Gab with Gaby

An engineer's creative corner studio.

Gansai

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

Drawing, Watercolor, Coloring, Color, Cards, Crafts, How to, Hand Lettering, Paper crafting, Thrift, SuppliesGabriela SimsComment

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

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens

Practicing my handlettering: 

 

Done with Tombow Dual Brushpens

Done with Tombow Dual Brushpens

And even working on my digital art: 

 

Wacom Pad using Sketchbook

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! 

 

The Daily Marker 30 Day - Day 3

Drawing, Crafts, Watercolor, Coloring, Tutorial, Cards, Paper crafting, Diy, Graphic, How to, ColorGabriela SimsComment

So I am really trying to keep up with this! I designed this card for one of my friends who does ballet workouts! I came up with the drawing, fussy cut it and then did a watercolor background. 

 

Making my drawing. 

Making my drawing. 

Marker outline. 

Marker outline. 

First layers of color. 

First layers of color. 

Almost done. 

Almost done. 

Finished. 

Finished. 

I used foam tape on my fit chick and cut a craft dowel down to make the barre. I have a post for Quick Quotes coming up soon and after that I will be reviewing the Zig Clean Color 48 pack. Thanks for stopping by, happy crafting! 

Watercolor, hand lettering, and masking.

Drawing, Color, Paper crafting, Supplies, Tutorial, Graphic design, Graphic, How to, Tools, Cards, Diy, Coloring, Watercolor, CraftsGabriela SimsComment

I wanted to try doing some hand lettering and water coloring and I thought the easiest way to do it would be to use my Molotow masking pen.  

I started by finding a quote I really liked from Aesop, and hand lettered it in pencil on a piece of Bristol paper. 

 

Beginning and some guide lines. 

Beginning and some guide lines. 

Completed quote

Completed quote

 

Then I covered all of the lettering with the Molotow masking pen. 

 

All masked and ready to go. 

All masked and ready to go. 

What I should have done here is erased my guidelines, but I didn't so they're slightly visible in the finished work, but if you are making this, now is a good time to erase them being careful not to disturb the masking fluid. 

Then I added my watercolor background and dried it with my heat tool.

Before the reveal... 

Before the reveal... 

Finally I removed the mask with an adhesive eraser (they're very handy and won't cause your paper to pill). 

 

Finished product! 

Finished product! 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results! The next time I do this though, I will erase my guidelines earlier and I will use a lighter sketch pencil when I do my hand lettering. Hope you enjoyed this, Happy Crafting! 

New cards with new stuff

Stamps, Tutorial, Cricut, Coloring, Cards, Watercolor, How to, Supplies, Color, CraftsGabriela SimsComment

Last time I talked about my amazing watercolors and yesterday I finally put them to work on a card. I cut out the hearts on my Cricut Explore and used a piece of Tim Holtz Ranger Watercolor paper for the background. I chose 3 colors I really liked and put them down first as a wash and then flicked some dark purple and dark blue on top. I dried it all with my heat gun and then adhered the hearts using some Sticky Dots. Then I finished it by adding some Doodlebugs sequins using Glossy Accents and my Pick Up stick. Finally I stamped the sentiment with an Avery Elle stamp and a Versacolor ink pad.

I hope you enjoy the video and Happy Crafting.