Playing around with Copics

OK, I freely admit I'm on a Copic kick.  I spent a good deal of time last week end just coloring random digi stamps.   Now I'm turning them into cards.

Here's one more

I colored the free Suitcases digi from Tiddly Inks using the following Copic sketch markers
Red case: R24, R29, R59
Green Case: YG91, 93, 95, 97, 99, YR24, Y26
Light Brown trunk: E41, E42, E44, YR24, Y26
Dark Brown trunk: E53, E55, E57, E59, YR24, Y26
Shadow: C1, C2, C6, C8

The patterned paper is form SU! and Cosmo Cricket.  The sentiment is from PTIs Road Trip.  I think this card might end up in a suitcase of some baby girl heading back for her second year of college.

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My very first ...

Tiddly Inks card.  My first half way decent Copic coloring project and my first CPS card in a coons age.

Yep its a blog of firsts today

 I'm just so excited how this turned out.  I used Wryn Birthday Girl digi stamp from Tiddly Inks and colored with more Copics than I know what to do with. But I LOVE how the shading turned out thanks to an online tutorial from Kristy Dalman of Some Odd Girl stamps (you'll be seeing some of those in the near future as well :)

I was so inspired by the tutorials that I wanted to take a class. Turns out Created From Color Basic Copic class starts next week.  I'm guessing you'll see a lot more more coloring from me in the near future.  This will be a good basis for comparison.

Oh yeah ... the card:) Colors are Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade, Elegant Eggplant and Whisper White.  I cut the layers with Labels Framelits from SU! and the oval with Nestabilities.  Inside I stamped a sentiment from PTIs Birthday Basics set.

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A Sad Farewell

Said goodbye to my boss yesterday.  Re-orgs have gotten more prevalent in the 25 years I've been working and I've had more bosses in the last 3.5 years than in the 22 years prior to that.  He hired me into my first management position a year ago and has helped me a lot in the transition from engineer to management.  I wanted something masculine, sort of applicable to the industry  and stunningly awesome (that's always a goal)  :)

I started with water color paper and distressed the heck out of it with Tim Holtz's distressing inks in Antique Linen, Vintage Photograph and Tea Dye.  I then tried water embossing BB:Farm and Barn over it.  I got a little pattern, but not as much as I wanted so I added the ships ledger (think pilot log book since I work in aviation), a slab of barn wood at the bottom and ink splats everywhere.

 The compass I stamped in momento tuxedo black and also distressed a little with Tea Dye ink to soften it up a little.  This symbolizes direction (duh) and Jeff guided the department for 3 years, charting our course through some pretty stormy times.

The sentiment is from Giga Guidelines ... its kinda more of a wedding sentiment, but its the closest I had to a congrats sentiment in the size and font I wanted.  The sentiment strip was cut from Holiday Photo Finisher dies.

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Vellum Overlay

I loved the overlay technique that was demonstrated during SAF.  I had a congrats card to make and wanted to try it but I didn't have clear acetate card stock (or white stazon)  I decided to improvise and used vellum and Fresh Snow ink and white EP.

I stamped the BB: Hounds tooth in Fresh Snow then embossed with with white EP.  I cut Aqua Mist card stock about an inch shorter than the vellum (which was cut to A2 size).  I stamped an argyle pattern in Pool Party and Lucky Limeade, although you can't see it well through the vellum (the advantage of the clear acetate :).  I used adhesive behind the hounds tooth pattern to adhere them together and wrapped a Ripe Avocado ribbon around the edge of the embossing.

For the focal layer I die cut Simply Chartreuse and Beautiful Beads patterned papers with the Mat Stack 3 dies.  I punched a 2" circle and die cut the pretty peonies as well.

I created the congratulations banner using Itty Bitty  Banners dies and stamps.

