Encore Set - Thinking of You

"Thinking Of You" is this month's encore set, and Jackie and Carla have made some fabulous projects with the images.

Thinking Of You

digital stamp set

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Three Proteas

I've used the coloured images from the Proteas set to create these three quick and easy cards. A little bit of red and gold card stock to frame each image and then solid black card bases to contrast with the flowers. Too easy!

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Road Trip

digital stamps

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Carla's Cards

Carla has coloured the two images on her beautiful cards with Polychromo pencils for a soft, smooth look. The flower on her first card has been fussy cut and layered over a sheet of printed paper, then decorated with ink splotches and little bees.

The second card has a much softer background, created with inks and stencils.

Carla's Blog

Tutorial - Triangle Corner Pop Up Card

This cute pop up card is made from a single square of card stock with the addition of a little easel card in the centre. Although it's not really suitable to send through the post, it would be great to attach to a little gift, a box of home baked goodies or just to hand to a special friend or family member.

TEMPLATE:

1. Place an 8" square of card stock on your score board and score at 4".

2. Rotate the card stock 90 degrees and score at 4", stopping at the first score line you made. Refer to the above template for correct placement.

3. Score diagonally from the top of the second score line you made to the start of the first score line you made. Turn the card stock and score diagonally from the top of the second score line to the end of the first score line. Again, refer to the template above for correct placement.

4. Use a craft knife or trimmer to cut from the end of the second score line, straight down to the bottom of the card stock. Fold along all the score lines. Your card should look like the photos below.

5. The card is formed by folding one of the bottom sections of the card stock over the other.

6. To make the small easel card for the centre, place a 6" x 3" piece of card stock horizontally on your score board and score at 3". Fold.

7. Now place a circle die slightly over the folded edge of the small card and cut to create a circle shaped card. Cut an additional piece of card stock the same size and shape to create the front of the easel. (It doesn't matter what shape you choose as long as the entire easel card fits completely within the card base.)

8. Fold the front of the easel card in half so that the fold line is parallel to the centre fold of the card.

9. Time to decorate! You'll need images or embellishments for the two sides of the card base and the front of the easel card as well as a sentiment or embellishment to act as an anchor inside the easel card. To decorate the panels, you'll need one 33/4" square of patterned paper, two 31/2" squares of patterned paper cut in half diagonally to form four triangles, one 37/8" square of black card stock, and two 33/4" squares of black card stock cut in half diagonally to form four triangles.

10. Adhere all the patterned paper to the black card stock with glue or double-sided tape.

11. Complete the easel card by attaching the image to the front and the sentiment to the inside with foam tape. Adhere the patterned papers to the different sections of the card base.

12. To help the card stay open, attach two tiny magnets to the bottom corners of the two bottom sections. I punched two small circles from a flat, business card-type magnet and secured them with glue.

13. Start by gluing the magnet on the left hand panel, as shown below. Add the second magnet on top of the first making sure they are lined up so they attract rather than repel. Add a spot of glue to the second magnet and bring the right hand section of the card over the top. Hold in place for a few seconds until the glue dries.

You should have a magnet on the top part of the left hand section and the bottom part of the right hand section, as shown below.

14. Use glue or double-sided tape to secure the easel card in the centre of the card base so that it faces forward. No part of the easel card should extend beyond the sides of the card base.

15. Finish by adding additional images, sentiments and embellishments. You may like to close the card with a belly band or a simple piece of ribbon or twine.

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Beautiful Proteas

Soft coloured pencils and pretty papers are the perfect additions for the protea images from our new set of digital stamps. Jackie has created two beautiful cards, one slimline and one large square, using the flowers and sentiments.

Jackie has kindly included a colouring chart for both projects.

Don't forget to visit her blog for even more inspiration.

Jackie's Blog

White Over Green

Negative colouring - using white or light coloured pencil on a darker background - is one of my favourite techniques. In today's post I'll show you how I coloured one of the images from the Warm and Woolly set of digital stamps, not only to give it a little colour but also some added texture.

Start by stamping the image onto some smooth or lightly textured card stock. I've used a pretty green background that has a little bit of tooth (roughness). The more tooth your paper has, the more texture will appear in your colouring.

Add a very light layer of white pencil to one area of the image, I began with the sheep's face. You barely want to touch the surface of your paper with the pencil, just enough that you can see it.

Now apply the lightest areas by pressing heavily with the pencil. For faces, the lightest areas are generally along the nose, on the cheeks and across the brow. Animals will also have light along the tops of their ears.

Now you want to work the pencil from the lightest areas to the darkest so that there is a gradual change rather than a sudden difference. You may want to do this in layers rather than all at once.
Don't forget to pay extra attention to the eyes, which are usually the focal point of a character image. I add black pen over the pupils and, if necessary, the eyelashes. A dot of white in each eye will bring your character to life.

Add a light layer of white pencil to the remainder of the image, then colour the legs and feet in the same way you did the face. The lighter areas will be the top of the feet and the darker areas will be at the top of the legs, just under all that wool.

To add some extra texture and fun to the wool of the sheep, I drew in some "curls" by pressing firmly with a sharp white pencil. Don't add them everywhere, just in the areas that are marked in the image.

Colour the sheep's body adding pencil over the top of the "curls". Leave some darker areas here and there to give the impression of thick wool.

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