Follow Your Bliss…

Just wanted to let you all know that QVC has everything on 4 Easy Pays today in celebration of Leap Day!! It’s a great time to get some of your favorite things!!! For me that means Chaz Dean Wen, Judith Ripka, Philosophy, Epiphany, yadda yadda yadda…LOL!!! They also have great scrapbooking and crafting stuff!

Happy Shopping!!

Hello!

I just realized I didn’t share my K&Co pictures with you from CHA! There are some gorgeous new lines, including Blue Awning, Berry Sweet, Mira, and Sea Glass to name a few. I’m looking forward to seeing these at my LSS! Click on the thumbnails to see these full size.

Blue Awning

Mira (by Brenda Walton)

Berry Sweet

Sea Glass

Some really beautiful things, don’t you agree? Be on the lookout for these collections! I think you’ll love them!! Thanks for stopping by!

Hello!

Just a quick entry today, as I am working against the clock! I created this card using yet another pattern from the Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie line, as well as the Lockhart adirondack chair.

Nothing too complex to describe with this design. Prism cardstock (birchtone light & island mist light) and Adirondack inks (pebble & pitch black) were used, as well as the CHF paisley backgrounder. Image was cut and embossed with my square Spellbinders Nestability dies, colored with my Copic markers, masked, airbrushed, and embellished with the silver Spica glitter pen and Stickles.

I finished off the design with some layered Prima hydrangeas, and a Basic Grey rub-on sentiment.

Sorry for the super short post today! Hope you all have a great day!!(That’s for you, Beth!! LOL!!!)

Thanks for visiting!!

Well I have just been havin’ the best time with this Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie paper! It works so well with my Lockhart images, and this wedding cake is no exception! I think this floral vine pattern is one of my favorites from the pad.

As with the other cards I have made in this series, I chose my colors from the patterned paper : Prism intense pink, and frosted yellow, with Stampers Select white.

The cardbase is stamped with the CHF polka dot backgrounder in Ranger Adirondack watermelon ink, and the Honey Pie panel was cut and embossed with my rectangle Spellbinders Nestability die. After stamping and coloring the wedding cake with my Copic markers, I masked the image with Eclipse tape, cut and embossed with my oval Nestability die, then airbrushed some green around the cake with my Copic airbrush system. I matted this image with the scalloped yellow oval, added some Stickles and Liquid Pearls to the cake, and set it aside to dry.

I didn’t have any white brads, so I heated some yellow ones with my heat tool (using tweezers to hold it), then dipped it in white embossing powder, and heat set again to melt. Wallah, white brads! I added the brads, then adhered this panel to the cardbase. I chose to use some of this gorgeous May Arts wide satin ribbon as an accent, so I tied it and positioned the knot where I thought it looked best, then slid it up the card so that I could add the Basic Grey white rub-on sentiment. I slid the ribbon back down, and zigzag stitched the ends to the cardbase.

By this time, the Stickles and Liquid Pearls were dry, so I mounted that to the cardfront on foam dimensional tape!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend~ thanks for stopping by!

Happy Saturday!

Here is another design featuring Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie! Keeping with the baby girl theme of yesterday, I used the Lockhart bib stamp.

The wide open space on this bib makes it prefect for the paper piecing technique. I just couldn’t resist doing it again! I stamped the CHF polka dot backgrounder on my Prism frosted pink cardbase. The patterned paper layer was cut and embossed with my square Nestability die.

I stamped the bib twice: once on the patterned paper and once on Stampers Select white. I colored the bib with my Copic markers, cut and embossed with my oval Nestability, masked, and airbrushed some warm yellow around the edge. I added the patterned paper to the bib, matted it with a scalloped oval (Prism spring willow med.), and added some Stickles for a little sparkle.

