Just Mermazing

Warm sunshine greetings everyone that takes the time to have a read of my blog, I truly appreciate you stopping by and love reading your comments on the posts I make, it makes me feel like I'm not alone 😘
I use this blog like a kind of journal, for every day stuff occasionally, but mostly for my crafting stuff because it helps me remember how I did something and more importantly WHEN I did it which is useful as projects go like this one.

I made the backgrounds on these cards at the beginning of April, I needed to do something crafty but as seems to happen a lot lately I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do, so I got out some bits and just had a play. Having acquired a new stencil at the time I decided that I wanted to play with my VersaFine Clair inks using them for blending techniques rather than just for stamping.

Stupid I know but I've only recently realised that you can do blending and smooshing with inks other that Distress Inks and Oxides lol! So I made several backgrounds like this using a different combination of colours and put them to one side. I tried adding some big bold sentiments to them but it didn't look right, so they went in my maybe someday box along with some other panels I made during the same fiddling and faffing session that used a new Stampin Up stencil, VersaFine Clair inks again, and some Nuvo 'Moonstone' Glimmer Paste.

I used a My Favorite Things stamp set called "Mermazing" to stamp the cute little mermaids and the seaweed bits behind the sentiment, but I haven't got the matching die set so I had to fussy cut the mermaids out the best I could, I then went around the edge with a Memento Tuxedo Black marker pen, but I'm jumping ahead. I coloured the mermaids with some Copic Ciao pens, I started collecting them back in February and have 36 so far and the colourless blender, I tried to get some basic shades that are close together but I still have much more to learn about using them and there are another 143 pens to get, although I don't have to get them all, but I most probably will lol!

I've tried using Nuvo Alcohol markers which depending in the cardstock used with them work really well and blend well to, but there are not so many colours in the Nuvo markers I think I have about 60 and they recently released 2 x 3 colour blend sets that I haven't got yet. I've also used Promarkers, again I don't have many about 45 and not a good mix for all round, as I did with my wax based pencils recently, I'm going to stamp several of the same images on a variety of card stocks and see which set I like.

I also have about 2-3 sets of Spectrum Noir markers that I got when I first started experimenting with colouring but I didn't get on with them so they sit in a box. I'm wondering now if its the card stock I used at the time and think that when I do the comparison I'll add them to the list. The whole point of my comparison tests and subsequent posts is to help me decide which products to keep and which to say goodbye to. I now have so much stuff and new things keep coming out that I need to thin things out because I just haven't got the space to keep buying new products and keeping the old ones.

I had heard lots of crafters rave about Copic's but they were so very out of my price range initially because the ones I saw came in sets that were rather pricey, but I've found a place online that sells them for less than £2 each, so I can buy a few at a time. I do love the way the Copic Ciao pens blend together, they are so smooth, if you click on the mermaid above you can see that I've smudged my colouring a little and gone in to areas with the darker colours that I'm not supposed to and I haven't got the hang of shading with them yet, but I'm getting there.

It could also be that I haven't got the right shades to blend, that sounds odd but lots of my pens are very close together on the shade chart and I've recently read that there should be about 3 numbers apart to blend well. I'll get the hang of it with time and I'm hoping to take some online colouring classes over the next few months to help me improve with my copic colouring and pencil colouring. I've also just started collecting Polychromos pencils so I want to learn how to use them better.

To create my backgrounds was very simple to do I laid the stencil on to the front of the card blank and used a couple of Creative Expressions Smoothies to add colour through the stencil until I was happy with the colours I used only VersaFine Clair inks on these backgrounds as I mentioned above Warm Breeze, Verdant & Paradise for the green one and Purple Delight, Charming Pink and a little Fantasia for the pink and purple versions.

I cut 3 panels using one of my favourite stitched oval sets from Craft Stash and used black 'Nocturne' VersaFine Clair ink to stamp the sentiments. I added the seaweed with a selection of the same colours mentioned above on each colour card then used some glue to attach a small section of the mermaid to the sentiment panel and then added 3D foam pads to the panel and mermaid to attach to the card. The final touch was to add 3 small clusters of tiny gems to the cards and they were complete. I wound up feeling relaxed and creative when I'd sat down not knowing what to create and feeling a bit daunted, this seems to be happening the more my stash expands, with lots of things you'd think crafting with it all would be easy? Unfortunately I end up feeling overwhelmed and not nothing what to use or try, another reason to start thinning things out a little!

