simple dreams

Hopping in with some Easter Treats in Sizzix Popcorn Boxes

I just wanted to "hop" in and wish you all a very Happy Easter! This year the Easter bunny decided to create a couple of little treat boxes using the Sizzix Popcorn Treat containers. These were super fun to create and my thought is that I can easily change out Easter Anya and use a different image if the girls would like to use these in their rooms to store "stuff."

To make these sturdy I first adhered Happily Lost decorative paper to Craft-a-Board using Be Creative Tape. I then cut these out using my Big Shot Pro. I have to admit that I'm LOVING these large scoreboard dies to create these wonderful sized containers.

The labels were created using the smaller 6x6 coordinating papers affixed to Craft-a-Board and cut with the Stylized Labels Die. It was super easy to add the girl's names using the letters included in the kit!

Easter Anya needed to be brunette for Maddi. My blonde decided that she really wanted to be a brunette - I must admit that she is a stunning brunette with her beautiful green eyes. So this required me learning a new Copic hair color - yeah!

For skin I love the following combination: E0000, E000, E11 and R11 (for rosy cheeks). 

The brunette hair was created using: E31, E34, E37, and E27. 

Next it was time to create for my sweet little blonde. 

 

For blonde hair I like to use: Y21, YR30, Y26, and Y28.

Using Antique Linen Distress Stain on our Everyday Ribbon allowed me to create the perfect coordinating color. Along with creating these little treasures the Easter Bunny spent some much needed time cleaning the yard and so she is REALLY exhausted and can't think of what else to tell you about these projects - LOL! Sometimes being less wordy and just sharing pictures is better anyways - right?!?

These little popcorn boxes will make wonderful office supply holders as well as adorable birthday treat boxes! Oh the possibilities! Thank you again for visiting today - wishing you and your family a wonderful Easter day, filled with many blessings!

 
stamps: The Greeting Farm Easter Anya

ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers listed above

paper: Lilybee Design Happily Lost Collection Kit and Happily Lost 6x6, Craft-a-Board

accessories: Popcorn Box Scoreboard Die or Precut Popcorn Box, Tim Holtz Styled Labels, Be Creative Tape, 1 1/2" Everyday Ribbon

Punched Easter Egg Holders

I literally started to laugh out loud this morning as I took a peek at Kim's wonderful post! I have had these punched "border" pieces on my desk in my studio for days and have been overwhelmed with the tasks of running the business. If these didn't get done today, I knew they wouldn't get done and so I stamped a couple of items, pulled some supplies and brought them home with me tonight.

This post is especially for all those of you who have purchased Martha Stewart punches through us. They are marvelous and offer so much potential for fun projects. I apologize to those who would have like to purchase some of these punches for this year's Easter celebrations - but think in terms of using these little "wraps" around votive holders, flower vases and more. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Begin by punching strips of "grass" from Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety 6x6 paper. I selected two coordinating patterns to add that little extra zip. One strip of 6x6 easily fits around an egg :-D I actually cut the length of the paper down to 5 3/8", but this will depend on the size of your eggs.

I stamped the darling Hero Arts Bunny in Basket image using Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah cardstock. Quickly coloring this image with Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils.

A little of the satin ribbon (April's color is yellow :D) we include as a gift with our orders and a Kioshi Pop finish off this egg holder.

The point of these egg holders is to create something fun that is quick and easy! Think out of the box with the supplies you already own. For this one I decorated the egg with the wonderful new Kioshi Ribbon Doilies paper ribbon. This ribbon has an adhesive backing and it was SO easy to wrap and stick it to the surface of my egg. Talk about FANCY stickers - these are incredible!

This time I selected the Bunnies sitting in the Grass punch to coordinate with the grass punch. Adding some yellow crochet trim and another Kioshi Pop and yet another darling egg holder was complete.

The last egg holder is using the fabulous new Lockhart image, Spring Flower. I look forward to spring in such a big way and this image just exudes the beauty of springtime! Once again I colored with Copic Markers and Prismacolor pencils.

This time I used the Doily Lace Trim punch. This versatile punch makes an exquisite trim on cards, gifts and so much more. I think it might be one of my absolute favorites for the season.

 

QUICK TIP: Hide the seam behind your stamped image or a fun embellishment.

 

stamps: Hero Arts Bunny in a Basket, Lockhart Spring Flower

paper: Solar White Neenah Classic Crest, Cosmo Cricket 6x6 Garden Variety, Basic Grey 6x6 Kioshi

ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

accessories: Martha Stewart Punches - Grass, Bunnies in the Grass, Doily Lace Trim; Basic Grey Kioshi Pops, Basic Grey Kioshi Ribbon Doilies, Maya Road Yellow Crochet Trim

Hoppy Birthday my Sweet Girl!

As evening approached and it was nearing time to leave the office today I was feeling sad. My life is moving at such a hectic pace that I just haven't had the time to create and tomorrow is my baby's 10th birthday! OK, so she's not a baby any longer; in fact we are moving out of the single digit birthday's in our home. In that split second I knew that I just needed to do it --- I needed to take that hour and create my sweet girl a special card.

Trina is an animal lover and when creating cards for her friends, one of her favorite images has been frogs, so... what image could be more appropriate than this darling Flower Frog by Hero Arts!

When conceiving Nestabilities one of my goals was to develop a product that could be used to create shaped cards. It was today, when a couple of customers came to pick up their orders that I realized many individuals have not been readers and customers for a long time. Many of you may have not seen a card created in a shape, so I would like to remind you how easy it is to create a card that is unique in shape, by using the larger sized Nesties.

The fold line in my Endive cardstock is located at the top of this photo. Note how I left a gap between the die and the fold line. I did not want to cut into the fold line. At this point my intent was to use the patterned paper as a "lilypad" and decided it would be easiest to cut this as one unit. I stacked my sandwich and ran it through my Big Shot.

I then selected Copic colors that coordinated with the papers I was using. I did not color carefully because I knew I would be cutting out this image and time was of the essence.

As well,l I wanted to add depth to the color in a quick and easy manner. Prismacolor pencils, together with Copic markers, create such beautiful depth in your images. It is so hard to capture in a photo, but I quickly added color pencil to my image using a crosshatching technique.

As I placed my image on top of the coordinating papers I realized that I needed to add some warm gray to the overall image, so that it would coordinate better.

Using W00 I simply colored over my image and voila - it coordinated beautifully. I'm not certain why the colors in my photos don't ring true, but in real life the blend is perfect.

OK, I'm a child at heart - LOL! When I saw the adorable images from Hero Arts I just couldn't resist bringing in googly eyes. I selected a package that will give you a ton of variety - a little goes a long way and every kid (including us big ones) will love giving this card a shake. I quickly snapped the picture above to help you "see" what this image would look like with two eyes of the same size. Being a little quirky is what I find so endearing about this image and so I settled on using two different size eyes.

As I was finalizing the layout of my design I realized that the balance was off with my lilypad in the bottom corner. Wouldn't you know it - I was out of the paper I had initially selected, but fortune smiled on me as I opened the remainder of my Sugar Rush pad. This paper just jumped right out of the book and I actually like it better than my first choice - LOL!

I knew that I would not be able to cut this image in the same manner as the first and so I simply laid out everything in my die to figure out the best location. I then removed everything, placing the circle in the same location and completed my cut.

One of the things that fascinates me about clear stamps is the ability to bend them into shapes. I wanted to do a play on the words Happy Birthday and so after stamping and embossing my sentiment I sewed a button over the "a" so that I could wish my sweet girl a very "hoppy birthday." 
  

I have slipped this card into her binder, so that when she opens it at school in the morning, birthday wishes and thoughts will greet her. Yep, I left the office smiling from ear to ear. I love my girl - Hoppy birthday sweetheart!!!
  

Alcohol Ink Ornaments for Trina's Market Place

Some of you may have seen my little "proud" moment on Facebook today showing the picture of Trina proudly showing one of the jean purses we made for her Market Place at school. She has been planning and working for several weeks now and I must say that I am so proud of how meticulous she was as she worked on her projects. As we brainstormed ideas as to what she wanted to create for this special project her mind was spinning with all the "tools" we have available to us because of my work.

The goal was to create things that other children would like to purchase with the "money" they have earned at school through performing their jobs, good behaviour, timeliness on turning in their work, etc. With the holiday season right around the corner her goal was to create items that the other kids would like to give to their family members or teachers.

Here she is proudly displaying one of the blue jean purses we created. We used the old blue jeans that she has just grown out of --- therefore making this a very cost efficient gift! She "pushed the gas" and I "drove" as we sewed her projects.

She then needed to turn the straps and decorative belt, as well as sew on a couple of decorative buttons.

