Skin Tone Colour Combos

Following on from the Flexmarker hair colour combos I posted a few weeks ago, I thought I would post some of the skin colour combos that I use. I'm frequently asked at demos and classes what colours to use for various different skin tones. I've tried to illustrate a darker skin, an Asian skin, a Hispanic/Indian skin, a couple of light skin tones and I've thrown in a wild colour - the digi image I've used is Salute Her from Saturated Canary, which has a combat/army feel, so the last colour combo is a camouflage effect :)

 It's fun to play around with colours, these are just suggestions. Why don't you see if you can come up with your own colour combos

Debbi x

Printable Blank Colour Charts

Hi there,
here are the two colour charts I have made up for promarkers/flexmarkers. 
The first one is for the standard promarker colours and the second one is for all the current standard  promarkers and flexmarkers together

All you need to do is click on the pics above to take you to the download site. You then download the chart(s) for free.

I recommend that you print the chart(s) onto the same cardstock that you use normally with promarkers/flexmarkers - then you can colour in your chart(s)

By using the same cardstock that you normally use for colouring, you ensure that you have a true representation of what each colour will look like. (You'd be surprised how different each colour can look on different types of cardstock)

You can also print the chart(s) onto copy paper to keep in your purse/handbag as a handy reminder of the colours you still need to collect.

Debbi x

Personalising with Safmat

I have a wee Safmat project to share with you. Now I racked my brains for something a little bit different to show you. I’ve used Safmat for various projects in the past, and I think my favourite has to be the personalised body lotion I made up for Christmas presents for the kids’ teachers last year. Click here to see that project.

So I had a think about what else I could personalise, as a gift or for myself. Well, I’ve just had to buy a mobile phone for my 12 year old son and he had the opportunity to custom design his own phone cover online for the model I bought him. So I had a lightbulb moment and decided to personalise my own iPhone case.

So I ordered an inexpensive white plastic iPhone case from eBay – there are cases for most brands of mobile phone there. 

 

I used MS Publisher to make up an A4 sheet of designs that I wanted to print onto the Safmat, but you can use MS Word or any graphics program.

If you don’t want to print off a whole A4 sheet, you can always cut it in half to make 2 x A5 sheets – but remember to change your printer setup to reflect that.

I have a few projects planned over the next wee while, so here’s the sheet I printed off . A quick tip… if you’re not sure which side of the Safmat to print onto, just fold over one of the corners so that the film lifts away from the backing and you’ll be able to tell which is which. 

Carefully cut out the design you want to use – I used some clipart for my design and added my own sentiment in a fancy font

You can cut a lot closer to the design but be careful when removing the backing if your design is quite intricately cut, as it’s quite easy to rip.

And all you have to do is remove the backing sheet and stick it onto the phone case, making sure you remove any air bubbles as you go.

You can create your own designs with digital crafting cd-roms and downloads too – you’re only restricted by your imagination

Debbi x

Flexmarker Hair Combos

I’m always asked at demonstrations “what colours do you use for blonde/brown/red hair?“

But because I’m always experimenting with colours, the answers are usually different all the time. Now that we have Flexmarkers, we have even more colours to experiment with! So I’ve spent this afternoon trying out some new hair colour combinations. I’ve selected colours for a brunette, a blonde, and a redhead as well as 3 wilder colour combinations.

By using flicky strokes – yes that is the technical term – you can achieve a more realistic, textured effect to the hair, so you don’t need to worry about blending the shades too much.

I used the “Double Take” digital image from Saturated Canary for my sample chart, printed onto Diamond White card from The Papeterie

 I hope these colour combos inspire you to experiment with your FlexMarkers and ProMarkers, we’d love to see how you get on in the comments!

Debbi x

Flexmarkers - Skin & Fair Hair

Hiya
Another quick video tutorial, this time featuring the new Flexmarkers


Materials List
Flexmarkers: Rose Peach, Sunkissed Pink, Blush, Nutmeg, Light Fawn & Buttercup
Diamond White cardstock from The Papeterie
Seasons Greetings - Sassy Stamp from Sugar Nellie

Ultra Fine Nibs/Promarkers - Skin & Boys Hair

Hi there, I've done a quick video tutorial showing colouring skin and boys hair with Promarkers and the ultra-fine nibs available separately.
Materials List:
Promarkers: Burnt Orange, Coral, Sunkissed Pink, Blush, Walnut, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Tan & Almond
Ultra Fine Nibs
Diamond White cardstock from The Papeterie
No. 1 Fan - Simply Sassy Stamp from Sugar Nellie

Aquamarker Tags

As much as I love my Promarkers and Flexmarkers - there are some things that they just can’t do – and this is where the Aquamarkers come in ready to try out a whole host of different crafting techniques.

I decided not to use the Aquamarkers for traditional water-colouring, I thought I’d try to show a few quick and easy techniques that you can use on cards, tags, altered art projects etc.

Materials List:

• Letraset Aquamarkers: Mediterranean, Sunburst Yellow, Fern Green, Flame Red, Gold Ochre, Mahogany, Puce, Cranberry, Royal Purple, Storm Blue
• Letraset Metallic Marker: Silver
• Embossing Ink pad and Clear embossing powder
• Tim Holtz “Attic Treasures” stamp set
• Tim Holtz “Mini Papers Rosettes” die
• white card
• seam binding
• buttons and rose cabouchon, foam adhesive letters

I stamped my background stamp with embossing ink onto a plain white tag, then covered with clear embossing powder

I then used a heat tool to melt the embossing powder so that it appears glossy…

Next up, I took 2 Aquamarkers - Mediterranean and Sunburst Yellow - and scribbled with the large nib onto a non-stick craft sheet. I also added a wee bit of Silver Metallic Marker.

Then I spritzed the colour with water to make it a bit more dilute and fluid.

I placed the tag face down onto the colour and swished it around to make sure the whole tag was coloured, which also further blends the colours. You can also just press the tag down onto the colour and lift it straight up for a different effect. I used a heat tool to dry the tag, but you can also just leave it to dry naturally.

As you can see, the embossed areas resist the colour, so it remains white. Next I used a Fern Green Aquamarker to ink up the same background stamp and stamped directly onto the tag, overlapping the embossed area.

I wanted all my trims and embellishments to match the colours I used on the tag, so I scribbled some more of the Mediterranean and Sunburst Yellow Aquamarkers onto the non-stick craft sheet, spritzed it with water, then swirled around some seam binding and dried it with a heat tool.

I attached a strip of double-sided tape near the bottom of the tag and stuck a length of the seam binding to it, ruffling it as I went. Then, I used the remainder of the seam binding to tie onto the the top of the tag.

I die cut some rosette strips from white card, coloured these in the same way I coloured the tag and then attached them to the tag with a button. And as Fathers Day is coming up this weekend I added the word DAD in foam adhesive letters

Here are some close-ups of the details.

I made another couple of tags using the same techniques but different colours

I hope you’ve been inspired to have a go at these easy techniques – we’d love to see how you get on

Debbi x