Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Karber Amy Crafty Friend


I have a fun project to share with you today!  It's actually part of a project that I can't finish until later in October.

Berenice from Karber digital images contacted me and asked if I'd make a Copic coloring video for her to post on their blog... and you know I said yes!  

I chose this cute image called Amy Crafty Friend to work with because my friend Dagmar and I are going to a Copic Event in Phoenix October 8th.  We are meeting Cathy, one of my online friends and Jennie Black is teaching a Copic class as well as lots of other fun Copic stuff going on.  I thought this image would be perfect for an art journaling page about our Copic weekend. 

My video tutorial is about coloring brown hair.


I hope it helps you with your Copic hair coloring.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Challenges:

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Inspired Stamps His Little Ones: boy soldier


Thank you for voting for my card in the Craft It Forward contest last week, it won!  There's a prize for the monthly winner so my card is in the running for that, how exciting!!!

Today's my day to say farewell to Inspired Stamps and thank you to Antoinette and the rest of the wonderful design team.  I've been stepping back from some of the design teams I'm on to make more free time.  I've been neglecting myself and need to take better care of my health both physically and spiritually.  I'm also going to cut back on blog posting and try to skip a few days a week.  I'm not sure if that's even possible but I'll try!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -   

Monday, August 29, 2011

Doodle Pantry Quirky Kangaroo


I have a fun card to share with you today using Doodle Pantry's Quirky Kangaroo pre-colored digital image and one of the digital papers that come in this set.

I'm still playing with the Operation Write Home sketch #82 and thought it would be perfect for this card.  I re-sized the cute kangaroo and added "G'day Mate" right under the image, added one sheet of digital paper and re-sized so I'd have just enough for the 3 1/4" X 4 1/4" panel and printed.  

The Astrobrights Solar Yellow panel is embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder and I wanted to repeat the flower pattern on the kangaroo so I used a couple of my old Quickutz dies to get as close to the flower shape as I could. I also printed an extra 5 1/2" X 4 1/4" swatch of the digital paper on text weight paper so I could have a fancy envelope liner to dress up my finished card.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Challenges:
Delightful Challenges - Must Use Digital Paper
Digi Doodle Shop - Anything Goes

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Craft It Forward Contest



Update 8/23/11
Oh my gosh how exciting!  It's Tuesday and my card is in first place in the Craft It Forward contest!!!  Please help keep it there and vote each day!  The link to vote is below.


OWH Any Hero Card open
Submitted by: gonestampin

Like Scrapbooks Etc. on Facebook to find out our weekly winners!
My card is in the Craft It Forward contest, please vote for me! 

Copic Markers - Testing Papers


I thought today might be a good day to talk about Copic markers and papers.  The picture above is of the Art Journal I've made for myself.  For the pages I decided to use Neenah cover stock because that's what I prefer to use with my Copic markers. It's a smooth finish 80 lb. 216 gsm weight.  Paula talked about paper weights in this Operation Write Home post here so I won't get into that because I think she explained it very well.


Here's a close up of the left side of the page.  I used one Copic marker and the colorless blender to do the effects.  You can see in the close up that I don't have any bleeding outside the lines and a pretty smooth blend where the green fades to white on the C and I.  I'm not an expert at the technique yet but there's hope for me that one day I might be. 


I have another close up of the right side of my art journal.  Hopefully you can see the nice blending transition from one color to another here.  The hard lines of demarcation have disappeared into a nice blend.

 
Next I have colored with two Copic markers using a sheet of marker paper.  On the cover of the pad it says "works beautifully with pen or pencil & alcohol and solvent markers won't bleed through".  Hmmm, I'm not sure what they mean by "beautifully".  

In my test the Copic marker did bleed through to the back, that's not a bad thing though.  I thought the blending of the two different inks on this paper was interesting.  The first C I colored was the last C in Copic, kind of a neat effect.  As I kept coloring letters though I had a hard time not getting streaks and my ink just didn't blend well.

Can you see under the "P" where the ink bled out from the line?  I did try to clean that up with the colorless blender a couple of times but that's the best I could do.


Here's the marker pad with my colored piece, as you can see it's pretty thin. I didn't think it was a good investment of my $14.99.  I have a friend who draws Anime, I hope he can use it!


Moving on to my next sample using Hobby Lobby's The Paper Studio cardstock.  It's an okay blend but can you see on the right side at the loop on the "C" where the ink bled outside of the lines?  I tried to clean that up with my colorless blender three times and figured that was as good as it gets.  


