Free Stamp o' the Month

It's April and in Michigan, that means weird weather.  Yesterday we had snowflurries and as I type this now, it's 54 degrees and sunny.  Ya' gotta love the variety!

So let's force the season a bit.  How about some spring flowers?

Yep!  That's spring.  Ahhhhhhh, feel that April freshness.



Tulips, by Me!  April's Free Digi Stamp

Remember, this image is only available for about 30 days and then I'll replace it with another handy-dandy image.  Grab it while it lasts!

Oh yeah, and be sure to tune in this weekend to see how I've colored it.  There are so many ideas I have for this stamp, I just might color it several times this month!

Happy Coloring!

I'm Still Alive...

... but my scanner isn't.

Yep, it finally kicked the bucket.

Plus I'm up to my eyelashes in a couple community projects.  Something had to give and my blog is the only thing in my life that doesn't ask me for a daily progress report (or whine that I was late to pick it up yesterday).

So y'all out there in blogland are sitting on the backburner for a bit.

I'll be back in 2 weeks.

I promise.

In the meantime, color something pretty!

Palette o' the Week

Shamrocks & Gold, Feb's FREE Digi Stamp

We're moving on to green palettes.

Not that my corner of Michigan is any less white.  In fact, we're about to get hit with a new batch of flakes tonight.  Everything around here is white, white, white.

But Saint Valentine's Day is over and now you creative card people are turning your thoughts toward the green guy, Saint Patrick.




Plus, I like green.

And I love coloring leaves.  It's very meditative for me.  A zen zone.

So here's my take on this month's FREE digi stamp.  You can grab your copy here.



DesignSeeds palette "Grass Color"

The palette comes from Design Seeds, "Grass Color".

It's a nice blend of greens and aquas.  Nothing spectacular, it just feels nice.

Not every palette needs to whack you upside the head with "wow".  Especially when you're coloring a background piece.






"Grass Color" by DesignSeeds

So here's the Copic recipe:

My first instinct on the aqua swatch was to grab a BG marker.  But B16 just worked better.  It really does have a bit of green going on in it.  Even if the Copic dye mixers don't want you to think so.

Abyss Green.  I use it a lot.  A lot more than I thought I would.  Half the time that marker never makes it back into my marker caddy.

N7?  I went a tad lighter than the original swatch.  Because black is just too darned easy.

YG17 and YG25... Honestly, I use my YGs far more often than my G series.  They're so much less muddy.








"Grass Color" in PC

Here's the Prismacolor:

I hate matching Prismacolor blues to palettes.  Not because PC blues stink, they have some truly droolworthy colors.  But their range is limited, so palette matching is difficult.

Except this time... can't explain why.  Two dead matches is a rarity.

Cool Grey 90% isn't as dark as the number indicates.  Copic users think any 9 or 90 is practically black.  Not in PC.  There's a definite gap between the greys and Black.

Olive Green is a perfect all purpose green.  If you don't own it, you should.

I try not to use Chartreuse very often.  It tends to be a bit day-glo.  But sometimes you need the bang it provides.  It's perfect here.







Shamrocks & Gold by Me!

So back to my original... a whole lotta markers on the table after coloring this image (for me anyway).  Remember: use the palette as a guide, not a limitation.  If you need a wider range, pull more colors.

Copic:
0, N4, N6, W5
B16, BG000, BG57, BG75
G46, YG03, YG17, YG25
Y11, YR24, YR27

Prismacolor:
901 Indigo, 911 Olive Gn, 914 Cream

Sepia Multiliner 0.5, Sakura Gelly Roll white

Happy Coloring!



Free Stamp o' the Month

Here's your monthly freebie!



(Check the most recent posts, I've ALWAYS got one freebie available!)

Check back this weekend to see a full color version! 

I started coloring this last night and sorta fell into an art trance.  I looked up and it was after midnight!!!!  Sometimes the art muse just sort'a takes over.  That's when great things happen.

Free for about 30 days, then I'll post a new stamp.

Happy Coloring!

Palette o' the Week

Sweetened Heart 2 by Me!

Still hanging out with the pinks today, which coincidentally happens to match my nose right about now.  Ugh.  I'm so sick of being sick!!!!!

Here's another of my Sweetened Hearts. 

Why "sweetened"?

I'm developing 2 different lines of digi stamps.  The first kind is "unsweetened".  They're the kind I prefer with wide open spaces for colorers to add their own design details.  Like "Oak & Acorn". The second is "sweetened" where I provide a bit more detail, a subtle nudge to get you going.

So this heart has some detail, thus it has been sweetened.

And it's all decked out in pinks and turquoises.  Turquoises?  That doesn't look right.  But I checked.  Turquoises is the plural of turquoise.  Wow, it really looks wrong and doesn't flow off the tongue either. 


Design-Seeds "Macro Bloom"

The base palette comes from Design-Seeds.

Macro Bloom

What drew me to this palette was the twist on Pink & Blue by choosing a greener blue than usual. 

This palette could get way too Miami Vice though, so watch out where you use it.  Any stamp that looks a little Deco, when colored with this palette is going to send out some serious 1985 vibes. 

Unless you really love big hair, pleated pants, and shoulder pads... then go ahead and rock on, dude.




Macro Bloom in Copic

Here's the Copic recipe:



Finally, a use for RV52.  I'm not a fan.

RV29 is strong so use it wisely.  Crimson here is perhaps the worst behaved of all the Copic reds.  You know: bleeding, stubborn blending, can't erase mistakes?  RV29 is all that and more.

RV25 is a sweet little pink though.  Much better behaved than it's wild cousin.

BG11 is an understated aqua.  Really nice.

And BG57?  I use this a lot.  If you don't already own one, you should.  It's a real workhorse.











