Colorado Craft Company - Anita Jeram Stargazers

*This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

I'm so thankful for Colorado Craft Company's partnership with Anita Jeram.  I love her images and being able to use them on my projects just makes me happy.  This card features Anita's Stargazers set.  There are two main images, one featuring bunnies, and this pair of bears. 

I started by stamping the bears on both a panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock and then on a piece of masking paper using Gina K Black Amalgam ink.  

I fussy cut the masking paper, placing it over my stamped image, and then inked the background starting with  Scattered Straw on the top right of the stamped image as well as into the top right corner.  I wanted the bears to be bathed in moon/starlight from that side.  The remainder of the background was inked primarily with Chipped Sapphire, but I did add just a touch of Black Soot to deepen the blue a little.

Once I was happy with the inking, while the mask was still in place, I spritzed with a bit of water and immediately dried the panel with a paper towel.

The mask was then removed, and I colored my image using E21, E23, E25, E27, and E29 for the bears, and YG25, YG67, G28, and G29 for the grass.  

With my coloring complete, I placed the panel back into my stamping platform and inked again, this time with Versa Clair black ink to crisp up the lines.

I then used my heat gun to make sure all the ink was totally dry and then white embossed the sentiment, also from the Stargazers set.

To finish things off, I placed my mask back over the stamped/colored image and added some white splatter/stars.

These bears are so sweet, I smiled the whole time I was making this card!

Colorado Craft Company, Christmas Hats

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

I was in the mood to color the other day, and figured it was the perfect opportunity to create a Christmas card at the same time.

This card features three of the adorable images from Colorado Craft Company's Christmas Hats set by Anita Jeram.

I love Anita's critters, they are adorable, and if you're someone like me who is just a so so colorer, these are perfect because the fur is very forgiving when it comes to coloring.  I sometimes struggle getting a smooth blend, but for these guys, where Jeram adds lots of texture/lines to the critters, you really don't need that.

The images were stamped with Gina K Black Amalgam ink.  Here are the Copics I used:

Hedgehog - W2, W4, W5, W6

Dog - E51, E11, E13, E15, E17

Cat - YR30, YR20, YR24, YR27

Reds -R20, R22, R24, R29

Greens - G00, G03, G16, G17

Shadows - C2, C4

Once I was done with the coloring, I added a sentiment, also from the Christmas Hats set, and a scalloped mat from Mama Elephant's Filly Window Frame die set.

These guys were so much fun to color, I smiled the whole time because they are just so cute.

Hope your week is going well!

Colorado Craft Company Hooray

I just can't get enough of Anita Jeram's images from Colorado Craft Company.  This might be the best thing that has happened in the crafting world this year.  I got a little birthday money last month, and this Proud of You seet was one I immediately ordered.

Not only are these animals adorable, but I love that they take up so much of the card.  It's nice to have some of these 'whole card 'images on hand, especially for people like me who are too lazy to mask images to create large scenes.

The image was stamped with Gina K black amalgam ink and then colored with Copics.  

For the grass I did a bit of a riff on pointillism, same idea, but instead of tiny little dots, I made mine bigger/more blog like.

Because the coloring was primarily all neutrals, with the exception of the grass, I thought it would be fun to incorporate a bolder/colorful patterned paper on my card base.  This is a super old 12x12 print that I used a bit of the other day when scrapbooking.

The sentiment is also from the Proud of You set.

That's all for me today.  I'll be back tomorrow with my June reading recap!

The Daily Marker 10 Day Coloring Challenge Finished Cards, Day 2

Hi all, I've got a couple more finished cards to share today.  These two came together pretty quickly because they are stamped scene images by Anita Jeram for Colorado Craft Company.

I mentioned yesterday that I needed to step up the Christmas card making, so although these could have been winter or birthday cards, I went ahead and made them holiday cards.

This first card features the main image from the Snow Happy set.  I started by adding a sentiment from my Scandinavian Prints Christmas set for Neat & Tangled.  

Then I trimmed my panel down a bit, and adhered it to a light blue card base.

The frame is kraft cardstock that was first die cut using a rectangular die from My Favorite Things, and then cut a second time to add the oval opening using the Card Front Dies from Neat & Tangled.

The frame was then popped up over the image with foam tape.  Super simple, but you really don't need a lot with a large image that carries the day.

The second card features one of the images from the Christmas Presents set.  I love this image, but had ben kind of avoiding it because there are so many things to color in it and sometimes I get overwhelmed by having to find all the different color/shading combinations.  Solution?  Go with a monochromatic color scheme.  In this case, I went with sepia tones.

I thought about making this just a birthday card since the colors aren't really Christmassy, but decided to go ahead and go with a Christmas theme.  The sentiment is from Neat & Tangled's Santa's Wonderland set.

Papertrey Ink's Honey Nut cardstock was the perfect match for the color scheme, so I went with that for the base, but trimmed the panel down a bit more than I normally do so you can see more of it.

I'll have a couple more finished cards to share with you tomorrow!

*This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp

Colorado Craft Company Birthday Wishing Clean and Simple Masking

Hi friends!  I have a trio of super clean and simple masked cards featuring the Birthday Wishing set from Colorado Craft Company to share today.

I love this image of the bunny with the balloon and wanted to put him center stage.

I started by stamping him on a few panels of Neenah Solar White cardstock with Gina K Black Amalgam ink using my MISTI, leaving the stamp in place after I was done.

