Thinking Inking

I've been coloring. . .

Our power was out this morning, meaning that there wasn't much that I could do other than color. (Isn't that what everyone does when the power is out?) I've been wanting to get some of the new artwork colored for the Copic Certification classes this Spring, and today seemed like a good time to work on that project. That little guy above is one of the images--he's a fun one!

I'm headed to Anaheim for CHA on January 8, to Phoenix for Standard and Intermediate Certification classes on February 6-7, and next to Detroit on February 27-28 for Copic Workshops. I hope to meet some of you there!

I also wanted to point you toward a really helpful post by Michelle Houghton on Debbie Hodge's blog, on how to properly clean your Copic markers. Michelle, who is joining us as a Copic Regional Instructor this year, is concise and clear in her post, and she corrects some misinformation that has been making the rounds as well. Bookmark it in case you have questions, okay? 

Thanks for stopping in, and I hope you have a great week,

Last Batch--I promise!

So, we're in the home stretch. I mean, as long as I pass a few more Christmas cards out at church tomorrow night, they're still on time, right? I spent a week away from home recently, so I'm not going to sweat the fact that I have a few cards left to mail that won't make it in time for Christmas. 

I'm pretty sure that this is my last batch of the year. I had to keep them simple in order to finish them. Stamp sets used were all from my PTI stash, and most of them were older sets, except for the Fair Isle Motifs set that I used in the background. 

Sentiments came from Bells and Boughs, Rustic Wreath, and Beautiful Blessings: Holiday (inside of cards), and wreath is from the 2012 Holiday Tags set. Ink colors are Scarlet Jewel, Pinefeather, Vintage Cream, and Kraft. I used both my Spellbinders A-2 Matting Basics A and B (so that I could cut two similarly sized rectangles at a time), as well as my Pierced Rectangles to frame the pieces. (This set has saved me much time at my sewing machine!) I used some white cotton string and Copic R89 Various Inks/reinker to dye the string.

That's it for now--I need to go address a few more cards. . . I hope that you are having a great week and getting to spend some quality time with your family and friends. Thanks for visiting, and Merry Christmas!

From Our House to Yours 2

Welcome! I'm headed home from South Carolina today; it was great to get to spend some time with my parents, but Benjamin and I will be glad to get back home as well. How about another clean and fairly simple Christmas card today? What I really need to do is to stop making cards and start addressing them. . . but making them is so much more fun than addressing them!

For this card I used Papertrey Ink's Fair Isle Motifs and Love Lives Here: Holiday stamp sets, combined with Spellbinders Pierced Rectangles and Pierced Squares die sets.

Ink colors are Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores for the focal square, and Ocean Tides for the sentiment. Cardstock is Aqua Mist and Stampers Select White. Again, I used cotton crochet thread to keep the thickness down for mailing purposes. I may make a few more of these cards; it was easy, but I still liked it. I hope that you are having a great week--thanks for visiting!

A Few More Christmas Cards. . .

Welcome! I'm still in South Carolina for a few more days, but I thought I'd sneak a few minutes to finish up a blog post.  I'm sure I've mentioned in the past how much I dislike doing mass production. . . For me, making three cards mostly alike IS mass production! What can I say? Desperate times call for desperate measures--even mass production. ;-)

I've been in a traditional colors and Kraft paper mood lately, this time using Papertrey Ink's Fair Isle Motifs (background), 2012 Holiday Tags (wreath), and that sweet little ornament from Love Lives Here: Holiday.

Spellbinders dies that I used were Standard Circles Large , Back to Basics Tags, and Pierced Rectangles. Inks were PTI's Pinefeather and Pure Poppy. I used Natural Rustic Twine rather than ribbon, hoping to keep the thickness within regular postal thickness limits; and I used a glue pen and red glitter on the berries. That's about it--easy! I hope you're having a great weekend. Thanks for visiting,

Peace, Love, and Joy Reindeer

Welcome! I've been playing with a new Papertrey Ink stamp set, Pompom Pals--this little guy is the cutest! Before I talk about him, I want to let you know about some upcoming Copic Marker classes in both Anaheim and Phoenix. For more information on Copic Certification Classes, check HERE, and on Copic Color and Ink Workshops, check HERE. By the way, you do NOT have to be attending CHA to attend the Anaheim classes. I will be attending CHA, and if you will be there, and I'd love to meet you. I'm teaching the Phoenix Standard and Intermediate Certification Classes on February 6-7 and hope to meet some of you there as well.