Next came the neck warmers. For Halloween I had sewn her a Pebbles costume (from the Flintstones - you can tell how old I am because I was the one who suggested it to her - LOL!)  Using the leftover fur like fabric we created these neck warmers. Now all one has to do is microwave for 2 1/2 minutes and then sit with your toasty, muscle-relaxing warmer on that sore spot.

She also made these darling bookmarks.

She simply stamped the butterflies on sanded Shrink Plastic using Brilliance ink. After allowing it to dry she then colored in the images using the Prismacolor color pencils shown. Once completed we just heated them, shrinking them to about 1/3 their original size.

Being boys "don't like" butterflies she made a more masculine version. Her older sister is in highschool and their mascot is the Spartan - therefore the Spartan version. Tracing one of the decals Maddi has and then coloring it in gave her that much needed masculine bookmark :)

(The beautiful gold bookmarks are something that I had purchased quite some time ago from a jewelry making store.)

Now on to these beauties! Everything she made she wanted in groups of six - this is one of two in this particular color series. In addition she made others in the red and purple hues.

To begin remove the "topper" from the clear glass ornament and place a small tea spoon (from a child's play tea set - yes, they have all been confiscated for craft projects because they are just the perfect size - LOL!) of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls inside the globe.

Using a mini mister squirt approximately 15 squirts of water inside the globe and mix up the Perfect Pearls so that all lumps are removed. You can also shake the ornament for a while and this will accomplish this task as well. The really cool thing about Perfect Pearls is that they have a binder in them and all that is needed to help them adhere is some moisture.

She then carefully rolled the ornament around and around until all surfaces of the glass were covered with the mixture. It is important not to have it too thin or the pearls will completely drain out when you set them to dry. Once this task is completed very little moisture was left to run out of the ornament. 

She set them in little paper cups to dry overnight.

After selecting a series of three Various Ink Refills she dabbed approximately 3-4 dots of each color of ink on to a felt applicating tool. That's her daddy's hand that is the prop for holding the ornament as she worked. Her fingers were too small and kept slipping inside. This is as crafty as my DH gets - LOL! He was a good support and was quite impressed when the project was completed :) 

This is just another perspective to show you approximately how much alcohol ink was on the felt applicator.

Voila - beautiful hand decorated ornaments for the holidays ahead. If you are looking to craft with your kids these projects just might be the ticket. Just make certain that they are wearing clothes you don't care about and work on a covered surface because the alcohol ink does stain --- althought a little rubbing alcohol does do a great job with the cleaning process. I highly recommend it!

These ornaments really do look spectacular!!! So proud of you my sweet Trina - perhaps she'll have to open her own store someday :)
  

Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly Wintry Owls

The title of tonight's post just makes me giddy! Why, you might ask? Well... the answer is simple, Cosmo Cricket is in the house and I just couldn't stand it, I had to create something immediately! There were so many other things I should have been doing, but...

Debbie has been killin' me with her fabulous, sewed creations and all the goodness she makes me dream about when she uses the Cosmo Cricket papers. Needless to say you can truly see her influence in my little mounded hills, it only made me wish for a better sewing machine here at work - LOL! Oh to be able to adjust my zig-zag stitches :)

The heat in the warehouse today was the complete opposite of this wintry scene. Just playing with this gorgeous, monochromatic color scheme, did refresh my spirits though.

I also adore these wintry owls and so creating this card was a snap (other than the sewing - LOL!) Using Natural White cardstock to coordinate with the soft white in the Jolly by Golly papers, I stamped the owl using Memento Rich Cocoa. Using only an E42 Copic marker and my colorless blender I was able to give my Snowy Owls a softened, aged look.

One of the products that I carry in the store, but haven't talked a lot about, or had time to use, is the Martha Stewart glitter set. When Maureen brought it by my office one day I just couldn't take my eyes off of the beautiful colors. Then when I saw the shaker top and the ease with which the top can be removed to return the glitter to the container, I just had to have it. This is the first post of what I hope to be many, in which I get to share some of these beautiful colors and gorgeous sparkle with you.

When I am determining which color to use, I simply lay it down on to the paper that I want to use. Next, I place a little of my 2-way glue in to a corner that I know I won't be using to do a final "test." If this meets with my approval I am set to go. This keeps me from having to recreate my project if I happen to pick a color that doesn't work well. In this case the Aquamarine Crystal was incredible with the Cosmo papers!

As you can see I highlighted the trees and the curvy hills with this gorgeous accent. You may also spot some items that I used to create this card that will be going up in our store as soon as I can get pictures taken and edited. We are adding a few more Martha Stewart punches to the mix. The snowflakes are incredible when mounted together with buttons and the small tag punch is perfect for those teeny, tiny sentiments from Memory Box and CHF.

I can't imagine having to wait any longer for these fab 6x6 paper pads to arrive. It has been well worth the wait and the begging! Julie and Eric, I thank you for listening to me and I hope that I can do your product justice!

Just as an aside, the Boyfriend mini decks are scheduled to arrive "hopefully" by next week, along with coordinating ribbon for the all four collections! I'm a VERY happy girl - can you see the ear to ear grin?!?

stamps: Wintry Owls, Warmest Wishes

ink: Memento Rich Cocoa Ink Pad, Distress Tea Dye Ink Pad

markers: Copic E42 and Colorless Blender

papers: Memory Box Robin's Egg Notecard, Neenah Natural White, Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly

other: Martha Stewart Essentials Glitter, Webster's Pages Classic Trim Collection, Marrakech Buttons, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch and Small Scalloped Tag Punch (hopefully should be up later tomorrow)

Copic Airbrush Experiment with Silhouette Images

Yes, I am still alive and kicking - LOL! Life has been VERY busy and I apologize for the neglect of my Simple Dreams blog. I have been working hard just to keep projects up on an almost daily basis over on the Classroom, so if you don't find me here, be certain to come and visit us over there!

Now for those who are coming here from the Classroom, you really didn't think I was going to spill the beans on the reverse image - did you? LOL! For those who have not yet visited the Classroom, you will want to take a peek at the other project that I created using this same technique. Hopefully between these two projects you will have a fairly good idea as to how to give this technique a whirl and will give it a try.

One of my goals is to always try and be inventive! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This time I really think it worked great! I am so thrilled that I now have another way to use my airbrush system, as well as stamp images that are of the silhouette variety!

 

As a side note I would like to suggest that you pick up the Memory Box Gingercake collection sooner rather than later. I have been begging Dave to make a few larger runs on his new lines of papers, because they are magnificent! Unfortunately I barely get them up in the store and they are completely sold out. The variety in this particular paper pack has allowed me to create some absolutely stunning and different color combinations for this holiday season.

Now back to the real reason for my post. I began with the Dove image - I love the elegant feeling of this image and thought that combined with the sentiment, "Let there be peace on earth," from the Mona Lisa Christmas Expressions collection, I would have an absolutely gorgeous creation for the upcoming holiday season. There are many images that this technique will work with in our collection - just look for ones that are of the silhouette variety.

 

As you can see in the picture above I have stamped two doves, the one on the left is using regular VersaMark and the one on the right was using VersaMark Champagne Dazzle. I am still searching for techniques that really make this pad "dazzle" as I know it can. I felt like I hit a home run with the direct to paper technique, but have been a little disappointed in some of the other things I have tried. I will keep at it in hopes of hitting a few more WOW's.

As you can see the UTEE did adhere better to the Dazzle pad. I'm not quite certain why being I have just reinked my VersaMark pad.

I won't bore you with the same step-by-step instructions here, you can read those on the Classroom. Instead I will try and point out any differences from that original post.

 

As you can see in this picture it is easier to see the Dove using the Champagne. I did add another layer of fine embossing powder over the dove on the left. I was afraid that it wouldn't be thick enough if I didn't. To do this I immediately added some regular clear embossing powder (EP) on to the heated image and this helped to thicken the layer of EP.

As you can see I used two different Copic colors for this image - W3, Warm Gray #3 and B95, Light Grayish Cobalt. These two colors blended beautifully with the paper I was eyeing.

 

There are times I wish that I could see other's projects as they are putting them together and so I opted to snap this photo of one of the ways that I adhere ribbon to my projects. When attaching two ribbons to a project it can sometimes get a little tricky trying to position them to overlap ever so slightly. I typically will attach red liner tape to my project and then attach the lower strip of ribbon to the lower edge. I then add my next layer. This allows me to keep it fairly smooth and even.

 

The dove shown below is the VersaMark Champagne Dazzle version. As you can see from this picture the champagne color is no longer visible. I will share the reverse image with you at a later date so that you can make your own analysis of what happens in the ironing process. Have I at least gotten you curious to try this now? I hope that I am teasing you just enough to get you to try experimenting with this process and your new ink pads! I would really love to see links to anything you discover!!!

