La Belle Vie Baby

CTMH La Belle Vie B & T

When I saw this new paper, I thought of the picture above, taken about 22 years ago. Dark colors are not usually found on typical baby layouts.  But this is no typical baby.  She was a delight from the moment she arrived, but very pensive. A sweet and gentle girl, but a deep thinker with a strong sense of propriety. When she was about one and a half, she climbed down from her high chair to put herself in timeout because she said she was thinking something naughty. My mother used to say, "Eva has an old soul."

She has always had her own personality and her own style. She has gorgeous olive skin and dark soul-filled eyes. My other dd would not be able to carry the weight of this paper, but dear little Eva can. It suits her.  Sort of a Goth-baby type look.

Semi-Hidden Journaling Using Cricut Artiste Doily

The lace backdrop of the photograph lightens up the center of the page. The reverse side of the black patterned paper is the pretty pink/mauve patterned paper. I cut a 9" doily using the Accent 1 shape on page 31 of the CTMH Cricut Artiste Handbook.  I tucked the month and year under a couple of the openings with the La Belle Vie Mauve cardstock for a peek-a-boo effect.

Mixing Boutique and Bohemian Embellishments

The embellishments were from a few different collections. Pearls came from the Opaque Adhesive Gems and the Pearl Flourishes.  I placed a pearl on each of the rosettes on the Colonial White ribbon. The crocheted flower is from the Bohemian Assortment and the metal bow clip is from the Boutique Assortment.

CTMH Jardin Frame Stamped on Martha Stewart Clay

I flattened out some Martha Stewart air-dry clay and stamped the frame from the Jardin set in Chocolate ink.  It dried to almost the same shade of pink as the paper used for the doily!  What a great accident! If you want a certain color, it would probably be a good idea to make a small sample first.  Here is a quick video showing how to stamp on this type of clay:

  

The clay is sold at both Joann's and Michael's.

*edited to add a note about the Slate ink used in video -
It dried closer to it's true color, with a tinge of green around the edges.

Sewing Through Eyelets and Pearls Added to Rosette Ribbon

It was fun to incorporate a few peek-a-boo elements in the layout for a little whimsy.  In addition to the date, mentioned above, I placed cardstock cut with the Martha Stewart doily edger punch under the patterned paper.  I also set eyelets and sewed through them, tying a big knot.

Even though this paper would look stunning with wedding photos or used for a visit to an old, classic city, I like it for this baby layout, too.  Sometimes, pushing myself out of the 'norm' results in a mess!  But I think it worked this time. :-)

I hope you have a wonderful day!  Thank you for visiting!

Beverly

Dyeing Martha Stewart Craft Clay With Reinkers or Pearl Pigment Powders

Pearl Ex and Perfect Pearls Mixed with Martha Stewart Clay

A couple of months ago I discovered Martha Stewarts Craft Clay. A few weeks ago I made oodles of shapes and colored them after they had dried. Then I realized that it would be easy and fun to color the clay before molding it.  Here is a quick video showing how to mix the clay with a couple of coloring agents and then mold it into a frame.

 This clay is easy to work with and can be molded or free-formed into wonderful shapes for scrapbooking and card making. It drys very lightweight. It is an air dried clay that does not need to be baked.

Martha Stewart Craft Clay Mixed with CTMH Ink from Reinkers

Thank you so much for visiting!
Beverly

Memento Versus Brilliance Ink With Copic Markers

Copic markers come in over 300 beautiful colors. They are versatile in their application techniques: Direct to paper, airbrush, refills for backgrounds, etc.  They are ethanol based and are safe to use on scrapbook layouts.  There are a wide variety of materials that they can be used on - porous and non-porous surfaces alike.  However, the types of papers and inks that they work best upon is the main question that most beginners have before they start exploring all of the other fabulous things you can do with them.

Today, I wanted to show how two of the inks that are recommended by Copic compare with each other.  Why would you prefer one to the other and do you need both?   This is my personal opinion and not endorsed by Copic, by the way. :-)

Heavenly White Ultrasmooth #120 Cardstock

Assessing what kinds of images you use may be the biggest determining factor in what type of ink you prefer.  The images posted above were made from a very fine line acrylic stamp set. If your images are more dense or have a bulkier presence, than either ink will stamp equally well for you.  Your area of interest may then just be whether the ink will hold up to coloring with Copic markers and whether heat setting your images is something you want to do.

