Info Post | Faber-Castell Bi colors and a give-away

With the advent of Facebook, blogging certainly takes a backseat. If its out there on facebook, its done.
I am determined to not follow the path taken by everyone, but instead make my own way...and yet sometimes I end up following the herd!! (shame on me!)
Anyways, this video went up last week on facebook and never got around to posting here.

I do not really enjoy coloring, but because images call out to be colored and I cannot do a shoddy job. It either has to be perfect or none at all...and hence went deep into finding what will give me the best results within the limited resources locally. I remembered my Faber-Castell bi color pencils....and tried and what superb results!!

Since I'm on a bright color roll, I love going bright..but you can do soft too...Will be showing that soon in another video!! yeah...me and videos and talking!!! Scroll down for the video. 

These are the colors I used along with the Derwent Blender pencils. Which unfortunately are not easily available. I'm sure I've found an alternative to it. Waiting for it for reach me....its in transit. However...I did manage to snag the one set of Derwent blender and burnisher pencil I found here....its for 365 for anyone who wants to buy it. Email me if you want it. (tejal2210 AT gmail DOT com) SOLD

Here's the video if you missed it..

Or you can head to my You Tube Channel and watch it there.

And now if you've made it this far, I've got a mini challenge for you. Pick up whatever colors you've got....start coloring..make a project ( a card, a canvas, a tag, anything..not just the image) and link up below. I'll be giving away one set of the Bi-colors( set of 18) to one of you. If you've already got it, you can recommend a friend to whom I will send it.

Info Post | Lindy's Stamp Gang - Mists

Yeah yeah....so the know-it-all is back...to share some more info on what is probably my most favorite-est product so far!! If it has glitter in it, I'm loving it! And with Lindy's products, you can be assured, there is such amazing glitter, you'd probably not wash your hands! I sometimes don't!! :p

So what are they? They are mists...mostly used in mixed media, but I use them everywhere! These mists have binders so that the glimmer won't rub off your product once they're dry. Its not chunky glitter. Its very very fine and shimmery!

4 types of Mists are listed, when you go the Lindy's Shop.

The FLAT FABIO's- The are just color sprays...intense colors but without any glitter (somewhat like the memento fireworks)

The STAR-BURSTS - my most favorite kind of sprays.....they have intense colors and subtle glitter....and amazing names!!  I love how they're named!!

Just some pics to show the amazing glitters on these...

Sprayed with mix of Baby Blue eyes Aqua, and Royal Peacock Fire

Pink is sprayed with Wild honeysuckle Coral Startburst, and the brown flower with Cactus Gold

3. Then comes the Vintage toned sprays....The MOON SHADOW MISTS - All the colors have a base of light or dark brown glitter....these colors are faab for those doing vintage projects...I have just bought my very first Moon Shadow mists, and will put up a review soon!

4. Last but not the least, the GLITZ SPRITZ... these are just pure shimmer mists, without any base color. The color is only of the glitter. These are the ones that I use the most! I love love the gold glitter spray!

Scintillating Silver!!

Cactus Gold...my very very favorite color

Scintillating silver over the wood-grain CS

So once you can make your mind up as to which colors to buy, then what? How do you use them?

The mists arrive as dry powders within the bottle (best thing they ever did, as it weighs less, you can buy more bottles). Here's a link from Lindy's, as Tracey shows you how to prepare your mists!
First shake up the bottle so that the powder isn't sticking to the bottom.

Fill warm/slightly hot water (preferable if you can use mineral or Purified water) upto the mark indicated on the label of the bottle.
And then Stir the color around with a wooden skewer or small stirrer...
Leave it for 10 mins. (Its hard...you want to spray and see, but have patience..watch some videos till then!)

You are ready to spray.
But, everytime you use it, you have to mix the glitter that settles on the bottom....for that you have to shake the bottle.
Try not to shake the bottle up and down a lot. You might end up clogging the nozzle. ( I have had one clogged nozzle in 2 yrs of using 6 sprays...and if you write to them about it, they send you free replacements)
Hold it between your palms and roll it, like you roll your nail polish bottles. or turn the bottle upside down, and whack the lower end on the edge of your palm! (Arlene shows how she does it in this video!)

