Thinking Inking

A Heart That Never Hardens

Welcome! Today I have another wall hanging to share; it's 5" x 7", but I think I may look for an 8" x 10" frame so that I can put that piece of Royal Velvet polka-dotted patterned paper in as a mat layer. While I was at CHA earlier this month, I met Suzanne Cannon from Quietfire Design. I used one of her lovely calligraphic stamps, Have a Heart That Never Hardens, for the sentiment on my wall hanging.

The Spellbinders die template sets that I used were Nobel Rectangle and 5 x 7 Matting Basics A for the sentiment panel. I used an old Kaleidecolor Vineyard ink pad to stamp the sentiment, and I dyed white seam binding with Copic Various Inks to coordinate with my ink and cardstock. That little button has a mother-of-pearl finish, Grandmother's Buttons--love it! Well, that's it for today. I hope you have a great weekend!

What Lies Within Us wall decor

Welcome! I've been happily playing in my studio during free moments for the last few days, and I finally finished a couple of little wall hanging projects. 

When I was in Anaheim last month, one of the products that intrigued me was Cosmo Cricket's new Just Add Watercolor line--watercolor paper pre-embossed with either clear or gold resist so that all you have to do is add watercolor. It comes in both an 8" x 8" and a 12" x 12" pad; I used a sheet from the 8" x 8" pad above. (I'm not sure where this product is selling yet--may still be in the process of shipping.)

This was FUN! I simply rubbed some Distress Inks onto a plastic palette, then randomly painted them onto my Just Add Watercolor sheet. You can see that it was pretty wet; it eventually dried a bit warped, so I put the dry sheet between two of my Spellbinders Grand Calibur plates and left it rolled into the GC overnight to flatten the sheet.

Here are the ink colors that I used, though obviously you could use any colors that look good together, and any water-based media. If you are wondering whether Copic reinkers work for this, they would stain the resist part too, though you might be able to very carefully clean off the resist with Colorless Blender. (Distress inks at Ellen Hutson.com)

The sentiment is one that I recently ordered from Power Poppy: it's from the Good Thinking: Renewal stamp set.  used two of my Spellbinders die template sets, Labels One and Decorative Labels One.  Now I just have to decide which of our three pale aqua rooms I'll hang my little shadowbox framed piece in! 

Thanks for visiting,

Snowman Thank You

Welcome! We're having pretty decent weather for the U.P.--it's above zero for the foreseeable future. However, it's definitely still snowman weather here for many weeks to come! That means that I can use snowmen on thank you cards, right? Today I have another thank you card to share, this one using Papertrey Ink's PomPom Pals stamp set for the focal image, and Inside and Outside Thank You for the sentiment on the card front. 

I thought I'd show you again how to leave part of an image extending past a die-cut shape. I generally use about three layers of cardstock between the die blade and the piece of cardstock on which my image is stamped, in just the area that I want to avoid cutting. I then send the image and die sandwich through my machine as normal.

When I remove the die, the scrap pieces of cardstock have shielded the part of the image that extends, and it should look like my picture above. 

Shown above are the Copic markers that I used to color the snowman image. (Click to enlarge, as always.)

I used several Spellbinders dies on my card front, including Pierced Circles, Pierced Rectangles, Petite Scalloped Circles Large, and Standard Circles SM Here's hoping this chilly little guy conveys our thanks in a warm way! Thanks for visiting,

Copic Certification Classes and Workshops, Anyone?

Welcome! I arrived home from warm Anaheim a week ago last Tuesday night, managing to bring a nasty bug home as a flight souvenir. Thankfully, I'm past the sleep-all-day stage, but still moving a bit slowly here, hence the lack of blogging lately. I'm trying to get back in the saddle this week, as well as look after my husband, who has also managed to catch the aforementioned bug. Oops. . .

On topic, I've recently updated my Copic Classes blog page and wanted to be sure to let you know what we have coming up in the near future. 

Upcoming Copic Standard and Intermediate Certification Classes are in these areas:

Phoenix, Arizona: February 6-7: Debbie Olson (Jenn Dove will be there too--Yay!!!)

