Showing posts with label Free As a Bird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Free As a Bird. Show all posts

Monday, May 18, 2020

Free As A Bird Card using Watercolor Pencils

Hello and welcome to my blog; today I am going to share with you a fun card using the Free as A Bird Stamp Set, and some tips & tricks on using Stampin’ Up!’s Watercolor Pencils.  I have been playing with watercolor pencils for a long time and had a love hate relationship with them until Stampin’ Up! ®™ came out with their own a couple years ago.  Now I am in hog heaven using them.  Here is a look at the card I made today.  

Free As A Bird Stamp Set, Watercolor Pencils, Tasteful Texture 3d embossing Folder, Rick Adkins, Stampin' Up!

The Birds in the Free as A Bird Stamp Set are so cute and are just begging to be colored with your watercolor pencils.  Do not be afraid just go for it.  Once you follow a few simple tips & tricks I have for you today you will be able to send these cute little birds to all your friends because they deserve it.  
Our Watercolor Pencils now come in two sets, of high-quality, smooth color pencils; that are perfect for watercoloring any stamped image.   One thing that will help you to achieve a great look with your pencils is the type of paper you use.  You can use Whisper White cardstock just like I did today, but you must treat it very nicely.  Meaning you cannot use an aqua painter on plain cardstock.  You can however use a Blender Pen for best results.  This is my preferred method for moistening the pigment and moving it around to fill in my line art image.  Aqua Painters or any other type of water brush holds and release way too much water for the smooth Whisper White cardstock surface.  

s A Bird Stamp Set, Watercolor Pencils, Tasteful Texture 3d embossing Folder, Rick Adkins, Stampin' Up!

Now if I do use a aqua painter or want to use more water to more the pigment around for a nice wash type background I pull out my shimmery white cardstock or watercolor paper for this.  But I did not need that today, so I just stuck with the blender pen and the plain whisper white cardstock.  
Another thing you need to consider is the type of ink you are using.  If you are using a die-based ink like I did today you must sit the cardstock aside for awhile to completely dry or heat set with a heat tool.  I choice to just sit it aside and let the ink dry and soak into the cardstock.  Stazon which is the preferred ink for watercoloring is not one of my favorite inks, so I am fine with letting the other sit and dry the card my take a little longer, but I am happy to wait.  

s A Bird Stamp Set, Watercolor Pencils, Tasteful Texture 3d embossing Folder, Rick Adkins, Stampin' Up!

My next tip and this one is the most important one is how and where you hold your pencil.  Yes, there are certain places to hold your watercolor pencil or any pencil in art to achieve the correct look.  Watercolor pencils are all about the amount of pigment you put down on the paper.  You may be wondering why I put this here.  Well it’s because the closer to the end of the pencil you are holding in your hand the more pigment you are putting down on the cardstock.  So, if you want a dark area of color come closer to the point of the pencil and color.  Which means the for lighter and mid-range color you need to come back further from the tip of the pencil.  A good rule of thumbs is to hold the watercolor pencil in the middle area of the pencil for a medium amount of pigment to be placed on the cardstock.  And for lighter areas you want to hold the pencil closest to the end of the pencil as you will see in the video.  

s A Bird Stamp Set, Watercolor Pencils, Tasteful Texture 3d embossing Folder, Rick Adkins, Stampin' Up!

Once I have the entire image colored, I will come back with my blender pen and wet the pigment and get it to move around the cardstock blending the darks mediums and lights together.  This is how I achieved the gradient look on my images today.  

Video Tutorial: 



I hope that you find these little tips and tricks helpful as you explore watercolor pencils and stamping.  If you need any of the supplies, you have seen today you can pick them up in my online store by clicking on the item in the shopping list below.  

Happy Stampin' 
Rick Adkins 


Use the Host Code on any order of $50 (before taxes & shipping) or more during the month and receive a gift from me in May as a Thank You. If your order is $150 or more, please do not use the host code.  You will forfeit your Stampin' Rewards if you do; and I want you to get those rewards.


If you place any size order with me during the month of May, you will receive the May Creative Stampers Tutorial Bundle from me as a little thank you.  This month's tutorial bundle features Birthday Bonanza Suite of Products from the January-June Mini Catalog.  The Creative Stampers Tutorial Bundle can either be earned for FREE with any size order or Can be purchased for $20 from me.

Stampin' Up! Shopping List: 


Saturday, March 28, 2020

Thanks for Being You - Free As A Bird - Stampin' Up! Simple Stamping Saturday

Hello and welcome to my blog; today I have another Simple Stamping Card for you.  Today's card is a simple one layer card.  I used the Free As A Bird Stamp Set from the 2019 Annual Catalog, along with some a little simple coloring.  Simple stamping is all about going back to the basics for people that may not have a lot of experience stamping or that are just learning.  Here's a look at today's Simple Stamping Card.


I started out by taking a 4 1/4 x 11 piece of Thick Whisper White Cardstock and stamping the image of the very cute little birds on the branch in Soft Suede Ink and colored them very loosely with a few stampin' blends.  I used the following colors (all the dark blends) no blending for some very simple coloring; Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, and Petal Pink.  I colored in the branch with the Soft Suede Dark Blend, and the leaves with Mossy Meadow.  The flowers were done with Calypso Coral. 


I then stamped the smaller branch from the set with Mossy Meadow Ink at the top along with the small bloom.  I added a few of the small flower image from the stamp set to fill in some areas and add a little extra color to the card with Calypso Coral Classic Ink.  I then added just a little more color to the leaves at the top with my Mossy Meadow blends.  Just roughly coloring them in and not adding a ton of color to not over saturate the cardstock.