And that's it...spray away like crazy!!

Will be back with more on Magical Micas and the Two Toned Embossing Powders, in the next post....and if you want color recommendations, comment below and I'll set you up with my favorite colors!!

A big big thanks to Shalini at Crafter's Corner for listening to my whims and getting this product!! I am over the moon!!

Some New Shares and Enabling! :D

So no crafting as of yet. Sad! very sad, but that means browsing like crazy and that's where I found these crazy things!! Pockets be ready to be emptied out!!

These are for the mixed media junkies....Gesso .. From the brand Golden.

Molding paste  from Golden. These is also something called as Light and Hard Molding paste. (gotta read what that is!)

This shimmering pearlescent medium from Dalery Rowney...mix with your acrylic colors for a shimmering effect!!

All the above stuff is FLAT 20% off!! hehe!! Wouldn't have recommended otherwise!!

Plus Copics on sale flat 20% off.. Look for the ones with Green Tag that says OFFERS!

And what have I brought? These iridescent colors!! They shine like crazy!!
Iridescent Green Blue, GreenBlue  and Violet Blue (I blame Saumya for this...she bought them and I was in love!! ) There are sooo many I want to buy though...See these here.

Phew so much goodness!!!

And did you see? Amazon is in India now!! Hurrah!! Can't wait till they expand their line to crafting goodies!! So far its books, Kindle and Music!! Can't wait!!

And last but not the least.....Check out the Swap, at Swap Central India,  I'm sure you'll be interested!!

Leaving you guys with a picture from my holidays!! don't check us, check out the background!! It was sheer heaven!! See you soon with some crafting stuff....and if you have anything that needs more info, email me...will give me something to search ! Toodles!

Blog Candy Winners!!

Now seems like a great time to announce the winners!! I just felt like it!! :D

So here are the lucky 4....please email me with your address and the prize you've won...I'll wait for 48 hours, if I don't hear from you, I will re-draw the names.

ANDDDDDDDDDDDD THE WINNNERS ARE......Using Random.Org

 the Fiskars Elegant Vines Stamp goes to - Pratiksha Sanghani 

The Summer wings stamp goes to - Ujjwal

The Papermania Black and white paper pack goes to -  Suman

And the Daisy and Dandelion paper pack goes to - Shylashree

All four prizes have been claimed. thank you for your prompt replies. 

Congratulations Everyone....please send me a quick email with you addresses, and your prizes shall be out in a jiffy!!!

Thank you everyone for all your support and best wishes!!

Info Post | Distress Markers Vs. Copics

I'm back....not really but needed something to post on my blog! So picked up a random topic I saw someone discussing and thought I'd do a post! Fancy me doing a post on this when I own neither Copics nor Distress markers! But here I am anyways!
If you wanna know where I'd disappeared to, here's a link to my personal blog...no more mixing crafting and my personal life. Yeah, Its another blog for me, but then who is counting! not me!! :D

So coming to the topic of my post. First of all, Distress Markers (DM) and Copics are way two different entities. You cannot compare them. They are as different as Tea and Coffee. They have nothing in common with each other, except that you use them as color mediums.
The first and foremost is one is a Water Based Marker, i.e the DM and the Copics are Alchol Based.
But in their own right, they're super heroes. Let me tell you what each is.

Distress Markers

Pic referenced from Tim Holtz Blog.

If you've used Distress inks, Distress stains, then you've used these inks. Only in a different form. DM have the same properties as Distress inks. i.e., they are reactive with water, blend-able, and basically work the same way as your Distress inks do. You can use a paintbrush and blend these fabulously.

Only that they are in a pen form, which gives you the added advantage of coloring with them and painting directly on stamps and stamping! I have seen bloggers used Distress ink refills and color images amazingly well....here's one of my favorite bloggers who does amazing work - Vera

Here is another in-depth review for these markers...Scrapbook Update.

Here's a fabulous tutorial on coloring with Distress Markers - Cards By Becky

And now Alcohol Based Markers
  Which includes a lot of markers...Copics (Original, Sketch and Ciao), Promarkers, Touch Twin Markers, Spectrum Noir, Sharpies, Bic-It Markers, and a new to the market - Finecolor Sketch Markers ( I have seen them in the Mumbai store that I visit...but yet to try them) 
These are all alcohol based, and very very vivid when coloring with them.

via Debbiehodge.com

I have a couple of markers from Promarkers and Touch twin markers (because I get them locally here!! heheh!!) I also own Sharpies and Bic-Its. I only use them for Flat coloring, no shading.

