(I promise - I will not twerk during this post. Just in case you were worried...)
Hello, gentle readers and Miley! I took an unexpected absence from blogging over the past week due to a little intestinal trouble. I could give you the gory details, but instead, I will take this opportunity to show you one of my favorite smileys:
I will spare you an illustration of the problems I was having with other orifices. (You are welcome!) Sadly, these issues did not result in significant weight loss, so I'm feeling a bit robbed. On the bright side, it's nice to be able to get a few feet away from a toilet without feeling panicky.
Would you like me to go on, or shall I show you the project I made for last week's Taylored Expressions' Studio Challenge. It's a week late, and mucho dinero short, but what the heck. Here goes!
It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge. This is
a monthly opportunity for the Taylored Expressions team to share what
makes our stamping studios hum. Each month we have a fun, crafty
question or theme so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks,
stamping advice and more.
The question for August is:
The Sky's the Limit! There are so many ways to create sky backgrounds for our cards and projects. Often times, our blog readers are left staring at a beautiful sky and asking "How'd she do that?"
Show us one of your favorite ways to create a pretty sky background and make sure we know how to re-create it!
My go-to method for creating a sky background is to airbrush it with alcohol ink markers. Here are the basic supplies I need for such a project:
1. The image I'm going to use -- in this instance, a cute little hedgehog from TE's Stuck on You set.
2. Ink (my all time fave, Memento Tuxedo Black. I use it on almost every card I make.)
3. Cardstock (this is TE's Choice Snow White, which is an excellent weight and works great with Copic markers)
4. Cloud template - see the little cloud in the circle dies above? That's a die cut from TE's Cloud Duo dies that I re-use each time I make a cloud background.
4. Dies - I often like to leave a white margin around my colored images for a bit of pop, and also, it gives the optical illusion of another layer. Thus, before I color in the background, I die cut the image layer and them tape the die around it. (You'll see an image later that illustrates this.)
5. Eclipse Masking Tape - for masking off the image so my background doesn't become my foreground.
6. Copic Markers (or any other alcohol marker you prefer; I also like Spectrum Noir markers)
7. An airbrush system (I use Copic's)
Okily dokily. Here are step-by-step instructions for one way to airbrush a sky background.
Die cut the shape you want your image layer to be (mine is a trapezoid circle). Color in your image.
Stamp your image out onto whatever masking material you use (I use Eclipse Masking Tape, which I got a big roll of years ago. I can't imagine I will ever run out. A lot of people just mask with Post-It notes, but I like Eclipse's all-over sticky stuff for complete coverage). Cut out the mask, and place it on your image. (Note that I'm not bothering to mask the heart balloon. I know I'm going to end up stamping that out a second time and then popping it up on foam squares for a little extra dimension, so it doesn't matter what it looks like on the base layer.)
Tape your layer shaped die on top of the image layer with removable tape. You can see I'm being very green and using some tape that I've used before. It's dirty, but still sticky. Take the cloud die, and get to airbrushing. Move it around here, there, and everywhere, using short bursts of ink as you lay it down.
Continue, until you get to the ground. You'll see I added a bit of masking tape at the feet of the Hedgehog to make a grass layer, which I do now:
Looks messier in the photo above then it actually turns out. See?
And here's my finished card - easy-peasy!
If you haven't had a chance yet to check out the rest of the Baker's Dozens' August Challenges, here are direct links so you can be sure to do so. I PROMISE you'll learn something new at almost everyone's blog - I know I did.
Charmaine Ikach
Jen Shults
Joan Ervin
Kerri Michaud
Sankari Wegman
Shannon White
Shelly Mercado
Stephanie Kraft
Tammie Edgerton
Taylor VanBruggen
Wanda Guess
Alrighty, gang. I will definitely be back sooner than later as I have miles to stamp before August is over. See you shortly!
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