PaperFections

Felt Stocking

Happy hump day! Is everyone ready for December? Our stockings are finally hung by the chimney with care and this one is filled with lots of goodies already! Isn't this Pink Ink Stamp Company Felt Stocking the sweetest?!! All of the fine details just amaze me and they really pop when gold heat embossed! (Click on any photo for a larger view. Bold products are linked below in the supply section). I stamped and gold heat embossed the stocking onto white pearl shimmering cardstock, then colored it with Copic markers R20-22-24, YG25-17, B21-23-24, E42-43, C0-1. Next, I hand trimmed the image. To create the background, I airbrushed Copic Y17 onto the center of an Inchie Arts 4-inch White Art Square. Then I gold heat embossed the adorable Heartfelt Holiday sentiment Time to get your sparkle on!! :) To finish this art piece, I adhered X-Press It's 6mm (1/4-inch) blue Glitter Deco Tape around the edges. I love all the pretty metallic sparkle this tape has, but yet it is thin (not bulky) and silky smooth . . . and the glitter doesn't rub or flake off! It is also repositionable, so if you make a mistake applying it, just lift... Read more →

Peace-Love-Joy and Black Friday Deals!

Please join me today over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom for a little Black Friday inspiration art, then hit Ellen's store to take advantage of these fabulous deals! EARLY BIRD SAVINGS: Shop early for best selection - the early bird does get the worm! For nine (9) hours beginning at 12:00am Friday, November 25th Pacific Standard Time, running through 9:00am PST, save 20% on every item currently in stock! At checkout please enter the following one time use coupon code to redeem your discount: early2016 ANNIVERSARY SAVINGS: If you are not an early bird, you can enjoy savings of 15% on all in stock items any time over the weekend - Friday, November 25th through Monday November 28th at midnight PST. You can use this code as many times as you like but we will not be able to combine orders. At checkout please enter the following coupon code to redeem your discount: anniv2016 CYBER MONDAY SAVINGS: Didn't finish your shopping? You have one more chance to get great deals on remaining inventory while shopping in your pj's. Enjoy savings of 20% on any remaining in stock items on Monday, November 28th beginning at 12:00am running through 11:59pm PST. At... Read more →

Inchie Arts Little Village Kits

Hello, Friends ... Today I'm joining up with Inchie Arts and Ellen Hutson for a fun week-long product feature! Inchie Arts has developed some new kits for making city and neighborhood scenes called Little Villages (so far, there are two kits!). The kits were designed for unlimited scenic possibilities! Here, I've created a snowy night-time Christmas village scene: (Click on any photo for a larger view. Bold products are linked below in the supply section). The kits are die cut matboard pieces made out of the same sturdy archival white matboard used for Inchie Arts' signature Art Squares. Today I used the Little Village 2 kit (there is also a Little Village 1 kit). Below are all of the Little Village 2 pieces punched out of the 3-1/2" x 5" matboard piece from which they are die cut (the pieces come still attached in the matboard rectangle, but punch out cleanly and easily): Both kits come with an ATC (2.5"x 3.5") Art Square base, but I decided to use a little larger white 4" Art Square to create this holiday home decor piece. Since this is a holiday piece, I wanted a lot of shimmer, so I dug out some... Read more →

Framed Ice Skates

Hello, Friends! Today I have a wintery framed Christmas art piece to share with you, using Pink Ink Stamp Company's beautiful Pair of Ice Skates image: (Click on any photo for a larger view. Bold products are linked below in the supply section). I started by stamping the image onto a white Inchie Arts 4-inch Art Square with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Next, I colored the foliage with Copic YG61 and YG63. I used Copic’s NEW! Lavender Multiliners to color in the berries of the foliage. I like the fine point for coloring small spaces, and this Lavender color does not match any of Copic's blue-violet or violet marker colors, so the Multiliner gives you another color option in your BV and V color range! This new Lavender Multiliner is available in five different sizes: 0.03, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5. Here, I used 0.3 (fine) and 0.5 (bold): I like having an assortment of Multiliners on hand to add pattern, doodles or to fill in lines of a stamped image that may not have stamped 100%. I also used a Sepia Multiliner to color the branches of the foliage (shown below), as well as the soles of the ice skates.... Read more →

Shadows & Shading

Hello Friends! Today I wanted to share a wonderful resource that often helps me with my colored image shading and contrast: Marianne Walker's Shadows and Shading book is great for beginners -- either papercrafters or general artists -- everyone who colors can learn something from it. This reference book helps you add shadows to give your images more dimension. The book does not teach you to draw, rather it helps you add shadows and shading to your artwork, for a more realistic look. It will help you understand different kinds of light sources and the difference between shading and cast shadows. The book teaches you how to properly color a variety of objects, from simple to complex, plus shadow color theory! It is not Copic-specific; rather, it is filled with principles that can be used by people who love Copic markers, or people who can't imagine coloring with anything other than their colored pencils, or people who wouldn't dream of using a medium other than watercolors. Seriously, it's good stuff for everyone! This wire-bound book comes with 4 guides printed on clear acetate to help you add shadows and shading properly on your own work. Simply place the overlay(s) on... Read more →

March New Beginnings & Copic Opaque White 4 Ways!