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OWH Sunday Sketch

After Stamp-a-faire on Saturday I didn't think I'd have any creativity left. But I was inspired by the DIY embellishment challenge and used some of my homemade washi tape to to make a card for this week's Sunday Sketch

 I used my Adorning Accents edgelits to cut the wavy edge..  I originally had the wavy layer the polka dots, but then I saw my stash of homemade washi and had used the same paper to make a run of tape so I swapped a solid wavy layer for the dots and added the dotted washi to the edge.  I used scarlet jewel bitty dot satin ribbon threaded through scarlet jewel vintage buttons to finished the left side.

I stamped BB:Text Style about half way up the card base.  For the focal layer I die cut 2 of the Apothecary Accents layers, one in the dotted paper and one solid.  I stamped the companion stamp on the solid layer.  There is a sentiment in the middle that did not go with my card so I created the Happy Birthday banner using Itty Bitty Banner dies and stamps and layered it over the other die cuts.

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Stamp-a-faire 2012: A recap

So I'm not much of a scrap booker.  And while I LOVE my mini book from SAF, I really didn't know what to do with it.  Until I packed my projects from SAF to bring to church to show some of my friends there.  And I realized that there were 5 envelopes and there were 5 cards, and if I printed off some stuff I could add that to the fronts of the envelopes to record the SAF challenges.

I already had the pictures of everything, all I had to do was print :)

The front didn't change except for the label.

Inside I printed descriptions on vellum of what each challenge (or in this case the make-take) was.  I printed a couple of pix of each project to slide inside the envelopes.

I kept the descriptions basic, withthe challenge I chose form all the ones presented, the colors I used and who the tutorial instructor was.  I also used Nichole's trick of scoring a line on the vellum to hide the tape edge ... brilliant that one!

And do you see the badges hiding behind the vellum?  I scanned them all, printed on white card stock and punched with a 1.75" circle punch.  It fit perfectly with just a hint of white all around the edge.

So thats my "recap" project :)  Other than some printer mishaps it took less than an hour to decide what to write, find the perfect font, print, and assemble.

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Stamp-a-faire 2012: DIY Embellishments Challenge

 The final challenge of the day was to create your own embellishments.  This was a great way to end SAF, especially when i saw the washi tape tutorial by Danielle Flanders.  I think this was my favorite thing all day because it was completely new to me.

So I went a little crazy making washi tape :)

 I used the Beautiful Beads paper that came in my SAF bag as well as Holiday Cheer.  For my card I went with the blue/green combination.  

I added the frame and sentiment from Pretty Peonies .  I die cut the frame from Simply Chartreuse card stock and stamped the frame in Lucky Limeade.  I then stamped it again and cut out just the center.  I added a sentiment in Bermuda Bay and popped the center up on foam tape, then adhered it over the washi

And there's my little DIY badge ... I love those badges.  I want to make a shadow box for them as a remembrance of today.  SAF may be over for this year but it was a great time !

Thanks for stopping!!

Stamp-a-faire 2012: Card Set Challenge

The next challenge was to create a card set that could be given away.  This challenge was to inspire the notion of writing notes instead of texting or email.

I fell in love with Betsy Veldman's card and so essentially replicated it (except for the colors and sentiment)

I used Dark Chocolate, Fine Linen, Smokey Shadow, and Pure Poppy patterned papers.  I stamped the Harvest Berries leaves in matching colors where I could (I had to use Real Red and River Rock).

I added the sentiment from Think Big Favorites in Real Red on most of the cards, and in Dark Chocolate on the Red card.

I made the packaging similar to Betsy's as well except I just stamped in Dark Chocolate on the front.

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Stamp-a-faire 2012: Tie Dye Technique Challenge

Next up on the challenge list was the tie dye challenge (we earned a rainbow badge for this one :).  When I saw the techniques they were showing I knew I was going for the shaving cream technique.  I hadn't done this one in years and its fun and messy and really cool in the end.

The texture is from Tim Holtz Retro Circles embossing folder (since I couldn't use any embossing on the last challenge I made sure I did on this one :)

I used oranges and yellows and pinks for my ink drops and swirled it around before ending up with this awesome layer.  I went with a 70s vibe (isn't that sentiment perfect!) 

