Michelle's MBellishments

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-13T17:30:00.000-08:00

This card was inspired by the PTI sketch challenge sketch #5. I played with some of my new goodies for this card. I used the Sizzix 3D Flower die, Stampin' Up! Framelits Label Collection die, and my new low temp Ad Tech glue gun. I find that none of the adhesives I have really keep those 3D embellishments on my cards over time so I figured the glue gun was a better way to go. It worked really well to hold the flowers together as well as adhere them to the card.
Supplies-

Stamps- Stampin' Up! Apothecary Art, sentiment by Scrapsmart

Paper- PTI cardstock, Boise HD Color Copy Cover, Kaisercraft Chanteuse Collection

Ink- Antique Linen Distress Ink, Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories- Sizzix 3D Flower die, Stampin' Up! Framelits Label Collection, Recollections pearls, Dimensionals

Copics- RV52 RV34 RV85 R56 E81 E84 E87 E89 G40 G43 G46

Reclaiming my craft space

2012-02-11T06:12:00.000-08:00

It always happens. You organize your crafting space and it looks beautiful, and then reality sets in and it gets MESSY! Well the above picture is the labor of the last 3 weeks of planning, cleaning, purging, and re-organizing. Finally, I have reclaimed my craft area and made it "live able" again. I say "live able" because I don't have a craft room, this is just a section of my bedroom. We have all heard the studies about how chaos in your bedroom makes it hard to sleep. Well I think that is really true. It made me so anxious to have everything in my room all messy. Below is what had become of the desk I made out of Jetmax cubes. This was after cleaning it up. I couldn't bear to take a picture of the real mess. It got to the point where I didn't want to stamp, scrap, nothing!

Enter the Jetmax cube with drawer. I decided the only option was to go vertical. I added another cube, removed a few of the shelves on the right and got a Sterilite 3 drawer cart to catch the overflow from the desk and to house my BigShot and dies.AFTER!
This is my TV tray where I make my cards. It has all my everyday tools. It sits next to my nightstand where my Copics are right at hand. It is a good spot because of the natural light from the sliding glass doors. The basket under the desk is balanced on my binders (sketches and Copic info) holds products I am using at the moment and scraps so they stay off the workspace. The basket on top of the desk has stamps that need to be cleaned or have just been cleaned and need to be put away.

I love that all my punches fit in the Jetmax cube with drawer and they are put away so I don't have to worry about dusting them. My Martha Stewart Score Board even fits in the cubby at the top with all of my
Martha punches. Storing cardstock and 12x12 papers upright left me so much extra room, I was able to stack my 6x6 paper pads and unmounted stamps. Baskets with extra ribbon and adhesive sit on top of a locker rack under the desk.

My BigShot now has a permanent home on top of this cart and the regular size dies fit in one of the drawers. I no longer have to take it down to use it. I keep inkpads and stickles, and adhesives in the top drawer. The bottom drawer has embossing supplies. The Isis cases are so easy and hold embellishments: trim, ribbon, flowers, buttons, etc. I also have travel organizer next to the desk to hold pearls, rhinestones, cotton swabs and balls and other small items that tend to get lost in the shuffle. It fits neatly in the 1 inch space between the desk and my bureau. Finally I have wood mounted stamps in the big bin on the bottom.

I love my new re-organized space...it is so functional now. Hope you like it! Now if I can just clean up the rest of the house.

Love Letters

2012-02-08T04:30:00.000-08:00

This is my submission for the Saturated Canary Challenge Blog Challenge # 10 - Red Pink & White.

Wow it has been a while since I participated in any challenges. My goodness, getting this picture uploaded was a project. When I took the picture with my iPhone, no matter what I did when I edited it, it would always post sideways. I tried it 4 different ways and no matter what it wouldn't come out right. Finally I broke down and just scanned it.

I got to use that lovely pleated ribbon from Stampin' Up! and my LaRue Heart die from Memory Box. That die cuts like a butta! The little pieces pop out so easy, no torn edges. Dave Brethauer has such a cool video on using that die with glitter...it make me want to bust out my glitters and give it a try....even though glitter frightens me. It always seems to get every where and then linger around for months. I show up a work the next week and everyone asks...why is there glitter in your hair? My usual answer is "Because I like SPARKLES!!!"

Supplies-

Stamp- Saturated Canary Love Letters Digi Stamp

Paper- Glitz Happy Travels patterned paper, Stampin' Up! Card Stock, Boise HD Color Copy Cover

Accessories- Memory Box LaRue Heart die, Stampin' Up! Blushing Bride pleated ribbon, Blushing Bride Buttons, Stampin' Up! Rub Ons

Copics- Skin: E000 E00 E21 E04 R20 Hair: YR20 Yr21 YR24 Y28 Eyes: BG02 Clothes: R46 R56 R59 B91 B93 B95

Making Valentines

2012-02-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

This card includes a couple of firsts for me. My first Memory Box die and my first Saturated Canary Digi Stamp! I received my very first Memory Box dies last week. I ordered the Cherish Border and the LaRue Heart die. I love the Memory Box dies because the images are so delicate. The LaRue Heart die cut so easily and all the little peices popped right out with my fingers, no tool required. I was so excited. When I got to the Cherish Border, my results were a little less than successful. I tried it with shims, wax paper, multiple different weights of cardstock and could not get the center of the border to cut all the way through. I finally tried it with Post It Adhesive Craft Paper and had good results. After doing a little research I finally figured out, that it was not the die that had an issue or my BigShot, it was me. Duh, you need to place the die on top with the cutting surface face down when you run it through the BigShot. I had mine face up. Total user error!!! Lol, chalk that up to a learning experience.

Supplies-

Stamp- Making Valentines by Saturated Canary

Paper- PTI, Stampin' Up, Boise HD Color Copy Cover, Love Struck by We R Memory Keepers
, Post It Lipstick Craft Paper

Accessories- Labels Collection Framelits by Stampin' Up, Memory Box Cherish die, Me & My Big Ideas Rhinestones, Glitzy Pretty In Pink Epoxy Sticker Sentiment

Copics- Skin: E000 E00 E01 E04 E21 R20, Hair: E13 YR20 E23, Clothes and Everything Else: B91 B93 B95 B00 B01 B02 RV52 RV55 RV66

Winter CHA 2012

2012-02-03T06:50:00.000-08:00

So what new products have you seen debuted at CHA that you simply must have? Here are some of the things I am adding to my wishlist:

New ink colors from Memento!!!! You know I have to have my Copic safe inks!
I really love Morroco and Teal Zeal!

BASIC GREY PLUMERIA Collection:

(Updated 2/6/12: There are some amazing detailed pictures of the new Basic Grey lines posted by Melissa Stinson on Scrappyjedi.com !!!)

BASIC GREY WHAT'S UP Collection:

With the matching Hero's Arts Away stamp set because I still don't have a hot air balloon stamp.I really like IMAGINISCE's iMagicut ribbon cutter/sealer...no more frayed edges

(I also like the Hybrid Petal Roller as reported by Freda Thomas on the Craft Critique Blog)

KAISERCRAFT's Charlotte's Dream Collection as reported on the Scrapbook.com blog

KAISERCRAFT's Fine & Sunny Collection: Because clouds and rainbows are just cool!I'm loving some of the new Stacks from Die Cuts With A View as reported on Scrapbook.com's blog:

Adhesive Fabric Paper

The Coral Couture Stack

The Chateau Lavender Stack

The Glam Gal Stack

So what new products are you hoping to get your hands on?

Hope-y Birthday

2012-02-01T07:18:00.000-08:00

It has been a crazy few days for me. I went to my best friend's daughter's 2nd Birthday party over the weekend. Ava is so adorable. That baby can read! She is just so smart. Here is the birthday card that I made for her.

I have also been working on reorganizing my crafting space. My real craft area was in the basement but it got flooded so most of my supplies got ruined or have that yucky mildewy smell. I have been concentrating on reorganizing my craft desk in my bedroom that I made out of Jetmax cubes. I got a new cube over the weekend. This one has the cubby space at the top and then a drawer with divider sections inside. I put all of my old style punches inside. They fit perfect and stand up. Then I put a leather basket with all my Martha Punches and any of the little tiny punches in the cubby space at the top.

I just got my Sale-A- Bration order from Stampin' Up. I didn't get too much. Just some of the SAB stamp sets, some cardstock, and a bunch of ribbon, plus some things for my BigShot. Can't wait to start playing with all of that.

Supplies-

Stamp- Hope by Sylvia Zet for SCACD

Paper- Boise HD Color Copy Cover, PTI Cardstock, Glitzy Happy Travels Patterned Paper, DCWV Glitter Cardstock, Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black and Tangelo dew drop ink pads, Antique Linen Distress Ink

Accessories- Tim Holtz die, Butterfly Circles Decorative Elements Nestabilities, Taylored Expressions Layering Doily Die, Zva Creative pearl flourish, Buttermilk Spica Pen, Stickles, Glitzy Pretty in Pink trim

Copics:

Hair- YR23 E17 E35 Skin- E21 E00 E000 R20 Wood- E31 E35 E37 Clothes- R05 R02 R01 R000 BG72 BG15 BG02 Wings- BG0000 Bunny- W00 W01, Leaves- YG11

Yay! The new 2012 Copics are here.

2012-01-24T05:33:00.000-08:00

Yay! I got my new copics yesterday. I did a little coloring with them on this digi from Make It Crafty called Zoe Celebrates.

