Vintage Tea Party Collection by Sara Davies

I’m sharing something a little different today created using the gorgeous 6” Paper Pad, Twine, Lace and Stamp set from the Vintage Tea Party Collection.  These papers work fabulous on their own but I’m showing you a few samples on how to make the most of the stamp set in addition.  These cards and more have been sent off to be shown on HSN in Germany.

If you are in the UK this collection is already available from Crafter’s Companion directly.

Stamped and coloured using Spectrum Aqua pens.  Plus a little Stickles glitter glue.

I created a shadow box for this sample and the image was created by masking a few stamps together and coloured using Spectrum Noir Colourblend pencils.

This aperture card was created by distressing the edge of the paper using Aqua pens and glycerin technique.  The image is coloured with Aqua pens.

Speed Art Journal: Way Too Extraordinary

After taking a break from making art journal videos to knuckle down and finish my final dance teaching qualifications I’m pleased to say that I am back!  I really enjoy art journaling so I’m hoping I can get back into a regular routine for you. 

In this first video of the new series I’ve decided to demonstrate some of my colouring techniques with you as this will be my first video since becoming part of the Spectrum Noir design team.  This entire spread was inspired by my daughter (who micromanaged the different stages lol x)  (Scroll down for video…)

YouTube Partnership Changes

Before we get into it I have a few points to make:  firstly, my channel has been affected by the recent changes to YouTube’s policies and now all of my videos that I worked hard to make have become demonetised.  This basically means that I can no longer receive ad revenue (which was only pennies on my channel) but it was a very good incentive for me to carry on creating and sharing content.  It also helped me justify buying another art journal or replacing supplies that ran out.  In order to get monetised in the future I need to greatly increase the number of hours my videos are watched by people.  Each video takes several days to create, then edit the footage, produce the final video and give you the blog entry listing all the materials, etc.  If you would like to support my channel (for free!) then the best thing would be to subscribe to my channel and maybe watch a playlist or two on there from time to time.  This, as well as liking and commenting on my videos, lets me know that you like my content and that you’d like to see more.  Of course, if you’re a company and would like to sponsor me to make a video using your products then please get in touch too!

Voiceovers or Background Music

I’ve had a chance to reflect on comments made and there have been some occasions that people have said they would prefer a voiceover and/or more descriptions of what I’m doing to help them make similar artwork or learn from my techniques.  I am super happy to start doing voiceovers for you but I also know that other people prefer to have the background music as they find the videos quite relaxing to watch.  Therefore, for this video I’ve created TWO versions – one with voiceovers and one without.  To help me know which format you would like to see in the future please comment on the video that works best for you.

Materials Used

• Templates and Stamps from Paperbabe: Female Profile, Long & Fringe and Profile Face Stamp Set
• Spectrum Noir Colorblend Pencils
• Skin: Walnut, Saddle Brown, Vanilla, Peach, Cream and Linen
• Lips: Raspberry, Carmine, Peach
• Hair: Saddle Brown, Cider, Antique Rose, Peach, Vanilla
• Spectrum Noir Aqua Pens: Sandstone and Blossom
• Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens: Starry Sky, Blue Topaz, Moonstone, Rose Quartz (lips)
• Spectrum Noir Artliner pens in black:  Brush, 08, 005
• Spectrum Noir Metallic Pen: Silver Ingot
• Ranger Archival Inks: Watering Can, Black, Red, Green
• Pebeo Decocreme Paints:  Pearl Violet, Matt Linen, Matt Royal Blue
• Texture Stamps by Craftwork Cards
• Cosmic Shimmer Flake and Glitter Glue
• Gilding Flakes
• Posca white pen
• Golden Gel Medium, Pebeo Drawing Gum, Pebeo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Tissue Paper

Video WITH Voiceover:

Video WITHOUT Voiceover:

Which video do you prefer?

Brand New Launch–Spectrum Noir ColourTint Pencils!

If you love your water colour pencils then you are going to absolutely need these new additions to the Spectrum Noir range!  These pencils are very unique in the fact that they are graphite based water soluble pencils and the colours are dark tints.  They work beautifully dry or wet and all of your normal water colour pencil techniques will work with these.  Only two 12-pencil tins are being released at the moment but the tones are plentiful and will obviously play nicely with your Aquablend pencils.  You can catch these launching as a One Day Special on Hochanda from Saturday 4th November alongside some perfectly-matched stamps by Sheena Douglass that have never been seen before!