As you can see, the Memento ink, on the left, gave a thicker and darker impression than the Brilliance.  There is more observable detail with the Brilliance ink.  Memento is fast drying, but you do want to make sure it is dry before coloring.  Give the ink a chance to be absorbed by the paper.  Brilliance, on the other hand, requires heat setting. If you plan ahead, you can stamp your images in advance and let them dry overnight with comparable results.

Copics R81, R83, and Y15

 The flower on the left was colored by crossing over the black ink with the marker.  I was very careful to not use the light pink (R81) on the stamped ink on the right.  There was no bleeding on either of the images.  The photo below shows those same flowers plus a smaller flower that had been colored at full size and cut down.  This one was stamped with the Brilliance ink and heat set at the same time as the others. However, you will notice that the black ink smeared and bled and really doesn't look very nice in comparison to the other two.  The only difference was that I colored over the black stamped image with the R81 marker.  Is this typical, you may wonder?  I do not know. It happens to me frequently, though!  Your climate may play a part in how much moisture is in your paper.  How old the paper is can also affect the results because of moisture content.

So, because I have experienced this on more than one occasion, I usually do not color Over stamped lines.  Yes, it takes longer.  But so does starting over. :-)

You may wonder why I used the image anyway since I was clearly not happy with it?  Because I wanted to show that even though it was messed up, it was still salvageable.  By cutting the image smaller, it gave it less importance.  Also, by having a lot of texture on the card, the eye doesn't stop too long at that spot.

Spica Pens (Set B) Provide a Little Glitz To the Flowers

So do you need both inks?  Only you know the answer to that!  :-)  However, I hope that this has provided you with enough information to know whether or not you want to try these inks, if you haven't already.

Tomorrow's post is also about Copic Markers.  It involves some inks that are on the 'not recommended' list. Please stop by and see the results of my little experiment with eight inks and Copic markers.

Thank you for visiting today!

Beverly

The additional supplies used on the card are as follows:

Stamps: Flower and leaves are from the CTMH Card Word Puzzle set 

  Sentiment is from the CTMH Say It In Style set

Cardstock: Card base and sentiment tag are CTMH White Daisy

  CTMH Baby Pink punched with Martha Stewart Doily Lace edge punch

Velvet paper (from my stash) embossed with script folder from Hobby Lobby's in-house brand

Gingham pattern paper: Making Memories

Butterflies were made with Martha Stewart mold and clay, white one was painted with Create-a-Shade

Lace: Martha Stewart

Polka Dot Ribbon: CTMH (retired)

Tiny Pearls are CTHM Bitty Opaque Adhesive Gems

Frosted Designs Card Sketch Challenge #21

Hello!  Thank you for visiting today!  The very talented Ann Bacon has created another wonderful sketch for us to follow at Frosted Designs.  I love it so much that I will share two more cards following this sketch later this week!  Our sponsor for this week's challenge is Jillian Vance Design.  Please link up your take on the sketch which will make you eligible for the prize drawing at Frosted Designs.

Frosted Designs Sketch by Ann Bacon

As you can see, I shrank the center circle to make a 'water' card.  Making this version of a water card was very easy to do because I used one of the cards from CTMH's Sweet Surprises Card Kit.  It looks like this in kit form:

My Originals® Sweet Surprises Card Kit

Normally, you would put candy or some other small items in the cup.  Instead, I filled one of the cups with aloe vera gel mixed with blue food coloring.  Years ago, I used hair gel in a baggie with similar (flatter) results.

Plastic Buttons and Aloe Vera Gel in CTMH's Card Kit Cup

The card base is a diecut kraft cardstock square shape with a pretty cut outline on the overlapping flap.  Part of the base was spritzed with Aquamarine Glimmer Mist. I then placed strips of different colored blue CTMH cardstock that were cut with Fiskar's Wave scissors. On top of these, I placed American Crafts Glitter Tape and a wavy glitter tape from Michael's Recollection's line. 

CTMH's Seaside Wooden Shapes

This card was oriented with the flap on the bottom to sort of mimic a sandy underwater beach. This part of the card was not spritzed with Glimmer Mist. I threaded canvas twill through the pre-punched flap and knotted it.  The ferns were made using Martha Stewart's clay that I had mixed with CTMH's Sweet Leaf re-inker and molded in one of her silicon molds. 


Please stop by tomorrow for a completely different look using the same sketch.


Thank you for visiting!
Beverly