Izbzee

February Tiered Tray

I had a lot of fun making a few things for this year's trays.  Even discovered a few things from the last few years we'd used on the Valentine tree in the past.  No tree this year -- there's no room for it!  

You'll find all the details for these makes on The Artistry, here.  

Digital paper, watercolor and twine decorate this wood piece.

Covered wood again -- love doing these book covers using the foil quill!  

Framed a mini vinyl piece.  The frame is lightweight because it's made from paper!  

Check out all the details here.  

Have a great day in your creative space today! Nurture your soul with color and fun!

It's Swatch Time

I recently purchased another set of Poetique Refillable Brush Pens -- now that I know I get get them to work in the eBrush.  Life just got a little better and I'm looking forward to creating some new backgrounds with the markers and some new silk screen stencils I have sitting on the craft table.  




I reached out to my contact with the company that sells the pens  and learned that the company does not provide a swatch sheet for their pens.  SO,......  I decided to make my own and then I won't have to figure out what colors would work best for the project being created.  

You could do the same using Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.  Easy peasy and the 48 count set still fits on a single sheet of paper.  I also liked the fact that I could print the template on a piece of 140 lb watercolor cold press paper (cut to US letter size) with ease using the rear tray feed on my printer.  

The pens in the  four trays  aren't in numerical order or necessarily ordered in the same color family... so I did a bit of re-ordering by numbers with the pen color name facing up. The 48 count  box has a good assortment to choose from.  I am also excited to know that there are ink refills available for each of the pens.  The brush nibs work really well and you can accomplish most of what you want to "paint" with this single nib.  

This made it much easier to create the chart.  Pen numbers and pen name are in the row below the swatch of the color.  some of the colors are pretty intense and others are lighter.    


Leave a comment or reach out via FB messenger if you would like a copy of the file.  A swatch chart will be available for the 24 pen set shortly.  

In the meantime, have a crafty sort of weekend and coming week!  

 

It's been a productive week...

or at least a productive couple of days!  Birthdays for this month are creeping up and so it was a mad dash to get a few done. A mix of digital and hybrid.  Love all the fun that can be created using the SCAL 5 Pro software and a few fun files and dies from favorite vendors.  

Using the Gradient feature in SCAL 5 Pro, you can create a full rainbow of color and fill the text with lots of fun!  Moving the individual sliders you can play with the color movement as well until you're satisfied with the shift. 

Purely digital and so much fun.  

Let the Skycut plotter/cutter do the cutting of a chunky font and you create the background on the card base using distress inks and blending tools.  Embellish with a single cupcake (digi is from Creative Fabrica) colored with pencils are markers of your choice.  Add a little glaze to the cherry for some shine.  

Digi image from Creative Fabrica (watercolor collection).  Print 2 cut using SCAL5 Pro to set up.  Once the image is printed, use a Spellbinders' border die.  Round the corners of the back edge and add a bit of additional color to the edge with a strip of paper in a complimentary color.  

 

 Hoping you will be able to spend some time in your creative space this week.  Enjoy every moment of it.  Happy Crafting!  

Father's Day 2021

While we weren't able to spend the day with T's dad, we were able to spend some time with all but our oldest son and his wife over the weekend.  We delighted in seeing each of our grandchildren... and oh how they have grown!  We had our first "official" family gathering since the pandemic just a couple of weeks previously - with all of the family at my Mom's funeral.  We enjoyed a family picnic with extended family at a nearby park after the services.  

Our gathering this past Sunday, however, was just our family.  We enjoyed a nice dinner, lots of talk and the kids enjoyed watching a movie and playing in the yard... I'm so glad that it finally cooled down a bit and we could enjoy sitting outside.  Oh, what a joy it was to resume what we hope will be our monthly family get-togethers again.  

 

Before we got together, I was able to spend a little time crafting and created this card (sparked by something I saw on Pinterest) using SCAL5Pro and my new Skycut C24 plotter/cutter.  Cutting all the speech bubble (CreativeFabrica.com) was a breeze and even creating the gradient and sentiment for the front of the card was a breeze using the print and cut option offered in the software.  The boys seemed to like their cards and the personalized messages in them.  

