I am excited about this blog. I want to show you several options for decorating your die cuts. Once you cut a template or die cut, you have lots of options for decorating it. I love techniques. I am also pretty cheap. I don't tend to keep a lot of decorative papers on hand. Mostly I just buy Staples brand cover stock which is 67# paper, a little lighter than the Staples cardstock which I think is around 90#. I buy cream or white.
This is a little card I just finished designing.
I have put together 3 videos demonstrating 3 different ways that the die cut can be decorated.
Notice that my supplies are limited. I have around 40 out of >300 Copic markers. My colors are the primaries in light, medium and dark plus some secondaries and some colors that I just like. That is it.
But here is the thing once you start layering these colors, the magic begins! Surprises await!
So with all this said here is the first video demonstrating with Copic Sketch Markers
My second Video features the Copic Air Brush System ie, their compressor and marker "gun" This method is a little faster. I do not use any masking for this video just gentle squeezes of the gun.
Using the air brush with the markers can be a little frustrating at times but once you get past the idiosyncrasies it is a lot of fun. I have some tips for using it in another youtube video if you are interested.
Here is the card made with the Air Brushed die cut.
Lastly for those who are not interested in markers, I demo a melted crayon version.
A couple of hints here; Use medium heat on your iron, (I use a Clover mini Craft iron), and keep the wax from smoking by cleaning off your iron frequently with several papertowels. For fine detail I load only the tip of the iron with wax then tilt the point down. The melted wax will flow off the point onto the paper. As your iron gets hotter it will flow faster. I work on a mini quilters ironing square with a silicone craft sheet over the cloth side. This protects my desk.
Here is the store link for the die cut
While I am at it here are a couple of other files I just finished
I hope I have inspired you to learn a new technique
That's all for now
Laury
If you are coming from CardAdayBlog: Thanks for visiting and don't forget to stop by the cardadayblog tomorrow for more inspiration
This is a little card I just finished designing.
I have put together 3 videos demonstrating 3 different ways that the die cut can be decorated.
Notice that my supplies are limited. I have around 40 out of >300 Copic markers. My colors are the primaries in light, medium and dark plus some secondaries and some colors that I just like. That is it.
But here is the thing once you start layering these colors, the magic begins! Surprises await!
So with all this said here is the first video demonstrating with Copic Sketch Markers
My second Video features the Copic Air Brush System ie, their compressor and marker "gun" This method is a little faster. I do not use any masking for this video just gentle squeezes of the gun.
Using the air brush with the markers can be a little frustrating at times but once you get past the idiosyncrasies it is a lot of fun. I have some tips for using it in another youtube video if you are interested.
Here is the card made with the Air Brushed die cut.
Lastly for those who are not interested in markers, I demo a melted crayon version.
A couple of hints here; Use medium heat on your iron, (I use a Clover mini Craft iron), and keep the wax from smoking by cleaning off your iron frequently with several papertowels. For fine detail I load only the tip of the iron with wax then tilt the point down. The melted wax will flow off the point onto the paper. As your iron gets hotter it will flow faster. I work on a mini quilters ironing square with a silicone craft sheet over the cloth side. This protects my desk.
Here is the store link for the die cut
While I am at it here are a couple of other files I just finished
I hope I have inspired you to learn a new technique
That's all for now
Laury
If you are coming from CardAdayBlog: Thanks for visiting and don't forget to stop by the cardadayblog tomorrow for more inspiration
First I love my Zing Challenge! There is still one more day for you to get yours done!!!
Had to share my challenge results. Here is the card I designed for the first I love my Zing forum. You can find it
here
MTC also allows you to export your design to a raster jpg or png file. Here is the jpg. You may use it.
The mtc file is here If I get a request for a different format I will put it up but for now it is only the mtc format.
Well that is all for now
I really have to start getting my house in order!!! Family will be arriving within the week....... including my little granddaughter who is mobile!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas All!
Laury
Had to share my challenge results. Here is the card I designed for the first I love my Zing forum. You can find it
here
MTC also allows you to export your design to a raster jpg or png file. Here is the jpg. You may use it.
