Tuesday 13 August 2013

Playing with sepia

During the summer break I have had the chance to play with a few techniques which I have been itching to try but just not had the time. Most Tuesdays in the holiday I have tried to try something new in my garden studio.
Billy loves that I am at home and he races ahead of me and sits outside for me to open up.

Some days it has been so hot that Billy chooses to find some shade to sleep while I craft but he is never more than a few feet away and he is such a crafting chum.

Sometimes things don't go well and I learn to change and try again and sometimes they go well. I really believe that I don't have a "single" style when it comes to card making, I am quite happy to skit between lots of layers, vintage, CAS, steampunk etc. I also like to take myself out of my comfort zone sometimes.

For a while I have been really keen to try some "sepia" colouring. I have seen it used on occasions in blogland. I decided to buy a "sepia" brown pencil and have a play with my existing Prismacolor pencils trying out the black, sepia and white pencils. I really like using Kraft paper as it adds to the "vintage" looks so I stamped some images and had a play in my studio. I used Memento Tuxedo black as my stamping ink.

I bought the Stampendous Minuet bird at Ally Pally earlier this year so I was keen to use him. I also stamped some House Mice, Lili of the Valley bunnies and my new Uptown Girl stamp, which I got discounted from the Loves Rubberstamps shop when I was their GD.

I first tried the black with the white and I must admit I was not over keen, it seemed too heavy and I overdid the blending.






I also was too heavy with the white shadows.
This poor little house mouse was overwhelmed by my colouring and he hit the rubbish bin (RIP..LOL!)..or perhaps Billy had him as a sweet snack?

Next I decided to try the sepia pencil and this time I was more pleased with the end result.












 Here is the bird before I blended in the white, I used Sansador for blending and a clean blending stump.






and here is the LOTV bunny love stamp as well, again pre blending.

Spurred on by this I coloured 5 or 6 different images and a couple I made up into cards. Now I have some very talented American artists who are my blogging buddies (Hi Michele, Linda,Shirley and Jane) and I know they will think my colouring is very amateur but like everything I hope it will improve with some more practice. For a first effort I was quite satisfied.





I even had a play with sepia with some photos of Billy. The first photo is the same shot as the one of him above....
 How different he looks without colour... I think it suits him well.
 The one missing thing though in sepia is his sweet pink nose and lips ;0)

So my challenge card today uses the sweet Lili of the valley stamp,
Christmas bunnies stocking, which I simply coloured with my sepia and white Prismacolor pencils.

Ready for a ta dah moment.....



I kept my card pretty Clean and Simple and just added a couple of die cuts. The sentiment tags are also LOTV from last year. These are my new dies for Christmas, all Memory Box, the little gingerbread men are just sooo cute. I thought they looked fun stuck on the back of the Precious mittens. You will see these on lots of my Christmas cards and I know that a lot of you will curse me but I have actually put this up in my Etsy shop for sale here. Yes my first Christmas cards for this year are up for sale. It's never too early to start getting sorted and just to tease you (Viv don't pass out) there are only 134 days to go ;0)

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Lili of the Valley Ideas to Inspire Make it festive
The Hobby House Festive
The Cupboard Trilogy Monocrome
Jelly Park Cuddly wuddly
Lili's Little Fairies Christmas in August
Sweet Stampin Use Kraft
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge photo inspiration  I was inspired by the "hanging "baubles and the mittens. My die combines them both!
Sparkle Creations Weekly Christmas card challenges #37
Winter Wonderland Cute Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge extra  Anything goes for Christmas
Make it Monday Linky Party #153

As it is Tuesday today and I don't have any work meetings etc it is another crafting day for me...bliss...I am playing with some more of my accordion cards...such fun. Billy will no doubt be so pleased that he has company during the day in the garden. Sweet summer days....

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great week,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

















27 comments:

  1. Just back from my hols so popping in to say hello Jane and see what you are up to - great card at always. Catch you again as soon as the dreaded washing is done.

    B x

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  2. Love your interpretation of my challenge picture with all the beautiful sepia tones - the image is gorgeous. - thanks for entering my CHNC challenge 137 - you could also enter this into my CHNC challenge extra for August - I'd love to see it there too. x

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  3. Thanks for adding for my CHNC challenge extra for August. I meant to say before how much I enjoyed seeing the photos of Billy x

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  4. This is just so beautifully done on the Kraft Jane and thanks for joining our challenge at Sweet Stampin this week
    x catherine

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  5. Hi Jane,

    This is fantastic! The colouring is absolutely perfect and Billy looks fab in sepia too!

