Online Card Classes - Simply Watercolor

Hi everyone! I signed up for Kristina Werner’s Simply Watercolor Class and it is fantastic! I will share my cards here, but not all of the steps since this is a class that is being sold. The price point is really good, the class is $20 and there are around 20 cards that you can make! 

A labor of love! 

I had so much fun making this card using nothing but pencil and watercolor. It really inspired me to try more cards like this in the future. I even did some hand lettering at the bottom! Now I just have to find someone to send this to. Until next time, happy crafting!

Gaby

Cricut Bright Pad and Tombow Markers

Hi there, it's Gaby here with a quick project that will let you work on your hand lettering without eraser marks!

Meow!

I started with some drawing paper and a few Tombow pens.

I drew my image on paper and then put it over my Bright Pad with another sheet of drawing paper on top.

Then I traced the drawing and added some color!

I added some details and a few more colors and it was all done!

I did my tracing with a Tombow Fudenosuke and then added details with my Monotwin. This was a fun, easy project and this would be a good way to practice your hand lettering as well.  Until next time, happy crafting!

-Gaby

iPad Pro is Everything and I've Been Missing Out

Maaaaannnn, where do I begin!? I finally sat down to use an iPad Pro to try handlettering because I keep seeing everyone using ProCreate, so I wanted to try it. When I tell you that I literally improved my lettering in minutes, I am not exaggerating. I even rewatched a time lapse video of my first attempt and you could see the progress after 35 minutes! That's a really neat feature by the way; you can export a video of your art work. I am just starting out, so I am super excited about practicing and learning more. Before I was using my Wacom pad and Adobe Illustrator; I won't get rid of that, but I can tell an immediate difference in ease of use and results.

Some lyrics from "This Town" 

Below you can watch the video of me starting to use the software and finally getting the lettering right. 

I cannot stress enough how excited I am! I even did another picture for the #DNDchallenge.  You can get the full list of prompts over on www.bydawnnicole.com along with some other cool tips and techniques about hand lettering! Yesterday's prompt was "Hot Pink" and I may have gotten carried away.

So easy to do backgrounds!  

I will be using this more than my Wacom I think, any letterers out there care to chime in? Leave a comment about what method you prefer; is it iPad, Wacom, or paper? Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting.

-Gaby

Lettering on a Wacom Pad using Adobe Illustrator

Hi there! I wanted to pop in and give you guys a quick tutorial of how to jazz up your hand lettering.  I have an Intuos Wacom Pad that I really love for digital drawing and I wanted to do some lettering on it as well.  I used Adobe Illustrator for this project; a simple graphic of my web address. You can play around with some of the settings, I settled on a Calligraphic Brush at .75 pt.

Then once I finalized and smoothed everything out, I sent the image to my toner printer and printed it on 2 sheets of cardstock, a purple sheet and a white sheet. 

Then to apply the foil I used my trusty Minc with fuschia and holographic foils.

Holographic on purple. 

Fuschia on white. 

These were so fun to make! I can see myself making lots of prints like this and experimenting with more brush types and techniques and doing more digital stamps.  See you soon, happy crafting!

All I do is craft, craft, craft...

Not really, but I wish that were true! I have been trying to up my crafting game and it's resulted in some purchases of supplies and then actively using them.  I try to make sure that I use my supplies regularly and I haven't bought new supplies (besides adhesive) in a few weeks. That might not sound spectacular, but for me that's a long time.  The truth is I realized I have enough supplies right now to go "shopping" in my craft studio; that realization forces me to use/rediscover what I already own.  Doing this has yielded some "Responsible Crafting".  I'm using that to refer to things like making swatches:

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens

Practicing my handlettering: 

Done with Tombow Dual Brushpens

And even working on my digital art: 

Wacom Pad using Sketchbook

I've been working to really get the most out of my supplies and I have to say I'm pretty happy.  I feel like I have fallen in love with some of my supplies all over again, which I like because I think it's easy to fall into the trap of "hoarding" supplies and being afraid to use your "good" supplies. To be honest, the whole reason you buy things should be so you can use them. I'm trying to take my own advice there, happy crafting!