The mtc file is here If I get a request for a different format I will put it up but for now it is only the mtc format.
Well that is all for now
I really have to start getting my house in order!!! Family will be arriving within the week....... including my little granddaughter who is mobile!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas All!
Laury
This Santa is based on a 1950s era Santa that was used as a lawn ornament. My grandmother painted one when I was very small and he greeted me every Christmas morning! My dad still has him in the attic waiting to make his yearly appearance this year! I searched for him on the web but could not find the company that sold the design which was life size! My little Santa was painted by me and he is much smaller. I used the easel format for him as a personal reminder of all those Christmas mornings.
The file also comes with a couple of place cards for Christmas dinner and a gift tag design.
I also put up a Digi line drawing for folks to color in themselves, a painted version with lines and the painted version. These are just print and cut files that do not include the cards.
These were all cut on my new Zing!
That is all for now
Happy Holidays!!
Laury
I just had to share these ornaments that I cut on my new Zing!
First off they are not my design. I wish they were. I think they are just awesome.
The designer's blog is here and the kings are only a small selection of the templates that she has for free. Her cut files need a little work but the end result is well worth the extra effort.
These are really baskets that can hold a few choice chocolates. They are reversable. I did find that I had to use a little glue to keep the layers lined up.
I have also been playing with paper airplanes............. It is a guilty secret that I love paper airplanes, the ones that fly not the models. I am currently working on one based off the classic balsa wood glider. Since I don't have a model on hand It has been a bit of trial and error. more error. A lot of nose dives and startled kitties! Nasa has one for kids that I tried. It goes long. The one I am working on has more lift but no zoom.
I should have been working on store files........... sorry! just had to play a bit on my Zing!
I did work on a tunnel card using my journey to Christmas file. Came out great but a lot of work. Not sure that it is store worthy. I will post a pic when it is done along with a selection of my aircraft collection. :)
First off they are not my design. I wish they were. I think they are just awesome.
The designer's blog is here and the kings are only a small selection of the templates that she has for free. Her cut files need a little work but the end result is well worth the extra effort.
These are really baskets that can hold a few choice chocolates. They are reversable. I did find that I had to use a little glue to keep the layers lined up.
I have also been playing with paper airplanes............. It is a guilty secret that I love paper airplanes, the ones that fly not the models. I am currently working on one based off the classic balsa wood glider. Since I don't have a model on hand It has been a bit of trial and error. more error. A lot of nose dives and startled kitties! Nasa has one for kids that I tried. It goes long. The one I am working on has more lift but no zoom.
I should have been working on store files........... sorry! just had to play a bit on my Zing!
I did work on a tunnel card using my journey to Christmas file. Came out great but a lot of work. Not sure that it is store worthy. I will post a pic when it is done along with a selection of my aircraft collection. :)
This week we are focusing of the Celebration of Christmas.
For me that always starts with "The Reason for the Season" and that is Christ, his birth and his sacrifice.
I chose reds and greens to represent the blood and everlasting life. The cross is based on Celtic knot work and reminds me of St. Patrick who preserved the faith! The cross and the holly are detachable and can be used as a paper ornament. The inner message reflects the meaning of Christmas.
All my paperthreads files are on sale thru the end of the month - 50% OFF!
For me that always starts with "The Reason for the Season" and that is Christ, his birth and his sacrifice.
I chose reds and greens to represent the blood and everlasting life. The cross is based on Celtic knot work and reminds me of St. Patrick who preserved the faith! The cross and the holly are detachable and can be used as a paper ornament. The inner message reflects the meaning of Christmas.
All my paperthreads files are on sale thru the end of the month - 50% OFF!
I recently signed up to be part of the Card A Day Blog! I am such a nervous Nelly. I have agonized over what I would do first. So much so that I created not 1 card but 6.... But an interesting technique came out of it all which I will try to explain later.
I lined up the cards for my darling daughter Lily who had just opened her new Skyrim video game. She took a quick look and voted for the first two below as her favorites! It turns out her favorites were mine as well so all is well. She may emerge from her game long enough to eat tonight, maybe..
