New card with Pan Pastels. Coffee anyone?

Hi everyone!  It's a beautiful early fall day here in Michigan and I'm waiting for the leaves to start turning into the gorgeous fall golds, reds and shades of brown that we all love here in "the Mitten".  I love all the brightly colored foliage and I can't imagine a prettier place to live this time of year. 

When I first learned about pastels many years ago I ran out and bought a set of pencils.  They're fun to use but the colors in that set were very muted, much like my chalks.  So all of the talk about Pan Pastels really didn't grab my attention.  I didn't expect to get such vibrant reds and yellows as I did on this project!  I had fun with my first card earlier this month but I only used two colors on it and didn't really get to see how wonderfully they blend.  I sure found out this time!

Stop over at the Altered Pages Artsociates blog to see the rest of the how-to for this card.  There is still time to be entered into the drawing there to win your own set of Pan Pastels.  Don't miss this opportunity!  You can comment on each daily post and it counts as an entry in the drawing.  Good luck!

Pan Pastels for the first time!

Hi, everyone.  Welcome to my first project using Pan Pastels.  I've never used them before so I did a lot of reading and watching YouTube videos before I picked up a sponge.  There is a wonderful post on Altered Pages Artsociates that will walk you through the tools and techniques to get you started.  Where you go from there is up to you!

I am using two colors on this project - Permanent Green Extra Dark and Magenta Extra Dark.  I began by applying an even layer of green around the outer edge of the 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 card panel with one of the finger width sponges.

Then I filled in the center with an even layer of the purple with the same sponge.  You simply need to wipe the first color off on a scrap of paper or paper towel before using the second color; there is no washing required.

Using the stylus, I drew several vines and leaves across the entire card panel.  Light purple berries were added to the vines using a pastel pencil.  To give them more dimension, I highlighted the vines and berries with a gold gel pen.

Since I had the pencil set out, I added some shading to the leaves with white and gray pencils. 

I have an awesome alphabet stencil set that I picked up at one of the big box hardware stores.  They sell several different sizes and you can find them near the mailboxes.  For the word "DANCE", I used the smallest set.  I outlined the letters with pencil and then filled them in using a white paint pen and then used a colored pencil to add a shadow to the letters.

This beautiful ballerina has been on my desk for months just waiting to dance onto a project.  I printed the 1793 Vintage Ballerinas collage sheet on 8.5 x 11 white card stock and cut out the lovely soloist.  The panel was then mounted on two corresponding sheets of textured card stock and fits an A7 envelope.

It's a simple card to highlight the beautiful background.  I had fun playing with these wonderful Pan Pastels!  They are a wonderful addition to my mixed media art supplies!!  Thanks for stopping by and visiting.  Happy Crafting!!