colored pencil

August 2018 My Monthly Hero Blog Hop+Giveaway!

August 6, 2018

Good morning! Today is the monthly Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Blog Hop celebrating the fabulous new My Monthly Hero kit! You should have arrived from Clare’s blog and your next stop is Ilina’s blog. This month’s kit is coffee themed, with some fabulous coffee images and coordinating dies, as well as a fantastic fancy die that I used in this post. So many fun images, accessories, and that fabulous fancy die… here’s the breakdown of the items included in the kit:

6″x8″stamp set
3.5″x4.5″ window fancy die
11 coordinating frame cuts
Crystal Clear Lacquer Pen
White Puff Embossing Powder
2 8.5″x5.5″ sheets of coffee and tea hand dyed decorative paper

There are so many amazing coffee themed images included in this kit, and it’s a bargain at $34.99 (valued at over $70!). These kits frequently sell out, so it’s always a good idea to subscribe if you want to ensure that you’ll get your hands on one! The kit & add-ons go live in the Hero Arts store on Monday August 6th at 1pm eastern/10am pacific. The main kit is available for a limited time only – once it’s gone, it’s gone. Kits begin shipping from Hero Arts on Friday, August 10th.

For my project today, I wanted to invoke those lovely chalkboards that you see so frequently in cafes and coffee shops. I love creating chalkboard cards with my colored pencils and black card stock, so I thought I’d recreate that feel with my stamps, some white ink, and a white colored pencil. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the tall, footed coffee cup and some whipped cream from the main kit onto some black cardstock using Unicorn White pigment ink, as well as a few images from the new add-on stamp set Tea Time. I die cut all of the images using the coordinating dies.

I arranged my cluster of coffee shop goodies on my card front in approximately the spots that they would be on the final card, then began work on my custom sentiment. I love accenting certain words in sentiments with die cut letters, so I trimmed off the “coffee” of the “You’re the cream in my coffee” sentiment included in the main kit, then die cut the letters from white card stock. I stamped the partial sentiment in white pigment ink. I then used my gridded mat to arrange my die cut letters in a nice straight line, used washi tape to pick them up and add adhesive to the back, then adhered them to my card front.

I adhered my coffee die cuts using foam tape, then used my T-square to create a white frame around the edge of my card panel. Looks just like a sandwich board that you’d see outside a coffee shop, right? Love this technique!

Now for some fun giveaway information! Hero Arts is giving away an August My Monthly Hero kit (and if you purchase a kit and then win, they will reimburse you!). All you have to do to enter is comment on the blog hop posts. The more comments you leave, the more chances to you have to win! Here’s the full lineup in case you get lost:

The Hero Arts Blog
Amy Kolling
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Emily Midgett<— you are here
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jennifer McGuire
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Julee Tilman
Kelly Latevola
Laurie Willison
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Michelle Short
Nichol Spohr
Wanda Guess
Yana Smakula

Waffle Flower Color Back to Basics Blog Hop!

August 5, 2018

Good morning! Today, I am honored to be a part of Waffle Flower’s New Release Blog Hop! You should have arrived from the utterly amazing Debby Hughes’s blog, and your next stop is the fabulous Yana Smakula’s blog. Nina’s new release is SO creative and clever, not to mention useful. Here are a few words from Nina with more details about the fabulous new products released today:

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced artist, you will find Waffle Flower’s newest release a great investment for yourself.

This is a back to basics release focuses on the function of stamps and dies. Our goal is to help beginners gaining confidence over a coloring medium and to help experienced colorers warming up and learning more about their media.

Color Swatches (stamp, die, combo) is a great all-around swatching set while Color Wheels (stamp, die, combo) helps you create the most accurate color-mixing references with the supplies you have on hand. The 2”x3” Swatch Stamp Set is adapted from Color Swatches stamp set for quick-n-easy applications and storage. Swatch Tag Die contains a standard ATC size tag (2-1/2” x 3-1/2”) with piercing details and hole re-enforcers. Also in this release is a 5”x7” stamp set called Adventures to let you practice landscape painting techniques right away and the Lacy Flower XL Die to add a soft, feminine touch to any project.

A professionally printed guide will be included in the Color Swatches Combo. All combos come in our Cloud Storage Pockets.

Please check out our videos with detailed instructions here: https://waffleflower.com/pages/color

One of my favorite things about this release is how versatile these products are and the huge amount of applications that can be made with the different combos. The video shows both Copics and watercolor applications, but I chose to work with my pencils. I love using my pencils on colored card stock, and I thought what better way to show the versatility of these products than to create a little swatch book for colored pencils on colored card stock?

