A nice bright cheery card to send to someone, Just Because. It’s always nice to receive a surprise in the mailbox, especially when it isn’t expected!
Today’s card has a small colour palette – I have used just two colour families, Cool Greys and Yellows on top of a ‘white on white’ background.
If you are considering jumping into using Copic Markers, these two colour families would be a great start. Of course, you can use any colouring medium you are comfortable with to achieve a similar result.
I started off with the Honey Bee Stamps Hexagon cover plates – I used just the top two today (the very bottom layer is on a future shopping list).
I cut them from 80lb white cardstock and glued the two layers together. The card front is then adhered to my base – I prefer Neenah 110lb for my card bases, but you can use whichever you prefer.
I stamped and die cut my images, plus I die cut the letters for BEE four times each and stacked them together. This alphabet die set is a brilliant size, and beautiful font, I find I reach for it a lot.
The Busy Bees set includes dies for flower stems, I simply cut these without stamping the matching image and coloured them in green (YG09).
Yellow combo for flower centres and letters 
Palest greys for flower petals 
Yellows and darker greys for buzzy bees
You can use any combinations of greys and yellows you have in your stash. For this project, I used C9, C7, C5 and Black on the buzzy bees, along with Y35, Y18, Y5, Y13, Y11. The same yellow combination is used on the letters and flower centres. Plus C3, C1 and C0 to add shadow to the flower petals and wings. You could cut the top layer of the letters from yellow or patterned cardstock too, which would be a fun result.
When colouring with Copic Markers, it is important to use the right cardstock – Neenah or Copic X-Press It are my top choices and they give smooth results, making it easier to blend your colouring as the cardstock can handle the amount of ink being laid down.
I start with my darkest colour and colour from the outside in with little flicks. The next colour is added by using the same small flicks over the dark colour and extending it out and same again with the lighter shade. Do the same from the other side of the section you’re colouring. If you leave gaps between your flicks, you can achieve a more textured look (think hair or fur), but in this case I wanted a smooth blend.
Copics are a bit of an investment, and it can be daunting when you’re just starting out with your collection. When adding a new colour family to your collection, try to add in groups of 3 – a dark, medium and light shade of colour. I will link here to some online colouring resources, (including free and paid) classes and charts for your reference.
There are a number of Copic suppliers in New Zealand – Gordon Harris, Ribbon Rose, Scrapbook Central are the main retailers that I personally purchase from – all three have online shopping facilities. Check your local craft supplier or art store too.
I also have further information about Copic Markers, plus other ways of adding colour to your projects here.
I added some sparkle with the Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Gloss pen and a layer of Nuvo Crystal Glaze for shine.
Wink of Stella pens and Ranger Glossy Accents or Nuvo Morning Dew Drops would give similar results if that’s what you have. I have linked both options below.
I stamped and white heat embossed the Just and Cause to add above and below to complete the sentiment.
The letters and sentiment additions are glued directly to the card front. The bees and flowers are attached to the card front with foam squares within the hexagon gaps. I glued the flower stems to sit underneath my flower heads, cut down to size – there was plenty left to spare from the two stems I had prepared.
Final touches include glaze pens and fineliner for the eyes, smile and tops of the antennae.
PRO TIP: Wait for your sparkle pen to dry before adding black glaze – I ended up with a bit of a feathered look on one of the bees and one of the antenna. Whoops!
I also added sparkle and glaze to the flower centres.
This completes my bright and cheerful card today. Thank you for stopping by! Below are links to the products I have used – some are affiliate links (not all) which simply means I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you when shopping. Thank you for your support – it means I can keep creating and sharing with you.
https://linkdeli.com/widget.js?id=f5e8378456858c916708
If you have any questions regarding the putting together of this card, please feel free to message me – I’m only too happy to help!