Ballerina for my niece

I have to apologize for not keeping up with my blog.  I have been doing this and that and I didn't realize it had been so long since updating it!  I've been taking some online coloring classes at Kit and Clowder, volunteering and other stuff.  I really enjoy my coloring classes and I need to post of of them here.  Today is a project that I made using some of my new copic coloring skills.  

I made this ballerina art piece for my niece's birthday.  She has been in dance and ballet so I wanted to make her something to remember her special day. 

I only used one paper from Paper Temptress store on this piece but I used both watercoloring technique and regular coloring with copics on it.  I love this paper because it has a wonderful texture to it that is great for copics, watercolors and inks as well as many other mediums that you may want to try.  The awesome paper is called Strathmore Bristol Bright White.  

I hope you can see the difference between the watercolor background and the copic coloring of the ballerina.

I took this photo a darker and angled it so that you could see the little gems that I added to this project. 

The stamp I used is a digital stamp by AuroraWings called Flower Ballerina.   I LOVE a lot of the digital stamps on this site!  In fact, I really liked that I could make this image as large as I wanted in order for it to be the right size for this project. 

Thank you for stopping by!  Hope you have a fun and craft-tastic weekend!

Halloween Cutie

Hello everyone! I'm here to share a little Halloween Cutie with you.  The little gal is a Sherri Baldy Bestie digital image.  I colored her and the background with copics.  I am taking some copic coloring classes at Kit and Clowder and that's where I learned how to color the background.  Don't get too startled about the prices because they are Australian dollars and it's much cheaper here in US.

I cut out the moon and put the colored image (popped up on pop dots) on top of the Incandescent Candido paper which also served as a border.   I added a little shading to the moon to add a little depth as you can see in the photo below.

I layered the top frame up on pop dots to add even more dimension and attached the bottom layer.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Below is a list of all the paper I used.

Copic X-Press Blending Card

Incandescent Candido

Amethyst 

Ruby Mica/Metallic

Coloring With Copics - Great Paper Options

Hello everyone!  I would like to showcase some of the best copic paper there is on earth!  Oh yeah!  It's that good!  And of course, you can find it at the Paper Temptress store!  

My personal favorites are X-Press It Blending Card, Cryogen White, Heavenly White Premium Ultrasmooth Cardstock. and  Neenah Solar White.

The first paper I'm highlighting is X-Press It Blending Card.  It's a bright white paper that is very smooth so that copic and other alcohol ink markers glide very well along the surface.  The smooth texture of the paper allows the ink to mix and blend when you are adding in your shading or combining two colors as I've done in the photo below.  As you can see, the X-Press It is even brighter than the white paper it's sitting on.   This paper isn't especially thick so the ink will bleed through the paper some and of course the more layers you color, the more it will bleed through.  You will need to adhere it onto other cardstock when making a card.  Don't let that steer you away from using it though.  It's about the same thickness as the Heavenly White 80 lb.  I really enjoy using this paper.

This next project is one I made recently.  I have been taking some copic coloring classes over at Kit and Clowder and this is one of the projects I made in the class!  I used Cryogen White as my base and printed the digital stamp onto it.  I wasn't happy with my first try at the hair so I reprinted the stamp and colored it up and cut it out.  Funny story is that I printed it onto  X-Press It Blending Card instead of Cryogen!  hahaha!  After I cut it out you couldn't tell that it was different paper than the background because the background had so much detail.  I popped the mermaid and dolphin up onto pop dots and did the same with the little fishies.  I also put Crystal Effects on the bubbles so it gives them a more fluid and 3-d  effect.

You may be able to see the crystal effects on the bubbles in the image below:

The last paper that I'm highlighting is Heavenly White Premium Ultrasmooth Cardstock. 

I colored the girl, Tilda, below onto Heavenly White 80# and paper pieced her dress.  I cut her out and popped her up on pop dots.  You can read the blog post about this card here:  I Give You My Heart.

(ps: I colored this image before taking the copic coloring classes at Kit and Clowder.  I'm learning so much! )

Heavenly White Premium Ultrasmooth Cardstock is also very smooth and works well with alcohol ink markers.  One thing that's great about Heavenly White  is that is comes in 3 thicknesses.  There's the original Heavenly White Premium Ultrasmooth Cardstock , Heavenly White 100# Extended Archival Cardstock, and Heavenly White 120# Ultrasmooth which is thick enough that it will not bleed through the back.

If you are having a difficult time trying to decide which cardstock you will like the most then you could try the Copic Sampler Pack. This package includes 2 sheets of
COPIC X-Press It
Cryogen White
Heavenly White 80#
Heavenly White 100#
Heavenly White 120#
Neenah Solar White 80#
Neenah Solar White 110#

It's all a personal choice as to which cardstock you choose to use with your Copics and other alcohol ink markers but in my opinion, you won't find anything better than these!  So head on over to the store and stock up on your favorites today!

ps: I did not post about  Neenah Solar White soly for the reason that I have not used it in quite some time and I don't have any on hand or I would have posted something using it.  This in no way suggests that it isn't a perfectly good cardstock.  Afterall, Patricia only stocks the best!