Macro Bloom by Design-Seeds

And now for Prismacolor:

Ok, I know a lot of you avoid the Deco Colors because they aren't lightfast, and that IS a definite problem for archival work...

but there really isn't a 1 to 1 replacement for Deco Pink.

If you want to be safe, try Blush Pink.  It's not the same, but it's a pinky pink.

Magenta is lovely and bold and everything you want in a hot pink.

Process red, there's an underutilized pink.  Try it.  You'll like it.

Muted Turquoise is the best we can do here.  It fits the theme even if it doesn't much match the inspiration color.

And Cobalt Turquoise, I don't use mine much.  I think that's one of the old, old, old colors.  It works though.










Sweetened Heart 2.  Original digi stamp by Me!

So what did I use on my Sweetened Heart?

C3, C5, W5
BG02, BG10, BG57
RV29, RV34, RV52,
Y11
YR24, YR27

PC105 Cobalt Turquoise, PC930 Magenta, PC931 Dark Purple, PC938 White, PC1027 Peacock Blue

Gelly Roll White #37819







Happy Coloring!

February Class Schedule

The respiratory flu hit us hard this past weekend so I'm a little scattered today.  I'm chock full of antibiotics and cough syrup.  But I'm here and I'm alive (relatively speaking), so that's good.  I think.

Cough, cough... blows nose, moan.

There, now you've got a bit of the ambiance around here.

So, if I'm not hiding under the covers, here's where I'll be this month:



Judikins Stained Glass Single Flower, quilted style

Mary Maxim- Port Huron, Michigan

Saturday, Feb. 16th

Copic Challenge Class, now 2 sessions!

AM class: 10:30am-12:30pm
PM class: 2:00pm-4:30pm

Both classes will run the same exact material!!!

Quilted Stamping
stamp: Judikins Stained Glass Single Flower
level: intermed - advanced

I'm running a CHALLENGE course this month at Mary Maxim.  We haven't had one since November, ack!  We've been working on fabric over the past few months and it has all been leading up to this!  I am sneaky, I am!

Come learn how to totally transform a geometric stamp into a quilt by adding folds, wrinkles and waving patterns.  This class is not for the faint of heart, wear your big girl panties and tuck a rabbit's foot in your back pocket.

Actually, don't panic.  We'll repeat this same class again soon.  By the time we're done with this concept, you'll all have a firm grasp on it.  Remember, challenge is good!

And ladies?  Hold on to your marker caps!  I've got a summer full of ADVANCED Marker Extended-Length classes in the works, right now!!!!!!!  At Mary Maxim but longer and more art based.  I'll have all the deets soon, soon, soon.




Exploring Text, "iloveyou" - original digi stamp by me!

Ask Your Fairy Godmarker
(Teaching Teachers)

Lake Orion

Tuesday- Feb. 19th, 2012
6:45pm

Fairy Godmarker is back for the first time this year.  I've missed you gals!

We're switching things up a bit.  I'll still advise on color lists and techniques for your clip art but H & J begged that we color this digi featured on a recent color palette o' the week.

H is handling the class sign-up from now on and she has the marker list (hmmm, a marker list is something totally new for you ladies!).

And I have no idea who is on snack.  Ask H.  Three times.  Go ahead, I dare you.





Sweetened Heart, an original digi stamp by Me!

Rochester, Michigan

Copic and Cocktails

Sweetened Heart

C & C is back this month too! 

I'll have 4 versions of my Sweetened Hearts to choose from PLUS an Unsweetened version.  We'll talk a bit about tasteful embellishments, when to sweeten and when to leave it be. 

This is a private group. If you're interested in starting a similar club, let me know. This one works like a monthly book club and it's loads of fun!!!





Hopefully, I'll have my voice back before all this blessed madness starts :)

Happy Coloring,

Pantone Spring 2013

Spring is just around the corner... and tornado season too.  So put on your ruby shoes, grab your cairn terrier and let's go visit the Wonderful Wizards at Pantone.

Ok, so I'm laying the Oz references on a bit thick, but there's a reason.



2013 Color of the Year

Meet Pantone's 2013 Color of the Year:

Emerald

I love this color! 

It's got brains, it's got heart, it's got courage... okay maybe not quite all that.

But it is a nice skin tone for witches out west.





Here's the entire Spring 2013 Palette:



Pantone's Spring 2013 Color Forecast

I have to say, they missed out on a rather fun name theme there.  They've got "Emerald" and "Poppy" but where's Yellow Brick Road, Straw, or Cowardly Orange?  Why "Alloy" when you can call it Tin?  Seriously, Pantone!  Play along!

So what's the big deal about Pantone forecasts?

The Pantone people aren't just ordinary Oscar Diggs hiding out behind a big green curtain (okay, I'm almost out of Ozisms), they really are magicians.  Somehow, out of all the colors in the world, they manage to narrow down the top colors that manufacturers and designers are most likely to be using in fashion, design, home decor, and even craft products.  You'll be seeing quite a lot of those 14 colors in the near, near future.

The Fall '12 colors didn't exactly have me clicking my heels.  But Spring '13 has me doing the jitterbug!

Yes, I know I said I was almost out of Wizardy words.  I lied.

So here's the Copic version:

I think B37 is the only color I do not own. 

See, told you.  I really like these colors.

And here's Prismacolor:

Nice. 

These are all easy colors to use.











But 14 colors are a lot to deal with.  What can we make out of them?

How about this?

Let's call this palette "Munchkin".

Or this?

"Hot Air Balloon"

Maybe this?

"Mop Bucket"

I like this!

This palette is totally me.  "Flying Monkeys".

So don't wait for a house to fall on you, pull these colors out of your maker bucket and add some color to your Kansas!

Happy Coloring!