I had originally intended on placing the bib panel in the center of the card. As I was looking at the printed words on the paper, I spotted the “So Sweet”, and thought it would make a perfect sentiment to the card! So, I knotted my ribbon (SU moss taffeta) directly below it, (to draw your eye there), then machine stitched all around the edge. I added the bib on dimensional foam squares, then sat and looked at the card for about 15 minutes, LOL!

I just felt like it needed something else, but could not come up with anything! I finally decided on 2 Primas, with a pale yellow pearl as the flower center. I’m still not sure that was the right choice, but it will have to do.

This card is going off to one of my bosses at the bank, who just had a baby girl. That new little princess is, indeed, “So Sweet”.

How’s that for a title? LOL! I just love this Lockhart stamp, and couldn’t wait to pair it with my yummy Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie paper! (Lindsey will have this as soon as her store is back up and running after the move!) I have 4 more designs to share with you, using different papers from this 8×8 pad, so stay tuned!

I pulled a couple colors from the patterned paper, finally deciding on Prism suede brown dark and spring willow medium. I cut a panel of this darling paper with my rectangle Nestability die. I used my Copics to color the ice cream and pickles, then cut and embossed it with the petite oval Spellbinders Nestability die. Keeping the die in place, I airbrushed some warm yellow around the images, then added the scalloped matting. (I’ll be back to add the Copic colors.)

I stamped the cardbase with CHF’s large polka dot backgrounder in Adirondack espresso ink. I added some SU! chocolate taffeta ribbon and a strawberry red Prima hydrangea to the scalloped rectangle panel, then adhered it to the cardbase. I added the Basic Grey rub-on sentiment, then adhered the focal image on foam dimensional tape.

To give some life to the images, I added Ranger glossy accents to the pickle jar and ice cream dish. Then I added christmas red, chocolate, and frosted lace Stickles to the cherry, ice cream, and baby booties.

Thanks for stopping by!! Happy Friday!! Have a great weekend!

I was so excited to be able to play in this month’s Dirty Dozen challenge on SCS! I stamped my little heart out last night, and was smiling the whole time. I stamped for the pure joy of creating. Not for a deadline, not for design team work, just good ol’ stampin’ happy! Here’s my submission:

Special Friend

Here’s the “rules” of the challenge:

Give a Shout Out!!!

We are so proud of our Fellow Dirty Girls who have recently designed stamps for various companies - Mona Lisa for Cornish Heritage Farms, mel mel for Gina K, SweetMissDaisy for Whipper Snapper (anyone else I don’t know about?) - let’s give them a special SHOUT OUT in this month’s challenge!

Challenge Focus: Stamps Designed by Fellow Dirty Girls. -OR- alternate option - use any fellow Dirty Girl’s galllery creation as an inspiration to semi-CASE something of your own (be sure to link it in your post).

Required Element: Spring Color Combo - whatever feels like Spring to you!

Restricted Element: NO CuttleBug/Big Shot/Wizard or similar diecut/embossing machines.

Keyword: DCS208 (for Dirty Challenge Shout February 08 )

I actually used both challenge focuses. This card just “feels” like a Sweet Miss Daisy creation, based on the layout and the black matting of the main image. In addition, I used Anna’s new stamp set (that I am IN LOVE with!): Posies for You, Mona Lisa’s Geometric Flowers II backgrounder, and Mona Lisa’s Classic Essential Expressions.

Image colored and airbrushed with the following Copic markers:

Kinda hard to believe there’s so many colors, huh? LOL! I used Prism black, papaya puree medium and majestic purple medium cardstock, as well as PaperTrey white. Adirondack inks used were butterscotch, eggplant, and pitch black.

After I stamped the backgrounders, (including CHF’s Polka Dot backgrounder) I was playing with the layout. I knew I wanted to use the white polka dot May Arts ribbon, when the idea popped in my head to add some white dots to the background. I had done this before many months ago with the old SU! linograph stamp. I love how it gives an extra “pop” and almost makes it look like patterned paper. What do you think?

