Fun For Challenges Sponsor

This week we are sponsoring the Fun For Challenges site, it's a color challenge to use bright summer colors. Check out what fun cards the TSB gals have come up with this week and make sure to enter for your chance at FREE images from the Boutique!

Copic Tutorial- Coloring Water by Ashley Scheffler

Intro- Part 1 of coloring Sunny Baby With A Hat by Ashley Scheffler

Hello Everyone. This time I am doing something a little different. I won't have the image completely colored at the end, but instead next tutorial will be continuing with her since there are a lot of fun techniques you can do to the image! Today's technique is going to be about coloring water or ocean.

Lets get started!


STEP 1
Here is the image we will be coloring today. Perfect time to be coloring a beach image!! You will want to pick your color combos (blues or blue-greens). I use a lot of combos but I seem to always use this one for an ocean image where it is normally darker at the end of what your eye sees and lighter in the front where you first see the water. I will be using B97, B95, B93, and B12. A lot of times I will throw in BG10 as well. I will also be using a white gel pen for highlighting.

STEP 2
Take your darkest color (B97) and shade in the farthest away point and a few of the waves on the bottom where the light would not hit.

STEP 3
Now take your medium color (B95) and go over the darkest color and bring it down more into the front of the ocean.

STEP 4
Take your next lightest color (B93) and continue going over the last two colors and keep bringing it down closer to the beach.

STEP 5
This is where I used B12 and colored in the rest of the water area and went right back over the entire water area to help blend the colors together. I had to do this several times to get the look I wanted.

STEP 6
Of course when you bring your lightest color over your darkest, it will fade it. Repeat steps 1-5 over until you get your desired blending look and how dark you want your darkest color to be and what the contrast will look like.

STEP 7
This is optional but I really like the way it makes the water look and breaks up all the blues. Copic sells opaque paint but I just use my Uni-Ball Signo white gel pen. Just be sure to let it sit and dry for a minute so it does not smear and ruin your coloring you just did! The white resembles the foam that the waves usually make as they roll and hit the beach.

I hope you found this technique helpful. Next time I will be showing you how to color the sand area on this same image!! Please leave a comment if this helped you and what other techniques you would love to learn with Copics!

Don't forget the Copic kit at TLL!

There's blog candy still available at The Latte Lounge!Here's what Melissa had to say,
"Don't forget to spread the word about the blog candy you can win by becoming a follower. You have until August 8th to sign up as a follower for a chance to win!!

The prize includes:
Basic Grey "Max & Whiskers" page kit, 5 pages matching red cardstock, Making Memories puffy letter, Basic Grey "Woolies", Basic Grey "cozy pozies" (both Max & Whiskers)Piggy Tales barn door with hinges, and 8 Cioa,1 multliner specialty pastel kit."
There's still time...

A new/old friend...

It seems I've come a long way in a year. I was looking at a popular snowman image from 2009, "BlogHog snowmen" and really didn't like the quality and a few things about the image. So,I gave the old fellas a face lift and re-drew them, and re-scanned them from scratch. It took me pretty much all day, but I'm so happy I did it. In fact, if you purchased this image last year and would like to exchange it for this one, send it back to me at traceydawnn@msn.com and I'll be happy to send the updated version. If you'd like to purchase it new, it's in the store. I'd don't like sounding like a commercial so I'll stop that. Anyway, I think this one is much better. I think they're even smiling a little brighter. :D

We have a new store and a sale to celebrate!

We have a new store and to celebrate all images are discounted by one dollar!!! The sale will be valid all through digi day Friday. Have a great week everyone!

Blog candy winner!!!

Can you believe Random.org drew number 1 out of 936? Pretty weird! That gives us Fiona as our winner!!!! Please contact me to make arrangements for your prize! Congratulations!
Tracey

Madyson cried!

My sister said that my sweet,17 year-old niece Madyson cried when she saw the stamp of herself playing her guitar! Isn't that so sweet? Madyson is just the most quiet, precious, gentle soul and I can so see her crying when she saw her stamp. Oh, now I'm going to cry. I love you Mady!!!!

Meet Max...

Max the rocker! LOL! My little Russian adopted nephew Max, jammin'. I wonder what he's playing? I have so many more little nieces and nephews to make characters of, this is going to be so fun! Have a super weekend ladies!
Oh! and don't forget the blog candy!

Alexis!

A new addition to the KK's club line. Alexis! Now I need a boy or two.
I hope everyone is having a super Friday and heading into a wonderful weekend!
Only a couple of day left for the blog candy!
Smilz!!!
Tracey

Blog Hop for Bella

Do I have a special treat for you, as I have called on the help of the wonderful design team from The Stamping Boutique to help with a special mission. Today marks the start of the final blog hop for Bella and we are hoping we can overflow her mailbox with love an support! and these ladies Check out these fantastic cards that will be making their way from all over to Bella's mailbox!

