Steampunk Gang Grace

~ sproatmeyer ~ 4 Comments

On this card I wanted to try out coloring large areas of fabric so I printed out this Simply Betty Stamps image extra large and went to town! It was perfect, she has a long skirt with plenty of folds to work with. I also took this opporunity to use some freebies that were generously sent my way. ;D


Here’s a close up of the skirt. I used the basic YG color range of YG91-YG99 and worked from the darkest color the lightest. Then I went back in and added some of the darker colors that were blended out.


Main Stamp: Steampunk Gang Grace (SBS)
Patterned Paper: Vintage (CM)
Metal Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Eight

Copic Markers colored on Copy Paper:
-skin tone: E000, E00, E11, E13, R12, R14
-hair: E53, E55, E57, E59
-browns: E25, E27, E29
-creams: E50, E51, E53
-reds: R52, R35, R39
-oranges: Y32, Y38
-greens: YG91, YG93, YG95, YG97, YG99

Did you know? Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects. Puppetry is used in almost all human societies both as an entertainment – in performance – and ceremonially in rituals and celebrations such as carnivals.
[Puppetry, Wikipedia.org]

Tips, Tricks & Techniques 0x022

~ sproatmeyer ~ 8 Comments

Ever wonder what the difference is between all the Copic gray colors? My friend Ruby had the same question and I decided it would be fun to have a side-by-side comparison! So here it is using four of the new Suger ‘n Spice Dolls from Little Miss Muffet Stamps.


So which color is which? Starting from the top left and going clockwise here are colors used, colored on Copy Paper:

Pepper: C00, C1, C3, C5, C7, C9
Peppermint: 0, N1, N3, N5, N7, N9
Nutmeg: T0, T1, T3, T5, T7, T9
Cinnamon: W00, W1, W3, W5, W7, W8

The top two are the cool-tone grays and the lower two are the warm-tone grays. I have found uses for each of them and select my gray-tone based on other colors on the card. However with that said, my favorite is C tones for metal and W tones for black.

Butterfly Kisses

~ sproatmeyer ~ 8 Comments

This card is actually made from so many “wishes” and “first tries” that I’m surprised it turned out at all. ;D I wanted to experiment with the newest Copic colors and a few Fluorescent ones too. Plus it was fun to use a new Nestabilities Die!


This Nestabilities Die was fun and I cut out extra whie papers to help it look more like a book. On the heart, I discovered using Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers to cover the lasercut chipboard and it worked out well. The dabbing leaves a nice texture and on this heart I went over it again with a second color for depth.


I merged two images before printing instead of layering one on top of the other which made it easier to color. Speaking of which, some new colors were used on this image too… the yellow shirt (YR30), birds (BG70), leaves (YG61), shoes (E81, E87), and shorts (FB2)! The skin tone is a new combo shared to me by Annika and I rather like it.


Main Stamp: Butterfly Kisses (LMMS) and Ivy Swing (MiC)
Patterned Paper: Neighborhood (Crate Paper)
Chipboard: Love Heart Swirls (MiC) covered with Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber Red Poppy and Gold
Metal Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Seven and My Favorite Things Die-namics Jumbo Scallop

Copic Markers colored on Copy Paper:
-skin tone: E000, E00, E21, E11
-browns: E70, E71, E74, E77, E41, E42, E43, E81, E87
-reds: R12, R14
-oranges: YR12, YR14, YR18
-yellows: YR30, YR31, YR26
-greens: YG61, YG63, YG97, YG67
-blues: BG70, BG72, BG75, FB2, B12, B14
-pinks: RV10, RV11, RV14
-grays: W2, W4, W6, W8

Did you know? Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation of a different wavelength. In most cases, emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation. The most striking examples of fluorescence occur when the absorbed radiation is in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum, and thus invisible, and the emitted light is in the visible region.
[Fluorescent, Wikipedia.org]

The Paper Project – Experiment II

~ sproatmeyer ~ 3 Comments

We’ve made it to the second experiment in The Paper Project! For this test I used the little fairy stamp from The Greeting Farm in a set called Neverland.

Experiment II – Basic Coloring

The purpose of this experiment is to simply color the image with minimal blending to see how quick layer of color would apply. (A blending test will be done later on.) Each image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink then left to air dry for several days.

I used the same colors and applied one color at a time – meaning, I colored all the fairies’ wings with B21 then went back and added V12 to each wing before moving onto the next color. I used the same brush strokes for each image as much as possible.

