More reasons to stop in at Art 'n Soul, especially since tomorrow is a holiday for many folks.

Dies from Memory Box and Poppy Stamps arrived at the end of the week . . . those cat dies, that I love, could sit or walk on just about anything

and look at Dianne's discovery that this Savvy die can "nest" inside the Memory Box die!

When Lisa Lee taught her Holiday Inchie Gift Box class on Saturday, she brought new products, with a new name . . . Art Squares . . .  from her company that we think you're going to like . . . a lot!

This ATC-sized stamped art is made
on the new Art Squares mat board, the same
material that we like in the Inchie Arts line . . . Inchies, Inchies  Plus
and Twinchies. They come in black, gray and white.

And you're going to love the Art Squares' 3-inch squares
in white, gray and black!

These are the sample holiday gift boxes made with Inchie Arts'. We have the gift boxes for sale so you, too, might make your own holiday gift boxes. They're perfect for your holiday gifts . . . as well as other gifts year-round.

by Lisa Lee for Inchie Arts

by Lisa Lee for Inchie Arts

by Lisa Lee for Inchie Arts

by Lisa Lee for Inchie Arts

by Deb Kuttel
I really like how Deb chose not to center
the Inchie squares on the box top! Her kind
of way to think 'outside the box'!

From Penny Black's blog . . . I'm quite anxious to try Heather's technique on stamping the tree images twice.

by jennbalcer

"This week, we had a little Pinterest free-for-all. The assignment: find something pretty, make something pretty. I think all of the ladies succeeded, don’t you?

Heather was inspired by the snowy scene here. She said, “I stamped the trees in both Versamark and black before embossing with clear. By stamping the black slightly lower than the Versamark, it is possible to make the branches look snow laden. The moon and snow drifts are made using masks and sponging.” "

Stamps:  Christmas Park, Silent Night

"Karen created the lovely “Joy to the World” card below based on the lovely still life. I love the little punch of red from the bells and twine, and the elegant embossing folder frame."

Supplies:  leaf sprig Product No: 2926H;  let it snow Product No: 30-086/ Cuttlebug EB folder/ mini bells/ twine

From Basic Grey's blog . . .

by Melanie Bauer

"Hi everyone! It’s Shari Carroll here to bring you a card using one of my favorite collections – Serenade. I love all the subtle prints and gorgeous colors. My card uses a combination of product from the collection which I’ve layered together to form an arrangement.

1. Cut strips of Serenade paper from the 6×6 paper pad. Trim the ends and mount to a white card using foam dots.
2. Stamp a butterfly onto the card using Wet Cement ink.
3. Use a die cut to create a decorative tag from Snippets.
4. Foam mount the tag to the card.
5. Foam mount a flower to the upper left of the tag.
6. Punch a 3/4″ circle from black dot paper and affix it to the center of the flower.
7. Tie a bow from hemp twine and affix it to the flower.
8. Add pearls."

From Copic's blog . . .

Coloring Red Poinsettias with Copic Markers

"Copic Design Team member Sharon Harnist is back this week to share some tips for coloring with red Copic markers. Enjoy!

It’s the beginning of the winter holiday season, which usually brings about a lot of iconic red images to color, so today I’ll be giving you a few pointers on how to color reds with your Copic markers. Since they are so highly pigmented, you may experience a little difficulty in coloring and/or blending reds.

Before I get started on my tutorial, I wanted to share with you a few tips from some of the other Copic instruction and design team members:

Debbie Olson (U.S. North Central & Upper Midwest Papercrafting & Fine Arts Instructor):Use less ink, try a more absorbent surface/paper, stay back from the edges of stamped lines/drawing/other colors. Use feathering strokes instead of saturating in circles.

Michele Boyer (U.S. Design Team Member):
Color surrounding areas first, even the background, leaving the reds for last.

Bianca Mandity (U.S. Midwest Fine Arts Instructor):
I often do the darkest shading in a brown instead of red since they bleed less and I have more control over them. As long as you pick a shade that works with the red it will look fine. I’ve done that with purples too.

Colleen Schaan (Copic Education Director & U.S. East Coast Papercrafting & Fine Arts Instructor):
1. Have absorbent paper underneath (paper toweling).
2. Try working from darkest colors to light (this is not normally suggested, but it doesn’t saturate the paper as much; although this may make the colors a little more difficult to blend).
3. Use less ink . . . work with a flicking motion instead of coloring in circles.
4. Leave highlight areas white until the very end (gives the ink somewhere to go).
5. Stay away from the edges of your stamped or drawn image.
6. DON’T use the colorless blender!
7. Color all reds first – if the other areas are wet from being colored, the reds may tend to “bleed” into those areas.
8. Have some fun when shading reds . . . try using complimentary colors of green or blue, or use RV or E color families.