Houston, Texas: Feb. 20-21: Lori Craig

Orlando, Florida: Feb. 20-21: Cindy Lawrence

Dallas, Texas: March 13-14: Debbie Olson

Chicago, Illinois: March 13-14: Lori Craig

Hanover, Maryland: March 20-21: Cindy Lawrence

Portland, Oregon: March 20-21: Sherrie Siemens

Copic Workshop classes do not have prerequisites, though it is certainly helpful for participants to have basic blending skills. Upcoming Copic Workshop Classes are in these areas:

Seattle, Washington: February 13-14: Michelle Houghton

Detroit, Michigan: February 27-28: Debbie Olson

Calgary, Alberta, CANADA: March 6-7: Sherrie Siemens

St. Louis, Missouri: March 13-14: Michelle Houghton

So, I'm headed to Phoenix in early February, Detroit, Michigan in Late February, and then Dallas, Texas in mid-March. Woohoo--hope to see you there! I'll plan to have a regular post up tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

Love: La Vie en Rose

Welcome! I have a special post today--my first for Power Poppy's Instant Garden team! On the 15th of each month, I'll plan to post a card created with a Power Poppy digital stamp image, this month's being La Vie en Rose. I've always loved Marcella Hawley's illustrations; they are fabulous to color. 

Here's a peek at the full digital stamp set.

Shown above are the Copic Sketch Markers that I used to color the La Vie en Rose image. (As always, click to enlarge.) I used a Brother Laser Printer to print my digital image, printing on Copic's X-Press It Blending Card.

I used several Spellbinders dies on my card: a Grand Ovals (to cut the focal image), a Decorative Labels Twenty-Eight for the mat layer under the oval (split in the middle to make it a bit wider), and a Pierced Ovals on the red background (hard to see in the picture, but it's there). The ribbon is seam binding with Copic Various Ink R46. Patterned paper is from Authentique's Collection: Lovely 6" x 6" Bundle. Finished card size is slightly larger than A-2 size--4-1/2" x 6". (I'll have to make an envelope to fit.)

Finally, I am super excited to introduce the rest of the Power Poppy Instant Gardeners to you, and I hope you get a chance to visit their blogs for more of La Vie en Rose; I'm sure you will recognize them either by name or by their mad coloring skills!

Danielle Kennedy
Debbie Olson (here)
Jennifer Dove
Rhea Weigand**
(Rhea will be hopping with us starting NEXT month!)
Broni Holcombe
Cheryl Scrivens

Enjoy!

A Few Tidbits from CHA

Welcome from party-sunny Anaheim! Would you believe that it rained both Saturday and Sunday? I thought Anaheim was supposed to be like Camelot--raining only at night time, of course! I've been in Copic classes for the last few days and finally had a chance to buzz through the CHA show yesterday afternoon, stopping nowhere, really, but just running quickly through to see if anything caught my eye. This morning I went back and took time to really look around me, and I found a few things to share. I thought I'd better share what I have now since late afternoons and evenings tend to fill quickly. By the way, the picture above is created with the Waterlogue iPhone/iPad App, one of my favorites.

First, a couple of shout-outs: I heard that Hazel and Ruby won Best in Show for their washi tape that comes up to two feet wide. I saw some great projects in their booth that really showcased the possibilities. The dresser drawers above are all washi-covered, and the washi can be removed when you decide to change your look. Now if I just had an old dresser around my house that I could recreate this piece with!

I can see all sorts of home decor possibilities with the large format washi (also used above), and I'm starting to feel like my home could use some attention besides having stacks of cards ready at a moment's notice. . . 

Another shout-out to Spellbinders Paper Arts for winning the People's Choice Best Booth Award. Trust me, it was fabulous! The picture above is courtesy of Spellbinders Facebook page, and it shows only one of the booth's sides--the whimsical side showcasing Richard Garay's Celebrations line. Other sides of the book were elegant or what I think of at comfort-vintage. 