Unfortunately I didn't get a good impression when I stamped my sentiment. I was so bummed, but out of time and just didn't have enough time to do it all over again (insert sad face.) I used a button from the Granola collection - it was a perfect match for this paper! Sponging the edges of my Blue Poppy note card and my dove "tag" with Antique Linen distress ink pulled it all together.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope to see some fabulous new creations from each of you soon! Link me to your projects ladies!!! I love to see what you create Ü

Modern Influence

In my previous post I talked about how the black and white with the pop of an accent color was inspired by the Spring magazine from our local mall. Well the cover of this same magazine also grabbed my attention in a big way and so I decided to replicate it in a card as well. When I saw this very modern, artsy cover my mind immediately went to the butterflies. I chose the Checkered Butterfly because I was drawn to the two circles in the lower portion of the wings. The boldness of this image is so different from the typical "Ellen" look - I just had to share this side of my personality with you Ü

Being a multi-tasker and all I decided to nail down a number of the CHF challenges in just one post - LOL! Time is of the essence these days Ü

The first challenge I missed was partial backgrounder stamping - fading or stamping part of a layer. The texture in the dress and artwork in the magazine photo were wonderful to emulate for this particular challenge. I used the Rice Paper backgrounder to create the striations in the Raspberry cardstock and the Scratched Grid backgrounder to create the uneven appearance on the Lagoon cardstock. To create this uneven texture I place my backgrounder face up on my worksurface. I do not ink it evenly to begin with and then when I place my cardstock on the surface I let my fingers do the walking, so to speak. Rather then pressing evenly over the entire surface I only lightly press in an uneven manner on the areas I want to catch the detail. To really make the white pop off the raspberry cardstock I did use white embossing powder and was careful to only leave a small amount on the surface, brushing away any excess from many spots.

The next challenge was to stamp on anything but paper. I have been dying to show you why I purchased and added clear buttons to my store. VERSATILITY - gotta love it. I began by creating a little tab pull for my button as shown below. I love using blue painters tape for this type of use being it always comes off easily.

As you can see I placed my Scratched Grid backgrounder face up and then inked it with Palette ink. Using the tab on the button I was then able to set it straight down on to my backgrounder, ink it up and then pull straight up. I then allowed this to sit and dry. Now how long it needs to dry I am not certain being I never get to complete a project once I start it - LOL! So mine sat for maybe an hour before I got back to airbrush it. I doubt it takes anywhere near this time to dry, but... I'm just not certain. To add color to the buttons I then airbrushed them with my Copic Markers. Gotta LOVE versatility! Being the buttons are clear I used embroidery thread to attach them - neatly stitching them into place.

Last but not least I just needed to add some additional texture to the base white. Piercing is always one of my favorite fallbacks for adding texture in an inconspicuous manner. I love the fact that the Nestability dies are open in the center. I used a larger size Nestability circle as my outline to aid in keeping my piercing "round". I could never eyeball round - LOL!

Hopefully this post will once again leave you with a "cool idea feeling!" Gotta love a few good challenges for bringing out the creativity within each of us and the CHF challenges have been so much fun! So I challenge you to try something from this post - use the sketch, use the partial stamping, use the button idea, use the piercing or use the magazine ad with the mod colors. Just sit back create and enjoy!

Backgrounder Blitz - Hot and Spicy

Sometimes I just have to create to have fun - this creation was one of those! I am constantly inspired by the things that I see around me. Recently a brochure from the local shopping mall arrived in my mailbox. It was fun to sit down and quickly browse through it. What impacted me the most in this particular issue was the clothing in multiple ads - they were all black and white with just a touch of some sort of accent. That accent was a bright/bold color! This inspired me to just go for it and see if I could bring a similar feeling to a card I had in mind.

I stamped the backgrounder (Open Circles) and the image (Chilis and Cilantro) using Palette Noir. The stamped image was immediately followed with embossing powder. I had thought that I would just leave the image black and white and so I wanted to the black/white detail to pop.

The color pop was added with this beautiful, wide red satin ribbon. BTW what do you think about this ribbon - I would love to hear your response as to the width! The I added the black gemstones. I must admit that I was wondering what on earth one would do with black gemstones, but this hit me like a lightning bolt - talk about bling!

Well as you can see it just didn't feel as "hot and spicy" at this point as I thought it would. It was OK, but... So I pulled out my Copic Markers and added some color Ü

Now we're talking! A little Crackle Accents on the Cilantro and Glossy Accents on the Peppers, another larger black gemstone to cinch the waistline and voila - we have "Hot and Spicy". 

So what can you do with a "Hot and Spicy" card? I thought this bold little number would make a wonderful congratulatory card for someone who has been making an effort to lose weight - or how about an anniversary card?

What inspires you? Where do you get your ideas? Curious minds would love to know Ü

Velvet Stamping and Emboss Resist

ETA: Please note that there are new posts following this one - I placed it as a sticky until the drawing for the blog candy is complete. Thank you for stopping by!

Have you heard the news? Cornish Heritage Farms is having a major league "Backgrounder Blitz" over this next week!!! We here at Ellen Hutson LLC are thrilled to be playing alongside them and will do our best to stimulate your creativity and give you new ideas as to how to use these wonderful stamps as well!!! In honor of this special occasion we will have a week long promotion beginning today on the CHF backgrounders in our store. Be certain to enter the code: CHFFun in the Promo Code area as you are checking out to receive a 10% discount on all backgrounders that you order from us during this week.

Today's post is to play along with the wonderful challenges CHF has created for this week. The first backgrounder challenge is to create a card using Lisa's awesome sketch!

There are two techniques I would like to share with you that I used as I created my project for today's challenge. The first is a real WOW in my opinion and I haven't seen it done much lately.

VELVET STAMPING

The key to success with this technique is the velvet that you select. I find that a man-made velvet works the best. In this case I used a velvet ribbon that is 100% rayon. This technique is one that works beautifully with the deep-etched red rubber backgrounders!!!

Place your backgrounder face up on your work surface, I used the new Sophisticated Swirls. I preheat my regular large iron with it set on rayon/polyster. Spritz the face of the ribbon generously with water - I have a mini mister filled with water that I always keep by my work surface, it works fabulously for misting the velvet. Place velvet face down (fuzzy side down) on the backgrounder and then iron from the backside of the velvet. I would typically place a piece of typing paper between the ribbon/backgrounder and the iron, but I wanted you to see the layering process without it being covered. Press your iron down firmly and move it about on the ribbon surface so that you do not create a hot spot.

It is SO beautiful and elegant in real life - I hope that you can get a sense of the beauty from this picture.

EMBOSS RESIST

This next technique is one that I have always loved. From the beginning of my stamping adventures there has always been a sense of wonderment as I watched embossing powder melt. Now being I photographed and worked this portion of my project before deciding to use the velvet I didn't quite think it through enough - LOL!, so my final project doesn't even use this beautiful creation. But at least you get the idea as to how to complete the background of the card I will share below.

Tip: Before I  begin I want to share how it is that I keep my Clear Embossing Powder. Being it is one that I use a LOT I purchased a large supply and placed it in a rubbermaid type of storage container. I do this so that I do not have to clean up the powdery mess that can occur if you use a tray. I love the convenience of just spooning the powder on to my project and letting the excess fall back into my container!

OK - on with it Ellen! To begin I place my backgrounder face up on my work surface and ink it completely with a "sticky" ink. In this case I used Perfect Medium, but Versamark or any other Clear Emboss Ink will work as well.

I then spoon the embossing powder on to the inked paper surface and dump the excess powder back into my tub. I then heat set it using my embossing heating tool. Be certain to watch the surface as you do this so that you don't overheat it and melt the powder until it is completely gone. When it becomes glossy that is the time to move on over with your heat tool. It is like magic as you watch the surface begin to glisten in the light.

Now it is time to make the background pop! Ink your brayer using a dye ink - I love using the large brayer being it covers the background completely in one motion. This does not mean that you do not need to go back and forth across your surface a number of times, but it does make it so simple to get an even ink coverage. I used Adirondack Lettuce as the main color for this project.

Being that I wanted a more distressed look and did not want the white to pop off the paper I then used my iron to "melt" the embossing powder into a piece of scrap paper. Iron over the paper covered image completely - then move your scrap paper to a new location and repeat. Do this until all sheen has disappeared.

I then used my Ink Blending Tool and Adirondack Pesto to distress the edges and "buff" out some of the white in the center of the image.

