I Am Weak!

I am so weak. I couldn't resist. The minute I read there were new Copic colors coming by March 2012 I had to preorder. ICopic.com had a really great price for Gold Members ($54 + free shipping) so I went ahead and took the plunge and pre-ordered mine. So much for my resolution not to order any more Copics. That brings us up to 358 total color choices.

Happy Holidays

Happy Chrismahanakawnzukah! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and wishing you a Happy New Year! I was a very good girl this year and Santa brought me just what I wanted....an Xbox 360 Kinect and The Black Eyed Peas Experience game. It is one heck of a good workout.

It has been a very busy past few months. My job moved to Midtown Manhattan so I have been getting used to the new neighborhood and new commute. Getting up before 5 every morning has me asleep very early every night. I have not had much time to do anything crafty. I did get to make a quick holiday card for my Dad this weekend. No stamping or coloring though.


Supplies- Recollections Paper, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Me & My Big Ideas Jewel Sticker Sentitment, Recollections ribbon, Basic Grey Rhinestones


SEASONS GREETINGS!

Thinking of You

As Hurricane Irene approaches here on the east coast, I just wanted to pop in and let you all know I am thinking of you. Here is a card I made a few weeks back that I have been too busy to photograph and post. This is my very first Mo' Manning stamp..Rae with Journal.

If finally tried out the technique for making clouds. I just cut out a cloud shaped template on masking paper and sponged around it with sky blue memento ink and just moved the template all around until I got the look I was going for. It works really well.

Supplies:
Stamps: Rae With Journal clear stamp by Stampavie, Papertrey Ink sentiment
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Memento Sky Blue Ink
Paper: Kaisercraft Up Up and Away paper pad, Boise HD Color Copy Cover, Sahara Sand Stampin' Up! Cardstock
Accessories: Making Memories butterfly, Labels 1 Nestabilities, Dimensionals
Copics: E000 E00 E11 E55 E57 E59 YR23 R20 BG000 BG70 BG93 BG96 BG99 W00 W1 W3 W5 W7 G20 G12 YR20

Blog Candy and Vampires...Oh My!

Happy Weekend everyone! So glad it is finally here.

First, I would like to say thank you to everyone for their lovely comments and welcome to all my new followers and visitors too! I have had over 800 visits to my blog this week and that means so much to me!


Without further ado...the winner of the blog candy is....

Tina who said...
Wow! Sorry to hear about all the mix up, but thank you so much for sharing with us ;) My fingers crossed

Congratulations Tina! Please email me at michellena317@comcast dot net with your address and I will send your candy out on Monday.

Has anyone else been bitten with this whole Vampire craze? I am currently reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels... (The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris). I can't seem to get enough vamps.. Twillight and the Vampire Diaries... now I am reading all the different books... Morganville Vampires, My Blood Approves, House of Night...etc. Anyone know of any other good ones I should be reading? In the meantime, now I can make cards with them too...


Have you seen the cool new Vampire themed digi stamps from Tiddly Inks? I just ordered some and can't wait to print them up and color them. You can see the whole release here on the Tiddly Inks blog.

Image belongs to Tiddly Inks.


Finally, I want to share an update on last weeks crafty goals.

1) Figure out how to thread a bobbin so I can use my Sew Mini again- DID IT!!!
2) Try airbrushing clouds with my Copics (Sort of DID IT! Did some sponging with masked clouds...came out really well. Will share tomorrow.)
3) Make ribbon flowers out of Glubers (DIDN'T EVEN DO IT!)

4) Read my Shadows & Shading book by Marianne Walker (DID HALF OF IT!)


So this weeks Craft Goals are:
1) Ribbon flowers from Glubers
2) Finish reading Shadows and Shading
3) Sewing on Cards

Blog Candy Reminder

Hello Everyone! Happy Friday. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. Can't wait until the end of the day for the weekend to begin. How does that joke go...

"I don't mind coming to work, but this 8 hour wait to go home is bull@#$%!"
Quick update on the blog candy. I will be doing the blog candy drawing tomorrow afternoon. I am throwing in one more Copic Sketch Marker- N5.

