Category Archives: Tips & Tricks

watercolor friendship…by melissa cash

Hey, hey there Tombow fans!

I hope your summer is treating you right and you have been staying cool and out of the heat. No better way to do that then by heading to your stamping space and getting creative.

Today, I am sharing a card I creating using my Tombow Dual Brush Pens and a spritzer to give my card a watercolor effect.

I started by die cutting three of the Hero Arts Spring Branch dies out of 140# Cold Press Watercolor paper and then coloring one of them completely using the following Tombow Dual Brush Pens: Avocado #098, Pink Rose #703, Pink #723 and Chocolate #969 (always need a little chocolate somewhere when crafting

On the 2nd die cut, I colored only the leaves and the flowers and on the 3rd, only the flowers. Give each of the die cuts a little spritz with water and watch the magic happen.

The Tombow Dual Brush pens will blend together and give you a beautiful watercolor look.

Before you layer and add your Spring Branch to the card, add a few splatters of color using the markers, a non porous surface (ie: an acrylic block or plastic plate), a paintbrush or toothbrush and some water. I scribbled the marker onto an acrylic block, spritz with water and then pick up color with the brushes and holding the brush over the cardstock, tap it with your finger. Do this with each of the colors. You will really be glad that you did! I got the larger splatters by using a large soft paintbrush and smaller splatters by using the toothbrush.

When your card base is good and dry, stamp a sentiment in a coordinating ink on the lower right corner. The sentiment I used is from the Penny Black, Special Wishes #30-229 stamp set.

Next, you will want to adhere your completely colored die cut onto the card using some Tombow Mono Multi. Next, you will want to snip the leaves and flowers off of the second die cut and layer them to the first die cut using Tombow Mono Multi. Be sure to offset the leaves and petals a bit for a more realistic look. Now, you will add the final set of flowers from the third die cut in the same manner as before. Add a few pearls for a finishing touch and you are good to go!

This card was really quick and easy to make and would be perfect for when you need to mass produce some cards.

Sending you wishes for a wonderful weekend, thanks for stopping by!

Bird Tags! by Jennie Garcia

1 Reply

Happy Monday!

This week Tombow has an awesome challenge for you! All you have to do is use a birds on your project! You can make any project your crafty heart desires as long as it has a bird or something related to birds like nests, feathers, eggs, etc.!

For my tag I’m using a technique that I learned from Marie. It is super easy and I love the effect!

Color the blending palette with the Tombow Dual Brush Pens.

Once you have all the colors you want you can use the Tombow Bleding Mister but I wanted a little shine so I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.

Put the tag or piece of paper on the blending palette and try to smooth it with your finger so the whole tags gets a little color!

It looks like this! and you even get a little extra enough for one or two extra tags.

I took one of the tags and I stamped it with a rubber stamp and a Tombow Dual Brush Pen.

I used the Dual Brush Pen on a clear stamp for the birds.

I used the red as a shadow so then I stamped the birds in black!

I stamped the quote with alpha stamps from Studio G. I used Rusty Hinge and Mustard Seed Distress Ink for the corners to make it a little brighter. I also did some white highlights with a pen. The ribbons are from May Arts and the key is from Momenta.

I also covered a Maya Road Bird with paper and a stamp using the NEW Tombow Xtreme Permanent Adhesive. I colored the branch with a brown Dual Brush Pen and then I used some Clearsnap Gold Smooch. I glued the branch and the trim with the Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue. I outlined the bird and tag with the Mono Twin Permanent Marker.

This is my second tag. I made 3 in less than an hour which is lighting fast for me! I did the same background with the Tombow Dual Brush Pens and a little distress inks in the corners. I stamped a quote on the May Arts Ribbon.

On the top of the tag I did a little collage with some washi tape, a piece of paper and used postal stamps. to glue them I used the NEW Tombow Xtreme Permanent Adhesive which I also used for the metal corners.

They come with a foam dot so I took it off and just used the Xtreme Permanent Adhesive. I like that the stamp reads “Very Effective”

Third Tag! For this one I didn’t use Distress Inks on the corners and the background was made with leftovers from the others.

Did the same stamping shadow that I made on the first tag.

All the tags and some of the elements were outlines using the Tombow Mono Twin Permanent Marker. I glued the metal cage and bird with the NEW Tombow Xtreme Permanent Adhesive!

Here is the awesome prize you could win if you upload your bird project before June 10th at midnight! Once you upload your project tell your friends to vote for you!

I hope you enjoyed my post and since you must be inspired go flying to make your project!

Take Care!

Jennie

Decorative Painting Trick with Irojiten Colored Pencils by Marie Browning

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This is a quick fix for all you decorative painters out there. I painted this little frog in with acrylic paints on a wooden surface. I was not happy at all with my floating and used Tombow’s Irojiten Colored Pencils to do a quick re-do.

Here is Mr.Frog again, this time the shading is a bit smoother, the highlights more defined and the coloring a bit brighter. I started by choosing my Irojiten colors, and making sure the paint is bone-dry, I blended the colors on top of the painting. I loved using the Fluorescent green to really make the green ‘pop’! Even the very fine details were easy to handle. In a few minutes I was much happier with the finished piece. The acrylic matte varnish then was applied to protect and fix the painting.

Here is the finished seed box lid ready for my spring planting!

awesome, amazing….by melissa cash

Debbie’s Challenge: Glittery Radiant Orchid! by Marie Browning

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For Debbie’s challenge, we are using the Pantone’s Color of the Year: Radiant Orchid! As it is so close to Valentine’s Day, I thought a cute ‘n quick card would be fun!

