Twinchies! SDC 204

I am hostess this week over at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge and I am challenging you to create a set of Twinchies!

What exactly is a "twinchie" ?  If you have heard of inchies it's artworks that give you a little extra room to create -- exactly 2" x 2" of art!  To make your twinchies simple trim cardstock or lightweight watercolor paper in 2 x 2 inch squares.

Sift through your Stampotique stamps and find smaller images or use larger ones to offset.  Pick a common theme and balance your colors to create a cohesive set. 

 For my set I am using my quails cube - a versatile collection for four graphic inspired quails.

 I did the majority of my coloring with inexpensive BIC®  markers -- they don't blend as well as a COPIC® marker but they are great to make the most of your art budget and reasonable to use with children. I added detail with a small point PITT artist pen.

These are fun to create in sets and a great activity for children. With summer months still cooking grab your stamps and some pens and create sets for yourselves of with the kids.

 

June Birthdays

There sure seem to be a lot of them.  I'm one, so is my husband, and many of our friends have June birthdays.  Since the celebrations are beginning soon I put off a couple of items on my agenda to create some small birthday cards. 

The Stampotique Birthday Cake Cube with Candle was a good option to begin my June birthday card set.  I had a stack of 2 x 2" Twinchie cards cut for my children's studio, colored cardstock and my pile of PITT pens (that I can't live without).  To complete this simple collection I used Copics, BIC markers, a corner cropper, and Jim Holtz Distress Inks. You'll also need scissors, adhesive, and foam or adhesive dots.

The completed cards measure 3.5" x 4". 

Cut assorted card stock 3.5" x 8", score in the center and fold.  Stamp a variety of cakes in a variety of colored inks on white card stock.  Color cakes to your desired palette.  Add some bling, glitter, or what ever you desire.  Trim cakes, accent with Pitt pens for some contrast.
Now design a border on your 2 x 2" white card (Twinchie) with the PITT pens.  I like the small tip. 
Pull some colors from the cake and decorated your border design. Attach the 2x2" decorated Twinchie in the top center of the card.  Clip 2" wide scraps to add to the bottom. 
Now embellish the edge of the card with the PITT pen and color with markers.  Add the cake in the center of the Twinchie with double sided sticky foam to make it dimensional. 
Trim corners with a corner cutter and distress the edges with monochromatic Distress Inks. 

It's good therapy to work on variations of a theme, and not a bad idea to make up a batch of birthday cards in advance!


 

Copic Alternative

I keep my drafting table in my classroom. On occasion, when time permits, I will demonstrate some art techniques for students who complete their projects early. I think it is important to show children the variety of media and the difference in quality. While I have let my students play with Prismacolors, I had to draw the line in freely allowing them to dig into my Copics. They had discovered some of my older Design markers and really liked them, so I needed an affordable alternative.
The BIC Mark-it set is a great value; I have seen the set of 36 for as little as $15.00. It is a perfect gift for young artists. If you are new to markers and can’t afford Copics I think these inexpensive markers are terrific!
While there are only 36 colors, it is certainly enough to blend and get Copic marker effects – in fact, I’ll bet it would be hard to tell the difference on a finished drawing. The BIC Mark-Its work with the Copic “O” Colorless Blender, although it is not necessary.

Working with values is easy to get the hang of. I prefer to begin with the lighter value, while wet ,quickly add/ layer my darker value, then “chase back” with the lighter value for smoothness.
The BICs also work well with the tip-to-tip technique. Hold the lighter value pen to the tip of the darker value to absorb the darker pigment – apply to the paper with the lighter pen – as the darker area blends, continue to go over it with the lighter color.
I have also noticed that the lighter colors can “pick up” dark areas. If you have gone too dark, you can soak the area with the lighter marker until it lightens up in value.
If you are new to markers it is great to start small. These Twinchies (2 inch squares of art) were designed for color practice – all of them are made with the BIC- Mark-its.
If you have any questions, please contact me at: Janet@veralanestudio.com.