Copic Fun!

I'm having the MOST fun learning and using these alcohol markers!! All the images are from Saturated Canary, the dsp is from my stash, ribbons, bows, buttons, greeting stamps and cardstock are all from Stampin' Up! The heart vellum is in the SU spring catalog, as is the silver bakers twine.

Combining Stamping and Missions

I have a new mission for my creations. Our church is celebrating our missions this month and even though I'm a member of the United Methodist Women, and we primarily do misson work, I want to do more. Or maybe as a part of UMW. So I was thinking about the Methodist Children's home here in South Carolina. I'd like to write to a few of the little girls who live there. I thought these little posters I've created would be fun for them to put up in their rooms as well. I'm also thinking that I could send them some cards that I make especially for them. They can give them to their friends, staff members or family members for encouragement, birthdays etc. Even though they've had very difficult experiences, I feel it would be great to encourage them to do small kindnesses for others. I know the staff there encourages that sort of thing as well. I spoke to my Minister about it and he thought it was a great idea. So today my task is to write to the Chaplain and discuss it with her. I'll let you know how this goes:) Anyway, one poster is a couple posts down, and here is one I just finished.

Card Ministry

Project Details
Stamps	You’re Lovely,Trust God
Card Stock & Papers	Whisper White: smallest framelit Real Red: card base 4 ¼ x 5 ½ Pear Pizzazz: 2nd smallest Framelit and 1 ¾ x 5 ½ Designer Paper: 1 ½ x 5 ½
Ink	Black
Accessories	Stampin Dimensionals
Tools	Deco Framelits

When the newest catalog came out last spring and I saw the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, the first thing I thought of was an artist's palette. Sarah, our church secretary, said we need some thank you cards. I think this would be terrific!

Project Details
Stamps	Gorgeous Grunge, Trust God
Card Stock & Papers	Whisper White 3rd smallest oval, 3 ¾ x 5 for large layer and 1 ¼ x 1 ¾ Pumpkin Pie 4 x 5 ¼ and 2 x 1 ½ Raspberry Ripple 2 ¼ x 1 ¾ and card base 4 ¼ x 5 ½ Crumb Cake 4th smallest oval
Ink	Pumpkin Pie, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green Elegant Eggplant, Crushed Curry, Real Red Pacific Point,
Accessories	Stampin’ Dimensionals
Tools	Ovals Framelits, ¾ circle punch

My name is Carole and I am A Copicaholic

I've been stuck on the Copic marker channel! Ahhhh Such a sweet addiction. I have a friend in Maryland, Pam, who is building her collection too. We were joking the other day that we have become Copicaholics, and you know who is mainly responsible? Our dear friends in the Paper Pajama Party group. This Copic thing is like the Stepford wives. Maggie and Athina were creating these beautiful things with those markers, and of course they took certification classes. Next thing you know, Nancy was  using them too and of course she became certified as well. Then poor Pam fell victim to the beautiful colors and blending capabilities. It was only a matter of time before I too, succumbed. Ohhh and surrender I did, quite willingly. I wanted to color with those vibrant colors that bend so well, much easier than colored pencils, and no constant sharpening required either. My son gave me my first Copics for Christmas. Foolish woman that I was.. ..I honestly thought that only a few would be just fine. "I'll do fine with 9 markers, just enough to color poppies and a horse."  Yeah right!! Now just so you know, we're working on AnnMarie next. Oh, and honey, she is just about to cave too. We keep sharing what we've been doing and talking about techniques and she is absolutely drooling. Why, I can hear her heart palpitations from all the way up in Virginia. Yep, that girl's a gonner.

Alright, I reckon y'all would like to see what exactly all the fuss is about now wouldn't you? Below you can see my progress. I am getting better and it is such fun!

The frost fairy was done with B60 B63 and B66 that follows the rules of a blending group right? Well the B63 does not like to blend with the B66, I flick and feather and go over and over and it does not blend very well. 

This cute little girl with the icky shoes also has a dove with a REALLY messed up heart!! All that red bled out alllll over the place and that colorless color remover thing does not work very well in my hands. I gotta figure out some way to fix it. I need to either get more grays to do shoes properly, or color them pink.

These shoes look much better! I bought a couple more shades of gray.

This is how I fixed the mess. My friend Nancy suggested I fussy cut the girl. I did,but then there was the string in front of her. I got a clean image, used pop dots on the colored image and did the bird over. 

You'll never guess what my husband just said! He asked what I wanted for my birthday. Lord, I LOVE that man!

Copic Marker Storage

I'm all set with my Copic storage, now if I could just buy about 20 colors of markers...... Hey, do you realize how practical I'm being about this whole marker experience? There are 358 colors of Copic Sketch markers! At this point I think about 60 markers ought to do it. I bought some plastic grid to hold the markers in place and this nice little box with handles in Lowes. The grid fits over lights in ceiling tiles. Its less than $15 and you can cut it to any size you need with just a pair of scissors. I cut two pieces of foam core to fit snugly length wise. Then my husband helped me cut slits in the foam so the grid would slide down in it a bit. Then we put another grid on the bottom of the box. It's now stable and my markers don't slide around. I left a space in the back to hold my swatch book, my journal, and a pretty envelope made with my envelope punch board, to hold some stamped images. I'm reading my books and practicing in my journal trying to improve my skills. The fairy on the left is my latest attempt.