I really wanted to do something with candy, but alas, no candy stamps (I have so many stamps you would think I would have one with candy!) So I made one using a favorite Penny Black stamp! I stamped the ‘Cheesecake Wishes’ stamp, but masked off the dandelion wishes.

I did it by making a mask. Stamped the image onto a piece of 20 lb. copy paper, cut out what I didn’t want, and adhered it temporarily with the Removable Adhesive . Now stamp the image with the mask.

I added in a lollipop and a tongue for cheesecake using the MONO Twin Permanent Black Marker. Easy to draw stuff, don’t panic…if you need to, use very light pencil marks to sketch the design first.

Color the image using the Dual Brush Pens, including of course, the #685 Color of the Year! I also added a few heart DoodleDabs to the image.

Now the challenge called for glitter, so to bling it up a bit, out came the Art Institute Glitter. The glittered swirls and outlines around the hearts were added with the Glue Pen and pale pink glitter. The lollipop used the MONO Aqua Liquid Glue and Angel Dust Glitter.

Here’s the finished card!

Thanks for the challenge Debbie! It was Sweet!

Blending on Vellum by Marie Browning

1 Reply

You can use Tombow’s Dual Brush Pens on vellum with great success! It’s a great introduction to blending for beginners as the vellum is forgiving and beautiful!

The trick to working on Vellum is to stamp on the front, and then do all the coloring on the back. You can use a good permanent ink such as StazOn, or even a digital stamp such as this rose from Crafty Secrets. As you are not coloring on top of the image, you have no problems of compatibility with the ink and and the Dual Brush Pens. Here I am adding the deep red to the roses, letting the shadows on the stamp be my guide. I will then add the medium and light hues to create the blending.

Here is the completed blended rose. Look closely at the leaves, I added a bit of the red flower color to the leaves for added interest.

Place your finished stamped and colored panel up against different backgrounds to see what looks best. The translucent vellum has the background showing through and can achieve very different effects.

Here is the finished card and envelope. Vellum is beautiful to stamp and color, but also makes adhering difficult as everything seems to show through. I used Permanent Adhesive at the top of the panel and camouflaged it with a pretty tulle bow and crystal.

Have you tried blending on vellum lately? You will be surprised how easy the soft translucent vellum magically blends the colors together when you work on the back!

beautiful day….by melissa cash

5 Replies

Hi there! Today I am sharing a card that I created using a fun technique that creates a pretty watercolor effect.

A few weeks ago, I shared this card on the Tombow blog and one of our followers named Ann suggested that I create the background with Tombow Dual Brush pens instead of the inks that I had previously used. So I did just that!

I started by embossing the Penny Black Damask Pattern stamp with black embossing powder and then I scribbled ink in #676 Royal Purple, #679 Dark Plum and #725 Rhodamine Red onto a craft mat and spritz with water. The picture below is the markers before the water was added. After spraying the scribbles with water, I smooshed the embossed image around to pick up the pretty colors. I used Tombow Stamp Runner, Foam Tabs and Power Tabs and Mono Multi to adhere the parts of the card together.

Give this simple, fun technique a try, you will love it!

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Bee Box by Debbie Fisher

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Hello! Did you all have a wonderful Easter? My kids were here along with one’s girlfriend and my nephew and we all had a great time. Today I have a fun 3-D Bee Box to share with you all.

The box is an Inky Antics stamp that you stamp onto designer paper (tip: use a pale color so that the lines don’t show on the inside), then cut, score, fold and glue together. I like using Mono Multi Liquid Glue so that I know it will STAY put together.

I colored the hive and bee (also Inky Antics) with Irojiten Color Dictionary Pencils and added glitter with Mono Aqua Liquid Glue.

So that the ribbon doesn’t fall off, adhere it to the bottom and sides with the Dot Pattern Adhesive Stamp Runner. The bee is added to the front with foam tabs.

Thank you for stopping by,

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Blog Hop with the Tombow Design Team

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Good Morning Bloggers!

Tombow is pleased to announce we will be giving away an AMAZING prize package!

This prize package includes:

Tombow Stamp Runner

3D Foam Tabs

Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

Tombow Power Adhesives

In order to qualify to win this AMAZING prize you must:

Comment on each of the Design Team Member’s blog post.
Comment back on this blog post.Tombow will select randomly from a comment written on either the Design Team Members’ blogs or the Tombow blog as the winner.

This will be announced Wednesday April 3, 2013 at 3 P.M. Eastern Time.

The order for this week is:

And Our Guest Designer for this week will be:
Michelle Criswell
We hope you enjoy our Design Team’s Beautiful Creations.

Good Luck Bloggers!

Blending Technique with Tombow Dual Brush Pens by Marie Browning

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Pat Niemuth from Northwoods Rubber Stamps shared this beautiful blending technique with me recently. It really makes the Dual Brush Pens Colors rich and glorious!

I’m starting with a stamped and embossed butterfly stamp from Northwoods Stamps. Just one of the many wonderful works of art by Jean Arneson. I used the recommended paper, 90 lb. watercolor paper from Canson.

Next, color everything with a yellow marker, 055 is a great choice. This yellow base of color makes the other colors blend beautifully and makes the stamped image more brilliant. You can also get more detailed instructions and recommended Tombow colors on the Northwoods Website.

The other colors are added, and then blended with a waterbrush. Pat made her butterfly dimensional by stamping twice,cutting and mounting the second butterfly on top. A great way to use Tombow Foam Tabs!

This is my version of the technique using the same stamp. I blended the colors beyond the stamped image – not sure if I’m that happy with that move or not, what do you think? I did, however, love the coloring of the butterfly with that yellow undercoating! I used the following Dual Brush Pen Colors for my version: 055, 245, 098, 725, 452, 493.

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