My focal image is the Lockhart Delphinium and Peony Watering Can. These are two of my favorite flowers and I can't believe that I hadn't given this beauty any "love" yet. To color the image I used a combination of Copics and Prismacolor color pencils. This truly is my favorite combo. The intensity and dense coverage that the Copics provide, followed by the Prismacolor pencils which just grab the tooth in the top surface of your paper gives such incredible depth to your image.

I began with the Copic Markers - BV000, R46, R81, Y21, Y21 Special, YG00, YG63, YG95, B21, B23, W1, W3.

I truly wish that you could all see this image up close - the detail that jumps out when you add the Prismacolor color pencils (Limepeel, Goldenrod, Burnt Ochre, Process Red, Warm Gray 80%, Pink Rose, and Imperial Violet) along with Spica Glitter Pens (Gold, Sky and Pink) is so "purdy".

As you can see I used a square nestability to cut out the image and emboss it. Little mini brads were added to the corners just to draw extra attention to the focal point. Instead of the Sophisticated Swirl background I created above I changed it out for a much more subtle Weave pattern. It would have been great if I would have actually thought ahead to the completed project, but hey now I have an awesome sheet of patterned paper that I can use for a future project Ü

To help celebrate this fun learning experience and backgrounder blitz we would like to give away two of my FAV backgrounders - yep that's right. All you need to do is leave me a comment below telling me which backgrounder is YOUR FAVORITE! You have until Tuesday morning to leave your comment - at that time we will do the Random Number Generator thingy and select two names from the comments section.

The first number drawn will receive the Lined Paper backgrounder and the second number will receive Grid Paper.

For yet another FABULOUS technique you must head over to the CHF Forum and read Mona Lisa's Distress Ink Burnt Edge it is WAY cool. They also are running some of the most fun challenge's - like the one I posted above.

Have a wonderful weekend! I'm going to give it my best effort to play along with the Backgrounder Blitz challenges - I have been missing creating!!! So check back in soon if you get the chance Ü

Stamp of the Month, April

It has been a long time since I posted anything using the beautiful parchment paper we carry. When creating using this paper one achieves such a soft, elegant look. So for the April Stamp of the Month packet I thought I would share this art form with you in a very elementary way to expose more of you to the beauty that can be created using these simple tools.

I began with specific limitations - as you well know one must think in advance in order to have supplies at the ready. This month I had preselected a beautiful springy ribbon and brads to use in my project, but I had not determined what stamp I was going to use. It occurred to me that April is Tulip season here in Washington state and I just knew that this image would translate into Pergamano so well. When coloring flowers I often times Google the particular flower I am coloring to use as a reference. Little did I know that there are EXQUISITE blue tulips! You must click this link to see some other incredibly gorgeous blue flowers Ü

Photo by Nedko

To begin I stamped my Tulips image using Palette, New Canvas on Parchment paper. I then gently heat set it being I am an impatient stamper and don't like waiting for ink to dry - LOL! Be careful to hold your heat source away from the paper though so that you don't "curl" it. Place your parchment paper stamped side down on a dark padded surface. I prefer to use one of the Pergamano Embossing pads, but beginners can use a black piece of cardstock atop a stack of papers. Next I used my Fine Stylus Embossing Tool to trace all the details of the image. As you can see the Fine Stylus, shown on the bottom, has a much finer tip than any other stylus I carry. I really like this stylus for detailed work. You can achieve an embossed look with other embossing stylus, but it will not be as precise.

Copic markers work fabulously on parchment paper! To color this image work on the back side (or opposite side) of the stamped image - the same side as you embossed on. Begin with the lightest colors - B23, YG00, and Y21 (special). Add depth and dimension with B29, YG63, G85, Y21, YR14 and E39. Below is a close-up of the finished image.

One of the little quandries that one runs in to with vellum and parchment is that all detail shows from behind. In this case I really wanted the image to pop. As a solution I then stamped the Tulips image once again - this time I used a very light blue ink pad, Adirondack 's Cloudy Blue - to stamp my image on white cardstock.

To hide the adhesive can be tricky. There are many new adhesives on the market - one is made by Tombow and I tried it at CHA, unfortunately I could still see it through the vellum and so I try to be clever in attaching my projects so that no adhesive will show. I punched holes in the parchment using my Making Memories Slot Punching Tool. I love that I can punch a slot in any location with this tool. I did learn though that one should use the Making Memories cutting board that comes with it rather than the Basic Grey Magnetic Precision Mat - I managed to punch my slot right through to the metal surface - oops! Fortunately I was able to reinsert the little piece and my mat looks as good as new, but I thought I would forewarn you so that hopefully you don't make the same mistake.

Then thread your ribbon through the slots and apply adhesive to the back side of your cardstock placing it directly behind your pergamano piece. Place your project into position and adhere the cardstock to your cardfront. As you can see I removed the parchment from the ribbon so that I could adjust the ribbon to be in the correct spot for tying my knot. Next apply adhesive to the back side of the parchment piece directly beneath where you will run the ribbon. At this point I realized that I wanted to "frame" the parchment and so I ran my E39 Medium Broad tip around the edge of the parchment.

Thread ribbon through slots and adhere the parchment attaching two brads in the upper left hand corner of the parchment aligning them with the knotted ribbon below. I also sponged a little Vintage Photo distress ink on the Ocean Blue notecard to pull it all together.

OK - so I'm a goofball - LOL! I made this post go live and I wasn't even finished with it. So there you have it - a sneak preview of what is to come later tonight Ü I hope that you enjoy this month's project and jump on board with a Pergamano style or parchment craft project!

Inchies from A-Z: B is for... continued

Product Updates:

Nestabilities have just arrived in Phoenix today! Can you see me doing a happy dance? So what does this mean for timing? It means that unfortunately our waiting game will continue just a little longer, but I want to assure you that these items will be included in our sale on Monday, March 17th as Preorder Items. If you haven't looked at or received our Newsletter Coupon please let us know so that we can forward it to you in time for Monday's sale. Or join our mailing list at the bottom of our homepage and we will try and get a current copy of our newsletter to you before Sunday evening at 6:00pm. It will be essential for you to enter this code to receive the discount.

Our Copic supply is also not quite at the levels we would like. We are awaiting the arrival of more sets of CD24D and Copic Gotta Have It All's. Our delivery dates for these items will be the end of March, so with perhaps a little anxiety (OK - so maybe it is more than a little being I truly like to ship your orders immediately) I will go ahead and put them up as Preorder items as well so that you can use your coupon.

B is for Bunny GIrl

Created using: Bunny Girl (this is the last opportunity to pick up this darling stamp being it will no longer be available once our inventory is gone); Copic Markers - Custom Y21, RV11, RV34, E55, E27, E39; Pale Gold Leafing Pen; Gold Glitter Pen

B is for Background

1. Basic Copic Background

Copic markers on the White Inchie Squares are BEAUTIFUL! There are so many ways to create intricate backgrounds, but for that post you are going to have to wait all the way until W. Can you make any guesses as to what the letter W stands for? So for today we are going to look at the Basic Copic Background.

Creating backgrounds for basic designs is simple. By basic design I am referring to an Inchie I create when I stamp directly on an Inchie Square. There are not a lot of layers to this type of design.

Begin by placing your stamp, rubber face up, on your work surface. Ink the surface of your stamp image determining where it is that you would like to position your Inchie on the image. Being that this stamp had recesses in the rubber on either side of the Inchie I was able to easily set my square atop the stamp. If I didn't have this recessed area I would have used my little "pull tab" for the back of my Inchie Square.

This pull tab is created using Blue Painters Tape. This tape is ideal for this application being it will not mar your surface when you remove it from your project.

After inking your Inchie Square using Adirondack ink it is essential to heat set your square. I have found that the porosity of the Inchie Squares does not allow the ink to sink in to the surface as readily as the Neenah paper and therefore if you go straight to coloring on a stamped surface you will more likely than not cause the ink to bleed.

As I colored the background of the image I began with my new Y21. (See this post for information as to how to make your own custom colors.) To create the sunshiney window effect I did pick up my darker Y21 from my palette and added it around the edges.

2. Paper Covered Background

So what can you do with all those bits of paper that you have left over from a large project? Well turn them into 1"x1" squares of course!

Or if you are not fortunate to have saved all your scraps then we do have a packet of Inchie Papers available for you to purchase. This fun collection of 108 patterned paper 1-1/2" squares will keep you supplied for quite some time. You can die cut or trace and trim before attaching them to your Inchie Squares. Each of these packages also contains two (2) Inchie Finders. These little 1" squares of yellow acetate are the perfect tool for "finding" a section of a prestamped image or part of a pattern. Simply place, trace and trim. The yellow color will hopefully help you spot it easier amongst the mish mash that occurs on most of our tabletops when we get in a creative swing.

