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Happy Birthday Aquarius Girl with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Nov 23 2021
Hi guys!
It’s Erica back on the Picket Fence Studios blog and today I have a blog post AND a video! Oh yes, so make sure to check out the Picket Fence Studios YouTube channel as well.
First of I have stamped the Aquarius Girl on Copic friendly paper, with the Black Hybrid ink, with the help of my Mini MISTI. I have used greys and blues for the colouring, to give her a mermaid/ethereal look. In the video I go through my colouring process, and how to achieve a more 3D look on faces.
With the colouring done, I used the coordinating diecut to cut her out, as well as another three layers. These have been layered up with liquid adhesive and then I set this aside.
My background is an already made panel, in blues of course. I have splattered this with black splatters, as well as some gold splatters. This is made by mixing up Daffodil Yellow and Golden Rose Paper Glaze with water, to create a liquid water colour. If you do this, make sure to only make as much as you need as it doesn’t keep.
The sentiment is two diecuts, one is the Happy Birthday Word Topper as well as the Aquarius from the Aquarius Girl coordinating die. Naturally, I couldn’t help myself from adding some bling to the card but I managed to restrain myself to just the earrings. These are Celebration Gem Mix stones.
That’s it from me for today, thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed this post and the card, and make sure to check out the YouTube video as well!
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
PS Don't forget to take advantage of the Black Friday Sale, especially if you have been keeping your eye on some goodies from Picket Fence! Now is the time to treat yourself, with 20% off your order with the code FRIDAY21!
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by Lisa Tilson on Nov 10 2021
Hello there, Lisa here to share a card with you today. It's no secret that I love to colour the Beautiful Girl stamps and so today's card features Beautiful Girl Sydnee and the Glass Window Rainbow Die. Both of these are slightly older products, but it's always nice to see them used in a different way.
To start my card, I stamped Sydnee Girl onto some 80lb white cardstock using Black Hybrid Ink and I coloured her with Copics. The numbers are listed below if you would like to see them. She was then cut out with the coordinating die and set to one side.
I created my background by blending Distress Oxide inks onto some white cardstock using an oval masking stencil. Taking my Life Changing Blender Brushes, I applied Cracked Pistachio, Salvaged Patina and Kitsch Flamingo across the panel from top left to bottom right.
I then took another panel of 80lb white cardstock and ran it through my die cutting machine with the Glass Window Rainbow Die. So, all my pieces were pretty much ready to assemble. All I needed to do was to create my front window panel.
Taking another panel of white card, I die cut an oval into the front and then I adhered the stained glass window die cut behind it. I then took two oval dies which were close in size and die cut a frame which I glued to the front just to add a bit more interest. It reminds me a little bit of a cameo brooch/picture!
The ink blended panel was added to a top folding A2 note card and then the window panel and Sydnee were popped up with foam tape over the top.
The sentiment is from Crafty Lifestyle and it was stamped onto black cardstock using Versamark Ink. I applied white detail embossing powder and heat set. It was trimmed out and added with foam tape and a little glue. For a bit of sparkle I added a few gems from Oceans Of Green Gem Mix.
Copics used: Skin (E53, E21, E00, E000, R20), Lips (R22), Pink Flowers (R22, R21, R20), Eyeshadow (G12, G40), Green Flowers (G12), Hair (E55, E53, E51)
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Capricorn Girl cards with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Sep 21 2021
Hi guys!
It's Erica back on the Picket Fence Studios blog with a couple of cards, using the new Capricorn Girl stamp and diecut. There are currently four girls in the Horoscope girl range and the idea is to have all of the star signs eventually. I'm waiting for the Taurus Girl, as a May birthday gal. Hint, hint, lol!
I have stamped the Capricorn Girl with Black Hybrid Ink on Copic friendly paper, with the help of a MISTI. I have then coloured them both up with LOADS of Copics, to get a couple of different looks. One girl got a silver hair look, and the other girl got turquoise hair.
Skin and makeup wise, they ended up quite similar. I'm experimenting a little with skin and makeup colouring, and currently I'm quite into contouring to bring the face to life. Sometimes it's a bit over the top, and other times it's more subtle. I definitely need to practice more though, so please be kind.
When the colouring was done, I used the coordinating diecut on the images and put those aside while I worked on the rest of the cards.
Directly on a card base I have ink blended a background in a rainbow look, through the Details Of A Wing stencil. I've used a range of Life Changing Blender Brushes and a light hand to get a soft look.
This card was turned into a birthday card with the help of the Happy Birthday Word Topper die, and I stamped up 'I hope you have a a fantastic day' with Black Hybrid ink on top. This is from the Word Topper Subtitles stamp set.
For the second card, I experimented with the new Paper Glitz over the Details Of A Wing stencil and Centre Flower stencil.
