Krafty Tips & Tutes - Week #26 - Handwritten Sentiments!

Welcome to another week of Krafty Tips and Tutes here at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!  Each week one of our fabulous Krafty Girls will be sharing a little post with some sort of tip or tutorial for you and we hope you find them inspirational! 

This week our hostess is Krafty Guest, Karen!!  And she's prepared a fantastic step by step photo tutorial on she creates her Handwritten Sentiments!! She's used one of the images from our sweet FELINE GREAT! stamp set on her super cute card! Enjoy the tutorial and then put it into action by sharing your cards featuring  Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps  in our brand new KKS Krafty Friends group on Facebook!!!  Come on over and join us to keep up with all the latest at KKS, share your krafty creations and just hang out!!

Don't forget to join us for our regular challenges this week!  Did you know that you can now use ANY stamp to take part in our challenges?  Of course, those that use KKStamps will double their chances to WIN but we want everyone to be able to play along!

Hi everyone!  It is Karen from ScrappyCanuck Studios, and today it's my turn to share a little krafty tutorial.  

Recently, I have received a lot of questions about how I create my handmade sentiments, so I thought I would try to break down the process for you.  Having said that - there is no precise science to it, so practice will be your best friend! 

 

Materials:

• a stamped image of your choice - I am using one of the cute kitties from Feline Great
• pencil
• eraser
• thin marker - I am using a Sakura 0.25 point in black

Note before you begin - For the purpose of this tutorial, I am creating my sentiment BEFORE I colour up my image.  Sometimes, I will make a mistake with the ink, or simply will end up with a shape that doesn't work when I finish the sentiment.  By creating the sentiment at the start of the colouring process, I just have to re-stamp the image and try again instead of having to re-colour or fussy cut the image if it doesn't turn out as planned! ;)  

Step #1 

 

On a scrap piece of paper, determine the sentiment you would like to write.  Try to figure out how many lines it will take so that the characters are evenly spaced.  For instance, you don't want 3 letters on one line and 10 on another.  It doesn't have to be a perfect match - just go for balance. 

Then create some wavy lines very lightly with a pencil to match the number of lines you need for your sentiment. You do not want your wavy lines to match - have some start by moving up and some by moving downward.  Also think about the important words in your sentiment that you might want to feature.  I had my second line come down to create a larger space for the word "Purrrfect"to fill in to create some emphasis.  

Step #2

 

Pencil in your text, starting the letters at the bottom of your wavy line and filling in the entire space created by the lines.  I like to mix up my upper and lover case letters for a bit of a playful look, but it's entirely up to you!  Embellish away!

Step #3

Check your spacing in relation to your stamped image.  You want the sentiment to fill in the negative space around the stamp, so this is your chance to see how it compliments the space.  You can see that I took my pencil and sketched in a line that was slightly lower for the beginning of the word "Valentine".  I simply wanted the word to be as far away from his paw as it is from his tail.  This is when you want to be really happy with the way the sentiment looks, so take some time to look at the image from a distance and see what you think.

Step #4

Using a fine point marker, go over each of your letters, working slowly to for precise shapes.  A fine tip marker will make a difference - if it is a lot wider than the black outline on your stamp, the sentiment can look really heavy and compete with the stamped image instead of working with it.

Step #5

 

Wait for at least 3-4 minutes (yes - time yourself), and then carefully erase the pencil lines.  Do not rush this step - it is totally frustrating to smudge the lines and have to start over, so you really want to give the pen a chance to dry.  My Sakura marker dries very quickly (by the time I get to the end of the sentiment, the start is usually dry), but I still wait the full 3-4 minutes just in case.  It's a good habit to get into especially if you plan on using different markers.

Oh, and a little tip for erasing - always erase in one direction only, starting in the middle of your piece of paper and working out towards the edges.  This will ensure you don't get that frustrating eraser crinkle that happens  hen you catch the edge of your paper with the eraser and it buckles in towards to you! Remember, if you get a smudge or a crinkle you can always re-stamp the image and start again (you already have a template for the sentiment), or simply fussy cut the image and start fresh!

Well, I hope you are inspired to try a bit of hand lettering on your cards!  Remember - you are not working for computer perfect - these are hand lettered and should look that way!  Have fun getting krafty!