Karen always has the best organizational tips! I absolutely adore this beautiful box she has put together to keep her Inchie backgrounds prepped and ready to use.

When sorted by color it makes it easy to find the perfect background for your art. Prepare some of these backgrounds for your projects in advance if you are not feeling "it". You know those times when you would like to relax and create, but you just don't have a long-term vision for what it is that you would like to create. Then start at a later time to create the elements or embellishments to complete your Inchies.

I will be sharing more of the backdrop for this little assortment at a later date. For now I just want you to focus in on the assortment of papers that Karen used on these little creations and how she added the focal points to each Inchie. I have to admit I am a bit envious of her beautiful handwriting Ü I would hate to think about how many beautiful Inchies I would ruin if I were to write in cursive on them - LOL! So if you are like me perhaps you might consider printing and cutting out words or stamping them and adhering them to the finished creation instead.

3. Other Background Ideas

• Stamped Backgrounders
• Prismacolor Color Pencils
• Twinkling H2O's or Watercolors
• Old Book Pages
• Word Documents such as Definitions, Special Words

These are just a few of the ideas that I could come up with today/tonight. I hope that they inspire you to try a myriad of different background techniques when creating your Inchies!

Creating Custom Color Copic Sketch Markers

In the Bunny Girl Inchie post above the background is created by using a special VERY light yellow marker that I created. I have not found a yellow in the Copic line that I have fallen in love with. Most are too high chrome and my desire for a more buttery yellow led me on today's mission to create a yellow I love.

Begin by removing the Medium Broad tip from your empty Sketch marker. I just use my bare fingers to pull out the tip. Being the marker is empty the tip is dry at this point. Once the tip is wet you can still pull it out with your fingers, but they will become inky, so if you prefer clean hands you can use the Copic Tweezers or other Tweezers you don't mind getting ink on to remove the tip.

To mix my special color I used an Empty Various Ink Refill container and filled it up to the 5cc mark with Colorless Blending Solution. I then added Y21 Ink Refill drop by drop until the color appealed to me in the bottle. I was going to count the drops, but part way through I got so excited I forgot what my count was - LOL! Perhaps next time I will get my personal assistant (my 8 yr-old Ü) to help me count - she would remember! When I achieved "that" color I would then drip the color on to a sheet of white cardstock to determine if it was dark enough. I continued to add Y21 drop by drop until I arrived at the color I was looking for.

Above shows one drop of ink with the new color on the left and Y21 on the right.

To fill the empty sketch marker, place the tip of the refill container directly into the marker opening. Don't try taking a picture at the same time as you fill your container though. If you do, you too can spill ink over the sides of the marker - LOL!

I then removed both caps from the marker and laid it flat on my work surface and watched the color wick to the tips of the marker. I then replaced my caps and left it for a couple of minutes.

The picture above shows the color difference between Y21 and my new mix. I am very pleased with the end results and it made it so much easier to create the soft blended out background on the Bunny Girl Inchie.

I also want to link you to my pal Mona Lisa's amazing discovery - check it out - I am excited!!! Adirondack was the first ink I fell in love with six years ago and I still love it - needless to say I can hardly wait for Lis to share her other discoveries with you!!!

COPIC Easter Eggs

I just had to interject an inspirational Easter Egg post in the midst of Inchie Mania Ü One of the first things Marianne, of Copic Marker, told me about last year was how fun the airbrush system is with Easter Eggs. Since that time I have been anticipating what I can try with this concept. So today I will share a couple of different ideas I played with.

This first egg was created by inking the Dottie Bunny stamp and laying it inked image face up on my work surface. I then VERY carefully rolled my egg across the inked image. Needless to say this is try number three - LOL! - but persistence paid off. I then created a mask out of Eclipse Tape and secured it firmly over the bunny. Using the airbrush system and Sketch Marker colors Y38, BG45 and YG03 I sprayed the egg using the Medium Broad tip. The really cool thing about this is that as I sprayed, the air from the brush gently rolled the egg from one side of my work surface to the other. This allowed me to evenly spray the egg without even having to touch it. I then sprayed each end with it's coordinating color. Finally I removed the mask and used E55 and RV34 to color in Dottie.

I did learn that Adirondack ink needs to be heat set for quite some time when used on an egg surface. I also had to be careful to stay within the lines being that my marker did pick up hints of the ink when I colored in the image. Perhaps Brilliance ink would have worked better for this project, but time was of the essence Ü

This next series of eggs I will call my "Masked Eggs". Once again I created a mask out of Eclipse Tape for the bunny stamp. This time I secured it in place and once again sprayed using the same series of colors. The middle back egg was sprayed with the same three colors. I then came back using Y38 and created the flowers with the COPIC Marker Sketch Brush technique I shared with you back in February in this post. The last egg in this series was created by punching the little flower masks out of Avery Color Coding Labels. Ribbon and bling was added to create this fabulous little trio. Other totally fun embellishments to use would be pearls, flowers, and Dew Drops.

Or you could load up one of the mini mister's with some alcohol blending solution and alcohol ink refill or Color Wash, add a little Perfect Pearls to it and give it a Tim Holtz like whirl. Ohhhh - shimmery misty eggs. Or load up a paper towel wtih alcohol blending solution and after airbrushing give your egg a very unusual tie dye effect. Or put some alcohol ink on a felt applicator and pounce it on your egg, then roll it on a stamp.

You are going to have to watch Mona LIsa's blog - I know she has something cooking as well :D

OH NO - this gives me more ideas and I don't have any more time!!! So help me out ladies - create some wonderful Easter Eggs and link me up to them!!! I want to see what it is that you will be inspired to do with this concept.

COPIC Marker Sets CD24C and CD24D Update

Yes, unfortunately it is true. We are already sold out of these sets, but we are working to try and remedy this as best we can. Over the next few days we will be adding a few at a time to the store as we get supplies to make them up. We apologize for not having more on hand. As I said in my last post MANY more are on order, but today I found out that most of that big order will not be available to us until mid-February.

Thank you so much for your incredible support and please watch for them to appear in our store in little bits and pieces over the next week or so. If you would like to be put on a please notify us list you can email us at [email protected] and we will send out an email each time we are ready to put more back up.

Don't forget to read to the bottom of the previous post if you haven't done so you will find some blog candy posted there Ü Remember you need to post before Friday Midnight because the Random Number Generator will be used for all posts before that time :D

COPIC Marker New Color Sets

The moment has arrived. Yesterday we received our shipment of new COPIC Marker sets! So once again I have been glued to the computer screen typing and editting rather than creating. Hopefully soon the creating part will have time to happen Ü

Tonight at 10:00pm PST we will make the markers go live. It will be a first come, first serve basis, being that our supplies are currently limited. MANY more markers are on order, but I do not have word yet when they will arrive, so please hang tight with us as we await word on the arrival of more sets.

Now for the long winded explanation of what is here - LOL! I wish I knew how to say this in just a few concise words, but...

Before I begin I want to share with you that all my testing for colors was done on Neenah Classic Crest, Solar White cardstock. The white color base you begin with does affect your final color outcome. Solar White is a white that compares closely to Stampin' Up!'s white cardstock, only it is a more "sturdy" paper (for lack of a better word). I have found that Neenah Classic Crest is my paper of choice when working with both Prismacolor Color Pencils and Copic Sketch Markers.

First we have added seven, YES (7) new sets of 12 markers each. For your reference we have attached the picture below. I hope that I don't make typepad explode with the enormity of the files I will be attaching today Ü As you can see from these lists some of the colors are duplicates to the colors we already have in our line.

I am uncertain at this point as to whether or not this chart is even readable so you may need to wait for a second or third draft of this post to be able to read these charts. I apologize in advance if the font on the colors is so tiny it is unreadable, but I'll keep trying until I get it to a size that you should be able to view. After 10:00 pm I will come back to this post and add links to the store. This will allow you to read the color information at full size.

The first four sets listed showcase the colors that I believe compare closely to Stampin' Up!'s primary color families. The next set, which we are calling Trendy Tones, is a set of colors that were/are a part of Stampin' Up!'s color line last year and this year. Again, please know these are NOT Stampin' Up! colors, but colors that I believe after thorough examination, compare as close as possible to the Stampin' Up! cardstock I own and use.

Next you will find a Neutral Tone set. This set is comprised of colors that compare to the Neutral colors, but in addition it also has numerous neutral tones added to it that will allow you to combine with the colors in the first five sets to get a more accurate depiction of the colors in Stampin' Up!'s line.