On a blue card stock panel, I used the Details Of A Wing stencil with the Navy Wingtip Paper Glitz.
With Silver Bells Paper Glaze and the Centre Flower stencil, I used them on white card stock, and it looks AHHH-mazing! That mica and glitter are so gorgeous. It came through so perfect, and you don't need much! Don't go nuts, and slap on half a jar. You only need a little bit as it's so opaque.
When these were dry I puzzled a little back and forth, and the Silver Bells piece was trimmed down a little and I tried it with a black card base. That looked so good, and I also stamped up the sentiment from the Capricorn Girl on a strip of card stock, added that and a few Moon Shade gems. This colour combo made her eyes pop like crazy and I love that!
I used the same pieces on the blue background, and this made her hair kind of glow, which was unexpected. I love this with card making. You have a plan, you execute that plan (usually with a few detours, if you craft like I do) and then things do not end up like you think, but better! Never stop experimenting with your Cardmaking and crafting, you never know what you might end up with.
So, full disclosure, I didn't glue these pieces together, because I still wasn't sure I was ready to. I puzzled them together back and forth, took pictures and then fiddled some more. They still are not fully put together, but who knows, maybe soon I will find that bit that makes it all click into place.
The rainbow one was easy peasy, that one was done in like an hour. NO hesitation at all, I knew exactly how I wanted that one. Funny that, isn't it?
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post and the card, as well as the photos of the puzzled together ones. If you aren't sure what you want for your card, don't commit by glueing anything down. Walk away for a bit and come back with fresh eyes another day. Sometimes all you need is a break from looking at the same thing, and it will look differently the next day.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Whooo Are You two ways and VIDEO!
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Aug 30 2021
Hi guys,
it's Erica back on the Picket Fence Studio blog AND the YouTube channel today! I have two cards to show you, and as mentioned, there is a video for it too, so I'd love it if you'd check that out as well.
I have used the Whooo Are You stamp and coordinating die set for these two cards.
Now, I will admit that when I first saw this guy I was a bit like 'hmm, I don't think this is going to be my fave' but once I started colouring him, I fell in love!! Oh, my, he's so fun to colour!!
I stamped him up both with Black Hybrid ink, as well as with Fadeout Ink from Inkon3, with my MISTI, so I could do one no-line-colouring. They both turned out fab, if I may say so myself. So fun to colour! (I know I already said that but it's true) and major plus point for having a coordinating diecut!
For the backgrounds I wanted to show two different techniques, and two of my faves include ink blending with the Life Changing Blender Brushes and the other is using my beloved Paper Glazes. I can not understate how obsessed I am with Paper Glazes, they are so amazing and give such fun results! I used Paper Glazes for both the lives I did in the Picket Fence Studios Community Facebook group, where we host fun lives and classes sometimes. You should definitely join us there if you haven't already!
In the video you will see me ink blending another background, which I didn't end up using, and off-camera I ink blended the one I actually used. As we are heading towards fall and the owl is a night time creature, I felt the ominous orangey-red one was a better choice. It also matched the eyes on the owl a bit better.
On the Paper Glaze background I ended up reusing(/re-purposing?) a scrap piece that I had scraped off some excess Paper Glaze from another play session. It wasn't long enough for the slim line card I was planning on making with it, so I added more Paper Glaze in Black Pansy, Lime Zinnia, Daffodil Yellow and Ocean Poppy.
Armed with lots of black card stock, I ran both the A2 Tree Silhouette cover die, the Slim line Tree Silhouette Cover die and the Spider Web cover dies through my diecutting machine, and set these aside while I worked on my sentiments.
I had a super cheesy idea for this, but bear with me. As the owl is a predator, I wanted to use the 'I love your face' word topper die, and then add 'yum' by cutting out the letter with the Seeing Double Alpha dies. See what I mean? So cheesy, lol!
Oh, by the way, that YUM was cut out of homemade glitter card stock made with Black Rainbow Paper Glitz!
The second sentiment is also done with a word topper, only this time the Hello one. This time I cut it out of white card stock, which might have been a bit of a mistake, I should have done it in black card stock again but oh well.
For this sentiment I also went cheesy. Of course. So while I had the Hello word topper, my die cutting machine and the card stock out, I cut out some extra O's to make the Hello into a Hellooooo. I didn't like it white so I blended a little bit of the black and blue ink left on my brushes over it.
The final part of the sentiment was the 'whooo are you?' from the stamp set, which I stamped on white card stock and cut out with the coordinating diecut.
To assemble these, I used liquid glue to make sure I could adjust all the pieces and line them up perfectly. Especially the A2 card as I layered up the tree silhouette piece on top of the spider web diecut.
The owls were tucked into the Tree Silhouette pieces on each card and then the sentiments were added and we were done!
Over on the Picket Fence Studios YouTube channel you can catch the video for these two cards as well!