Blog Candy:
1 BG000 Copic Sketch Marker
1 Empty Copic Sketch Marker (you can fill this with any color refill or colorless blender solution)
1 Custom E23 Copic Sketch Marker ( I filled this myself with equal parts E21 and E25 refill ink)
1 E35 Copic Ciao Marker
1 G40 Copic Various Ink Refill
1 C1 Copic Various Ink Refill
1 Kaisercraft Up Up and Away Paper Pad
1 Shadows and Shading book by Marianne Walker
Some 1/4 sheets of Boise HD Color Copy Cover .80 lb cardstock for you to try
1 N5 Copic Sketch Marker

Rules: To win you must-
1) Have a US Mailing Address
2) Be a follower of my blog
3) Leave me a comment on the original blog candy post, scroll down or click the link to go there.

I will select and post the random winner tomorrow August 13th around 12pm EST.

Hey No Birdies!

I am sick and working from home today :0(. Normally I start work at 8:30 but because I am sick I can't fall back asleep so I figured I would hop on the computer early and share the card I made yesterday. I finally broke down and got the Kaisercraft Hey Birdie Paper Pad. I really love the color combinations in this pad but hated the "bird" theme. I don't know what my aversion is to birds but I definitely have one. In the papers I chose to use on the card, I actually covered the row of birds with a row of trees. Really don't like those birds! Hope you like the card without them.

Supplies-

Stamp- Miss Anya Hats Off by The Greeting Farm
Other- Memento Tuxedo Black and Lilac Posies Ink, Cardstock and sentiment- Stampin' Up!, Hey Birdie Paper and Pearls by Kaisercraft, dimensionals, Copic X-press It Blending Card
Copics-Skin- E23, E25, E27, E29 Hair- E23, E25, E27, E29, E49 Denim- B91, B95, B97 Clothes- RV00, RV63, RV66, V91, V93, V95, Boots- E31, E33, E34, E35, E37

Blog Candy!!!!

Ok, so we have all made the occasional mistake and purchased a dupe of something we already had, right? Well, I had some assistance on this particular blunder. Allow me to share with you the saga of how the United States Postal Service did me wrong. Right before the Aug. 1st Copic price increase, I decided to order 1 Copic marker and a few refills. Well of course I decided to order from a lovely online store called I Heart Papers. Great store, great lady who owns it, local to me...she is in New Jersey. I figure I am doing a great thing ordering there because I want to support local small business owners as often as possible. Well I decided to order $50 worth of things from the store to qualify for free shipping. I don't really understand the way of the human mind and how this saved me any money. It didn't, all I did was order things I didn't actually need. I decided to add on two things that I have coveted for a while now... the Kaisercraft Up Up and Away paper pad and the Shadows and Shading Book by Marianne Walker.

Well $50 bucks later my order ships and 2, yes I said 2 days later I got a delivery confirmation that my package was delivered to my home. Great you say, well no, not great. I got home from work and there was no package. Darn it... I am running all kinds of mail theft, "the garbage men threw it out" scenarios in my head. Well I waited several days and no package shows up. I chalked this one up to LOST and decided to re-order my items from another store before the price increase... So now those things came three days later and now I have my book and my paper pad and my markers and my refills...blah blah except the next store sent me the wrong marker color. I ordered a T5 and got an N5. I have no luck!!! It would be ok if I didn't already have one of those. Dupe! So now let's fast forward exactly one week and what shows up today slightly damaged and tattered in my mailbox....yes that is right my original lost I Heart Papers order. UGH!!! MORE DUPES!!!! Now I know I could sell all of this on eBay and make my money back but.... I have decided that my misfortune...will be your Blog Candy! I will do a Follower Appreciation Blog Candy as a thanks to all of you Lovelies who follow my blog. It means a lot to me to share creatively with all of you. Blog Candy: 1 BG000 Copic Sketch Marker 1 Empty Copic Sketch Marker (you can fill this with any color refill or colorless blender solution) 1 Custom E23 Copic Sketch Marker ( I filled this myself with equal parts E21 and E25 refill ink) 1 E35 Copic Ciao Marker 1 G40 Copic Various Ink Refill 1 C1 Copic Various Ink Refill 1 Kaisercraft Up Up and Away Paper Pad 1 Shadows and Shading book by Marianne Walker Some 1/4 sheets of Boise HD Color Copy Cover .80 lb cardstock for you to try I may throw in one more Copic Sketch Marker -N5 if the store I ordered from is not willing to replace it for me. Rules: To win you must- 1) Have a US Mailing Address 2) Be a follower of my blog 3) Leave me a comment on this post I will select and post the random winner August 13th around 12pm EST.