Skin: E000 E00 E21 R20 Hair: YR27 YR23 YR24 YR21 YR20 Top/Flowers: BV31 BV34; RV52 Eyes: BG53 BG57 Jeans: B000 B21 B23

Above are all the great new colors. I started filling in a new hand color chart with the 2012 and some of the colors that came out in 2011.

New Copic Journal pages below:

Hope this inspires you!!!

Muah! My Prince

2012-01-23T05:04:00.000-08:00

No new Copics in the mail this weekend. :0( They are still in some sort facility in CA...how long will they be there? Darn USPS!

Since it was snowing, I decided to stay in and reorganize my craft area a bit. My desk and tray table were so messy and chaotic that I never felt like making anything. I decided to reclaim my desk from all the clutter and made myself a "BigShot Tower". It is really a 3 drawer Steralite cart where the BigShot fits perfectly on top and then I have all my dies in the drawers below along with some of the other tools and supplies that were cluttering up my workspace. Now I have a nice study place to use my Bigshot and a nice clear area for stamping.

I also started a journal to catalog all my clingmount rubber stamp images. I have them all put away (not in their original packaging) and it is impossible for me to remember their names when I take them out to use them. Now I just have to flip through my journal to get them names.

I made my very first paper rosette too! I love them and never had a moment to sit down and figure out how to make them. I was going to get the Tim Holtz die but then saw a tutorial on YouTube showing how to make them using the Martha Stewart Score Board so I decided to try it. My first attempt was the size in the tutorial using a 1 1/2 X 12 inch strip and it was just too big. I decided to try it at 3/4 inch X 12 and that came out the perfect size.

Supplies-
Stamp- My Prince digital stamp by Elisabeth Bell, Amy R Summer Sentiments
Paper- Glitz Happy Travels, PTI cardstock, Boise HD Color Copy Cover, DCWV Glitter Cardstock
Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Frayed Burlap
Accessories- BigShot, Taylored Expressions Layering Doily set of dies and Hearts a Plenty dies, Buttermilk and Clear Spica pens, Pop Up Glue Dots
Copics- R000, R01, R02, R05, R24, R27, G000, G82, G85, BG000, BG02, BG32, E000, E00, E21, YR30, YR31, E35

Have you joined Blitsy yet?

2012-01-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

Have you heard about Blitsy? It is a new member site that sells different products every week at a discount. I got a Xyron Tape Runner and refills there a few weeks back- half off. The price was great and the shipping was fast too!

You can join by clicking the link below:

http://blitsy.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/5984/

This week they have Authentique 6x6 paper pads, Golden Glaze, Apple Pie Acrylic books, Just Rite Stamps, Spellbinders Dies and Teresa Collins Paper Packs, Zutter Kutters, Smooch Spritz, Clearsnap products, Tim Holtz Stains, and MBI Albums

Everyone loves a great deal and with excellent customer service, I think you will like this site.

In other shopping news, the new Copic colors are shipping! EEEEEEKKKK!!! Mine shipped on Wednesday from California so I think I should have them in the mail tomorrow. I hope I hope I hope! Crossing my fingers and my toes!

TGIF!

Everybody's Groovin Baby!

2012-01-13T04:58:00.000-08:00

"Well a Love Shack Is A Little Old Place Where We Can Get Together"....
I can't say enough times how much I love this stamp set. It has lots of cute word stamps, a house, a tree, and a fence. I had so much fun last night just coloring up this cute little image. I usually go for people stamps and intricate detailed images, but it was very refreshing to have a clean and simple image to color. I think I will be picking up a few more TE Stamps and maybe a kit too!

Supplies-
Stamp- Love Shack Set by Taylored Expressions
Paper- We R Memory Keepers Love Struck, PTI Hawaiian Shores and Blue Shimmer Cardstock, Boise HD Color Copy Cover
Ink- Memento Red and Tuxedo Black
Accessories- Ribbon and Rhinestones from stash, Fiskars corner rounder, Ranger Glossy Accents
Copics- BG53, BG34, R35 and pictured below

First Valentine of the Year

2012-01-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Thursday! I did it; I made my first card of 2012. Of course it is a Valentine. I think Valentine's Day is the biggest Hallmark holiday of the year and a perfect excuse to make a ton of cards. I used my Dachsunds in Love stamp from Taylored Expressions and some fun Lovestruck papers by We Are Memory Keepers. I hope you like it!

Supplies-

Stamp- Dachsunds in Love by Taylored Expressions

Paper- Card by Recollections, Love Struck by We R Memory Keepers (including sentiment),

Accessories- Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Studio G Ric Rac, Pearls from stash colored with R85 Copic Marker, Fiskars Corner Rounder

Copics- R35 R83 R85 R89 BG000 BG53 E13 E17 E19

Inspiration

2012-01-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

No new crafty projects from me yet this year. I am still working on getting my mojo back in gear for the new year. I have been getting back to blog surfing, looking for inspiration. I am definitely excited about the 2012 Copic colors. I love Marianne Walker's sketch above of the new sketch markers. She is such a wonderful illustrator. I also really like Debbie Olson's chart of the new sketch colors and which other colors they coordinate with. Have you seen all of Debbie Olson's recent posts of her sketches... on her other blog? Wow, she is talented! Colleen Schaan's pictures of the new colors are really great too. Can't wait for February for them to ship.

What else crafty is going on? I placed my first ever order with Taylored Expressions and got my new goodies last night. I can't wait to find some time to play with them. I got some great little items for Valentines Day. I ordered some heart dies, a cute Valentine's 6x6 paper pad called Love Struck, and 3 new valentine's stamps including the one below. Who could resist a stamp set based on the song 'Love Shack' by the B52's???

Maybe all these new goodies will help me to get my mojo going.

I Am Weak!

2011-12-30T10:35:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

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

2011-08-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-08T05:13:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2011-08-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

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

Copic Color Combo Ideas and coloring denim...

2011-06-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today, I thought I would share a compilation of some copic color combo ideas that I have come across on my Internet browsing travels.

The Color Me Copic blog has a great video tutorial on coloring denim done by The Amazing AMY my personal copic hero!!! I decided to color a little denim myself. For my example image, I chose a stamp from the Miss Anya Hats Off collection by The Greeting Farm. I probably should have worked with full jeans instead of a denim skirt but I still like the look. Amy shows a very neat trick using the colorless blender solution to add denim texture to your image. I need to find myself a denim swatch to use for that. I have added some white detailing to my images using a White Sharpie Poster Paint Fine tip pen.

Many online stores offer copic bundles with pretty good pricing. I like that they take the guess work out of choosing colors. Some of the ones that have caught my eye recently when I was browsing the Splitcoast Stampers site were The Stamp Room and Make It Crafty. I thought I would take a minute to share the color combos they offer in case any one is in need of color suggestions.

Color Combos sold by The Stamp Room:

CAUCASIAN 1- E000 E00 E11

CAUCASIAN 1B- E000 E00 E11 R20

CAUCASIAN 2- E000 E00 E21

AFRICAN AMERICAN 1-E11 E13 E21 E25

SANDY BLONDE- E40 E42 E44

DARK BRUNETTE- E25 E49 E53 E59

BRUNETTE- E25 E31 E50

BLONDE 1- Y21 E97 E99

AUBURN W/ GOLD HIGHLIGHTS- E15 E18 YR21

RED 1- R22 R24 R27 R29

PINK- R81 R83 R85

REDDISH PLUM- RV91 RV93 RV95 RV99

ORANGE RED- R00 R02 R05 R08

ORANGE/PUMPKIN- YR12 YR15 YR18

GREEN #1-G20 YG63 YG67

LEAVES AND GRASS- G20 G85 G99

OLIVE #1- G40 G94 G99

NORTHERN OCEAN- BG70 BG72 BG75 BG78

DARK BLUE GREEN- BG93 BG96 BG99

SKY BLUE- B21 B23 B24

MEDIUM BLUE- B32 B34 B37

DENIM- B91 B95 B97

VIOLET- V12 V15 V17

BLUE VIOLET 1- BV11 BV13 BV17

BLUE VIOLET 2- BV20 BV23 BV25

GRAY PLUM- V91 V93 V95

WARM GRAY- W0 W1 W3 W5 W7

COOL GRAY- C00, C1, C3, C5, C7

Make it Crafty also has some cool videos that are much longer than the standard You Tube time frame.... here on her blog. I just love watching her color and adore her Australian accent!

She uses these interesting color combos... I just love what she calls them and her accent!!!