Thank you so much for stopping by today, I really hope you like the cards and found some inspiration here with me.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Let's Pucker Up No-line colouring!
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Aug 10 2021
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Hi guys!
It's Erica, in full summer mode, on the blog today! As it's full-on summer here in Spain, and it's hot, hot, hot, I´m really into limonada (Spanish lemonade) to cool me down. It's so refreshing and zesty. I love it!
I'm incorporating my love for limonada in today's post by making a card with the Pucker Up stamp set, that is a couple of lemons hanging from a branch. I decided to do some no-line colouring with Copics, so I stamped it up with Fadeout Ink from Ink On 3 and my Mini MISTI, to make sure I got a solid print with the ink.
The Copics are yellows for the citruses, greens for the leaves and browns for the branches. It probably took about half an hour to colour this, thanks to the no-line colouring way of doing it. It will take less time if you stamp it up with Black Hybrid ink and just coloured in the images.
I wanted to use the Seeing Double Alpha dies and spell out ´zest´ but I wanted sparkly card stock, so I grabbed the Lime Christmas Green paper glitz and spread some on a piece of card stock. This I set aside to dry thoroughly before doing anything else with it.
In the Pucker Up stamp set there is a sentiment that says ´sweet with a little sass´ and I customised it to say ´sweet with a little zest´ by cutting out the letters and puzzling the sentiment together.
That's one of the fab ways of stretching your sentiments that you already have, with the help of an alphabet die set, so this is a must have in your stash.
That's it from me for today, but I hope you like the card!
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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by Erica Andersson-Burke on Jun 08 2021
Hi guys!
It's Erica back on the Picket Fence blog with a card I made with the darling Cats Are Family stamp and whilst I didn't use it, it has a coordinating die set. It's purr-fect, if you ask me.
I stamped up the biggest image in the set with Black Hybrid Ink on Copic friendly ink, on Neenah card stock.
Naturally I went with a rainbow theme for the books the cat is perched on. I mean, duh, right? LOL.
The cat was coloured grey as I have a stray cat living with me, who's grey and I call him Carlos The Cat. He's very cheeky and likes to perch on top of our gate post, taunting The Cheeky Chicas (my dogs)
The final thing I added was a shadow from the books and the cat, as we live in sunny Spain and I love sunshine. Oh, and the sentiment in the top right corner was stamped with Black Hybrid ink. I almost added sequins, because cats love bling and round things, right? But I managed to resist!
That's it from me for today but thanks for stopping by! If you would like a colouring tutorial for this, let me know in the comments and I will start working on it.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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by Erica Andersson-Burke on Feb 23 2021
Hi Picket Fence Friends!
It’s Erica back on the Picket Fence Studios blog, with another dog-themed card. I just love dogs, and the Pet All The Dogs set has so many cuties.
In the February release there was an English Brick Wall stencil added to the repertoire of stencils, and I had some fun with it, creating two backgrounds with a mix of Distress Oxide inks and Life Changing Blender Brushes.
Of course I also coloured up some doggies.. I’m not known for being a crazy dog lady for nothing, you know. For these little guys I used Black Hybrid ink on Copic friendly paper, and then coloured away. Happy like a puppy with a chew bone! Lots of Copics were used and then they were corralled into the diecutting machine with the coordinating die.
I thought it would be irresponsible to let the dogs roam free, so I also stamped up BFF Elise Girl with Black Hybrid ink and coloured her in as well. Luckily, she has a coordinating diecut as well! I also cut out another piece, just out of white card stock to layer her up a little.
A couple of sentiments from the Pet All The Dogs were stamped up directly onto the brick wall panel, that had been trimmed down a little, and then adhered to a white card base.
Well, with that, I’m all done for today but I am crossing my fingers, and my little chicas their paws, that you like the card!
Thanks for stopping by, lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Dreaming Of A Deserted Island Vacay with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Feb 02 2021
1
Hi guys!
It’s Erica back on the Picket Fence Studio blog with a card using the You Or Wifi stamp and coordinating die set. It’s been a looooooong time since I’ve been on a beach holiday and it would be asolutely amazing to go on one, don’t you agree? Well, in the lieu of an actual holiday on a beach, I decided to create a beach themed card and dream of sand between my toes, sun on my face and a good book to read whilst working on my tan!
I started out by stamping up the island image from the You Or Wifi stamp set, with the help of a mini MISTI and the Black Hybrid Ink, on Copic friendly paper. While I was on a roll, I stamped up two of them actually.
With a huge array of Copic markers I coloured in the images. When that was done, I picked one and used the coordinating diecut on it.
