House-Mouse Sweet Twist Christmas Card Tutorial with Copic Coloring

Hello there, Michelle Short here to share a step-by-step tutorial with you using the House-Mouse Sweet Twist Cling Rubber Stamp Set from the new Holiday Dreams collection. This adorable stamp set is perfect for Christmas and the holidays. I am colouring the image using Copic Markers, which are alcohol based, but any colouring medium will work here – pencils, paints, etc. If you are a beginner colourist, this image is perfect for you as the stamped image already has shading on it, so a lot of the work is already done by the stamp!

STAMPING THE IMAGE & SENTIMENT

1. Remove foam insert from Mini MISTI.
2. Place a panel of white alcohol marker-friendly cardstock inside, line up with one of the corners (this is so that if you have to stamp the image twice, the cardstock will remain in the same place).
3. Place House-Mouse Sweet Twist mouse image stamp on top, towards the top of the panel (do not worry about getting the image straight) with the red rubber side facing down.

4. Close the door of Mini MISTI to stick the stamp to the door.
5. Ink up the stamp using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink (or other alcohol marker-friendly black ink).

6. Close door of Mini MISTI to transfer ink onto cardstock.
7. Remove cardstock panel from Mini MISTI.

Depending on how well your ink pad is inked, you may need to repeat the process to stamp another layer of ink on top of the first one.

8. Place the 4^th largest Essential Arches Etched Die on top, cut side down.
9. Hold in place with Best Ever Craft Tape.

10. Run through Platinum Six Die Cutting Machine using the following sandwich (bottom to top):

• A Platform Base
• B Platform Top
• C Cutting Plate
• Image panel with die on top
• C Cutting Plate

11. Remove the die from the panel.
12. Cut off approximately 5/16” from the bottom using a Guillotine Paper Trimmer.

13. Place the stamp panel back inside Mini MISTI and stamp the ‘sweet holiday wishes’ sentiment below the mouse image using the same process as above.
14. Remove panel from Mini MISTI.

COLOURING THE IMAGE

1. Add a dark shade of beige (Copic Marker E13) to where the darkest areas are on the mouse’s face and ears.

2. Add a medium shade of beige (Copic Marker E11) in next. Go over the edge of the darker shade first, to blend the medium shade with the darker shade, and then add in more of the marker to fill in the areas where the mid-tones would be.

3. Fill in the rest of the areas using a light beige shade (Copic Marker E00). Go over the edge of the medium shade first, to blend the light shade with the medium shade, first.

TIP: If you are new to colouring with alcohol markers, please note that there are different ways to use them. You can go dark to light as shown here, or you can go light to dark. It really is personal preference. Once you have coloured the areas, you may need to go back in with a second layer to intensify the shades.

4. Colour the ears and nose using a medium and light shade of peach (Copic Markers R12 & R01). Start with the darker shade and then blend out with the light shade.

5. Add dark shade of brown (Copic Marker E57) to where the areas would be darkest on the mouse’s fur.
6. Add the same marker to where it would be darkest on the branches.

7. Fill in the rest of the fur with a light shade of brown (Copic Marker E55).
8. Fill in the rest of the branches.

9. Add dots of grey shades (Copic Markers C3, C1 & C00) to the top, fluffy part of the stocking.
10. Using the same markers, add shading to the candy cane. Start with the darkest shade of grey on the edges, blend with the medium shade, then finish with the light shade in the middle.

TIP: Adding grey shading to all parts of the candy cane (the white parts and the pink parts) is a great way to darken and shade areas when you do not have many shades of marker. If you add a base layer of a grey marker below any other colour you add on top, it will automatically create a shadow for you.

11. Add darkest shade of red (Copic Marker R89) to where the darkest areas are on the stocking.

12. Blend using the next darkest red shade (Copic Marker R39).

13. Blend using two medium tones (Copic Markers R37 & R35), filling in more of the stocking.

14. Fill in the rest of the stocking using light red (Copic Marker R32).

15. Add a dark shade of pink (Copic Marker R85) to where the darkest areas are on the candy cane.
16. Add the same shade to one side of the berries.

17. Fill in the rest of the pink areas on the candy cane using a medium shade of pink (Copic Marker R83).
18. Blend the darker pink with the medium pink on the berries.

19. Blend the medium pink with a light pink (Copic Marker R81) on the berries and fill in the rest of the areas using this marker.

CREATING THE CARD BASE

1. Die cut two of the same Essential Arch Etched Die that you used for the image panel from Wild Berry ColorWheel Cardstock.
2. Place one onto the scoring board and score a line approximately 6/8” from the top. This will create a hinge to adhere to the other piece to create the arch-shaped card base.

3. Apply tape runner adhesive onto the hinge.

4. Adhere the other arch piece on top.

5. Flip the card over and fold the back panel upwards to make sure the card will open nicely.

6. Apply thin foam tape to the back of the stamped panel.
7. Remove backings off foam tape.
8. Adhere to the card base.

EMBELLISH

1. Add Pink Color Essentials Gems to the card, around the image.

TIP: The Precision Tool is great for picking up and placing down gems!

2. Apply Star Dust Stickles to the top, fluffy part of the stocking. For the smaller areas, squeeze the Stickles onto a mat, pick up with the Precision Tool and dab onto the image.

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing my process for colouring. As you can see, in some areas I use two shades of markers, in some three, and in some even five! Usually, the number of shades used is dependent on the size of the area that is being coloured, but sometimes it is dependent on what colour I am using too! If you are a beginner, please know that you can still achieve great colouring with just two shades per area, and remember the tip with the greys if you do not have many shades! Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Other Supplies

Alcohol marker-friendly white cardstock, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Copic Markers, thin foam tape, Star Dust Stickles, scoring board, and bone folder