The tie-dye look on the star was achieved using some Poetique refillable watercolor brushes.  They're easy to use and blend very well.  

We're still getting used to our new norm of not having Mom with us any longer.  It's strange not to share the progress on current projects or listen to the DVDs she enjoyed so much. We know that she's happy and celebrating with the heavenly watercolors -- the sunsets of late have been absolutely gorgeous.  We feel so blessed to have been able to be her caregivers over the last 5 1/2 years.  

Artsy Journal -- a start, finally.

It's been a long time coming, but I thought it was time to not only get a start on this, but also put some new markers to the test.  the Markers, Poetique are refillable watercolor markers (available on Amazon).  They are the size of a marker and have a soft brush nib -- just like a water brush.  

The colors in the 24 count box are vivid and there's a lot of color in each of the markers.  This is the cover of my journal.... 

the stamp is from Vera Lane Studios (I'm in love with her quirky kids!)  and was cut using the Skycut Print and Cut feature.  The machine is spot on once you've calibrated!  

the background is 140 lb cold press watercolor paper.  I applied a bit of water to the paper before applying any color from the marker.  I love how the color flowed and filled the section.  I did blend in another blue.  Once that was dry, I added a few splatters.  

The Stamp is colored using the markers as well...  with the exception of the face, arms and hands and eyes.  The pinks and oranges in the set of markers are too bold of colors and even diluting them a bit, still was too much pigment.  

The markers are good, you can get a fine or bold line depending on the pressure you put on the brush.  

Hoping you'll get a little creative time this weekend!  and if you're not able to, mark out some time for the coming week.  You won't regret it!  

2021 Spring Tags Challenge - day 5

Today's the final day for the 5 Days of Spring Tag Challenge for this year.  It's been a fun week and I hope you've taken the time to peruse all the fabulous tags created by our #ecalmakers on the FB page.  

I fell in love with this digital stamp from Polkadoodles!  No rain in the forecast for today, but we could sure use some!  

I imported the png file to eCal, resized, set to print 2 cut print.  Copied and pasted 2 additional images since I would need them to do the layering for this tag.  All of the images fit into a 6 inch square and I printed on white AC smooth cardstock.  I decided to do the fussy cutting myself for the images since the head, leg and water splash needed to be cut separately.  The tag is from the library and cut using the eclips.

The coloring of the image and wash on the tag was done using watercolor pencils and a waterbrush.  I added a crochet thread string for the tie on the hat and used a drop of glue to secure it front and center.  When dry, assemble using pop up dots and a bit of glue here and there as needed.  

Add a few drops of Crystal Nuvo drops to the water splashes for a final touch.  

This is the final tag in this year's series.  Looking forward to next year's as well.  Be sure to pop by the FB page and review all of the submissions for this week.  And if you're so inclined, please join us in an upcoming challenge on the page.  The more the merrier.

Set aside some time to be creative!  Your spirit will definitely be nourished.  

2020 - 12 Tags of Christmas Tag 4

I've been having fun making these tags... though several of the "planned" ones haven't turned out as I'd expected, so they haven't made the cut... but the next few did.
This tag was done using basic shapes and a few other commands found in the software.  I love the look and the layers.

The photo doesn't do it justice -- but the studio lighting hasn't been cooperating the last few days... so my apologies.  

I love adding a stitching line using the contour cut feature, inset shadow and then changing the line to a dashed line.  The white stock for the front cover was watercolored using an antique colorway.  All of the trees are washed in a little bit of light gray and some Wink of stella.  I used some stacked foam tape strips along the edge after the insert was created and placed on the back piece.  I wrapped a length of gold cording around the edge to cover the foam.  

 

ATC and a little mixed media

The eclips/eCal Facebook page is having another ATC challenge - CELEBRATIONS!   and all of the elements used to create the ATC must be designed and cut using the eclips and eCal. 

Here's my finished card.  It was inspired by a find on Pinterest --

I started with a plain piece of cardstock that had a light layer of Gesso.  I masked off a section of the gelli plate slightly larger than the ATC dimensions, brayered on some paint and pulled a print.  I added a few additional pulls of color  to the print using some stencils (cut with the eclips) and additional pink and white and yellow paints until I got the desired results. 