Light Skin Colour SetE00, E01, E11 for pinkish skin

E50, E53 for a light olive complexion

Hair
‘Dusty Blonde Set‘YR31, Y18, Y28
Auburn hair – E13, E17, E19

Clothing
Rustic Blue Set B93, B95, B97, B99
Pretty Pink Set – R81, R83, R85, R89

Wood/Trees/Fur
‘Dusty Brown hair E41, E44, E47, E49

Leaves
‘Flora Green‘ G40, YG63, G28

Flowers
‘Purple Set‘.BV00, BV13, V17

Here are the copic color combinations inspired by Paper Trey Ink colors:

Plum Pudding V91 V95 V99

Lavender Moon RV32 RV34 V06

Scarlet Jewel R83 R85 R89

Pure Poppy R24 R29 R59

Raspberry Fizz RV04 RV17 RV19

Hibiscus Burst RV10 RV13 RV14

Sweet Blush R20 R22 R24

Berry Sorbet R30 R32 R35

Terracotta Tile YR65 E08 E19

Orange Zest YR12 YR15 YR18

Melon Berry R01 R02 R05

Summer Sunrise Y32 Y35 Y38

Harvest Gold Y21 YR23 YR24

Lemon Tart Y21 Y26 YR24

Pinefeather G24 G28 BG99

New Leaf YG11 YG13 YG17

Ripe Avocado YG93 YG95 YG97

Simply Chartreuse YG23 YG25 YG95

Spring Moss YG91 YG93 YG95

Enchanted Evening B95 B97 B99

Blueberry Sky B91 B34 B97

Spring Rain B41 B45 B37

Hawaiian Shores BG15 BG23 BG49

Ocean Tides BG72 BG75 BG78

Aqua Mist BG11 BG13 BG18

Dark Chocolate E55 E57 E59

Fine Linen E41 E42 E44

Smokey Shadow T1 T4 T6

Royal Velvet BV13 BV08 BV29

Have A Groovy Day!

2011-06-27T07:00:00.001-07:00

Happy Monday! I have two things to share today. First and foremost, I made a new card over the weekend. I know, shocking, right? I was watching a True Blood Marathon all weekend...I wanted to watch from the very beginning up until the new episode. I came in half way through the series and so I wanted to fill in all the blanks before starting the new season. Well that was a whole lot of episodes...I had to watch all of season 1 and part of season 2 and half of season 3 so I figured why not play with my copics too! Well that turned into me rearranging all of my markers and finally coloring in the 2011 Copic Marker Color Chart with all the new colors. That is the second thing I wanted to share. Below is the new 2011 chart. I am just 12-13 colors away from having all the Copics that I care to own. ( I don't really have any interest in all the greys or fluorescent markers).

Card Supplies: Lil August digi by Tickled Pink Stamps, Sentiment Amy R Stamps, PTI Cardstock and patterned paper, Copic X-Press It Blending Card, Nestabilities, Prima pearls/rhinestone flourish, Rain Dots, Tim Holtz Symphony Tissue Tape, Basic Grey trim, Pear Tart Memento Ink, Copics: skin-E00, E11, R20, hair- YR30, YR31, E23, clothes- BG70, BG72, BG75, BG78, BG53, headphones- C1, C5, C7

Father's day card and Copic Storage

2011-06-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share the Father's Day card I made for my Dad over the weekend. It seems monumental that I actually made two cards in one week so I am very proud. Apparently he liked the card because it is prominently displayed on the top of his entertainment center(right above the TV).

Cool Find: I found these cool clear bins called Stack Binz at Harmon Discount for $5 to put my overflow copics in. I was using the plastic containers below from Michaels and the 12 marker plastic cases some of them came in, but they kept getting knocked off the top of my main wooden storage unit that my Dad built for me, so when I saw the bins at Harmon I knew I had to get one.

Before:
This is the medium size Stack Binz and it just fits the size of a copic marker.

Here are my 50+ overflow copics and spica pens tossed into the bin!
After:
Here is a close up of the image from my father's day card.

Copic colors used are below:
Supplies: Copic X-Press It Blending card, PTI Cardstock, DCWV Safari Stack, Raffia, Foam Dots, mini clothes pins, Copics (ciao C7 E08 E42)

Scrapbook Expo 2011 and Michael's has copics

2011-06-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Copic markers are now available at Michael's! The color selection is very limited but the price is good with the weekly coupon if you buyone at a time.

They have a page with instructional videos and information too.

There is also a store on line called THE STAMP ROOM that has copic bundles...which means no-brainer color choices. The bundles are fairly priced.

Back in April, I attended the annual Scrapbook Expo in my town- Somerset NJ. I love to go to this show every year because I am able to buy all sorts of cute things I would usually only be able to get on-line and everything is all in one place. Some times I will go to the classes and the crop party but this year I just walked around and watched the demos.

I mostly picked up copics and some Nesties because they had good prices on those. And TRIM! I got so many different trim and embellishments - mostly white so I could customize them. I sae a cool demo at the Rubber Cafe booth using their sheer glue and glitter that was inspired...they stamped with the glue and they made awesome glue dots with it. Got my first Mo Manning stamp too!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Happy Father's Day Grandpa!

2011-06-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have been gone from my blog for ages. Haven't gotten to do any crafting lately beyond working on some wedding invitations for a friend. I made this quick card for my grandfather for Father's Day and I thought I would share it with all of you out there in bloggyland!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Father's Day Weekend!

Supplies: PTI cardstock, Best Creations paper, X-Press It Blending Card, Post -It Craft Paper Earths, Stampin' Up! Stamps, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Tim Holtz Alterations Vintage Market die, Stampin' Up edge punch, pearls from stash, Copic Markers- E07, G82

Have an Egg-ceptional day!

2011-04-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

Just stoping in to share a quick 5 minute Easter card. I made it last night for my dad. I was so busy watching Vampire Diaries and being stunned at what was going on that I didn't get around to making the card until 9. I was way too tired to actually color in all the Easter eggs so I decided to paper piece them. I used copic markers B00 and Y17 to color in the small dots on the eggs.

Have a lovely EASTER weekend!

Ingredients: Recollections trim and pearls, DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Boy cardstock, Stampin' Up Wagon Full of Fun stamp set, Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, Copic markers B00 and Y17

Happy Easter Anya!

2011-04-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

This week I have a quick card to share (sorry about the annoying flash).
I wanted to do a little something cute for Easter so I used the free Easter Anya digi from The Greeting Farm. I hope you likey!

Also, I thought I would share some Copic Color Combo Pages I made for my journal with the new copic colors.

Ingredients:

Stamps: Easter Anya digi by The Greeting Farm, sentiment stamp from Stampin' Up!

Paper: Cardstock- The Paper Source, Copic X-Press It Blending Card, DCWV Glitter Stack, PaperTrey Ink Gridlines

Ink and Accessories: Grape Jelly Memento Ink dew drop, Pearls and Rhinestones from stash, SU! Dimentionals, Martha Stewart Edge Punch, Copics: E31 E33 E35 E23 YR30 YR31 V12 V15 V000 RV63 E00 E11 R20 E0000 E81 E87

Happy New Baby!

2011-04-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

My pastor recently became a grandpa for the first time so I made this card for him. While I was coloring the super cute image (by TAC) it occured to me that I don't color correctly with my copics. What I mean is, according to Marianne Walker and Suzanne Dean, you are supposed to color with the flat side of the brush tip of the marker, not directly with the tip. (COPIC TIP) I never really thought about it until now...but I have not been doing that. Apparently you can actually ruin the marker tip and eventually bend or damage the nib if you color directly with the pointed tip all the time. So I tried to color with the flat side of the nib as best I could with out going outside the lines, I mean obviously you need to use the tip to get inside the really small spots. This is definitely something I will have to keep practicing with and will change my coloring technique dramatically.

I really like this sentiment from The Angel Company. I think it fit perfectly for this card.

Ingredients-

Stamps- The Angel Company, Stampin' Up!

Paper- Bluebell cardstock from the Paper Source, American Crafts Glitter Cardstock, Prism/Bazzil Simply Smooth, DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Boy

Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Bahama Blue dew drop ink, Antique Linen Ditress Ink, Copics: B000 B00 B02 B04 E33 E35 E37 Y17 Y21 Y32 Y35

Accessories- Sandylion Essentials Baby Boy Special Delivery and ATD Flutter Puffy Msg Happy stickers, Standard Circles Spellbinders Nestabilities

Sketches for Cards iPhone App review...

2011-04-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

So as you may have read I recently got an iPhone and have been obsessed with it ever since. It is my best pal, goes everywhere with me and I always am using it. Well mostly I read iBooks on it...(reading Betrayed from the House of Night series by P.C. Cast now). I have been terribly mojo-challenged for a while now but so I decided to search for a crafty app to get me back to my first love of crafting. There are tons of scrapbooking apps out there but yesterday- I came across the Sketches4Cards app by Anam Stubbington and I love it!

This is a sister app to the Sketches2Scrapbook app and they have a web site as well (http://www.sketches2scrapbook.com/). There is a free version of the app with 12 sketches that you can try and then the paid version with 116 sketches ($4.99). It is basically like having a book of sketches and samples that you can carry around with you in your pocket! LUV IT!

I can just hop on my iPhone to get inspiration whenever I need it. There are over a hundred sketches to choose from and beautiful card samples that you can see when you tap on the sketch. You can search by themes or just browse through the sketches and the ingredients are listed for each sample.

Verdict: This is a great app full of inspiration for those of us who get MoJo challenged from time to time for less than the price of a craft magazine.

WOYWW 96

2011-04-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

My desk is not too messy only a few stamps left out that need to be cleaned!

I decided to play along with Whats on Your Workdesk Wednesday this week. I hope you like my card and what's on my desk....I actually made a card this week. Woo Hoo! I am on a roll.

It is a birthday card for my manager's birthday on Friday. I made this cardbase about a year ago when I first got my Janome Sew Mini Sewing Machine.... I was cleaning up a bit over the weekend and found this and a few other cardbases so I decided to use it. I thought the colors were dark enough that I could use it for a card for a man. I hope he likes it! While making my card, I learned a little something that I never noticed before. Distress ink does not play nicely with my clear stamps! I must have tried stamping the sentiment 4 times before I realized it was the ink and not me or the stamp. I finally tried again with Memento ink and got a perfectly clear image.

