Birthday Card Art with Copics: Sugar Nellie Red

The thought of making birthday cards conjures up visions of images with cakes and candles.  There are as many of those kind of fabulous images as there are individuals celebrating their birthday.  Still, somehow none of the images that I have seemed suitable this time.

I wanted to make a birthday card for a very special "over 50" guy.  No need for cakes and candles.  Something more complimentary or encouraging seems better to me.

I inked up my Sugar Nellie Red the fox stamp and filled it with Copic colors.

I used QuicKutz cookie cutter tags to add a computer-generated sentiment.  The little chick is from the Layers of Color Rise & Shine set.

A stamped chicken wire background, also from the Layers of Color Rise & Shine set, a few Punch Bunch grape leaves, and a border of ribbon complete my foxy birthday card.

The sly grin on the face of the recipient was worth a million bucks to me and confirmed that he's seen enough cakes and candles.

Copics used:
fox - YR12, YR15, YR18, E50, E53, E55, T0, T6, T9
chick - Y13, Y15, Y19

Sugar Nellie Challenge: Vintage Baby

The Sweeties over at Sugar Nellie stamps' challenge blog, The Sugar Bowl, want to see your vintage/distressed work using Sugar Nellie images per Erika's sketch.  They're offering a "Steampunk" gift bag to the lucky winner.  Find out more about this challenge here.

I've inked up my Sugar Nellie Vintage Baby image and stamped it onto Bazzill Smooth White.  This photo shows just the image filled with Copic colors  . . .

I've layered some Bazzill Bitter Chocolate and pine.  The My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 2010 Portobello Road "Party" Looking Glass Paper has a magnificent vintage look.

I've spent many hours dragging various distresser blades over the edges of my cardstock for layouts, cards and other paper projects.  I finally invested in the Zutter Distrezz-it-All and I'm overjoyed!  Within seconds I was able to get the look I've always wanted on my projects but couldn't achieve because my fingers cramped or my hands just got too tired of all that scraping.  I can't believe the time I've already saved with this tool!

This photo shows the card front with a few Stampin' Up! clear jewel brads and a sentiment from a 2006 Warm Words set.

Here's a side view of this card that shows a glimpse of the inside lining . . .

I can't wait to try the Distrezz-it-All on chipboard albums!  Woo-Hoo!

Copics used:
skin - E000, E01, E11, E93, BV00
hair, shoes - E31, E35, E47
clothing - BG70, BG72, BG78, Y13, Y26
cloud - B21, 0

Card Art with Copics: Sugar Nellie's Satchel Nellie

Sugar Nellie is a small Scottish Stamp Company that sells an assortment of wonderful images by a few select stamp artists.  Operating since 2007, Sugar Nellie may have become best known to the stamping community for the Eveline Wikberg signature designs of Nellie and Luca.

While looking through the multitude of images available through Sugar Nellie, I found this lovely yet very humbling image of Satchel Nellie.  Satchel Nellie is a limited edition re-issue of an old favorite image by Eveline.

Those of you who know me may instantly recognize my association to this Satchel Nellie image.  I wear the long strap of my handbag over one shoulder too.  LOL!!!  So, you see, I just had to have this image . . .  On occasion, I find it very amusing to make an association between an image and the person who uses the image.  The association I imagine may not always be correct but it can still be very funny.  Sometimes it's just outright hysterical.

I spent some time with Satchel Nellie and dressed her using some of the newest Copic colors.  Satchel Nellie was die cut using QuicKutz oval dies then matted on a Spellbinders Scalloped oval.  This photo shows the completed Satchel Nellie image . . .

A simple Sizzix 3-D flower with a few QuicKutz leaves provides a quick embellishment.

An Inkadinkado one word sentiment adhered with foam tape adds a nice greeting.

Bo Bunny's Shabby Princess Collection Spring Jewels Boho single-sided patterned paper adds some pretty Spring shades that are a bit brighter than the pastels more commonly used for Spring.  This photo shows the full card front of my Sugar Nellie Satchel Nellie Spring greeting card.

The Sugar Nellie Challenge Blog is called The Sugar Bowl.  The current sketch challenge is about Spring.  A random entry will be selected to win a goody box full of surprises.  You can find out more about the challenge here.

Copics used:
skin - E000, E01, E11, E93
hair - E11, E15, E19
coat - new RV63, new RV66, RV69
skirt/socks - YG91, YG95, YG99
satchel/shoes - B91, B95, B97
outline shadow - E41, 0

Copic Creations Challenge: Blues

The team over at Copic Creations is challenging Copic lovers to use their Copic "blues." Sugar Nellie is sponsoring this challenge and offering four of their stamps to the random winner of this challenge. Take a look at the stunning images that Sugar Nellie produces and distributes. Their stamp artists do show some very beautiful work. Find out more about this challenge and the sponsor here.

Blue is associated with stability and is said to symbolize loyalty, wisdom and sincerity. It produces a calming effect and is good for the body and mind.

I was drawn to this 2010 Kathy Hare Sugar Nellie image named Worried. I found something touching about this little guy with his bear and this image seemed perfect for filling with "blues."

Once filled, this image still seemed a little flat to me . . . maybe more texture will help . . .

So, I covered my dried colored image with a negative mask and prepped it for a colorless blender technique. I crumbled a paper towel, spritzed the towel with a touch of colorless blender and touched it to the surface of my bear. Using colorless blender straight from the bottle can make it too wet so I like to spritz the solution from a mini spritzer.

Repeating that a few times really softened up the layers of color for my bear and gave him some wonderful texture . . .

Oops. I pounced a little too heavily with the colorless blender and wet the paper so much that my color seeped beyond the lines of my image. I plan to airbrush a background so I'm not worried about that right now. These bright blues can be tough to push back inside of the lines of the image so when I plan to keep the background white, I'm more careful and use more very light layers.

I used a QuicKutz scalloped circles die and die cut my image. Keeping that die in place, I masked my image and began airbrushing my background. I like the results best when I aim the spray directly over my mask and allow the overspray to add the color to my background. With the die and mask in place, I added a few spritzes from Ranger's Perfect Pearls Mists in perfect pearl to give some shimmer to the background. It sure doesn't look pretty at this stage . . .

Now for the big reveal . . . I love this part. It's like a wonderful surprise every time . . .

If my mask doesn't fit precisely over my image, resulting in a halo of white in places, sometimes I leave them alone and let them act as natural highlights. The only way to correct those areas is to very lightly (very, very lightly) stipple tiny dots of medium gray to cover that white.

This Top Line Creations genuine boy plaid paper seemed perfect for the outside of a fun Spinner Card. Magnolia's Doohickeys Bon Voyage Foliage and Shabby Chic White Garland added a simple border with some May Arts ribbon.

This sentiment is from a Hero Arts Woodland Creatures set . . .

Spin the wheel on the right to read this sentiment from another Hero Arts set . . .

Spin the wheel again to see one of my favorite Motivet sentiments . . .

Why not use your Copic "blues" to fill one of your favorite images? Enter this Copic Creations Challenge for a chance to win Sugar Nellie's fabulous prize.

Copics Used:
Skin - E50, E51, E53, R30
Hair - E31, E35, E47
Pants - B91, B95, B97
Shirt - B21, B24, B28
Bear - B41, B45, E95, 0
Airbrush - C5, G82
faux stitching - atyou Spica sky blue