The last set of colors, the Completer Set, is significant if accuracy is important to you. Many of the colors that are included in the first five sets do not compare closely if used on their own. They need to be blended with the colors that are in the Neutral set or Completer Set to gain in accuracy. I know the thought of blending colors may be scary to many of you, but remember this is art. It is about learning and perfecting over time.

To try and make it easier for each of you who purchase the Copic Sketch Marker sets through us we are including a chart with each set you purchase. On that chart I share how it is that I was able to create a color that compared closely with the Stampin' Up! cardstock I own.

You may ask why on earth do I need these two additional sets when there are 330 colors in the Sketch line of markers? Well there are 100's of 1000's of combinations that colors can be mixed and unfortunately COPIC and Stampin' Up! just don't have all of the same color selections. So how did I come up with these colors? The first thing I did was to go through the entire COPIC line and select one color that was as close in comparison as possible to the Stampin' Up! color. When that didn't suffice I then went back through the entire line combining and blending colors to achieve a color that compared to the Stampin' Up! colors. Believe me when I tell you that I tried MANY combinations - LOL!

These seven sets are for those of you who have never purchased Copic Markers before and would like to try them in one color family. It will allow you to add to your marker sets over time and hopefully not make such a huge dent in your crafting budget. Please remember when you purchase your first set to add a Colorless Blender Marker. No place in these seven sets is a Colorless Blender included. You may also want to consider getting the Colorless Blender Refill at the same time to help with clean up and to create special effects.

I would like you all to note this important item. In creating the sets of markers so that individuals could purchase one set only it became necessary to repeat a couple of colors in the sets. You will find that color Y21 is used in both the Pastel and Jewel Tones sets, marker R89 is used in both the Jewel and Trendy Tones, and marker YG63 is used in both the Pastel and Trendy Tones sets. Unfortunately if you purchase these in sets you will receive duplicates.

My suggestion for those who will be purchasing your markers one set at a time is to purchase the markers individually that are in these sets to avoid duplication. I wish there were an easier way around it, but I couldn't think of anything that made sense other than to purchase the markers individually or as a whole.

These seven sets will be sent to you in a Clear Copic Sketch Case. The retail value of these sets including the case is $75.40 - we will be selling these for $59.49.

For those who like to just make one big purchase and be ready to go we put together a COPIC Gotta Have It All (GHIA) for the first time COPIC user. This marker set is for those that wanted to have all the colors necessary to create the colors that coordinate with Stampin' Up!'s many beautiful colors as well as a few others that are just too good to pass up.

Hold your breath - the retail value of this set is... $631.05. Gulp - why so much you ask? Well included with the 96 markers, which are valued at $5.95 each, we have opted to include 3 wallets that each hold 36 markers. Each wallet retails for $19.95. But here is where the good news comes in - you will be THRILLED to know that the cost for the Ellen Hutson Exclusive GHIA is $456.96. (Well, perhaps I should say exclusive until another retailer comes along and reads about all this hard work and decides to sell the same package - LOL!)

In order to truly make this a one stop set of 96 (these were originally designed to fit into four wallets that only hold 24 markers) I had to leave out just a couple of colors that you can purchase separately in the store. YG23-New Leaf, W2-Warm Gray No. 2 and W4-Warm Gray No. 4 can be purchased seperately. At this time there is plenty of room in the large wallets these are coming to you in to add those other must-have colors you have been dying to try.

All coloring reference charts will be included with the GHIA.

Now you ask - I already own the two sets of markers in your store - I own 24A and 24B - what should I do? We have tried to simplify this for you. You will need to purchase 24C and 24D to complete your color collection.

Sets 24C and 24D include the YG23 - I believe YG23 is one of those Julie Ebersole must have colors - LOL! You know how much Julie (and Ellen Ü) love greens. It does not include W2 and W4, but I do believe that you will be able to suffice with the W3 it does include. It also does not include a Colorless Blender Marker in these sets because I figured most of you will already own one. As well, all of my coloring reference charts will be included with the 24C and 24D sets.

These will come in the same wallets as 24A and 24B come in. The retail value on this particular set is $155.75 and our price is $118.49. As you can see from this picture you can set these markers upright on your desk or you can stack multiple ones horizontally as I have shown using the sets of 36 above. When I use my markers I prefer to have the markers lying flat as shown above in the GHIA. This allows me to see all the colors simultaneously.

Well... as you can see we try our best to give you plenty of versatility and at the same time provide a good value for your dollar. We try and make certain that we share as much educational information with you as possible regarding how to use this product. We try to provide you with the best customer service possible. We thank you for supporting us in our endeavours and fully realize that you can purchase your product wherever you choose - we thank you for choosing us. I feel blessed to know that you value what it is that we do and that you continue to support us.

Insert long sigh here - WOW - what a WORDY post - LOL! Did I lose you? Are you still there? If you are still there I have a special bonus for you for reading all the way through this monstrosity of a post!!! BLOG CANDY Ü I think all that reading deserves a little fun.

Included in this treat will be a brand, spankin' new set of papers from Memory Box that I haven't even gotten up on the store yet - these are yummy! Included is a WONDERFUL new backgrounder, three fun COPIC Sketch Markers, and a little Fun Flock to top it off. To enter please post below - only one post per person please. I would love to hear what your experience with markers OR backgrounders is. Have you tried the COPIC markers or the CHF Backgrounders before? and what is it that you love about them. Just one little reason - you don't need to write an epistle like I have - LOL! Oh, and you must post before Friday, January 25th 11:59 p.m.

Thank you for stopping by and thank you so much for supporting us in what it is that we do.

Masked Love

Surprises are coming and I am wondering if any of you might figure out what we will be adding to our line of products over the weekend based on what has been used in the project below! This is a brand new product for us and I am thrilled to be carrying this product! I can hardly wait to spill the beans, so stay tuned and hopefully before Monday I will be able to share our latest excitement with all of you Ü

I'll take one of the guesses out of the equation though - it's not the additional Copic markers we are all waiting for. I am hoping that these will arrive this next week as well, but I have been hoping that for a LONG time now and therefore I am no longer holding my breath for fear of fainting - LOL!

I also want to let you know that we are making progress on the Scalloped Heart Nestabilities. The design has been redone and sent off - Spellbinders is hoping to have them in within the next two weeks. We have sent out an email to all of our customers who have ordered this product through us - if you have not received an email from us please let us know ASAP - we hope we didn't miss any of you. We will be sending another email out shortly with how and when it is that we are going to get this new improved product to you Ü

Masking and airbrushing - what a cool combination this is! I have fallen in love with creating some of my own background papers by combining masking, airbrushing and stamping.

In creating this card I made a couple of discoveries that have nothing to do with masking though. The first is that the Urban Couture ribbon line looks fabulous with the Memory Box Enlighten paper series. Secondly, I discovered that it is fun to color over patterned paper with Copic markers. I stamped the Lock Heart on patterned paper so that it would tie the color scheme together, but realized that some of the detail disappeared in to the pattern. By highlighting the special features of the stamp with just a light touch of marker it emphasized them just enough to bring those details to the forefront. The little key is made by Jolee - I picked some up to put in the store, but of course they aren't up yet - LOL! Could I please have just a little more time in my day, so that I could get all these things done?

Of course I forgot to take pictures of the background as I created it and so I needed to recreate the key steps to share with you for the pictures below. For the card above I used the Newsprint alphabet and for the examples below I used the Damask mask.

The first thing I would like to remind you to do is to lightly tap your finger tips over the entire sticky surface of the mask before adhering it to your project. This is important being that the masks are SO sticky they might pull your paper surface off if you attach them directly to your project first. Be certain not to overdue this step though being you want it to still stick to your project.

Lightly stick the mask on to your paper by pressing it down gently all over. I then selected a pink Copic marker in a darker value of the pink color and airbrushed over the entire piece.

Upon completion remove the mask and adhere it back to it's "plastic-like" surface so that you can reuse it for your next project. Also don't try taking pictures with your right hand as you spray with your left simultaneously, or you will get a "hot-spot" like I did as shown above - LOL!

If you do not own an airbrush please do not hesitate to try this technique. Instead what you will do is select an ink pad that is a slightly darker value of the color of cardstock you have selected.

Then using the Ink Blending Tool pick up color from the ink pad and smudge and smooth it over the entire surface with a smooth motion. The results are slightly more mottled, but this is a fun effect as well.

I finished the project off by using the Spanish Script backgrounder from CHF, a little piercing, ribbon and accent paper. Another idea that you could spin off of this project would be to write out the sentiment "i heart u" (using the Lock Heart as the heart). What other ideas do you have that you would like to share?

Well put your thinking caps on and get ready - what do you think it is that I have fallen in love with this time? I can hardly wait to share our exciting news!

