Thursday YouTube with Humming Along

Happy Hibiscus Card Tutorial

I love trying new color combinations with the Stampin' Blends.  Today's card shows a bit of how far you can stretch the blending capabilities too.  Lovely Lipstick and Pineapple Punch Stampin' Blends were used and blended on the hibiscus flower from the Humming Along Stamp Set.

My YouTube video tutorial is a bit different than usual this week, mainly because I wanted to make sure everyone is able to see and use the techniques from my Facebook Live I did this week.  So today's tutorial is all about using Stampin' Blends.  I shared three different coloring techniques.  Of course the full measurements and tutorial are below for the card.

Thursday YouTube Tutorial: Techniques with Stampin' Blends

Product of the Week: Stampin' Blends

Stampin' Blends are one of my favorite coloring tools.  I love using them because they blend together so well.  It's easy to create shading and even blend from one color to another with Stampin' Blends.  There are some good techniques to learn on how to use them and create amazing projects and I'll be discussing some of those techniques this week on my blog.

Using Stampin' Blends Part 4:  Shading

Each color of Stampin' Blends comes in a light and a dark shade with exception of the Color Lifter, Ivory, and Bronze Blends.  I went over the Color Lifter yesterday, so be sure to check out that post for more information on that.  But the Ivory and Bronze Blends are intended for skin tones, and can be used to blend together as well.

For the remaining colors, they are actually called "light" or "dark" on the color name.  When you see that, you know there is a partner for that specific Blend, which means you have two colors that will blend together consistently too.  This also means you can do shading, which is something standard markers just don't know, and why Blends are so special.  They are able to make seamless transitions from light to dark shades, and also, in many cases, seamless transitions from one color to another.

How does this work with shading?  They actually make shading much easier to do.  You want to use the lighter shade where the light would hit your project.  And with the dark Blend, you do the opposite: use it where there would be shadows.  Having trouble visualizing?  Decide on a point from where the light would shine.  All the light will come from that point, which means if there are parts of your image that overlap, there will likely be a shadow just under an object in the light.  Or some objects may have parts that face away from the light, which would have a shadow or darker shade.  Also, in general, light hits things that are higher up and has a harder time reaching lower things because other stuff can get in the way.  So shading and getting darker the lower you get on a project will aide in the shading effect.

Happy Hibiscus Card Tutorial
Humming Along Stamp Set

Measurements:

Base: Whisper White Thick Cardstock, 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", score and fold at 4 1/4"
Layer 1: Lovely Lipstick Cardstock, 4" x 5 1/4"
Layer 2: 18-20 In Color Designer Series Paper in Pineapple Punch, 2" x 4"
Layer 3: Whisper White Cardstock, 3 3/4" x 3"
Layer 4: Pineapple Punch Cardstock, punch one piece with the Tailored Tag Punch
Layer 5: Whisper White Cardstock, punch one piece with the Tailored Tag Punch

Embellishments: Call Me Clover 1/8" Grosgrain Ribbon

Instructions:

1.  Stamp "Wishing You..." sentiment onto Layer 5 with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink.

2. Stamp hibiscus image onto Layer 3 using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink.

3.  Color hibiscus image on Layer 3 using Stampin' Blends, use both shades of Pineapple Punch and Lovely Lipstick Blends to color the flower petals.  Use both shades of Call Me Clover Blends to color the leaf and stem.  Use one Pineapple Punch and one Call Me Clover Blend to color the stamen of the flower.  See my YouTube video tutorial above for coloring techniques.

4.  Adhere both pieces of Layer 1 to the back of Layer 2 using Snail.  Pieces of Layer 1 should be touching on the back side, but make sure to use both patterns.  One should show from the front of Layer 2 on the top and the other pattern should show on the bottom.

5.  Adhere Layer 2 to the middle of Layer 1.  Wrap left edge of Layer 3 with Call Me Clover Ribbon, adhering with Mini Glue Dots to the back of Layer 1.  Adhere the Layers to Base.

