Quick and easy background with Graph'It Markers and Mix It Spray

Hi there, Claire here with a tutorial for a very quick and easy technique. I love this technique as it enables you to create a background to match your project and if you're anything like me for colouring up an image and then finding out you don't have any papers to match its really useful.

You'll need: some white pearl card, stencil, Graph'It marker (I've used 7165) and Mix'It Spray

Firstly colour your pearl card with your marker, I've used one shade of blue but you can play with using different colours too.

Pop your stencil on the coloured card

Give it a good spray with Mix'It fluid

and your background is done, it will take a few seconds for the Mix'It to work and you can vary the amount you use for different effects.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Snowy acetate background using Graph'It markers!

Good morning, Claire here with a tutorial showing you a quick and easy technique to make a fun background for snowy cards using acetate, Graph'It markers and Mix'It spray. 

Firstly you'll need your image coloured with your markers, the same image 'flipped' to create a mirror image printed on copier paper,  a blue pen, some acetate, Mix'It spray

As you can see from the pic below, I've coloured an range of blue Graph'It markers on acetate so I can see which colour I want with the image. Take your acetate sheet and place it over the mirror image

Begin colouring using the chisel tip of the marker I've used 7180, don't worry too much what it looks like at this stage

Once you've coloured your sky spray lightly with Mix'It Spray and watch the snow appear!

If you want to create a real blizzard, unscrew the top of the Mix'It and flick some larger drops of solution over the acetate. If you're not happy with the result, just spray with a bit more Mix' It and wipe the ink off with some tissue. You can also tidy up any areas with a cotton bud dipped in your Mix'It spray

Layer your acetate over the image (you can use brads/eyelets or red line tape) and trim to size and your topper is ready to use

I've added some snowy glitter to the bottom of my image and its ready to use on a card

Thanks for taking the time to read my tutorial, hope you've enjoyed it

Claire

Tutorial: Colouring Red Hair

Hi everyone! Simonne here with a little tutorial to share how I colour red hair with Graph'it Markers.  I have used a Saturated Canary digital stamp called "Fancy" for my sample image today.  I was lucky enough to grab her when Krista was giving her away for free last summer, but you can buy her here from the Saturated Canary digi store.

I always like to colour the skin first when colouring characters.  I always use (from dark to light) 4180 4155 4115 4125 4120 for the skin, then 4135 blended out with 4145 for the blush. On this image, I also added a bit of 4145 to her eyelids and to some of the darkest shadows to warm them up a bit:

These are the Graph'it Markers I am using for my red hair combination today - 3190 3180 3170 3130 4180 4155 4115:

When colouring hair, I always use my lightest colour first. I use quick, light strokes, working in the direction of the hair, and lift my pen off the paper at the end of the stroke. For this image, start your strokes of 4115 at the hairline (which will eventually be the darkest area) and work up towards where you want your highlights to be (the middle). Do the same from the top, working down towards the highlight area. At this point, leave the part you want to be highlighted uncoloured:

Next, add 4180 over the first layer of 4115, working in exactly the same way, but making the strokes a little shorter:

Now start to work on the darker areas. Working in the same way you did for the first 2 layers, add 3170 where you want your shadows to be:

Now add 3130. Again, start your strokes at the hairline, but this time make them a little longer than your previous strokes of 3170. You are trying to blend out the 3170:

Now add 4180 over the top of 3130, again making your strokes a little longer than before. Ensure you still leave your highlights uncoloured. Then use 4115 over your highlighted section and blend into the other areas:

I think this is actually quite a nice red hair color combination as it is!  You could choose to finish at this point (perhaps just tidying up a few areas), but if you’re like me and prefer to add really dark shadows to your colouring, read on......

We are now going to deepen the shadows.  Working from the hairline towards the highlight (and using quick, light strokes), add 3180 where you want your shadows to be:

Now add 3190 to small sections (as shown) where you want your very darkest parts to be:

Blend out 3190 with 3180 and then 3170. Make each colour's strokes a little longer than the previous ones:

Blend out further towards the highlighted area with 3130 then 4180.

