A Color Study~ Yellow and Red

OK, so I've been playing again. :-)

A few months ago I discovered a forum out there on the www, perhaps you've heard of it, called Wet Canvas. Its an awesome site where artists get together and share their expertise. Well in the forum there are some exercises you can do in color mixing.  One is a study in yellow, you can find it here . 

I used their suggestions for mixing colors to make up the chart above.

 Below is a color study in red .

 I used my own combinations of pencils based on what the forum explained in  color theory.

I think it opens up a whole new world in coloring, so many choices, so many results :-)

I hope some of you find this useful .

I'll be back on Thursday!

Image: Elizabeth Dulemba

Pencils: Prismacolors

Colored Pencil Surgery

So today I feel like talking about how to get the most from our colored pencils. Although they're tons cheaper than copics, its amazing how fast you can plow through the leads. (especially prismas since they're so soft and break notoriously easy) Before you know it you have dozens of tiny of stubs that you can barely hold.

Some of these you can remedy with a handy dandy pencil extender. They'll run you back about 3-5 dollars apiece. But its well worth it to keep at least two in your stash.

The pencil just fits into the sheath like so...

But eventually the pencils get too small even for extenders.

Look at these poor little guys....awwwww

But never say die. All you need is some super glue.

Just glue your old stub onto the end of your new pencil. (make sure you leave the pencil number at the end that won't be sharpened.) You can see the cream pencil that I glued a couple of weeks ago...the tip is absolutely miniscule now but you can see how  this method ensures that absolutely none of the pencil lead is wasted. You can sharpen straight through the glued portion.

They are a little long at first but will soon wear down .

By the way, not all pencils are suitable for this. Lyras, for example, have rounded ends which can't be glued together. 

I hope this is useful to someone else. :-)

Portrait Preparation ~How to change a Photo into a Sketch in Paint.Net

Hi Guys!

So today I'd like to share something different with you all.

I've been itching to do a Colored Pencil Portrait (ambitious, I know) for some time and for those of you who might be similarly inclined I learned a few tricks online.

I say "tricks" but there's nothing sneaky about what we're going to do. Artists have been tracing, or 'projecting' the subject they want to paint onto a surface for decades.

 I could sketch my subject  but it would just take a lot longer so I'm skipping a step. And I'm going to show how to do it too.

First of all, I am using Paint.Net (a free photo manipulating software similar to photoshop)

So after you've downloaded Paint, open it up. It will look like this:

Click on FILE in the upper left hand corner, then OPEN to retrieve your photo from a folder.

A box will pop up which will allow you to fumble around for your picture. 

When you find it, select it and click OPEN at the bottom right.

See below:

Now your photo will appear on your Paint screen.

Next, click on EFFECTS located in the bar at the top of the window.

Then, in the pop up box, select ARTISTIC and

then PENCIL SKETCH.

You're going to have a box come up right smack dab in the middle of your picture.

This box allows you to manipulate the size of the "pencil" strokes so you can make your sketch as light or as heavy as you like.

Click OK

Here's the finished sketch below. Amazing, isn't it?

Now don't forget to save your sketch by going back to FILE in the upper left corner. Selecting SAVE AS.

This is so you can keep your sketch somewhere safe on your computer and retrieve it again.

So I have my finished sketch on file and so I printed  it out onto some proper drawing paper.

I also printed out an original photo, as well as a photo covered in a grid and a sketch covered in a grid. I don't know if I'll need the latter two but I figured I'd cover all bases just to be on the safe side. :-)

 So there's the easy bit done. Now I have the challenging job of making this sketch come alive. I'm a bit nervous if I'm being honest but there's a quote I read from one of you crafter's blogs that said "whether you think you can do it or whether you think you can't, in either case you're right."

So I'm going to try. :-)

It will take some time but I promise to show you all how it comes out.

*In passing, there's a technicality you might want to know.

When you make use a sketch printed out like this to do a colored pencil painting you are not allowed to enter it into an art show under "Colored Pencil Painting". It would have to be labeled as "Mixed Media" because of the print ink.

However, if you really wanted to be "artistically correct" you can remedy this by simply taking your printed out sketch and transferring it onto your sketch paper with a graphite sheet of transfer paper. You would have to trace it, but the marks would be graphite and so "pencil".

I'm not planning on winning any blue ribbons so I'm happy with this but its good to know.

Happy Crafting!

Tissue Box

Hi Everyone!

