Jamberry!

Hi all! Sorry for the long absence from blogging, but I had some personal stuff come up and it really zapped my card making mojo. :( 

So in an effort to find something else to do, I discovered Jamberry! If you've never heard of it, it's a home sales company that sells products to make pretty nails. Jamberry is probably most famous for their nail wraps, but they also have other products like a complete home gel enamel system and nail care products.

Here are a couple pics of my previous Jamberry manicures:

This is a Junior size (meant for kids or people with smaller nails) called Glitter Chick.  It was hard to capture the gorgeous metallic sparkle, but I think you get the idea!

This is another metallic finish wrap called Rose Quartz Chevron.  I just used it for 2 accent nails and painted the rest with the matching Rose Quartz Nail Lacquer.

And finally my current manicure:

Again, I did 2 accent nails with Latte Love and then painted the rest of my nails with the Toasted Gel Enamel which has a great, subtle sparkle.

If you'd like to try a sample nail wrap, pick your favorite below and email me your choice and address and I'll send one out to you!  Or if you'd like to place an order, there's a link in the sidebar to my site.  Thanks!!

So that's what's new with me.  My mojo is slowly returning so I'll have some cards for you soon!  TFL!

Brush Calligraphy Update

Hi all! It's been a month since I first bought the Brush Letter Practice Guide (links on the sidebar) so I thought I'd do an update post.

Here's a comparison pic of the same sheet that I did on Jan. 14 and Feb. 14 (the Feb ones are the 2 on the bottom):

Both were done with round brushes - it took me a while to get the hang of it and I'm still practicing!  You can see that I had a *really* hard time with the brush on Day 1 - I wasn't getting enough variation between thicks and thins and I had the bristles going all over the place and distorting my letters.  Today I have much better control - not many extra paint marks where I don't want them and much better variation between thick and thin.  Also you can see that I'm playing with mixing colors during lettering - it makes it even more fun!

So here's what I've been doing: I finished all the traceables for the lowercase letters and am slowly working on the uppercase (I've skipped the numbers for now).  I have to admit that some of the uppercase letters are really hard and that's why I'm working sloooowly.

In January I had printed 3 copies of the Traceables because I really needed the extra practice.  Now that I'm getting the hang of it, I've cut down the Traceable for February to 2 copies.  I've also printed a bunch of blank lined papers to practice freehand.  

To me, what makes me practice more is making it fun.  And I do that by using a wide variety of paints.  Different types of paints (cheap pan watercolors, more pricey tube colors, shimmery paints, etc.) and lots of different colors.  I'll do a linky below of the stuff I've been using.

If you're trying out the brush lettering, please leave a comment and tell me how you're doing!  I'd love to hear about what's working for other people on this same journey!  TFL!

Shinhan Watercolors Artist Paint Tubes Set 30 Colors 7.5ml Each	36 color set MC20/36V Kuretake Kuretake picture letter face color Unleashed	Yasutomo Pearlescent Watercolor Set, 21-Colors	Loew Cornell 1021095 Simply Art Watercolor Cakes	Loew-Cornell 1024927 Studio Elements Golden Taklon Short Handle Round Small Brush Set
Luminarte Twinkling H20's Shimmering Watercolors, 5gm Jars, Summer Fun, 6 Per Package

InLinkz.com

Hello

It's me.  :)  I have a card today for a couple challenges.

The first challenge is from Papertrey Ink - to be inspired by a piece of clothing.  I just recently got this dress from Gap:

I loved the black on black dots and the velvet texture of the dots and this is what I came up with:

I applied Graphite texture paste through the Falling Hearts stencil and let dry.  Then I used the hello die and cut it from black craft foam, black cardstock (PTI), and black glitter paper.  I layered them together and mounted on a plain strip of black cardstock.

This is also for Crafty Creations - Hearts.  I hope you like it and TFL!

*Viva Decor GRAPHITE FERRO Metal Effect Texture Color Ferro903

*Simon Says Stamp Stencil FALLING HEARTS SSST121333

Papertrey Ink Hello Die

*DCWV Cardstock 12 x 12 GLITZY GLITTER Paper Stack Printed Matstack PS-005-00260

InLinkz.com

Always & Forever

Hi all!  I have a card for several challenges today:

I stamped the heart image using my MISTI with Memento ink and colored with Copics.  Then I overstamped (again with the MISTI) with Versafine for a really crisp black finish.  I cut it out with my ScanNCut2 and foam mounted it over some balled up iridescent tinsel.  Finally I stamped the sentiment with my MISTI in Versafine.