How to Select Copic Marker colors... Continued

I wanted to share this great picture from last weekend. This is my favorite baby Ava and she is checking out the card I made for her Mom as a congratulations for getting a promotion. Ava is so smart and so amazing. She actually got up on the chair, picked up the envelope, took the card out, admired it and then put it back in the envelope... she is only a year and a half old. She is a genius... and has excellent taste..lol!

What is everyone up to this weekend? My crafty goals for this weekend are:

1) Figure out how to thread a bobbin so I can use my Sew Mini again
2) Try airbrushing clouds with my Copics
3) Make ribbon flowers out of Glubers

4) Read my Shadows & Shading book by Marianne Walker (Yes i finally got it...that is a whole other story for another time)

I would love to hear what everyone else is working on!

Continuing on the discussion of How To Select Which Copic Marker Colors To Buy, I thought I would suggest another approach.

Some people are company loyalists, they have their favorites and they stick to it. Do you have a giant stash full of cardstock from a particular company like Stampin' Up, Paper Trey Ink, or Close to My Heart? Well if you do, you may want to consider picking your Copic Marker colors to match your existing paper and ink supply.
(Keep in mind you should still select markers colors in groups of 3 or 4 blending colors within a color family so that you get the best effects from your Copics.)

Below is a link to a really great chart by stamphappy1650 on Splitcoast Stampers with Stampin' Up! Matches:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/attachments/tool-product-talk-f128/223913d1311470915-su-color-chart-binder-pp-2011_2012-pdf

Here is a chart I made for Coordinating Copic colors for Paper Trey Ink colors:

Click the link for the post where I list the PTI color matches. (Where it says Shores...it should say Hawaiian Shores and Smokey Shadow I didn't have T4 and T6 so I used T3 and T7)

CTMH Colors:

Spring

R00- Baby Pink

R29, R37, RV29- Tulip

YR01- Taffy

R22- Sorbet

Y00, Y13, YG00- Sunkiss Yellow

Y32- Creme Brulee

G40- Key Lime

B000- Heavenly Blue

BV00- Amethyst

BV20, BV000- Lilac Mist

BV04, BV13- Spring Iris

Summer

R27, R35- Holiday Red

RV09, RV06, RV04- Watermelon

RV14- Bubblegum

YR68- Orange

Y13, Y15- Sunny Yellow

YG01, YG03- Citrus Leaf

G14, G07- Clover Meadow

G94- Topiary

BG49, BG07- Ocean

B24, B14- Dutch Blue

B18, B16- Star Spangled Blue

V17- Hydrangea

Fall

E09- Barn Red

R37, R85- Hollyhock

E08, YR06, YR18- Autumn Terracotta

YR14- Goldrush

Y17- Sunflower

YG93- Garden Green

G97, BG93, YG05- Olive

New England Ivy - G99

B26, B45- Indian Corn Blue

B99- Outdoor Denim

V09- Pansy Purple

E04- Vineyard Berry

Winter

R46- Cranberry

RV11, RV32- Blush

Y21- Buttercup

Y35- Honey

YG13, G21- Sweet Leaf

G29- Ponderosa Pine

B02, B12, BG05- Crystal Blue

BG75, BG09- Twilight

B29- Moonstruck

V95, V15- Petal

RV95, RV93, RV91- Smokey Plum

R39, E19- Garnet

Basics

E31- Bamboo

E55- Desert Sand

E33, E35, E37- Brown Bag

E27, E47- Chocolate

E47- Cocoa

E00- Vanilla Cream

R01, YR00- Parachment

C5, BV20- Grey Wool

Another question I have seen posed is- "What if I only want to buy Copic Ciao markers, what colors do I select?"

