One thing I would like to do this year is to use every stamp I have once.  That being said, it is a very unrealistic idea.  I have way more stamps than can be used in a year or two or three.  Even with having so many stamps I am unable to part with some very old favorites and I find I do use these stamps at least twice a year so they have earned their right to stay in my craft room.  This set by Stampin’ Up “Knobbly Gnomes” is a set that will be very, very hard for me to part with.  When I feel like coloring this is the set I turn to.  It has become like an old friend.  Just like the music I am listening to “Janis Joplin”  while creating this tutorial.  Somethings just speak to your heart.  What speaks to your heart that others may find different or out of the norm?

Well let’s get started with the tutorial already.  🙂

Supplies:

On a 4″ square piece of Whisper White card stock I stamped a gnome with Palette Noir Black ink.  I chose this ink to use because it resist smearing when used with solvent based markers such as Prismacolor.  I also heat set the Palette Noir ink a bit with my heat gun.  Not sure if this makes a difference, but it makes me feel warm, lol.

Colored the mushroom and book pages with an Eggshell Prismacolor marker.

Colored the top of the mushroom with a Deco Peach Prismacolor marker.

Colored the very top of the mushroom cap with a Sand Prismacolor Maker.

Went over the Mushroom with the Eggshell marker again to blend the colors together so I wouldn’t have any harsh lines.

Colored his shoes and his hat with a Green Tea Prismacolor Marker.

Added Olive Prismacolor Marker to the right side of the hat and the dark parts of his shoes.

Went over his hat and shoes with the Green Tea marker to blend the colors together.

See a pattern here on how I do my shading?

Added Goldenrod Prismacolor marker to the Gnomes hair, patches on his pants, laces on his shoes and a bit on the top of the mushroom and in the dark areas of the book pages.

I try to use each color in two different areas or more so my color pallet doesn’t get too busy.

Colored his pants with Blue Slate Prismacolor marker.  Let one coat dry and then added a bit more to the wrinkles on the pants image to darken them.

Added more Goldenrod to the book pages.

Colored his face and ears with Cream Prismacolor marker.

That being done I colored over the entire image with a Versamark marker.  I start with the light colors first and color over the darkest ones last.  This helps keep dark colors from smearing into the light ones.  Clean the tip of your Versamark marker a lot by whipping it on your scrap paper until it comes out clean.

Note:  Your image will be a few shades darker after you apply Versamark over it.

Heat embossed the image using fine detail clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Cut a 3″ circle from card stock and use it as a mask for the moon.  I hold this mask in place as I sponge around it.  When done with the circle mask I put it in a baggie for another project.

So with the Circle mask in place I sponged Baja Breeze ink around the moon mask leaving a flat area at the bottom of the card stock to represent the ground.

Let’s remove the mask and take a peak.  🙂  So far so good.  Back on with the mask.

Getting darker yet in the sky area, sponged Not Quite Navy around the edge not covering the Baja Breeze ink entirely.

Remove the mask and sponged Sage Shadow ink at the bottom of the card stock.

Sponged Night of Navy around the entire edge of the card stock.

Assembled my panels and felt this piece was missing something so I decided to stamp some weeds in the foreground.  

I stamped the leaves 3 times going over all the layers of card stock.  This is never a good idea.  You will end up with really big voids in your images.   Note:  be very sure you have a marker to match the ink you are stamping with so you can fill in those voids you will have.

Filled the voids in the stamped images with a Black marker.  Sometimes you really need to be creative to figure out what is missing in the stamped image.

Well here is my finished card measuring 5.5″ square.

I hope this tutorial has inspired you to get out one of your old stamps and put on some old favorite music that you haven’t heard in a while and stamp your heart out.

Until my next post. . . . . . . . .. . .

Hugs,

Michelle

Links to all my tutorials can be found here:  http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/tutorials-ive-written/

Here is a link to my workshop calendar if you want to get info on beginner and advanced Brayer workshops:  http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/workshop-calendar

Frequently asked questions answers:  http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/frequently-asked-questions/