Coloring Class with Altenew Beautiful Day

Because today was a holiday, I decided to mark the occasion by taking an Online Card Class about coloring. I burned through the whole class and then sat down to make this for my niece who recently got engaged.

I used a combination of products, some long retired, from a variety of stamp companies. My main image is from Altenew called Beautiful Day. I love this stamp set!! And it was really fun to color using the techniques I learned today combining alcohol markers and colored pencils.

The background is from Stampin' Up! which I white embossed over Linen cardstock from Close To My Heart (CTMH). I sponged the edges in CTMH ink Toffee and Mink. The sentiment is also CTMH embossed on Cocoa cardstock. I cut it with a word bubble die from MFT but then snipped off the part that made it a word bubble. I followed the instructions from the first day of class taking three colors which weren't necessarily from the same color family and combining them. I used Copics in the brown, red, and red violet families with shading in the blue violet family. I then added depth and shade with colored pencils. I decided to make one flower a deeper shade than the other and placed it on the bottom.

I was quite happy with the way the flowers looked after coloring with the markers, so I almost stopped. But the point of the class was to take things up a notch much coloring in the nooks and crannies. Um...yeah! It really did make a difference by the time I was done. Not gonna lie, it was a lot of work, but I hope you agree that the result was worth the effort.

One of the things the teacher talked about was to consider "the trash factor" before spending hours coloring. Because my niece is very artistic, I think she will appreciate the effort that went into this.

Until next time,
Becca

Iditarod Thank You

Yesterday was the start of the 2017 Iditarod race. For the third time in its history, the start gate was moved to Fairbanks due to lack of snow on the regular route. How could I possibly stay at home holed up in my writing office and miss that?

At race time, the temperature was -23, so I bundled up and carpooled out to a spot along the Chena River to watch the dogs race by. Several of us chaplain spouses met at a church that was offering free parking, a spot to stay warm until the race started, and free coffee and treats. We decided we wanted to send them a thank you note, and I offered to make one for us all to sign.

I used the Tim Holtz distress inks in Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, and Mustard Seed to watercolor over top of white embossed snowflakes from an old Stampin' Up set called Lace Snowflakes. After letting the watercolor dry, I cut it with the wonky panel from My Favorite Things BluePrints #15.  The die cut snowflakes and sentiment are Thin Cuts from CTMH. All were cut from white cardstock, but I used a mixture of Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers to paint the smaller snowflake. When it was dry, I painted another layer of Iridescent Paint mixed with Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers over top. More drying before attaching it to the larger white snowflake then adding a layer of Liquid Glass over the blue snowflake and letting it dry overnight.

I hope y'all are proud of me for all the patience it took to let things dry before proceeding to the next step. Patience is NOT my strongest character trait.

The color scheme was inspired by the Lime and Aqua challenge over at The Card Concept. I know it's March and you folks down in the Lower 48 are watching flowers begin to bloom. Here, we're close to -30 and more snow is in the forecast to boost the 78" that have already fallen this winter. It almost...almost makes me happy to be moving to South Carolina in July. Right now a little heat and humidity sounds good. Except, between now and then, I have three writing deadlines to meet, so I'd better go hole up in the office!

Until next time,
Becca