I began by cutting the Swatch Tag Die several times from plain black card stock, then stamped the coordinating Swatch Tag Stamp Set using white pigment ink, with plenty to spare for future combinations.

I used a scrap piece of black card stock to create some color combinations of Polychromos Pencils that I knew I would want to use for my project. Once I had found combinations that I wanted to keep for current and future use, I colored them on my swatches, making sure to note at the bottom the numbers of the colors on the pencils so that I could easily grab the colors if I was in a rush to get some coloring done. I put all of the swatches on a ring for a super easy reference for the future. I love that you can use these products for basically ANY medium, and the dies make it so that you can create them on any type of paper or color of card stock that you wish!

For my project, I wanted to use the pencil combinations to create a pretty floral project using the new Bouquet Builders 2 from the previous release. I started by stamping 2 of the magnolias on black card stock using white pigment ink, and another on a piece of scrap card stock to be die cut, then using my Polychromos pencils to color the images in using the no-line coloring technique.

After I had finished coloring the flowers, I die cut the peachy pink magnolia and trimmed off the stem. I popped the die cut up with foam tape, then turned to the sentiment. I heat embossed the greeting from Bouquet Builders onto some strips of black card stock, then popped those up using foam tape as well.

After I had adhered all of the pieces, I added some jewels from Pretty Pink Posh to add some sparkle.

Now, for some fun giveaway information!

To celebrate the blog hop, Waffle Flower is giving away $25 gift certificates to THREE lucky winners. You can leave comment on my blog and along the hop by 11:59pm ET on 8/12/18 for your chances to win. Winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the posts on this blog hop and will be announced on the Waffle Flower blog on 8/15/2018.

To celebrate the new release, all orders placed by 11:59pm ET on 8/15/18 will receive an Adhesive Eraser from our friends at Xyron! No code required; Limited 1 per customer; While Supplies last.

I also have a giveaway for my personal blog today. I’m giving away a brand new Bouquet Builder stamp set from Waffleflower! To enter the giveaway, do two things: 1) be a blog follower (via email or wordpress follower) and 2) please leave a comment on this post letting me know how you would use some of these fabulous products to help your coloring. The giveaway will close on Sunday, August 12. International entries are welcome, but the winner will have to pay the additional shipping charge. 🙂

Here’s the full hop lineup if you got lost:

Emily Midgett<— you are here

Thank you so much for dropping by! I can’t wait to see everybody’s take on these fantastic new products!

Wplus9 Guest Post Sneak Peek!

July 31, 2018

I am so. freaking. excited to say that I was a guest on the Wplus9 blog again yesterday! I even have a video on their YouTube channel showing an easy way to add pencil details to simple Copic coloring. (Seriously, someone pinch me.) I would really love and appreciate it if you stopped by to take a peek! The photo above is a little sneak peek just to pique your interest. 😉

I’ll be back tomorrow with more Honey Bee Stamps Bee Bold Release sneak peeks and inspiration! Have a marvelous day!

Give Me All the Peonies

July 28, 2018

Good morning! Happy Saturday! Things have been a little quiet on the blog over the last week… I’ve been prepping for a few upcoming events, and I am not allowed to share them…. yet. 😉 Stay tuned tomorrow for new, beautiful products being peeked from Honey Bee Stamps! For today’s project, I thought I’d share some no-line pencil coloring using my favorite stamp set from Hero Arts’s Spring catalog release: Peonies. I haven’t had time to make my Man Card Monday this month, so Girl Card Saturday is my solution. 🙂

I started by stamping the main peony image on some colored pencil paper using Inkon3’s Fadeout Ink. I then stamped some leaves and a bud without masking…. one of the fun things about using such pale ink for no-line coloring is making easy bouquets with no masking required, because the ink lines are covered up with the coloring! Score. But…. that’s about the quickest part of this card haha. No-line colored pencil work is very time consuming. Time consuming, yes, but in my opinion, the results are definitely worth it.

I then used my Polychromos pencils to color the image. I wanted a deep, saturated fuchsia peony with jade green leaves… I wish I could remember which colors I used! Next time I will write them down haha. After I’d finished coloring the image, I black heat embossed the sentiment from the Peonies stamp set. I used my T-square to create a frame around the edge of the card front, then used my black fine tipped pen to add some random dots.

The final step was to add some Ombre Purple Sequins on the card front to add some sparkle.

