Book Class

I keep forgetting to post these pictures of a book that I made in a class recently, so here they are! This was from a class that I took at my LSS about a month ago. I have been trying to b ranch out a little and learn some new things and making and altering books really appealed to me. When I saw that my LSS was offering this class, I signed up immediately. We started out with book board, a Basic Gray paper pac(Paper Cottage, I think), thread, needle, card stock, metal embellishments and paper and I made the book that you see here. 

I like these side views, the pattern of the papers show.

Here is the inside. The papers were double sided so that you also have decorated coordinating papers separating sections of the book. 

I think this is the first class that I have take that I have been completely happy with what I have made. I'm not knocking any other class or teacher, usually when I am learning something new it takes me a couple of tries before I have the technique down. Especially if I am doing a lot of folding and cutting. So in a class I usually get the technique down but have to practice it a few times before I am happy with it, but I was happy with this book when I left the class. 

I know I will be making more of these for Christmas gifts, but this one is mine!

He Love Me, He Loves Me Not

That is what this image reminds me of anyway! This is one of the cards that I planned for the Copic Class I taught this weekend.  The image is from The Angel Company and was of course colored with Copic markers. I usually keep my card layouts pretty simple for classes since the focus is more on coloring than anything else. The papers are from Bo Bunny.

Thanks for the kind words on my post about my cat. Losing him hit me much harder than I would have thought it would so I really enjoyed reading your messages. Thanks again.

Christmas Card

Yikes, I just realized how few days I have to finish my Christmas cards. I always start early, get a few made and get distracted by making Halloween and other fall related cards. I have got to get in gear though. or perish the thought, I will have to go out and buy cards. Now I can't let that happen, can I? So now I am going into ful Christmas card mode! I generally make lots of different cards, most only one of but sometimes I will go ahead and make two or three of the same one and this is one of those I will be doing that with. This is also one of the cards that we made in the Copic class I taught this past weekend, so I made extra while I was doing all that cutting. I used Perfect Package from Amber Ink and colored her with Copic markers. Paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle and I used a little star clip from Hobby Lobby.

How are you doing with your cards??

Copics used: Hair E53. E55, E57, E59 Skin: E00, E11, E000

Shirt: R81, R83, R85 Pants: C3, C5, C7, C9

Package: G21, G24, G28 Bow: R89

S2G's Friends

Hello! I love this image from Shirley's 2 Girls called friends. One of the reasons I like it so much is that I think it is just so versatile. It makes a great birthday, congratulations, an invitation, or a friendship card. Really the possibilities are almost endless. This particular card will be one that I am featuring in my next Copic class. The class is on coloring skin and hair and I really like that there were three different people to color in this image. Image was colored with Copic and I used Basic Grey Paper and DCWV card stock.

I have spent the last two days making Halloween treats and will post the pics as soon as I get them finished. Samantha is helping me make hers and she wants to finish stuffing them so I can take a picture of all of them. She has 24 kids in her class and so she picked out as many different patterns of paper that she could so there are no more than two of each pattern. Since it used up most of my scraps of Halloween paper that worked for me too!

Scene from Nature

Good Morning! I mentioned before, that in my last Copic class we were looking at different ways to color things in nature. We colored things, like sky, flowers, a bird and I wanted to find something where I could demonstrate grass and water. This stamp from Stampscapes fit the bill perfectly, I could demonstrate water, grass and more sky! I love these stamps, mainly because of how easy it is to create your own scenes and how the stamps came be used in different ways to create unique looking scenes. I think the nature feel to them makes them perfect for making those masculine cards. As with most masculine cards I make, I keep the embellishments to a minimum. 

Copics used: grass: YG03, YG06, YG 09, G09, sky: B000, Boo, rocks: C3, C5, C7, water: B32, B34, Boo

Hot Air Balloon

Good afternoon! I love hot air balloons. This one is from the Practicing Creativity set Look Up. This is the large balloon from that set. I colored the balloon with Copic markers and then used my markers to color the sky. This was another card that I used in my Copic class this past weekend. I went over the edges of the image panels with a Zig gold metallic pen. Papers and ribbon are from Jo-Ann's.

Copics used: sky: B00, balloon: R32, R35, R37, YR20, Y38

HELLO!!

Wow, I am back with a card! I taught a Copic class this past weekend at my LSS. We were focusing on things in nature and this was one of the cards I demonstrated. I chose this one because it had a bird and the flowers. Everything, including the acrylic drops was colored with Copic markers. I went with a basic white background and then matted my image with pink and black card stock from Hobby Lobby.  I used W1, W3, W5 and G21 for the bird, RV000, RV02, RV04 and RV14 on the flowers, but I can't remember what I used on the leaves. The stamp is from Inkadinkado. 

