Mr Cardmaker Colors It Up for Picket Fence Studios

My third entry for my guest spot for Picket Fence Studios this month uses a happy scene in the Your Friend Dear Stamp set. This image is so much fun to color in a variety of ways, and the sentiment is sweet and snarky at the same time, so, yeah, I'm all over that one.

First, I made this--

I actually remembered to pull out some bristol smooth cardstock for this one--I usually default to 80# cardstock, and then hate myself when I go to color things with watercolor markers.

This is a delightful scene, with the girl suffering her companions to wear the same bows she has in her hair. They certainly don't seem to mind too much, considering how it IS for their friend.

I stamped this in Memento Tuxedo Black ink to start, using my MISTI stamping tool, and reminded myself  to NOT remove the stamp. I also stamped the image on masking paper, which I trimmed out and applied to my panel over my image. I used a cloud stencil from my stash and Distress Inks to ink blend the sky for my scene, and then cut a quick homemade stencil from a die in my stash to create the grass line, which was also ink blended on. I LOVE my blender brushes from Picket Studios. They are sooo soft, and they blend beautifully.

I was then able to remove my mask and get to coloring. I used my Zig clean-color water color markers and a water brush to color everything, using a bright green to point up all the bows. Being so close to the grass, I could've used some other color for the bows, especially considering the cat's placement, but I added Ranger Glossy Accents on top to point things up, so I think it ultimately works. 

To finish, I put my panel back into my MISTI, and restamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black ink, to deepen and crisp up my black outline.

After drying, I used a white gel pen to add some bright white highlights to my scene, and added some clear sequins to add interest. I white heat embossed the sentiment onto a black strip of cardstock, added some foam tape to the back, and adhered it to the panel. 

I found a great striped paper deep in my paper stash that had lots of the colors I used, and used it as a backing on my white top-folding notecard.

Cheerful, right?

Well, I had to do another, and I had to explore other options while I was at it!

I made this--

I LOVE making cards with Kraft cardstock. I think I use it about one in every five cards I make.

Here, I stamped in Versafine onyx black, and then got out my colored pencils.

My animals stayed pretty much the same--I have a friend who has a HUGE white Great Pyrenees dog, and I just love an orange cat, so...

I thought this girl's hair lent itself to work for many ethnicities, and so here I went with a dark complexion. I love this. I was worried as I colored that I was kind of spotchy and that things weren't working as I wanted, but then I remembered my VERY good friend when it comes to pencils--GAMSOL!

Gamsol is an odorless mineral spirits that allows you to soften the look of your pencils by blending them. My photographs pick up some of the reflections of the pencil strokes, but in real life things look really soft and blended. I used lots of gamsol and many blending stumps, but in the end I was really happy with my results. I definitely consider myself a super novice where coloring is concerned, so this is GREAT for me.

I white heat embossed a sentiment from the previously released Good Vibes stamp set and mounted my panel to a white top-folding notecard. A few white Nuvo drops, some Glossy Accents on the dogs nose and cat's nose and bell, and I was DONE!

This is a great image to color, whether you're a novice like me, or have huge amounts of experience and talent for coloring. This and many more stamps from this release can be found at the Picket Fence Studios web site. Be sure to check it all out!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

All Best--

Richard