One item that I don't have a picture of from the Spellbinders booth but absolutely loved was the Interchangeable M-Bossing Folders that featured pop-out sentiment panels so that one embossing folder could cover a variety of occasions by simply switching out the sentiment panel. I am ordering some of these as soon as I get home!

Cosmo Cricket had some really neat products, my favorite of which was both 6 x 6 and 12 x 12 pads of watercolor paper with a preprinted resist in either or both white and gold. All you have to do is to get free and loose with your watercolor of choice to have a fabulous little piece. I am so putting some of these on the walls at home!

Seriously, these just make me happy, and I cannot wait to get home and play with them!! You can check out Cosmo Cricket's blog for more pictures of their new products.

Prima always has breathtaking samples at their booth--makes me want to scrapbook more! One things that I saw and loved was their new A-4 sized paper pads. I usually purchase 6 x 6 pads or sometimes 8 x 8 pads in order to have card scale backgrounds paper, but why has no one come up with these A-4 pads before? (Mindblown--I know, it doesn't take much, right?) You can get four card fronts out of each sheet, with no waste. Love it!

A couple of my JustRite friends suggested that I go look at the Crystal Ninja Katana tool above, and I think I need one. It has one sticky end that would probably last for the rest of my life, given the number of crystals that I use, and one end that you press them down with to make them stick. If you get glue on the tip, it wipes right off--yes, would really like one!

Speaking of tools, I'm constantly replacing white gel pens. . . Copic product Specialist Marianne Walker was using one here that is on my must-get list, from Imagination International's new Kirarina line. (Picture courtesy of Lori Craig--thanks, Lori!)

Of course, I'm always admiring fabulous Copic-colored creations in so many booths. The one above was from Little Darlings Rubber Stamps, but I also spent time admiring others at Taylored Expressions and Some Odd Girl, among others. (I'd tell you who created the card above with the LD Saturated Canary image if I knew--love its contrast and the hair and clothing, especially!) Edited to add: I'm told that the card above was created by Alyce Keegan, a fabulously talented Australian designer. {{{Alyce, you knock my Copic socks off!}}}

Well, I need to get back to the show. I'm heading home before it opens tomorrow, so I have only a couple of hours left to get inspired and make notes of things I'd like to play with. Thanks for stopping by!

Simple Thank You Notes

Welcome! I'm in Anaheim for Copic classes and CHA, though I probably won't have a c chance to go see the trade show until tomorrow. The weather is is definitely a nice change of pace!  Right before I left home, I was working on a stack of thank you notes, some suitable for me to send, and some suitable for my teenage son to send. I had ordered Papertrey's No Strings Attached stamp set several weeks ago but hadn't had a chance to use it much. I thought it would be perfect for some simple thank you notes--the non-lumpy kind since the new guy at the Quinnesec post office loves to charge me extra for any lump he can feel through the envelope--even a tiny little string! (This probably won't pass either, since I have a thin piece of foam tape underneath my tag, but a girl can always hope. . . ;-)

For the tag's sentiment, I used Mega Mixed Messages. To cut my tags, I usd Spellbinders Back to Basics die templates. I used PTI's Happy Spots patterned paper for the wrapped gift part of the card front--time to USE some of the stash!

 

This stack is for my son to send out. I wasn't sure that he would go for the pastel polka dotted paper, so I kept his simple with white and pale aqua tones. I used a Spellbinders A-2 Matting Basics A to cut my "gift" layer, along with Pierced Rectangles on some of the card bases to frame the gift layer. 

That's it for tonight--easy-peasy thank you notes! Thanks for visiting,

Edited to Add: Cindy H. asked and excellent question that I had meant to explain in this post. Basically she asked how I aligned the string on the tag with the string on the patterned paper below it. Here's my answer:

I stamped the strings and bow on the patterned paper first; and then after stamping and die-cutting the tag, I laid a piece of clear acetate (like the clear stamp carrier plastic pieces that we all have so many of) on TOP of the stamped patterned paper, put my tag where I wanted it in relationship to the staring on the patterned paper, then lined up with the bow string below and stamped it again. Easy-Peasy!! 