This is for the following challenges:

• Uniko  - Anything Goes with option of Love
• Addicted to CAS - Bloom
• My Time to Craft - Love is all around 

I hope you like it and TFL!

Always & Forever Stamp Set

Memento TUXEDO BLACK INK PAD Full Size me-900

Tsukineko VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad VF-82

3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent

InLinkz.com

Heart of Gold

Hi all!  Today I have a card made for a few challenges:

The heart was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with Detail Gold EP.  I then watercolored in the little triangles with my Finetec palette in shades of Silver Pearl, Shining Pink, and Green Pearl. I fussy cut it out and mounted it over some gold thread with foam tape.  Then I embossed the sentiment with the same Detail Gold powder and cut the ends into fishtails.

This is for the following challenges:

• Freshly Made Sketches - sketch
• SSS Wednesday Challenge - Have a Heart
• Little Tangles - Watercolor

I hope you like it and TFL!

Neat and Tangled HEART OF GOLD Clear Stamp Set

Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Watermark VM-001

Finetec MICA WATERCOLOR PEARL Paint 12 Set M1200

DMC Metallic GOLD Embroidery Thread 284ZA

3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent

InLinkz.com

Shinhan Watercolors and a Palette Tip

Hi all! Today I have a post about some watercolor paints I bought a while back - Shinhan Watercolors.  I just took the Online Card Classes Intermediate Watercoloring class and had a lot of fun playing with these paints!  Here's a pic of the box:

And the paint tubes:

They are 7.5 ml each.  I've seen most other tube paints come in 15 ml or 5 ml, so this is an in-between size.  Initially I thought the tubes were a little small, but once I saw how little paint I needed, I realized that there's actually a pretty good amount of paint here.

I bought a Folding Palette with 28 paint wells in it and was able to fit all 30 colors, except for the black and white, which I don't use much anyway.  Here's what it looks like closed:

And open:

You can see that I've labeled each well with the color name so I'll know which paint goes where.  It was really simple with my label maker and 6 mm label tape.  The tape is laminated, so it resists the water and paint that goes over the labels.  I haven't had any problems yet with the tape lifting or getting messed up.

So anyway, I'm no watercolor artist, but I'm really liking these paints - very nice saturated color and they mix and paint very nicely (sorry I don't know more artistic terms!).  Here are a couple cards I made using these paints and techniques from the watercolor class:

The card above uses a pear image from Your Next Stamp and the card below uses stamps from Create A Smile.

That's all for now.  I hope to share more watercolored cards with you in the future.  BTW, I'm also using these paints for my brush lettering practice.  I know that I can use cheaper paints (meaning not artist quality), but I feel like it's more enjoyable with supplies I really like!

TFL and have a great day! ~Maureen

*NOTE* Affiliate links used whenever possible at no extra cost to you, so please feel free to click! Thanks!

My newest obsession...

Brush lettering!  I saw a couple people showing their work on social media and decided to give it a try since I've loved the look for a really long time, but didn't know how to go about teaching it to myself.

Random Olive has put together a printable guide so everyone can learn (with lots of practice!) how to do brush lettering.  I've been doing it for a few days now and can already feel and see myself improving!

To start, I printed out the entire guide on my laser printer.  I knew I wanted to be able to trace directly over the printing and didn't want the ink to smear so that's why I chose laser.  It's not absolutely necessary though.  Then I punched holes in all the sheets and put them in a big binder.  I'm using page protectors as dividers for the different sections, and have been dating all the sheets when I do them so I can keep track of my progress.

Not only does Random Olive have a complete guide (including numbers) to learn the lettering, but she also has monthly challenges with a new word prompt each day to help you practice.  You can either just practice the words on your own, or you can buy traceable sheets of all the words.  Even though I haven't completed my brush lettering course, I'm also doing the word challenges to get even more practice.  I printed out 3 copies of each word so I make sure to get lots and lots of practice!

You can see in the top photo that I'm using a real paintbrush and some really old Radiant Pearl paints that I haven't used in ages.  It's helping me to get rid of that paint, and it's fun to play with different colors, especially when they sparkle!  But I'm also trying it with my Tombow brush markers because they give a very different look for me.

If you're interested in learning brush lettering, I highly recommend the guide and monthly challenges!  You can learn a fun new skill and by using my affiliate links in the sidebar (at no extra cost to you!), I'll get a little commission: Win-Win!!

I'm sharing my work on my Instagram account and if you get into it, I'd love to see your work there too!  TFL!