There is a great Australian store called Lime Tart that had a Copic Club and in the club they did Ciao Markers. They offered the following club packs:

0 B02 B05 YG00 YG03 R32 R35 RV10 RV13 E31 E35

E00 E11 E37 V000 V12 V17

C1 C3 C35 Y11 Y15 Y17

B00 B32 YG63 YG67 YG91 YG95

V06 V09

B93 B95 B97 YR02 YR04 YR07
W1 W3 W5 E50 E51 E53
YR23 Y28 E04 E08 E93 E95
BG000 G10 BG15 R000 R02 R05
G00 G02 G05 R37 RV14 E33 BG13 YR20

As always, I hope you find this info helpful.

Innocent Girl

For all of you Digi Stamping and Coloring enthusiasts out there, there is a great site called Deviant Art that has a coloring club where artists will post their illustrated images up for you to color. This is a great way to get free images to practice your Copic coloring on. For my card today I have used an image called Innocent Girl illustrated by Devgear. Supplies:
Digi image- Innocent Girl by Devgear on Deviant Art
Paper- Boise HD Color Copy Cover, DCWV Garden Party, PTI Aqua Mist Cardstock
Accessories- Stampin' Up! ribbon, creative charms brad, Prima flowers
Tools- Bow Easy, Memento Desert Sand dew drop ink pad, Nestabilities
Copics:
Skin- E0000, E00, E11, R20
Hair- E55, E57, E59,
Dress- B0000, B000, G000, W1, W3

Hip Hip Hooray

Happy Wednesday! I made this card to give to my friend Rhiannon who just received a promotion at her job. Way to go Rhi! When I saw this stamp from Make It Crafty, I immediately thought of Rhiannon. The island flower and bright colors are so her style!

Supplies-

Stamps- Hula Girl from Make It Crafty, PaperTrey Ink Fillable Frames #3
Paper- Me & My Big Ideas Starfish Specialty patterned paper, SU! Cardstock, Copic X-Press It Blending Card
Accessories- DejaViews brads, Twine, Tangelo and Cantaloupe Memento Ink

Copics-
Hair: C5 C7 C9 B29
Skin: E11 E13 E00 R02

Skirt: E31 E33
Eyes- BG15

Flower: R30 R32 R43

Choosing Copic Color Combinations Revisted

Copic Markers come in 346 colors. That is a lot to choose from and the selection process can be very overwhelming. Let's face it, these markers ain't cheap! Since we know the price per marker is going up as of August 1st... it now more important than ever to wisely choose which colors we purchase.





I have seen people ask many times if it is better to purchase individual markers or should they just get one of the pre-packaged sets. I am torn on that question. While the paper crafting sets have great colors that work together, they also are missing some "VIP" colors in my opinion. Since the sets also don't necessarily offer a cost savings or "deal" over picking your own colors I say - it is probably best to purchase markers individually.

For reference, here are the colors that come in both of the 72pc Papercrafting Sets:

(There are other sets, but I don't find those worth mentioning...lol!)

While you do get some really good color choices in these sets, I think there are several great colors and combos you miss out on in these kits.

Here are the colors that I use very often that are not included in these two sets:

First off, I like having all of the 0000 and/or 000 for blending. I think you can achieve much more dynamic and visually interesting shading when you have the lightest colors to blend with. (I especially like the B0000 and BG0000 for coloring snow, snowmen, snowflakes, ice etc)

I think more gray values are necessary for your collection including: C7 C9 C1 W5 W7 W9 (in order to color "black" with dimension I feel you need to have C1-3-5-7-9 or equivalent in the Warm, Toner or Neutral Grays