Copic - New Color Update

I know that many of you are anxiously awaiting the answer to this question and so I am going to try and give you as much information as possible so that you can make an educated decision about what is happening with our Copic Marker inventory and whether or not it is wise to purchase the current colors.

When coordinating colors to the Stampin' Up! cardstock colors I worked for some time trying to get it as close as I possibly can to being a perfect match to the Stampin' Up! cardstock colors. As you well know dye lots vary and so I can not guarantee that the cardstock I have will be the same as your cardstock, but I did select colors that will be a fairly close match to the SU colors. As you can see below there are a few colors that I could not achieve a perfect match.

To achieve what I have above there will need to be more than a simple set of 48 basic colors, 12 add on colors (In Colors) and 4 neutrals.

To create a coordinating color I went through the colors one by one - coloring them on Solar White cardstock. The white of the cardstock will also affect your color outcome. The white of the Solar White is a Bright White - subtle undertones in white will make your color vary. Below is an example of just one of the colors that I selected. Once I had finished with coloring I would place my sample directly on top of the cardstock - if it wasn't close I would try again. I have many, many, many little color squares - LOL! Maybe I should create a paper quilt :D Ya, like I have time - ha, ha.

My first round of coloring was using a single color. After going through all my options I then went to round two. Combining two colors to make a perfect match. Well as you can see there were still some that aren't quite there and unfortunately I have not figured out a method for getting there, but they are SO close that I can't imagine anyone really feeling like they don't coordinate with the Stampin' Up! colors. Honestly I could not believe it when I took the Stampin' Up cardstock, ink and marker colors to study my comparisons and realized that WOW - the SU colors were many times very different from the cardstock color. Therefore I decided that I needed to coordinate the Copic markers with the cardstock only, being that it is the primary item to which you will be coordinating your coloring.

So what I finally came down to is the following - we will have:

• the Copic Gotta Have It All (96 Sketch Markers) - this will include all of our current colors as well as all the SU coordinates,
• two new sets, 24C and 24D, these will be add-ons to our current line that will bring in all the new additions to the line,
• seven new sets of 12 - four will coordinate with the 48 colors, one will coordinate with the new colors (the In Colors), one will be composed of all neutrals (I could not believe how many of SU's colors have gray in them - the Copic colors are so vibrant, many of them needed to be "toned" down) and last another set of 12 that you will need to bring the 60 colors in Stampin' Up's current line (and last year's In Colors) to the correct hue. These seven sets will have duplicates of our current colors in them and thus the addition of the two sets 24C and 24D. This will allow our current users to have no duplicates. Our colors will not use the Stampin' Up! names being that we do not want to infringe on Stampin' Up!s business. Alcohol ink markers are completely different and therefore we will keep our colors distinct from the SU color names. With each order that we send out I will include my "formula" for mixing the colors to arrive at a final color.

After our latest update today from our supplier we are under the impression that these new colors will not be available until the end of December or perhaps even the new year. They didn't show up on the last boat. I must thank Kate, Ron, Marianne and Justin for hanging in there with us. They have no idea what to anticipate with their shipments from Japan either. It amazes me being that I like to have the bottom line on everything - but patience is fortunately one of the traits I try and practice on a daily basis - LOL!

I apologize for not getting this information to you sooner. There just are not enough hours in the day is what I have determined. We did receive word today that our sets of 24B are finally on their way - woohoo! So we have put them up as a preorder knowing that what we have available will ship out this next week (not in several months like last time!), but once this shipment is sold out they will disappear from our site yet again. I can promise you that we will do our best to meet your needs, answer your questions and be here for you when you order from us.

So I'm guessing I'll see you at midnight being that there are a few things that my computer just wouldn't do for me and therefore I will be behind the scenes putting the numbers in place to get the new Lockhart Stamp images live. Remember you can put your items in your cart, but you must check out after midnight to get the code to give you the 15% discount. Remember CELEBRATE.

Thank you all so much for your incredible support!!!

Spica Glitter Pen Update

Just a quick entry to let you know that yes, Spica Glitter Pen Pouches arrived today - alas they are missing the clear pen(insert big shocked eyeballs here - LOL). I have asked that they send the clear pens here via whatever vehicle that would reach us by Wednesday. I am so sorry for the delay. We will do our best to contact all those who have ordered to let you know the reason for the delay. Thank you again for your patience!!!

Marianne's Inspiration

Last night I mentioned that Marianne's piece of artwork had inspired me in one of my most recent creations. One of the most fascinating textures I spotted in Marianne's work was in the cherry blossoms she created.

I want to show you a closeup view of this area being that her work is so beautiful. I can hardly wait to try this same technique again. Being that life has been super busy with preparing for the arrival of the Nestabilities I just didn't have time to try and finesse my background piece. So you get to see my first attempt at this technique :D

In thinking about how I would use these awesome little embellishments that Karen has created with her latest release I decided I wanted it to appear like the little outfit was hanging from this vine. Following is how I created the rose vines. I stamped the image on Solar White cardstock using Adirondack Pitch Black. Using Copic markers (RV11, RV34, YG000, YG63, YG95 and E09) I colored in the image.

As you can see I made no attempt at blending the colors at this point. In fact I wasn't even particularly careful in how I colored the image.

I can't remember if I have shared a picture of the marker inserted in the airbrush previously and so I thought i would give you a quick closeup of the sketch marker installed in the air grip. It is so simple to place the marker into the air grip as shown and push it in until you feel it snap. You want the marker tip to be right at the end of the air nozzle to get the best spray pattern. If the marker is not fully engaged then the air is not directed at the correct spot and you will not achieve the best results.

Being that I was trying to mimic the look of the sky that Marianne created above I choose not to spray an even pattern, but rather sprayed more randomly around the image, lifting and lowering the air grip to achieve some darker spots, as well as starting and stopping the air flow from time to time. I then pulled out my light blue marker (B00) and replaced it with the pink that I had used in the blooms (RV34).

As I work I drop in to place the main image that I have colored to see how my background is "balancing" out my focal point. Here is a little tip (or secret) for you - at one point I felt that I had airbrushed too much blue on to my image, so I took my colorless blender marker and inserted it in to the airbrush. VOILA - it pulled back some of the bright spots that I had created with a magical effect.

Once I felt that the colors I had airbrushed in place would balance with the focal point, I used the brush tip of my Sketch Colorless Blender Pen to "bleed" the colors together and create some "pools" around the flowers and leaves. It is these "pools" that I found so intriguing in Marianne's work above. I have yet to master it as she has, but it is a beginning and I love the soft look that it creates in the background. Again I remind you of the "squishy" tip I showed you yesterday - that is precisely the method I used on each on of these flowers and leaves. On some flowers I actually held the tip to the colored surface in three places and in others I only held it down in one, but pushed it in to the paper with a slightly heavier hand.

To finish the background and focal piece I used the Nestabilities largest basic rectangle to emboss the background and the scalloped and basic oval to highlight the little "Sweet Pea" outfit. Last but certainly not least I added just a hint of bling to the flowers using my Spica pink and melon glitter pens.

This little card has been created with a sweet little someone in mind - a precious new addition to this world. I can hardly wait to get it sent off, but alas I must wait to do a little shopping. Oh my, but it is hard staying home when you know that you need to go girl baby shopping - LOL! Hmm - one more week, or will it be two - please let me drive soon!!!!

On a HUGE high note we have sent out the requests for the balance due payments on the Nestabilities. That's right ladies - we are madly working at this point in our attempt to make a huge dent in our shipments by the beginning of the coming week!!!! Some of the Nestabilities are on the road heading our direction as I type this. Hopefully by mid-week next week you will all have had your orders shipped and we will be able to take that large PREORDER category down and add the nestabilities as a regular feature in our store. I thank you so much for your excitement today and once again for your patience. I promise you that you will have GREAT fun exploring the limitless possibilities these will bring forth in your creations!

I can also tell you that the magnetic plates and tan mats will be on their way here shortly as well. I have not yet put them up in my store being I have no pictures and not enough information regarding weight, etc. Please hang in there with me as we await the last details and I will upload that information promptly.

Don't forget - you have a little less than two hours to join the fun in sharing your quotes or wisdom to be part of the drawing for the awesome Cargo alphabet :D

 

COPIC Colorless Blender Marker and Solution Ideas

This is going to be a LONG post - so grab yourself something to sip on, a warm blankie (at least here in the NW) and put your feet up for a bit of a read :D

Now that you have had a basic introduction to the airbrush system I want you to play with it and develop different ways of using it, but another question that seems to be pressing is "What on earth do I do with my blender marker and that colorless blending solution?" Hopefully tonight's post will share just enough to get your mind's racing and help you begin to explore the amazing things that can be done with these awesome tools.

