Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Blender Pens - Three ways to color

 

Today I want to share some cards I made using my Blender Pens. I thought I would show a few different ways that you can use the pens.  

If you are unfamiliar with Blender Pens, they are a clear marker type pen, filled with some sort of solvent solution that blends ink.  It's important to note that Stampin' Up! Blender Pens are acid free and xylene free, unlike other pens on the market. Yay! They are sold in a set of 3 for $12 (as of March 2023). They are dual tip pens, both ends the same, giving you 6 pen tips for $12 or $2 each! You can use them with many mediums, ink, watercolor pencil, pastels, to sort of paint with.  One benefit is that if you can a set of blender pens, it's like having a marker in all the colors of you ink pad collection.  As you use the Blender Pens, you simple swipe away any remaining ink or color left on the pen tip on a scrap of paper and then you are free to use the pen again with another color. I usually just take one pen out of the box and use it until I dries, well longer than a year.  Some people like to designate pens for certain colors, a reds pen, a blues pen, etc.  I made a video to show how to use the pens below.


Here are some cards I made with Blender Pens in a variety of ways. 


First up is the easiest way to use the pens. I stamped the images in Stampin' Up! classic ink, which is water-based.  I then used the Blender pens to spread the ink that had been stamped onto the paper. In this case I stamped flowers, so I used the pens to smear the ink in the petal and leaves, I worked carefully on the flower petals to blend from the flower center outward, so the petals are darker in the center and get lighter going outward.  Color your images right after stamping so that the ink is not too dry to blend. This method gives a very light and softly colored look. 

 

 

 

 
 

 This next method used the Blender Pens much like a marker, but you pull ink from the lid of your ink pad, or from a pallet made with your ink refills, and then apply it to your image.  First stamp your image in Black, then apply your color with the Blender Pens. 

Why not just use a marker you say? Well a marker is a solid color, but with a Blender pen you can get darks and lights. Notice the flowers on the sample. The flower centers are a darker blue that gets lighter to the edges of the petals. If I had used a standard marker I could only get one color value. I show this in detain in the video above. Yes you can get different color values with Stampin' Blends Alcohol markers but the big difference is you can use the Blender Pens with any color but with Stampin' Blends Alcohol markers you need to buy each color and shade separately,  wereas I was able to get several shades of navy with just one Blender Pen and my Night of Navy ink pad.  


 


This last version used Watercolor Colored Pencils to get the color.  I stamped the images in Black ink, then colored them in using Stampin' Up! Watercolor Colored Pencils.  Using the Blender Pens on top of the already colored in images softens your coloring, getting rid of any harsh pencil lines.  When blending be careful not to blend out your darks and lights, but if you do, you can apply more pencil on top. You can also blend multiple colors of pencil together to get nice ombre effects.  One thing to look out for is paper pilling if you go over an area too much. Cheaper paper will pill faster, or any paper if you go over one area too much.  Have a little coloring party and just try it out a few times for fun before coloring your final image.  Blender Pens give a very pretty effect and can be really enjoyable to work with.







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Sunday, March 19, 2023

The Farm

 Another Scrapbook page! Actually a two-page spread! I'm on a roll!

These pages don't use special techniques or even products that you can still order, so I almost didn't share it! But they do use a couple of my favorite scrapbook items, I would even say my go to items, so I felt I should share these pages anyway.


The 'Scrapbook Essential' items for me are the Tailor Made Tags dies, and Alphabet stamps and dies.  

I use the tag dies all the time on scrapbook pages, they are great for titles, as I used the die for on this page. You can also use the tags for journaling or page decorations.  They are so useful!! 



 Alphabet dies are also great for titles.  On this page I used the Alphabet A La Mode dies.  These are a great size because they are tall, but thin.  The thin part is great because you can spell out more words on a card. In the past I have had letter dies that were thicker and could only fit 4 letters across a card, spelling out things like "love" or HB2U for Happy Birthday to you. These newer dies allow for more letters to fit across a card, and of course a scrapbook page. Here are a couple samples from the catalog.




I also tend to purchase all the alphabet stamps.  Currently there are two different alphabet stamps available.  Alphabest, which I used on my page for the word 'the'.   I added some catalog samples under the stamp sets so that you can get an idea on their size.

 
 
And the Classic Letters stamp set. 
 

