Docrafts Blogger Outreach Program: A beginners guide to using the Artiste Dual tip pens

Today i will be talking about the new Artiste water color pens. There are 36 colors that all blend with each other and they come in a handy case that will fold up and fit into a handbag or tote but can also be folded out like a stand.

I am a complete novice to colouring in stamps and i have tried several different types of pens and pencils but found that these pens are the easiest to use. Compared to the Dual Tip Brush Markers these pens are easier to blend with water so that you can use them like watercolor paint.

I am now going to run through a tutorial with you on how to use these pens for water coloring.

You will need a few items:

Stamps

Two acrylic blocks, one to stamp with and the other to use for blending.

Fine tip brush (Artiste  brush set (DOA 767202)

card

Artiste Water colour Dual tip pens ( DOA 851310)

I would advise to use pigment ink for coloring as it is less likely to bleed into your colors when wet. i used the Artiste Black ink pad (DOA 550105). Stamp your chosen image out on to plain white card stock, to get a clean image either used a foam mat underneath or place the card over the inked stamp and pat down with your hand.

To blend the color pens with water, scribble on to a clear acrylic block or non stick surface so it looks like this.

Next take a fine tip brush and dip it into clean water and let a few drops of water fall on to the ink and the mix with your brush.

you can repeat the above step with as many colors as you need and just dip the brush in to the ink and color as you would with paints.

 Mixing colors is simple, just scribble the chosen colors next to each other on the acrylic block and apply water. blend them together as you would with water color paints.

                   
 You can use the pens to create water color effect backgrounds. I used a water pen to achieve this effect but you can apply a darker colored ink to an acrylic block and paint it onto a background that has had water painted on to it. just draw the color downwards to get the same effect.

I found that the dark yellow pen creates a healthy looking skin tone when it is watered down.

I still have a lot to learn about shading but these pens are really good for beginners who need something easy to practice with.

Here are a few more cards i made while playing around with the pens.

This bunting was created using the stamp and i stamped it in a row onto blank card colored it in and cut it out.

                   
                     I was experimenting with the clean and simple look with this one.

Here i used the pens as both a water color paint and like a marker with out any blending with water.

                                                             
Thank you for visiting if you would like to learn more about any of the products used on this post then visit www.docrafts.com. you can join our community for free and share your projects with us and also get some free printables. My user name is Klamb so pm me if you need anything.

Something a bit Kawaii

I have recently got into the whole Kawaii craze and found that The Little Meow range fell into this category. Kawaii is Japanese for cute and applies to anything brightly colored and cartoonish, mostly big eyed animals and people.

I started off with a plain wooden clipboard and painted the edges with purple acrylic paint. Then i used crackle medium on top of the first layer. I painted lilac paint over this before the crackle medium dried and used a heat gun to dry it off.

For the clip, i watered down some texture paste and painted it over the clip as a primer before painting it purple. Once dry i grabbed a random assortment of buttons and cabs which i glued down with uno glue. This stuff is so strong it melts plastic but its ok as long as its applied to an area that wont be on show. When painting the clip, place a bit of scrap paper under it so that the paint and glue doesnt get onto the base part.

I decorated the base of the clipboard with a sheet of A4 patterned paper which i trimmed about 1.5 cm off each side.

This is from one of the little meow stamp sets and i love them to bits. I made custom clips by stamping the kitten images on to card stock and colouring it in with the new Artiste watercolour pens. I then glued them onto mini pegs.

This is just a cheap notepad i pucked up from poundland. I just used the toppers and stickers from the ultimate decoupage kit.

Just a few close ups of how this is made

I made a pen holder by gluing a lengh of elastic to the board. i just looped it up and held it in place while the glue dried. Im showing off abit of my cute stationery off. The hello kitty clip is made by hot gluing a large cabochon to a big paperclip.

Thanks for visiting and if you have made anything Kawaii then please share by tagging me on instagram at @katiel238.

Happy crafting this weekend.

Docrafts Blogger Outreach Programe: Introducing Papermania Little Meow range

Today i will be introducing one of the new ranges released this month. The Little Meow range is cute and purrfect for cat lovers but is also versatile as there are patterns that can be used for all occasions. This range has matching embellishments and comes in both A5 and A4 paper packs. i will also be sharing with you a mixed media tutorial as well.

I had to do a kitten layout to match the cute papers.

The paper ranges i used for this project are The Little Meow A4 paper pack (PMA 160180) and Capsule Collection French Lavender 12x12 pack (PMA 160232)

Take a 12x12 paper for the background and then paint with gesso or watered down white acrylic paint. Dry with a heat gun before spritzing with inks. blend the inks together with a paint brush before it dries adding water where needed. i used Artiste acrylic paint  Blush (DOA 763219) and White (DOA 763260) for the base coats and Artiste Spritzing inks Cardinal Red ( DOA 550603) Violet ( DOA 550611) and Gold (DOA 550602)

Tip:  The gold and white sprays are best used as a base coat if you spray these over your project first and then spray over with another colour once dry. You will then get a lovely glittery shimmer and it will bring out the colours more.

Once the background is dry, take a selection of stamps and inks and then stamp around the page at random. stamp a few in embossing ink and use embossing powder to add texture.

i used Artiste Watermark (DOA 550500), Metallic Berry(DOA 55121) , Black (DOA 550105) ink pads and seafoam embossing powder (PMA 4021010)

Tip: remove any excess powder off using a make up sponge or, brush a bit off to create a distressed look.

 

I used Tilly daydream Ribbons (TIL 907104) and Bird Print (PMA 907122) 

you can still get these online. 

Tip: Try pressing the stamps down using your fingers instead of an acrylic stamping block as this gives you a faded effect.

Next cut out a selection of die cut shapes and place the layers together. once you are happy with the way your layers are laid out then staple together to hold in place.  before sticking down your layers to the background stamp a few more images around the focal centre of your layout and flick a few drops of spritzing ink around it. I used double sided craft tape by Stick it to stick down the layers.

i used Xcut Tags nesting dies (XCU 503926), Rectangle nesting dies (XCU 503409) , Rectangle Parentheses (XCU 503044) and Rectangle Parentheses 2 (XCU 503045)

Tip: you can crumple up some of the layers and then ink them before sticking them down to add texture.

Stick your photo in the centre of your layers using Stick it 3d foam pads. Then take a length of thread or twine and loosely wrap it around the photo to create a rough frame. stick it into place using the Stick it glue pen. i love these pens as they are so accurate when sticking down small embellishments.

here are the codes for the adhesives i used  Double sided tape (STI 7101) Glue pen (STI 463100) and 3d foam pads (STI 4000).

                      Finish of your project with a selection of embellishments and buttons.

                   Thank you for visiting.