Happy March, everyone! Today I am sharing a Spring home decor project with you, using some of Pink Ink Stamp Company's latest stamp release! This photo holder/stand was a gift from a dear friend nine years ago, shortly after we moved into our last house. I thought it was only fitting to spruce it up a bit, since we will be moving into a new home in one short month ... thus, the great "New Beginnings" sentiment! So I made a watercolor background on a 4" x 6" piece of watercolor paper using Tumbled Glass Distress Reinker: Once the background was dry, Copic Opaque White was used to paint the clouds -- I thinned it with a bit of water and painted it on the watercolored background with a brush: Next, I stamped Pink Ink's Row of Bulbs and New Beginnings sentiment with Versamark Ink onto an Inchie Arts 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" ATC Art Board and gold heat embossed it. I always love how nice and crisp Pink Ink's red rubber stamp images stamp and emboss -- such pretty fine details! And the Art Board stands up to the heat embossing, Copic coloring AND the Opaque White being heavily painted... Read more →

Inchie Arts-Stencil Girl Blog Hop!

Hello everyone and welcome to the StencilGirl and Inchie Arts blog hop! I'm excited to be joining my fellow Inchie Arts design team in a hop with the StencilGirl crew! What a fun combination of products in the hands of amazing artists ... It's like the two products were meant for each other! There are SO MANY ways to use StencilGirl stencils: with paints, sprays, textured mediums, markers, tracing, pastels, inks, Gelli Plate, etc. And because Art Squares are made from a museum quality, 4 ply, archival, acid/lignin free, absorbent, matte board material, they can stand up to all kinds of layers of StencilGirl color and texture! I put together this 9x12 mixed media canvas (all bold products are linked below in the supply section): I used these awesome StencilGirl stencils: Tropical Floral, Starfish, Seashells, and Seahorses. They really called my name, since I have an affinity for anything tropical or associated with the sea, and StencilGirl has a wonderful variety of stencils! I also used three different shapes and sizes of Inchie Arts Art Squares: Swatch (2" x 4"), Twinchie (2"), and 3". Here's how it came together: I airbrushed the background of my canvas with these Copic markers:... Read more →

Curlicue Heart Art Square

With the holidays almost over and Valentine’s Day / Spring weddings on the horizon, it’s time to start thinking ahead! So today I have a sweet love-themed card to share with you. This is Pink Ink’s generously-sized beautiful Curlicue Heart stamp. It measures approximately 2.75” wide x 2.50” tall. I gold heat embossed it onto a white Inchie Arts 3-inch Art Square and watercolored the image with Peerless Watercolors. This sweet detailed image was so much fun to color! To give the image a homespun quilted look, I used Taylored Expressions Stitched Square die to emboss stitch lines into the Art Square, then layered it onto a pinked-edge square dark pink die cut. I love that the Art Square stands up to heat embossing, watercolor, AND dry embossing, all on one project! The image was then layered onto a white card base embossed with Taylored Expressions Swiss Hearts embossing folder. Gold thread was wrapped up and placed behind the image, to resemble a bird’s nest. :) Wishing you all much love in 2016! Pink Ink Wood Mount Stamp, Curlicue Heart Taylored Expressions Dies, Stitched Square Stacklets Taylored Expressions Embossing Folders, Swiss Hearts Inchie Arts Art Squares, 3" White VersaMark Ink... Read more →

Things We Love 2015 plus DISCOUNT code and GIVEAWAY!

Hello and welcome to a new feature this year ... “Things we LOVE 2015” with Ellen Hutson LLC! I am so happy to be here sharing some of my favorite papercrafting supplies! Over the next few weeks the Ellen Hutson CLASSroom designers are all sharing the things we love most and just for my readers, I have compiled a list of loves AND I have a special discount code to Ellen Hutson LLC for you to use! DISCOUNT CODE: I am thrilled to share my exclusive discount code for you to enter in the coupon code area of your shopping cart at check-out: “thinkgswelovesharon” will save you 10% on EVERY in-stock product through December 14 over at Ellen Hutson LLC! The discount is NOT limited to just the things I love, but ANYTHING you love, too, as long as it is in stock! (So shop early for the best selection)! HEADS UP: If you have any of the Essentials by Ellen stamps and dies on your wish list, they are currently on SALE, so apply my additional 10% discount code on top of the sale price, for an even bigger savings . . . Happy Holidays to YOU!! :) I... Read more →

Must be Santa!