Damask Anniversary Card

Welcome! Today I have an anniversary card to share, using JustRite's new Sentimental Damask Vintage Labels Eight Clear stamps, paired with a Spellbinders A-2 Tranquil Moments die template.

The Sentimental Damask Vintage Labels Eight Clear stamps covers several occasions, and I like the font as well!

For ink, I used both Versamagic Oasis Green (for the damask image), and Versamagic Ocean Depth for the sentiment. The darker cardstock behind the top white layer is PTI's Ocean Tides. I dyed some rayon seam binding with several Copic reinkers to get a multi-colored blue-green ribbon. 

Before I go, I wanted to make sure that anyone who wants to shop at JustRite Papercraft has the 20% off sale code, good on everything in the store through midnight, January 10, 2015 EST: it's HAPPY2015. Have fun, and be sure to check out the blogs below for more inspiration!

JustRite Inspiration
Debbie Olson (here)
Eva Dobilas
Sheri Holt
Marisa Job
Kristi Schurr  
 Darsie Bruno 

Thanks for visiting,

Lilacs for You

Welcome! How about another Spring card today? (I'm pretending that it's not bitterly cold here. . .) Today's card features JustRite's Lilac Blossoms Clear Stamps set, paired with an older background, Crackle Cling Background stamp.

I really liked having two different sizes of lilac blossoms, though I ended up using both sizes on my standard 4-1/4" X 5-1/2" card front.

I colored the lilacs images with the Copic markers shown above. I also used a Lilac Spica Glitter pen in the centers of the blossoms, though you can't see it in the photos. I used the used SVG Lilac Blossoms digital cut file (Exact) to cut the lilacs before stamping them in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloring them.

The ribbon is white seam binding, dyed with Copic V22 Various Ink and a squirt of Colorless Blender. On the Royal Velvet (PTI) cardstock background, I used a Spellbinders Pierced Rectangles die template to make help contain and create a border. I chose a die from Fleur de Elegance on which to stamp my sentiment and mount the lilac blossoms. For inks, I used PTI's V Vintage Cream and Royal Velvet, as well as Memento Tuxedo Black for the lilacs images. I airbrushed my background with a Copic Y32 while the Fleur de Elegance die was still in place, masking the outer part of the die cut. That's about it! 

Would you like to see more project with JustRite's Lilac Blossoms Clear Stamps set? All of the blogs below have related posts up today--enjoy, and thanks for visiting!

 

JustRite Inspiration
Debbie Olson (here)
Kathy Jones
Kazan Clark
Angela Barkhouse 
Sheri Holt
Heidi Blankenship 
Darsie Bruno

Feel Better Soon

Welcome! I have to confess that I'm having a hard time getting back into a routine around here. But I've been putzing around in my studio for the last couple of days, and it's starting to feel a little more natural again. Do you have a hard time shifting gears after holidays? As much as I enjoy making Christmas cards, I am ready for something fresh and Spring-y--not that we will see Spring in the U.P. of Michigan for a few months yet!

Today's card needed to be a cheery one, and what's more cheery than pink flowers? Also, I wanted to play with some of the new dies that are sitting in boxes on my studio floor, begging to be labeled and put away. I started with my background, using a mask cut with Spellbinders Basic Lattice, and airbrushed with a Copic Airbrush System and Copic YR04, YR07, RV02, and RV06. Next I cut and embossed the background layer with Pierced Rectangles. (You know I'm addicted to that die set, right?) I used Baby Buntings to cut my pink bunting from PTI's Hibiscus Burst cardstock, then stamped it in Raspberry Fizz ink with Background Basics: Twinkle. The sentiment is from Keep It Simple: Get Well, cut and embossed with a die from Nested Lacey Pennants. The flower is made with Urban Blooms die templates and Hibiscus Burst , Orange Zest, Simply Chartreuse, and Heavyweight Vellum cardstock (PTI). That's about it--a lot of mixing and matching, but at least it's cheery!

I hope you have a great weekend and a Happy New Year! Thanks for visiting,