Thinking Inking

Birthday Wishes and Copic GIveaway

I have a floral birthday card to share today, as well as some Copic news and a very cool giveaway, courtesy of Imagination International/Copic! 

For the card, I started with a Lockhart stamp, Cottage Flowers, and paired that with some new October Afternoon paper, Farm Fresh. 

The Copic markers that I used are shown below in two rows; click on the images if you need to see something larger. In addition to the markers, I also used  clear, mint, and buttermilk Spica Glitter Pens. 

Orange Zest ribbon and vintage buttons, as well as sentiment (Mega Mixed Messages) are PaperTrey Ink. I used two Spellbinders dies, a Classic Oval Nestability and a double-ended tag, trimmed on one end, and I used a gold metallic paint pen to edge the focal image with. 

Now how about that Copic news that you've been scanning through this post for? Copic has added some new regional certification instructors, and to welcome them, is giving away a fabulous prize on each of the blogs listed below! What is that prize? It is the winner's choice of either an ABS-1 OR any twelve Copic Sketch colors!     

To enter, please leave us (any or all of the people listed below) a comment letting us know either how you use Copics, which Copic products you use, why you love them OR why you wish you had Copics.

In addition to one winner from each listed blog, Copic will be reading through comments. If they find a testimonial that they really like, then they will contact that person to use his or her story for the CHA booth and would then give the person an equal prize to the random winners. In other words, make your comments good! There will probably be two or three winners chosen total on comments, as well as the one winner for each listed blog. These will not be announced right away. The drawing begins on Wednesday, November 11, and ends on Saturday, November 14 at 9pm, CST. Please be aware that ending times may vary a bit on the different blogs.

Blogs to visit: 

Marianne Walker, Copic Product Specialist Extraordinaire, Certification Area: Floater

(Debbie Olson) Copic Blog Team, Certification Area: Floater

Sherrie Siemens Copic Blog Team, Certification Area: Western Canada

Sally Lynn MacDonald Copic Blog Team, Certification Area: Northeast US and Eastern Canada

Sharon Harnist Copic Blog Team, Certification Area: Southern Midwest

Lori Craig Certification Area: Central Midwest

Colleen Schaan Certification Area: South

Michelle Wooderson Copic Blog Team

Kathy Sanders does not currently have a blog, but we'd certainly like to welcome her too; Kathy's certification area includes the Northern Midwest and Chicago area. 

It's really exciting to see how these markers have migrated from the graphic design and fine arts fields to be embraced by paper crafters and altered artists as well. The addition of more certification instructors should make it simpler for you to receive instruction in your area and perhaps even sit in classes at a local stamp store. As Martha would say, "It's a good thing!"

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Now, for a little bit more about my trip, for those who want to know. Have you ever seen so many markers on one table? These are being packed into 72 piece stampers sets.

Here several of us are in Marianne's office, which is tidy, by the way. Maybe she should come help me clean mine!

He are some of those nice people in the warehouse who get Copic Markers and Various Inks out to the stores--we love them!

How about an aisle of Various Inks? Think of the number of times you could refill markers with all of these. . .

 

I wish that I had had better lighting for this picture; Ken, the president of Imagination International and an art professor, was giving us a lesson in sketching and airbrushing. He was pretty amazing to watch!

 

Finally, for you cat lovers out there, this is the warehouse cat. He startled me, but I think I returned the favor when my flash went off. He looked much more pleasant before I snapped his picture!

Thank you for visiting, and I wish you luck in winning some of these fabulous Copic prizes!

Have a HOOT on your Birthday

Woohoo!  I got an Embellish challenge  card finished on time this month! This challenge involved using coral, brown, and green, combined with an owl image. I really liked the printable graphic that Ashley provided, but I wanted  a different twist on it; I cut him out of felt pieces and glued him together. The branch was an afterthought--we can't have levitating owls now, can we?

Papers are from the Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg Mini Deck. The backdrop sheet is also Nutmeg, but a 12" x 12" pattern. Buttons, sentiment, and ink (Melon Berry) are all PaperTrey Ink. The inside sentiment says, "Have a hOOt on your birthday," from Alli Miles' Wise Owl set.

This was a fun little challenge! (If you are entering, I think you still have until Thursday.) Thanks for visiting!

Ornament Button Trio

I have another Holiday Button Bits card to share with you, one that is up for grabs on the Moxie Fab Blog right now, actually! Today. in celebration of the first anniversary of her Moxie Fab Blog, Cath Edvalson is featuring several PaperTrey Ink Christmas stamp sets, and giving away both stamp sets and cards! I worked with Holiday Button Bits, which you've already figured out is one of my favorite sets this year.

I used patterned paper from PTI's Rustic Snowflakes collection. Vintage buttons are Ocean Tides, Spring Moss, and Pure Poppy. Although the paper already looked pieced, I added some simple stitching for wow factor. I used a Spellbinders border die for the tiny scallops. The ornament strings and bows are heat embossed with Filigree Detail embossing powder. 

Again, be sure to check out the Moxie Fab blog for giveaway details, and wish Cath a Happy Blogiversary! Thanks for visiting.

A Gift for You

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

386	

Timestamp: 2009-11-10 06:01:34 UTC

Number 386 is our winner of the Holiday Button Bits set here, but you still have a chance to win at the Moxie Fab Blog!

