Prepare to be amazed!

This tutorial was written by Mary Giemza. Head over to her blog to comment for a chance to win a Luigi card!!!

Please note, this is a BRAND new Luigi card, made specifically for this tutorial.

Yes, it’s true!  After almost TWO weeks I have FINALLY completed the tutorial on how I created the sentiment and applied the highlighting around Luigi!   BTW, Luigi is available here at 7 Kids College Fund.   

I’m really sorry this is being posted so much later than I had anticipated ~ please note, there are 39 photos included with this tutorial and several hours of editing!   Eeek ~ That’s a lot!   :)    Just a warning!  This is going to be a long one ~ so grab your favorite beverage and get comfy!  

SENTIMENT:

The sentiment was made on my computer using Microsoft Office Word 2007.    The first step, in Word, is to click on INSERT at the top of your screen.

 

Then click on WORDART at the top of your next screen.

When you click on WORDART, this smaller box will appear showing all the different options available.  For this card, I chose the 3rd style on the top row ~ click on it.

You will then be taken to the text editing screen where you can choose your font, font size and whether or not you would like to add Bold or Italics for emphasis.

For this card, I chose the Harrington font, size 16 and Bold.    When finished editing, click OK at the bottom of the text editing box.

You will then see your formatted text in a blue box with a slight curve in the style you originally chose. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look exactly the same, the range of the curve can be changed.    Note, the blue box is strictly for editing purposes, it will not print.

Notice the marks in each corner and the top, bottom and side centers of the blue box?   These are what you use to either increase or decrease the range of the curve or the size.    We’ll start with the range ~  take your cursor and click on the mark at the bottom right, you can then drag (hold your cursor on the mark and move) the box down as far as you would like.   

To see how the text will fit with your stamp, you can now do one of two options ~ the first would be to print out your text to compare it with the size of your stamp and then edit, if needed; 

Or the second, to measure the width of your stamp to determine what the width of your WordArt should be.

As you can see, Luigi is about three inches wide.  

Going back to your computer, you can now use the measuring guide in Word located just above your document on the screen ~  As you can see, the text below is about four inches wide.  Since my stamp is only three inches, I would like to make it a little smaller.   

To do this, click on the right center arrow and once again drag the blue box, this time  towards the left to make the width smaller.   This will NOT affect the curve style.

My WordArt is now about 3 1/2 inches wide.

I’ve printed it out for you to see that it fits much better with my stamp.

Now, time to add the bottom section of the sentiment.   

I measure the combined length of my stamp and the WordArt text  to determine approximately where I would like the lower sentiment placed.  This appears to be about 4 1/2 inches.

 

Back to the computer, this time working with the side measuring guide in Word, shown on the left below -  I hit the ENTER key until my cursor is at the 4 1/2 inch mark on the screen guide, and type in the text.

You can now use your normal editing features to format this text.   I’ve chosen ChopinScript (downloaded from Dafont.com), size 28, Bold and red for my font color.       (Oops, I also added an exclamation point, which wasn’t included above)

Print it out and do one final check with your image to see if it is placed where you would like.   If everything looks good, I then print it on my good cardstock.       Your sentiment is now finished!  Yay.

HIGHLIGHTING:

I usually stamp the image several times.   First on the cardstock printed with the sentiment and again on another piece of cardstock for coloring ~ I cut out my colored image and attach it with dimensionals, this way the highlighting does not affect the coloring of my image.  

  

 For Luigi, I have done a few extra steps – the pizza was colored and cut out separately after applying some Diamond Glaze to the cheese!  Since I like things to be authentic (and I’m a little crazy) I also stamped and cut out the pizza again on some silver foil cardstock for the pizza pan!        The oven mitts are paper pieced with a smaller check dp.  

  

  

For anyone who might be interested, here are the Copic colors used for each specific area:    T1, 3, 5 for the Hat & Jacket; E000, 00, 01, 11; R20, 30 for Luigi’s skin;  E41, 42, 44, 47 for his Hair and Mustache;  YR20, 31 Cheese;  E07, 08, 09 Pepperoni; E30, 33 Crust; C2, 5, 7 for Luigi’s pants; and W1, 3, 5 for his Shoes.

  

Oh, I almost forgot ~ Since I didn’t have any black buttons for Luigi’s Chef jacket, I colored them with Copics too!   I use stick pins to hold them so I can color a little easier.   (crazy, I know!)  LOL

  

Here are the supplies I used for the highlighting around Luigi.   I REALLY love and highly recommend these particular Copic colors, which were recently added at 7 Kids College Fund ~ T1, T3 & T5, Toner Grays; Copic 0, Colorless Blender; Distress Ink in black soot; and Inkessentials stamp pad felt.

  

My first step is to use my T5 Toner Gray marker to go around the entire outer edge of the image.

Then using T3, I go over the darker T5 line, going slightly wider.

And, then I run my T1 over both lines to blend.

Finally, lightening the edges slightly with my Colorless Blender.

For the bottom area to “ground” Luigi, I start with my T5 again directly around his shoes.

And, again, going over this and slightly expanding the area with T3.

Again, using T1 and 0 (Colorless Blender) going over it to blend.

Now, using a small section of the stamp pad felt, I apply some Distress Ink in black soot around the image.   If you’re interested, I have more specific instructions on this technique in this previous tutorial.

Here’s a picture of the Distress Ink highlighting around Luigi.

 Below is a photo showing that I’ve quickly colored the bottom image and cut the sides with my paper cutter.

I wanted the top to match the shape of my text, so I used this guide.

Voila!

One final step was to highlight around the edges of the cardstock, using Distress Ink in fired brick.    (Again, more specific instructions can be found here.)

A quick photo of the highlighed edges.

I then attach all the extra pieces to the Copic colored Luigi and attach him with dimensionals!

That’s it!!     Whew …               As always, if you have ANY questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Comments

[Linda Baughan]

This was a very good tutorial. Thanks.

Linda

[Linda C.]

WOW Mary! Your artwork is fabulous! I learned so much. Thanks for taking your time to show us each detail. You're a jewel!

[Auntie Lisa]

Wow!! I am tired just reading this tutorial- LOL. I absolutely LOVE all the little details...they really make the card. Thanks for the awesome tutorial. You did a really good job on the whole project.
Lisa

[alina]

Thank you, Mary! Fabulous!

[Colleen]

Wow, unbelievable and you should me so much more than just coloring the inside!!! Thank you, you awesome!! If you lived near me I would pay you for lessons!!!