Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Using Stuff: Colored Vellum

Today's card is flawed, but I have several reasons for showing it anyway. Well, reasons other than it's absolutely the only card I have photographed and ready to show you. It was this or nothing.

But today's card taught me several things. First, be careful what ink you use when you use colored pencils. I used Memento ink for this and when I was about half-way through coloring, I was shocked to find it smeared. Oh my. Not expecting that. Has anyone else had this problem?

Second, the light pink prisma colored pencil does not work well. This was my first time using it, and I now understand why people have complained about Prisma pencils. It wouldn't smooth out with a blender pencil at all, so the pink areas look sort of diseased. Perhaps using odorless mineral spirits would work, but I will not buy them. Sigh.

Third, blue vellum makes AWESOME water. I have had this sheet of blue vellum for at least eight years. You read that right: eight years. As part of my resolution to use or ditch old supplies, I decided to try it with the Martha Stewart wave border punch and see what happened. I LOVE this and will likely use the entire gawgeous sheet making ocean cards. But I won't use that pink prisma again.


Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts (whale is from Oceans of Joy, sentiment is from a discontinued WM set)
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white, blue vellum
accessories: Prisma color pencils

29 comments:

  1. Susan!
    Using the blue vellum as water is genius since you can see the fish right through it makes it perfect! LOVE the wave punch too!

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  2. Susan
    The blue vellum is great as water. Seeing what's under the water makes it rather cool. Your whale is fine but I can understand not wanting to use the pencil again.
    Myrna

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  3. 1. Never had a problem with memento - I use it with both Prisma Pencils and Copics. Never had any problems. Maybe it was the paper and ink combo that cause the problem?

    2. Never had a problem with Prisma pencils either. But I always blend them with odourless mineral spirits.

    3. Love the tip about the blue vellum!

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  4. You are right, the blue vellum makes excellent water. I think that Happy Everything is the perfect sentiment for a card with a pink floral whale on it!

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  5. Hi Susan,
    What a cool, playful card!
    Hint for the Prismas: You can use baby oil in place of the mineral spirits if you are of a mind. to?
    Lu C

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  6. Never found a problem with memento ink. If using baby oil with Prisma's use sparingly as it can leech badly and ruin your projects.

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  7. Honestly, up close and personal you may be discontented with the result but to us out here it is perfectly ok.....it is a great card and I love the vellum!

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  8. My daughter wants the wave punch - thank you so much!!!!! Honestly I can't tell you had problems with the whale (colour that is), looks great to me (makes me think of Hitchhiker's, but no bowl of petunias). Sorry.

    I had blue vellum and couldn't see a use for it, it was waiting for the wave punch.

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  9. Susan, your cards are always great to me! Great use of the vellum! I use Goo Gone instead of baby oil. I love it!

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  10. Love the waves - very clever. I've also never had a problem with Memento but I don't have Prismas so I guess that comment doesn't count. I've heard you can use baby oil - would sure make a nice smelling card.

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  11. The vellum sea is fabulous. Love the whale stamp. Personally I've never had a problem with Memento and prisma. I always blend with odourless mineral oil!

    Love the card though!

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  12. Hi Susan,
    Glad you mentioned that about the Memento. I don't use prismas I use the Staedler pencils and just the other day I had the same thing happen. I was puzzled and just thought,hmmm, guess a gal has to use Staz On for colored pencil coloring. I really have no idea what the difference is but I know my Staz On smears if I use it with Copics.

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  13. oh by the way your card looks GREAT. I love the water and you have given me an idea to use up my green vellum...trees???

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  14. The waves are great. I too have to say that I've never had a problem w/ Memento and prismas - and those are my 'main' coloring tools. Could be the paper as someone else mentioned. Hmmm, interesting!
    But - I enjoyed the card anyways :)
    Maria

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  15. Wow - I love that blue vellum and the wave punch! I don't have Prismas. Your card is great as usual; I don't see the flaws.

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  16. yup, this is adorable! I have never thought of using the vellum for water and while I don't have this dark of a blue vellum, I do have a light blue and will be pulling it out off the shelf tonight!! I have no problem with my pink prisma but one of my browns doesn't work well ... it's like there is a sharp object inside the lead that scratches the paper and makes the coloring look uneven! Even if I sharpen the lead it is still there so I figure it must be all the way through the lead. So frustrating. Not sure if that is what you are experiencing but regardless, I feel your pain!!

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  17. Susan, you're amazing, using up 8-year old blue vellum in such a cute way. Now I can use up mine! I got a pad of miscellaneous colors of vellum, and only managed to use the pink. Now I can use the blue for water, and even the various shades of green & brown for grass & ground! You've spawned a whole new avenue of using up supplies! But now to get to the point, this card is sooo cute! Kids would love it, but adults would like it too. As for the smeary ink, I've never had a problem with that unless I used water, too. And when I plan on using my watercolor pencils, I use Staz-On, and it works every time. I only got a set of 8 Prisma pencils, and I'm glad I didn't splurge on a larger set. My Crayola pencils work as well!

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  18. What an adorable card!!!! Never thought to use blue vellum as water!!! Great Idea!!!!

    You should Definately buy some Odorless Mineral spirits! It's really cheap! Walmart sells it!! Only like 5 bucks for a big bottle of it!!

    Wonderful card!!! I love everything you do on here!! So inspiring!!!!

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  19. What a wonderful card! Love that whale image and seeing it through the ocean waves is a great idea. It opens up all sorts of possibilities for my unloved vellum. I really like this kind of post every once in a while. It helps my creative process. The good, the bad and the beautiful!

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  20. What a great way to use that blue vellum, Susan. You are genius! :)

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  21. Thank you for showing something that didn't work the way you wanted it to. It's helpful to learn from. And even imperfect, it's still a great card!

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  22. You are right, that blue vellum does make amazing water!

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  23. I, too, have a LOAD of vellum. After all...it was the "hot" item there for a while. I don't have that wave punch (GASP!), but I've looked at it a few times. I have found when working with vellum that the Stazon ink works the best. It works the best with "slicker" objects in my experience. It doesnt' work if you use copic markers, but I can't imagine why it wouldn't work with Prismas. The card is adorable...and you see the flaws MUCH better than we do!

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  24. Clever lady! I predict many of us will be digging through our vellum collection in the desperate search for blue.

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  25. This is so cute, Susan...and I love your waves!!

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  26. Loved your card but more so love the tips you gave us. Worth remembering. Now I must get out that colored vellum and have stashed away. Thanks

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  27. The water vellum is truly brilliant!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!