Here's a look at the reverse side of this "cardstock" and also my scratch paper that was under it when I colored.  The packaging on the paper calls it cardstock but doesn't give a weight or gsm on the label, the package is also wrapped in plastic so the buyer has no way of knowing how heavy or light weight it really is until after the purchase.  


Above is my finished piece with the package of cardstock it's on.

I didn't try blending any more than two Copic marker colors on the second two papers.  When I color I generally blend 3 to 5 markers to get a good gradation in shading.  I don't believe these papers/cardstock would be suitable for that.  My ink was bleeding out of the lines using only two colors.

I also found one last quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card a friend sent to me and used it for today's testing.


This is a wonderful paper/cardstock to color on, the ink just kind of melts together for you. The only flaw I can see with X-Press It is all the tiny white spots in my colored image.  You may not be able to see them until you click on the photo and make it larger, but they are there.  Every piece of this cardstock I colored on did this and I'm not sure why.  I was disappointed with the end result because of the white spotting.  It's an expensive choice for Copic paper and even more expensive if you buy it and don't/can't use it. 

There's my experience with four different papers using Copic markers.  Do you have a favorite paper/cardstock for Copic markers?  I'd love to know what you've found that you like to use.

Living in such a small town most of my craft supplies including paper/cardstock are ordered on line and shipped.  We do have a Hobby Lobby and Michaels 45 miles away in Lake Havasu City, does anyone buy their paper/cardstock for Copic markers at these stores, if so what works for you?

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Doodle Pantry Quirky Crab


I have a fun Doodle Pantry design team card to share with you today.  This cute pre-colored digital image is called Quirky Crab.  I think "he's" just so darn cute!

I've been dabbling in Clean & Simple cards or at least trying to recently so this is my take on a CAS card today.  The verse around the crab is a called Rounded Wishes and is a free with purchase set this month at Doodle Pantry.  I enlarged it to fit inside a Spellbinders circle die and printed it so I could make a round card then added the scalloped circle to frame it.

Clean and simple - quick and easy!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges: 
Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes

Friday, August 26, 2011

Clear Dollar Stamps Pansy


Clear Dollar Stamps has several flower of the month digital stamp sets, I thought I'd try my hand at coloring one of them today.  I chose the Pansy digital stamp set to work with, I like the flower and I like that the set has a word background. 

I colored the pansy with Copic markers and cut it out.  I made the circle frame I placed it on with Spellbinders Circle dies and a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The lilac patterned paper is part of the digital stamp set.  After sizing the "words", I copied and pasted them three times into my Publisher document and printed on Hero Arts Lilac cardstock.  I even tried hand stitching on my card, I think I like it...

Supply List
Stamps/Images:  Clear Dollar Stamps Pansy February 2011 Flower Of the Month digital stamp set
Papers/Cardstock:  Hero Arts Hero Hues Lilac, Stampin Up! Barely Banana, Neenah Solar White, Patterned paper is an image from this set
Ink/Markers:  BV0000, BV000, BV01, Y11, YG67, YG63, YG61
Tools/Accents:  Spellbinders Circles, Doodle Parts dies, Papertrey Ink Scalloped border die, Embroidery thread, Black half pearls

Thanks for visiting my blog today -
Challenges:
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes 
Papertake Weekly - Dies To Die For

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Art Journal Pages Link Party


Art journaling has really caught my attention lately and I'm intrigued!  In my mind I could think of so many reasons not to try art journaling and I think the biggest reason is FEAR.

FEAR of not being good enough or not doing it right or sharing too much personal stuff... 

So here's my disclaimer:
This is my art journal, I haven't given myself any "rules" as to what I can put in it.  I'm not required to hand write my entries. It's o.k. to use and learn some new things using my Microsoft Publisher program.  This journal is for me to have fun and record what inspires me.

My journal is handmade.  I love coloring with Copic markers, but they bleed through the paper.  I decided my journal should be the Neenah Solar White cardstock I always use folded in half and bound on the 8 1/2" long edge.  You'll also see tabs at the top of my pages, those are cards that have the "ingredients" I used on my page or layout. You know, the technique, marker color numbers, stamps, digital images, etc.


I have a close up for you of my page.  I used Copic markers and soaked a piece of burlap with Copic blending solution to get the textured background.  

I also thought it would be fun to start an Art Journal link party on Thursdays.  This is JUST FOR Fun, no prizes to be won but I will post a featured Art Journal page/layout each Friday from the week before.  No specific challenge just inspire me with your art journal pages by adding your entry below in the Inlinkz widget!