They are all so wonderful....especially the bow in the shape of a cross. Definitely my favorite.

Posted by: Carolyn | November 08, 2009 at 10:38 AM

Carolyn, I have e-mailed you to get your address. Thanks for playing, everyone!
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I'm still trying to finish up a couple of projects before I leave for Oregon, but I have a sweet little card to share with you today, as well as a gift for someone out there. First, the card: I'm still on a mission to use every one of those Holiday Button Bits images! I hadn't used the gift bow yet, so it was time to play with that one. 

For patterned papers, I chose some Cosmo Cricket Oh Joy papers (Yuletide and Mitten Mitten).  I loved the vintage look of these papers, and I liked using one strong print (to draw attention to the gift) paired with two plainer prints.

The sentiment is heat embossed in Filigree Detail White embossing powder. Button is a Pure Poppy Vintage Button. 

Now about that giveaway, I ordered an extra Holiday Button Bits set for one of you!  All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment saying which image in the Holiday Button Bits set you like the most--easy peasy. Comments will stay open until 11:59pm CST on Monday night, or as soon as I can get an internet connection to close them. I will choose a winner with the random number generator and will post the winner at the top of this post as soon as I can. Since I'm traveling, it *may be* as late as Wednesday evening when I return, but I'll do it sooner if I possibly can.

On another front, things are happening with Copic! What that means for you is some great giveaways in the next few days, starting on the November 11. Be watching Marianne's blog in case she gives out any information early, if you'd like. Thanks for visiting, and good luck with the Holiday Button Bits set!

Merry & Bright

I haven't forgotten about blogging--really!  I've been trying to meet several deadlines before heading out to Oregon early Sunday to visit Copic; I've never been to Oregon before, and I'm looking forward to a fabulous visit there.  More about that another day!

Today I have a Christmas card to share using Heather's PaperTrey Ink Holiday Tree set and her new Rustic Snowflakes paper.  This is a fairly quick card, which could be made quicker by leaving off the stitching, I suppose, but I like it better with the stitching. I used Spring Moss, Pure Poppy,  Dark Chocolate, and Ripe Avocado inks, along with some yellow and red Stickles. Twill is PTI's Spring Moss, and button is a Pure Poppy Vintage button. Card base  is the Rustic White cardstock, and mat layers are Pure Poppy.

This card took a relatively short time to make and would be simple to mass produce, if it comes to that. . . Thanks for your patience this week!

Snowglobe, Plum Crazy Style

Although I didn't have any plum colored patterned papers on hand, I had to take Cath up on her Plum Crazy Moxie Fab challenge! I'll probably try it again in a more formal setting, but for today I printed some digital papers from Shabby Miss Jenn's Shabby Snowkisses line at 6" x 6" on high resolution matte paper. These papers were the basis for my color choices on the Lockhart image, Nicholas and Kitty. Click on any image to see it larger.

I pulled a bright yellow-green from the word paper, choosing Copic YG0000 and YG11 for the trees. 

 

Next I chose some plums and blues, Copic Booo, B21, V91, V93, and V95.

 

I wanted to add a bit of texture to the snowman's coat, so I cut a scrap from one of my husband's hole-y socks and saturated it in Copic Clear Blender Solution.  (He won't miss it.) I also added some cool gray shadows on the snowman. The cardstock that I'm using here is Neenah Natural White, which is a bit warmer than a true white, but not as dark as a cream cardstock. I chose it because the base colors in the paper seemed muted and vintage. (Obviously, coloring on a warmer base influences the color of the markers as well.)

Here I've colored the cat (Copic E41 and E43), as well as the gift (V12 and V15).

Here I've colored the base of the snowglobe as if it were wood (Copic E41, E43, and E44). (The patterned paper had some browns in it, and I wanted to add a few more of those with the base.) I had also colored the snowman's carrot nose but forgot to put those markers in the picture: YR15 and YR18.

Here I've added shadows to the base of the snowglobe (Copic T0 and T1), as well as some Star Dust Stickles. It is mounted with foam tape, and ribbon is PaperTrey Ink Plum Pudding Stitched Grosgrain.  Buttons are PTI's Plum Pudding Vintage Buttons, and punch is an Embossed Curve Slim Edger Border Punch. Have you taken the Plum Crazy challenge?  You might be surprised at how much you like Plum!

Snow and Starlight

Today I have a tutorial posted on the CLASSroom blog for paper piecing rolling hills. A couple of people had asked about that, so it's there if you need it.

Have a happy day!

Deck the Halls

 

Deck the halls--with boughs of holly, that is! I'm working my way through using each image in the PTI Holiday Button Bits set, and it was finally holly's turn. I love this image with these Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly paper (Merry Berry). 

I stamped the image twice in Ocean Depths ink, and cut and embossed one of the images with a Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestability.  I trimmed around the leaves of the second image and mounted them with foam tape. Buttons are PaperTrey Ink Vintage Pure Poppy buttons, and ribbon is Ocean Depths grosgrain. The sentiment is stamped in Pure Poppy ink and cut with a Ribbon Tags Trio die. Finished size of this card is 5-1/8", and it will easily fit the PTI large square envelopes.

 

The PTI senior team has some fabulous photo cards posted today, and special guest Annabelle O'Malley has joined in the challenge too. Don't miss those, and have a great day!