I also got a chance to re-evaluate some more Arteza products (I’ll be sharing a full separate video review of these in a following post). In short, I LOVE the Arteza Fineliner Pens. To color up this image, I used 8 of them: brown, tan, yellow, red, black and three greys and a fine point Arteza water brush to blend out the inks for a watercolored look. Getting into tiny nooks and crannies of the image was so easy with these fineliner pens!

I also used the Arteza Arctic Blue (117) Real Brush Pen and a water brush to create a soft blue haloing background. For some highlighting details, I used a Uniball Signo White Gel Pen on the sun glasses, noses, hooves, boots and gloves; and I added some magical shimmer to the antlers and Santa’s white fur trim with a Clear Wink of Stella Pen.

For the card front, I used scraps from my scrap box from a 2012 Recollections Christmas paper pad called “Memories Never Melt” and inked the edges with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Faded Jeans. For a little sparkle, I added a thin strip of silver glitter washi tape on one side. To add the look of a film strip cell (like this was a pic from a music video – hahaha), I used one of the Neat & Tangled Tiny Cuts border dies on the two sides of the image, again inking the edges with more Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Faded Jeans to maintain a cohesive look.

Inside the card, I used the remaining scraps of the Recollections patterned paper from my scrap box. To make it a little more festive, I doodled some bursting stars with the Arteza Black Fineliner Pen. Then to drive home the fun Gangnam Style theme, I used Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder on a scrap of dark blue card stock to heat emboss the sentiment from the stamp set. I cut it into a simple banner shape and added that as the final touch on the card liner.

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

Arteza Coupon: If by chance you want to purchase any Arteza products, you can use the COUPON CODE (BOE-TOZ-460) for 10% off.

The following is a video sharing the coloring of this image:

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge with Optional Birthday
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes with Optional Reuse/Upcycle Challenge
Art Impressions Water Color Wonders Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Card Mania Embossing Challenge
Penny Black and More Feature a Creature Challenge
Stamp Sensations Forest Friends Challenge
MFT Sketch 376 Card Challenge

I decided to use Icicle, Puddles and Birch to start getting into the holiday spirit. I inked them up with MFT Black Licorice Hybrid Ink because I knew I wanted to color them up with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and practice a little watercoloring (I’m still a beginner and figuring things out, but I share my limited experience in the video below–hope it’s helpful to you). These are the colors I used:

Icicle: Light Grey (091); Turquoise Green (042); Geranium Red (029) with light pink in the ears and on his cheeks using a Tim Holtz Distress Spun Sugar (I couldn’t find my Light Pink (026), which I think would have worked similarly)
Puddles: Light Grey (091); Beige (072); Turquoise Green (042); Geranium Red (029) with light pink on his cheeks using a Tim Holtz Distress Spun Sugar
Birch: Light Brown (061); Brown (060); Florescent Pink (003); Turquoise Green (042); Geranium Red (029); and  Light Carmine (021) for blush
Ground: Light Grey (091) and Light Blue (036)

Next I ran a white card stock card base through my Big Shot with a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder to create a kind of wintery frame. I used 4th largest of the Diemond Dies Nesting Oval Die Set to cut out an opening on the card front.  Then I used double sided foam adhesive to position the critters in the opening, recessed back just a tad from the card front.

Lastly, to add some wintery embellishments, I used the two smaller snowflakes from the Diemond Dies Winter Snowflake Die Set to die cut six snowflakes to cluster in the upper right and lower left of the frame. I heavily coated all the snowflakes with some Plaid Folk Art Extreme Glitter Acrylic Paint in Hologram to give them all a shimmery sparkly look to them. I also added a 1/4″ trim of hologram-painted card stock at the bottom edge of the card front to add a more finished, coordinated look.

