Snowman Card - One Way To Use An Intaglio Print

Happy Monday everyone!  I have been so busy today, but managed to finish a winter card inspired by nature. I used an intaglio print I created a few years back as the main image for this card.  Although the intaglio print is a physical print, the card was created digitally.  I love mixing physical art with digital art!  This is a great example of how you can incorporate art from journal pages or sketchbooks into other projects.  You can add your physical art to digital cards or scrapbook pages without destroying your original artwork. If you like something you have previously made, why not digitally alter it or make it into something new.  That is exactly what I did when I created this digital card.

 I absolutely love how the finished card turned out.  I started this project by first scanning the snowman print using my all in one printer. This intaglio print was etched on a copper plate using resin and multiple acid baths.  This particular image was printed on Reeves BFK paper via a manual printing press.  I originally designed this image three years ago for a print exchange hosted by the University I graduated from.  Ironically, this print was one of the last intaglio prints I ever created.  Intaglio printing requires a lot of specialized materials and tools making it extremely difficult to do at home.  If given the opportunity, I would gladly enter another intaglio print exchange. The image below is the original print used in the print exchange.

Once the image was scanned and saved to my computer, I was able to alter it using Pixlr online.  The finished image below consists of 6 digital layers including a grey blue background, a brown textured layer, a snowflake print, a snowflake digital stamp, the original scanned image, and finally a messy glitter border.

I loved the digitally altered print so much that I decided to turn it into a digital card.  I only added a couple simple embellishments to accent the finished card.  I also added a sentiment to the card, but I think I like the card better without it.

I am entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week's challenge is all about creating something with the letter "N".  I chose the word Nature.  Here is the link to the challenge blog:
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/

I hope you are inspired to use your art in digital projects. Not only can you use this idea to make digital cards, but you could also create scrapbook pages, facebook cover photos, or even a blog banner! The possibilities are endless. Thanks for stopping by the blog. If you enjoy my posts, please follow or subscribe. Have a great week everyone! ❤ Tia - Copper Blossom Paperie ❤

Watercolor & India Ink Bird Drawing

I just thought I would quickly post a watercolor and ink drawing I recently completed.  I absolutely love drawing and painting birds.  I'm not really sure why I enjoy drawing birds so much, but it all started when I was attending High School.  The very first time I had drawn a bird was in 9th grade.  I had created a black egret batik on fabric. After that, I started to draw lots of snowy egrets and sparrows. Nearly twenty years later I am still painting and drawing birds!

This little drawing was created on a scrap piece of paper that I had previously painted with watercolor and distress ink.  I first doodled an image of a bird and branch using a pencil. I then used India ink thinned with water and a calligraphy pen to draw the image and add detail.  I used short little lines to add texture and shading to the image.  I decided to use India ink because the ink absorbs into the paper well, dries quickly, and is permanent.  The watered down India ink did reactivate the distress ink and watercolor underneath the drawing a tiny bit. I tried not to overwork the drawing because I was getting a couple areas where the lines were starting to muddy into the background.  To prevent your drawing from getting muddy or blending into the background, you will want to use a heat gun to dry the ink as you go along.  In the end, this little drawing took me less than an hour to complete and turned out super cute.

I hope all of my blog readers had a great weekend. Thank you for stopping by and subscribing to the blog.  If you would like to follow the Copper Blossom Paperie blog, be sure to click the "follow" button located to the right of this blog post.  ❤ Tia - Copper Blossom Paperie ❤

Life-Long Dreams Of A Wildlife Painter

To be honest, I did not have a topic or piece of art to share with you today.  I am still working on the finishing touches of my Tattered Halloween digital scrapbook kit, and am also working on a few other projects I plan to share with everyone throughout the week.  I was thinking that mybe I should start vlogging soon... perhaps this weekend?  I do have specific projects lined up to vlog about, but need to set up a specific art area.  Blogging in bed works... but vlogging in bed would be weird.  (My bed tends to be where all the art creating magic happens in my house... oddly).  Today was just an aimless day and I ended up not really doing anything.  I was going to dye my hair... that didn't happen.  Then I thought I would finish some digital projects... that didn't happen either.  Instead, all I could think about was starting a couple knitting projects.  I literally spent the entire day looking at knitting patterns.  Why knitting?  Your guess is as good as mine.

