Saturday, October 25, 2008

Fall framed House Mouse

I've actually had this piece done for a couple weeks but never got around to posting it...turns out it fits with this week's House Mouse Challenge - "anything but a card!" I also thought it would be fun to take pictures through my coloring process. I skipped a few preparatory steps, but the rest are below. This is 2 separate stamps - the pumpkins are from Yvonne Albritton Designs (she has some super super cute stuff - I picked this up at a convention a few years ago). I stamped the mouse first, then masked him to stamp the pumpkins...then masked the pumpkins to do some stippling and blow-pen around the edges. So you missed that part. :)

I started with some basic coloring with my Prismacolor pencils, coloring in the areas that I wanted to remain darker after I blended with mineral spirits. (I don't normally do all the colors first then blend - I usually blend one color at a time - but I wanted you to see what it looks like before blending. So there.
Here's the picture after the first blending. After blending you can always go back and add more color - in fact the more you blend the easier it is to add in color evenly.

I added some darker shading (reddish and darker browns) and shadows under the leaves, etc.

After lightly blending in the shading I added some highlights with a white gel pen.

I wanted some Fall decorations, and I had found this awesome brown frame at Hypermart (as close as we get to Walmart here in Indo), so I decided to frame this little guy. I cut the ovals with my Coluzzle templates and trimmed around the lower leaves to let them hang out a little. It was a little too plain so I added the embossing across the center. (Scor-Pal, Fiskars Texture plate) Now it's sitting on my buffet, with some other Fall foofoo, and I love it! That little grin on his face just makes me smile.

Happy weekend!

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12 comments:

  1. WOW, your card is so pretty!! and even though I hate mouse, the one in your card is really cute.

    I hope you are feeling better.
    God bless
    Giovana

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  2. Thanks for the step by step process of your coloring...well giant steps. I am always amazed by your coloring skills and I enjoyed seeing how you got there.
    Cute project!

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  3. Super cute - I have this little House Mouse stamp too & love his sweet little face! Against the pumpkins he's adorable. Have a blessed day (or night... I forget which time zone you're in!)

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  4. How perfect for your Fall decor. This is adorable! Very nice job coloring. Great project for the challenge.

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  5. That little grin makes me smile too:O) You have created a definite stunner!!! I love it!!! Sweet and elegant all rolled into one beautiful picture! Awesome!!! Absolutely awesome:o)

    Hugs!
    Carolyn

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  6. It looks awesome !
    Thanks for joining in with HM&F ;-)

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  7. Love your project! The HM looks so great with those lovely pumpkins! It looks so stunning framed, it's perfect!
    Els
    x

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  8. What an awesome project! I love all the detail you've added. Beautiful work.

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  9. Aw this is stunning. I adore your colouring.

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  10. So beautifully done. Thank you for sharing the coloring method. Love the result.

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  11. WOW< very, very cute! LOVE your coloring...really great job. Thank you for joining us, and be sure to come back! :)

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  12. Wow - very gorgeous and i love the colouring tutorial. I'm a bit of a hit and miss with my colouring so will take your advice on board. Thanks for sharing and joining in with HM&F. x

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