I want to thank everyone that has sent me so many kind words and all the people that have checked on me over this past month. I am truly touched by your friendships. Most of my craft stuff is still packed away right now. I am hoping to have a post at least every other day from now on and then as soon as I can get to the rest of my stuff, I will go back to posting 5-6 days a week. I do have my Copics and finally got some paper to stamp on and I have some DP. I want to say a special thank you to Angela and Judy, both of these ladies have given me some supplies to work with. Angela is my crafting friend and we also work together and Judy sent me a box full of goodies--I felt like it was Christmas! I don't have a lot of embellishments that I can get to, but other than that, I think I have found enough to keep my busy for a while. Several other people have offered to send me things to replace what I lost, but I mostly only lost paper and some completed projects. The rest of my stuff just got moved and/or packed. We are going to take advantage of having to pack everything up and then redo the downstairs the way we wanted. Thanks again!

It SNOWED!

I am so exited that we finally got some snow. I love it! This is one of the cards we made in the Advanced Copic class I taught on Thursday evening. Lots of Magnolia fans in that group! I cute the scalloped ovals out using Nestabilities and then we airbrushed the blue background and then colored in the grass. After coloring both Tilda and the bench with Copic markers, we cut them out and then assembled everything onto our ovals. You can't really tell in this photo, but there are actually two butterflies in different shades of pink and I glued the centers together so it has a 3-D effect. The paper is Making Memories, the ribbon from Hobby Lobby and the stamp is from Magnolia. I got the bench and the Tilda from All that Scraps. 

This is a snow picture I took last night. It continued to snow during the night so there is a little more now. I just love snow and we rarely get very much. Normally when we get any there is just enough to barely coat the grass. Have a great day and stay warm!

Classes

Good evening! Tomorrow I am teaching my first Copic classes at my LSS, The Scrap Room. I have two beginning classes scheduled for tomorrow and this is one of the cards we will be making. One of the reasons that I chose this image was because of the size of it, I thought it might be easier for beginners to learn to shade on something that wasn't teeny tiny. The stamp is from Hero Arts and I cannot remember who makes that polka dot paper. I just looked at it right before I came upstarts to start this post too! I am going to blame it on being tired and not getting older, so play along with me. The image was colored with Copic markers, I added some rhinestones from Hobby Lobby to the center, and the ribbon and red card stock are from Jo-Ann's.

Speaking of classes at my LSS, I was able to take a class there last night and had a great time. The class was taught by Courtney, who has recently released her first stamp set. You can find Courtney's blog here and the store where you can purchase the stamps here. The name of the set is Key to My Heart. I liked the fact that even though they are kind of Valentiny that they will work for any love notes or anniversary type cards. I also liked the fact that we made cards that weren't in traditional Valentine colors and to me that made the stamp set more versatile. Not only did we make the three cards, she also taught me how to make those ribbon ruffles!

Thanks for stopping in and visiting with me!

Copic Class Cards

Good evening! I had two more cards from my recent Copic class to show you. This first one uses Gardening Hanna from Hanna Stamps. One of the things we learned was how to add texture on our images. It's kind of hard to see in the photograph but we added denim texture to Hanna's overalls by using the colorless blender solution and real pieces of denim. I really liked this card, it's not a color combination I use very often but I love the fall look we achieved. 

I am not sure if I should thank Candice for this next card or not! I have been wanting an airbrush system for a while. kind of going back and forth, yes I need one, no I don't. Candice brought hers to the copic class and we made this cute little card. There is no doubt now, I really want an airbrush system! Thanks (I think!) Candice. 

Happy Saturday!

I hope everyone has had a great start to their weekend. I was able to have a fairly nice low key Saturday. Originally my parents had said they were going to come for a visit but there ended up being a conflict with something else. That left me with a Saturday with no plans! I wasn't going to leave the house but then I realized we were out of coffee and I wouldn't have any if I didn't go to the store. No thinking was even required, I went out to buy coffee! I also spent some much needed time creating in my happy space. I made this card using School Girl Sophie from Hanna Stamps. The image was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. I made this card to give to Jenna, using the school colors at her new middle school and tried to color the uniform as close to hers as I could. It's funny that I have about 8,000 spools of ribbon and not one that is blue and green plaid! Instead of plaid, I used this green and white ribbon from the Paper Studio. I am not sure of the maker of this charm, Cindy gave some of these to me when I visited Papertrix last weekend.

I have been on the lookout for the perfect storage system for my Copics. I wanted something that would keep them somewhat organized, not take up too much room and something that could be easily transported when I go to crafting get-togethers.  Someone posted on SCS the other day asking for storage solutions and Karolyn posted a picture of her system. I loved it! It is large enough to hold all my markers, Copics and Prismas too. It also has handles so that I can carry it to different places. Right now on the inside I have the acrylic cases that the sets of markers come in, but if ever get most of the colors, I will switch to dividers that take a little less room on the inside. This works for me right now since I am teaching Samantha how to blend colors and to choose the colors so they are all laid out in numerical order by color family.
This is one of the cards that we made in the Copic class taught by Candice last weekend. Great class! I will show you the other cards in the next day or so. 