Whether we are ready for it or not, Christmas is just around the corner! And with the stores already decked out in holiday cheer, I can't help but get in the Christmas spirit when I see all the pretty decorations! And now you will probably be humming this song, just like I was when creating this card! (All bold products are linked below in the supply section): Isn't this Pink Ink Must Be Santa image the sweetest?!! And with my rekindled love of watercolor, I couldn't wait to stamp it onto and an Inchie Arts 3-inch white Art Square and color it up! I black heat embossed the image and then used Peerless watercolors to color it. This was my first real use (other than testing) the Peerless and I LOVED them!! I used the the smallest Complete Edition set of 15 and it has a really good selection of colors for a beginner to try out -- just to see if you like them and/or they would make a great gift since there is a nice range of colors and at a good price point! The matboard Art Square holds up very nicely to watercolor -- no warping and... Read more →

Welcome Fall

Happy Fall, all! Today I'm helping to ring in October and what is supposed to be Fall for most of the country ... but it's still just a tad bit warm down south where I live! Maybe this fun card will help spread a little cooler weather cheer! (All bold products are linked below in the supply section) I used Pink Ink's beautiful new Picket Fence Pumpkins for this breezy scene and stamped it onto an Inchie Arts NEW 2" x 4" matboard rectangle art square (called Swatches -- the come in either white or black) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. This is a brand new size of matboard from Inchie Arts ... I think it will be a great size addition to their current line -- don't you?!! Next, I watercolored the image with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers I recently picked up from my friends at Scrap-Mart when they were in town for a papercrafting convention. This was my first time using the markers, so I had a little bit of a learning curve, but love the finished look of them! And the matboard swatch really held up well to the watercoloring! See the nice dimension the... Read more →

Colorful Copic & Art Squares Blog Hop

Welcome to the Colorful Copic & Art Squares blog hop! You are in for a treat today, as Copic pairs up with the ever popular Art Squares by Inchie Arts. There are so many things to love about this pairing! Did you know: Art Squares are the perfect canvas for creating small-format art! They come in 6 sizes (1 inch, 1.5 inch, 2 inch, 3 inch, 4 inch, and ATC). Art Squares come in 7 colors (black, dark gray, light gray, kraft, dark cream, light cream and white). They are perfect for wet or dry mediums. Copic markers and inks look amazingly vibrant and deliciously rich on Art Squares! Copic multiliners glide smoothly across the surface. Work on the “top” or toothy side for the best results. You can mix and match your mediums! No warping, bending or curling. You can find more information about both Copic products and Inchie Art Squares at the links below: Copic Website All In An Inch - Inchie Arts Blog Our teaching and design teams have been challenged to put marker (or ink) to these precision-cut matboard surfaces and see what happens! (All bold products are linked below in the supply section). I used... Read more →

CardMaker & Inchie Arts Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Welcome to a Fall seasonal salute to Art Squares that will take you to 11 different creative blogs, beginning with the CardMaker blog and ending at the All In An Inch blog. Are you familiar with Inchie Arts' larger Art Square sizes? As designers and papercrafters have discovered, Art Squares can be used with layers of mixed media (without deterioration!) and they asked that larger sizes be created. In response to their requests there are now 3" squares and ATC size (2.5" x 3.5") available in all 7 colors, and now a 4" square available in white that is exceptional for use with bold bright colors. These larger sizes open up a Pandora's box of creative opportunity, including using larger stamped images and new mediums such as acrylic paints and mixed media, watercolor, Pan Pastels, inks, sprays, color sticks and encaustic. The new larger sizes also give papercrafters the opportunity to explore using them with all kinds of new techniques! And...we now call them Art Squares! As the new larger sizes were introduced, it was increasingly confusing that all of them were being referred to as "inchies". To simplify things, all of the precision cut matboard sizes are now called... Read more →

Desktop Large Photo Memory Cube & Giveaway Winner

Hello -- With school starting back today, it seems like the first of the year again, doesn't it?! It was also back to work for me, so I apologize for the delay in announcing the winner of my Season's Givings giveaway ... more on that below. First, I wanted to let you know I've done a little updating to my blog this year and added icons of all the social networks you can easily follow me/my blog on, if you wish. They are the little blue buttons located in my right sidebar under my photo, over there ==>. Just click on one of them to find/follow me there! I also wanted to let you know that I updated one of my studio photos in the Copic in the Craftroom / My Studio Tour post directly below this post. I had forgotten to take a photo of one wall/area of my studio before the blog post went live and then was out of town. So the last photo is now an updated one (as of this morning)! It sure was nice to come home back home this weekend to a tidy desk and studio ... now if I can just keep... Read more →

Photo Memory Cube

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday! Today over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom, I show you how to turn your favorite holiday photos into a memory cube ornament . . . I hope you'll join me there for all the instructions! Read more →