Today's a new first for me. Making a tissue box cover. Yay!! I love new projects!

I had been seeing some very talented ladies make these recently, Chris Olson and Debbie P being among them. Ladies, your work inspires me! Debbie had a link to the Splitcoast Stampers tutorial which is what I went by. 

(one little tip. There's a measurement on the lid that calls for 9/16 of an inch. If I were you I would make that 10/16 or even 11/16 to be safe. I made it 9/16 and my lid wouldn't go over the box.It's "engineer exact". Which I am not. :-) It had to be chucked and remade.

The papers I am using are Cordinations Cardstock and Lavender and Lace DP. The ribbons were an assortment given to me.

So this box I made for Stacey as she loves elegance and purpleness.

It's not what I would call "Chris elegant" but it's as elegant as Dorcas gets. lol

Stacey will soon  be working on a scrapbook of her late cat Cody so I figured a  box of tissues wouldn't be amiss. 

And while we're speaking of cats, Gingerboy is heading for a stroke if he doesn't lay off the "American Dream" and start exercising and watching his calorie consumption! 

"Do you think this fur makes me look fat?"

"Uh no, your fur is fine, its your 18 pounds of fat that makes you look fat. "

"I take exception to that."

I would like to enter the tissue box in the following challenges:

(The cat wouldn't fit!)

Happily Scrappin: Purple

CardCreationsbyC: Sparkle

Tellen's Place: embellish embellish

Totally Papercrafts: pearls and lace

Wags and Wiskers: Use more than one fold

Thanks for visiting!!

by the way, you will be seeing another tissue box in the next couple of days. They make such nice useful gifts and are such fun to make I couldn't resist!

New Purse Box in Inches

Hi Guys!

A few of you have been asking me for the directions to this purse box in INCHES.

As you know, Randi was the person who's directions I used to make my first purse box and she is in Europe and so uses metric measurements. Her directions are excellent so if you use metric by all means check out her site!

Since then I have been working on "adjusting " her  pattern for us "Inchie People"

You can see my complete tutorial in inches here.

Keep in mind that my directions will not make the exact same size purse as Randi's. It will be about an inch larger all around. But I have tried to stay true to the shape as much as I could.

I plan on filling it with candy. I think every craft table needs one!

So there ya go! I hope you can go and have some fun now!

I would like to enter this in:

OLLCB: Pink!

Bunny Zoe: Flowers

The pink elephant: buttons lace and ribbon (buttons are in the flowers on the sides of the purse)

Fresh Brewed: Ribbons and Bows

Purse Box

I guess you can say I hop on to it when I get the urge to make a new project. A few days ago I saw a purse box on Chris' blog and fell in love with it. Of course, hers is far more elegant than mine but a girl's got to start somewhere! Then I saw that on Chris' blog she said that she got the idea from Randi; so I hopped along to Randi's blog. OMGoodness, girls! We're talking serious talent!

Randi has a fab tutorial on making this and other amazing creations so you really ought to check it out.

She's got all the directions and if you live in Europe you should have no trouble. I'm an "inches" girl so it was not without it's frustrations. Mainly the problem was this:

My only metric ruler is about 70 years old and barely legible. Also, it's a multipurpose ruler so its not even centimeters down the whole length but changes to decimeters etc....... aaargh!!

But I'm a determined person. lol

I had much trimming and adjusting to do and its faaaarr from perfect if you look closely but I'm not exactly going to SHOW you the bad angles am I?

I've decorated it pretty simply. It was more of an experiment than anything else. I may make another one sometime later with a bit more wow factor.

Ideally you should have magnetic closures for the sides. I did not, so I scortaped one side and just put a smidgen of tape on the other to hold it in place while I took a picture.

Anyway, that was fun! So thanks ladies for your inspiration!!

I would like to enter this in:

A spoonful of sugar: Anything but a card

Bearly Mine: ribbons and pearls

Papertake weekly: bling

Ooh la la : for someone special

Hugs all!

Crochet Roses

Yes, I have had a bee in my bonnet as you can tell. :-)

The last few days I have ate, drank and slept flowers. But it's paid off. I was playing around this morning and came up with a rose pattern.

(I had looked online and  although I saw some rose patterns I couldn't understand them, so I had to improvise)

Here's mine:

Chain 20 (the smaller roses were made chaining 15. If you decide to make the smaller ones, you can make two roses out of one skein of floss. )

Ok, let's start again!

Chain 20

hdc in every chain link but start at the 3rd link from the needle.