Copic Marker Journal

I LOVE learning new things!! I'm having such fun reading and taking online classes to learn how to better use Copics. I've started a journal to help me in this process. One of my other loves is making handbound books. So I decided to combine the two. I've been wanted to make a book using the Coptic Stitch for a long time, so I finally did it. This type of bookbinding uses signatures, or sections of folded pages, and was first made by the early Christians back in the 2nd century. Now, this book is my record of work and learning, so all the stuff in it is not gorgeous. There's cut & paste, smudges, and white out over mistakes, but I thought I'd share it with you. I have a stamp coming that is just a head shot, so that I can practice coloring & Blending skin tones and hair colors. I need more colors of Copics!! Today, I'm going to Lowes and Hobby Lobby to see what I can come up with for storage. I want something to hold the markers in a particular order, so that I can keep blending families together. I also want a handle for ease of transport, not to heavy, hmmm I need a space for my journal and my color swatch book. I don't think I need a top on it unless it is hinged.

Card Ministry

 I'm so blessed to have such wonderfully lovely people in my congregation. Card Ministry is always such fun! We have such a nice time together, and it's so wonderful to hear such great things from the people who receive them and the staff who loves signing them each week.

I tried really hard to do clean and simple this week, do you think I succeeded? The last card is a design from Lisa Curcio, who said she got it from Lyssa... Zwolanek I think.

Project Details
Stamps	Another Great Year
Card Stock & Papers	Card Base: half sheet of paper (5 ½ x 4 ¼) Largest layer 4 x 5 ¼ Smallest layer 4 ½ x 3 Very Vanilla stamped layer  (cut down after stamping to 4 ¼ x 2 ¾) Patterned paper 1 ½ x 4
Ink	Melon Mambo
Accessories	ribbon 4 inches
Tools	Blender Pen

 

Project Details
Stamps	Another Great Year
Card Stock & Papers	Card Base: half sheet of paper (5 ½ x 4 ¼) Largest layer 4 x 5 ¼ Smallest layer 4 ¼ x 3 Whisper White stamped layer (cut down to 4 x 2 ¾  after stamping) Patterned paper 2 ½ x 4
Ink	Calypso Coral
Accessories
Tools

 

Project Details
Stamps	Happy Watercolor, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Card Stock & Papers	Elegant Eggplant card base 4 ¼ x 5 ½ Wisteria Wonder 4 x 5 ¼ Whisper White  3 ¾ x 5 for stamped outside and 2 ½ x 4 for inside
Ink	Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder
Accessories
Tools	corner punch

 

Project Details
Stamps	Happy Watercolor, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Card Stock & Papers	Tempting Turquoise card base 4 ¼ x 5 ½ Whisper White  4 x 5 ¼ for stamped outside and 5 x 4 for inside Punch butterflies from: Tempting Turquoise, Strawberry Slush, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz
Ink	Tempting Turquoise, Strawberry Slush, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories	Rhinestones Basic Jewels, dimensionals
Tools	corner punch, butterfly punch

Flowers and Copics!

Well, I am officially a Copic convert. I have resisted these wonderful alcohol markers because of the expense, but I really did want some.  My darling son gave me some for Christmas!! Yes, I've already added to my collection too! lol

I love this new stamp set from the new Occasions Mini catalog!! The Watercolor Wonder designer series paper is so soft and pretty too.

I've been watching video tutorials, reading blogs and bought the book, Copic Coloring Guide by Colleen Schaan and Marianne Walker. I've used three different papers to see which allows me to blend the best and I prefer Xpress It Blending Card. The first card below had some issues with bleeding colors, so I used some blue chalk to try to disguise it. That was my very first image colored with my new markers. The second card, was done with the Xpress It Blending Card.

Project Details
Stamps	Happy Watercolor
Card Stock & Papers	Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Ink	Tangerine Tango, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories
Tools	Banners Framelits

Project Details
Stamps	Happy Watercolor, Trust God
Card Stock & Papers	Whisper White, Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Watercolor Wonder DSP
Ink	Gumball Green, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories
Tools	Banners Framelits

Enjoying the Envelope Punch Board

I got the envelope punch board in early December and have used it to make several things besides envelopes. I made Christmas Crackers to put at each place on the table for Christmas dinner. I put some Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer in them for the girls and for the guys I inserted lottery tickets. One of the Ryans won a whole dollar! lol!!  I was going to put up some pictures for you, but I inadvertently deleted them from my tablet. {Roll eyes}

I really like the file folder cards too. There are many versions of these mini file folders and lots of tutorials out there. Debbie Henderson has one. I used some stamps, the new gold baker's twine and designer series papers from the New Occasions Mini catalog.

Outside of card, inside of envelope

Inside of card, outside of envelope

Project Details
Stamps	Another Great Year, You're Lovely
Card Stock & Papers	Watercolor Wonder DSP, Fancy Foil Designer Vellum, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, Whisper White
Ink	Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry
Accessories	Gold Baker's Twine, Pearls Basic Jewels
Tools	Itty Bitty Shapes Pack punch

Project Details
Stamps	Another Great Year,
Card Stock & Papers	Mixed Medley DSP, Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Ink	Stazon Black, Real Red
Accessories	Black Taffeta ribbon, Pearls Basic Jewels
Tools	Itty Bitty Shapes Pack punch

Sneak Peak at Up Coming Sale-A-Bration

Sale-A-Bration is Stampin' Up!'s biggest sales event! From January 28-March 31, you can get FREE products with purchases of $50.00 or more.  Here is a card made from a kit that you can get for FREE just for ordering during the sale.  Isn't it fun?  I just love the shiny gold insert you can put in the envelopes!

Occasions Catalog

The new Occasions Catalog is out!  It’s always exciting to have a new catalog, especially when Sale-A-Bration is right around the corner!

http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ItemList.aspx?categoryID=1685