On to my little Pompom Pals reindeer card: I love all three of the Pompom Pals images, but the reindeer is my favorite! (Maybe after I have a chance to play with the other two, that will change.) Edited to add: When I linked to the Pompom Pals stamp set, I saw that it is now backordered. If you want it, you can sign up, and PTI will notify you when it is back in stock. I've had to do that before too. ;-)

Shown above are the Copic markers that I used to color the Pompom Pals reindeer image. I looked for pompoms locally, but had no luck finding the smaller sized ones. I've ordered some from Amazon, but in the meantime, I thought I'd just color his nose. If that hadn't worked, plan C was a red button, but I liked how it turned out, so I didn't need the button. :-) I used a glue pen and some fine glitter on the stars, and I used my Clear Spica Glitter pen to trace the lines on his scarf for a little extra sparkle.

I used a few Spellbinders dies with the reindeer--Standard Circles SM to cut the circle of the image, Fleur de Elegance for his little Kraft frame, Pierced Rectangles for the faux stitching on the panels, and Classic Ovals LG for the sentiment panel. I wanted to fussy-cut and pop up the reindeer and his scarf with foam tape, so I didn't have to worry about selectively cutting with my circle die. 

Patterned papers are from Bo Bunny's Elf Magic collection. I've been wanting to use them for a while and thought that Rudy here was a perfect fit.

In other news, my son and I are headed down to South Carolina to visit with my parents this coming week. I have a couple of things I can post while I'm gone, but mostly, we plan to enjoy time with family. I hope you are having a great December! Thanks for visiting,

Healing Thoughts: Tudor Rose Card Front Instructions

Welcome! I had promised that I would post instructions for my second Spellbinders Tudor Rose Card Front card, so that's why you are seeing this card again today. It's really pretty simple! I used my Copic Airbrush System, but if you don't have a Copic Airbrush System, you could get a similar look using something like distress inks and a sponge. Pull out your creative license and use it! :-)

I cut one layer of white cardstock with my Tudor Rose Card Front die template, and then I *embossed only* my second layer of white cardstock. The embossed layer is the one that I airbrushed; while embossing isn't essential to the finished look, the embossed lines helped me to see where the colors should go as I was airbrushing.

For the background layer, I airbrushed loosely and heavily. Precision is not that important since you just need the darker colors showing behind the top piece. For the foreground layer, I airbrushed lightly and a bit more carefully. The Copic markers that I used were: G43, G46, G28; R32, R35, R37, Y32, and Y38, along with my Copic Airbrush System.

To cut the sentiment panel, I used a Spellbinders Scalloped Labels One, which was just slightly larger than the shape on the Tudor Rose Card Front (A 2015 CHA release--available soon at a store near you). The sentiment is from JustRite's Sunshine Vintage Labels Eight and Nine stamp set. Well, I hope that all made sense. :-) Have a great weekend!

From Our House to Yours

 

Welcome! Before I forget, I just wanted to let you know that even though the Spellbinders Winter 2015 CHA Sneak Peek Giveaway is closed on my blog, it's still open on several other blogs:

Linda Duke (through midnight EST on Dec. 3)
Jennifer Ingle (through midnight EST on Dec. 3)
Julia Stainton (through midnight EST on Dec. 4)
Latisha Yoast (through midnight EST on Dec. 4)
and more blogs coming tonight. . .

I hope you get a chance to go sign up at these blogs!

I ordered three new Papertrey Ink stamp sets. . . Couldn't help myself. ;-) So far I've pulled out only one of the new ones, Fair Isle Motifs, and I've been mixing and matching it with older PTI stamp sets. Here I stamped a strip from Fair Isle Motifs in Pure Poppy ink on Rustic Cream cardstock. The little Merry Christmas banner is a sentiment from the Love Lives Here Holiday stamp set. I really wanted to tie a tiny jingle bell onto my bow, but I knew that mailing would be an issue if I did that. Then I discovered that the little ornament in PTI's Love Lives Here: Holiday stamp set was almost a perfect match for the smallest tag in my Spellbinders Back to Basics Tags die template set--woohoo!

I had a banner die (Nested Lacey Pennants) that was wide enough, but not quite long enough for my sentiment; so I did a partial die cut, knowing that it would be simple enough to continue the straight lines with my paper cutter. I sent my die sandwich t through my Spellbinders Grand Calibur as shown above, and came out with the cut shown below.

You can see where the cut stops; I simple aligned the sides up with the edge of my paper cutter to make the banner longer. 

That stitched-looking edge was cut with the Spellbinders Celebrations Pierced Rectangles die--you know how much I love stitching, and this is a great shortcut when I don't want to pull my sewing machine out. The inside sentiment is from Beautiful Blessings: Holiday stamp set. A little bit of glitter and rustic twine, and I have four more cards for my stash--mailable, even! I will try to get my pictures edited for the airbrushed version of my Tudor Rose Card Front so that I can post that in the next day or two.

I hope you're having a great December; thanks for visiting!