At the end, chain 3 and turn.

2dc in  hole right at base of chain, then 3dc, 1sl st in every  top link from then on (going through both layers)

* just to clarify: you will have 3 dc and 1 sl st in every link.

Go all the way to the end and finish off.

It will look like a long corkscrew.

Now you just need to roll it up and sew the base. (so it doesn't unroll)

Add a bead or button.

Below are some ragdoll mums I made last night. Technically they're marigolds

(you can find the youtube video I went by in my tutorial section)

but I think they look more like Dahlias or Mums.

That'a my story and I'm sticking to it!

OK, I promise I won't bore you eternally with my crochet madness. 

It's a faze. I WILL move on. lol

My closest friends  will tell you this happens quite frequently. Just humor me.

Think of all the blog candy I can offer soon!! I can supply all of blogland with crochet flowers!

Yesterday I made over 50.

OK, maybe I shouldn't have admitted that...

I do NOT need treatment..I do NOT need treatment...

A Recipe for Crochet Flowers

As you all know, I have been trying to make my own flowers for some time with some success.

 But I haven't been entirely happy. 

My flowers weren't consistently good and I was frustrated as they often curled up on me.

  (my fault, but still)

In my quest for the perfect flower for my cards I have scoured the internet , blog hopped til my eyes were bugged out and pored over books. It was during one of these book-learning episodes this morning that I gave up and just started playing.

To my delight, I have created what is for me, my perfect embellie flower.

Now, someone somewhere may have created the same exact thing so I'm not going to be pedantic and call it 100% my own. But this is what I did:

Using a 3 1/4 mm crochet hook and craft thread

Ch 5, join ring. 12 sc. 

Starting in first stitch (but from then on in every other stitch) do the following

* sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc, ch1*

This will make 6 petals. When you have finished the 6th petal, don't chain 1 just

slip stitch to the base of the 1st petal and finish off.

If you want five petals (like the flower in the center of the picture) just change the 12 sc in the beginining of the recipe to 10.

Flip your flower over. This is the finished side.

Translation:

sc: single crochet

hdc: half double crochet

dc: double crochet

ch: chain

*and note, I am doing this in AMERICAN crochet terms. See below for conversion.

Video helps for crochet directions:

(I did not make these. :-)

Getting started with Crochet:

Single crochet:

Double crochet

Half Double Crochet

Chain stitch:

I always find it easier SEEING it done than reading directions. Hope this helps!

British vs American English Crochet Patterns
British English	USA - American English
double crochet (dc)	single crochet (sc)
half treble (htr)	half double crochet (hdc)
treble (tr)	double crochet (dc)
double treble (dtr)	treble (tr)
triple treble (trtr)	double treble (dtr)
miss	skip
tension	gauge
yarn over hook (yoh)	yarn over (yo

Coloring Sky With Prismacolors

Hi Guys!

Well for a long time now I have admired artists such as Annika who create such lovely sky backgrounds to their images and have wanted to try it for myself. I don't know why but it really intimidated me. Which is strange cos I have painted sky and clouds on several ceilings in our house, 10 feet up in the air! But to color sky on my cards....well now, the butterflies in my stomach get fluttering.

Now if you're a copic artist you'll want to check out Annika's FAB tutorial here . You really can't beat it.

But if you're like me and prefer to use pencils, you can follow my very simple steps outlined below:

First of all I am using only one pencil which is:

Prismacolor Non Photo Blue

I am also using goo gone and a blending stump. That's it.

(You can see the supplies above)

I start off by making random circular strokes with my pencil where I want my clouds to be. You can see that it's pretty rustic at this point.

here's a closer look below so you can see the pencil movements

Then I get my blending stump, dampen it with a touch of goo gone (you can also use baby oil if you prefer), and softly blend in circular motions until you've softened the blue shapes.

It will look something like this when you're done with this step:

It's looking pretty nice but it can look even more realistic if we go back in and add just a touch of blue pencil at random spots. This suggests depth. Have a look and see what I mean:

Now soften these darker spots with just a feather light touch to the blending stump. You're not blending per se now, you're just touching the spots with the dampened end of your stump.

See?

And that's it!

You can make your day as cloudy or as blue as you want and you can even make it a bit stormy by adding a bit of grey to your blue when you blend.

I hope this helps someone!

*If you are looking for ideas for coloring AA Hair and a multicultural skintone, (mine is only one of many out there!) please see the tutorial section of my blog.