    Thanks for joining our Lili of the Valley 'Make it Festive' challenge, good luck!

    Hugs Erica x

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  6. Thanks for that Jane! 😕 Just what I needed to know!!
    Poor little mouse! Hope Billy didn't get him!!!!
    Speaking of Billy, I think he looks gorgeous whether in colour or sepia!
    Your images are lovely Jane, I love the little bird and of course the pretty little bunnies. The card looks great, I'm very fond of that colour scheme.
    Happy crafting Tuesday my friend,
    V xxx

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  7. Beautifully coloured on the kraft card Jane. Fabulous pics of Billy.
    Hugs
    Caz x

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  8. Loved the pictures of your beautiful Billy and especially of your colouring experiment. Beautiful result. TYFS with us and having fun with us at Christmas Card Challenge #37. :)

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  9. absolutely gorgeous and love how your photo's are sepia to match your kraft card I love sepia photos, thank you for sharing with us at the Winter Wonderland
    hugs Kate xx

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  10. Lovely coloring, thanks for joining us at the hobby house challenge.

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  11. Your card is stunning. Love the technique and how the gold looks with the kraft. Thank you for joining us this week at CCC.

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  12. Very unusual and I love it, great use of the kraft, thanks for playing at WW

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  13. thank you for joining us at the Hobby House Challenge for our Christmas Theme
    Hugs Kate xx

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  14. Good morning, Jane! Nice to see you are managing to get out in your little crafty hideaway and that you have good company in the form of Billy, too! (Beautiful pictures of him!) There's a definite hint of Autumn to the air already here in Wales and the cardies are being worn more often - let's hope for a bit of an Indian Summer!
    Great to see you trying a new technique (one I haven't tried yet! I am sitting on my hands not buying anything else until the house is done, I just wish they'd hurry up!) I LOVE your little bird stamp and the sepia colouring suits it so well. Gorgeous finished card using that cute LOTV image (of course!) CAS design and pretty die cuts!
    Hope you have many more days in your summer house before Autumn sets in! Hugs, Lisa x

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  15. Wow, fantastical experimental colouring - I have just been working on a watercolor and mixed media technique using sepia ink water and a wc wash - I might put it up; its a small bird, all fluffed up in the cold. I love your colouring here and it has created a fabulous card.

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  16. Hi Jane
    Love the image on kraft .
    The card for the end result is awesome .
    Thanks for sharing on Make it Monday

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  17. hiya and thanks for your lovely comment and yes one week left, just soaking a little sun as the craft room is so so so hot and I have left some stuff drying so multitasking really, and a great choice of image for your up and coming little one too
    Hugs Kate xx

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  18. Good afternoon Jane...Oh my, such a cool and handsome cat is Billy! I love the third pic of him chilling and observing his world!
    I love your sepia cards and you have done a wonderful job...I agree too that it's good to come out of your comfort zone and try new things...you can end up with some lovely surprises!
    Happy Wednesday,
    Susan x

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  19. Ta Dah moment is right! I absolutely love your sepia card. So amazing and darling!

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  20. Lovely post, Jane,

    Billy starring it and the most gorgeous card in the end! And even I know Vivienne had a shock, it was a lovely number to see, ONLY that little until C! We'll be so busy soon... :)

    Have a lovely weekend, soon, dear friend, and happy crafting!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  21. Fantastic card, love the effect of the black, white and sepia on the kraft card. Shona x

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  22. Wow, stunning! You rocked the sepia! Thanks for joining up at Christmas Card Challenges! Karen, CCC-DT

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  23. Gorgeous.

    Thanks for sharing at Sweet Stampin' this week.

    Susan x

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  24. Lovely sepia cards and dear Billy.

    I thought of you, Jane when I was travelling. I found a fun Danish themed gift shop and couldn't resist some small Christmas decorations.

    Happy creating and have a lovely weekend at Ascot.

    Cheers from America,
    Anne
    PlumCreek Studio

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  25. Stunning card and details!
    Thanks for playing along at CCC last week!

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  26. What a lovely card, thanks for joining in with our challenge over at The Cupboard Trilogy Challenge Blog

    Stella xx

    TCT DT

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  27. Love the images on the kraft paper Jane and coloured in with those brown and white pencils. Awesome! Billy is just too adorable. Reminds me of our Nikita. Thanks for sharing.

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Jane x