New Products CHA Summer 2010, part 1

Finally! Here's the first sneak peek at the new releases for CHA Summer 2010. If you stop by our booth during the wholesale show, or the Splitcoaststampers booth during the Supershow you'll get a chance to use and see these fabulous new products.

X Press It Blending Card
This has us very excited! I mentioned a couple months ago that we recommend this paper to anyone living in Australia, and now it's coming to the United States!!

Why did Lori and I fall in love with this paper? Because it blends beautifully, it bleeds less than our old favorite, Neenah Classic Crest, and it has a nice, bright white color. If you have ever tried Bazzil Simply Smooth paper, the Blending Card is like a hybrid between Neenah and Bazzil.

This paper is now available for stores to purchase. It comes in a large pack with 125 sheets of letter sized paper. It is about 92 lb. paper- just a little heavier than the Neenah, but it is a much tighter grained paper, so it doesn't feel too thick.

If you look at this close up on the pink popsicle, you can see that the Neenah is a much softer paper, and it easily feathers if you don't let it dry a little between layering colors. This gets to be a big problem when you're working with intense reds and other dark colors.

The Blending Card, however, gives nice blends without bleeding and I don't have to wait or be careful! I love it! Because it is not as soft as the Neenah, it takes less ink to color on so your marker lasts longer before needing to be refilled.

Please stop by the booth to try it out, or, if you can't make it to the show, ask your favorite Copic supplier to bring some in for you. Trust me, you'll love it!

Coloring Grays more interesting
Something you may not notice on this final picture of the ant trying to run off with the popsicle is the subtle tones in the gray body.

I did not want the ant to feel too flat, so I started with a C5, a nice cool middle-dark gray. Then for accent I blended in some V17 as shadows. The purple is just barely visible within the grays (see the middle of each body section.

Then, I added faint reflections on the bottom of the ant by layering on some BG09. Why? Because the gray is blue-toned I can layer a purple (which has blue in it) and add contrasting accents with a Blue Green (which also has blue in it). Because Blue-Green is far away on a color wheel from Violet they have more contrast. However, the ant has a base gray, which brings both colors closer to each other in tone. So now, my gray has subtle tone and interest, even though it could have easily remained a plain gray.

This is a great way to add a hint of tone to a neutral image to make it coordinate with other elements in your composition. The subtle purple makes the ant match the pink popsicle a little more. OK, I need to get back to work. Stay tuned tomorrow for more sneaks from CHA!

Image: Life's a Picnic by Our Craft Lounge, X-Press It Blending Card. Colors used: RV02, RV06, C5, V17, BG09, C3, 0