Stamps: Tiddly Inks digi, Inkadinkadoo Cardstock and Paper: Stampin' Up Crushed Curry, PTI Stampers Select White, Paper and random yellow cardstock from stash... Ink and Accessories: Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink, Memento Rich Cocoa dew drop, Janome Sew Mini, Making Memories Buttons, Martha Stewart Foam Dots, Ric Rac and rhinestone from stash, Copics: BG000, BG05, BG07, E40-E43, E50-E53, Y000, Y13, Y15

Wedding Mania Continues...

2011-04-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! I know I have been pretty quiet lately. I am suffering from always a bridesmaid syndrome. I am in two weddings this year, one in June and one in July so I have been busy busy busy with my bridesmaid's duties. One actual fun duty is that for wedding number two I have been asked to help make the invitations. It is a bit last minute so I am feeling the pressure on this one. Here is the prototype invitation I have come up with so far. It is just a rough draft based on what the bride specified that she wanted. (Gate fold enclosure with a ribbon band and lots of embossing inside and out. She wants custom silver glitter lined envelopes too- oh what a joy those will be to line!). I still need to get some fancy script monogram stamps for the letters on the front, but overall she likes how this turned out. Can wait to make 100 of them!

Cardstock- Paper Source Black and Soft White

Stamps- Stampin' Up Friends 24-7, Baroque Motifs, MSE funtastic letters

Ink and Accessories- Ranger Bridal Embossing Powder, Stampin Up Black Embossing Powder, Versamark Dazzle Ink, Icicle Stickles, Papersource Bluebell satin ribbon, SU! Square punches

Copic Enabler Alert...

2011-03-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Just an fyi- carpediemstore.com is having a sale on Copics to celebrate the 12 new colors. All copic sketch are just $3.95 each. You will not see that price until you add the marker to your cart.

They also have Copic Marker racks for sale ($39.95 free shipping) that hold 112 copics and have a cute saying on them that you can choose. My favorite saying is " Tire ...Broke... Hungry...but I still got my markers" LOL!

Fun with the new Copic colors!

2011-03-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I finally got a chance to play a little bit with the 12 new copic colors. I thought it would be cool to experiment a little and see what other colors they looked good with and how I could use them.

I tried out all of the new colors V20 V25 RV55 RV63 RV66 YR30 YG61 BG53 BG70 E23 E81 E87 and added in some existing colors that I thought went well with them like BG45, BG72, YG63, YG93, YR30, and the E20's. I haven't come up with a good color combo to use with RV55 yet although I did add it to E23 to make a redish toned hair color.

The stamp I used is from the The Greeting Farm Miss Anya Dressy set. I believe I stamped the images on PTI Stampers Select White cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink (I had stamped this sheet out eons ago for practicing coloring hair and never used it).

If I had to pick favorites of these new colors I would have to say E23 is a must add to your collection. It makes coloring darker skin tones in the E20 rage a lot easier to blend. BG70 is a great alternative to BG10 and BG11 for blending with the BG70 range as well. YR30 is a great one for doing pale blonde hair and for doing highlights around an image too. Hope you find this information useful! Happy coloring!

Copic info...

2011-02-16T06:32:00.000-08:00

I know, I know.. I have been silent for the longest time. I am a bad bad blogger! I have been completely consumed by my new iphone and the iBooks app lately. I have been reading like a mad woman and haven't had time to do anything crafty. I am obsessed with Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy Series... I am in the middle of finishing the 5th book Last Sacrafice now. ;0) That Rose Hathaway is one cool character! But, since she doesn't papercraft... I still need to get my creativity fix... I finally had a chance to do some web surfing today.

Here are a few cool copic related things I came across this morning.

Copic has updated their website. There is tons of cool new info up on the site. Definitely worth checking out the tutorials page.

Sharon Harnist has the new 346 Copic marker Blank Color Chart on her blog here that includes the 12 new sketch colors.

I pre-ordered the 12 new sketch colors from iCopic along with some more X-Press It Blending cardstock and the new Miss Anya Hats Off stamp set from The Greeting Farm. I can't wait for my order to arrive. They should be here in March in time for my birthday. Yay!

Most notably I was looking at the new 6 piece sketch sets that will be released in April. I believe these are the ones that are/will be sold at some of the Hobby Lobby stores. They each have two markers paired for blending in 3 different colors. Good ideas here for selecting marker colors to buy if you are just starting out and slowly building your collection...

Sketch 6pc Sea & Sky Set
Colors included in the Sea & Sky set: B24, B28, BG10, BG13, BG72, BG78

Sketch 6pc Skin Tones 1 Set
Colors included in the Skin Tones set: E00, E11, E13, E15, E18, R20

Sketch 6pc Secondary Tones Set
Colors included in the Secondary Tones set: G02, G09, V04, V09, YR61, YR68

Sketch 6pc Bold Primaries Set
Colors included in the Bold Primaries set: 100, B29, E29, G28, R27, Y15

Sketch 6pc Perfect Primaries Set
Colors included in the Perfect Primaries set: B00, B04, R43, R46, Y13, Y19

Sketch 6pc Pale Pastels Set
Colors included in the Pale Pastels set: BG11, BG15, BV0000, BV01, YR12, YR31

Sketch 6pc Floral Favorites 1 Set
Colors included in the Floral Favorites 1 set: R01, RV13, RV69, V05, YG41, YG45

Sketch 6pc Floral Favorites 2 Set
Colors included: B63, B66, RV23, RV25, RV29, YR21

Sketch 6pc Earth Essentials Set
Colors included in the Earth Essentials set: B41, B45, E34, E39, YG13, YG17

Hope to have something crafty to share with you all soon!

XOXO,

Ava's 1st Birthday!

2011-02-01T06:54:00.000-08:00

My favorite baby, Ava, turned one on Sunday! Here is the card that I made for her. I wanted a pink theme to go with her present...her very first pink leather jacket! She really seamed to like the card, tried to eat it too!

Ava, her mommy Gina and her daddy Lou!

Recipe: SU! Teddy and Train stamp set, and Build a Bear sentiment, Blush Blossom and Pretty in Pink cardstock, SEI Chocolat Cherie patterned paper, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, grosgrain ribbon, Basic Grey Bling It, Bow Easy, Copics: E31 E33 E35 R81 R83 R85

Woo Hoo new Copic colors are coming!

2011-01-11T07:35:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the announcement over at Marianne Walker's blog? 12 new copic sketch colors are coming! They are:

V20 Wisteria

V25 Pale Blackberry

RV55 Hollyhock

RV63 Begonia

RV66 Raspberry

YR30 Macadamia nut

YG61 Pale Moss

BG53 Ice Mint

BG70 Ocean Mist

E23 Hazelnut

E81 Ivory

E87 Fig

I am so excited to see the new copic colors that are coming out. I already made my own E23 because I thought I could get a better blend that way when using E21 and E25, but the rest of the colors look like ones I want to pick up. This brings the grand total of colors available to 346! They don't ship until March, BOO!!! But since my birthday is in March, I know what I am asking for! YAY!

Brand new My Create Ink - Copic Color Lab

2010-12-23T09:18:00.000-08:00

Ok ladies, we have a fabulous new tool available to us - the My Create Ink Copic Color Lab. Some of you may remember the old SU Color Combo tool site...and it is something like that but for Copics. George Edmonds has worked very hard to create the site but it will require some input from us Copic enthusiasts. So go on over to the Copic Color Lab and enter your favorite Copic Color Combinations into the database and vote for the combos that are on there. Using this tool, you can select a copic marker color that you would like suggestions for what colors go well with it and you can hit search and get lots of suggestions of what other colors to use with it. I think this is a great online alternative to using a copic journal to keep track of favorite color combos because if you have internet access, you can access it where ever you may be.

I have already put in a bunch of the color combos I use... like the ones from Flourishes, Just Rite Stampers, Colleen Schaan, Paper Trey Ink, The Angel Company, Copic Munkie, Color Me Copic, and some of my own personal experiments. Still need to do some of the earth tone combos...

The site is a brand new work in progress so there will be additional functionality and tweaks coming soon.

Oh Christmas Tree

2010-12-15T06:39:00.001-08:00

HOLIDAY GREETINGS!!!

Wow, I can't believe it is almost Christmas! Where have I been? Actually, I had a bit of bad luck...blew out the tire on my car on a dark country road after going around a blind curve which I am now refering to as "The Curve of Doom". There was smoke and probably sparks and the tire came clear off the car and rolled down the road a few hundred feet so I and had to be towed. Annoying huge ordeal but thankfully no one was hurt! While I was without wheels, I have been working from home on my old antiquated computer. No blogging and running my company software at the same time. The car is all fixed up now and I am back to work.

I just finished making all my holiday cards last night. I had a whole bunch of orders for them so I felt like one of Santa's elves on the assembly line cranking out cards. I didn't even get a chance to take good photos before I delivered them. Here are two I have to share with you. Please excuse the crummy photos I had to take them with my cell phone.

Oh Christmas Tree card:
Stamp- dollar stamp and sentiment stamp from Michael's
Ink- Encore Gold Craft Ink
Paper- Handsome Hunter SU!, Canson Specialty Paper, Recollections Ivory Cardstock
Accessories- SU! Oval and Slot and Scallop Border Trim and Ticket Corner punches, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Viva Decor Gold Pearl Pen, Celebrate It Ribbon

Angel card:
Stamp- sentiment SU!, Sugar Plum angel stamp from All That Scraps
Ink- Encore Gold Craft Ink
Paper- Recollections Gold Cardstock, Canson Specialty Paper, Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream and Stampers Select White Cardstock
Accessories- Copics, Nestabilities ovals and scallop ovals, SU! Scallop Border Trim punch, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Celebrate It Ribbon

WOYWW 78

2010-12-01T05:41:00.000-08:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am excited to report that Thanksgiving was wonderful and I got a lot of coloring done. Phase 1 of the Xmas cards is complete. All of my images are all colored up. Onto phase 2... cutting all the cardstock and paper.

A quick blurb about Thanksgiving. You may recall I mentioned last week about the annual cornbread argument... well this year... there was no cornbread and my Grandma...was the one who complained about it this year...." Where's the Corn Muffins...she said". I was finally allowed to make something...they put me in charge of the corn muffins and they were the best darn corn muffins I ever made darn it! In fact it was the best Thanksgiving meal I have ever eaten. Below you can see my dad carving up the 15 pound turkey (for 3 people mind you!)... There was a very special preparation this year that included compound butter and singing a little ditty to the turkey... yes I am not kidding. Dad sang to the turkey during the basting and compound butter rubbing process...."Rub a dub dub there's turkey in the tub"! Yes ladies, he cooks and he is single! ;0)

Result- BEST most Flavorful and moistest turkey in all the land! Oh and of course we forgot to put out the cranberry sauce...I remembered just after we said grace so it was all good!

Turkey, Stuffing, Yams, Onions Collard Greens and Cornbread... oh my! (and Lemon Merangue Pie for dessert!)

Onto What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.... controlled chaos, that is what. I found this neat little folder being thrown out at our office. It has a great pocket and it is hard sided so I can use it to color on. All my colored up images are neatly tucked away in here.

Here are all the copic markers I used to color all my images:

Here is a sampling of all the finished colored images...this is not all of them... there were so many I couldn't spread them all out.

Here is the beginning of Phase 2: Card Construction...I made a bunch of little sketches to work from....now I just have to cut all the cardstock and patterned paper...

And here is all the cardstock and patterned paper and ribbon waiting to be cut.

Alternate view:

What a big huge mess this is all going to be once I start cutting everything!

So what is on your workdesk? If you would like to play along you can visit the Stamping Ground blog and post a link to your desk here...

WOYWW 77

2010-11-23T18:29:00.000-08:00

Happy day-before-Turkey Day! I am all ready to eat!!! I am not contributing one thing to the meal this year...how lazy of me right? Well in my defense my family is very tiny and it will just be my Grandma, my Dad and myself this year so...since they are the original good cooks in the family, I defer to their awesome cooking abilities...they don't need a third cook in the kitchen. In fact it rather annoys my father to have any other cooks in his kitchen so I will be on the couch coloring my holiday card images.

As for What On Your Workdesk....I stamped off about 40 images last night in preparation. In my desk photo you can see that I have placed the things I want to work with in a basket and on the desk and I will be packing them in my bag tonight to take with me to my Dad's. I have preselected the copics I want to use and put them in my little clear plastic baggie so I can find them easily...

Allegedly dinner is at 3 this year(which Dad also claimed last year...then when I arrived at 3, I was informed I was late and they had been waiting for me to eat). This year I am going over in the morning and I will spend the whole day hanging out with my Grandma and annoying my Dad. We will have our yearly arguement of whether or not cornbread is a traditional Thanksgiving food... I firmly maintain it is since flint corn was a traditional native american food. They are both sportsaholics so I will entertain myself and get crafty. After dinner I am going to hit the Michael's by my Dad's house. They open at 5 and they have much better stuff then my Michael's does. I want to pick up the holiday Smooch Paint kit...it has red green gold and a white shimmer $13.99...then the limited edition Stickles they have for $6.99 and I want another clear 12 X 12 Iris case... they have them for $4.49...all that and an extra 30% off entire purchase including sale coupon and I will be a happy little crafter. After that I will go back to my Dad's and will watch the holiday specials with my Grandma... Taylor Swift and then Beyonce will be on. Grandma likes all the music shows...she is very hip for 83!

Oh and I made a quicky little Thanksgiving themed card...just because I wanted to be in the spirit. The image is a freebie digi MelJen's Designs, and the papers and ribbon are retired SU! One of my pearls fell off my card...sigh.. oh well I tried. (Copics: YR23, YR18, YR15, YR16, E08, E19, E09, G21).

Wishing you all a safe, healthy, and bountiful Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for all of you and your wonderful comments all year long!

Holiday Copic Colors

2010-11-22T06:50:00.001-08:00

Happy Monday! I have been quite the busy elf this weekend trying to get started on my holiday cards. So far I have colored up 24 images. Boy do I have alot more to do. I hope to get a bunch done over Thanksgiving weekend. I don't have to cook just show up and eat, lucky me! So while my dad is hogging the TV with Football, I will get busy coloring. Since I don't have any completed cards to share I thought I would share my color map....These are some of the red/green colors I was playing around with and some colors to match my Bo Bunny-Winter Joy and Mitten Weather papers. Please excuse my crude little drawings I did with my copic multiliner.... lol!

My favorite red/green combo so far is R29 R39 R89 and G24 G28 BG99 very rich and dramatic.

I was doing some holiday bulbs (free Digi by Wendy Made) and was using a brighter combo of YG00 G14 G07 G17 and R35 R37 R39 but I colored so many that I ran out of R35 coral ink in my ciao marker. I ordered a refill today from I Heart Papers since they are in Central NJ like me hoping that I will get them by Wednesday. Cross your fingers for me. Happy Turkey Day to everyone!

WOYWW 76

2010-11-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

Yay! It is Wednesday again and time for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday! I am happy to report that there is plenty on my desk! It's holiday card time and I have begun playing around trying to come up with a concept. I was looking at my spellbinders medallion die and to me it looked a bit like a wreath...so I decided to die cut one in green and see if I could make it work. i wasn't too happy with the finished result on its own so then I decided to emboss the cream colored carstock with the negative image and put them together. I like that a bit better but I still need to cut a hole in the center. Now I am trying to decide how I would like to color the raised parts of the image...maybe red silver and gold to look like bulbs and then do some ribbon at the bottom with a sentiment. I also did some embossing with the cuttlebug xmas tree folder and am pondering how I want to color that as well. No fully formed concepts here yet but I think another day of playing around and I may have something flushed out. What are you working on? If you would like to play along you can post a picutre of your desk here at the Stamping Ground blog.

You Are My Sunshine

2010-11-16T07:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday! I managed to put this card together also over the weekend. I have had this image colored for months but never came up with a card concept to use it. Finally inpiration hit me! Hopefully I can keep up the momentum and get started on my holiday cards!

Ingredients-

Stamp- Summer Fairy digi by Spesch Stamps, sentiment PTI! Fillable Frames

Ink- Smooch Illuminate, Grape Jelly Memento Ink

Paper- PTI Cardstock, Basic Grey Kioshi, Making Memories Girl 2.0

Accessories- Recollections pearls, Tim Holtz Alterations Baroque Sizzix die, Petaloo Dazzlers

Copics: E000 E00 E02 V01 V06 V09 BG05 YR21 YR23 YR24 BG0000

Simple Joys of Life

2010-11-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday! I am back from my long weekend and feeling refreshed. I finally was able to make a card from this image and paper that I had picked out two weeks ago. I even made a handmade flower to go with it and added some Spica glitter on the piping of her outfit for a little sparkle...hard to see in the photo. I also used my compressor and airbrush system to make a muted grafitti style background that reminded me of spray paint, to go with the Kenny K Skater Girl image. I even threw in some Washi Tape.

challenge- Kenny K Krafty Girlz challenge # 19 Sparkle & Spots

Ingredients-
Stamps- Kenny K Skater Girl Digi
Ink- copic clear spica pen
Paper- Me & MyBig Ideas, Making Memories, PTI cardstock, Dusty Durango cardstock, Xpress It Blending Card
Accessories- Marcella by K sticker(sentiment), Luv My Tapes washi tape, Copic ABS3 and compressor
Copics-E0000 E000 E04 E25 E27 E29 R20 YR04 YR07 YR09 B34 B91 B97 N3 N5 N7 YG03 YG63; BG10 airbrushed

WOYWW 75

2010-11-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Wednesday! Not much going on in craftyland for me. Been super busy with work and suffering from extreme crafter's block. I decided I have to get some crafting done since I am off for Veteran's day tomorrow so I have pulled out some images and matched them up with some papers in an effort to inspire me to make some cards tomorrow. If that fails I have a scrapbook I have to work on and the pictures I ordered just came from Snapfish so maybe I will get something creative accomplished over my 4 day weekend. I must must must figure out how to thread a bobbin so I can start using my sewing machine again. Thank goodness for Youtube tutorials or I wouldn't have a clue how to use the thing.

If you would like to play along you can visit the Stamping Ground here.

WOYWW 74

2010-11-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to another lovely installment of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday! I still love doing this because I am so sloth-like and slow at making cards.... I feel disappointed that I don't have something new to show off everyday, like I haven't accomplished anything. Well I haven't done much more this past few days that straighten up and put away all my halloween supplies and oh yeah and it is very cold here in the northeast so I have taken to hibernating in my snuggie every night afterwork. It has sleeves though so I don't really have an excuse for not making a card... So I have made a pact with myself to make sure that every tuesday night I set about starting a card and taking a picture of my desk so I can play along with WOYWW. Then hopefully your lovely comments will encourage me to actually finish the card.

Above you will see that yes- I have a fully colored image ( I actually have many neatly filed away in a folder). I don't really understand what possessed me to color her outfit orange and blue...and give her green eyes...but I did. So finding paper to match this was a bit of a stretch. As you can see I did come up with some, now I have to decide on a layout...which is always the most difficult part for me. I think I will use the Wednesday sketch on splitcoast stampers just so I don't have to design my own layout. What can I say, you all knew I was a lazy stamper. Love to color...hate to actually make the card! At least the challenge this week over at Kenny K Krafty Girlz challenge is 'Anything Goes'! Can't go wrong with that.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

Quick Halloween card for you. Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

Ingredients:
Stamps- Simply Betty Digi stamp
Paper- PTI cardstock, Echo Park patterned paper
Accessories- Recollections sticker, May Arts Ribbon
Copics- BG01 BG02 BG05 E000 E00 E11 YG21 YG23 YG25 V04 V06 V09 N3 N5 N7 E31 E34 E35 E37

A Charcoal Halloween

2010-10-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

Here is my quick and simple card I made yesterday morning before work. It only took 5 minutes to assemble from all the bits and pieces I had laying around on my desk. I had lots of fun coloring Charcoal...finally got some Neutral gray copic markers and the last of the BG family so I had fun with those coloring the hat and then decided to add a touch or sparkle with my spica pens.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Ingredients:

Stamps- Pollycraft Charcoal 'Moonspooks' Digi, Meljen's Designs Quilted Boo digi

Paper- Copic Xpress It Blending Cardstock, PTI Plum Pudding Cardstock, PTI New Leaf Cardsotck, Echo Park Halloween patterned paper

Accessories- May Arts Ribbon, Bow Easy, Oval Nestabilities, Labels Nestabilities, paper piercer

Ink- Lavender, Mint and Black Spica pens, Sharpie Extra Fine White Poster Paint Pen

Copics: MOON- Y11 Y13 Y15 HAT- BV11 BV13 BV17 BG93 BG96 BG99 KITTY- N3 N5 N7 FENCE- E30 E31 E34

A Bitterfrost Halloween

2010-10-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday! Here is my completed card with the elements I showed on my workdesk yesterday. I am truly loving this ribbon. I picked up a yard when I was at my local SS -Scrappers Cove. I liked that it was already ruffled and that I wouldn't have to do all the work myself to make it look that way. I also finally found something I could use all that Dusty Durango cardstock with... I am not too big an orange fan so I never really used this color but... it goes really well with the Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice papers and the Echo Park Halloween papers I used yesterday on my candy tins. I also managed to make another card this morning before work ( I know shocking...time to stamp and I made it to work on time!). I will show you that one tomorrow.

Ingredients:
Stamps- Pollycraft Luna Bitterfrost Happy Haunting digi, Meljen's Designs Stitched Trick or Treat digi
Paper- Copic Xpress It Blending Card, PTI Dark Chocolate cardstock, SU! Dusty Durango Cardstock, Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice patterned paper
Accessories- Want to Scrap Pearls colored with E79, ribbon, dimensionals, Oval Nestabilities
Copics: SKIN E0000 E000 EYES G21 HAIR Y21 YR23 YR24 CLOTHES BV11 BV13 BV17 PUMPKINS YR12 YR15 YR16 YR18 YR04 YR07 YR09 YR23 YR24

WOYWW 73

2010-10-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday! Time for another installment of Whats On Your Workdesk- #73! I really like this game.... it is a great way to post without having to finish my project the night before...lol! I am getting closer to a finished card...see... all the cool parts laid out above. I have my images, my sentiments, my cardstock layers....everything right? Wrong... I decided that since I am incorporating the brown into this card (the image far left) that I have to put some kind of ribbon on this too. You'll see once I'm done.

I do have one finished project to show you...or three if you want to be technical about it.
Altered Halloween Candy Tins! They began their life as my beloved General Foods International Dark Mayan Chocolate Latte tins...yummo! I have a dozen or so of these empty babies lying around and I decided I would recycle them in a fun way. My coworkers kids love my cards and stuff so I made them candy tins for Halloween.

I will be filling them up with Baskin Robins ice cream flavored hard candies and Ghiardehlli chocolate squares today.

So what is on your workdesk? If you would like to show it off...pop by the Stamping Ground and enter your post into Mr Linky so we can all see what you are working on.

Green Copic Color Combinations and blog candy

2010-10-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday! I was unable to make a halloween card last night...I tried, I really did. Had an image all colored, had paper and cardstock measured and cut...but I just wasn't feeling the mojo... Maybe something will come to me today... in the meantime...

There is some blog candy over at Spesch Stamps...these are some great images that Tracey had made into rubber. She is so excited that she is giving away 4 stamps to a random winner.

There was a question posted over on Splitcoast Stampers regarding favorite green copic combinations. I figured I would post some of mine. My most favorite...are the army green- YG93 YG95 YG97 and the light evergreen G21 G24 G28.

Here are some other green experiments:

Breast Cancer Awareness month...

2010-10-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! As you probably know, October is breast cancer awareness month. This is an issue that in one way or another effects almost every woman. My step mother passed away from it several years ago and now I just found out that my Aunt has to have a biopsy next week. My thoughts and prayers are with her so I decided to make this card for her and all the other women affected by this illness. This card is inspired by the following challenges:

iCopic challenge # 6 - use the colors pink black white & the Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon

Cute Card Thursday challenge # 135 using this sketch

The inside of the card reads- Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tunes without the words and never stops- at all.
Ingredients:

Stamps- Bugaboo Ribbon Bear digi, Wordsworth clear sentiment stamp

Paper- American Crafts Baby Miss Muffet Paper, Making Memories patterned paper, Stampin Up Black and Pink Pirouette Cardstock, Copic Xpress It Blending Card

Accessories- 1 1/4 and 1 3/4 square punches

Copics- E41 E42 E43 E44 RV0000 R81 R83 R85 R89 0

PS- sorry for the poor quality photos they were taken with my blackberry.

First Ever Spesch Stamps Christmas Blog Hop

2010-10-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! No card for you today but two cool things for you to check out on your travels through bloggy land.

1) Spesch Stamps is having their first ever Christmas Blog Hop... you can check it out here-
there are blog candy/prizes to be won!

2) There is a great new video on coloring faces and adding makeup on your image- by Kelly Booth over on the Color Me Copic blog here

There is a new challenge using her technique with a prize of Xpress It Blending Card!

Seas the Day!

2010-10-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday! Bit of news- one of my cards was featured today over at Color Me Copic as a design team favorite... I am so honored that my very favorite bloggers liked my card. Hugs to the gals at Color Me Copic!

Here is a card I made for Amy Rysavy's ATG Gun Giveaway contest. You can see the details of the giveaway on her blog Paper Prarie Ink here. I used AmyR Stamps Summer Fun Sentiments collection which I think goes perfect with mermaid stamps. I don't buy a lot of sentiment sets because I can just usually print what I want on my pc...but this set was so versatile that I just had to have it.

Ingredients:
Stamps- Amy R Summer Fun Sentiments, Current Ebbtide digi by Sweet November Stamps
Paper- SU! Crushed Curry, PTI Stampers Select White and Hawaiian Shores, Me & My Big Ideas Starfish Specialty patterned paper
Accessories- Island Lagoon Metal Accent Charms by the Paper Company Studio ,Nestabilities Oval and Scalloped Oval dies, sponge, velvet ribbon trim from stash, Antique safety pin, Smooch Illuminate
Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black Dew Drop, SU! Crushed Curry
Copics: FISH -Y08 Y15 Y19 TAIL- BG0000 BG000 BG10 BG11 SHELLS- R00 R02 R05 HAIR- E31 E35 E37 E39 SKIN -E000 E00 RO2

WOYWW 72

2010-10-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another addition of WOYWW 72! I am very happy that I actually remembered to photograph my desk this week so I could play along over at the Stamping Ground...lol! Below is the very organized chaos on my tiny desk. I picked out all of the elements for my card and carefully arranged them on my desk for the photo before I started making the card ;0)Here is a close up.

And here is my finished card.... I got a little happy with the CTMH distresser tool... I just found it burried in the bottom of one of my caddies yesterday....

I made this card to enter in the following challenges:

MelJen's Designs Challenge #29- TAGS

Friday Sketchers Challenge # 124 sketch

Finally here is a close up of that cute little bear....

Ingredients:

Stamps- Meljen's Designs sorry teddy digi

Paper- DCWV Linen, PTI kraft and aqua mist, Copic X-Press It Blending Card

Ink- Stampin Write Marker in Tempting Turquoise, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antiwue Linen

Accessories- Nestibilities Oval dies, Corner Rounder punch, SU! Tag punch, Viva Decor Gold Pearl Pen, Sharpie Extra Fine White Poster Paint Pen, sponge, CTMH Distresser Tool

Copics: E41 E42 E43, R20

Boo to you!

2010-10-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

A Very Happy Monday to you all! I did a tiny bit of cardmaking over the weekend. I made this easel card for the following challenges:

Truly Scrumptious challenge #43 Easel Card using their sketch above.

Stampin Royalty challenge # 41 theme of Spooky Kooky Halloween (My card is more Kooky than Spooky.)

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #21 with a theme of Halloween projects

Papercraft Star challenge # 17 was to create a card inspired by this Martha Stewart layout below. I used the polka dot theme from my card...but needed to add some other colors- purple and green...I am not a big orange fan.

Ingredients:
Stamps- Dustin Pike Pumpkin Bear digi
Paper- PTI black cardstock, Copic Xpress It Blending Card, Echo Park Happy Halloween patterned paper
Ink- Copics: YROO YR02 YR04 YR09 R20 E31 E34 E35 E57 E59 YG03 YG67; 100 on the brad
Accessories- Stampin’ Up! White Jumbo brad, Tim Holtz Alterations Vintage Market alphabet die

Here is the inside/bottom panel of my easel card-
Close up of the bear in his cute pumpkin costume-

Copics on sale ...enabler alert!

2010-10-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

SCRAPMART has a sale that ends Monday.... 20% off copics and free shipping...that makes them $3.90 sketch and $2.58 ciao MUST USE coupon code "copicsale" at checkout.

The gang at Scrap-mart are really great. They always have the best booth at the Scrapbooking Expo when they come to my town. I just ordered 2 ciaos- BG93 Bg96 and 4 sketch- BG99 E30 N3 N5 N7 for $24.66 with free shipping. YAY!

They also have Tim Holtz products for 35% off and some Sizzix dies half price.

Answers to last weeks questions from WOYWW

2010-10-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

This post is for all of the lovely comments last week regarding my desk and the Copic Airbrush System.

My Desk-

My desk is made out of 4 Jetmax cubes (the ones they sell at Michael's) and the long desk plank addition. It is not actually screwed together the way it should be with the braces, I merely have the plank resting on top of 2 cubes stacked on each side. There was not enough room for me to have the desk top actually be the full length of the plank. It works great and I have no issues with the stability of the desk. So for any of you out there in need of a workspace...it is something you could try.

Copic Airbrush System-

The greatest thing about Copic markers is that you can refill them! Which means you only invest in markers one time and then you can replace the nibs and refill the ink if the marker runs dry!

I don't do a whole lot of airbrushing so I have not had any of my markers run dry from that. The tip may get slightly dry and then you just need to uncap both ends of the marker and leave it sitting for a little bit so that more ink will flow out of the sponge inside and remoisten the tip. If your marker tips are visably blotchy...it is time to refill.

Most of the airbrushing I do is over a small space and only takes a few seconds so I don't use very much ink at all.

If you continuously airbrush with the same marker over and over you would need to refill the marker much sooner and you may wish to have Copic Various Refill Ink in that color on hand.

I have seen a lot of ladies airbrushing their backgrounds with E31 YR21 and B000 so those may be colors you would want to keep in stock if you are going to be airbrushing...

Colors I have refilled over the past 9 months-

E0000 E000 E00 E21 E25 E31 E33 E35 E50 Y21 Y23 G20 BG10 BG11 BG72 RV00 RV10 R20 R81 V000 B000 B91

(I will need to refill my Y000 and V01 and BG0000 soon!)

These are the colors that I use the most and when I was getting started with Copics I was using a very absorbent cardstock which I believed sucked a lot of my markers dry. I have since learned to color with a much lighter hand and have not needed to do a second refill on any color yet.

Copic Tip-

In the states, Copic Various Ink refills cost upwards of $5.62 online -$7.49 retail which is not a bad price considering one bottle can get you about 10-12 refills for a Sketch marker, about 15 for Ciao. But, instead of buying refills you may want to just visit a local scrapbooking store to have your marker refilled. I think this cost me approx. $2 at Scrappers Cove in NJ. If you don't have a local store, I know My Favorite Things offers a refill station where you mail in your marker and they send it back to you refilled $1.50 for Ciao and $2.25 for Sketch.

Muah!

2010-10-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

It's wednesday and I forgot to take a picture of what is on my workdesk...ah nuts... maybe later. Even better, I actually have a finished card to show you. My card today is based on Mojo Monday sketch # 160. I have had this image colored up for a while but I wasn't very happy with how her dress looked. After seeing Elaine's tutorial over at Color Me Copic for challenge # 6 -coloring clothing with copics, I decided to go back in and work on the folds of her dress a bit more and I like this finished product topped off with the Smooch Illuminate pearlized accent much better. Once I got my card together it still wasn't complete. I ransacked my stamp collection searching and searching for just the right sentiment and then I came across this one..."Muah" just went perfect with this image!

Recipe: Kiss Me digi stamp by Tiddly Inks Sentiment from Summer Fun by Amy R Stamps, PTI Stampers Select White and Lavender Moon Cardstock, SU! Chocolate Chip Cardstock, Heidi Grace Designs patterned paper, Want to Scrap Pearls, PTI Lavender Moon Satin Ribbon, Bow Easy, Tim Holtz Alterations On the Edge Brackets die, Nestabilities Jumbo Scallop Petite Borderabilities die, Smooch Illuminate
Copics: Y21 Y23 YR21 YR23 E0000 E000 E00 E95 RV000 RV91 RV93 RV95 YG03 YG13 B60

Wednesday on a Tuesday

2010-10-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

Didn't do much cardmaking this long weekend. My mom came and infected me with some stomach virus...ick! But at least I got a bit of coloring done.
Here is a card I made with the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday # 70 and for Flutter By Wednesday challenge 125...yeah I know Wednesday... I am a bit behind.

Recipe: Fairy digi freebie by Anita Be Stampin, Copic Xpress It Blending Card, SU! Pretty Ink Pink Ink, Memento Bahama Blue Ink, PTI Cardstock, Crafters Workshop Mini Butterfly template, ABS3 and compressor and copics BG05 BV11 RV23, BV000 BV31 BG0000 BG00 Y000Y21 Y26 E0000 E000 E00 R20 E41 RV0000

Fall Days

2010-10-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the arrival of fall and the crisp cool weather, I have made this card for the Sugarbowl Challenge #45 inspired by Tiets' sketch.

I used some retired SU! patterned papers and cardstock, making memories leaf embellishments and the sentiment is a sticker from Marcella by K. I stamped my focal image Peek a Bunny by Sugar Nellie onto Xpress It Blending Card... but I left out mr. bunny because I didn't want my image to be too spring-like. I added some gold pearls with my Viva Decor pearl pen. I can't recall where the fall scene stamp came from...sorry.

Copics: BG10 BG72 BG75 E15 E19 E17 E13 E08 YG03 YR21 E35 YR24

If You've Got It...Haunt It!

2010-10-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday! Ok technically it is my Friday since I have off tomorrow. Yay! 4 day weekend when you throw in Columbus Day! I have been wanting to use this Bo Bunny Champagne Rose Trim all week and actually decided to make my card bigger so it would fit. This was supposed to be a Halloween card but I decided to use some frilly and girly colors and paper and embellishments instead... Rose is having fun playing dress up. All Halloween things don't need to be creepy and scary, right?

Recipe: Rose digi stamp from Spesch Stamps, Heidi Grace patterned paper, PTI Stampers Select White Cardstock, Recollections adhesive pearl stickers, Prima pearl swirl, Bo Bunny Champagne Rose Chiffon Trim, Oval Nestabilities, SU! Chocolate Chip and Kraft cardstock, Copic ABS3 E42 RV32 and compressor, white satin ribbon from my stash, Crystal Effects (on the umbrella it is very shiny in real life)

Copics: E000 E00 BG0000 BG15 R20 RV34 RV32 RV91 RV93 RV95 E44 E49 E47 E43

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday 70!

2010-10-06T06:42:00.000-07:00

Playing along again for WOYWW.... I really love seeing everyone's creative space and that mine is not the messiest out there! Chaos=Creativity right?!?! I finally have a workdesk to show you this week...two actually. The first desk above is the desk I erected out of Jetmaxx cubes which has a 12x12 work space where I usually do my sponging, airbrushing, and any messy embossing activities. The other desk below is my TV tray which is now finally functioning as a desk...not just a place to pile things. This is where my cards come together...get glued together, etc.
Above are my current projects...I am working on two cards right now... one with some Heidi Grace paper...I picked out some copics to match and selected this Rose digi from Spesch Stamps to go with it. I airbrushed the background with E42 (freehand...no masking... I was feeling very bold). I also airbrushed some ribbon with RV32....but not sure if I want ribbon on this card...or something a little more fancy...

Winter Susan has a pressie for you...

2010-10-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the card I made for Fussy and Fancy Challenge # 20 with the Winter Susan by Elisabeth Bell for SCACD stamp and Viva Decor Pearl Pen I won from Color Me Copic's Challenge #4.

I just love this little cutie and I adore how this card turned out.

Here is the sketch for the challenge...First I made some half back pearls with the Viva Decor Ice White Pearl Pen (I made some gold ones too with the pen that Susana at SCACD sent to me since I already had the Ice White one)... I used some of my Xyron sticker adhesive roll... just rolled out about two inches and pulled the clear adhesive sheet away from the backing and squeezed some dots from the pen onto the clear sticky sheet making sure to stop squeezing before I lifted the pen up...that way you don't get those little points when your pearls dry. I left that to dry overnight and then placed the liner paper back on top to keep them safe. When I was ready to use my pearls I just peeled them off the adhesive sheet and they had just enough stick to adhere them to my project.

Next I airbrushed some white satin ribbon with my copic markers to match the Bo Bunny Winter Joy papers that I wanted to use. (BG05 and BV11) I used just a little bit of reposition able mono adhesive to stick the ends down to my scrap paper and then I just sprayed the two different colors in no particular pattern over the ribbon.

I airbrushed some pearls too!
I stamped my Winter Susan on some X-Press It Blending Card and on some Inkadinkado Masking Paper. I colored up my image with Copics and then I put the mask over the image to protect it. I cut around the top and bottom of the image and left the hat and feet on top of the Nestability Scalloped Oval die and ran it through my Big Shot then left the image in the die and airbrushed the background with B01.

Here is how the image looks once you remove the die.Here is how she looks once you remove the masking paper... a perfectly clean image with a beautiful soft airbrushed background.

Recipe: Winter Susan by Elisabeth Bell for SCACD stamp, Sentiment Teeny Tiny Wishes by SU!, SU! Whisper White Craft Ink, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, SU! Lovely Lilac cardstock, Bo Bunny Winter Joy paper, Nestabilities petite scallop border die and scallop oval die, Viva Decor Ice White Pearl Pen, Petaloo Dazzlers flowers, ribbon from my stash, ABS3 and airbrush compressor

Copics: E000 E00 E02 E21 E25 E27 R20 YG63 YG25 YG03 YG21 B01 BG0000 BG000 BG01 BG05 BV11 BV00 BV0000

Day Dreaming and airbrushing enabler alert...

2010-10-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

I love, love, love my Copic AB3 and airbrush compressor. I am so glad I finally unpacked my compressor this weekend. I learned how to use the Copic Airbrush System in a class last year and have been using the AB2 handheld one with the air cans off and on for a while now, but the compressor scared me. The idea of using some "machine" just made me nervous. But once I opened the box and saw how tiny and light it is, I really felt silly for being intimidated. Seriously, it is smaller than my Bigshot and lighter too. At first I thought I didn't have right hose to fit the Copic air adaptor, but it was really simple to put everything together once I figured out I could unscrew the gold washers on both ends of the hose that came with the compressor and then it would fit right on the Copic airbrush adaptor. Once I did that and plugged it in and adjusted the air pressure to 40 psi, it was ready to use.

I really liked using the stencils to make backgrounds and being able to custom color embellishments. It is quick, easy, and most especially cost effective. I have a boat load of white embellishments...ribbon- flowers- pearls, etc and all I have to do is custom pick colors that match my project, give them a quick spray and everything is matchy matchy!

Below I used my Copic ABS3, compressor and copics to make a colorful tie die background using a Crafters Workshop template and airbrushing on three different colors -Y06, BV11, BG45 . It only took about a two minutes to do it. I made myself a cute homemade color catcher out of some left over cardboard packaging and white paper. This keeps my workspace pretty neat- no clean up necessary. I also sprayed some white Prima flowers and pearls with the BV11 marker so everything matched.

If you would like to get a compressor and don't wish to splurge on the Sparmax Windstorm $200-$320 version that Copic sells... you can get the one I have. All you will need is the compressor and then the Copic ABS-3 system and you will be good to go.

Central Pneumatic 1/8 HP 40 PSI Oiless Airbrush Compressor from Harbor Freight Tools it is on sale for $59.99 this week at Harbor Freight Tools

Copic Air Brush System- ABS3 (airgrip and air adaptor) at Creative Play Stamps for $34.36

Recipe: Day Dreaming stamp by Elisabeth Bell for SCACD, Sentiment from Fillable Frames #2 by PTI, Prima flowers, Reflections pearls, Ribbon from stash, Making Memories Flower Shop Glitter Butterfly die cuts, PTI Kraft - Stampers Select White and SU! Lovely Lilac cardstock, Crafter's Workshop Daisy Doodad template, SU! Tempting Turquoise stampin write marker

Copics: Y06, BV11, BG45 for airbrushed background, ABS3, central pneumatic 1/8 hp oiless airbrush compressor from Harbor Freight Tools, E0000 E000 E21 E34 E50 E53 E57 R30 W00 W1 W3 W5 G20 G21 G24 RV0000 RV93 BG0000 G0000 Y0000 BV0000 BV000 BV31

Kitty in the pumpkins

2010-10-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

Yay! World Card Making Day was so much fun for me. I spent most of the day reorganizing my supplies and straightening my workspace. Once I finished that I was finally able to take my airbrush compressor out of the box and use it for the first time. My Dad got me one for my birthday in March and I never tried to use it until now. I got a bit nervous when I turned it on as it made a very load noise for about 10 seconds then it was completely silent. I thought I broke it. After reading the directions more carefully I realized I had to twist the pressure regulator and bring the pressure down to 40 psi which is the suggested pressure for airbrushing with copics. Once I did that and just pressed the button on the airgrip it sprayed just fine even though the machine was not actively running, Pfew! It works great. No more buying the D60 aircans for me.

I went to Tuesday Morning in search of a xyron sticker maker...the bundle was 20 dollars and I decided not to get it. Instead I got this great clear makeup organizer for $5 and decided to use it on my workspace as a holder for my adhesives and scissors...which I can never find... they always end up getting lost.

I got this great Inkadinkado stamp at my LSS Scrappers Cove yesterday. Funny story, there was an accident on my street so I could not get home from Tuesday Morning. I had to drive to the highway so that I could come back down in the other direction to get to my house. Well I took a wrong turn and ended up on the street with Scrappers Cove so I figured I might as well stop in and have a look around. When I saw this adorable stamp I just had to get it. I was very well behaved otherwise. I got 10 12x12 papers, a copic E35 refill, 3 bo bunny rosette trims, and some ruffled ribbons. I think I was pretty tame considering all the amazing things they had in. I was like a kid in a candy store. Totally overwhelmed! But I found out they sell X-Press It Blending Card by the sheet. $0.60 a sheet, not too bad considering I won't have to pay shipping.

Here I masked my colored image with Inkadinkado Stamping Mask Paper and then proceeded to airbrush with copic markers B37 and G17.

Finished image with airbrushed background!

Copics: C3 C5 C7 C9 R20 V01 V05 V06 V09 Y13 YR12 YR15 YR18 YG11 YG13 YG17 YG67 E35 B37 G17 SCS300 sketch Clear Spica Glitter Pen for stars in sky and Gold Gelly Roll pen on hat buckle

Other Supplies: stamp Inkadinkado, Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, SU! Cardstock, Nestabilities, Echo Park and Basic Grey Kioshi patterned Paper, Recollections sticker, Want 2 Scrap pearls ; Copic air grip -airbrush adaptor and central pneumatic 1/8 hp oiless airbrush compressor from Harbor Freight Tools

Happy World Card Making Day!

2010-10-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

Happy World Card Making Day! Just what I needed, an excuse to make cards all day. Well I am trying to be good. I promised myself that I could craft all day if I did two things first: straighten up my desk -aka make it usable as a desk, and do some laundry. Well happy to report it is not even 10 am and I have straightened my desk and cleared a 12 x 12 space to work and I have started one load of wash! Woo hoo! I am going to run to Tuesday Morning to look for the Breast Cancer Awareness xyron machine and then I will be back and get to stamping!

My prize from the Color Me Copic challenge I won has arrived. The wonderful Susana from SCACD was amazing enough to swap out the prize of an Ice White Viva Decor Pearl Pen for a Gold one since I already have the white. I just mounted the Winter Susan Elisabeth Bell stamp on EZ Mount and she is ready to be inked! Thanks again to Susana and the gals at Color Me Copic for your generosity!!!!

Happy WCMD!!! Enjoy!

Trick or Treat!

2010-10-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! Here is a card I made inspired by the Simply Betty Challenge #2...which was to create a Halloween Color Combination other than the traditional Black Orange Purple Green... I chose Red and Yellow! My card was a little late for the challenge but I still had fun making it. I used the Drew digi by Simply Betty Stamps but was having a fit of a time blending my reds inside the lines... this character is a bit on the slender side which make blending a bit of a challenge on my PTI cardstock. Instead of making a mess I decided to shade with Prismacolor pencils... French Gray 70% Warm Gray 30% and Light Cerulean Blue around the image. I sponged with Cantaloupe Memento Ink.

Recipe: Drew digi by Simply Betty Stamps, Sentiment pc generated Chiller font, EK Success 2" Oval Punch, Spica red glitter pen, SU Doily Lace Punch, PTI cardstock, Tim Holtz edge die, Nestabilities Labels dies, Prima Say It In Pearls rhinestone swirl, Copics: E0000 E000 E00 E02 R02 R29 R35 R37 E35 E37 E39 BG01 BG05, Prismacolor Pencils and OMS

Elisabeth Bell Blog Candy

2010-09-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

Oooh! Did you see the fabby candy over at Elisabeth Bell's blog. It is in honor of the Company Spotlight on Susana's Art and Card Design....

There are actually TWO pieces of Candy - one set from myself and one set from Susana - that one lucky winner receives! Offered by the generous Susana herself, here is what one lucky winner will receive:Candy #A From me: Elisabeth Bell for SCACD’s Sampler #5 (that’s SEVEN stamps) PLUS I Will Leave the Light On (making it EIGHT stamps) which I will mail out to the winnerPLUSCandy #B From Susana: 1 (one) Elisabeth Bell for SCACD Sampler of the winner's choice (which is around SEVEN stamps) which will be sent out via the wonderful Susana!That is a total of around FIFTEEN Elisabeth Bell for SCACD stamps to one SUPER LUCKY winner!!

Pop over to Elisabeth's blog and enter to win!