My favorite colors for denim are B91 (B93 or B95) B97

A tried and true pink combo- R81 R83 R85

While I love the E30's range for coloring things brown like wood and animals, for skin tones I would definately recommend E0000 E000 E23 E27 (plus E29 and E21 E25 which come in set A and Set B respectively)

I adore E71 E74 E77 for a vintage/ greyish brown- like the color of a man's suit/briefcase or shoes

I think for Blue Green you have to have BG70 BG72 BG75 BG78 - for coloring ponds or deep water (this combo is used on the image below on the bows, skirt, and stockings).
One of my favorite dusty purples combos is V91 V93 V95 (this combo is used on the dress below)

Things to Consider when Selecting Color Combinations-

1. I think the smartest /most frugal way to select your marker colors is to first determine your style. Look at your stamp collection and decide what colors you would like to have to make your images come to life. Consider your style...do you prefer bold bright colors and bling, or is faded vintage shabby chic your style? Are you a pastel or earth tone lover...etc

2. Look around at blogs to see what color combos others are using and what looks they achieve.

3. Pick a selection of 3 markers from each of the following color families + the very lightest color of the family.

Red (example R0000 R35 R37 R39) or (R000 R81 R83 R85)

Red- Violet (example RV000 RV10 RV32)

Yellow -Red (example YR0000 YR12 YR15 YR18)

Yellow (example Y0000 Y21 Y26 Y28)

Yellow -Green ( example YG000 YG93 YG95 YG97)

Green ( example G000 G21G24 G28)

or chose the following combo of YG and G for coloring landscapes and greenery- G99, YG67, YG63, YG03, G20 + YG000 G0000 G85 (link to example picture here)

Blue -Green (example BG0000 BG70 BG72 BG75)

Blue (example B0000 B91 B95 B97)

Blue- Violet (example BV0000 BV11 BV13 BV17)

Violet (example V0000 V12 V15 V17)

Earth (example E000 E00 E11 E21 +E25 E27 E29)

Gray (example C00 C3 C5 C7)

Plus a Colorless Blender 0

Below is a chart of some other combinations that work together grouped by Basic, Bright, Earth or Pastel... to give you an idea of how different color combinations can suit different styles of paper and stamping.

A good way to start your collection would be to select 4 markers from each color family + the colorless blender. I would also suggest if budgets allow to select an additional 3 from the Earth family. This would give you a collection of 52 markers to start out with.

Stamped Images:

The Greeting Farm (B90's) image colored on Copic X-Press It Blending Card

Tiddly Inks (E70's) image colored on Paper Trey Ink Stampers Select White

Sureya's Open Coloring Book http://sureya.deviantart.com/gallery/25150012 (V90's and BG70's) images colored on Boise HD Color Copy Cover

Follow Your Dreams

Hellooooo! How is everyone on this lovely Tuesday? I am so pleased that it is not so hot today. Only 90 degrees. It was over 100 over the weekend and that forced me to stay indoors. I do not do well in the heat at all. In this case staying in was actually a good thing because it gave me some time to do some card making. I have had a few images all colored up for a while but never got a chance to make any cards out of them.
Here is one card that I made for my best friend Gina. She just got a well deserved promotion so I am going to give her this card at her celebratory dinner this weekend. ....I will have another card for you tomorrow that I made for my other bestie Rhiannon to congratulate her on her promotion...Marle and Tasmine just got married and now Gina and Rhiannon just got promoted. My girls rock!

Supplies-

Stamps- Siren Lorelei from Make It Crafty, PaperTrey Ink Fillable Frames #3

Paper-Me & My Big Ideas Starfish Specialty patterned paper, PTI Aqua Mist Cardstock, Copic X-Press It Blending Card

Accessories- Recollections pearls, Japanese deco masking tape, Making Memories trim

Copics-

Hair: E13 E08 E09 E17 E19 E18

Skin: E11 E13 E15

Tail: B000 B21 B23 + Prismacolor Pencils PC1102 Blue Lake, PC1088 Muted Turquiose, PC 933 Violet Blue for shading

Eyes- BG15

Monochromatic Birthday

Just popping in with a quick and simple card to share. It is just a simple birthday card, no coloring and nothing fancy. I kept it pretty monochromatic focused on the PTI Aqua Mist cardstock with some green and beige thrown in. This poor card was defiled today. I was on my way to work , sleeping on the bus as usual and when I woke up the floor was all wet and so was my tote bag. Apparently the woman sitting next to me spilled her water all over everything and didn't bother to mention it... and well my card got all soggy. I am hoping it will dry and not be too damaged...but at least I got a good picture of it before the flood!