Show Times on Hochanda: Saturday 4th November 6pm and 8pm, Sunday 5th November 9am, 1pm and 5pm.

Also coming soon on HSN in the USA!

Spectrum Noir at Crafter’s Companion: https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/brands/spectrum-noir.html 

Colorista Dark Collection Featured on HSN (Home Shopping Network)

If you’re into adult colouring at the moment and you haven’t tried the Colorista Dark colouring pads with the Metallic Pencils from Crafter’s Companion then you are definitely missing a trick!  I was fortunate enough to get to create some cool samples using the Floral Boutique 6x6” paper pad for the recent show on HSN in North America.  You can also find my previous Floral Boutique/Colorista Dark samples here made for the UK here.  What’s nice about crafting from a colouring book is that you can colour very portably – for instance, I coloured up my pads whilst I was on vacation in Mallorca, then when I came back home I got out my sentiment stamps and dies to create what you can see below…

This is an altered MDF heart.

The front of this card has been made from acetate.

Brand New Colorista Dark Colouring Pads by Spectrum Noir

Forget what you think you know about colouring books – colouring on BLACK paper with METALLIC pencils is sooooooo pleasing.  Crafter’s Companion are launching three sets of colorista dark pads – Floral Boutique (you can see my makes below), Steampunk themed and Moroccan themed.  Each set comes with a 6x6” pad, a bookmark pad and a tag pad.   Each page has beautiful designs on them created in a black glossy resist (like a black embossing powder).  Colour them in with your blendable colorista metallic pencils – although I even snuck in a bit of my clear Spectrum Sparkle pen on one of my bookmarks to make a sparkly background
TOP TIP:  After you’ve finished your colouring if you need to bring the black lines back up to a beautiful shine (I’m a little heavy handed) then grab a piece of blutack and it will come right off leaving behind the colour on the paper.
Show times on Hochanda: One Day Special on Monday 7th August 6pm, then on Tuesday 9am, 1pm and 5pm.
See products at Crafter’s Companion UK: https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/brands/spectrum-noir/spectrum-noir-colorista/colorista-dark.html

Altered box created using the bookmark pad.

New Launch: Frankie Stamps by Cherry Green Wednesday 26th July

Summer’s here and I’m excited to share with you some adorable new stamps by Cherry Green!  There is a whole set of Frankie (the little girl) embarking on lots of different activities.  Her pure look makes her so easily coloured to look like your own favourite little girls!  I particularly love the extra details stamps such as the different types of shells and the raindrops!  All of Cherry Green’s sentiments are hand drawn instead of typed.
Catch the launch on Hochanda on Wednesday 26th July 2017 at 10am and 4pm.
Visit Crafter’s Companion or Hochanda for all your crafting goodies.

7” Shadow Box Card
Stamps: Frankie Sunbathing by Cherry Green
Stamped onto Neenah Card by Crafter’s Companion.  Added store bought play sand.
Spectrum Noir pens:

• Skin: TN4 + FS9 + 8 + 4 + 2
• Hair: TN4 + OR2 + BO1 + OR1
• Clothes: TB9 + 7 + 5 + 3 / IG5 + 3 + 1 + Blender / IG5 + DR7 + 5 + CR6 / GY5 + 3 + LY1
• Sky: TB1 + IG3 + 1
• Stones: BG9 + 5 + 1
• Sea: TB5 + BT7 + 6 + 4
• Shells: PP1 + BG7 + 5 + 5 + CR2 + TN4 + YG3 + 1 + GY3 + 1

More Colourblend and Aquablend Samples for 16th June

Don’t forget to catch the one day special on Hochanda this Sunday and Monday to see the brand new colours of Spectrum Noir’s Aquablend and Colourblend pencils.  I managed to get a few extra samples made for you.

Links: 

• Hochanda (to watch live and to shop online)
• Crafter’s Companion
• Aquablend Pencils: https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/brands/spectrum-noir.html?cat=1515
• Colourblend Pencils: https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/brands/spectrum-noir.html?cat=1518
• Premium Paper Pads: https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/brands/spectrum-noir.html?cat=3422
• Cherry Green Stamps: https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/brands/cherry-green.html
• Stacey Barras Stamps: https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/papercraft/stamping/crafter-s-companion-collections/crafter-s-companion-stamps.html

Stamps: Hydrangea Garden by Cherry Green

Coloured onto Crafter’s Companion Premium Pencil Pad, heat embossed with gold glitter.