Fresh Cut Flowers

I love flowers like this, an this is on of my favorite Lockhart stamps that we used in the class I recently attended. I like the country look of the old Mason jar, like someone picked these out in the field before coming in and presenting them. The image was colored with Prismacolor pencils and I used a little Sakura glitter pen on the jar. I used card stock from the basket of scraps and the purple piece was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The buckle thingy is from a set of chipboard that I got at Jo-Ann's, the line is called Life's Blessings but I do not remember who made it. The colors were a little off so I used some Pebbles Metallic cream chalks to make it match my card stock colors. The ribbon came from Target's wedding section, great ribbon and lots of it for not a lot of money.

I am still working with my self challenge to not purchase any supplies for the month of July. Last night was the release of the new Hanna Stamps and I was so happy that I won two sets of my choice at the release party. I entered my Little Dresses card in the new set challenge and my card was picked. So I get new stamps and still get to stay within my $0 budget this month. I appreciate your visit tonight!

Cherry Apron

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I have a bright and cheerful card to share with you today. If I lived alone, this would be what my kitchen would look like, lots of white, red and yellow. I just asked Kip what he thought about that and he said "not so much". This is another image that was colored at the Karen Lockhart class, this one was done the Intermediate class. In this class, one of the things we were learning was adding texture with an embossing stylus. I added the stripes in the body of the apron but the possibilities are limitless. One really cool thing about this apron stamp is that the apron comes plain and there are small stamps, like these cherries that are available that you can use to change the apron. for my cherry paper, I randomly stamped the cherries on a white piece of card stock and then colored them with Prismacolor pencils. Stamp is from Lockhart stamp company, image and background are colored with Prismacolor pencils, paper is DCWV and the ribbon is from Big Lots.

I ended up taking the weekend off from just about everything, which was great. I did spend a lot of time working on the house, we are trying to re-do a couple of rooms in the house so that we can combine our hobby and work spaces. That way instead of me spending my free time downstairs in my craft room and Kip working on the computer or watching TV upstairs we can spend more time in the same room. Our schedules are a little crazy right now so time at home together is at a premium and we end up spending part of that apart. The goal is to move my craft room and the TV all into the downstairs den. We will still have separate areas but we will at least be in the same area of the house. Thanks for stopping by!

Copic class continued

Here are the last two cards that we made at the Copic class on Sunday. This one uses a Ketto image from Stamping Bella, I think she is Ginger, but I am not sure. All the layouts and supplies for this card were provided by the instructor of the class, Candice. I do recognize that paper as being from the DCWV Far East pack, but I am not sure of the other supplies. I was really quite impressed with this beginner Copic class and cannot believe how quickly I was able to learn some new tips about using the Copics that I have. I took a close up of the image so you can see more details.
The last card we made used Riley from Hanna Stamps. Isn't this just the cutest card? I had seen Candice use one of these toy mazes on another card and was excited to learn how to do them myself.  The maze is one of those little toys that you can buy in the party favor section. We popped the back off and then inserted our colored Riley image.

Hopefully I will have some crafting time in the next day or so and can show off some of the new stamps and other products that I bought while at Papertrix. If you are ever in the Nashville, Indiana area, you really need to plan a trip there. The selection is the greatest I have ever found in a store, the owners are super sweet and knowledgeable and it's just a fun place to visit. I did get some pictures of the class but since they have other people in them I am not comfortable posting them on my blog without their permission. Have a great night!

I'm back!

Just a quick post, I just got home and I am beat. I have decided that if you have to turn 40, then make sure you do in in close vicinity to something that makes you happy enough that you don't think about turning 40!! We got home a little earlier, unloaded the car and my mom came in for a few minutes before heading out to her house. When she got ready to leave she turned the lock on the door and I got locked out of the house with no keys and no shoes. Kip is working so we had to go there to get his house key and now I am back in the house. I had so much fun this weekend. The Copic class that Candice taught was amazing. All of my Copic knowledge has been achieved from trial and error playing. It was great to learn more about them and to watch someone that really knows how to use them.  It was also fun to meet some people that I "know" from online. In addition to Candice and some new friends, I was also able to meet another blogger Judy, it's nice to be able to put faces with the names. Judy surprised me with a birthday gift of cool ribbons, embellies and a travel bag. Thank you so much, I love the bling!

In addition to learning about Copic markers we also made three cards. This is one of them. Of course the card layout and everything was Candice's design, but the coloring is mine. I was so happy to learn how to blend three colors. That third color really makes a huge difference in the depth you can get with the shading. I was quite impressed with this! The stamp is from Shirley's 2 Girls. I did buy this stamp and one other stamp by them, they had a lot of really nice designs. I have to run now so I can start laundry and get to bed, I will show you more in the coming days. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, it truly has been a great one.