Gone Fishing

There are a couple of people I know that I'd love to give this card to, featuring Luka from La-La Land Crafts. This stamp set is called Gone Fishing Luka, and I used Chameleon Pens to color in the image.
I will most likely do another one, and will post that soon.
For this card, I used CTMH Seaside paper as background, and die cut scallop waves at the bottom. Unfortunately the scallop shape I think it's not so clear. I was sort of hoping for water effect.

I love how Chameleon pens take out the guesswork in blending colors. For the hat and Luka's hair I just used BR5, and mixed a bit of BR2. I did not quite get the skin tone right, and ended up adding more layers hence making it a bit too pink. I used NU1 mostly, but messed up with I added a bit much of PK3 to the cheeks hoping to give it a pink flush. I love how the jumper and shirt worked though, for those I used OL3 for the shirt, and BL6 for jumper. The fish and the bait can was colored using CG8, so were the worms, but I added in a hint of PK3 to sort of make it look a bit real. The fish lips was just R04. The seashell was stamped from CTMH's Treasured Friendship stamp set.

This week I took the plunge and finally purchased Copic sets. I will have the weekend to play with them, and hopefully come up with better techniques and coloring projects. I certainly have the stamps to use. Hopefully my next Luka will have a better skin tone. In the meantime, try and enjoy this! :) Hahaha!

Here's the Seaside paper packet.

X7192B Seaside Paper Packet

And here's the stamp set I used for the seashell.

C1594 Treasured Friendship

Chameleon Pens

If you follow my blog you know I recently purchased the entire set of Chameleon Markers. That was around January 30 I believe. And you also know how many projects I've used these markers with. Not a lot. So surprise surprise, when I wanted to use them again last week, I discovered that the alcohol toning medium portion of it have already dried up. Seriously?? I own all colors of Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers, and I also have all the colors Close to My Heart carries on the ShinHan markers, and none of them have dried out. I've own both brands for quite some time now, ShinHan being almost a year and Spectrum Noir almost 2 years. I've never had troubles with having to replace nibs yet or refill.

I am disappointed that a new marker whose main feature is for you to be able to blend while coloring using 1 pen only, relies heavily on the toning medium, can make their products this inferior.

As you can see, all the tips have been permanently contaminated with the marker color.

Some of these are the worst. The bottom pens are completely dry and have sucked in so much color.

I'm hoping I just got a bad batch of pens and that the place I purchased these will be able to send me a replacement. I loved these pens when they were actually working. But if these pens are designed to be refilled every couple of months with minimal use, then I don't think I need to own these.

I'll keep you guys posted. 

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!

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.