I chose the silver lining WeRMK hardware for this design to keep it bright, and fresh. To finish off the design, I added a few little faux stitches, and went a little crazy with the Stickles, LOL! Here’s a closeup of all that sparkle:

I hope you enjoyed this challenge as much as I did! What an absolute joy to create with these talented ladies stamps!!

Lisa and Anna–YOU ROCK, my friends!!!

I have some more samples I created for the Spellbinders booth at CHA! This set of tags was made with the NEW largest tall rectangle Megabilities. Debbie helped to design these, and did such a great job, because you can fold this largest one in half perfectly! How cool is THAT?! I think these dies will be available in April.

I used some of the Lockhart Itty Bitty stamps: dragonfly, butterfly, and ice cream cone. They were stamped on poison ivory shimmery cardstock, colored with Copic markers, then cut and embossed with a square Nestability die. I matted them with black cardstock, then layered them on Prism blush red light cardstock. For some more depth, I sponged all around the edges with Adirondack espresso ink. Here’s the closeups of them individually:

Ice cream cone

Dragonfly

Butterfly

I pierced around the images for a little extra “pop”, and of course added Stickles for bling! Here’s what the inside looks like (stamped with Karen Foster snap-stamps):

Markers used (plus E31 and E34 for the cone):

Thanks for stopping by! I am so glad that you all enjoyed my post on how I use and store my Copics! I encourage you to make that grid~you will use it ALL the time!

Many of you have asked me how I store my Copic Sketch markers. I thought I’d take some time and show you how I store them, as well as how I use them.

I prefer to store my markers in the clear plastic storage cases, which I got directly from Copic. I have 2 of the 72 marker cases, so that I have room to expand my collection. (Note: the markers I have are primarily the colors chosen by Ellen Hutson, plus a few random colors.) Here’s what they look like, laying on their sides:

I don’t store mine on the side, though. I just leave them standing upright like this:

I have the markers sorted properly according to the number system. Here’s how the system works:

• Letters denote color family. BV(blue violet), V(violet), RV(red violet), R(red), YR(yellow red), Y(yellow), YG(yellow green), G(green), BG(blue green), B(blue), E(earth), C(cool gray), N(neutral gray), T(toner gray), W(warm gray)
• First number denotes color number group
• Second number denotes color brightness within the color group.

So what does all that mean?

• Colors that start with lower numbers (0, 1, 2) will be more vibrant than colors that start with higher numbers (7, 8, 9) which will be more dull or “gray”.

• In addition, colors that end in lower numbers (0, 1, 2) will be lighter (more pale) than colors that end in (7, 8, 9) which will be deeper.

So, once I sorted my markers in their cases, I created a grid in MS Word, and printed it on a piece of PaperTrey Stampers Select cardstock. I labeled each box with my black Copic Multiliner pen, then used the chisel tip of the marker, and placed a line of color in each box. I constantly use this grid when I am coloring. It makes it very easy to choose the right color, and allows me to lay patterned paper and cardstock over it to get the closest match. Here’s what my grid looks like:

To further explain, lets look at my color chart above. Scan down to the “V” (violet) section. Look at the 3 colors of V12, V15, V17. You can clearly see that they are all within the same vibrancy family of 1. As the second number increases from 2 to 7, you can see that the color gets deeper. These three colors would allow me to create very easy shading.

Now, lets look at the next color of V93. Can you see how gray that violet looks (first number of 9) compared to the 1’s? And the second number is 3, which shows that it’s fairly light in color intensity on the scale of 0 to 9.

I hope this helps you to understand your Copics a little better! Thanks for stopping by!

Edited to answer questions:

• I got the clear 72 marker cases directly from Copic. I think you might be able to get them from Eclectic Paperie, too?
• You do not have to store your Copics on their side. The ink inside the barrel flows freely from one end to the other, and the tip acts as a “wick”. The ends will not “dry out”.

I found this garden path photo on Webshots, and thought it would be perfect for a banner. After my trip to California, I have spring fever! I hope you like it, too?