Using the eCal software, size a vertical rectangle to 2.5 x 3.5, set the line to Print 2 Cut Cut.  Create text on an arch.  I used Funky Mother for the fun text.  Fill the text with color (I chose black) and set the stroke to none.  Change from cut to Print 2 Cut Print.  Print, make sure you select registration marks.  Since the cardstock has some tooth from the Gesso and gelli print, you can opt to use some embossing powder and a heat gun to add a little more texture to the card.  I used some Ranger Black embossing powder. 

Now for the cutting.  Place the gessoed paper on the mat and following the print 2 cut directions, cut the ATC. 

I found a fun cupcake graphic at Creative Fabrica and decided to use the base of the cupcake as the stencil.  Size it to approximately 2 inches high with keep proportions checked. Cut using stencil material or regular cardstock.

 

Position the cupcake stencil on the ATC base as desired and using some watercolors and a water brush, add some additional colors.  Let dry. 

Add some sprinkles to your frosting.  I used the sprinkles in the original design, grouped them together and created a small stencil for those and added a little more color. 

 

Add additional details using a Micron pen.  For a little extra shine, use a sparkle brush and let dry.

 

Thanks for dropping by!  Hoping you have built in some creative time this week! 

 

 

 

 

a little more foiling...

Quick "little" post! 

This larger tag similar to a previous post would be perfect for decorating a gift box.  Adding a simple personalized sentiment or greeting would be the perfect finish for this foiled design. 

Sorry it's not the best image, but I do love how it turned out.  the image is from a line art bundle I purchased a while back and I love the simple lines.  The eclips2 and draw command in eCal3 paired with the Foil Quill fine tip and Spellbinder's Rose Gold foil made easy work of this design.  Added a little color with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. 

 

Bunny Hop Tag 2

It's day 2 of the hop -- have you stopped by the eclips/eCal page yet?  You'll love all of yesterday's tags and enjoy the ones that will be shared today.

Here's my tag for today.

 

You'll need:
White cardstock (8.5 x 11)
Green Textured Cardstock (Bazzil)
Green watercolor print paper (Bazzil)
Ink
Tombow Dual Brush Markers
Sizzix Shapes Library (Bunny, Boot, Tag)
Xyron X (permanent adhesive)
Glue (Lineco)
Foam pop dots (1/4 inch squares)
Ribbon
Sizzix eclips2 and eCal3

CUTTING AND ASSEMBLY:
Select the tag shape from the library.  Size as desired.  Draw a line the same width as the tag and apply the Wave effect and place on the tag.  Group.  Copy and paste to cut 2 from the green papers.  Cut a tag (hide the wave line) from white stock. 

Place the bunny on the mat, using the knife tool cut the bunny just below the paws. Select the top portion of the image and close path.  You can delete the other portion of the image.  Copy and paste the head to cut 2.  Create a small flower, stem and leaves using shapes from the library.  Select the boot from the library and size to fit the rabbit.  Make sure it will fit on the tag.  Cut the boot, flower, and two rabbits from white card stock.

Using the white tag as the base, choose one piece from each of the two green cuts.  I used the plain textured stock for the top portion of the tag and the print for the bottom of the tag.  Before gluing in place, using the blender tool, blend a little color to the edges of the pieces.  Glue in place.  Be sure to rub a little more color along the edges to hide the white paper a bit more. 

Pick one of the rabbit cuts and put through the Xyron.  Apply to the other rabbit head. Add an eye and nose using markers. 
Color the boot and add some dots to the boot and line the sole with a darker color.  Using some ink, add a little more color along the edges to cover the white. 

Fold over the front ear and glue the rabbit to the boot.  Secure the folded ear to the front of the boot with a little bit of glue.  Add the flower after you have colored it.  Add some pop ups to the back of the boot and secure to the front of the tag.

Add your sentiment as desired.  Add a ribbon hanger.  And it's all done. 

Thanks for stopping by again today!  If you missed yesterday's post, just scroll down the page a bit for yesterday's tag.

Hoping you have some creative time scheduled  this week and  be sure to stop by the Facebook page for a little more inspiration from other #eclipsecalmakers.