Northwest Stamper

Tag: dreams du jour

  • Watercoloring Techniques: Watercolor Pencils

    Alright, today is the last day of my Watercolor Technique card shares.  At least for now.  But with this last card,  I wanted to show you the 5th technique we are doing in my watercolor technique class.  So without further ado:

    Watercoloring with Watercolor Pencils

    You may think, “yeah, yeah, I know what it is like to color in an image with colored pencils. I did that back in school.”  But have you seen the magic that is watercolored pencils? Smile The cool thing about watercolor pencils is that you have the control to color in fine details and spaces because you have the fine tip of the pencil.  And coloring with colored pencils is very pretty.  But you are left with pencil stroke marks that maybe you would rather not have.  Simply wave your magic wand (aka Blender pen or Aqua pen) over the places where you colored with the pencil and voila!  You get this beautiful, smooth watercolored look.  Here is an example… though I’m having the hardest time taking a good picture to really show you what I mean.  But in the image below, the flowers are colored using the same colored pencils and amount of coloring.  But the one on the right has been gone over with a blender pen.  You can at least see that the color gets more saturated and maybe see that it has a smoother look.

    That said, here is the sample for the card we are making in the class:

    Like I said, the pencils are great for detail work.  Especially things like the stamp border and the tiny flower bud.

    This technique is so pretty and so easy at the same time.  It was also probably the favorite the last time I ran this class.

    Well, I hope you enjoyed checking out some of the different ways to add watercoloring looks to your cards.  This is a good introduction to just the surface of what you can do and I’d love to hear what your favorite techniques are as well!  Leave a comment and let me know how you like to do watercoloring.

    Interested in trying these cards & techniques out yourself?

    In Person
    Do to multiple requests, I’m running my class again on March 28th in the Mountain View, CA area.  I’d love to have you join us. Check out the full details on my meetup site.

    Online
    Or, if you are not local, purchase the supplies for these techniques from my online store and send me an email.  I’ll send you written tutorial instructions for these cards for FREE!  Not sure what you need, email me at jennifer@nwstamper.com and I’ll send you a basic supply list and you can see what you have in your stash and what you would still need.

  • BigShot butterflies and a fun candy purse

    Hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day weekend!  I enjoyed some time with the DH at home on Saturday and then Sunday we drove up to Seattle to meet up with some friends and participate in a puzzle event (think, Amazing Race only with puzzles to tell you where to go next instead of envelopes).  On the way north, we stopped by a fellow demonstrator’s open house.  If you know Cristena Bagne, she is a super talented and very nice demo in the Puyallup, WA area and this was the first time I got to see her home and stamping space.  She is so organized and has an awesome stamping room.  I now have some ideas for how to organize, if I can actually act on them. (Isn’t that always the hardest part).  Well, as part of her open house, we did a couple make and takes.  They were so cute I had to share them with you.  ty_butterfly_wm

    dreamsdujuor_candypurse_wm

     

    dreamsdujuor_candypurse_inside_wm

     

     

     

     

     

    And now I’m off to do some more stamping with friends.  Don’t forget to let me know if you want a Designer Paper sampler!  Happy Monday!

  • One of the cards from this weekend’s card kit

    pinkgreydreamsdujuor_wnWhile I waited for my UPS delivery to arrive so I can finish my scrapbook layouts, I spent last night working on cards.  This card grew a bit organically from me starting with the grey base, then picking the pink, then finding a layout, and then deciding on the stamp set.  I don’t know quite how to classify the card (valentine’s day, for you, or what).  But I think it’s cute anyway.  🙂

    I just got home and my packages were here including my new BigShot!  Yay!  So, I’m going to leave this short so I can go play with my new goodies.  Have a fantastic week!

    And if you are in the Portland area, just a reminder that you are welcome to attend my FREE Open Scrap day tomorrow from noon until 6pm.  Bring a project of your own to work on or I will have kits available (a card kit, a scrapbooking kit, and a mini-book).  Contact me and I’ll send you the details!

    Recipe:
    Stamps:
    Dreams Du Jour
    Inks: Pink Pirouette, Basic Grey
    Paper: Basic Grey CS, Basic Black CS, Whisper White CS, Bella Rose DSP
    Accessories: Stampin’ dimensionals, Basic Grey taffeta ribbon

  • Why I love my Stampin’ Up! Uplines

    Because they are awesome and organize great events!

    So, yesterday I went to a group meeting organized by my very distant upline (for those of you not familiar with the term, my upline is the person who recruited me to be a demonstrator).  It was for everyone in her group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators and their recruits.  It was a day of stamping, swapping, sharing, and learning – and it was awesome!  I met a ton of cool people and came away with some great ideas and some cool projects.  I just had to share some of the neat stuff.

    ) And who doesn't love presents? Thanks Heather, Karen, and Holly!
    First off, besides all the great tips and ideas my uplines gave me – they also gave me gifts. 🙂 And who doesn't love presents? Thanks Heather, Karen, and Holly!
    Then, in the morning, I got to try my hand at making a few quick make and take projects myself. We got to make a card, a 6x6 scrapbook page, and use the BigShot to make a basket and a card. Each of these was easy but fun to make.
    Then, in the morning, I got to try my hand at making a few quick make and take projects myself. We got to make a card, a 6×6 scrapbook page, and use the BigShot to make a basket and a card. Each of these was easy but fun to make.

    I also took a set of cards to swap with other demos at the event.  I procrastinated terribly and didn’t end up starting to design the card until Friday night!  However, after a couple hours of designing and constructing, I think I ended up with a pretty cute card.  What do you think?
    jenniferswap