Of interest here is the stamped background. I also extended the embossing folder by tracing the next sized Nestie Circle from the stamp circle, and then cutting it by hand. All the edges where gently wiped with Inca Gold Gilders paste. The stamp was colored and airbrushed with Copic Markers. See below for colors.
This was Lily's favorite. My only issue with it was that it did not exactly fit the Theme of Christmas Around the World. The best I can do is say that most countries that I researched decorate and the Christmas Tree is used in many countries.
For this card I used one of my new Ornament Stencil designs. I used a pallet knife to spread Golden's Molding Paste in the stencil. This gave the ornament an embossed look which I really like. The back ground was created using a Martha Stewart Christmas Clear Stamp set. I used Gilder's paste to "gild" the ornament. Copic markers and liners were used to color the background greenery along with a white gel pen. The ornament hook was drawn with a gold gel pen.
The greenery on this card was created using the same supplies as above. The ornament is one of my designs. I used simple paper ribbon for the bow on the bottom and stapled the ornament ribbon to the card. The ornament is not glued down. I used a white gel pen to dot the black mat.
The greenery on the left used the same supplies. The die cuts are my designs. For this card I decided to try foiling. I wanted to see how well the die cuts would stand up to the foiling process. They did ok. The string above the ornament to the right was also foiled.
I always have scraps left over so I decided to see what I could do with them. Most of the scraps here were foiling experiments. The greenery was cut using one of Martha Stewart's punches. I used the stamp set to vein the leaves on the die cut. The stocking is a part of my vintage Christmas Digi Stamp Collection. I used Copic markers and foiling to decorate it. When I cut the background card base the pattern did not line up the way I wanted so I decided to angle the card front.
This was an early card. I used a stamp for the sentiment and a Cuttlebug Folder for the texture. The ornament is one of mine. This is my least favorite. The colors are not working well.
Here is a picture of the main ingredients of the cards with some small exceptions.
Creating Greenery
The greenery was created using two stamps from the Martha Stewart Collection, the long pine branch and the twin pine cones. The technique is to build up the image from back to front, from blurry to sharp and light to dark.
For the first card, I first misted yellowish paper with the Walnut Ink. For some of the cards I used the Faber Castell "lipstick" tube watercolors (Sorry, that is not the name..). I used two greens.
Once the paper was wet and gently colored, I blotted it to remove any water puddles. I then used Vintage Sage Distress Ink to stamp lots of pine boughs at different angles.
I then waited 10 minutes or so to allow the paper to dry some then stamped with the Crushed Olive Distress Ink using the pine bow. The resulting images were a little sharper and a little darker. The pinecones were stamped with Vintage Photo.
I let the paper dry and finished stamping with the Momento Tuxedo Black ink but only in a few places so as not to over power the image. The line work was done with a Copic 0.3 Liner.
The white highlights were done with a white gel pen. I finished off with a little airbrush work to darken the edges of the image. Some of the Copic deep colors will splatter little dots when airbrushing from the pointy end. I like these tiny dots.
The image edges were gently rubbed with Inca Gold Gilders Paste.
I hope you enjoyed my little collection I do apologize that the theme was VERY loosely followed.
Well that's all for now
Laury
I lined up the cards for my darling daughter Lily who had just opened her new Skyrim video game. She took a quick look and voted for the first two below as her favorites! It turns out her favorites were mine as well so all is well. She may emerge from her game long enough to eat tonight, maybe..
Of interest here is the stamped background. I also extended the embossing folder by tracing the next sized Nestie Circle from the stamp circle, and then cutting it by hand. All the edges where gently wiped with Inca Gold Gilders paste. The stamp was colored and airbrushed with Copic Markers. See below for colors.
This was Lily's favorite. My only issue with it was that it did not exactly fit the Theme of Christmas Around the World. The best I can do is say that most countries that I researched decorate and the Christmas Tree is used in many countries.
For this card I used one of my new Ornament Stencil designs. I used a pallet knife to spread Golden's Molding Paste in the stencil. This gave the ornament an embossed look which I really like. The back ground was created using a Martha Stewart Christmas Clear Stamp set. I used Gilder's paste to "gild" the ornament. Copic markers and liners were used to color the background greenery along with a white gel pen. The ornament hook was drawn with a gold gel pen.