6.  Adhere Layer 3 to right side of Layer 2 and 1, creating a border on the right side with Layer 1.

7.  Cut Layer 4 in half the long way and adhere both pieces to the back of Layer 5 with one framing the top and one framing the bottom of Layer 5.

8.  Adhere Layers 4 and 5 centered on top of the Call Me Clover Ribbon toward the bottom using Dimensionals.

8.  Tie a bow in the Call Me Clover Ribbon and adhere to the bottom of Layer 5 using Mini Glue Dots.

Supplies for Today's Tutorial:

Click on the images to shop with me!

Wonderful Wednesday with Humming Along

Humdinger Birthday Card Tutorial

This happy hummingbird is super easy to color using Stampin' Blends.  Instead of focused coloring, you can use a sweeping motion to color larger sections of an image.  It's a great way to get a lot of color in very little time, and looks amazing with the Blends.  The Humming Along Stamp Set also pairs well with the Tropical Escape Designer Series Paper.

Product of the Week: Stampin' Blends

Stampin' Blends are one of my favorite coloring tools.  I love using them because they blend together so well.  It's easy to create shading and even blend from one color to another with Stampin' Blends.  There are some good techniques to learn on how to use them and create amazing projects and I'll be discussing some of those techniques this week on my blog.

Using Stampin' Blends Part 3:  Color Lifter

The Color Lifter Blend does exactly what it's name implies: lifts color.  It isn't intended to completely remove color, but rather lighten areas that you want to be lighter.  This is a great tool for lightening your projects where you need more depth.  It can be used in areas on projects where you would see light hit the image.  Because this Blend works with every other Stampin' Blend, it will make your Blends more versatile, allowing all your Blends to be lightened, or create lighter shades.  Lightening your shades with the Color Lifter works best while the ink is active, or wet.  It allows the inks to create better transitions that are smooth, so they don't create extra lines in your projects.

One thing I have found that it can do, even though it isn't intended to do so, is act as an eraser.  I say this with some caution though, because it works best with light colors and those that do not have a lot of red in them.  I find red shades are hardest to "erase" and they actually tend to bleed more than erase.  But, if you have small (and I do mean small) areas where you have colored something outside the lines or colored a very small section by mistake, you have a good chance of lifting out most of the color.  The trick for doing it though is waiting until the ink has dried before attempting to erase.

Humdinger Birthday Card Tutorial
Humming Along Stamp Set

Measurements:

Base: Whisper White Thick Cardstock, 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", score and fold at 4 1/4"
Layer 1: Tropical Escape Designer Series Paper, light pink
4" x 5 1/2"
Layer 2: Tropical Escape Designer Series Paper, green thin stripes
2" x 5 1/2"
Layer 3: Whisper White Cardstock, 4" x 1"
Layer 4: Whisper White Cardstock,
cut largest stitched circle from Stitched Shapes Framelits
Layer 5: Whisper White Cardstock,
~ 3" x 4" (enough to stamp Hummingbird)

Embellishments: Pearl Basic Jewels

Instructions:

1.  Stamp "Thank You" sentiment onto Layer 3 with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on the right side.

2. Stamp hummingbird image onto Layer 5 using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink.

3.  Color hummingbird image on Layer 2 using Stampin' Blends, use Dark and Light Flirty Flamingo and Granny Apple Green Blends to color.  I used a sweeping color technique to create stripes of color rather than color each part of the image.  It is a great technique for those who want to color quickly or may not be able to do fine detailed coloring.

4.  Use the Light Flirty Flamingo Blend to color the edge all the way around of Layer 4.  Use a Color Lifter Blend to blend the line of the coloring so it fades into the Layer.

5.  Cut out hummingbird from Layer 4 either using the matching die from the Hummingbird Framelits Dies or fussy cut.

6.  Adhere 1 and 2 to Base with Layer 2 about 1/2" below center.

7.  Adhere Layer 3 to Layer 2 lining up right side with edge of the Base.

8.  Adhere Layer 5 to Layer 4 using Snail.  Then adhere both to Base on the left side of card, covering the edge of Layer 3 using Dimensionals.

9.  Embellish with Pearl Basic Jewels.

Supplies for Today's Tutorial:

Click on the images to shop with me!