Finally use 4115 to blend the highlighted area into 4180. (I found that the contrast between 4180 and 4115 was too harsh for my liking, so I added 4155 to blend 4180 into 4115). Now all you have to do is repeat the whole process on the other areas of her hair!

I hope you've found my tutorial helpful. (This is the very first time I've done one, hehe!)  So now you've seen me colour red hair, why not have a go yourself and join our Red Hair Challenge - you have a whole week to enter to win some fabulous GI goodies!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hugs,

Skin Colouring Tutorial

Hello

Its Karen here today with a little tutorial for you on colouring skin! There is no right or wrong way of doing it the best thing is to just try lots of different techniques and colour combinations and see which one suits you best!  You can get lots of different skin tones with Graph It Markers but this combo is one of my favourites.  You will need the following for this skin tone:

4125  4155  4170  and for blush 4145 and/or 5110.

The image I have used is a Polka Dot Pal from Little Miss Muffet stamps.

Step 1 - I cover the whole area with my lightest shade 4125 and I don't worry about even coverage at this point.

Step 2 - I have now added the middle shade 4155 but not taken it so far in.

Step 3 - I now add my darkest shade 4170 around the edge of her face and under the hairline, I find it useful to turn the image as I do it and don't worry that it looks a bit messy at this stage!

Step 4 - Now I take my lightest shade again 4125 and blend it all together, again turning my image makes it easier.

Step 5 - Now I give her cheeks a little colour by adding 4145 and blending out with 4125.

Step 6 - If you like really pink cheeks like me then you can also add 5110 and again blend out with 4125.

And here she is all finished.

Hope you found this helpful, why not give it a try and see how you get on!

Karen xx

Blonde Hair Tutorial

Morning Everyone :)

Happy Friday Peeps, it's Faye here. Historically, I have found Blondes difficult to colour. It has taken me years to find colour combo's that I think look Blonde and not yellow, with other markers. But within weeks of playing with Graph'Its, I discovered one I'm really happy with, and I thought I'd share...

So, start with 1210...

Second, lay down 1230...

Then 1280 for the darker areas...

Next go back with 1210 again to fill in some of the white space and add texture to the hair...

Repeat with 1230 and 1280...

Finally add a small amount of 3110 for the darkest root and shadow areas...

Job done...

Hope you join us this week for our Blonde Challenge and don't forget you still have a few days to join our Black Hair Challenge...

Easy Blending with your Mix'it Palette

Hi there, Claire  here with a quick tutorial to show you how you can use your Mix'it  Palette with your Graph'it markers to make blending loads easier. The Mix'It is a translucent surface that enables you to mix your Graph'It markers to blend beautifully and even to make new colours

 There are quite a few ways to use the Mix'it for example with the blender pen or to create totally new colours but today I'm just going to concentrate on blending with your markers I've used these colours and one of the lovely images from the Pretty Sweet CD from Polkadoodles.

I've used 5140 in the areas where the shade would be darkest

Next I've miixed 5140 with 5270 on the Mix'It and applied it with 5270. These pens are so juicy its almost like painting with this technique. Using the mix of ink I've gone around the coloured areas and extended in to the white space a little

Next I used 5270 on its own and then I've used the next shade 5120, mixing it with 5270 and again applying with the lighter shade extending a little further in to the white space.

Once again use the lighter shade 5120 on its own and then repeat the process using the lightest shade 5110 to apply the mix of inks 

Lastly, go over the entire area with 5110 to blend the colours. You may want to go in and add some depth to the darker areas

Finish colouring your image

and its ready to make your card

I hope you  enjoy using your Mix'It, you can clean it with your blender pen but I've had mine for about a year now and I never clean it. The colour looks as if its dried out but re-activates instantly with your blender pen so no need to worry about wasting ink 

Thanks for visiting, hope you're going to enter our Candy Colours Challenge, scroll down to see all the gorgeous projects from my teamies!

Claire xx