For those not not familiar with what we have been doing, we are hosting a very special blog hop to bring some smiles to an AMAZING little girl named Bella. Bella is an 8 year old girl from NH, who over Easter came down with a near fatal infection that has left her without her arms and legs. She is very lucky to be alive as doctors didn't think she would recover from this illness. Bella is a true fighter and you can read more about her incredible story here: Bella's story as well as make donations if you would like. Erin over at Scrap, Stamp, and Be Merry came up with this awesome idea to host 4 blog hops, in order to shower Bella with some love and smiles from all over the world to show her how truly inspiring she is!

There is an awesome Grand Prize too for all you Fabulous card makers out there that join us in our mission to fill Bella's mailbox with love. Check out the Grand Prize package here.

Now what are you waiting for head on over to
Denise's blog to see her beautiful creation and start hopping!

A little girl with a balloon.

Good evening, everyone.
TheStampingBoutique is down for renovations for two weeks, but this little girl will be one of the first images available. We're going to have a new grand opening of the new store next month and a one year birthday party! Big things are to come!
Tracey

Meet our July Guest Designer.....

We are super excited to show you the awesome work of Collette Landwer, our first guest designer selected from our June monthly contest. Collette makes the most beautiful cards and you can see more of her amazing work on her blog Heaven Sent for You. Collette chose to work with images from the Enchantment line, as well as creating cards using a couple of our sweet Audrey images. Don't you love her coloring and overall design and thought she puts into each card. Check back for more of Collette's work in the weeks to come!

Blog candy with Copic specialty kit at The Latte Lounge!

We've started a new blog over at The Latte Lounge and would love to have our friends become members. Follow me over to The Latte Lounge blog to become a member. Leave a comment after joining to enter into the drawing. The drawing will end August 8, 2010. The prize includes:
Basic Grey "Max & Whiskers" page kit, 5 pages matching red cardstock, Making Memories puffy letter, Basic Grey "Woolies", Basic Grey "cozy pozies" (both Max & Whiskers)Piggy Tales barn door with hinges, and 8 Cioa,1 multliner specialty pastel kit.
A great prize for one lucky follower!!!!!
Tracey

"On the drawing board..."

I've had a couple of people ask about showing images in the process of being drawn and I've seen some other artists do this, so as long as you don't mind the mistakes, I don't mind showing them. This is image is one I started today. I'm not sure where I'm going with her yet. I think maybe holding a balloon in the other hand. Something summery whatever it is. I have to start school images next so I'm doing as many summer images as I can. If I get some comments that you all like seeing the "in process" stuff, I'll keep posting them. Remember to link up your projects to the monthly challenge so we can see your work too!!!!

New "Enchantment" image. "Busy Bees"

Hi everyone,
I finished a new image for the "Enchantment" line and thought I'd get it posted before I go out running errands. It's sooooooooo hot here in Indiana. I really need to do some outside work, but I'm such a baby in this weather. I just can't stand it. I'll leave it for tonight when it cools off. I have a feeling everyone is dealing with hot weather at the moment. I think I'll hit McD and have a sweet tea before my errands. mmmmm.... Have a super day!!!!!

Independence Day sale! 40%off!!!!

We're having a sale on all digi's in the store from now until 12pm sunday night. Use coupon code "July4" at checkout. (it's case sensitive)
Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Good afternoon!

Hello everyone,
I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!
I have a couple of images I finished and thought I'd post. I hope you like them. They make me hungry for ice cream.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
Tracey

The Latte Lounge Design Team.

I'm so happy to announce
the very first Design Team at The Latte Lounge.


These 3 ladies are already very active in our group. I am so happy they have all agreed to be on the team. So let me introduce each of these fabulous ladies.

Our first new member is the gifted creator and tutorial writer Joanne Davies.


I'm Jo Davies from South Wales UK. I am approaching 30 this year, married to my wonderful husband Greg,with two step daughters aged 14 & 15 and too many animals! I'm crazy about crafting.... Been crafting as far back as I can remember, from knitting to glass painting, rug work, cross stitch, decoupage & card making! I'm a proud member of a few Design Teams, so sorry if you see too much of me in the near future!

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Our second member is the fabulously talented Rhonda Miller. You probably already know her since she’s been active since the rebirth of TLL a few months ago.



I'm Rhonda Miller from Grantsville, UT. I have been married for 11 years and we have 4 wonderful children ages 1 (for anohter month), 6, 7 and 9. I enjoy spending as much time as I can with my family. I love to craft and have been doing it since high school. I have mostly been into card making, but also do cross stitch, plastic canvas and have started doing altered items as well. I have even gotten my kids started and they love to play along in challenges, etc... with me.