Special Sale: My readers can get 15% off and free worldwide shipping at Diemond Dies through November 12, 2016 by using the coupon code: kristina15.  After November 12, 2016, for orders of $35 or more, you can get 10% off and free worldwide shipping by using the coupon code: thankskristina

The following is a watercoloring process video:

This card is being entered into the following challenge:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Not Just Cards Anything Goes Challenge
Addicted to Stamps and More Make Your Mark Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge with Optional Anything But a Card
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Anything Goes Challenge
MFT Card Sketch Challenge #304

I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to get out a couple of the cute Art Impressions mini front and back stamp sets and my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and get my watercoloring on! I used the Art Impressions mini front and backs Cat & Dog Mini Set and the Bunny & Ducky Mini Set and the following Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers:

Dog: Light Gray (091), Brown (060), and Black (010)
Cat: Dark Pink (027) and Black (010)
Bunny: Flourescent Pink (003) and Gray Brown (094)
Ducky: Yellow (050) and Orange (070)

I fussy cut all the fronts an backs of the critters, and I made sure to ink the edges of the critters and also color on the backsides along the edges to make sure that any slight misalignments or white edges wouldn’t show. I think these types of details are important to keeping a clean and finished look to projects, especially in the case of using thick watercolor paper (I used Strathmore 140 lb watercolor paper) like I have here.

For the bookmark bases, I used kraft card stock and used Recollections clear embossing powder to create some shine and texture with the Lawn Fawn wood grain stamp from the Woodgrain Backdrops stamp set. I love how these bookmarks ended up looking like boards from a wood fence, and in addition to adding great depth and texture, the clear heat embossing made the bookmarks feel weighty and sturdier too.  And on the back sides of each of the bookmarks I added the following coordinating sentiments that I printed out on my computer that I matted with scrap pattern papers from my scrap box. I positioned them so that the critters looked like they were standing on them to peek over the fence boards.

Dog: “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” — Groucho Marx
Cat: “Books, Cats, Life is Good.” — Edward Gorey
Bunny: Some bunny loves reading! “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” — Margaret Fuller
Ducky: “Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky!” — Dr. Seuss

The following is a process start to finish video sharing how I made and colored up these bookmarks (there’s also a peak at tomorrow’s post):

These bookmarks are being entered into the following challenges:
Art Impressions Watercolor Stamping Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Stamp It Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Stamp It Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Use Your Stamps Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Fab ‘n’ Funky Fall Colors Challenge
MarkerPOP Watercolor Challenge
Penny Black and More Add a Sentiment Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes Challenge

I used the beautiful new-to-me “Hello Gorgeous” stamp set by Essentials by Ellen, that I thought would be perfect for a sophisticated CAS card with a little water coloring. I first used VersaMark ink and Opaque Platinum Sprinkle N Sparkle extra fine embossing powder to emboss the sentiment “Sparkle On” on the lower right corner and a few of the gem stamps clustered around the sentiment and one on the opposite upper left corner. The positioning of all these elements created a nice asymmetrical balance, and the platinum embossing gives a luxe metallic look. For the inside I used the “happy birthday” from the “Well Scripted” Stampin’ Up stamp set and another gem stamp and embossed those too.

Then, because I had used regular card stock, rather than watercolor paper, I used the Prima “The Basics” watercolor pencils set to add some touches of color in each of the gems. If I had used watercolor paper, I might have used Tim Holtz Distress Markers for this bit, but I was afraid the stamping on the rougher watercolor paper would have come out uneven.

When I finished all of this, I thought it looked too plain, so I channeled a little Julia Altermann and added some sparkly dots with a Clear Star Sakura Gelly Roll pen.  Oh yes, I liked this much better. 🙂  I popped the whole card front up on double sided foam adhesive and added it to the card base, which was made with a shimmery Recollections pearlescent card stock.