 And I would say, if you can, get 3 from each color shade or family...lightest, medium and darker shade. And then as you get advanced, build up your color collection.
Shading isn't possible with Sharpies or Bics ( you can to a little extent with Bics, but don't compare that to the shading you get from Copics)

There is a lot of info and reviews on Copics already done. And for me not having used them, I won't do a performance review. I'll leave that to the experts.
Here's some amazing tutorials on coloring with Copics - Pinterest

And if you think you can't color well with Touch Twin markers ( a shade cheaper than Copics, but awesome none the less!) Check out Dina's Blog and be prepared to be Wowed!

This is the most comprehensive FAQ's on Copics I've liked...there might be more. But I love Sharon's blog, so this gets posted on my  blog...Check it out here...

So I'll wrap up my post here!! And post in any questions if you have....since I won't be crafting for a while, I have all the time in the world to browse and get back to you!! :D

Party Time!!

Here I was getting excited to cross the75k mark and when I checked, it had gone way past 75K and another 250 and counting!!! Whoop -Whoop!!
You guys are the bestest!!!!

So as promised here's my return gifts for being such awesome friends and followers (which BTW have crossed 200!!)

I'm giving away 4 candies...oh yes!! you heard me!! 4. They're not big candies, but just sweet enough!!

Here's the first one
1.) Fiskars 2x6 Stamp - Elegant Vines

 

2) Fiskars 2x6 stamp - Summer wings 

 

3) A5 Papermania Capsule collection, Black and white.

4)A5 Daisy Dandelion Picnic Patch...

So what you've gotta do!!

DO NOT SHARE THIS CANDY ON FB!! Yes! Do not. Feel free to mention in your blogs though....I personally find my timeline annoying with posts of candies so I would not want to push this on Facebook.

If you read my blog, you'll be here and that is more than enough for me.

Drop in your name in the inklinkz and I'll pick up 4 winners anytime in this month!! How's that for a change!!

I will however want the winners to contact me within 2 days or I will pick up a new name. 

I'll see you on the other side of May!! Take care and keep Cool!

Kraft and Colors

Thinking of a title name for the post is as challenging as making a card!! And boy oh boy!! Looks like my give-away will come sooner than I anticipated...My blog is already at 74,900 views...just a hundred more and I have a party!!! So what do you want in the give-away? I've given away vouchers, stamps, inks in my previous give-aways....so do drop in your options!!

So coming on to the card..I had brought a pack of Kraft card stock a long time back and never got around to using it....and then I saw Julie's card on Pinterest...and I had to do it. Don't know if flowers qualify on a card for a guy, but this did go to a guy. And I'm hoping he didn't think it was too girly.

 

I white heat embossed my stamps, colored with my Bic markers and a little bit of glitter and the card was done. But there were a lot of failed experiments to get this one card...

 Firstly, not having my heat gun made things a bit weird. I was heat embossing on my dosa pan. Works, just gotta be careful!  

TIP- Try out the colors you plan to use on a scrap kraft CS. Colors don't show up  very well on Kraft CS...the light colors just fade in...so if you're doing watercolors, play around on a scrap first. 

TIP 2 - Bic markers will stain on the white embossing. So be very careful, or use a Copic colorless blender pen to remove colors. I could remove the red with the blender pen, but blue didn't come off easily. 

The glitter pen I used doesn't show well in the pic, but IRL its very subtle shine. !!  I also went around the edge of the flowers with a light grey marker..just to show a bit of shadow...

This is the inside of the card. 
 Here I white heat embossed the border, and added vintage photo for a contrast. And then the words were glued down on the inside

Supplies
Stamps - Papertrey ink- Friends til the end, Signature greetings
Inks - Versamark, Vintage photo distress ink.
Paper - Kraft from Creativita Store,  Fabriano white CS.
Other - Zing opaque white embossing powder, Sakura stardust pens, Bic Markers, Copic Colorless Blender pen, Pro-marker light grey pen.