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Our third member is the wonderfully talented Noreen Yun



I am Noreen Yun and am from Hong Kong. I am an international student studying in B.C., Canada (but am going home soon). I started my crafting journey a year ago and my favourite has always been card making. I scrapbook and create altered items too. Yes, I call myself an addict to card making and I don't want to join any 12 steps programs. LOL. This is my first ever DT and I feel so honor to be in the team. I hope to meet some new friends, learn from all of you and have an interesting journey together. I hope to see all of you along the ride. ***Big hugs***


As you can see our team is made of fantastic and incredibly talented ladies!! I am so grateful that each of these women accepted the position on the team!! I am looking forward to an awesome journey with all of you!!

Hope you'll stop by and join in the fun!!

Monthly Contest Winners are.....

Thank you to everyone that joined the June contest, we love seeing all your FANTASTIC work an hope you will continue upload your projects for July's contest. Are you ready for the winners of the monthly contest? I used random.org to select our Guest Designer and that person is:


True Random Number Generator Min:1 Max: 79 Result: 26 Powered by RANDOM.ORG-Congrats Collette, please email me at micahzane@yahoo.com so I can give you the scoop on being out guest designer for July and get you some images to work with!

Now the other random person selected to win 5 free images is:

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max:79 Result:32 Powered by RANDOM.ORG- Congrats Lori, please email me at micahzane@yahoo.com with the names of your 5 free images so I can get them over to you asap!

Now our DT gals have been having a fierce competition with the awesome projects they have been posting, but the winner is Crystal D. with 8 entries for June! Congrats Crystal please email we your 5 image choices!

Try It Out Thursday Copic Tutorial

Coloring clear/white images with Copic markers by Ashley Scheffler

This is an easy way to color those white or clear images (think wedding dresses, snowmen, animals and more!). You will first want to pick out your color combos that you want to use. The most popular combos for white/clear images are:
- BG10
-The C's (C3, C1, C00)
-The W's (W3, W1, W00)
I typically use BG10 with any image that is suppose to be frozen, cold or an outside image. I use the C's and W's for items with more warmth, such as clothing or wings. I will show you an image with the C combos and W combos!

Lets get started!

------------
STEP 1-
Here are the two images I will be coloring today. Wedding Audrey will have a white dress and veil and Cynthia the tooth fairy will be holding a white tooth.


STEP 2-
Pick out your color combo for wedding Audrey. I will be using C3, C1, and C00.


STEP 3-
Using your darkest color, shade where the dress would be the darkest (no light hitting) and on folds in fabric. Use a light hand...we do not want her dress to look gray or dirty. I also colored the veil.


STEP 4-
Go over the darkest color with your two lightest colors. Mine were C3 and C00. Remember not to color in a lot of the dress..just stick to shading.


STEP 5-
Here is what the shaded image looks like when finished.


STEP 6-
Continue coloring the image. The colors I used:
Dress/Veil: C3, C1, C00
Skin: E00, E21, R20
Hair: E37, E57
Bouquet: G94, BV00, Y02
Ribbon: V15, V17
Crown: V15
Starbursts: BG10


STEP 7-
Complete your card or project with the image!
My supplies used on card:
Image: TSB Wedding Audrey
Cardstock: Stampin UP, Bazzil Bling
Pattern Paper: KI lace cardstock
Other: Copics,Glossy accents, Hero Arts gemstones, Stampendous clear glitter, Prima flowers


STEP 8-
Now lets continue coloring Tooth Fairy Cynthia with the W's. I will be using W3, W1, and W00.


STEP 9-
Start with the darkest color and shade where the light does not hit (W3)


STEP 10-
Repeat the last step with the lighter markers (W1, W00). Remember not to color entire image so that the tooth still remains white and healthy looking!


STEP 11-
Here is what the entire image looks like when I am finished coloring it. The colors I used were:
Tooth- C3, C1, C00
Skin- E00, E21, R20
Dress/tights- G14, YG06, YG23, RV34
Hair- Y15, Y17
Wings: BG15, RV34, G14


STEP 12-
Complete a card or project with the colored image. I created a card with tooth fairy Cynthia and added a special embellishment of my own..a quarter for a cute add-on!
My supplies used:
Image: TSB Tooth Fairy Cynthia
Cardstock: Stampin UP
Pattern Paper: Doodlebug, Green piece was a scrap
Other: Copics, Corner Rounder, Hero Arts Gemstone, Glossy Accents, Circle Punches, Quarter, pop dots and glue dots


We woould love to see what create using today's tutorial, link up your projects in comments below and there may be a FREE image for one random person or maybe everyone!

Hugs,
Christy, Tracey, and Ashley

Card Patterns, Craftalicious, and Fussy & Fancy Challenge Sponsor

Did you know that The Stamping Boutique is sponsoring several challenges? Check them out for your chance to win some TSB images. The TSB design team has been working hard also to create some fantastic samples to inspire you, see them in the slide show above and visit their blogs for more deets!

Card Patterns challenge- Check out the sketch!

Craftalicious Challenges- We are honored to be their 1st Sponsor,
theme is monochromatic!

Fussy and Fancy Challenges-Challenge is monochromatic and wings.