Here are the Copic Marker colors I used:
-wings: B21, V12
-hair: Y21, Y26
-face: E000, E11, R12
-dress: R43, R46, R59

The papers are identified in the Introduction and here are the results:
(Click on the picture for a zoomed look.)

From the start I could see there was a difference when I stamped each image. In general, the black was the same, however, it is bolder on C, J, M, and X; and yet the lightest on D and E.

Also the intensity of the colors varied and some papers made the hues darker or lighter. For example, the colors on D, E, N and U are washed out yet they show up the darkest on B, I, K, S, W, and X.

There wasn’t any obvious problems with any of them but based on this experiment I would say A, B, C, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, O, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, and X are the better papers to work with.

WoJ Clown

~ sproatmeyer ~ 7 Comments

Last week for the Make it Colourful challenge I colored the Circus Tent… but it turns out we forgot our tickets! So this week we’re heading back to the entrance to visit the Ticket Booth! This week our challenge is to color skies… and yes, there is a sky located under all the embellishments. 😀 Honest!


This cute clown is from Whiff of Joy and looked friendly enough that I had to have it for this Carnival collection. ;D The sky was done in a winds pattern which I had tried out before (on the Wacky House) and loved how it turned out. Here’s a picture of the sky before the Carnival “opened.”


DT Challenge: Make it Colourful – Challenge #14 (skies)
Main Stamp: Ticket Booth (MiC) and Clown Plus Matching Sentiment (WoJ)
Patterned Paper: scraps
Chipboard: Love Heart Swirls (MiC)

Challenges Entered:
Tuesday Throwdown #43 (spring)
Papertake Weekly Challenge (Anything goes)
Creative Stamp Friends – Challenge #22 (swirls)

Copic Markers colored on Copy Paper:-hair: R81, R83, R85, R89
-clothes: BG11, BG72, BG75, BG78, Y32, Y35, Y38, YG21, YG23, YG25, YG63, C1, C3
-crown/flowers/dog: Y32, Y35, Y38, E42, E43, E44
-sky: 0, B00, B000, B0000
-ticket booth: R81, R83, R85, R89, C1, C3, Y32, Y35, Y38, E42, E43, E44, B00, B000
-ground: E42, E43, E44, YG21, YG23, YG25, YG63

Did you know? Opal is an amorphous form of silica related to quartz, a mineraloid form, not a mineral. 3% to 21% of the total weight is water, but the content is usually between 6% to 10%. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most commonly found with limonite, sandstone, rhyolite, marl and basalt. 97% of opal is produced in Australia and is its national gemstone.
[Opal, Wikipedia.org]

Nutmeg

~ sproatmeyer ~ 6 Comments

Here’s my second Sugar ‘n Spice Dolls card for today which features Nutmeg! She takes after my own heart with comfy PJs that can be worn all day long. ;D As you may have noticed, each doll has a doll’s tag you can look for… so far I’ve always colored mine red. The one on Nutmeg might be hard to spot at first but you can see that it’s “sewn” into the blanket. On this card I also got to use some long forgotten embellishments… mainly the wide Satan ribbon and pink flowers.


Previews: Little Miss Muffet Challenges New Releases – Day 2
Challenge: The Corrosive Challenge #110 (pastel colors)
Challenge: Kenny K’s Krafty Girlz #39 (pink)
Challenge: Paper Sundaes Challenge #63 (spring blossoms)
Main Stamp: Nutmeg (LMMS)
Patterned Paper: scraps
Chipboard: Frame Corner Flourishes (MiC)
Metal Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Large Scalloped Oval

Copic Markers colored on Copy Paper:
-skin: E000, E00, E11, R12
-hair: E51, E53
-clothes: B91, B93, B97, BG000, BG01, BG02, BG05, BG07, BG09, R81, R85, R89, RV32, RV34, C00, C1, BV00, BV000, BV02, BV04
-monkey: E41, E42, E43, E44, R24
-other: R81, R85, R89, R22, R24, R29

Did you know? A sock monkey is a toy made from socks fashioned in the likeness of a monkey. These stuffed animals are a mixture of folk art and kitsch in the culture of the United States and Canada. The sock monkey’s most direct predecessors originated in the Victorian era, when the craze for imitation stuffed animals swept from Europe into North America and met the burgeoning Arts and Crafts Movement.
[Sock Monkey, Wikipedia.org]