 

 
These pages are from a trip to "The Farm" in Sturgeon Bay Wisc.  Our family goes there often while on vacation and we have been going there for years. I love to see the family posed with the scarecrow, same scarecrow but my family grows and the kids keep getting bigger :) 
 
The Designer Series Paper that I used for these pages was a pack that was Free with Purchase during Sale-a-Bration, so unfortunately it is no longer available, however Stampin' Up! has so many fantastic papers that I am sure you will find one to fit your needs. 

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Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Paper Sunset Scrapbook Page

 

Hi Everyone! Today I am taking part in the Scrapbooking Global Stampin' Up! Blog Hop!  Scrapbooking Global is a great Scrapbooking page on Facebook.  Participants use primarily Stampin' Up! products so I find it a great resource for inspiration! Scrapbooking is why I joined Stampin' Up! 18 years ago! My husband was sent to Iraq and I didn't want him to miss all the things our 4 1/2 year old was getting up to while he was gone. I started doing classes and doing more and more cards, which I love, but that put my scrapbook pages on the back burner a bit. I found I was only making 4 or 5 pages a year! Well I will never get caught up at that rate! Just before Covid, I added a scrapbook page option to my Card Buffets, that way I had to make at least one page a month! During all the Social Distancing I made even more!   I am trying to keep it up, so hopefully you will see more and more pages from me! 

This months There is Creative Backgrounds. I had several ideas floating in my head for this one.  Sponging, decorative masks, mixed media and more!  In the end I was looking at the photo of my husband with our middle child at a dock in Sister Bay, Wisconsin.  The sun was just setting and we were waiting for a table for dinner at JJ's, a favorite burger joint on the water.  Ben was doing all he could to keep Zachary out of the water! Such a wiggle worm. 


I used a base in Sahara Sand with another layer of Basic Black.  On a sheet of thinner 11 inch grid paper I began layering my strips of cardstock.  I wanted to layer on the grid paper so that when I got all the strips glued down, I could then trim the edges to get the perfectly straight.  I layered Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Coastal Cabana, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo and Gorgeous Grape.

I used the Waves Dies for the accents on my page. I love the look of those layered cloud dies. In the past I have used these dies with Basic White with accents of Balmy Blue or Smokey Slate but I thought this time I would be super dramatic and use Night of Navy and Mango Melody. What do you think? Too Much? I sort of like it! 

I hope that you  will follow along on the Hop! And, if you are a scrapbooker too, join our Scrapbooking Global page on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1204438373008307

You have most likely come from the Talented Sharon Dalton.  Next up is Courtenay Heuston from Australia. Hop on over to see her creation!



Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Eden's Garden bundle

 



This week I have been playing around with the Eden's Garden bundle.  I last used this bundle just before Christmas and used deep greens and reds.  I was reminded of the set because it is part of the Sale-a-Bration offering! Free with a $100 purchase.  Such a great deal and I thought I would get it out and make a card with it.  Well 4 cards later and I think I have ideas for 1 or 2 more.  The stamps are fun, very soft and airy, but my favorites are the dies! All those leaves can be used on anything!



On this Easter Card, I die cut the largest wreath once from Gold Foil paper and once from Shimmery White cardstock.  I used the Water Painters to add Soft Succulent and Polished Pink ink to the Shimmery White wreath.  The Happy Easter stamp is from the Easter Bunny stamp set, stamped in Evening Evergreen ink.  I added a bow from Crinkled White Seam Binding Ribbon and a little Gold Trim.

For this card I used a Sponge Dauber to add Soft Succulent and Polished Pink ink to the image. I cut the floral image out with a circle die from the Stylish Shapes die set. 

This card uses Mint Macron for the green this time.  I paired it with some Gingham paper from the Country Gingham Designer Series Paper.  I cut some circles using the Stylish Shapes dies in Shimmery White and Gingham.  The 'Sending Hugs' piece holds the flap closed by slightly overlapping the main image circle. 

And another, this time the paper is from the Delicate Desert Designer Series Paper.

This next one is from the Annual Catalog.



Sale-a-Bration ends two weeks from today. There are lots of great items to choose from, free with purchase.  click to see the full selection!





Monday, February 13, 2023

Best Day stamp set


Hi everyone.  I thought I would share a cute little card that I made for last weeks Card Buffet.  The stamp set is called 'Best Day' and it was just so fun and easy to use.  I used the same layout for both images and the sentiments are super cute too! 

Here are some more samples from the January to April mini catalog.

                                                                       
Shop with me! I would love to be your demonstrator.  I always send a hand stamped thank you card and sometimes more with a larger order, and I share my Stampin' Rewards with you through my Frequent Buyer Rewards! Earn FREE STAMPS! Click on the Frequent buyer tab to download the tracking sheet.


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