Colourblend pencils from new 12 packs only: sea grass, icicle, pollen, wineberry, coral, lagoon, sky blue, ladybug, dusty pink, lilac, candleglow

Stamps: Hydrangea Heart by Cherry Green

Coloured onto Crafter’s Companion Premium Pencil Pad, heat embossed with transparent hologram.  Made from Crafter’s Companion Fancy Card blank.  Butterfly overlay made from heat embossing onto heatproof acetate.

Colourblend pencils from new 12 packs only: sea grass, saltwater, orchid, cupid, pearl blush, indigo, amethyst, wisteria, candle glow, dusty pearl, saltwater.

Stamps: Little Birdy by Stacey Barras

Stamped with brown archival ink on Crafter’s Companion Premium Watercolour Pad.  Coloured with Aquablend pencils from new 12 packs only.

Matted onto patterned paper and Distress Coredinations embossed with Textures embossing folder.

Stamps: Perfect Peony by Stacey Barras

Stamped onto white tissue paper with Black Momento ink.  Coloured with Aquablend pencils from new 12 packs only.

Brand New Spectrum Noir Pencils on Hochanda 16th July One Day Special

Exciting news for Spectrum Noir pencil fans – BRAND NEW COLOURS for both the colourblend and aquablend lines have been released and will be on Hochanda as a One Day Special from 6pm on 16th July 2017.  The pencils are a fantastic expansion to the existing colours and are arranged in tin sizes of 12.  The new Colourblend tins are named Soft Tints and Bold Brights.  The new Aquablend watercolour tins are names Vivid Hues and Earth Tones.  You can see my Aquablend samples below using stamps by Stacey Barras – all have been coloured on the new Premium Watercolour Pad by Crafter’s Companion too!

HOCHANDA SHOW TIMES: Sunday 16th July from 6pm and Monday 17th www.hochanda.com

SPECTRUM NOIR PENCILS (Crafter’s Companion): https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/brands/spectrum-noir.html 

STACEY BARRAS STAMPS (Crafter’s Companion): https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/brands/crafter-s-companion/crafter-s-companion-stamps.html

Stepper Card made using Crafter's Companion Stamps "Find Your Wings" by Stacey Barras.  Spectrum Sparkle Clear overlay onto the bird.  Background created by scraping small specks of pencil onto the cardstock and spritzing with water.  Layered onto Coredinations card stock.

Easel Card made using Crafter's Companion Stamps "Perfect Peony" by Stacey Barras.  Background embossed Coredinations card with woodgrain Texture folder by Crafter’s Companion.  Layered onto Kraft card.

Wooden hanging heart made using Crafter's Companion Stamps "Beautiful Bloom" by Stacey Barras.  Heat embossed with Silver embossing powder and decorated with silver liquid pearls.

Diorama Card made using Crafter's Companion Stamps "Little Birdie" by Stacey Barras.  Clear Spectrum Sparkle pen on the edge of the wings.  Images stamped in grey Archival ink (Watering Can).  Background created by scribbling pencils and then watering with a brush, plus additional flecks of pencil.  Image has been decoupaged up for extra dimension.

Diorama Card made using Crafter's Companion Stamps "Beautiful Bloom" by Stacey Barras.  Image was stamped with orange Archival Ink, coloured and then cut out into it’s separate parts before being pieced back together for dimension.  Background is made from coredinations card, embossed with Textures folder by Crafter’s Companion and Pebeo gilding wax.

Spectrum Noir Colouring

Hi everyone I am out of my winter cave now and today I have put together a sample of my recent colouring projects.

1. Spectrum Noir ColourBlend Pencils

This is a digital stamp from ppinky designs.  I have coloured her using the ColourBlend pencils.  She’s been made into a card by mounting with a turquoise textured card and a copper pearl card.  The sentiment is from Sheena Douglass.

2 and 3. Spectrum Noir Pens

Here’s a picture that I managed to colour to give the illusion of a glow using the original Spectrum Noir pens and some brush nibs.

This one is also using these pens.  This image was from the Kit & Clowder monthly colouring class which I colour along with my Spectrum Noir pens.

