I hope you had a great start of 2017 and now that the first work week is over we can have some fun creating! Today I have a fun card for you featuring the WPlus9 stamp called “A New Day”. I though this stamp would be great in combination with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.
If you’re new to these Zig Markers then you should know that they aren’t really markers in the sense that they don’t have a felt tip, these markers have an actual brush tip, more like you’re painting. I found that these markers have not as high of a learning curve as for example Copic Markers and if you’re not good with water colouring these markers can make your cards look like you are!
For today’s card I used the water-based qualities of these markers: you can use water to make a colour lighter, this way you can fade out a darker colour to a lighter colour with just one marker which makes these markers a great tool for their price ( you don’t have to buy 2 or 3 colours from the same colour family to make these work, unlike for example Copic Markers ). Another great aspect of these markers is that you can make highlights by removing colour when you wet the paper and dab the access away with a clean paper towel. I use these markers in combination with a Pentel Water Brush (but you can use a regular paint brush a well) on Strathmore Bristol Smooth Surface paper (the image was stamped with Versafine “Onyx Black” ink and heat-embossed with clear embossing powder, this way the lines stay crisp and black even if you ad water).
I feel this stamp-design is especially good for making a chickadee image (because of the way the head of this bird was designed), but I also made a robin. For the chickadee I used the following colours: Dark Gray, Pale Dawn Gray, Light Gray and Green Gray. Other colours that I used: Light Green, Deep Green, Geranium Red, Deep Red, Mid Brown, Dark Brown and Light Blue (for the background).
For the branch, the leaves and the berries I tried to find colours that complimented the bird. When you work in layers you can make this image as dark or light as you prefer (I tend to like darker images). I looked up pictures on the internet to try to make the birds as lifelike as possible.
After letting the coloured image dry I used the biggest MFT “Stitched Rectangle Stax” die from this set to die-cut the bird. I also coloured the edges with the same Zig Marker (and some water) that I used for the background.
Then it was time to start working on the background. I wanted to create a background that contrasted with the white piece with the chickadee on it but I also wanted to use colours that complemented it. On a piece of white card stock I stamped the “Leafy Vines” background stamp from Hero Arts with Versamark and heat embossed with Wow “Coconut Ice” embossing powder (but you can use any white or clear embossing powder you have), the shimmer in this embossing powder is only visible when you tilt the card in the light in exactly the right angle. Then I used “Mowed Lawn” and “Pumice Stone” Distress Inks and Memento’s “Cottage Ivy” ink over the whole piece (with Cottage Ivy more in the centre). Then I splattered on some water to make the background a bit more interesting and let it dry.
For the sentiment I used one of the Wild Rose Studio “Birthday Circles” stamps (cutting it with a MFT’s “Stitched Circle Stax” die which I matted on red card stock an fussy cut that out since I don’t have a circle die that was the size that I wanted (I used the same Pumice Stone distress ink to make the sentiment a little less bright)).
Now that all the elements are ready it’s time to put this card together: I felt the green background needed something extra so I added some dark red see through ribbon that matched the colours of the berries.
I taped the red ribbon to the back of the green piece with regular tape and mounted the green piece on the white card base with 1 mm thick foam tape. Next I foam-taped the chickadee on the green piece and added the sentiment with a double layer of foam-tape, this way I create a little dimension with every layer which makes the card more interesting to look at. And that finishes this card!
You know, I was actually considering never buying ribbon again a while ago since I never seem to use it on my cards and what happens, in the past couple of weeks I used it actually on a lot of cards, strange how things can go!
The robin was a little harder to colour than the chickadee I admit (because I wanted the orangy colour to fade gradually into the gray tones) but I think it turned out nice. For the robin I used the following Zig Markers: Orange, Light Brown, Mid Gray, Blue Gray, Light Gray and Green Gray. Other colours I used: Olive Green, Mid Green, Dark Brown, Mid Brown an Yellow (for the background: normally I would use Light Blue but I didn’t like that with the colour combinations I had going on, so now the robin is sitting in the sunlight!). For the leaved and the berries I tried to use colours that complemented the colours I used for the robin. This card turned out a lot warmer then the first card I showed you.
For the background piece I used Versafine’s “Spanish Moss” and Distress Inks in the colours “Crushed Olive”, “Ripe Persimmon” and “Weathered Wood” with Weathered Wood in the middle.
I cut two slits in the white piece with the robin to feed the ribbon through (the ribbon is see through in the middle and two coloured along the edges, I bought this ribbon not that long ago at Quietfire Design (http://www.quietfiredesign.ca/Ribbon-Sheer-2-Tone-Stripes-Antique-Gold-1-2-wide.html). I also added a little extra sparkle with some sequins.
And that’s it for today’s cards. Hope you enjoy your weekend and that you have time to create something beautiful!
#handmadecards #makeyourlifecolourful #Wplus9ANewDay #zigcleancolorrealbrushmarker #WildrosestudioBirthdayCircles #Distressink #HeroArtsLeavyVines
