Hi Everyone! It’s Debra here from Texas. Spring is in the air and I wanted to create a card that celebrated the beautiful weather we are beginning to see here at home. One of my favorite techniques to use with Elizabeth Craft Designs products is coloring with Copics over the Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter. It’s the first technique I learned and one that I love to teach. To create this card I started with a free digital image of the hot air balloons that I found on the internet. I downloaded it and printed it out on regular white cardstock in the size I wanted for my card. In this case, even though I am coloring with Copic markers, the printer ink and paper don’t have to be Copic friendly because they will be completely covered with the glitter before being colored with the Copics.
Once you have chosen your image the instructions are as follows:
Cut a piece of double sided adhesive the same size as the image you want to color. Peel off one side of the release sheet. Place the image face up on your work surface and lay the sticky side of the tape down over the image. Smooth it well before flipping it over. Peel off the remaining release sheet. Carefully holding the edges of the image, completely cover with Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter, brush off and then polish with your finger to bring up the shine and set the glitter into the adhesive. At this point you are ready to color. Note: if you look closely at the picture you can see fingerprints in the right side of the glitter image. Because I was planning to cut it out, I wasn’t too careful to avoid touching the tape. This is a perfect example of what it looks like if you do, so be careful handling images you don’t plan to cut out!
To color your image with Copic Markers remember that the glitter is a non porous surface so the ink will sit on top and not soak in. As a result it takes very little ink to cover the glitter. For this image, I layed down a small amount of color and spread it out with my Colorless Blender. You have to be careful not to linger you marker tip on the glitter as the alcohol could dissolve the adhesive if it sits to long so I work quickly in short strokes. Since I don’t have outline stickers to keep the color from running outside the lines, I was careful to color up to the edge but not cross over. You can use your colorless blender to remove small mistakes. Color the ink with the blender pen and then quickly dab it with a paper towel. That usually does the trick for me. Once you are satisfied with the image cut it out. I went back and colored the cut outer edges of the image with the same color of each part of the image to take away the white edges of the cardstock. It makes it look more finished and hides any uneven trimming.
The balloons needed a little bling but I didn’t have anything in the right color. I turned to my favorite trusty embellishment, Transparent Glitter Dots. The gold and the silver can be easily colored with Copic markers to customize them perfectly for your project. I colored mine and added them to the large balloon. I added the negative strips I had left on one sheet of red Glitter Borders to the smaller balloon. They are great for detail work because they can be re-positioned easily to adjust if you need to.
Here is a little close up of the details. To finish the card I used Studio Calico Storytime paper on the base, inked with Broken China distress ink on the edges. I cut out clouds using white Velvet Adhesive Sheets and the clouds from the All Seasons Tree die. I love the texture of the velvet in contrast to the glitter. The sentiment was printed on my computer and also cut with the cloud die. The balloons are on pop dots.
If you haven’t tried coloring on the Silk Microfine Glitter with Copics before I hope this inspires you to give it a try. It’s so much fun!
Thanks for stopping by!
Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies used:
All Season Tree Die
Glitter dots- Transparent Silver
Glitter Borders- Red
Double Sided Adhesive
Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter
Other Supplies:
Copic Markers: Y08, YR15, R46, E57, Yg13, BG32, BG49, 0
Broken China Distress Inks
Studio Calico Storytime Paper
Love this! I want to do it, next class maybe?!? Great job Debra.
Hey Robbye! We will definitely be doing this one in April’s DistINKtive cards.. see you in class! XX
I love coloring on glitter but have only done it with the peel-offs so this technique opens up tons of new possibilities. So I’m fixing to (obviously, I’m from Texas too) start searching the internet for some free images. Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful card and your expertise!
Howdy September! I’m so glad the tutorial has inspired you to try it with printed images. You can stamp images too. The possibilities truly are endless! Have fun with it!
I have a few hot air balloon stamps so am going to try your card using those. gorgeous card. you did a fab job with it
Thanks Robyn! Hot Air Balloons are so fun because they can be bold color combos. I’d love to see what you create!
Loving those glittery hot air balloons 🙂 … fun project
Thanks Frances!
Thanks, Candy!
So pretty!
This certainly LOOKS complicated, but your directions sound inviting. I love the idea of another way to use my Copics. You should teach this in a coming class.
Great project and really wonderful instructions, especially the tips about coloring the edges after you cut out the balloons and about making matching “bling” by coloring the transparent Glitter Dots (also one of my all-time favorite embellishments and one of the best bargains ever!)
Thanks so much, Judi! You can also color the outside of your cut images with only black and it works really nicely too.
Beautiful! Love the bright colors and texture! Great! Would love to try doing one myself! They have a Hot Air Baloon contest where I live on the 4th of July! 🙂
Denise you should give it a try! It’s so fun and easy- I’m here to help if you have questions! I definitely think it would be a perfect complement for your Hot Air Balloon contest day!
Oh it’s lovey!!
Thank you, Helen!
Nicely done Debra!!! It is a beautiful card!!
Thanks so much, Becky! It was fun to make!
I love hot air balloons and this card is fantastic!! Thanks for the step-by-step. I think I need those transparent glitter dots now!!
You will love the transparent glitter dots, Donna! They are so easy to customize and they come in silver and gold.
What a beautiful card, Debra! I love the added touches and really just gorgeous all around! Hugs, Rita
Thank you so much Rita! XX
Wow – your card is just beautiful! Loved all the photos showing the different steps and all the great ideas.
Cheers
Karen A
Thanks Karen!
Awesome hot air balloons Debra! What a great idea to use the White Velvet Adhesive Sheets for clouds. I keep forgetting that you can color the glitter stickers with Copics, thanks for reminding me.
Thanks Raquel! I thought the velvet was the perfect cloud texture and I love customizing Glitter dots!
Absolutely beautful. I love the colors. 🙂
Thanks Debbie and yes we will be doing this card in class…. let you know the date at the sampler.
Beautiful!
Thank you Linda – so glad you like it!
Great tips for a beautiful card
Thanks so much!