Friday Favorites

The product I chose to feature this week is one that I use frequently - a black pigment pen. I use this pen to highlight many of my cards, and in the case of the In the Wild card, I used a pigment pen to fill in the details on the animals - eyes, noses, stripes on the tiger, etc. It's a technique that I've been using since I started stamping, but it is perhaps one that isn't currently isn't all that popular. The current trend, if stampers do anything at all, is to "distress" with an ink pad. For some cards, that works for me, but as I've said before, I save most of my distressing for cards that I want to look old. When the shabby chic look doesn't suit my the style of my card, I often reach for a pigment pen. In my mind, the detailing adds something - a little more dimension - particularly on cards where I've already used black ink and/or paper.

As for directions per se, unless it's stitching that I am trying to emulate (and I have stamps for that now), what I don't even attempt to do is draw straight lines. Rather, I draw intentionally wavy, broken lines. While I've been doing this for so long that it's second nature to me, I guess it requires some practice.

The brand I use is the My Legacy Writer by Close To My Heart - a set of five pens with .01, .02, .03, .04, and .05 mm tips that sells for $11.95. For detailing, I use the .01 mm tip most often. Prior to using the CTMH brand, I used the Pigma Micron brand, which is sold in nearly every art supply store.