To finish off my simple card I added the sentiment in Mossy Meadow above the branch with the birds perched on it on the left-hand side.  Simple stamping cards would be great to create a bunch right now during the Covid-19 pandemic to give to people that are out working.  They would be great to send to send to first responders, your mail person, people working at the grocery store or someone you may encounter or know that may need a little pick me up.
Happy Stampin' 
Rick Adkins 

If you live in the US.  I would love you to choose me as your demonstrator.  If you would like to purchase any of these products you can click on the Shop Now Button or by clicking on any of the images below.  Alternatively, you can also contact me by email to place your order.  Please be sure to use the monthly host code and I’ll send a little something out to you the following month to say Thank You!



Use the March Host Code on any order of $50 (before taxes & shipping) or more during the month and receive a gift from me in April as a Thank You.  If your order is $150 or more, please don't use the host code.  You will forfeit your Stampin' Rewards if you do; and I want you to get those rewards.

If you place any size order with me during the month of March, you will receive the March Creative Stampers Tutorial Bundle from me as a little thank you.  This month's tutorial bundle features fourteen floral themed tutorials.  The Creative Stampers Tutorial Bundle can either be earned for FREE with any size order or Can be purchased for $20 from me.

Stampin' Up! Shopping List: 


Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Bird Ballad Tri Fold Shutter Card (A Cat's Dream)

Hello and welcome to my blog; today I am going to share a super cute card with you today.  I created a tri fold shutter card for you today.  This card was inspired by my little Louie that loves to sit in a window and watch birds outside.  Of course you know that I could never catch him doing this yesterday when I wanted to take a picture for my post today.  Cats are very much their own little furry creature and have a mind of their own.  Here's a look at my card.

I know that the only reason he sits in the window looking at the birds outside is that he wants to just be friends with them.  Right? I am going to go with that thought anyway.  I used both the Free As a Bird Stamp Set (NEW) and the Nine Lives Stamp Set (Carry over item) from the Stampin' Up! 2019-2020 Annual Catalog on my card today.  I also used the matching Cat punch to punch my sweet little Louie out.  Louie is a solid black cat that Charles' Dad found two years ago and he came to live with us.  He was about six weeks old when he came to us, and had been dumped by a busy street.  Charles' Dad Tee found him and rescued this sweet love muffin.  Louie is the black cat in the box with his now sister Georgie-Ann (Georgie was also a rescue she was born around the same time under our pool house/garden shed and I worked for months to get her to come close and then into the house.)  Now she's in the house all the time.  They love each other.
Charles took that picture and sent it to me at work one day.  They got in my Amazon box that came in the day before.  Silly fur babies.  You have to love them, but let's get back to the card shall we.  

A tri fold shutter card looks way more complicated then it really is, I had made one in the past but forgot how to do it.  So I just YouTube it and found a ton of tutorials for it.  I used the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper for my card and trimmed it down to fit my card panels.  I matted each layer with some Daffodil Delight cardstock and my cardbase is in Soft Suede.  I pulled all the colors I used except the basic black from my designer series paper.  Basically a Tri Fold Shutter cards is 2 score lines all the way across the cardstock on the short side and two score lines that connect the cut lines.  
My base was cut at 10 1/2" x 5 1/2" and on the short side you make two cuts.  You line the cardstock up at 1 3/4 on the trimmer and line the cutting arm up at (the little ruler on the cutting arm) 1 3/4 and cut down to 8 3/4, flip it around to the other side and do the same thing.  Then you are going to score at 1 3/4 all the way down.  Move to 3 1/2 and connect the cut lines with a score.  Move to 7 and do the same thing.  Then move to 8 3/4 and create a score line all the way down.  It folds up like this in the end.  

My Designer Series paper and Cardstock Measurements: 

  • Cardbase:  5 1/2 x 10 1/2 
  • Designer Series Paper: (2) 1 3/4 x 5, (4) 3/4" x 1 1/2", (2) 3/4" x 3
  • Daffodil Delight Mat layers:  (2) 1 1/2 x 5 1/4" , (4) 1" x 1 3/4, (2) 1" x 3 1/4" & (1) 2 3/4 x 3 1/4
  • Whisper White:  2 5/8 x 3 1/8 and some scrap to stamp and punch out the cat

I colored my little Louie bug using Smoky Slate light and dark blends, and the basic black light blend for the darkest part.  I added a little of the dark petal pink blend to the inside of his ears and then punched it out.  The bird and branches were colored with Pool Party Light and dark and Old Olive light and dark blends  I used just a little of the light Soft Suede blend on the branch. No super fancy coloring just simple blends coloring for my card.  The sentiment I used came from the Nine Lives Stamp Set; I thought it was just to funny not to use on my card.  
Thanks for joining me today for another fun card featuring the products in the Bird Ballad suite.  I hope that you have enjoyed my little card.  If you need any of the supplies I used I would be happy to help you and be proud to be your demonstrator.  You will find all the links below in my shopping list.  Have a wonderful day and I will see you tomorrow for the One Stamp At a Time Blog Hop.  
Happy Stampin'
Rick Adkins 



Host Code and Free Gift:

June Host Code:  C7W2JPBM
1.       Spend any amount up to $50 (before taxes & shipping) and get the June Creative Stampers Tutorial Bundle Free
2.      Spend $50.00 (before taxes & shipping) in my Online Store using the current host code during June and get a card kit to make the all the projects for my June Monthly Card Class.  (kits will not ship out until the 20th of the month all qualifying orders past that will be put down for the July Monthly Card kit)
3.       Spend $150 or more (before taxes and shipping) and get both my June Monthly Card Class kit, and the June Creative Stampers Tutorial Bundle FREE as my gift to you. 



Stampin' Up! Shopping List
Cat Punch
[144666]
$18.00

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