4. Spectrum Illustrator Pens

This picture was coloured with the new illustrator pens.  See the original colouring post here.  I have then mounted this 3 times with textured card and black card.

5. Spectrum Sparkle and AquaBlend Pencils

This pair of Sheena Douglass Fairies was coloured with the Sparkle pens (mostly from the vintage set).  The skin and hair is from the AquaBlend pencils.  There is also a bit of Pebeo gilding wax on the wings.

Art Journal: The Family Tie is Like a Tree

I have taken a card which I recently made and turned it into an art journal page firstly because there were some really cool techniques involved and secondly to share with you how I can adapt cards for art journal pages and vice versa.  Included in this page is a simple watercolour background using Spectrum Noir Aquatints, colouring using watercolour pencils (Aqua Blend by Spectrum Noir), foiling technique using mixtion relief and a masking tape tree painted with Pebeo acrylic paints.  All of the stamps are from Sheena Douglass A Little Bit Sketchy range and work together beautifully.

Ingredients

• Aquatints by Spectrum Noir
• AquaBlend Pencils by Spectrum Noir
• Black Gesso by Pebeo
• Acrylic Paints by Pebeo
• Mixtion Relief and Gold Foil by Pebeo
• Modelling Paste by Pebeo
• Drawing Gum by Pebeo
• Archival Ink in Black and Watering Can by Ranger
• Stamps by Sheena Douglass: A Little Bit Sketchy (multiple A6 stamp sets)
• Masking Tape

Here’s the original card:

Colouring: Spectrum Noir Selection

I’ve put together a selection of my favourite finished pieces coloured with Spectrum Noir products (pens, pencils, aqua blend pencils and pens).  I hope you enjoy them.

Spectrum Noir ColourBlend pencils onto a plain card which had been covered with clear gesso for a sharp grit…

Spectrum Noir Pens onto Neenah cardstock

Spectrum Noir Pens and ColourBlend pencils together

AquaBlend Pens

N.B. The front surfboard is pebeo paints onto accetate

AquaBlend Pencils

First Play and Review! Spectrum AquaBlend Pencils!

I have been having so much fun getting to know the new Spectrum AquaBlend watercolour pencils which I ordered at launch.  These are highly pigmented water colour pencils with a nice thick core.  I have other watercolour pencils from both Derwent and Faber-Castell so I wasn’t 100% sure if I really needed these ones.  However the main draw for me was the large colour palette of bright colours.  Of the complete 94 colours there are plenty of ready prepared colours spread out across the spectrum of colours.  It is also easy to navigate and purchase the sets as there are no duplicates and the tins have meaningful names.  For instance – the essentials contain all your skin tones and shading colours, whereas the florals have a vast amount of pinks, reds and yellows.

Once I opened them up the first thing I did was scribble out a colour chart for all the colours and reference which tin that pencil came from.  The first thing I noticed was how smooth the pencils are.  I am not an expect at pencil formulas but there appears to be no grit or graininess which is amazing!  The next thing I noticed was that the colours don’t fade when the colours dry so they remain as bright as you colour them.  Apparently these pencils are lightfast for 50 – 100 years!

Then I went ahead and stamped out some stamps by Sheena Douglass onto watercolour card.  I stamped using my black Archival ink by Ranger.  This is one of the Little Bit Magical stamps.  To get the shading I picked three tones of each colour to create a blend just as I would with my alcohol pens, coloured the pencils onto the card roughly and then used a paintbrush and clean water to make the magic happen.  Sheena designs her stamps to include indications on where the shading should go.  For smaller details such as her lips I also wet my brush and took pigment directly from the pencil and painted on.

Next up I coloured in Sheena’s mermaid stamp from the same range.  I then created a very simple background of sky and sea which was very easy to do.

And for my next trick!  I stamped a very detailed stamp of Sheena’s called Laguna Surf and referring to my colour chart picked and chose colours as I fancied!

And guess what?  Since opening the tins I have NOT sharpened a single pencil yet!!!  Bargain!!!

New Spectrum Noir ColourBlend Chart

I’ve just grabbed myself a complete set of the newly re-branded ColourBlend by Spectrum Noir pencils but all of the colour charts refer to the original numbers instead of the new colour names.  So I’ve made my own chart to share with anyone else who is looking – enjoy!  All the tins contain the same colours but Nature is now called Naturals and Marine is now called Shade and Tone.