...and there's my rainbow badge :)

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Stamp-a-faire 2012: Limited Supply Challenge

 The third challenge of the day was a limited supply challenge.  We could use white, aqua mist, simply chartreuse, and Hawaiian shores paper, any ink, Hawaiian shores ribbon and simply chartreuse buttons.  We could use die cuts, twine and glitter. We had to use the Natural Beauties (or another similar floral set if we didn't have the SAF set)  That's it - no embossing folder, no other color of card stock, no sentiment sets, no nothing!

I started off stamping the lined image from Natural Beauties  on an aqua mist layer.  I wanted to give it some dimension, but I couldn't emboss o.O

I stamped the  flowers again in pool party on the focal layer and and stamped the lined image in tempting turquoise.  I added lucky limeade leaves and terracotta tile tiny flowers.

I also used my pinking shears to give a fun little edge to the bottom of the focal layer

Here is my card again ... this time with the badge :)  All in all a good challenge.  Its good to be reminded that you don't NEED to have every crafty thing in the world (even though its fun to have them all :)

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Stamp-a-faire 2102: Mini Book Challenge

 The second challenge of the day was a to create a mini book.  I decided to use Ashley Cannon Newell's envelope mini book tutorial as my guide.

I used grocery sack envelopes from envelopes.com, Dearest Jane and Dark Chocolate (striped and damask) patterned paper for the pages.

I stamped the swirly form Baroque Motifs in Early espresso on each of the envelopes, alternating top and bottom.

For the cover I used Early Espresso  for the cover pages and True Black for the "binding".  I also practiced my bow tying with some dark chocolate satin ribbon used for a closure.

Thanks for stopping!!

Stamp-a-faire 2012: Ribbon Technique Challenge

The first challenge of the day was to choose a ribbon technique from those presented (or one I already knew)  Since a big draw of SAF for me was to learn new stuff I decided to go with a new technique ... and when you can combine stamping with fire - well that's just an all around good day

The ribbon technique I chose was to  make ribbon flowers by "melting" the ribbon a little over a candle flame.  I used scarlet jewel bitty dot ribbon for 2 of my flowers and enchanted evening dotted satin ribbon for the other.  Some of them got a little scorched (and melted) before I finally figured the technique out, but I still adore them.  I added self adhesive half back pearls in the centers to jazz it up a little.

For the card I used a Fine Linen card base and Fine Linen patterned paper .  I die cut Mat Stack 5 from Early Espresso and Naturals White.  I stamped BB:Text Style in River Rock on the white layer then stamped Turning  A New Leaf in Pear Pizzazz.

I then die cut the straight Holiday Photo Finisher from Fine Linen and stamped the sentiment from Giga Guidelines in Early Espresso.

Thanks for stopping!

Stamp-a-faire 2012: Morning Make-n-Take

This morning started off great (albeit early) with a make-n-take from Nichole Heady.  We made our own patterned paper using the Natural Beauties SAF set and a plethora of bright cheerful colors.

The card base was Raspberry Fizz.

The flowers were stamped with Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Orange Zest and Terracotta Tile.  The tiny flowers were stamped in Orange Zest, and the leaves were stamped in Lucky Limeade

The sentiment was stamped with Jet Black stazon on to vellum card stock.

Thanks for stopping!

Stamp-a-faire is here

Tonight is meet and greet night.  Since the theme is Summer Camp, the food of choice is s'mores.  I made baked s'more bars that I will share with my fellow stampers tomorrow when we gather in my basement hideaway to get crafty all day.

 My daughter and her friend had to "taste test" them for me :)  They are so helpful

 The dog wanted to get in on the action too, but I drew the line there :)

So tomorrow is Stamp-a-faire.  I'll blog about it but probably not real time.  I've got a group of friends coming over and I plan on just crafting all day unless I wear out before its over.