“Airbrushing” Inside a Nestie WITHOUT a Copic Airbrush System

Hello friends and welcome to another Wednesday tutorial for There She Goes. Today I am going to show you something I do with my Nestie panels that makes them look like I have used a Copic Airbrush System. I do a lot of sponging inside my Nesties with a sponge dauber or a sponge and that will leave the edge of your panel darker than the inside. I love doing that. But I also color inside my Nestie frames a different way that I like more. I have had several people comment on some of  the cards that I do the way I am going to show you today and they say" “love how you used the Copic Airbrushed System”. Well … I wish I owned one but I don’t. What I use are Stipple Brushes and ink pads. Stipple Brushes give the panel more of an “airbrushed” look. Here is a card I did a couple of weeks ago. I will show you some pics and give you an explanation of how I achieved this effect.

The card ………

First you need to stamp and color your image.

Next, cut your image out with the desired Nestie.

Once you have your image cut out I flip it over and put scotch tape around the edges so that when I start with the stippling the image will not move out of the Nestie. I do this same thing when I use a sponge dauber.

Here is a pic with the stipple brush and an ink pad.

I put a piece of scrap paper underneath when I do this technique or you will get ink on whatever is under your Nestie frame. I dab my stipple brush straight in the ink pad and before I put some inside the Nestie frame I dab a little off on the scrap paper. You can always add more ink later but if you get too much you can’t take it back off. You just dab the brush up and down inside the frame just being careful around the image if there are any lightly colored areas. It may be best to practice on a blank piece of paper first or just stamp your image and try with the stippling before your color your image. It is a very easy technique but it does take a little getting used to.

Now, I have a second color I want to add to my image. You can add as many colors as you want to your panel. I chose two for my card. Note: Try to just get right up to the edge of the different color when you are stippling. Do not overlap colors because when you mix colors it turns brown most of the time. Yuck!! Yeah, ask me how I know. LOL

Here is the image, still in the Nestie, after I have finished with my stippling.

Next, I gently take the scotch tape off the back of the Nestie and then take my image out of the frame. Sometimes the back of the image paper pulls up with the tape but it will not show since it is on the back. Just don’t pull the tape quickly or you may pull more of your paper off then you want. Here is the finished image.

Here are a couple of close up pics of the image on my card so that you can see more of the “airbrushed” look.

I only have 2 Stipple Brushes. They are very easy to clean. I just take them to the sink, add a little soap to the brush, wash it, and then rinse the soap out. I take a towel and dry the bristles off. Then I take my blow dryer (that I use to dry my hair) and blow dry the bristles for about 1 minute. Now it’s dry and you are ready to go again. If I use more than two colors at a time it only takes 2 – 3 minutes to go wash, clean and dry your brush to be ready for another color. That is why I only have 2 brushes. They are very inexpensive and you can find them at most craft stores.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial today. Go give it a try and let me know what you think. I think you will really enjoy it, especially if you like the “airbrushed” look.

Hugs,

Pam