I also stamped the image onto some masking paper and then fussy cut the balloon and bunny.

Those masked pieces were placed over the stamped images.  I then adhered Post-It tape around all four sides of the stamped panel, covering the outside 1/2" of the panel.

Then it was time to ink the background.  The first panel I inked was that darker blue one, using Cloudy Sky and Nimbus ink from Altenew.  I then masked off a bit of the bottom of the panel for the ground line and inked the ground using Charcoal Suit ink, also from Altenew.

All of the Post-It tape and masks were then removed.  It's always a little bit like magic pulling those masks off!

The same process was completed for the other panels.  For the lighter blue I used Misty Morning and Cloudy Sky along with a Charcoal Suit again for the ground, just using a lighter hand with that.

For the gray panel, I used Silver Lake and Cloudy Night with Cloudy Night for the ground as well.

When reusing masks, especially where there are those smaller areas like a bunny foot or ears that are away from the main piece, sometimes those outside areas start to lose their stickiness.  I tap just a bit of Tombow Mono Adhesive tape runner against them when that happens to help add a bit of stickiness.  Sometimes this leaves some residue when you remove the mask, but a gum eraser easily removes those.

Once all my panels were inked, I proceeded to color them using Copics.  For the balloon, I used R32, R35, R37, and R39, for the bunny I used E30, E31, E33, E35, and E37, and for that little bit at the bottom of the balloon string I used N1 and N5.

After coloring each of the panels, I slipped them back into the MISTI, remember I had left my stamp in place?  I restamped the image, this time using Versafine which really crisps up the image and makes it pop.  Of course you need to be sure you have your panel carefully placed in the corner.  I started out with four panels (there was a darker gray version too) and was working too fast and managed to mess one up.

The sentiments were then added.  Two of them are from this Birthday Wishing set and this last one is from the Wishing You Happiness set.

These backgrounds are so easy to create, but I think they give the image such impact.  

Hope you are having a great week - it's really warming up here, 70 degrees!  

Quick and Easy Notecards

I have such an easy project to share with you guys today.  

I've been wanting to make a set of notecards ever since I saw the little mouse writing in his notepad image from Colorado Craft Company's Wishing You Happiness set.  

I wanted these to be true notecards - just a piece of cardstock, no flap to open, but I also knew I wanted to color the image with Copics and I didn't want any of the coloring to bleed through to the back.

What to do?  I decided to back my cardstock with patterned paper which I think adds a fun whimsical touch.  I used Close to My Heart cardstock as well as a simple print from CTMH.  I chose CTMH because the white works well with Copics, and both the cardstock and the patterned paper are a lighter weight than the cardstock I usually use for my card bases as well my other scrapbooking patterned papers.

To make sure that the papers were well and truly stuck together, I went with a spray adhesive, spraying the back of the patterned paper and then immediately placing my cardstock over it and smoothing.  Because those papers are both 12" x 12" and I knew I would be cutting it down into A2 size pieces, I didn't need to worry about lining things up perfectly.

After trimming my pieces down, I used the MISTI to stamp the image and sentiment on each of my panels, and colored.  I used N0, N1, and N3 for the mouse, E0000 and E42 for the notepad, Y35 and E34 for the pencil, and W1 and W3 for the ground.

This was such a quick and easy project and makes a wonderful little set to give away.  It's a great way to use up some of that old patterned paper you might have lying around too!

Colorado Craft Company Sending Tickles

The Wishing You Happiness set by Anita Jeram for Colorado Craft Company is another that I picked up last year.  The image in this set are much smaller than that big image I shared last week.  I really love the one of the little mouse writing on a notepad....I think that'll be perfect for a simple set of notecards.

I also really love this pair of images, especially the expression on the dog's face.  I'm not even sure what the little guy with the paintbrush is, hamster?  Whatever he is, he's cute.

The images were stamped with Gina K Black Amalgam ink on Neenah solar white cardstock, colored with Copics. and then fussy cut.  

I chose a simple patterned paper background ad added patterned paper borders and some stitching at the top and bottom along with a dark gray mat.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

It seemed like I still needed a little something else, so I added some die cuts stars using an old Neat & Tangled die set, adding a bit more stitching.

That's all for me today.  Hope this puts a smile on  your face!

Colorado Craft Company Better Together

One of the best things that happened in the stamping world last year was that Colorado Craft Company started producing designs from Anita Jeram.  Her illustrations have a special place in my heart, our daughters loved the Guess How Much I Love You? book.

I picked up a couple of her sets last year and this week got out the Better Together set.

The main image is this little vignette with all these critters together.  I love how this just fills up a card and really doesn't require much else.

I stamped the image on some Neenah Solar White cardstock with Gina K Black Amalgam ink and then colored it with Copics.  I was trying to achieve a less smooth, more textured look that mimics the images in her book illustrations.  

I used E30, E31, E33, and E35 for the bunny, E13, E15, E37, and E07 for the fox, C0, C1, and C3 for the squirrel, W0, W1, and W2 for the mouse, and W1, W3, W5, and W7 for the hedgehog.  For the sky, I used B0000, B000, and B00, and YG61, YG63, and YG65 for the grass.

Once I was done coloring there really wasn't too much else to do, I added a sentiment from the set and a simple die cut frame in kraft using an older MFT die.

Such an easy card to put together!