Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Imagine Butterflies - Inlaid Butterfly Cards By Judi Kauffman for The Queen’s Ink

It’s been so cold and gray lately. I thought I’d play with bright colors for a change, and what better to bring thoughts of warmer days ahead than butterflies! I used the largest die from  Laurel Burch’s ‘Imagine Butterflies’ die set because it’s big enough to star on an A2 card front and it’s a simple, graphic shape.
These cards employ one of my favorite techniques: Inlay. And one of my favorite materials: Shimmer Sheetz. I just love the sparkle!

It’s so easy!

1. Die cut the same shape from two 4” x 5.25” pieces of embossed and lightly sanded Shimmer Sheetz* as shown - in this case, a butterfly angled on a landscape rectangle. Alternatively, die cut or from cardstock or coordinating patterned papers if you prefer. Then die cut the same shape two more times from a piece of Shimmer Sheetz or coordinating solid color cardstock.

(*Reminder - You MUST use a metal adaptor plate or Big Shot machine with Precision Base Plate for die cutting Shimmer Sheetz. Review Els van de Burgt’s YouTube tutorial if you are new to this technique or post a question here on the blog and I’ll answer it.)

2. Working from the back, tape the solid color piece into the die cut shape cut from the rectangle. (This creates the ‘inlay’!) Adhere the inlaid piece to the front of an A2 size top-fold card base. (Shown: Patterned cardstock.)


3. Carefully bend the wings of the butterflies upward and adhere to the card front as shown - butterfly is secured along the body only using tiny snippets of a Tombow Xtreme Adhesive Tab. Use non-stick scissors to cut the Tab. Mix the colors so the butterfly cut from one background is adhered to the other one!

DONE. See...I told you it was easy!

Supplies:

  • Laurel Burch ‘Imagine Butterflies’ die set (Stampendous)
  • Shimmer Sheetz in 2 colors of choice
  • Allover pattern embossing folder
  • Sanding block
  • Die cutting machine with metal adaptor plate (Big Shot with Precision Base Plate)
  • Tombow Xtreme Adhesive Tabs
  • Non-stick scissors (to cut Tabs)
  • Adhesive tape (one sided)
  • Adhesive sheet (double sided)
  • Patterned cardstock 4.25” x 11” or purchased A2 card base

Monday, February 18, 2019

Artist Trading Coins By Judi Kauffman for The Queen’s Ink



Have you branched out from Artist Trading Cards to Artist Trading Coins yet? Like the cards, there are only two restrictions - they are to be traded, not sold, and they need to adhere to a specified size: 2.5”. The small scale is perfect for experimenting with paints and pens, stencils and stamps, collage, photo transfers, or whatever you have been meaning to try.

This batch is a mix of flat and dimensional paints, combined with gold, black and opaque white pens. The ‘before’ photos show the first layer, the ‘after’ photos show the coins in their current state. Note that I said current, since I think a couple of them need more work - maybe even a total revision. They need to sit on my table for a while till I decide what’s next...

Now it’s your turn! Hand- or die-cut some circles and get creative. Spend a bit of time, reap a big payoff: Artist Trading Coins to share with friends.










Saturday, February 16, 2019

Patriotic Painters by Stampendous for House Mouse Designs

I'm back today with a card featuring the Patriotic Painters from House Mouse Designs. This image usually makes the rounds on Pinterest on 4th of July, but I used it here to make a card for a friend to give to her niece who is becoming a citizen next month. The image features Amanda, Mudpie, and Monica — yes, the mice have names — bursting into song after completing their coloring of the American flag.

This image is fun to color, but challenging for a couple of reasons, both relating to the flag. The first is the challenge of coloring around the stars in a dark color without accidentally coloring over a few. I had to do a little cleanup with my colorless blender marker afterwards. The second challenge was coloring the red stripes. This marker combination (R35, R37, R59) blends fairly well, but red will sometimes creep outside the lines if you get too much ink on the paper.


See below for additional card details, including supplies and Copic colors. For the sake of simplicity, I chose to color all of the mice in cool gray, but if you want to vary the colors, Stampendous provides a Copic color chart that suggests other color combinations you might want to consider. 

SUPPLIES

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110#; X-Press It Blending Card by Copic; Cardstock in Admiral by Bazzill; Cardstock in Fog by My Favorite Things
Stamp: Patriotic Painters by House Mouse Designs (Stampendous!)
Dies: Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables by Lawn Fawn; Zig Zag Rectangle Stackables by Lawn Fawn
Copics: E000, E00, E93 (skin); C1, C3, BV20 (fur); B91, B93, B95, B97, R35, R37, R59, C1 (flag); YG03, YG17, YG21, BV20, R35, C1, B93 (paint brushes); BV20 (shadows)

Friday, February 15, 2019

Still Life with Flowers: A Design Quiz By Judi Kauffman for The Queen’s Ink


Here’s a design quiz for you: Which of the following inspired today’s tutorial?
A. Bobbleheads
B. Charlie Brown and Lucy
C. Picasso
D. All of the above

If you guessed ‘D’ you get a gold star!

When I received the set of Maxi Moon Garden Mix and the set of four vases by Kae Pea from RubberMoon I thought it would be fun to combine them. There are many flowers small enough to create a still life with realistic scale, but I wanted to go for a very different effect - intentionally choosing large flowers so the proportions are exaggerated, just like abstract art, cartoons, and those wonderful little bobblehead figurines.

I created bookmarks and lots of cards, including one where I cut a vase into two pieces to make a short vase and a bowl (below).
Now here’s a challenge for you: Stamp a still life or scene that uses elements that are not in scale. Do some fussy cutting, lots of coloring and doodling! Make bookmarks, cards, or work on pages in an art journal.

Here are more projects for inspiration -



SUPPLIES:

  • Maxi Moon Garden Mix stamps (RubberMoon)
  • Vases by Kae Pea (RubberMoon)
  • Markers
  • Colored pencils
  • Pens (Pigma Micron and Gelly Roll White - Sakura of America)
  • Cardstock in solid colors
  • Patterned papers
  • Adhesive/glue of choice
  • Fine point scissors