11.02.2009

How about a little autumn-ness tonight?


Is this little squirrel cute, or what?!  My friend & fellow demo Angel, Kim Sears, was kind enough to stamp a couple of these cuties off for me a while back, and I finally used them!  These images are part of the August Stamp of the Month (which is still available online!) set, and I'm thinking I really need to buy it!  



My go-to color medium is almost always Prismacolor pencils with mineral oil... blended with artist drawing stumps.  You can find the stumps in the art department of JoAnn's, Michael's, or Hobby Lobby next to the artist charcoal pencils, etc.  Do NOT get the ones that you can 'sharpen' by unrolling the paper... get the pressed kind.  You can clean & sharpen them by running them along some sand paper or sanding block.



I've got a handy-dandy little Tupperware Smidget (about the size of a half-dollar) in which I soak a cotton ball with mineral oil.  I've tried baby oil, but for whatever reason, I just can't get it to work as well as the regular mineral oil from the pharmacy.  I can fit the Smidget, an eraser, a pencil sharpener and my blending stumps all in a $1 pencil case from JoAnn's yep, cheap & easy {no comment from the peanut gallery, please ;)}. 


Stamps:  So Squirrely
Paper:  White UltraSmooth, basic black, DCWV lime green, & Mulberry Meadow (retired) cardstocks

Other:  Giga Scallop Square Punch, BG ribbon, PTI twine, foam tape, 1/16" hole punch



I'm still trying to figure out how to work our digital camcorder so that I can start doing tutorials.  In the meantime, there is a great one on Mischelle's blog using mineral spirits... the same principles apply to the oil.  And no... it doesn't leave an oily sheen at all.


Anyway, back to squirrely...  I left the inside blank so that it could be a "whoops forgot your birthday" card or a "BIG whoops I totally screwed up... my bad... it's all my fault" card.  Not that I'm sure most of us need the latter one much, but just in case ;)

What do you think?!
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11 comments:

Chris said...

That ribbon is fantastic! Love that squirrel too...great card, Barb.

Anonymous said...

That squirrel is the nuttiest ;) very cute, and thanks for the info on Prisma colours, I love them too and now with the gamsol I am soooo having a blast with them, thanks for sharing your ideas.

Jen Carter said...

Cute card! I LOVE how you tied the bow! :)

Lisadwb said...

Your acorns look so real!! I love the squirrel, ribbon, colors.....
Oh, I think I am addicted to Prismas and OMS. LOL

Trudy Osborn said...

Your card is cute and your coloring is fabulous

HazelQ said...

Beautiful card Barb, thank you for sharing these coloring tips :)
Hugs
Hazel

LadybugSue said...

I like your take on the squirrel. I am surprised this set you did not have. You have all the good ones and alot I where did not see a card, but then came Barb who can make a terrific card out of any stamp. This is a very good thing!!

Melisa Waldorf said...

I think this little guy is adorable and I love your card!!

Anna said...

Way too cute! That set is so much fun, and love the layout you did with the acorns across the bottom.

mel m. m. mccarthy said...

Ouuuuu! Barb. How sweet is this!!! I love your layout and sentiment and the mineral oil & stump pointers are going to help me out SOOoooh much. Thank You! (I have yet to try anything with my prismacolours so that rocks.) LOVE that green too Gorgeous!

Mary said...

Hello Barb, thanks for the great tip for storing the blending tools all together. Very smart and I have one of those TW ocntainers I can use. :)