Mouse Invasion!

Millie the mouse has invaded the craft room! There are mouse images everywhere. Here's how I took care of the first one:




The scallops are cut using a scallop blade in a rotary trimmer. This is the fastest and easiest way you'll ever find to put a border on paper. If better cuts in thicker paper don't appeal to you, this might be a good reason to upgrade to a rotary trimmer if you are still using a pull type blade.

I couldn't find any coordinating paper that matched the markers. I thought I had some but it didn't work for me after I finished the image. So what was I to do? Make my own of course using stamps. It didn't translate well to the smaller blog image but if you look at the larger image on the website (by clicking on the image) you can see I stamped an XO image with a bandaid type pattern in versamark on the paper. Versamark is very useful for doing this because its clear and the paper simply becomes a darker shade of itself once it dries.

Win a free greeting card!

Here's a quick and easy contest:

First visit my website sharedcards.com. Find your favorite card and then post a comment here about what you like. The comment must include the title of the card from the top of the web page. You have until Fri August 13 at 11:59pm EDT to comment.

Second, become a public follower of this blog. You must be a public follower so I have a reliable way of associating the name on your comment with an email address. Please make sure your comment and follower entry use the same name, even its a made up name, otherwise anyone can claim to be the winner. Followers are listed on the right hand side if you scroll down to the bottom.

On the 15th, I will use random.org to pick two or more numbers. The numbers will be the comments that win.

If your comment gets picked and you are a follower, you win the chance to win the card you commented on, if I have more of it. If not, we'll work out a second choice. If you get picked but aren't a follower, I will go to the next number from random.org until I find a winner.

The winners will be announced on the blog before the end of the month. It might be announced as part of another post, so actually follow along.

Once announced, you will have 5 days to comment on the post. You don't actually win the card until you comment on the post that announces you as a winner.

Not all of the cards I have made will mail well without additional postage and packaging, especially if you want a usable envelope with the card. In order to maximize the number of people I can pick this time, you must have a USPS Domestic address to participate, or be willing to make up the postage difference for that card.

Finally, if you share this contest with others on your blog or Facebook page, send me an email at the address on the bottom of any of the http://www.sharedcards.com/ website pages with Contest Linky in the subject and the url of the page and I'll give you 5 extra entries in the contest if I can verify your link.

Who wants to win stuff? Become a fan or follower now for extra chances!

It looks like contests are going to be shaping up for later in August. I've got a few prizes I purchased, some cards ready and should have a $50 gift certificate to give away to a large online shopping site that wants to sponsor a contest soon.

The first giveaway is going to be for a membership drive. Everyone who is already a fan or follower at the time I formally announce it will get bonus entries, possibly one bonus for being a fan and one for being a a follower.

So NOW is the time to click on the follow button on the right and become a follower and to click on the Facebook button on the bottom and become a fan.

If you are reading this from a feed, you will need to actually visit the blog to do this.

Duct Tape - Even Useful for Cardmaking

I ran out of plastic store brought metallic looking squares while make the last few copies of this card I previously posted. The craft store that sells them is 20 miles away and they aren't open late at night when I usually make stuff, so I made my own from foil duct tape. Here's the duct tape version.



I stuck the duct tape onto a thin sheet of paper to stabilize it first. It is too flexible and gets wrinkles in it too easily otherwise. Then I punched the remaining squares I needed with a 1/4 inch square punch and put some dimensional foam on the back. They don't have the domed look of the plastic but they get the job done.

Can colored pencils really look this good?

After having done all three coloring techniques I went back and revisted the color pencil and Gamsol technique to see if I could get something closer to the Copic image that had color everywhere instead just a fade to white coloring pattern. I had high hopes for it as cheap way to nicely color stuff for some other ideas I want to explore later.

I changed two things though this time. First, I used different colored pencils. I used Crayola Twistables I brought as a travel pencils a long time ago. These are basically durable plastic mechanical colored pencils for kids don't need a sharpener. The lead in them is softer or different somehow from the other ones I used because I get less pencil marks when coloring with them. The second thing I did was I remembered seeing something on the web in an art homework assignment that students where supposed to do blending without mineral spirits. So, armed with those thoughts, this was my attempt at getting a full color pencil/Gamsol image:




I used the 2 browns, red and a gray out of the Crayola set. There are only 24 colors so picking colors was easy. In order to get different shades of the same color, I put different amounts of pencil down. I only used the dark brown near the edges. I used a dry blending stump to blend and remove the pencil lines as much as possible. Dry blending alone will not get the look you see. Once I was done dry blending, I went back with a little bit of Gamsol on the blending stump and dissolved the dark brown line into the light brown, finished off the removal any more stubborn pencil lines and picked up a little bit of red from the tongue to use on the cat as pink.

I will say, like I said before, blending it takes a bit of work and finger pressure and learning so the technique may not be for everyone. The best way to explain this is I could sit there and color 30 images with Copic markers and not feel anything. This technique requires you to apply at least light pressure on the stump so I wouldn't do a lot of them at once.

I think the end result was worth it though.