Make It Monday - Birthday Bear

Good Monday morning!! As many of you know, Texas got hit by a NASTY winter storm last week. While we were expecting the storm & the sub zero temps, we weren't expecting that our energy company would completely fail us (and by "us" I mean the entire state of Texas!). 😞 Over a period of over 48 hours we only had power at our house for about 5% of that time! We were supposed to be under rolling blackouts. Not so much.

While some neighborhoods never experienced an energy interruption, other neighborhoods had rolling blackouts as expected. Then, there was our neighborhood & other neighborhoods throughout the DFW metro area & the state that lost electricity completely. I can't say "completely" we would get power for about 1.5 to 2 hours about every 15 hours or so. Thankfully, we have a fireplace & I have a hubby who did a great job blocking every drafty spot we could find. We were blessed to not experience any broken pipes. Many of our friends were not so lucky.

Due the lack of power, I didn't get much done last week. Obviously... But, the power is back on, the internet is mostly stable, & I am ready to hit the week head-on!!

For this week's card, I pulled out Birthday Bear from Gerda Steiner. This is such a fun, fun set! You can do so much scene building with this set. Or, you can use any of the adorable party animals all on there own. I chose to use the bear for this card. He's so stinkin' cute all wrapped up in the party banner! I also stamped on the inside but didn't color. I used the bear arm holding the balloon & the little stack of presents. I thought they just added a fun little touch to the card. For my card base, I used a simple A2 card base from PhotoPlay. The patterned paper from Carta Bella's Let's Celebrate was the perfect accent to make this card pop! With it's simple colors, I was able to easily match the Copic colors I used to accent the card!

Copics Used:

N2, 1, Colorless Blender

BG18, 15, 13

Y19, 15, 13

B97, 95, 93

E19, 15, 13, 11, 21

R21

Let your creativity take flight!!

Make It Monday - Puppy Mail

It's Make It Monday!! Hope your weekend went well & the team you were rooting for in The Big Game. I just watch it for the commercials. Lol. My favorite this year was the Rocket Mortgage commercials. 😆 Ok, the M&M, Flat Matt, & Ashton Kutcher commercials were close behind!

This week I played with Puppy Mail from Gerda Steiner. It's a newer release from August of the year we won't mention. 😉😆 I used My Dog from Echo Park for the paper on this one. I'm not really a dog fan but I thought this card turned out super cute! I love the paper!

These little pups can't help but pull at your heartstrings! And, the paper is so much fun! The card is such a simple design but looks so more than it really is due to being able to use the double-sided cardstock! I cut the 4 rectangles to 2 5/8x2 & folded up the inside corner of each piece to create the "opening" for the howling pup. The diamond in the center is cut to 2.25x2.25. After stamping & coloring the pup, I added the dash lines for some detail. I used the Neenah 110 for the white but the Sweet Sentiment would be great, too! On the inside I stamped, "It's a good day for happy mail". This is a really simple yet fun card for any dog lover!

Copics Used:

E37, 35, 33

110, C8

R59, 39, 37

I have 3 more of the Puppy Mail set on the way so I've already added them back to the shop. They will be here later this week.

Let your creativity take flight!!

Let's Talk - Coloring Cardstock

Howdy!! I wanted to chat with you about the cardstock that we carry that is specifically designed for coloring! We have 4 different types that we carry at Artful Angel. These 4 are my most favorite. I want to share with you a little bit about each one & why I love it.

#4 - Let's start with the Catherine Pooler Premium Cardstock

I love this paper for coloring as it has a really smooth texture & allows Copics to blend nicely. I will say that I don't recommend using any ink on this paper other than the Catherine Pooler Premium Dye Ink. I've tried using other inks (Memento <coming soon to the shop>, Kraftin' Kimmie) & it just doesn't work as well. There's often bleeding & smearing. The CP ink is specifically designed to work with the CP paper.

#3 - Sweet Sentiment Premium Kraft Cardstock

Sweet Sentiment Kraft Cardstock is really designed to work best with pencils. But, can I just say, I love coloring with Copics on it!! It doesn't bleed & the result of coloring on the Kraft compared to White is a more subtle or soft feel. Colors appear muted but, yet, are still clearly seen. It works will with both Memento & Kraftin' Kimmie inks.

#2 - Neenah 110lb Solar White Cardstock

The Neenah paper works amazing & blends well with Copics & pencils. It's got a very affordable price point which makes it even more appealing. It works well with Memento & Kraftin' Kimmie inks. I do find that it does help to let the ink set & "cure" on the paper for a time before coloring. But, it's not always necessary.

#1 - Sweet Sentiment Premium Cardstock

I've saved the best for last!! This is my most favorite coloring cardstock for oh, so many reasons!! The biggest reason that I love this paper is that it sparkles!! It's super hard to catch a good photo to show & explain what I mean. However, I'll do my best to describe it. The paper has sparkle imbedded into it. It's not glitter so it isn't hard on your marker tips. It's not super obvious but is very subtle. It really makes your images pop! And, the really great thing about the sparkle in this paper is that you can still see the sparkle even after you've colored. The paper works well with Kraftin' Kimmie ink & Memento. I will say that when I first started working with it, I struggled with getting my colors to blend the way I wanted. However, I now have zero blending issues with it. I would say that it's just a matter of learning to work with it & understanding how it works with the ink. But, it is BY FAR my favorite coloring cardstock.

If you are thinking that you would like to do a side by side comparison of these papers but you don't want to purchase a pack of each, then you are totally going to want to check out our  Cardstock Sampler pack! You get 2 one quarter pieces of each of the 4 cardstocks I have talked about above. This will allow you to compare and contrast the different papers without spending a fortune on packs of cardstock that you may not like. And, the great thing is that this little Cardstock Sampler is only $3.99!

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Let your creativity take flight!!

Make It Monday - Moose Love

 I promise, at some point this year, I will get my self together so I can actually get the Make It Monday post done on Monday!! 🤦‍♀️ Either way, I still think you will really love this card!

This time I went for a 6x6 card. I really love to the big square cards because they not only give me more room to create, they also provide ample space for writing a note! They do cost a bit more to mail but they are different & fun!

Moose Love by Gerda Steiner came out near the end of 2019. It's such a fun set & coordinates perfectly with the 6x6 pad Let's Lumberjack from Echo Park. I like this set because it's versatile. It could be used for Valentine's Day, Birthday, or just for someone who loves outdoorsy stuff.

I combined these two products to make a super cute birthday card! I love both of these images but the buck with the big ole' antlers makes me happy. Lol. He's fun to color & it was a challenge to get those antlers to look right since I don't usually work in dark colors like that.

I stamped him using Kraftin' Kimmie Wicked Black onto Neenah Solar White 80lb. I used Kraftin' Kimmie, Crisp Crimson for the greeting. For the inside of the card, I used "your birthday". I was having technical issues trying to upload the inside. So annoying.

Copics Used:

E79, 77, 53, 51, 50, 37, 35, 33

C0, 00

R22, 20

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Let your creativity take flight!!