Art-n-Fly Markers, Round 2!

A few years back I reviewed the set of six skin tones by Art-n-Fly. At the time I didn't care much for the color choices compared to the other options I had picked up. With time, I've grown more fond of them: not as skin tones, but for sepia-tones! But they've been discontinued and replaced with a 12-pack of new colors. I also own and love the now-discontinued (boo!) set of purples they used to make, which I LOVED. I absolutely Stan P83, and I'm glad I picked up a refill for it.

I decided to try some more of their products: The Skin tone 12-pack, the Pastel 12-pack, and the 6-pack of Sepia fine liners. Here's my sketchbook page of first impressions!

I am very pleased with both sets of markers. The variety in skin tones is significantly improved, and there's even some blush colors in that set. With just these two sets, you get a lot of variety and can do a lot! In the bottom right corner, I drew Vee and Liz, who I'd drawn in my original skin tone showdown, and the results are much better this time around. I also redrew one of my Regency Babes towards the top right.

 The sepia liners are...ok. I wish they were a little bit darker, and they do lay down a little blotchy at times. But despite that, I find myself using them a lot. I do really like the softer lineart you can get with them.

 Overall, I'm happy with everything! Good job, Art-n-Fly! Keep up the good work! I'd also like to note that their customer service is top-notch. I emailed them asking for how their new colors compared to the older formulations, and I was immediately provided with an image comparing the exact colors I asked about! Color me impressed. I'll definitely continue to support this brand in the future.

 Bonus Doodles! Here's some older sepia sketches I colored with the discontinued old skin tone set. 

You can achieve a similar look with the new sets, but keep in mind that even the colors with the same names from the old set have changed formulation!

Congrats Kelly & Michael!

One of my oldest friends, Kelly, FINALLY got married this month! Well, technically she'd already eloped? But, you know, after multiple attempts to reschedule she FINALLY got to have her long-awaited ceremony (thanks, Covid-19) and I was able to make it to celebrate! We've known each other since middle school, which was quite a long time ago now that I'm 30.

Special Guest Star: My Nails, which were painted for the first time in years. Don't look too closely.

 

 

 

My nails are yellow because my outfit was bee-themed. Here's me being a doofus with Claire right before I left for the wedding.

 You can see the card I'd made for Kelly's bridal shower here.

Happy Birthday (And Flag Day) Angela!

I'm a little late posting (nothing new there) but my coworker Angela's birthday was on the 14th, and here's the card I made for her!

A square card!

Gotta have that shine! The sentiment is gold embossed and the hearts are die-cut from some packaging I recycled. Waste not, want not!

Coordinating envelope!

 

I mentioned in my Father's Day post that I got some recycled blue square envelopes from my sister, and I used one for this card too. Actually, I designed the whole card around the envelope this time! This card was completed before those, but I'm posting out of order.

Father's Day 2021

 Happy Father's Day, to those who celebrate!

Being raised in a single-parent household with just my mom, Father's Day isn't really my 'thing.' But my coworker Digna asked if I could make a couple cards for her, and I really got in the Father's Day Zone this year! Here are my three 2021 designs.

I used an embossing folder to give the background panel of kraft cardstock a woodgrain texture.

For this one I kept the main panel simple, but raised it up above the card base on foam tape. This one's also an A6-sized card, too. Almost all of the cards I make are A2, so the size difference was fun to play around with.

 

 

And last but not least...

This was the last one I made, and the one I struggled the most with! I knew I wanted to play around with a gradient/ombre sentiment, but wasn't sure what to do for the rest of the design at first. I ended up using a geometric stencil in the same ink colors I used for the sentiment, and then going in to add some shine with a glitter pen.

Love that shine!

I got a bunch of large square blue envelopes from my sister a few months back (who works at a print shop and loves to recycle paper/envelopes that would otherwise be discarded), and I've been challenging myself to use them. They matched this card perfectly, but the size was wrong...so I trimmed one down to fit! I think it came out quite nice. I used the same stencil and glitter pen as on the card to coordinate even better.

Hello Babee

 

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

A lot of weddings lately!

For David & Camille

For Kelly & Michael

 

For Jordan and Jordan (Double Jordans!)

Much love to all the happy couples!

You're Sweet

 

I made this as a thank you card for my cousin Alyssa! And I stamped the kraft paper wrapping of her very-belated Christmas gift to match. Alyssa is bright and vibrant and cute fruits really suit her, I think.

 

 

Pom Mom Bday Card

 

Because my sister loves Pomeranians (she has 2 rescued boys), and I consider teal her signature color.

A LOT of Birthday Cards!

 

Whoops I forgot to take a picture of this one after I added the sentiment!

Christmas in...uh...May?

OK, so you could say I'm a little behind when it comes to posting my more recent handmade cards. I try to wait to post Xmas cards until I'm sure everyone has received theirs, and then I just ended up forgetting altogether. But without further delay, here's my batch from Christmas 2020!

 

The gang's all together

So breaking things down, there's a trio of simple tree card designs:

I really liked these guys! Sometimes simple is best. Here's a closer look at them individually.

Moving on....

So my 2020 Secret Santa happened to be very proudly Italian-American, and the Italian flag colors work well for Christmas too! And I liked the design so much I made it a twin for Mike, my (unofficial) step-dad. Christmas is also his birthday!

This one is unique, I only made one of this design. I liked the kraft card base with the images I'd used from a few different stamp sets.

This one I made with a stamped sentiment background that went unused a year or so ago.

Edit: I just realized that apparently I never posted my Christmas 2019 cards either. Oh boy.  Well, here's those.