Hello! Today I want to share a card that I’ve made for this month’s Altenew Inspiration Challenge. The colours Altenew chose this month were extremely hard for me to combine so I decided to take inspiration from the photo instead. When I was young it was almost a criminal offense to combine scarlet red and pink and I’m afraid that remnant of my past still has a strong hold on my psyche. I just couldn’t do it!

I also took inspiration from the first joint challenge held by AAA Cards Challenge #94 and Less Is More Challenge 336-337, making my card a single layer card on coloured cardstock.

I stamped Altenew’s Sketchy Rose stamp, using Versamark Ink onto generic kraft card. Normally, when doing any no line colouring, I would use a very light dye ink but I’ve found the usual light colours dry too light on this kraft card and it can’t be seen at all, once fully dry. The Versamark ink gives a clear crisp image on kraft card that stays that way, meaning I can take my time working on the image.

I recently bought a new set of Lyra Rembrandt oil based coloured pencils and have been wanting to test them out. I haven’t felt comfortable using my Prismacolor Pencils, struggling to blend them when working in my normal way. I’ve found the wax bloom surfaces well before I’m happy with my blend.

The Lyra Rembrandt pencils are a completely different type of pencil and now I have worked with them, I’ve found they are much more like a traditional artist’s pencil. I chose Lyra above other brands of oil based pencils because they have been produced for 200 years and that longevity just speaks volumes to me. Their price is not extravagant either, I only paid about $US80 for a full set! 

The pencils blend easily with each other and can be laid down in many layers, suiting my colouring style much more. They also have a harder lead, need less sharpening and have next to no breakage problems. They also have a great light fastness, meaning their colour will stay true for many years. I didn’t even bother putting a layer of white onto the card before colouring and the pencils kept true to their colour on the darker surface. I just loved working with them! I could rave so much more about these pencils…

Once I finished colouring, I added Nuvo Crystal Clear Glaze in droplets on the rose and created raindrops across the rest of the card. This gave the card some dimensional interest while remaining clean and simple. I had never attempted raindrops before but once I got the hang of dragging the glaze out from the initial drop, I found it a fairly easy technique.

The finished rose looked very traditional so I decided to continue the theme by adding a sentiment, corners and borders using some old peel off stickers. They’re something card makers don’t use that much now but I think they still have their place, particularly when added to something that looks so traditional.

I have also decided to add this card to a number of other challenges. Crafty Friends Challenge #62 and Daisy Chain Challenges #10 both have a floral theme, while Incy Wincy Designs have a current theme of a single layer card. The rest of the challenges have an anything goes theme and they are:

I hope you like my rose and if you have any questions about the Lyra Rembrandt pencils, please leave it in the comments. If there’s enough interest, I’ll write a full post dedicated to these magnificent artist tools. I can’t wait to use them again, and again, and again!

Published by Anne

I have been practicing this craft since 2004 and am self taught, only learning from published lessons. I have found this has stopped me learning others' bad habits and I often find economical ways to achieve my results. I've found that primarily making cards gives me a constant supply of projects to complete and giving them as part of a gift is always well received. The only downside to it all? I dare not buy a card for anyone now, they would be devistated and, quite possibly insulted. But I take that as a compliment.

35 thoughts on “A Sketchy Rose with Lyra Rembrandt Pencils”

Leave a comment