My first Marci..

For those who wonder who or what Marcie is, she's a cutest character stamp from La-La Land Crafts.
I had oogled at all those stamps and was very very lucky to win one at a friend's blog candy...It took me 3 months of trying to color her to accept that it will take a long time for me to learn...but here's my first attempt at coloring and making a card from that stamp!

 Here's the little darling colored with my watercolor pencils!! Isn't she cute or what!! Here's the link to the stamp..Sweetheart Marci. She's been colored, fussy cut, and glued on the die cut below.

Its a 6x6 card and the pattern papers are from Pretty flowers(or something like that)  from papermania. The dies used are Reverse wonky rectangles.  Banners are handcut. I didn't have the "I love you " in any stamp, so I masked different words from Fiskars sentiment stamps....and the I was acutally an L that I partially inked!! Talk about necessity being the mother of invention.

 This is an Easel card...the message is printed and die cut with label 8 die. Butterflies are MS butterfly punch..

 I loved making this flower....guess am on a flower making spree!! Made with Rose creations and an MFT rolled rose on top.

Its a pretty simple card, but I loved making it..considering the sentiment that was within the card...and I do know that the recipient loved it...

Sending this card to Crafter's Corner Bingo - I'm playing the middle line, Flowers, pattern paper and stamping.

Blue Accordion Card

This year seems to my monochromatic year....well, each year brings its new craziness factor in me!! This year its monochrome and fancy folds!!

So getting back to the card, this is a remake of the pink accordion fold, but in blue. There isn't much to say, so will leave you with the pics....

Kept things pretty simple...some leaf and flower die cuts. Papers are from the Papermania blue collection. All inked with broken china ink. 

Messages were sent ahead by the client and so I just had to measure, print and stick. 

Loved loved the shine on these flowers....If I haven't said before, if you haven't tried Lindy stamp gang sprays, you're missing something .. zoom in to see how glittery they are!!
The flowers are die cut from a rough watercolor paper, so that they have texture and hold the sprays better...

So that's it from me for now...I have another card coming up, but that has to wait till it reaches the intended recipient.

Exploding Card | Origami card

Sorry about the abrupt halt to the Pattern play class posts....day 4 arrived and hubby fell sick. And I never got around to even finishing watching the class 4 and 5 till later in the weeks. I still have to get a hang of those two last days that I missed...

Today I share a card I made for friend..this year I have decided to send as many cards as I can. Even if they reach late, but they will reach. :)

I chose to defy convention and not call this card by its given name....The napkin fold card..Simply because I've never ever come across a napkin that's folded like this...and I chose to make a variation because I didn't like the band  across it.
Somehow the band made the card feel open and incomplete (???) perhaps...I'm a bit weird that way!!

So here goes my Exploding card/Origami Card
 

 

I think I'm fixated on the color red...this is the 3rd red card I've done in 2 weeks!! :) This uses my new Embossing folder from Couture Creations, that I picked up in my local craft store. YES! my local craft store!! Distressed the embossed areas with barn door ink and then direct to paper over the embossed areas for more contrast. 

The sentiment is my new hero arts stamp.. and the little butterfly is a Cheery lynn die. Some really small bling stones are on the embossed flourishes.

( So where's the actual card? ) hold ya horses

 This is how it opens. Like a Trifold with an exploding card in the centre. Its fun to change things now and then. All panels have the same embossing, distressing and inking. With an edge of deco shells border punch.

I kept the card relatively simple. Simply because in this fold I had met my nemesis. It took me 4 cardstocks to get one fold right. I made and gave it up so many times....1mm off and it would not fold!! Am not touching it for another 3 weeks now!!  Though I now know what all mistakes I did, so might not be so hard the next time around!
The PP is pebbles inc from Itsy bitsy.

 And this is the inside. Love love the birthday sentiment. I wish I had time to do more. But did not want to add flowers or flourishes. They're soo passe now. Every card has flower and flourish...and I'm challenging myself not to use them .

And I'm glad my friend loved it....I did make some bookmarks for her too...will share in the next post..

Sending to Crafter Corner's Bingo challenge- Top horizontal row..distressing, rhinestone and ribbon.