A Double Fun Challenge!

Friday friday friday! I'm happy you are here but i have a FULL weekend ahead of me! I'm talking makeup jobs for the next 4 days! But i love makeup, so it's ok! ;)

Ok... you know you are singing along... doo doo doo doo doo dooooooo, doo doo doo doo doo dooooooo. :) Our challenge at copic creations this week is to have some fun with the colorless blender. But we have a FAB sponsor, Pink Cat Studio. I have loved Pink Cat for a long time. Their images are simple but ADORABLE! and just so perfectly drawn. And they kinda remind me of the Peanuts. And i have loved the Peanuts for as long as i can remember!

When i got to go thru PCS digi images (they have BOTH rubber and digi!) to chose my image, this one grabbed me instantly! Maybe it's because Halloween is near... maybe it's because A Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin is one of my favorite stories and tv specials as a kit. Maybe it's because i see my own 2 little munchkins in this image. Or maybe it's all of the above! Then suddenly i was like, oh fudgeadoo - how do i play with a colorless blender and this. Well i think i came up with a fun solution!!!!

So first i printed out the digi on xpress-it paper. Ok, i do love this paper, but i really love how easily it runs thru my printer! Especially since Neenah and other thicker cardstocks like to get jammed. Ok, so i printed it out and then colored my sky first. No rhyme or reason why, other than the fact that the blender technique to "lift color" (which isnt what you are doing, you are actually pushing the pigment of the marker further into the paper so that the fibers at the top return to white) works best on this paper when it is "dry". I started with my outside edges and a B99 marker and went around the stamp image as well. Then i worked my way in with a B97, B95 and B93 markers. I wish i had taken the darker further now that i see the card, but i did want to leave the "glow" of the moon.

After the sky was colored, i worked on the images which, were pretty easy since they are white! I did use a C1 and C0 marker to give a bit more shape to the sheets. If you look carefully, i left the top backside bare, and started shading just below that to give the reflection of the moon. It's a subtle thing, but i think it makes it look a little more alive. I did shade a bit on the bottom as well to give bends in the fabric. I went over the sheets with the colorless blender because i didnt want lines, i wanted a fade to the white. So there is use 1 for the colorless blender!

Now time for use 2! I went back in and left dots all over my sky to resemble stars and then a went around and around to create a moon. I will say i think this effect is easier on a more porous paper like neenah, but i had already gone this far and xpress-it paper likes my printer much better. I did let that dry again and went back over it yet again with the blender to get it as light as i could.

Use 3 for the blender was to leave a little bit of reflective light on the sidewalk (which was just drawn over quickly with a C9 copic). If you look carefully, i used the blender to create a few thin lines on the sidewalk surface. THis is just to give a little reflection of the moon. I like gel pens, but sometimes they are just TOO white. A surface will reflect like even if it isnt a shiny surface, so thats another place that the blender pen comes in handy.

Ok, that wraps up challenge 1! Be sure to check out the copic creations blog to get all the deets on how to play, what you'll win and to see the rest of the design teams FABULOUS creations!

And now at the risk of having a terribly long post... i'm going to share the 2nd challenge with you! For those early birds reading this right as it posts... the challenge doesnt actually go up for another 2 hours. It's a darn good thing i own the company and can't fire myself!

The challenge is to make a card that was inspired by a song! Well, when i was creating the above card, i couldnt stop singing the peanut's theme! And then when i went to make my card inspired by a song for the Makeup4theWeekend challenge, i couldnt get the peanut's theme out of my head! So i could have killed 2 birds with one stone, but i figured i should probably use stamps that were actually FROM paper makeup stamps for the slideshow. Granted the sentiment on my above card is a PMS stamp (that is ON SALE RIGHT NOW in the pms store!)

So i made this super quick and easy card...

In case you don't get what i was doing here, i was trying t recreate charlie brown's shirt using a pnch by martha stewart. And the doghouse from Home Matters has always made me think of snoopy and i cant color it anything but red! Man i love the peanuts.

Just to give you an idea of how much i love the peanuts... check out this halloween picture of me as a kid!

Oh no no no, i couldnt want wanted to be lucy, or peppermint patty or even snoopy... but i had to be charlie brown. striped zig zag shirt and all.

Ok, i hope i havent gotten the song stuck in your head all day. I'm sure it will be in mine.

Be sure to play in both of the challenges... there are prizes people! Free stamps to be won! You do NOT want to miss out on that!

COPIC CREATIONS, have fun with your blender!

Paper Makeup Stamps - get inspired by a song

(OH - here's a kicker, when trying to find blue, i found my STACK OF VELLUM that i couldnt find for last week challenge... so i used it anyway, just for you Michelle!)

Have a Charlie Brown Day! But dont get yoru kite stuck up in a tree!

GOOOOOOD GRIEEEEEEF!