I admire all artists and their passion towards a specific genre of art.... but I seem to love doing it all.  I don't just create art in one genre or express interest in one hobby.  I am a printmaker, a wildlife artist, a graphic designer, a mixed media artist, a quilter, a hair dresser, a knitter, a scientist, a baker, a sculptor, a spiritualist, a papercrafter, a gardener, and a dreamer all wrapped into one person.  Heck, I'm still considering becoming a tattoo artist or archaeologist one day.  Am I the only person who has no specific direction in life or feels lost 90% of the time?  Perhaps my desire to knit stems from the fact that I have been spending so much time in front of my computer lately?  Maybe this newfound desire is a message from my subconscious signally my body to become grounded again?  Whatever the reason may be, I think I will be shopping for yarn tomorrow.

As I pondered about what I had just written above, it dawned on me that I haven't shared any of my wildlife paintings on this blog.  I am a wildlife painter (among other things) after all.  I have been drawing and painting photo-realistic animals and plants since I was 6 years old.  That year I had a major tendon surgery on my clubfoot and spent an entire summer drawing and coloring in a leg cast.  (Ironically... that is how I spent this entire summer).  My whole artistic existence would not be a part of this reality if it weren't for me being born crippled.  I still have a deep love of painting wildlife, but find that it is the most time consuming of all my artistic pursuits.   I have put my paints away, but I know I will bring them back out one day when the urge hits.

This acrylic painting "Parrot Love" took me 5 years to finish. I definitely had a love hate relationship with parts of this painting, but in the end, it is definitely one of the best paintings I have ever done.  I finished painting it last fall and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. I initially put this painting up for sale in my Etsy Shop, but my Mom begged me to give this painting to her.  She loved it and couldn't believe I wanted to sell it so fast.  I had mixed feelings about selling it anyway, so I gave this painting to my Mom for Christmas.  It worked out well because I now have the opportunity to enter this painting into the Birds In Art show at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum of Wausau.  It has been a lifelong dream of mine to have art exhibited at that show.  Thousands of artists from around the world enter their bird related artwork into the competition.  The museum hand selects roughly 100 pieces to be exhibited.  The art selected for the show ends up traveling around the world.  The winning artist of the competition receives the title "Master Wildlife Artist" and has their art published in periodicals and magazines nationally.  Due to my surgery, I was unable to enter "Parrot Love" for consideration last spring.  I do plan on entering next year though.

Click the link below if you are interesting in learning about this years Birds In Art show.  I believe the exhibit just opened to the public a couple days ago.    2015 Birds In Art Video

I hope you enjoyed this blog post.  Please feel free to follow this blog via google+ or email so you never have to miss another post or announcement.  Remember to check out my Etsy shop and facebook page!  Have a great night.  ❤ Tia - Copper Blossom Paperie ❤

Northwoods Digital Scrapbook Kit Is In The Etsy Shop!

Hello everyone.  I just uploaded The Northwoods digital scrapbook kit on my Etsy Shop.  The kit is inspired by the northwoods in autumn and feature plaid prints, wildlife, trees, and multiple leaves.  This kit is great for Project Life layouts, scrapbook pages, journaling, and card making.  Simply download the zip files and save them to your computer.  When you are ready to use the images, you can print them out.  This kit includes 20 - 12"x12" papers, 34 embellishments, and a set of alpha. All of the embellishments are in .png format perfect for use with any photo editing software. You will receive 5 zip files with this purchase.  The zip files will be sent to your e-mail when your payment clears. The kit is only $4.00 and can be used for commercially sold craft projects!  The image below shows everything that you will receive in the digital kit. This kit is available for purchase here:

 www.etsy.com/shop/CopperBlossomPaperie.  

Don't forget, The Northwoods Project Life digital kit is also available for sale on the Etsy shop.  This kit includes 18 journal cards that are perfect for Project Life layouts, scrapbook pages, art journals, and greeting cards.  These cards match the digital scrapbook kit perfectly.  The kit is $2.50 and can be used for commercially sold craft projects!  These cards are also in a downloadable zip file and can be printed whenever you need them.  All 18 cards are depicted in the two images below.

