Designer Technique - Amanda Rockwell (Coloring Cardboard & Making Stitches)

I introduce to you today Amanda Rockwell. I was blessed to have met Amanda Rockwell at DST. I had seen and heard of her designs through ladies in my Yahoo Group who always gave her designs high praises. Word of mouth really works! (and she had know idea people were talking to me about her) However, because I do not purchase much (cause I'm a poor person), I never did take the opportunity to look through her store.

One day a few months ago I replied to a thread of hers at DST. The next thing I knew, she was sending me a private message with links to download not one, but all of her Back in Black II kits! Wow, what a shock that was for me! That just sealed the deal on what type of person Amanda is and the quality of her designs. So, spread the word! Amanda is an awesome lady! She is so generous and humble and sweet.

I wanted to give back to Amanda, so I made two layouts using the things she gave me. You can see them here and here. I can tell you these will be some kits I will use over and over again. The black is perfect for my guy layouts. I think Amanda's kits are also great for those ladies who scrap well using patterns and for those ladies who like to make their layouts look like realistic paper layouts.

Amanda has given us two tutorials. First, she shows us how to color cardboard. The use of cardboard is a trend right now! What a great thing for her to show us. I note some of the kits I have of Amanda's have cardboard in them.

The second tutorial teaches us how to make stitching. Have fun learning!

You can find Amanda's kits here.
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My first designer technique will be coloring cardboard.

This is a plain cardboard heart. The pictures are in psp 10, but this can work just as well with photo shop.

Take a circle brush and make the edges soft. You can use any size, you could even decide you want a grungy brush instead of a circle brush.

Paint the heart however you'd like, just stay on the cardboard. Make sure you paint on a NEW layer.

Go into your blending modes and select soft light.

You can leave it like this as shown on image 3.

Or you can duplicate that layer to get a darker look like image 4. It's pretty simple. This technique can be used for a lot of things. Just a good thing to know for scrappers who want certain colors on their cardboard elements

I'm going to start you on making your own stitching. This is a really simple way, I usually do more steps and different things, but this will get you started. I wanted to leave things open so you could put your own touches on things.


You will get your pen tool and draw a line (any length stitch you want, I did a medium length).

Then you will get a circle brush the same thickness as the line and round the edges out.

We will now be pinching the ends off the stitches. You don't HAVE to do this, but it can be a nice touch. You will select your warp/liquify tool.

You will pick the contract option and pinch your edges till they look like something in image 4.



After you do this you're going to want to put a slight bevel on your stitch. Then you need to texture it. There are many textures you can use and it really does vary by the designer. You can see a really simple texture in image5.



Now we're going to add holes. Another thing that you can do the same or differently. Just get your circle brush, soften the edges. Make sure it's slightly bigger than the edges of the stitch. Make a new layer under the stitch and stamp your circle. Then duplicate your stitch and move it over like you see in image 6.

Just keep doing this until you've reached the length you want.I've included a preview in image 7 of 2 other stitches I've done. Just examples of straight stitches that I've put my own twist on.

I really hope you guys found these mini tutorials useful and easy to understand!

The kit I would like to highlight today is Emma Jo. It is a kit I'm selling for my friend Jo. Her daughter needs some lung therapy. Maybe it will help generate more money for her. You can read more about Emma Jo in the description of the kit.