Supplies- Studio Callico Sentiment stamp, PTI Aqua Mist cardstock, DCWV Linen Closet paper stack, Memento London Fog Ink, Pearls Rhinestones Ribbon Prima flowers and Making Memories butterfly from Stash, Tim Holtz Alterations Ornamental and Oval Nestabilities dies, Copic BG13

Love Gives Us A Fairytale

Happy Monday! It is day one of my vacation. Yay! Staycations are a wonderful thing. Day one I have completed two things on my list of to-do's. Grocery shopping and laundry, check! I also made a card last night...one of the benefits of being able to stay up late. This is a card I made for my best friend as a congratulations for her wedding. Her wedding is royal themed and Princess Tiana was on her Save the Dates. She even has this cute little Tiana doll that she takes around with her. I think it is a form a stress relief. My friend even looks just like Tiana so I thought this was perfect.

Supplies- Princess Tiana coloring page, PTI Lavender Moon cardstock, Best Creations Powder Blue Glitter Cardstock, Kaisercraft Magic Happens Topaz patterned paper, Want to Scrap Pearls, Nestabilities Label 1, Silver Spica pen, Copcis: C00 C1 C3 C5 B0000 E11 E1 E21 E23 E25 E27 E29 R21 R22 B23

New site COPIC COLOR and how to test your paper

Today I have a cool website and a comparison of two cardstocks for Copic coloring to share with you. The image above on the left is colored with Boise HD Color Copy Cover and the image on the right is colored on Copic X-Press It Blending Card.

I don't get to surf the web as much as I would like to anymore so I am not sure if this is new news for any of you.... but I just found a great site called Copiccolor.com-The online community for copic fans and collectors. This is an off shoot of Too International's Copicmarker.com site and it is fabulous! Why do I think that you ask...well it is mobile optimized. This means it behaves much like Facebook...you can even login to the site via your facebook profile. So if you have an iPhone you can walk with your copic marker collection info in a neat and easy to view way. No more carrying paper lists or your whole copic journal when you go to the store. it is great because you can select which copic marker colors you have and even what type...original, sketch, ciao, wide, refill...etc.... That is one major problem I always have...remembering which copic refill colors I have versus which ones I need/ want... This tool allows you to have a mobile/online version of which ones you want versus which ones you have. NO MORE ACCIDENTAL DUPE PURCHASES or forgetting to pick something up while you are out.

Another great feature of this site is the communities... there is a really great one just for PAPERCRAFTERS....you can see all the latest creations from all your favorite papercrafters...and they list what copic colors they used on their project. You can even follow them just like you would on Facebook or Twitter...so no more visiting every individual blog out there just to get some inspiration...just log in to CopicColor and visit the Papercrafters page to see some gorgeous coloring! Loving this!

I am sure there is more to love on there too but I only just discovered the site yesterday after "Like"ing the Copic Markers page on Facebook.

Copic Tip: How to select the right cardstock for your copics...

This is a very subjective topic. Everyone has their favorite cardstock to use with their markers. My favorite is X-Press It Blending Card. I find that that is the easiest cardstock for me to use as far as ease and quickness of blending. Well most of you know that X-Press It cardstock is expensive because it is imported from down under... I have gone through most of what stock I have very quickly and was trying to decide if it was in my budget to re-order when I came across a post on Splitcoast Stampers regarding what the best cardstock for copics is. Someone said they got a sample of Hammermill Color Copy Cover from Staples and they liked that better than Neenah Cardstock. I used to use PTI, then Neenah, then CC Designs as far as my favorite cardstocks to use so this post intrigued me. I googled the Hammermill and saw it was sold by one of my clients at work...TigerDirect.com. My favorite client that I deal with on a daily basis at work is this fabulous lady that works at Tiger's sister company. Well a lightbulb went off in my head...I wonder if she gets an employee discount. Well I decided to ask her and she told me she can order from their catalog at cost. So when we searched for the Hammermill they had it but not 8.5X 11 size. She found something similar called Boise HD Color Copy Cover. This one had the same brightness (98) same weight (80lb). I decided for $9.50 a for a ream of 250 sheets I might as well try it out. After shipping it came to under $15. That is approx. $.06 a sheet. I received the ream 3 days after placing the order.