Thanks for visiting my blog today-

Challenges:
Craft Your Passion - Anything But A Card
Creative Stamp Friends - Handmade Background
Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes
Stamp Insanity - Anything Goes
Hooked On Craft Challenges - Things With Wings
Make It Monday - Anything Goes
Creative Craft Challenge - Anything But A Card

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

La La Land Crafts Capri Marci

We're celebrating Marci & Luka's first birthday at La La Land Crafts with a blog hop!  If you've arrived here from Eva's you're on the right track, if not and you'd like to start at the beginning click here.


For my card today I used Capri Marci, she's colored with Copic markers YG67, YG63, YG61, YG11, BG49, BG45, BG15, BG11, BG10, BG0000, R21, C0, C00, B0000, Y18, Y15, Y13, Y11, Y00, Y000, E47, E44, E31, E42, E41, E40, E04, E00, E000, E0000.

My card layout is clean and simple, I used Cheery Lynn Designs French Flair dies to make a shaped card and one of their mini butterflies.

Your next stop on our hop is the fabulous Jennie Black! 
 
Click to play this Smilebox collage
Create your own collage - Powered by Smilebox
Customize your own photo collage

La La Land Crafts is offering up a HUGE BLOG CANDY for this exciting event.

This Blog Candy contains the following:
~ Set of 12 Copic Markers in NEW 2011 colors
~ Set of Spica Pens
~ Pack of X-Press Blending Cardstock
~ New Scor-pal and a pack of Scor-Tape
~ 3 sets of 12x12 Basic Grey Collections paper packs
~ $20 gift certificate to the La-La Land Crafts Store.

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
AI Factory - Anything Goes
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything Goes
Mad For Markers - Create A Scene
Digital Tuesday - Cute & Girly
My Time To Craft - Here Come The Girls

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Inspired Stamps Matthew 1:21


I have a design team card for Inspired Stamps today!
I used Matthew 1:21 and cut it out & matted it with Spellbinders circles, then layered it onto a Cheery Lynn Designs Canadian Kaleidoscope doily.  I started out in Christmas colors with the green doily and this stripped paper caught my eye in the mountain of scraps beside my paper trimmer.  I liked it so I used it.  The finishing touch was the three little buttons at the bottom.  They are also from a die made by Cheery Lynn Designs.

I also used a Sizzix heart embossing folder on the top of the white panel to repeat the pattern of the hearts on the doily.
Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:

Monday, August 22, 2011

Stamps R Us Anything Goes Challenge


Happy Monday, it's been a busy weekend here on my blog!  I was involved in two blog hops and the La La Land Crafts birthday celebration blog hop is this Wednesday!  

...and Thursday I'm starting something new here...

But today is the start of a new challenge on our Stamps R Us challenge blog, the theme for the challenge is Anything Goes!  

My card is made from Splitcoast Stampers sketch challenge #343, I find this sketch to be rather addicting for some reason.  The patterned paper is digital from My Time Made Easy called Fresh Flowers.  The sentiment is from a Inkadinkado acrylic stamp and the flower die is by Marianne Design Creatables.

I hope you'll join in our Stamps R Us Anything Goes challenge, you have 2 weeks to get an entry in and our prize is one Copic class of the winners choice  at Suzanne Dean's Color Me Creative classroom. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
Marianne's Design Divas - Anything Marianne Goes
Paper Creations Ink - Show Us Your Flowers
Paper Playtime - Anything Goes

Sunday, August 21, 2011

For the Operation Write Home Clean & Simple Skip, please click here.

For the Clear Dollar Stamps "These are a few of my favorite things" blog hop please scroll down.
                    

Clear Dollar Stamps Charlie Autumn

Welcome to our Clear Dollar Stamps "These are a few of my favorite things" blog hop!  If you've arrived here from Lorie's blog you're on the right track.  If not and you'd like to start at the beginning click --> here.

Now to our theme...  wow, a "few" of my favorite things...
Clear Dollar Stamps digital images and papers are on that list, as are Copic markers but my most favorite thing of all is trying new things.  Paper crafting things to be specific.

I have a fun fold card to share with you today made with Charlie Autumn from Clear Dollar Stamps and a video of how I put my fun fold card together.  The inspiration for my card came from Sherryann at Button Junkie.


I kept my layout clean and simple, Charlie is colored with Copic markers E44, E43, E42, E41, Y11, C00, C0, C1, R20.  