Thanks so much for sharing, ladies!

As you see by all of the individual preferences above, just try experimenting to find out what works best with your personal combination of paper, ink and environmental conditions. What works well for one person may not work the same for another, simply due to environmental conditions (more humidity vs. dryer weather, etc.).

All that being said, here are my personal preferences:

1. I usually color the reds in my images first, so that if some bleeding/wicking of the color occurs, it can be corrected a little easier.

2. I always color with a pad of paper underneath, to help absorb any extra color soak/bleed through to the back of the paper.

3. I use feather strokes, instead of blending in circles, to help avoid over-saturating the paper. If the paper becomes over-saturated, the color won’t have anywhere to go and it will just build up on top of your paper, leaving a glop of unblended color.

4. Don’t color all the way to the edge of the image at first, to see how the paper I’m using reacts.

5. I usually stick to the basic Copic blending suggestions of coloring from lightest color to darkest and prefer usingX-Press It Blending Card – I think this cardstock really helps to make blending reds easier.

I started by base coating the entire poinsettia in this Memory Box Believe Poinsettia Collage stamp with R20:

Next, I shaded with R22, leaving some areas of the lighter R20 as a highlight and using light feathering strokes:

Then I went back with my lighter R20 to blend:

Next, I added in some darker R24 shading to some of the lower petals (those petals more towards the back of the flower), leaving the smaller petals in the center (which would be closer to you) the lightest:

 You can also use your lighter R20 marker to pick up some color from your darker R22 marker and use that to help blend the edges of the lighter colors into the R24:

Next, I used R22 to pull some of the R29 color from the darkest areas, to blend out onto the previous R24.

Notice at this point, the back of my paper is still not very saturated (not much is bleeding through to the back of the paper) because I’m using those softer, lighter feather strokes:

To finish the poinsettia, I used R39 (because it has a complimentary purple undertone) for my darkest shading:

To finish the flower, I base coated the leaves with YG91 and did my mid-tone shading with YG93:

YG95 finishes the darkest shading for the leaves:

Here’s my project with the flower coloring finished:

But the entire project isn’t finished yet… I’ll be back next month to show you how I finished it with some other fantastic Copic products! ~ Sharon"

Products Used:
Copic Markers: R20, R22, R24, R29, R39, YG91, YG93, YG95, YR21
Cardstock: X-Press It Blending Card; Memory Box Dill Notecard
Stamp: Memory Box Believe Poinsettia Collage
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

From Spellbinders . . . 

"Hi there! This is Monika, sharing a card I made using the Spellbinders™ Edgeabilities® Classic Edges One. 

Items used:

GC-001 Grand Calibur®
E8-007 Spellbinders™ Edgeabilities® Classic Edges One
E8-010 Classic Decorative Inserts Two
S4-229 Labels Five Nestabilities® 
Back to Basics Tags
Other:
Kaisercraft papers, bow, Stamp from Momas lil´shop of stamps. 

I started by folding the card base in the middle and cutting it slightly bigger then the size I want it to be.

Start by cutting the folded side with the die, make sure that the straight part of the die is just outside of the card like on the photo.

Next step is to cut the next side by placing the die like this. Using a cutting mat with guides makes it easy to align the die straight. Use repositionable tape to keep the die in place.

Now continue with the rest of the card, cut the bottom side last.

Next step is to use the Classic Decorative Inserts Two on the red background paper. You'll also want to make a tag like shape of the dotted paper by placing the Labels five Nestabilities die. Finally, glue everything on to the card with 3d tape and ad the little tag from the Back to Basics Tags on the bow."

From Hero Arts . . .

"Hello, and welcome to our October2012A winners’ post. It’s been such fun seeing our Flickr pool filling up with holiday cards, and you’ve certainly given us lots to admire with hundreds of gorgeous entries for round one! So, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and prepare to be wowed by our selection of wonderful winners…

Our Fresh Face this month is Dixie C, who used one of our sketches and our Snowflakes and Edges stamp to create this striking wintry ‘thinking of you’ card. We love the shiny embossing, and the pop of red really makes this card stand out."

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow, I'll show you two clever cards from Marj.

Before I sign off, I wanted to share a photo of my beautiful granddaughter, Kacie. We enjoyed a family bridal shower luncheon at home this afternoon . . . only 3 more weeks until her big day on December 1.