Have you ever wondered about the titles of my blog posts? I try to use the name of the stamp set or bundle I want to feature on that post as a way to make it pop up if you were to search for it. Have any of you ever tried searching with Google or another platform for a particular stamp set, to get ideas? I know it works really well with Pinterest for example. Sometimes if you have a product that you are somewhat stumped with, how to use it, etc, a search will give you lots of great ideas to get you started.
The set I want to share today I got for one reason... the bird! I don't even like birds all that much but they are fascinating to me and very fun to color with different mediums. I wanted to show you an example of different techniques today.
My first card uses my favorite medium, our alcohol markers called Stampin' Blends.
Isn't this bird amazing? I actually used 8 different markers for him, two shades each of Black, Smoky Slate, Mango Melody and Daffodil Delight. I then used two shades of Pool Party for the background and two shades of Crumb Cake for the branch. I had a blast coloring him. I'm not sure he is exactly like any real bird, but I still thought he was gorgeous! I used some of our Laser-Cut speciality paper for my background as well.
For my next card, I used our regular Classic ink pads and an Aqua Painter.
I was going for a robin here. I stamped the bird on watercolor paper with Stazon ink. It's important to use Stazon if you are going to use an Aqua Painter (full of water) so your outlined image doesn't smear as you "paint". I like to squeeze the lid of the ink pad between both my hands to draw some ink up into the inside of the lid and then take the ink from there with the Aqua Painter. You can use as much or as little water as you want to get different saturations of color. I used Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso for the bird and branch and a little bit of Crushed Curry for his beak.
My last example involves coloring with watercolor pencils and then using a Blender Pen to smooth out the color.
I decided to try blues this time and used Night of Navy, Pacific Point and Balmy Blue pencils. The color really pops when you use the blender pen after coloring with the pencils. For added sparkle, I then used the Wink of Stella pen for some shimmer and shine on the bird.
This was a super fun experiment - trying a different way to color on the same bird and getting fairly dramatically different results. Here's a look at the stamp set itself. I completely ignored the flower this time around... maybe next time!
The diamond background pattern was fun to add as an accent. You can see it on a couple of the cards above. In the past year or so, I have really discovered how much I like to color as a technique with stamping. You will have great results if you have the right tools! I've listed my supplies below in case you are curious about any of them. A click on any product will take you to the online store.
And just like that, it's Friday again! What are your plans for this weekend? My Stampin'Up! demo team, the Big Sky Stampin' Stars has a get together tomorrow that I'm really looking forward to. We have a great time eating, sharing ideas, training and sharing swaps that we make for each other. Stamping doesn't have to be a solo hobby. You can join up with a team of fun women who share your passion and love to create with ink, paper and stamps. If the thought of being part of a group is scary, you can still join and participate only when and if you want to. Stampin'Up! is all about doing things your way and I like that about it. There are some great incentives to joining now, during Sale-A-Bration, so contact me if you are even slightly interested! You won't get any pressure, just answers to your questions so you can make a choice that works for you. If you were to take a poll among current demonstrators, they would tell you they are so glad they took the plunge and wish they had done it sooner!
Have a fabulous weekend! I may be back before Monday with a post or two so stay tuned!
Blessings,
Sarah
No comments:
Post a Comment