The greenery on this card was created using the same supplies as above. The ornament is one of my designs. I used simple paper ribbon for the bow on the bottom and stapled the ornament ribbon to the card. The ornament is not glued down. I used a white gel pen to dot the black mat.
The greenery on the left used the same supplies. The die cuts are my designs. For this card I decided to try foiling. I wanted to see how well the die cuts would stand up to the foiling process. They did ok. The string above the ornament to the right was also foiled.
I always have scraps left over so I decided to see what I could do with them. Most of the scraps here were foiling experiments. The greenery was cut using one of Martha Stewart's punches. I used the stamp set to vein the leaves on the die cut. The stocking is a part of my vintage Christmas Digi Stamp Collection. I used Copic markers and foiling to decorate it. When I cut the background card base the pattern did not line up the way I wanted so I decided to angle the card front.
This was an early card. I used a stamp for the sentiment and a Cuttlebug Folder for the texture. The ornament is one of mine. This is my least favorite. The colors are not working well.
Here is a picture of the main ingredients of the cards with some small exceptions.
Creating Greenery
The greenery was created using two stamps from the Martha Stewart Collection, the long pine branch and the twin pine cones. The technique is to build up the image from back to front, from blurry to sharp and light to dark.
For the first card, I first misted yellowish paper with the Walnut Ink. For some of the cards I used the Faber Castell "lipstick" tube watercolors (Sorry, that is not the name..). I used two greens.
Once the paper was wet and gently colored, I blotted it to remove any water puddles. I then used Vintage Sage Distress Ink to stamp lots of pine boughs at different angles.
I then waited 10 minutes or so to allow the paper to dry some then stamped with the Crushed Olive Distress Ink using the pine bow. The resulting images were a little sharper and a little darker. The pinecones were stamped with Vintage Photo.
I let the paper dry and finished stamping with the Momento Tuxedo Black ink but only in a few places so as not to over power the image. The line work was done with a Copic 0.3 Liner.
The white highlights were done with a white gel pen. I finished off with a little airbrush work to darken the edges of the image. Some of the Copic deep colors will splatter little dots when airbrushing from the pointy end. I like these tiny dots.
The image edges were gently rubbed with Inca Gold Gilders Paste.
I hope you enjoyed my little collection I do apologize that the theme was VERY loosely followed.
Well that's all for now
Laury
So Excited! My little cottage is pictured on page 79 of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine! Now there are a total of 95 cottages pictured but hey mine made it into the magazine!
(Below is my picture not from the magazine)
This is the sister cottage to my Butterfly Fancy [LV00225] that I just put in the store over at www.paperthreads.com I spent probably much too much time on these little things but... It is on page 79!
More news
(Below is my picture not from the magazine)
This is the sister cottage to my Butterfly Fancy [LV00225] that I just put in the store over at www.paperthreads.com I spent probably much too much time on these little things but... It is on page 79!
More news
I finally finished the the little cottage sample! It just kept being put off! This afternoon I colored it and took pictures along the way to help with instructions. Tomorrow I will be converting, writing instructions and designing the preview!
I sure hope someone out there likes it! It has taken forever!!!!! But even if you don't like it I do so that is that.
Here are a few pictures of the finished piece. It is about 4.5" tall including the weather vane, 2" across the front, and 3.75" along the side! Think holiday colors and hang it as an ornament.
Look for it in the store soon and remember that it will be on sale for the first 24 hours!
A little history:
I sure hope someone out there likes it! It has taken forever!!!!! But even if you don't like it I do so that is that.
Here are a few pictures of the finished piece. It is about 4.5" tall including the weather vane, 2" across the front, and 3.75" along the side! Think holiday colors and hang it as an ornament.
Look for it in the store soon and remember that it will be on sale for the first 24 hours!
A little history:
For the holiday season, I am planning to place all my new files on sale for the first 24 hours they are in the store! On sale today only is my new file: Spiral Take Out Lantern
It's time for a little challenge and to hopefully learn something new
