored inside. You may even want to have a folder for each brand of magazine, in which case you could be ultra organisational and include the name of the mag.

Now to work on what holds the magazines in the binder. Using a Crop-A-Dile, punch a hole at either end of the binder. Ensure you leave a few millimeters so you can slide a magazine in.
Secure the eyelet, nice side on the outside of the binder.....looks prettier that way!

Now you want a few lengths of ribbon, thin ribbon is fine. Make sure they are a couple of inches longer than the binder as you will need the extra length for tieing a knot. Tie your first ribbon at one end, just tie any old secure knot, pull it tight..but not overly tight that you can't fit a mag under it.....then tie it off at the other end.

You should now have this....

You will need a separate ribbon for each magazine, so just add them all either at the start when you make the binder, or add then as you buy each magazine.
Here I'll just do two for the tutorial.

As you can see, if you do them singularly, you end up with a knot for each ribbon. I've just checked and i can fit ten bits of thin ribbon through an eyelet. If you find this tricky, there is nothing to stop you adding a couple another couple of eyelets either side of this one.

Now open your magazine to the centre pages, and slide it under the ribbon.



Close the first magazine, and you can see below that you have the next ribbon waiting to take the next mag.



Insert your next magazine exactly as you did the first.....



Hey presto.....here you have a quick, easy and affordable way of keeping your magazines safe and in good condition.



Hope this helps.....it's also featured on my blog here, thanks for looking. :)

Tutorial: Using #10 envelopes as decorative paper (or, "Vintage Fabric Meets the #10 Envelope")

What do these two pictures have in common...vintage fabric (that my wonderful friend Sandy gave me from her stash. Thanks so much Sandy!) and regular #10 bill envelopes? Well, believe it or not you can recycle and use the envelopes as decorative paper! What you say? Has she gone mad, using #10 envelopes as decorative paper? What is she talking about? Maybe sniffing that glue? haha! Well, let's take a look below and see what happens if you were to slice off the top of these envelopes. Here's what you would see inside...wonderful designs to use as decorative paper on your papercrafting projects!. Well at least that's how I was inspired!





Here's a sample of the "Bookoo Blessings" card I designed using my recycled dp...I made a scallop circle and again at the bottom of the card I machine-stitched it as a border. I chose this envelope design because I thought it complemented the grey background design on the vintage fabric. I also used my scraps of "Genevieve" (my favorite TAC paper collection) on the left side of card:

I put together a tutorial SLIDE for you to show you the MANY things you can design OUT OF ONE ENVELOPE (and there was still paper left!). The best part is I didn't have to pay for the paper... I'm lovin' that! Hey, your turn to try it...post your results here so everyone can see. Thanks and happy everything!

Gift Card Holder

GIFT CARD HOLDER

OK, you are probably NOT going to believe what this gift card holder is made from!!!

Yep a toilet paper roll!!! haha!

1.Flatten the tp roll as flat as you can.

2.Choose your patterned paper and cut it 4 in.X6 in. . It may have to be trimmed on the 6 in. side after you start gluing it on to the tp roll.

3. Cover one side of the tp roll with glue and adhere the pp to it. I left some for a flap. Fold the pp and put glue on the other side and this is where you may have to trim one side.

I needed to trim mine a little.

4. Place clamps on it for a few minutes for the glue to set.If you don't have clamps, you can just lay something heavy on it. (Just be careful because if you put too much glue on it, it will pease out and you may get it on your book or whatever you use use to hold it down.)
5. Place a line of glue on the inside of the tp roll on only ONE side. Clamp it again for the glue to set.
6.While you are waiting for this to set, you can make the tag that you can slip into the opening. Cut a piece of 4 3/4 in. x 2 in. piece of coordinating cardstock or patterned paper. Trim one side to make it look like a tag and punch a hole in it to place a piece of ribbon on the tag. Add the gift card to the tag now.
7. Now ,you can decorate the front of the gift card holder any way to choose.I chose to cover up the fold where the pp met at the top with a piece of cardstock left over from the tag and added a piece of ribbon as well. I added an embellishment and a little card with a message on it.8. Time to tuck the tag inside the holder and voila.You are done!Let me know if you try this! I would love to see it!!

DEANNE