A Muse Studio... I started a thing!

This week I received a starter kit to become a creative consultant with A Muse Studio. I have been on the fence about joining them for years and finally decided that the starter kit was seriously worth my money this time. I ordered the deluxe kit so I could have all the goodies.

I went ahead and did an unboxing video of my starter kit.


A Muse Studio Creative Consultant Deluxe kit unboxing

The kit was packed full of goodies to use, try and demonstrate.

This morning I had a few minutes so I tried out one of the ready made designs. I did make it my own by using my Copic markers to color the main image, since I love to color so much.

I took photos so you could follow along.

This is the card we are going to make. This cute camper is from the Happy Camper set and can be purchased here: Shop A Muse Studio

The technique I wanted to focus on for this card was the use of Copic Markers to color the main image. All the Copic colors used are available through A Muse Studio as well.

These were the products used to create this card. A list of colors, Copic and Ink will be listed below.

Using the proper size acrylic blocks makes stamping so much easier.

I used Memento ink in Tuxedo Black to stamp my image. This ink is Copic friendly.

I stamped my image a few times on A Muse's Sugar Card stock, to ensure I got a great image.






Then I colored. Laying a base color down on the image. I used the next darker color to start the shading near the edges of the image. Added the darkest color in to really define the shadow and blended it back out with the lightest color. 



Here all the blending on this part of the camper is complete.

                                                                   See the shading?



                                  I picked these three shades for the lower part of the camper.

This is the first layer of color. I just filled in the space to saturate the paper with color.








This is the second step in coloring this part of the image. Laying in some shadow with the middle color.

    Here I have added the darkest shade in the areas where the shadow will be the darkest.








  The colors are all blended out now. I use the lightest color to blend all the colors together.






I wanted to finish the details, windows, door and hub caps. So those were all done without blending but they are small spaces. 

Here, I have used Y11 to fill in the window and door to indicate maybe lights on inside the camper.

 

 The hub cap and the door were colored with W6. A warm grey.

After trimming out the image, I used the same W6 marker to quickly color the white edges to make it look like I had trimmed it out perfectly.

Then I added the camper to the card panel. I stamped a camper directly on this card panel so I didn't have to trim out the camper with the hitch since that is so little. I sponged navy ink on the card and stamped the stars in lemon whip. The card panel was attached to a card base made with navy card stock and that is it. Cute card. Took about 15 minutes with breaks to deal with a fussy baby.



A Muse Items used:

Ink
Memento Tuxedo Black
Lemon Whip Pigment Ink
Navy Pigment Ink

Copics

BG 13 mint green
BG 15
BG 18 teal blue

E43
E44 clay
E49 dark brown

Y11 pale yellow

W6 warm grey no.6

Stamps
Happy Camper

Paper
Sugar Cardstock
Navy Cardstock

Unicorns are awesome

This beautiful image comes from Unity stamp company. I know that almost everyone I know would love to see this show up in their mailbox. You can't help but smile.  I colored the unicorn using my copic markers. A few doodlebug design embellishments and this card front was complete. The inside was stamped using a rainbow pad and the image was stamped off once to make it lighter. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Unity Stamp Company Blog Hop August 2nd

Oh my, welcome to my stop on the blog hop. You are at stop number 4. The link for the next stop on the blog is below.

I was gifted the task of creating a card with Ellie Girl one of the Angie Girl Stamps from Unity Stamp Company. This was the first time she was out of the package and the very first time I had the opportunity to color her. AND WHAT FUN SHE IS TO COLOR!

 

So one of my favorite things to see, a Unity package. Their packaging is so cute.

And I love their rubber. It stamps so clear and the rubber is etched nice and deep. It makes for beautiful images.

I chose this Simple Stories pack of paper from my paper stash to use with Ellie. These papers just screamed, USE ME!!!

I picked these three papers. I used one big print, one medium print and one small print and paired them with black as an accent color.

Then I colored her to coordinate with the papers.

I colored her using my Copic Markers. Traditional three color blending for the most part and then I did a dot technique for the background. Using shades of blues (B) markers for the sky and browns (E) markers for the ground. The list of markers used:

E000, E00 E11, E13, E15, E31, E35, E43, E93
N0, N1
C0
RV21, RV52,RV55
Y00, Y06, Y21, Y28, Y35
YR04, YR23
YG17
B000,B18, B21, B24, B41, B45
BV04
Colorless Blender

The next blog in the hop belongs to Sheena Brooks. Click the link below to find out what she has to share.

Sheena Brooks  The first stop in the hop is Lucinde van Ballegooijen if you'd like to start at the beginning   of the hop, click this link.  Lucinde van Ballegooijen

Unity Stamp Company Blog Hop

August 1st I will be participating in a Blog Hop for Unity Stamp Company. Be sure to watch for posts. There will be prizes.

Back at the Blog?!?