Well that’s all for me today! I hope you are having a fabulous weekend. Be sure to check back tomorrow for some Honey Bee release fun! Thanks for visiting!

Altenew July 2018 Stamp & Die Release+ GIVEAWAY!

July 19, 2018

Good morning! Today, I am lucky enough to be hopping along for the July 2018 Altenew Stamp and Die release! You should have arrived here from Kymona Tracey‘s blog and your next stop is Kristina Pokazanieva‘s blog. Altenew has created a beautiful release this month, with new flowers, new sentiments, and some absolutely gorgeous new dies. I’ve created 5 projects (one of which has a video!), so I hope you’ll get comfy and check them out! (And when you make it all the way to the end, there is giveaway information that you won’t want to miss!)

For my first project, I used Altenew’s new Beautiful Heart stamp set to do some no-line watercoloring with my Daniel Smith paints. I created a video of my process, which you can watch above or see in HD here. I used Ink On 3 Fadeout Ink to stamp the flower and foliage onto some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper, then used my Daniel Smith paints to do several layers of watercolor.

After I had finished watercoloring, I die cut the images with the coordinating dies, then created a subtle, textured background using the Layered Plaid cover plate die cut from white card stock and layered on a white card base. I added a white die cut “hello” using the new Simply Hello die. I popped all of the die cuts up using some foam adhesive. Simple, pretty, and pops of color=eye catching card, I think!

For my second project, I wanted to do some bright, cheerful colors. I follow several different cake artists on Instagram, because wedding cakes particularly are super inspiring to my creativity, and one of the themes I have seen frequently is black and white stripes with massively bright colored flowers. I just needed to recreate one of these cakes in card form using the new Ethereal Beauty set.

I used bright pinks, yellows, and greens to stamp the new Ethereal Beauty stamp set, combined them with the new Simply Hello die, and added some striped black and white patterned paper. I layered the die cuts on some vellum to help soften the starkness of the black and white stripes. Bright and cheerful ftw!

For my next project, I wanted to go way outside of my color comfort zone… I am not much for neon, but for some reason, this new Leaf Frame Cover Plate die was just begging to be given a tropical treatment with my Distress Oxide inks.

I started by inking up an A2 panel of white card stock using Distress Oxide ink in Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral, and Spiced Marmalade. I also blended the edges of another white panel using Twisted Citron, then die cut it with the new Leaf Frame Cover Plate die. I heat embossed the greeting from the new Kind Words set onto the ombre panel using white embossing powder, then popped up the leaf die cut using foam adhesive. The final step was to add some pretty jewels to add a touch of sparkle.

For my next project, I used the new Life is Awesome stamp set to create this beautifully dripping floral arrangement. I have always envisioned myself living in a house that had wisteria vines dripping down the side of the house and a beautiful garden with a path winding through it…. but then I remember that I have the blackest of black thumbs and the closest I will ever get to having a garden is a stamped one. So, here’s my stamped version of an English garden.

I stamped the florals from Life is Awesome in various shades of cool pinks, purples, and blues on the top half of my A2 card base. (I’ll list the individual ink groups below.) After finishing my stamping, I blended Midnight Violet (my absolute favorite purple ink) at the bottom of the card base, keeping the color concentrated towards the bottom and fading as it went towards the florals. I die cut the new Simply Thank You from white card stock three times, then adhered them all together and added it to my card base. Some Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen and Crystal Glaze for the die cut and some jewels added a bit of sparkle.

If you’ve made it this far, I applaud you! Last card, I promise. 🙂

For my final card, I wanted to create an almost tapestry effect using the new Needlework Motif stamp set. I absolutely love using my Polychromos pencils on dark card stock, and I thought this technique was perfect for this stamp set.

I started by heat embossing a custom background from Needlework Motif usng gold embossing powder, then used a variety of jewel toned Polychromos pencils to create an almost tapestry effect on my card front. I love the impact that just those pops of color can add to a card front… Plus, it was fun to do something in a dark and saturated color scheme to my previous bright white projects! To finish it off, I heat embossed a greeting from the Needlwork Motif stamp set on a thin strip of black card stock, then popped it up with some foam adhesive.

Well done! You made it to the end. 😉

Now, for some giveaway information:

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog by Thursday, July 26th for a chance to win. 6 winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 7/29/2018.

Altenew has also generously donated a $30 gift certificate to my blog readers! Simply leave a comment on this blog post telling me 1) If you’re an old friend or a new subscriber (either by email or wordpress follower…. I will check!!) and 2) which of the new products is your favorite!!

Altenew Scrapbook Blog