I'm still working on the samples for my oval beauty brush test post, hopefully that will come soon, I have my youngest nephew staying next week, so I won't get as much crafting time, but I don't mind, he likes cooking and growing things and gaming, so I'll be kept busy for sure lol!

Christmas Playtime

I can't believe that the holidays are almost over, Si goes back to work on Wednesday, the time has sure flown by, we've been generally chilling out, eaten lots of chocolate, watched a lot of telly and done some gaming, between that and visiting family its been relaxing and fun.

I got lots of lovely crafting goodies as gifts this year, stamps, ink pads, dies, a 5" x 7" Gelli Plate, lots of Tim Holtz goodies including a second tin for my Alcohol Inks, a cover for my Stamping Platform, a Sidekick Machine and some Side Orders to go with it.

My niece and nephews got me some stamps that I can use with the wreath maker templates and fabulous set of fir trees from Inkylicious. Simon bought my a superb light that not only gives me additional light when I'm working, it also has a magnifier on it, making it easier to see what I'm working in if it involves fine details. It can be fixed to the desk with a clip or be stood on a stand like a standard lamp and there is a battery pack that can be attached for use whilst travelling if you don't have access to mains electricity. Given that I now have better light I've re-organised the craft desk to make more space, I've added a set of 4 drawers that now house my Embossing Powders, Altenew Ink Cubes, Mixed Media Paints and a few other things, much easier to gain access to them this way and I've put things I don't use as often in the places the ink cubes etc were.

There is still some clutter and things need to be organised a little better but I'm getting there, I still need to label my Oxide inks and thin out some of the other stuff, some of it will be going to my niece Zoe, for Xmas I got her a small die cutting machine and some basic kit (cardstock, scissors, glue, foam pads etc) and I gave her a lot of stuff I didn't use any more like some Docrafts dies that cut circles and scalloped squares, I have larger sets that include all the same sizes so I don't need them.

I also gave her a lot of inkpads that I didn't use, some I'd bought and NEVER used. She has taken to card making like a duck to water, I got a message from her today saying she'd just finished making a birthday card for her Dad, his birthday is on the 2nd January. As Zoe has embraced card making I'll be giving her more of the stash I no longer use, the kind of things I bought when I was just starting out, the basic training wheel stuff, not that I think I'm a professional now, but I use techniques and products that when I first started card making I didn't think I'd ever be using.

After I'd finished sorting my craft space, I decided to have a little play and dug out some of the stamps and dies that I got from the NEC back in November and made a couple of cards. Both of them have the Inkylicious Splatter background stamp on them, I used Distress inks in various shades of blue and a couple of shades of the new Versa Clair inks I got for Xmas.

I have to say that the Versa Clair 'Nocturne' (black) ink is my new go to black ink, it stamps so crisp and clean, picked up details just like Versafine it is smudge proof after about 50 seconds but you can still emboss it for up to 5 minutes after stamping!

The ink dries very quickly and once dry, stamped images are waterproof and will not smear, the images are light fast and fade resistant and once dry you can use water colour pens without any smearing. I'm getting the rest of the colours for my birthday so when I have all 24 I'll do a post on them by way of a review.  If the inks could be use for alcohol inks as well it would be perfect, I will be using these inks a lot more from now on. Look at how crisp and dark the Nocturne ink has stamped on both these cards.

I have a lot of black ink pads and I've always used Versafine 'Onyx Black' for stamping sentiments, but I think Versa Clair 'Nocturne' will be replacing the Versafine. Both cards I made today are part of my efforts to make some flatter cards that cut down on postage costs and also to challenge myself to try and create a cards with layers of ink rather than layers of paper. That's all from me for now, wishing you all the best for the New Year, I'll be back soon with more wreath template posts and a lot of ink ideas to share with new goodies I want to master, HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us at Warts n All Towers xxx