I think I'll be back at the blog. With everything starting to slow back down in our world, I may have more time to write and update here. We have been so blessed and added a new baby to our family on the first of June. He was hand picked in heaven and sent to us by Delaney, we are sure. I have given up my craft room for a nursery and have relocated after pairing down, to the dining room. This is where I need to get my mojo back and work within the space I have. AND I AM READY!

I was Unity's Growing in Unity Girl a few weeks back and even though I had a newborn I still made time to create the cards I needed for the week. I hadn't felt so settled and relaxed the entire time I have been home with Cooper than those few minutes I was able to create something awesome. Today the stamps I received as a reward for being Unity's GIU girl. AND THEY ARE AMAZING! I will also be taking part in a blog hop on the first of August with an Ang girl stamp from Unity. I can't wait to be creative again and just settle into my new life with this amazing little man and my new space.

Here are some pictures of our newest little man, Cooper David Moran born 6/1/2015

I totally missed the date!

So I totally missed posting this card. I was the winner of a Paper Crafting Challenge a few weeks ago and was given the opportunity to be the guest designer for the week, this week! I was sick and I celebrated my birthday and found out we bought a house and I completely forgot to post the card and link to the challenge.

So here is a quick blog post about it all. ;)

Paper Crafting Challenge 6

Unity's In a Pickle Itty Bitty and some Scrap papers a few brads and my new favorite Copics created this adorable Pregnancy card.


 Based on this sketch!

There is about 1 1/2 days left to play along so go for it! I know I'll be making one for the challenge tomorrow.

Where have I been you ask? ... Knee deep in cards!!!

I had an order for 36 cards. 36 cards that needed to be thank you and birthday themed. The customer loves history, geography, vintage, antiques and all those types of things so when I went to create his card sets I used that to my advantage. I made 24 thank you cards using some map themed papers from The Paper Studio's Uncharted Pack.

I heat embossed the sentiment, thank you in silver using Ranger Super Fine Detail Embossing powder.  A banner was made from some of the scraps and a single brad was added from Recollections mini brads metallic collection in silver.

Then I used the spare pieces of the map papers and was able to create 4 birthday cards. These were simple and fairly masculine and they were finished off with three Recollections brads on the upper left.

So that would be 28 cards...

These two cuties were made using the same two pieces of paper from a Doodlebug Design 6x6 paper pad called take note. The papers are two sided and this offers so much in the way of whimsey to the cards although the cards are created with structure, they scream fun!

The spellbinders die cut image panel is held in place with four yellow Recollections brads.

A bit of additional whimsey is added to this card with those Recollections brads, in black, on the edge of the image panel.

And now we are at 30 cards...

These two cards were created using The Paper Studio's The Great Circus Company Paper pack and some Unity Itty Bitty stamps. I used some Spare parts and recollection star brads on the little elephant stamp. The star brads fit perfectly inside the stamped image. Then I trailed the stars upward to fill in the space. One tiny star dots the I in wish Big and a single star holds the bottom part of a circle in place to anchor the three circles.

I normally color but these papers scream for line drawing style stamping so there really isn't too much coloring going on between the two. The package is shaded with E40 though, just to help add a little dimension. Three little Recollections brads finish the card off at the bottom.

Here that same image has been colored brightly with Greens and Blue-Greens to match the fun background paper by Doodlebug Design. This is why I love stamps. They are so versatile, the same image for two different audience. A few silver brads The Paper Studio's Spare Parts line finish this fun card.

A scrap left from those Doodlebug Design papers, a piece from DCWV and a little pink card stock make the base for this fabulous card.

The cake and the sentiment are stamps by Jennifer Ellory from the set Bake a Cake. The cake stand and the cake layer were stamped and the cake was colored with E40, E41 and E43. The Flowers were stamped with a Stampin' Up marker Melon Mambo. The brads were Recollections in yellow. A panel was cut out using the spellbinders oval die and then the oval with scallop.

 The total sits at 34 cards...

Then it was on to some GinaK. I love the "Tickle your funny bone" You Know You're Old When set and have had it since about 2007. It is my go to card for those "middle aged" men in my life and it gets used several times a year for those "MUST HAVE" funny cards.

The first one is the man

These papers are by Basic Grey's Bowties paper pack. I found them at my local Big Lots. The mountain of Copics used to color this old geezer was ginormous and I should have taken a photo so I remembered what they were. Sorry... The inside of the card says: When your ears are hairier than your head. I'm sure we all know someone who would appreciate the humor in this one.

And then there is this fabulous lady

Same stamp set used here on this lady. The inside of the card says: When getting lucky means finding your car in the parking lot!...  The papers here are also Basic Grey but are from the Clippings pack.

I sure hope the gentleman who ordered these cards will be happy with the amount of energy and creativity that went into all 36 of them. ;) Night all! Oh and I'd love to read your comments. Tell me which is your favorite. Did one tickle your funny bone?