HOW TO TEST PAPER WITH COPIC MARKERS

1. Draw a circle using a Copic Multiliner Pen.

2. Use a light color marker (R20) to color about half the circle right up to the line and let dry for 10 minutes.

3. Check to see if the ink bleeds or feathers past the edge or your circle.

4. Check to see if the ink looks even and well blended and the color looks bright not faded and too speckled with white. Your overall goal should be a smooth blended image with no streaking.

5. Turn the cardstock over and check to see if the ink saturates the back and looks even.

6. Check to see if you are able to correct mistakes using your O colorless blender marker.

If your cardstock passes these tests...it is ok to use with your copic markers.

Here I compared the Boise HD Color Copy Cover to Copic X-Press It Blending Card.

Price: Boise- $.06 per sheet ($15 for 250 sheets) vs. X-Press It $.46 per sheet ($57.99 for 125 sheets) WINNER- BOISE

Weight: Boise- 80 lb vs. X-Press It- 92 lb WINNER- X-PRESS IT

Smoothness: same ultrasmooth finish

Brightness: Boise- 98 vs. X-press It- unsure of the number but it is slightly less bright than the Boise WINNER- BOISE

Saturation: same

Ink Clarity: Boise- small amount of speckling vs. X-Press It- tint amount of speckling WINNER- XPRESS IT

Above- B91 B95 B97 blended on Boise

Above- B91, B95, B97 blended on X-Press It

Feathering- Boise- small amount of ink spread..or feathering vs. X-Press IT- minuscule amount of spread. Ink tends to pool on the surface of this cardstock giving you more time to work with it before drying WINNER- X-PRESS IT

Coloring Method- Boise- layering light to dark circular motion blending works best; X-Press It- dark to light flicking method works best WINNER- X-PRESS IT

COLORLESS BLENDER- Boise- takes work but can still use 0 to push ink and correct mistakes but it is hard to completely move dark colors; X-Press It- easy to correct mistakes WINNER - X-PRESS IT

OVERALL RESULT: Best Cardstock to me is still X-Press It, but if you are looking for a similar cardstock and would like a more budget friendly option, I recommend trying Boise HD Color Copy Cover. It works with copics and if you are just starting out, it is very cost effective to practice on and still have beautiful results.

Stamp used for image- The Greeting Farm Miss Anya Hats Off, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Copics: Skin- E23, E25, E27, E29 Hair- E23, E25, E27, E29, E49 Denim- B91, B95, B97 Clothes- RV00, RV63, RV66, V91, V93, V95, Boots- E31, E33, E34, E35, E37

Vintage Inspired

Happy Tuesday! Feels like a Monday -just getting back into the swing of things after 4th of July Weekend. Boy am I tired. The neighbors were partying and firing off firecrackers into the wee hours of the morning.

My card today is one that I made this with bits and bobs that I had lying around. I found the main mat with the sewing in my scrap bin...I guess it was a leftover from when I first got my Jenome Sew Mini machine. I thought I would use that as my focal piece of my card and dress it up with some vintage inspired embellishments and make a quick card.

I used my V93 copic marker to add some color to the paper roses.

Supplies-

Stamp- Amy R Stamps, Cardstock PTI and Stampin Up!, Retire SU! patterned paper, Crimper, Janome Sew Mini, Basic Grey trim, Want 2 Scrap pearls, Nestabilities, Paper Roses and Hatpin and Antique Lace from Stash, Copic Marker V93