Cloud tutorial

Hiya!  I've just posted my second ever tutorial over at the Some Odd Girl blog.... I thought maybe I should copy it here too. We are having loads of fun with the Facebook Fun Day ! I hope you haven't missed out!

Here's my tutorial:

Hello!  It’s Arabella here with a little tutorial on how I colour my clouds with copics.  I used to try to use Distress Inks and a cloud template to create clouds on my stamped images, but I’m not very good at it and I am never happy with the result I get, so I thought I would have a go at colouring clouds with my copics instead…  I haven’t looked back since!

Warning!  This post is picture heavy!  I probably should have made a video, but I haven’t done that before, so I thought I should stick to what I know!

Before we get started I wanted to share a photo of some clouds I took recently while we were out on the boat… 

You can see from the photo that although clouds are perceived as white, they have a lot of purple/grey shadows.  You can also see that the sky appears to become a more intense blue the further away from land you get.

Copic Cloud Colouring Tutorial:

I start by printing out my image (Reading Mae) and cutting it to the size I want to use on my card.  Then I grab my pencil and lightly pencil in some clouds.  

Next, I erase the clouds so that there is only a very faint pencil mark left on the page.  

TIP:  You can’t erase pencil once you have coloured over it with copics.  

Next I decide what colours to use.  For this one, I used BV20 as my darker colour and BG70 as my light colour.  I start by laying in the shadow areas on the clouds (using a flicking upwards motion from darker into lighter) with my lightest colour (BG70).  

Then I add my BV20 but don’t flick up as far as with the BG70.  You can see it’s looking quite messy now, but don’t worry as we will come back and blend it out.

Blend the darker BV20 out with the BG70 again using a flicking motion (dark to light).  At this stage I also put a little bit of shadow along the top v’s.

Now if you are happy with the blending, start adding some blue for the sky.  I used B000 at the top, coming down to B0000 and finally BG70 closer to the ground.

And here is the finished Reading Mae:

I followed the same procedure with Bicycle Kaylee, except I used different colours for the clouds and sky:

For this one I used the following colours:

Clouds: BG0000, V20

Sky: BG0000, BG10, B12 and B14

Grass: G20, YG03, YG17

I hope you liked the tutorial!  These brand new and totally awesome digital stamps will be available in the Some Odd Girl shop from Monday!

Arabella

A peek at my desk and copic storage

If you are interested in my 100 Follower Thank You blog candy, please click HERE.

Good morning!  No card today, sorry.  I've been busy working on some cards for next week's big anniversary celebrations at Tiddly Inks!  You heard about that right?  

Of course you did!  And don't forget there's still time to answer the three Trivia questions about our lovely leader Christy Croll over on the Tiddly Inks Challenge blog to be entered to win one of 5 gift vouchers!  I think you might find some hints over on the Facebook page.

Anyway, I thought I might give you a peek at my 'temporary' craft desk today...   It's a bit messy, but that's how crafting is right?

I say temporary because we are not living in Greece permanently (we only intended to stay 1 year... this is now our fourth year!) and we are renting, so I don't have any permanent fixtures.  I have lots of ideas for when we move back to NZ and have our own house again (and of course a lot more stuff to fit in it...  half of my supplies are still in NZ)!

So on the left of the Ikea desk is my pen, pencil and scissor holder.  Next to it under the shelf are my copics, stored in those faux leather boxes from Ikea (I'll show you a better pic later).  Then my Slice Elite, twine and charms behind it, 6 x 6 and 8 x 8 paper pads, and finally my laptop.  My Fiskars paper trimmer is underneath the desk on that wee table as are my large scraps sorted into folders by colours.

On top of the shelf on the left is a box of Prima swirly bling, then a box of Maya Rd and Tim Holtz and Make it Crafty embellies, then a box of stamps, then on those cute little (very cheap) Ikea shelves (I think they are for mugs in your pantry) are my Distress inks, Stickles, buttons etc...    Next to the shelves are three super cute felt containers custom made by the lovely Emma at Sew Sweet (you get to choose colour and applique).  I use these to store my smaller scraps in colour order (warms, neutrals and colds).  Next to that are more boxes of embellishments (pearls, bling, journalling cards, punches etc...) and bit and pieces.

Over on the far right is my TV and DVD player with headphones.   My husband and I both use this room to sit at our desks.  He plays computer games with his headphones and I semi-watch TV series while I am crafting.

Here's a closer pic of my copic storage:

It's not ideal, but the boxes are portable, so I can take them downstairs to colour in front of a movie with my husband when I want to.  I have separated the colour groups with empty CD cases.

Anyway, that's it from me for today!

See you later!

Arabella

Copic Colour Combos and Some Odd Girl Birthday Celebrations

Hello!  It's me again...  I thought I would drop by to share what I am working on at the moment...  

It's a Copic Colour Combo Book totally inspired by Kirsty's awesome tutorial post here.  Have you been over to the Some Odd Girl blog lately?  If you haven't and you're at all interested in copics, colouring, making cards, that kind of thing...  you should definitely head over there and check it out.  Kirsty just turned 30 and to celebrate she is having a whole month of tutorials, giveaways and fun on the blog.  I highly recommend you head over for a visit! 

So, here is the cover of my wee booklet...

and here is what the inside pages look like...

I am just waiting for my jump rings to arrive in the mail and I will be able to connect the pages together nicely!  I was thinking of using ribbon, but I think a jump ring will be tidier.  I have had so much fun finding new copic combos to use for skin and hair!  I think I have been playing it safe for a while and just sticking to the really easy hair and skin colours, but this book really made me think outside the square... I am loving the auburn hair colour pictured above!  I think I might have to stamp a few more pages as I have a few more combo ideas to add.

The stamp I used is Blush Babette from The Greeting Farm... I've had her for several months, but this is the first time I have inked her up.  She's so cute!  I also have her sister Blush Bonnie, but she hasn't seen ink yet.

Here are the copics I used for her cover page version:

Have a lovely day!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece