Big Doins! My First Share-worthy Copic project!

Well Friends,

I have been slacking because I have been busy doing workshops on the go with people, sick and of course.... learning how to use Copics! Well it is a steep learning curve and I still have a ton to learn, but I think I finally have a project that is worth sharing with you.

 Well this picture isn't as good as it looked on the screen.... oh well.. hides how much I have to learn! This is a super cute little image from House Mouse Designs. I have stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink, and because it is on Close to my Heart cardstock I gave it a zap with the heat gun. Now there is a ton of use of the colourless blender as my copic collection is still pretty spotty, but it will get there. I used the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge from CTMH (probably the best cartridge I have found, over 700 images!!!) To cut both the card bases and the little egg shape for on top. I then ran the top egg through the cuttlebug with a pretty flower embossing folder I have long forgotten the name of. The flowers are from CTMH, and I have stamped at "Happy Easter" Sentiment on it! I love how that looks. Now because my crazy wouldn't let me leave the little hole in the center of the flower I covered it with a little bitty stick on pearl. As you can probably tell from the shadows, the House mouse images are fussy cut, then 3d foam squared for some dimension.

One of these is for my gorgeous grandmother who turned 84 last week (don't worry, she also got a birthday card but she loved it so much I wanted to make her another). Who would like the other one?!? I mean, yeah mail!!

Help a great Band!!!

Just a quickie today, and promise I will get back to regular posting soon. This cold has taken a lot out of me.

I wanted to tell you about this great Canadian Band, the Paper Lions. They are working on their 3rd album in Vancouver right now and are looking for support. They are a fantastic rock band and for supporting them you will recieve some awesome bonus content. The info can all be found here

Thanks for looking!!!

Great time at WOTG

Another month another awesome time with my slowly expanding Workshop on the Go girls. I love WOTG because everything you need is in one kit; coordinating solid and patterned paper, accents, a one of a kind stamp set... I know this sounds like a plug but it isn't, I honestly thing that they are awesome (ok it kind of is). Oh and my favorite part... directions and cutting diagrams for 2 double page layouts. I always like to introduce at least one new technique per workshop, and sometimes it will be a stamping technique, and sometimes it will be a paper technique.

This month we did the Footloose Workshop on the go. This features a gorgeous beachy theme and a stamp set with great tropical features (sea turtle, fishes, sea horses, shells, sand dollar, ect). The technique that I taught this month is using sponge  daubers to create multi-coloured images. This is a really easy technique that works especially well with CTMH inks, as they are water based and stay wet on stamps a long time.

Steps

1. Pick your colours and open them all up.
2. Stamp your image in the  lightest shade
3. Use the edge of the sponge dauber to apply ink in desired areas, adding the colours from lightest to darkest. I like to use a separate dauber for each.
4. Right before you stamp, huff your breathe over the ink to ensure that it is all moist and ready to give you a great image.

Sorry for no images... I will add some when I shake this cold.

The other great thing about WOTG club? Someone gets hostess rewards, and that is a win all around!!!

I have joined the Darkside....

Well... I sold a bunch of stuff at a sale my LSS has and ended up with a ton of store credit. So I have done something I never thought I would do... I invested in copics. Colouring with them is most definately a skill (hence my not having anything to post this week!), and there are some nuances such as what ink to stamp with, what paper to use... and apparently how long to let the ink dry. I am currently working out the paper issue as I would  like not to have to buy special paper when I have so much CTMH in stock. I wasn't having any trouble blending or anything, the issue was that the stamped image was bleeding. I did notice though that when I printed out the colour chart to track what I had, the printer ink didn't bleed, so apparently the heat from the printer set it up a little. I am currently about to colour with some images that have been sitting a few days, so we will see what happens... so far so good though. I am using the recomended Memento Tuxedo Black Dye ink for my images by the way.

The other thing that people don't tell you is that you want to be smart about the first markers you buy if you are looking for a good blending. Don't just buy a random assortment of colours, because you won't have anything to shade with! You want to start out with a few basic colours (ie brown) and then pick 2 or 3 that are just a few numbers apart from each other. You can get away with 2, because you can use the colourless blender pen and a tip to tip technique. So much to learn!

So that is my copic story so far. Hopefully I will have some success and gt some projects up for you later this week!

Little Bit of Whimsy Sketch Contest

Well I have been slacking on my posts lately, but I will try to do better. Below is my entry to the My Little Bit of Whimsy sketch contest. I used Close to my Heart's new "Stella" Collection papers. I cut out the beautiful circle flower and layered it on top of a paper where I inked the edges with cocoa brown ink and a sponge. I used several other papers to layer, and added some zip strip stripes and a little bit of lace ribbon from The Paper Studio. The picture is mounted on a piece of paper embossed in a cuttlebug folder I have long since forgotten the name of. I then used the sponge and a little bit of ink to make it pop a little. The title is stamped with Close to my Heart's Bohemian Alphabet (One of my all time favs). The flowers are layer, bottom is CTMH's new coloured paper blossoms with the lacey flowers from their new Bohemian assortment. I really like this page... the Stella paper is great... even though the stamps make her look like a skinny bitch... teehee.

 Happy Scrappin all!

Contest Winner!!

Hi all,

I had 3 crafty submissions for the contest, which is a good start for my first giveaway I think. Thanks Dom, Leslie and Jason/Tina (who submitted on facebook). It  was a tough decision, but the winner is..............Leslie!! Her creation is shown below.

Lovely eh? I will be sending her 3 EZ Mounted Sweet Pea stamps. Thanks for participating everyone.

Strange Coincidences

Well Boys and Girls tonight I would like to show you one of my recent cards. Now here is where the coincidence comes in... I first saw this stamp coloured with blackish hair on the Sweet Pea site and there seemed to be something familiar about it. So I bought it, stamped it out and it hit me that it looks like my friend (and model) Heather (well except for the whole being a mermaid thing...).
So the first picture is Heather in all her glory (taken by Shari Tucker). The second is a picture of the card I sent her... thanks for the leopard print sweetie!!

So I coloured the image with chalks, as per usual. It is cut out using a spellbinders, the base was a pair of Fiskars corner rounding scissors, as were the two mats. The paper is Close to my Heart "Wicked". The flowers are made using a Cuttlebug die (that is my new FAV!! and unfortunately they aren't making any more) then rolled using a quilling tool. There were brown pearls in the center of each flower, but Canada Post sorta knocked them off. I think that it still looks ok though.

Thanks Heather and Shari!!