Wednesday, June 19, 2019

My friend Alex

I have a very talented friend who has started an Etsy shop for her wonderful digital designs … AlexSyberiaDesign!
Alex does the most amazing dot-coloring!  Have you found her on Instagram yet?  @alexsyberia to see the multitude of fabulous cards she's created using this fantastic dot-coloring style of hers with other company's stamps, too.

Imagine how delighted I was to receive* three of her digi designs in my inbox … all along I've resisted buying digitals because I don't own a laser printer!  But, because she is my friend, I was determined to try them using my good old Epson Artisan 725 inkjet printer with standard ink.

I loaded my photo tray with 4x6" pieces of Neenah Solar white 80# card stock for printing Alex's designs.  Then I allowed them to dry overnight.  Here are the results:  two using Copic markers, one with Zigs!

My Copic markers had little if any effect on the printed image.
I did a little dot-background with two grey Copics! =]
 
 Dots with a Copic Multi-liner,
a Spellbinder Hem-stitched rectangle accent,
and Altenew sentiment.

 
Here is a closeup of Alex's wreath - you'll see that
adding even just a tiny bit of water did affect
the printed lines … but not enough that I don't still love the results!  For the most part, I scribbled the Zig color onto a block and added/mixed the colors as needed! 
Four Zigs were used for all of these colors!
Very rudimentary fussy cutting here... and a circle die from my stash was just the ticket for raising the center sentiment.
 

Thank you, Alex, for entrusting me with your gorgeous designs!  I hope I've done them justice!
 
Thank YOU all for stopping by today … I hope you'll take a look at all of Alex's beautiful digital stamps!  especially those of you who have a laser printer!
 
=]  Michele
 
*full disclosure: the digis were a gift, but Alex did not ask me to blog about them!



13 comments:

Marcia Hill said...

All three of these are absolutely GORGEOUS Michele! I've avoided digi's for the same reason you did, but I'm blown away by how clear all the lines are on each image and especially the one you used your Zigs on! May have to rethink using digi's!! Lovely, lovely cards my friend!! :0)

Alex Syberia said...

OH MY! Michele, You are amazing! Thank you so much for this blog post. I wasn't expecting. You can't imagine how much I appreciate you, your help and support. Thank you indeed!
I know that many people don't like digi stamps because of the printer, I understand, but only in this way, I was able to share my designs with our crafty community.
Your cards are absolutely gorgeous! I really love your colors choices. I can't choose my favorite card, I love them all! Really! I love that you added dots for the huge flower, it looks so attractive! Yes, my fav dots.. LOL The bouquet looks fabulous with those yellow flowers and red berries! I love you chose a grey card base for the wreath because this color combo is absolutely beautiful!
I'm so touched. Thank you again!
May a day come when I embrace you :)

Lisa Elton said...

LOTS of prettiness Michele! I've only done a couple of digi images, I need to check out these florals. I LOVE the last card. Those colors look beautiful on your dark gray card base!

Greta said...

All beautiful, but I especially love the gray dotted background of the first one!

Jeanne said...

I'm a long time user of digital images and print the majority of mine on an ink jet printer. I don't even wait overnight. I might blast them with a heat gun, though from time to time. I mainly color with pencil(and odorless mineral spirits), but learned I could use Copics, which is awesome! I would imagine adding water to a printed image from an inkjet would cause some messiness with the lines as the ink isn't embedded into the paper with an ink jet. I'm glad you took the plunge and tried digis! I can see you having tons of fun enlarging images and making them your own. Your coloring is amazing and the dot detail so fun. Thanks for sharing, Michele and I hope you have lots of fun. :)

Anita in France said...

Goodness, you more than did these justice, Michele ... you made these lovely images shine with your gorgeous designs and lovely colouring! I see that Alex was blown away too! Hugs, Anita :)

conil said...

Lovely designs you brought to life here. Your experiment with the printer worked perfectly. I know you said water affected the wreath design but I don't see anything but gorgeous coloring...on any of the cards.

Barb Ghig said...

WOW! I love seeing something innovative, and I really tip my hat to you for trying to work with these images...Gorgeous cards, Michele!

lostinpaper said...

You have made these beautiful images shine Michele, LOVE every single design!

Sharron said...

These images are all so beautiful and you've done a wonderful job of coloring them. I've always liked digitals and have done quite a few. I've only used Copics or colored pencils though so haven't experimented with watercolors. I also can set our printer for heavy paper so don't have any problems about which paper to use. Though I haven't yet, I always figured if I wanted to use a laser printer I would just copy to a flash drive or email images to a local copy place and have them print with a laser printer. But I've always gotten excellent images with an ink jet and really like that I can alter the size too! Also if you're looking for a specific image and don't have a stamp, digitals are a wonderful source.

Ivana Camdzic said...

These are SO lovely, Michele! Alex is sooo talented, and to see mix your magic with hers, is just a beautiful thing! Good to know that inkjet works just as well! ;)

Bobby said...

The designs are beautiful and your coloring of them even more so, Michele. I have an ink jet printer and have done digis before. I printed them on light weight mixed media paper and had no trouble coloring them.

JulieP said...

Beautiful! I haven't delved into digi designs yet myself but I'm getting really tempted. I'll definitely have to check her out.