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Spunky With Flowers

digital stamps

Holiday Cruisin'

How cute is this little red VW, headed out to the snowy forest to collect a pretty tree for Christmas? Carla has coloured the little car with pencils and then added a wonderful die cut background of snowy hills and frosty pine trees. A simple sentiment finishes her holiday card perfectly.

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A Truck Load of Cash

Okay, so not exactly cash, but in some of my circles chocolate coins are definitely considered currency, perhaps even more valuable than the real thing! And now I have a cute little holder in which to gift them.

I started by printing four of the pre-coloured red trucks from the Cruisin' set, which is our featured Encore digital stamp set for this month. I have flipped two horizontally so I can sandwich them together for a double-sided look.

The next step is to fussy cut around the images, right up against the outline and including each of the windows.

Next, adhere two trucks together so they have a back and front. I also added a small piece of acetate over each window by sandwiching it between the images and holding it in place with strong glue and double sided tape.

The box is created with a small piece of card stock, cut to fit along the length of each vehicle. I glued the tabs to the outside of the box where they will be covered by each image.

Use strong glue or double-sided tape to adhere the trucks to either side of the box. Make sure the adhesive is completely dry before you load up the box or you might find it doesn't hold.

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Just a few more days until our July sale ends!

Click on the image to head over to the sales page

Offers end July 31st (AEST)

Cruisin' With Karin

This month we're revisiting one of our old favourite digital stamp

sets... Cruisin'. Perfect for anyone who loves a great vintage car.

Karin has used the pick-up truck image from this month's encore set, combined with one of the digital stamps from the Oh Night Divine set, to create a fabulous easel Christmas card. She's used a beautiful die cut poinsettia as the anchor to hold the card open.

Karin created a second card featuring the little blue sports car from the Cruisin' set of digital stamps. She also created a strip of patterned paper by combining two of the line drawn images in a repeating pattern.

Karin has put together a colouring guide for those who are curious about the mediums she used for her cards. To see more of Karin's work, don't forget to visit her blog - you can find a link in the sidebar.

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Artistic Effects

There are lots of advantages to using digital stamps, from resizing and flipping to skewing and stretching. One of my favourites is adding artistic effects to pre-coloured images in MSWord. There are lots of options for picture effects, from mosaic tiles to black and white sketches. 

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Creating With Deanne

Deanne has invited us into her studio today to see two beautiful cards she created with the Precious Memories set of digital stamps. She has used two sentiments from the set to create heartfelt messages of encouragement, love and hope.

Deanne has kindly included colour charts for both her projects for those who are curious about her colour palette. For more information or to see more of Deanne's beautiful work, click on the link below to head over to her personal blog.

Deanne's Blog

Getting Older

Every birthday should be filled with bright, happy colours and things that glow and sparkle!

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Colouring The Candles

The technique for getting lots of depth and dimension in your projects is to colour in layers. When we colour, we're actually attempting to make a flat, two dimensional object appear as if it has three dimensions by adding highlights and shadows. Simply speaking, dark colours recede and light colours advance... this is the push and pull of colour.

I started by printing the five candles in a light grey ink, which will blend in as I apply colour. I've base coated my candle in the lightest blue I'm using for this project. Don't apply too much pressure to the pencil or you'll end up burnishing your project, which will prevent any further colour application. (NOTE: A burnished surface will be shiny and won't successfully take further colour)

With the same pencil I'm adding a little more pigment to the right and left sides of the image. As I work toward the middle of the candle, I reduce the pressure until my pencil is barely touching the surface of the paper. This is how you achieve the variation of colour intensity.

Do the same again at the top and bottom of the section you're colouring. The centre should be light where you've gently feathered the colour out. This will form a high point on the surface of the candle that will appear to come forward. We are starting to give the image some shape.

Repeat those steps in each section of the candle using the same pencil. Remember not to apply too much pressure as we still have lots more colour to add.

Using a darker tone, gently apply colour in the crease between each section of the candle. Start on the line and gently reduce pressure as you move up toward the centre, then go back to the line and gently work down. This is a very narrow area we're colouring, you don't want to completely cover the first layer of blue. Allow the darker shade to curve upward at the edges of the image, following the lines.

Repeat for each section of the candle, including the very bottom where you will only work upward.

Now we're introducing a grey. This will tone and darken the shadow areas where there is less light, tricking the eye into believing those areas recede.

By darkening the lines of the image, our eyes tell us that there are creases along the length of the candle.

Repeat along all the centre lines, remembering to gently reduce the pressure as you colour away from the line. Apart from on the boundary of the image, none of your colouring should have very defined, straight edges.

Add a little black pencil to the candle wick, applying less pressure in the area where it meets the flame.

Colour the flame with a mid yellow, remembering not to apply to much pressure to the pencil.

Using your lightest yellow, apply colour at the bottom of the flame and gently reduce pressure as you work your way upward.

Now use a darker yellow, or a light orange, at the top of the flame and gently work your way down. The colours should blend nicely, but each should still be visible.

Apply the darkest orange to the very tip of the flame, blending it with the dark yellow.

Use your mid yellow to add a glow around the flame. Start colouring up against the flame and work your way outward in a circle, reducing pressure on the pencil as you colour until you're applying the lightest pressure possible.

Use the darker yellow to add some highlights on the candle itself. Again, make sure you gently release the pressure as you colour so you don't end up with sharp lines.

I used a white pencil to add some dots to my candle. If you want to add decoration, remember to continue it around the side of the object with some parts hidden from view. As you can see, I've added some half circles at the edges of the candle. This strengthens the illusion that the candle is rounded rather than flat.

You might have heard the term "anchoring the image". This basically means creating a relationship between the item you're colouring and the space around it. Without an "anchor" our object is simply floating around without an obvious up or down. We need to give it a place to exist, and the easiest way to do that is to add a little shadow underneath, which I did with a dark grey pencil. Now our candle is complete.

Time to repeat the process for each of the other candles. Start with a basecoat and darken the edges of each section with the same pencil...

... add a darker shade in each crease to help shape the image...

... add some shadow areas to deepen the creases in the candle...

... colour the flame and the glow, remembering to gently release the pressure on the pencil...

... add some decoration...

... anchor the image in space.

Now repeat the technique for each of the remaining candles and you have a completely coloured image.

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