Recap of measurements to make the card:
4 1/4 x 5 1/2 blue cardstock, 11 inch white strip cut to 3 1/4" wide, scored at 4 1/2, flipped and scored at 4 1/2.  Mats for inside and Charlie image are cut 1/8th inch larger from brown cardstock.

I hope you enjoyed today's video and will be inspired to give this simple fancy fold a try.  

Your next stop on our blog hop is our fabulous Jerusha!

Be sure to leave a comment on each of our blogs to be eligible to win some fabulous Clear Dollar Stamps prizes!

Thanks for visiting my blog today - 

Challenges:
Digi's With Attitude - Anything Goes
Wags & Whiskers - Outdoor Fun

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Operation Write Home Clean & Simple Skip

Welcome to our Operation Write Home Clean & Simple Skip - that was a mouth full!

If you've arrived here from Brenda's blog you're on the right track, if not I highly recommend starting at the beginning here.


For my clean and simple card today I used a pre-colored digital image from Mellonheadz & our Operation Write Home Sketch #82.

The body of the card is embossed with the Cuttlebug Stars embossing folder, the bottom panel is Neenah Red Linen matted with Neenah Navy Blue.  I re-sized and printed Nikki's wonderful Hero digital image and cut the panel and matted it with navy blue.  There was a place for an embellishment in this sketch and I was thinking a star at first but realized it would be over kill.

I went with a navy blue button with a little crochet thread for a bow.  Can you tell if my button is real or paper?  It's a fun die made by Cheery Lynn designs, a nice way to cut down on the bulk for our Operation Write Home cards!  I also used Nikki's Hero digital image and made myself a sheet of paper for an envelope liner.  I think our heroes deserve the best and a lined envelope makes my card feel a little more special.  The envelope liner die came from Papertrey Ink.

Here's a copy of the sketch:

Actually mine version is:


That might be easier to see in my card now.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my clean and simple card today.  Be sure to leave a comment so you're in the prize drawings!
  The next stop on our hop is the fabulous Dawn!
Thanks for visiting my blog today - 

Challenges:
Challenge Up Your Life - No Patterned Papers
Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Sketch #82
Cardmadfairy's - Digital Images & Buttons
CASual Fridays - CAS + Embossing

Friday, August 19, 2011

Art Gone Wild Butterfly Artful Cardmaker


My clean & simple card today is a stamp from Art Gone Wild colored with Copic markers R29, R27, R24, R17, R14, R12, W7, W5, W3, B60, B63, B66, BG10, BG11, BG13, BG13, BG15, BG96, YG67, YG63, YG61, Y38, Y35, YR68, E25, E23.  The name of the stamp is Butterfly Artful Cardmaker.

I'm seeing so much Journal Art out there that when I saw these stamps by Joanne Sharpe it was love at first sight, I had to have them! 

On the subject of Art Journals, I'm going to have a Link Party using an InLinkz widget starting this coming Thursday, August 25th and each Thursday after that.  It will be a place to inspire & share our art journal pages/layouts. I hope you'll join in and and share your art journal pages, I can't wait!!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Inspired Stamps David's Shepherd


I have a new release card to share with you today blog friends!  Inspired Stamps has a new release of acrylic stamps for the upcoming holidays.  

For my card today I used David's Shepherd and the new Christmas Verse stamp set.  This cute image was colored with Copic markers R59, R46, R43, YR24, YR21, Y21, E37, E15, YR14, G29, G28, G24, G21, E0000, E000, E00, E41, E42, E43, E44.  I kept my layout pretty clean to showcase this cute image.  

I printed patterned Christmas paper and used Cheery Lynn Designs French Flair and scalloped French Flair dies to make a shaped card as well as Spellbinders circles dies for the sentiment.

Be sure to stop by Inspired Stamps to see all of the new releases!

Thanks for visiting my blog today - 

Challenges:
I Did It Creations - Shaped Cards
Sentimental Sunday's - Shaped Cards

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Operation Write Home Midweek Throwdown Challenge


We have a new Midweek Throwdown challenge starting today at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps, the theme is inchies.  Lisa is our sample card maker and also suggested the challenge theme.  Thank you Lisa, I like it! 