On a white card base, I ink blended some left over yellow ink over the Corner Sun stencil. This was just ink left on my Life Changing Blender Brushes as I wanted a really soft look. After achieving the look I wanted by gently blending the brushes over the stencil, I shifted it and kept blending. This gives the soft look I was after, with a few areas of slighty more opaque colours, for a gorgeous 'first rays of the day' look.
With the help of the diecut, I masked off the area that would be water, and used another Life Changing Blender Brush with blue ink on it.
The card just needed a sentiment and I ended up using one from the You Or Wifi set. It's stamped up with Black Hybrid ink and with that, the card was done!
What do you think? Want to meet me on the beach? Bring the SPF and a good book.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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After The Storm Two Ways with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Jun 16 2020
1
Hi guys!
It’s Erica back on the Picket Fence Blog today, with a couple of cards using the brand new After The Storm stamp set.
Both cards are coloured with Copics and stamped up with the Black Hybrid ink. Because the After The Storm stamps are brand new, I used a Mini MISTI to make sure I got good stamp outlines.
I wanted to create really dramatic and dark clouds, but not make them all grey or black. On a scrap piece of paper I scribbled all the grey copics I planned on using, then used some blues over them to see how they reacted. This scrap piece became my guide to how to colour in the clouds.
For the rainbow I used one single marker for each section. On the second card I started with a lighter Grey Copic (C5). On the first one the darkest one is C7.
On this one I used a more pastel colour scheme for the rainbow. I have also used two markers for each section to get more dimension. I added two more colours, plus a darker shade, to colour in the umbrella, as well as some browns for the bench. Once the colouring was done, this card was complete as the sentiment is already stamped up on it.
To add more drama to the first card, I cut out a mask and placed over the coloured image. Then I ink blended some Chipped Sapphire that was left on one of my Life Changing Blender Brushes to add a soft dark sky behind the clouds. The final touch for the background was splattering some Golden Rose Paper Glaze on the card for some shimmer. I mixed a tiny dollop of it with water and splattered it with a paint brush. I keep one specifically for this as it dries rather hard, and this paint brush is no good for anything else now.
The sentiment for this card is one from the After The Storm stamp set, and it says ‘Rainbows only form after a storm’. To create this effect, I masked off the ‘rainbow’ and stamped the rest of the sentiment with Black Hybrid ink. Then I masked off the ‘rainbow’ part in sections and stamped each section in a different colour. I have used Atelier Inks from Ink On 3 in Marilyn Red, Marigold Orange, Bee Sting Yellow, Goddess Green, Peacock Blue and My Jam Purple.
If you look closely, you will notice that I have used the colours in the same order as my rainbow is coloured. Nice little touch, eh?
Well, that’s it from me for today. Thank you for spending this time with me, I hope you found some inspiration here and if you want to add this gorgeous stamp set to your stash you can find it RIGHT HERE.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Face The Sun In Bright Colours with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Apr 28 2020
Hi everyone!
How are we doing? Keeping safe and occupied or going stir-crazy? It’s ok to swing back and forth between the two, I know I do! These are trying times and we can only do the best we can do deal with the situation but please do be safe and stay home if you can!
Today’s card is a sort of juxtaposition of my feelings, in that it’s a flower but coloured in very non-natural colours. At least for this kind of flower. I love the Face The Sun sunflower, and yes, I’m well aware that I say I love all the flowers! LOL! I can’t help it, big flower lover over here.
I started out by stamping it on a Neenah card base, directly, with the Hybrid Black ink and of course with the Mini MISTI to get a super detailed image. This stamp has so many fine details I’d definitely recommend using a stamping platform tool of some sort to make sure you get all the little bits stamped.
Scanning my Copic Hex Chart, from Sandy Allnock, I picked out teals markers to colour the stem and foliage bits. Instead of colouring it as I normally do though, I decided to try something new. I have drawn one line with one colour, starting with the darkest, and then with the next colour I have slightly overlapped it, without making any attempts at blending them.
I wasn’t sure how this would turn out but I must admit, I love it!
Next it was time to colour the actual flower itself and the only choice was another bold colour! I went for an array of deep red, fushias and light pink. The petals I coloured in the same way as the stem and foliage and it turned out pretty cool too.
I also added lots of white highlights with a white Posca pen. I have had zero luck finding a gel pen that doesn’t dry up on me right away so I’m sticking to the Posca pens from now on.
Of course I could have stopped there but did I? No, ma’am, I did not. I decided to shade the flower in grays and a light blue to make it pop. It didn’t exactly turn out as I was hoping but I’m not hating it either.
The only thing left to do was add a sentiment.
I picked one from the Face The Sun stamp set, and it says ‘Spread seeds of happiness, joy and love’. Which I thought was quite perfect. Looking for the silver lining in every situation makes it easier to deal with it, at least I find that.
Well, with that, I’m done. I hope you found some inspiration here today.
Lots of love, germ-free virtual hugs and happy crafting from Erica