May Your Home Be Filled....With Love

This was one of my first cards while I was still playing with my newly bought Chameleon Pens. I think this might even be the first image I "broke" the pens for.

I used Taylored Expressions Display Window and Window Accessories dies. The flower  is from the stamp set A Glimpse Inside.

Enjoy!

S.W.A.L.K. Valentine's

Crafter's Companion used to have these S.W.A.L.K. and Humphrey's Corner Collection stamps and I love how cute they are. I also love using these stamps when I'm in the mood for some serious coloring. I've recently purchased these Chameleon pens and have been practicing on getting the hang of how to blend using a single pen. Since it's Valentine's and these stamp sets are screaming to be used, I figured I'd make some Valentine's Day cards to go with the season.

This is the Humphrey's Corner Collection - Flowers For You

This is the Humphrey's Corner Collection - Hugs For You

S.W.A.L.K. - Love You

S.W.A.L.K. - Quackers

I hope you enjoy them! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Love Card

Here's one of the Valentine's Day card I made using Close to My Heart Heartstrings paper. I used a Silhouette image to cut this lacy layer on the front of the card. I love the simplicity of the card, yet the intricate cut makes it classy looking.

Happy Hearts Day everyone!

Valentine's Day Tags for the Classroom

This year I'm actually early and not scrambling to make my daughter's Valentine's Day card for her class. I did something very simple this year, which is to just print and cut using my Silhouette Cameo.
I purchased these really cute printable files from Jamie Cripps, printed them on my printer and the Silhouette Cameo did the rest. It was supposed to be a quick and easy project, but the new Silhouette software seems to make everything harder. I wasted so much printer ink and cardstock, because it would perfectly print and cut one page, then after loading the next, it won't cut right. I tinkered with calibration and registration marks to no avail, and finally found the only solution was to keep shutting the machine off, restart the Silhouette studio software and do it all over again. That trick seemed to do it and I was then able to create the rest pretty easily.

Unfortunately I have to admit, I don't use the highest quality ink, thus the washed off kinda look. Either way, it's just for my daughter's class and something for the kids to enjoy. I hope you do too. 

Valentine's Day Card

It's my first time to participate on a challenge and I thought I'd join the fun over at Kiwi Lane. This is their card sketch, and I thought I'd use one of my favorite papers - Ivy Lane. I love the romantic look of this paper pack. It's retired, but I still have some left to use for cards.

And here's my version of the card. I'm not sure how these challenges work, but I took it to mean creating a card that looks like the sketch. I used Ivy Lane papers, Hollyhock cardstock for the heart, and embossed it with a Cricut embossing folder Juli's Garden and distressed it to show the white core. I embossed the buds of the flower with Cricut embossing folder Swiss Dots, inked the edges with Hollyhock ink and topped it with Heartstrings Assortment. The sentiment was stamped using Happy To Be Friends stamp set. I used Sincerely card borders, and Tiny Sweetheart set for the heart and flower.

Thanks to Kiwi Lane for the inspiration. I have to admit I haven't been using my templates much lately so this is a welcome refresher!

You've Got Mail!

Here's a sample of some images I colored with the Chameleon pens. I used Taylored Expressions You've Got Mail - Valentine for these cards. Since I'm still in experimenting mode, I stamped a couple to play with, and in the end just made them into cards.

As you can see I kind of lost control on the post between blending. The downside to blending using just 1 pen is the many times I have to put the pen in contact with the toning chamber. It's trial and error on how long it takes before you can color the entire image you want with the amount of lightness you need. As you can see, somewhere halfway through the pole, I had to re-ink again. For small images like the birds, it's not a problem. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

This card uses the same stamp set from Simon Says Stamp, I just added the border, but my big mistake was using Wink of Stella glitter brush pen. I squeezed it too hard thus instead of just highlighting the border, I kinda made a mess of it. The "love" is a die from Taylored Expressions.

Enjoy!

Chameleon Pens

I've been seeing ads for Chameleon pens very often lately and gave in to purchasing them. I know, I know. My husband calls me a "marketer's dream", but that's what we crafters are, we just have to have everything. And 1 pen is not enough, we just have to have the whole set! So here I am, weeks after seeing the ad and resisting the temptation, I finally gave in. It touts itself to be a 1-pen that has multiple colors/tones, so it should make blending pretty easy. 1 pen is supposed to do it all. That really appealed to me, since I do struggle with blending, even though I own the whole Spectrum Noir set, alcohol AND colored pencils, I still cannot come close to perfecting the art of blending. So naturally this one appealed to me. Here's what the Deluxe set looks like. I got mine from Marker Pop. I ordered it Friday afternoon, and by Saturday, voila! It's here for me to play with.

It is bigger than your regular markers, below is a picture comparison. Excuse my dirty mat please. As you can see, the Chameleon pens is longer, only because of the additional toning chamber.

Taken apart, it looks like this. You never store them separately though, since I think the alcohol or the medium in that chamber will eventually dry out.

I tried it, and it is true that you can achieve blending using 1 pen. Below are my test samples. I did it 3 times, and I'm not sure if there's any big differentiation to what I did. It takes time to practice, and there is a learning curve to it. I used Neenah white cardstock, and it did not really bleed that badly. It's same as if were colored using Spectrum Noir pens. However I noticed it bled through the Memento ink that I used though. It's understandable, given the image I tested it on is small, and I must've placed the toning chamber too long since it takes a few more strokes for the ink to achieve the darker side. Like I said, it takes practice, timing, and I have to be honest - patience. Especially for smaller images like this, you'll have to recap every now and then to keep the blending consistent. If you don't have that, then this pen set is not for you. For $84.99, 22 pens, I can't complain. The true colors are very strong, vibrant, ink flow is great, nibs are great. They are also replaceable, and since the toning chamber portion is used a lot, I do wonder how often I'll have to replace though. Only time can tell.

I did a few cards using some stamps that I colored in using these Chameleon pens. I will post them separately some time. The rose wreaths that I practiced on are from Taylored Expressions.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions about the Chameleon pens. I'll write more about it as I continue to use them.