My card today uses the Splitcoast Stampers sketch challenge #321.  When I saw this sketch I loved it and hoped I could do it justice.  
The song birds are a pre-colored digital image from GTC's Crafty Corner.  I used a digital image that was pre-colored because the squares are very small and my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be!  I also used patterned papers from the Basic Grey Lime Rickey collection and my "spring time" stamp is made by Papertrey Ink.
I hope you'll join us over at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps for our inchies challenge!
Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Inchies
Delightful Challenges - Things With Wings
Crafts & Me - Shades of Blue
Scrapbook Sisters - Blue

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Copic Hair Coloring Video Tutorial


I have another video tutorial for you today!

I love coloring Hannah Lynn images. One of the reasons I love these images is their fabulous hair.  The Hannah Lynn digital image Deevonne is used for my card and video today.  

Copic markers used for her hair are: W9, W7, W5 & W3.


I hope you enjoyed the video and that it was helpful to you.

My card layout is a sketch from Card Positioning Systems and the papers I've used are Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow, Via Vellum Leaf Green, Neenah Solar White & 70# white text weight to print my digital paper from Sassy Designs called Kara.

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Challenges:
Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Thinking of You
Crafty Catz - Emboss It
Inspire Me Friday's - Anything Goes
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Monday, August 15, 2011

Clear Dollar Stamps Tall Trio


It's new release day for digital stamp sets at Clear Dollar Stamps today!  I have 2 fun new release cards to share with you, this first one is from the pre-colored set Tall Trio.

I made an unusual card that I saw my friend Marilyn had made on her blog so I had to try it too.  It was really fun to make and this cute flamingo image was perfect for it.  


And here's my card open - 

I have a supply list for you today below.

Stamps/Images: Clear Dollar Stamps Tall Trio digital stamp set
Cardstock/Papers:  Mohawk Bright White, Stampin’ Up! Tempting Turquoise, patterned paper that comes in this digital stamp set
Inks/Markers:  HP OfficeJet 6000
Accents/Tools:  Spellbinders Mega Ovals & Mega Scalloped Ovals, Spellbinders Eyelet Border, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, EK Success Flower Punch, Brad & Grossgrain ribbon, Papertrey Ink envelope liner die


My second card uses the Praying Eyes Mantis digital stamp set.  I made a z fold card for this one and have pictures so you can see how it works too.
I almost needed someone to hold this open for me.


Now you can read the inside.  I used one of the cute sentiements from the Praying Eyes Mantis digital stamp set.  I also have a supply list below for this card.

Stamps/Images:  Clear Dollar Stamps Praying Eyes Mantis digital stamp set
Cardstock/Papers:  Stampin’ Up! Pixie Pink, Via Vellum Leaf Green, Tangy Trio Leaves digital patterned paper
Inks/Markers:  HP OfficeJet 6000
Accents/Tools:  Spellbinders rectangle & scalloped rectangle dies, Cuttlebug dots embossing folder, Scor-Pal, Papertrey Ink envelope liner die

I hope you'll stop by Clear Dollar Stamps today to see all the new digital stamp sets available and all the wonderful samples our design team has for you!
Thanks for visiting my blog today - 

Challenges:
Crafty Ann's - Scallops and/or fancy borders 
Frosted Designs - Animals 
If the shoe fits, scrap it! - Green 
The Poodle's Parlour - Round The Garden 
The Stamp Man - Anything Goes with Summer Colors 
Stampin' For The Weekend - Spots & Dots

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Notes From Home Before & After

I've been doing some blog housekeeping behind the scenes and came across some pictures I thought would be fun to share with you today.  These pictures were taken in 2007 and are of my craft room, ah I mean kitchen.
No wonder when friends came over they'd sit at my kitchen table that's very hard to recognize in the picture above and and stare at all the clutter, oh my!


This picture is the same space as the first picture above minus my built in desk area.  The ugly green vertical blinds and sliding glass door were replaced by french doors with mini blinds between the dual panes of glass.  The work space is much cooler, brighter and a little less cluttered.  The computer equipment is stored away in the cabinetry as well as lots of craft supplies.


Oh yikes... look what I'd packed in under the bar we never used.  I remember when I dragged those file cabinets in from the garage thinking I'd love to be able to design my own craft space with built in cabinets.  One can dream right?


More craft supplies along another kitchen wall.


Do you recognize that wall to the left in this photo?  It's the same one as in the picture above.  The bar is gone and our very functional kitchen table makes a better use of the space. 
I won't get into the story of how all of it came about, it was quite a process with lots of ups and downs, trials and dramas -  literally.  It is nice to look back and see how far you've come though.  I hope you've enjoyed a little before and after inside my craft room today, thanks for visiting.