Category Archives: Colored Pencils

Heaven & Nature Sing/Christmas Card Series 2017

Hello! Welcome to the 2nd installment in my 2017 Christmas card series!  Lately, I can’t help but create two cards–same layout–with different mediums.  I love my colored pencils, but I’ve been neglecting my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.  I decided to use both of them.

For my first card, I found a piece of beautiful cranberry red cardstock.  I only had one piece in my stash, so it must have come in a paper sampler.  I cut it up into four, 5 1/2 by 4 1/4 pieces.  I heat embossed my images with some Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold embossing powder.  I used the same powder for the sentiment.  I could have stamped the sentiment when I was stamping the images, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the sentiment at that time.

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I could have called it done at this point–the detailed images looked so elegant with this embossing powder, but, of course, I had to color it in.  I love the look of Prismacolor pencils on dark cardstocks.  I used a heavy hand when coloring with the pencils.  Super easy coloring–no shading.  I then used a frame die to cut out a frame on this panel.

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I used a faux stitched frame die from MFT, and to give it some dimension, I layered four frames under it.  I used Ranger’s Multi Medium Matte glue to adhere them all together.

I kept the thin frame that was left over after I cut out the faux stitched frame.  VersaMark pens are a lot of fun to use to emboss little dots or even write your own sentiment and then pour embossing powder over it.  I used it on this small frame and poured on more antique gold embossing powder.  If you don’t have the pen, you can use your VersaMark ink pad and press that onto your paper.

My last step for this first card was to adhere the three parts of this card panel onto a card base, and for this I used 110 pound Neenah Solar White cardstock.

My second card was much simpler.  I stamped my images onto a piece of Canson XL Watercolor paper with VersaFine Onyx black ink.  When I color with my Zig markers, I prefer to use this paper.  The color moves and blends on this paper very  nicely.

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My coloring was a little more detailed; I used two markers for each element of the card.  For instance, on the holly leaves I used a dark green down the center and a lighter green around the edges.  This helped to make the leaves look curled in in the middles.

After I finished coloring in the images, I went around them with a pale green Zig and then pulled out the color and softened the edges with my water brush.  This helped make the images pop a little more.

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I cut this panel down to 5 1/4 by 4 inches, attached it to a dark green card base and then added a red frame around it using the same frame die.  I also added a bit of sparkle with a Wink of Stella brush.

Here is the video of how I created these cards.  You can watch it here or on my YouTube channel.

Thank you for visiting!!  Have a wonderful day!!

One-Layer Friendship Card using Colored Pencils and Mineral Spirits

Today I thought I’d make a clean and simple one-layer card to get back into the swing of things.  My family and I have been taking turns being sick, but we’re finally starting to feel better.

I’m using a cute stamp set from MFT called Friends Furever, and I’m stamping the images onto a piece of Canson XL Watercolor paper.  I like the rough texture that this paper adds to the little aniamls.

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I used Post-It Notes to mask my images, so the lines didn’t show through when I stamped them one on top of the other.  I stamped the bird first because he was on top and worked my way down.  I used VersaFine Onyx Black Ink because it stamps out nice and crisp onto this rough paper.

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Colored pencils is my favorite medium to use on cards, especially these Faber Castell Polychromos pencils.  After coloring in these images, I could have stopped there, but I decided to use some odorless mineral spirits to blend out the colors.

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I used the masks again to cover up my images so I could add some Distress Inks.  I used Salty Ocean for the sky and Mowed Lawn for the grass the bear is sitting in.  I also went back in with about five different green pencils to add in some grass under the bear.

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I wanted to break up the sentiment without performing stamp surgery and cutting them apart, so I used more Post-It Notes to cover up the words I didn’t want to stamp.  I like how the broken up sentiment on this cards carries the eye downward, as do the images.  I really liked the effect.

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Here’s the video!  You can watch it here or on my YouTube Channel!

Thanks for visiting!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Here’s the list of supplies I used to create this card:

MFT Stamp Set: Friends Furever

Faber Castell Polychromos pencils:

Bear: Burnt Ochre 187, Venetian Red 190, Dark Naples Ochre 184, Raw Umber 180, Pompeian Red 191

Dog: Warm Grey II 271, Warm Grey V 274, Pompeian Red 191

Bird: Deep Scarlet Red 219, Burnt Ochre 187, Dark Naples Ochre 184