Listen to this...

Signature how-to

First, I must start out this post by saying that I am extremely annoyed because I can not find my camera ANYWHERE and I have cards that need to be photographed and well, it's a little hard to take pictures of a card without a camera!  Have any of you seen it?  :)

So, after posting my new signature on my blog posts, I got a few requests to find out how I did it.  Well here ya go-

I went to this website and here's all you have to do (well, at least this is what I did)-

1.  Type in your name (easy enough, right?)
2. Pick the font you want to use (they 101 choices so you should be able to find something that at least resembles your signature.  The one I picked is VERY close. Or you can pick what you wish your writing looked like!)
3. Pick the size
4. Pick the color
5. Pick the slope
6. Select "Want to use this signature?"
7. Select "Generate HTML code"
8. Select "Generate a code for my handwritten signature"
This generates the code that will create the signature for your blog.  To use it, I copied the code and pasted it in a Word doc so I could use it later.  Then to add it to my post, I type in whatever I want to say and then click "Edit HTML".  Next, I copy the code from the Word doc and paste it onto the bottom of my post in the HTML format.  Then I click "save" and it automatically adds the signature.  Does that make sense?  So, I have to copy and paste it into my blog entry every time I want to use it. There may be way to save it in your blog templates but I don't know how to do that. 
9.  Voila!  Signature added. 

Let me know if this works for you! And if you do add it to you blog, I would appreciate you giving me credit for teaching you how.  Thanks!   

Stamping Trick

Here's a little trick that I've been doing for awhile that I thought I would share with you all.  I saw something similar to this on Lauren's blog using the Stamp-a-ma-jig and I want you all to know I am not copying her or stealing her idea, I've been doing this for about a year.  Plus, my idea is a bit different.  (I just wanted to put that disclaimer in there because I STRONGLY believe in giving credit where it is due and not taking other people's ideas and claiming them as my own.) :)  Okay, on to the tip!!

Sometimes I have trouble figuring out where I want a sentiment to go on a card so I came up with a solution!  Take a piece of acetate (transparency sheet, I get mine at Wal-Mart), stamp the sentiment in Staz-on or some other permanent, fast drying ink, cut it out and then lay it on the card to see what it will look like!  Genius, right?  Then either slip the little acetate piece  into the CD holder or whatever is holding the stamps and then you can use it over and over again.   I also have a little envelope that I keep the pieces of acetate in near my box of loose stamps.  Try it out, you'll love it I promise!

Here's the pic of sentiment that I used on the monkey card below.  I just moved it around until I figured out where it would go.  (It's pretty hard to photograph.)

Here's the picture of the sentiments in the Monkey Love set. Now I can use them whenever I want. 

   

 

Blending Pencil Tutorial - Monkey Party Time

Okay peeps, I'm attempting my very first tutorial!  As you all know, the last couple of months I've been trying to teach myself how to be a better colorer.  There are soooo many coloring mediums out there - pencils, water colors, Copic markers, just to name a few.  For me, I have found the easiest and quickest way to color (I like quick and easy!) is to use PrismaColor pencils and a blending pencil so I thought I would show you all how I do it.  Now please understand, I am barely just past a beginner on coloring so please don't laugh at this tutorial! Hopefully it will help someone out there :)

Here I stamped the monkey image from Monkey Love by C.C. Designs and the leaves from Out on a Limb by PaperTrey Ink.  I used ColorBox pigment Dark Brown and CTMH Sweet Leaf for the inks.

Next, I lightly colored in the face, ears and stomach of the monkey using Peach Beige.

Then I outlined the monkey with Light Umber and colored him in.  I didn't bother worrying about a light source by making part of him lighter, I just quickly colored him in.   And after I took this, I realized I forgot to color in his left ear so I did it later :)

Next comes the blending.  I use a blending pencil and make small little circles to blend the pencil marks together.  You can see in the next picture that I've blended just the monkey's top leg, see the difference?  I also put the blending pencil in there so you could see what it looks like...although, it doesn't do much good because you can't see the tip of pencil.  Oops. 

I finished blending the rest of the monkey and colored in his left ear. 

And here's the finished card.  I colored in the branch and added a little pink to his cheeks and then paper pieced the party hat.  This is for my son's first birthday party.  We call him "Monkey" so we thought a monkey themed party would be appropriate :)  The birthday hat  and sentiment are from A Muse.  Thanks for checking out my first tutorial.  What do you think?  Any suggestions or comments about how I did?

Images - C.C. Designs and A Muse
Paper: Kraft - SU!; Bazzil; CTMH
Ink: ColorBox and CTMH
Accessories: Nestabilities - Scallop and Standard Rectangles; PrismaColor Pencils and Blending Pencil