The following is a start to finish process video of creating this card:

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Beginning with “N” Challenge — New-to-me stamp set
Addicted to CAS Hero Challenge
CAS-ual Fridays Precious Metals Challenge
Virginia’s View All About Textures Challenge

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful crafty day! WOOF

I have had this fantasmic Charmaine Flannery’s Defiance stamp from Sweet Pea Stamps for a while now and have been itching to ink her up as the air turns cold and we are approaching October. The stamp is very detailed, and I love to watercolor with Tim Holtz Distress Markers with fine images like this–watercoloring is so forgiving!

I knew I wanted to create a back-lit image with the clock face colored in an way that would look like it was illuminated from the inside–think warbly old stained glass.  While I wanted Elphaba (the Wicked Witch from the West) to have a little color, I wanted most of her to look silhouetted, with highlights that would seem like reflected light from the clock.  I also wanted the rest of the background to be ombre colored to mimic a fiery sunset in autumn colors.  I used these Tim Holtz Distress Markers to achieve this look and a Faber-Castell Pitt Pen in B point to ink in the silhouetted areas:
Face of clock: Broken China, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire
Elphaba’s skin: Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean
Flying monkey: Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo
Broom: Tea Dye, Vintage Photo
Background: Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Festive Berries

When I thought I was done with the coloring, I used black Versafine ink and a finger dauber to distress and ink the edges of the card.  Then I noticed that the stamped image had a thin cracked edging. It didn’t seem substantial enough to match the way I had silhouetted the main image so I took a thin Uniball pen and kind of doodled around the cracking to make it look more like a thorny thicket-like frame.  Oh yes, I liked this much better. 🙂  I added some clear wink of Stella over the top of the clock face to add a shimmer and was relieved to find that the India Ink from the Faber-Castell Pitt Pen did not bleed at all. YAY!

The following is a process video of this watercolored card:

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday STAMPtember Challenge
MarkerPOP Halloween Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday No Designer Paper Challenge
One Sweet Halloween Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Ombre Challenge
Oddball Art Fall Is In the Air Challenge
Cardz TV Fall Icons Challenge
The Shabby Tea Room Swirls and Twirls Challenge – WINNER

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a spooktacular day! WOOF

I started with my go-to Strathmore Cold Press 140-Pound (15-Sheet) Watercolor Paper as the base.  Then I had some fun with 3 different water coloring techniques.

The first involves inking some crinkled tin foil and transferring the ink to wet watercolor paper. This creates a beautiful fractured look, which is unique to each pressing (as you can see, the 3 cards I made each have unique backgrounds).  I created the backgrounds using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers.

The second technique is to use a Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush like a water brush to watercolor in an understated shimmery color. I used this technique on the head, neck and breast of the peacock with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire and achieved a really gorgeous regal look. It’s hard to capture the shimmer in photos or in a video but in person, you can really see the shimmer.

The third technique is to simply smoosh out color from the ink pads onto a craft mat to create a palette to use with water and a paint brush (or in my case a Medium Pentel Waterbrush).  I used all of the above colors as well as Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed to watercolor in the stamped image. To add even more shimmer to the peacock’s feathers, I also used a Sakura Clear Star Gelly Roll Pen, which gives a stronger, more opaque sparkle than Clear Wink of Stella to all the areas I wanted to glow.

Lastly I mounted this card on a textured dark blue card stock mat to coordinate with the dark blue of the peacock’s body and layered the whole thing on a silver glittered card stock base, which seemed to bring out the Clear Wink of Stella and Clear Star Gelly Roll Pen sparkle even more.

Ok, I couldn’t leave it at that. On two of the cards that I am sending to crafty female friends, I had to add some coordinated sequins in dark blue, teal, silver and iridescent shades to add a blingy sparkle. A girl can’t have too much bling, right?  😀 The one card going to the father of a crafty friend turning 92 years old is sans sequins. LOL

The following is a watercoloring tutorial video that demonstrates all the techniques and card assembly:

These cards are being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Sparkle and Shine Challenge
Through The Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes Challenge
Card Mania Anything Goes Challenge

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful crafty day! WOOF