 As always, thank you for stopping by the blog.  I hope you have a super great Friday!  ❤ Tia - Copper Blossom Paper Gallery ❤

Two More Oracle Cards & A Story

Today I thought I would share two more oracle cards I created over the past weekend.  I was planning on posting this sooner, but I ran into a problem with one of the cards I was designing last week.  As you know, these are oracle cards which are meant to hold a specific meaning and energy.  I am finding that I am having a hard time drawing certain cards, while other cards magically come together for me with absolutely no issues.  I'm not sure if it is because I am not connecting to the energies of the cards I want to create, or if it is due to random chance? When I designed the Wish card a couple weeks ago, nothing seemed to go right.  I am naturally an unlucky person, so it was no surprise that the card representing good luck would give me problems.  The drawing went well, and I was able to color it in without a problem. I masked the drawing out to spray a background behind it, but my ink sprayer kept clogging and dripping on the image. When I decided to try to fix the background, nothing I tried worked. Eventually I colored the entire background with a gel pen and matte paint, but the color turned out super uneven and still showed the mistakes underneath.  Still unhappy with it, I added watercolor to the background which  created a unique effect on top of the over worked surface.  The image actually turned out quite beautiful in the end (which was lucky).  I have thought about redoing the card several times because it had frustrated me so much.  In the end, I decided to use it in the deck because the card truly represents luck.

Last week I encountered every problem possible with the Destiny (go with the flow of life) card.   I had drawn out an intricate design the week before and just had to transfer the drawing to a piece of chip board.  When I tried to transfer the drawing, I couldn't get a clear image to transfer.  Either the image would move, or something would happen to the transfer paper.  I ended up drawing the image by hand on the chip board but it wasn't as nice.  I decided to just go with it (because it is the card that represents going with the flow) and color in the drawing anyway.  Somehow I ended up getting blue ink on my hand from who knows where, and got it all over the chip board and drawing.  I decided to do a sprayed background to hide the blue using dylusions ink after that.  I masked out the drawing before spraying the ink,  but the ink bled through the masking fluid and saturated the majority of the chipboard.  I was so frustrated, but thought maybe I should just seal the ink with my spray fixative, paint over it, and start over.  Unfortunately, my brother borrowed my spray fixative a week earlier and hadn't returned it yet.  I took that as a sign to hold off on creating the Destiny card. The next day, I created the Communication card without any problems whatsoever.

Disclaimer:  Because the images I am sharing with you are being published, they cannot be copied, printed, or sold outside of Copper Blossom Paper Gallery.  These images are watermarked and copyrighted.  Please contact me if you are interested in an image and I can get a limited number of prints made up to sell in the shop.

The first card is the Communication card.  This card represents a need to communicate and express yourself.  The male frog will sing to attract his mate and also speak up when he feels threatened. You need to find your voice to resolve the situation at hand.  If you are having relationship problems, you need to express your feelings to your partner.  This card also encourages you to express yourself through music and writing.  Good communication can solve any problem.  The second card is the Illusion card.  This card represents living in your mind rather than reality.  Like the fish in a bubble, you are unable to see all sides of a situation.  You need to stop over analyzing everything, and see the situation for what it truly is. 

Thank you for stopping by.  If you enjoy my blog posts, please share on social media and google+.  Also be sure to like and follow my facebook page at www.facebook.com/copperblossom.  ❤ Tia - Copper Blossom Paper Gallery ❤

Northwoods Project Life Kit Release & Freebie!

I am so excited to announce the release of my very first digital Project Life kit for purchase on my  Etsy page HERE.  This kit was inspired by nature and features plaid prints, trees, autumn leaves, and wildlife.  This kit is perfect for Project Life layouts, scrapbook pages, art journal entries, handmade greeting cards, and note cards. There are 18 perfectly matched cards in the kit which are all stored in a downloadable zip file. This file will be sent to your e-mail automatically when you purchase the kit.  Simply download the zip files and save them to your computer.  When you are ready to use the images, you can print them out.  This kit includes 6 - 3"x4" cards, 6 - 4"x3" cards, 3 - 4"x6" cards, and 3 - 6"x4" cards.  This kit is a steal at only $2.50!  With the purchase of this kit, you will be able to use these images in your commercially sold crafts.  Please do not redistribute or sell these digital files without consent from Copper Blossom Paper Gallery.

 To celebrate the introduction of my first digital Project Life kit, I am giving everyone a 4"x6" freebie card from the kit.  This image can be printed out and adhered to a blank card or used as a journal card in a Project Life layout. To download, simply left click on the image to view in a new window, then right click on the design and select save image as.  You will be able to save the image to your computer to use whenever you like. This free  digital card is for personal use only.

I hope you enjoy this kit as much as I do.  Please feel free to share this post with your friends on social media and google+.  Also, feel free to contact me if you want to share any projects you create with my kits and freebies.  Thanks for visiting the blog.  ❤ Tia - Copper Blossom Paper Gallery ❤