Thursday, January 11, 2018

Let's Just See Arteza Colored Greeting Card

Rubbernecker Stamps Bear with Arteza Expert colored pencils

The Rubbernecker Stamps I used for this card really amuse me. I love the bear's expression - it could be used with a number of funny sentiments. This particular sentiment cracked me up - as those who know me can attest, I don't often hold back.

I decided to use a dark brown ink (Memento Espresso Truffle) rather than black so it wouldn't look so stark against all the browns in the card. I colored the image with the 72 set of Arteza Expert colored pencils. They are waxed based pencils, like Prismacolors. This is the first time I used them and I think I like them as much as my Prismacolors, possibly more. The only drawback is that there aren't as many colors. The good news is, they will likely work well together! Something to try in the future.

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Making the Card

1. Note: I used two versions of the Neenah Environment Desert Storm cardstock: 80lb cover for the colored image and double thick cover 120lb for the card base itself (they also have a 100lb cover version, which may have replaced the 120lb since I don't see 8 1/2 x 11 inch listed on Neenah Paper's website anymore). Cut (120lb) Desert Storm cardstock to 7x10 inches; fold in half to form a 5x7 inch card base. Cut dark brown cardstock 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches; adhere to center of card base. Cut light blue cardstock 4 1/8 x 6 1/8 inches; adhere to card base as shown.

2. Cut (80lb) Desert Storm cardstock to 4x5 inches. Use a Stamp Platform or stamp positioner to stamp Distress Oval Frame with Memento Espresso Truffle in center. Inside the oval, stamp Bear with Espresso Truffle. Color with colored pencils. I used Arteza Expert set of 72 colored pencils. For this image, I mainly used browns and golds, plus white under the lighter areas and as highlights. To get lighter shades of browns, I combined colors by putting the browns over white or light gold, or just used less pressure. I drew the ground line and pebbles in a very fine tipped black 0.05 Copic Multiliner (which is also waterproof and alcohol marker friendly) and went over some of the lines of the image that became slightly faded from the colored pencils.

Rubbernecker Stamps Bear with Arteza Expert colored pencils

3. Die cut image using largest Nested Oval Small Stitch die. Adhere to card where shown using dimensional/mounting tape. Stamp sentiment on Neenah Environment Desert Storm cardstock. Trim, leaving room for tails on right side. Add tails by cutting a V into the right side (I usually put a pencil dot in the middle to mark the point I want to cut to). Cut a piece of dark brown cardstock so it will be about 1/8 inch larger all around (this time I cut a strip that was longer than I needed and 1/4 inch wider than the sentiment cardstock, although sometimes I just eyeball it by marking with a pencil where I want to cut). Adhere to card base with a double thickness of dimensional/mounting tape (be careful not to put any where it will overlap with the image's oval).

4. For the flowers, I used pre-made ones from a couple sources. I colored three of them myself but the other two (the two that look most alike, top and 2nd from bottom) came pre-colored; I bought those at Michaels (one package of blue flowers in different shades of the same hue) in their "dollar" area. The 2nd flower is also from Michels, from their Recollections collection. The others are by Petaloo. I like to buy Petaloo's white or natural colored flowers so I can add my own color to match my cards. I colored the 2nd flower using ColourArte's Silks in Mediterranean Blue. Silks are acrylic paints with a beautiful shimmer, which unfortunately doesn't show up well in photos. Typically I spray the petals with a little water then apply Silks, watered down to the desired intensity. In this case, I gave the middle more concentrated color and the outer petals a bit less. I did the same thing with the largest rose (middle) but using Silks in Chestnut Brown and adding a lot more water as I worked outwards from the middle. I also colored the bottom one with the Chestnut Brown. Note: the new Silks come in cool little bottles (rather than small round plastic screw-top containers - which didn't seem to seal well). I recommend the sample packs. The colors are all gorgeous. ColorArte also makes Twinkling H2Os - watercolors with shimmer. For even more shimmer, I added Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz to some of the flowers.

Rubbernecker Stamps Bear with Arteza Expert colored pencils

Supplies
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