Do you remember how I used rubbing alcohol to clean up my "spray" mess? Well Joan B, you got it - rubbing alcohol can do amazing things to and with alcohol inks. If rubbing alcohol, which has a lower alcohol content, does cool things - then the real deal, colorless blending solution, will achieve even more striking effects. So let's begin!

I'll begin with the texture on the left that is labeled rubbing alcohol (see second picture below). This first texture was created by wrapping a paper towel in a tight circle, applying rubbing alcohol to the end and then just lightly pressing it against the airbrushed paper. I opted to use a dark to light color progression so that you could get a fairly good vision of the effect that can be created.

You can create so many types of effects just by using your creativity and a variety of textured products. Give this a try with burlap, cotton balls, linen - whatever you can dampen with alcohol you can use to change the texture of the surface colored with alcohol inks! The next line over was created using Colorless Blender Solution instead of rubbing alcohol. As you can see the more powerful strength of the Colorless Blender removes more color than the rubbing alcohol did. So depending upon the look you would like to achieve pick the solution that is best for that application. Another medium that Marianne shared with me that creates some wonderful "splotchy" effects when dotted in "globs" on your paper is Purell hand sanitizer. Now just watch the stock prices inflate on this stuff - LOL! I didn't have any on hand to show you the effect, but trust me - it is so worth trying.

You can create these wonderful effects on "regular" colored work as well. I used the airbrushed example, being we had been talking about airbrushing and it was a quick and easy way to create a colored background to play with these different effects.

Next I showed some incredibly simple texture ideas using the colorless blender marker. By placing the chisel tip side by side in a step by step progression you can easily construct a brick-like texture. The brush tip can be used to created symmetrical, even dots or pressed randomly and repetitively on your colored work to create unique textures. I also wanted to demonstrate the resilience of the brush tip. The first time Marianne showed me her "texturing" technique I caught my breath.

If I had done this with my previous markers I would have never been able to color a small space with them again. Not the COPIC's :D Did I say resilient? These tips are so incredible!

If I work for a prolonged period of time squishing the tip into my work, I then just "roll" the tip back out on a spare piece of paper and voila - back to it's perfect point. This is one of the features that helped me realize the quality materials these markers are made of.

Next I played with some cool masking techniques. In creating for last month's Paper Trey release I airbrushed a flower similar to the one below. I used one of the hot new items in Nichole's store - the wonderful Maya Road sheer blooms. I really wanted to have a soft beautiful flower and so I pulled out my airbrush system to change it's color. The flower below was done in the exact same manner. What I realized in creating the project last month was that it created an awesome reverse image as well.

Once again I used temporary adhesive to hold the flower in place. I then placed the flower on a sheet of white paper.

After airbrushing the flower, I removed it to expose the reverse image now on the cardstock.

Next I experimented by wetting a paper towel with colorless blending solution and placed it over the image.

Briefly touching the dampened paper towel to the surface provided very interesting results. I do believe that next time I will use something else to apply light pressure to the entire surface at once so that I do not leave finger imprints in my piece of artwork - LOL 

Just imagine the variety of different masked and blended effects you can create. I am thinking that a collage would be wonderful to create - using different colors and different shapes, stamping, coloring - oooh la la - it's endless!!!

I am now going to end with a delightful series of pictures. These were created by Marianne Walker who teaches many of us novices, for COPIC, here in the U.S. She is the one who has taught me so much about their product. As per usual I didn't think before I shot these pictures. I was so fascinated by the texture that she created in her coloring that I didn't think to capture these pieces in their entirety. Perhaps she will allow me the honor of taking better pictures at some point when we meet again. So without further ado may I present Marianne Walkers fabulous texture examples - please double click on the images for a larger, closeup view!

Notice the beautiful bamboo texture created on the surface of these sandals.

Once again the texture on these boots is fabulous - look closely.

This last picture is my favorite. There are SO, SO many different textural areas in this piece of artwork that Marianne has created. I look at it for inspiration constantly - just studying the different areas and analyzing and wondering how it is that she has created the look simply with markers and only markers. I hope this little piece will inspire you to experiment! Experimentation is the key to unlocking the doors of your own creativity. Have no fear - just forge ahead! I'll be back to share a little card that I have created using the above picture to inspire my experimentation. Don't forget to add your words of wisdom to the previous post to be included in a drawing for the awesome Cargo alphabet! The deadline is tomorrow night! Happy creating!!!

COPIC Airbrush Mania - Part 2

So we have the airbrush system put together now what? Hit the trigger girls, hit the trigger :D

I have received numerous questions regarding which set of colors works best for airbrushing. Is it the lightest colors that are in the set 12A? or the darkest colors that are in 12D? or is it the ones in the middle?

My answer to that question is not definitive at all - LOL! It depends on the look your are going for. What I tried to do in this example is share with you how wide a range you can achieve when airbrushing. When I airbrush I like to start by holding my airbrush approximately 8" away from my work surface and not aim directly on to my piece of work. I actually will aim to the right of my piece of artwork for the initial trigger pull and then move my airbrush back and forth over the area that I am spraying. To achieve darker/or denser spray patterns move your airbrush slowly closer to your work surface as you continue to move back and forth. To achieve a wider spray pattern hold your airbrush further away.

Pictured above I selected all four Blue-Violet colors that I carry in my store. I began with the darkest color tone on the left and worked my way to the lightest tone on the right. With each spray pattern I tried to achieve a darker tone on the left side of the color allowing it to become lighter on the right side. I then elected to color a strip of the marker at the very bottom edge so that you would be able to see for yourself the difference in color value range that you can achieve with just one marker.

So back to the question - which color range works best? My answer to that question is - do you want a soft misty background? If so select the lightest colors. Do you want a more dramatic look? Then chose the darker colors. You can airbrush with all of the colors, you will just achieve different looks.

OK, so what else should I try?

Sketch markers come with two different tips - one is the chisel tip, the other is the brush. When you utilize the chisel tip you will achieve a very fine, more dense spray pattern. Again the closer you hold the tip to the surface the stronger the color becomes. To keep a smooth and even color slowly move your airbrush back and forth across your work surface.

Next you have the brush tip. Not only does the brush tip allow you to work in very tight spaces when coloring, but it can be utilized with the airbrush system as well :D. See me bouncing :D The Original Copic markers really only have one end, the chisel tip, that works well in the air brush. The fine bullet tip just doesn't give much of a spray pattern, if any. Whereas the brush tip on the Sketch marker gives a very cool splatter (or should I have said spatter?) type of spray pattern. Options, options, options - a girl just needs those :D. That's why I love the Sketch marker.

Well as you can see I've made quite a mess. What do I do to protect my work surface? I do one of two things - either I just use some old paper that I have had underneath my project - this works great because it absorbs the extra spray that goes over the edges. The other option I have elected to use with my alcohol products is this fabulous mat. So where did I get this awesome idea you might wonder - well I got it from "da man", Tim Holtz. Tim is so incredibly innovative and THE product that was on his workstation was a ROLL of this stuff, not one little piece, but, like a whole tablecloth size :D. Boy, do I wish I could spend more time with Tim. Someday I will share my little summer CHA story with you, but now is not the time (OK - am I big tease or what?!?)

So here it is - all messy!

and yes - that is cheap (or should I say inexpensive :D) rubbing alcohol that can be purchased a myriad of places across this planet. Dampen a paper towel and wipe. VOILA!

Beautimous!

OK - so we have sprayed - fine patterns, splatter patterns, different color values. We have paper towels, we have alcohol, we have alcohol inks, we have colorless blender solution. We are airbrushing, we are coloring - oh yes, there is more - SO much more!!! This is only the beginning. Come on back to see what else I've been up to. Yes, these toys are addictive! They are fun! They truly allow you to be over the top creative and experimentational. Gotta love it :D

COPIC Airbrush Mania - Part 1

OK - I'll admit it - I am totally diggin' this airbrushing stuff. I'm not certain why that is, but all I can say is that it is completely and totally addictive. I am having such a ball just learning how to finesse this tool. Nothing much to show for my work yet at this point, but I am learning and it has been SO much fun!

Tonight's post is more of an educational post. I have had many of you ask me about the ease of use, what color value range works the best, etc. and so I am hoping to help answer some of those questions with this post and future ones.

It all begins with this - the tools:

I have selected to carry the ABS-1 system in my store being that I believe that when you purchase something you want it to do the best job it can and again be able to be stored in a realistic manner. I also want to have everything that is necessary to do the job when I set forth to try something new. The other products offered by COPIC are all well made, but in my opinion this is the best set to start with. The system comes with everything above, except the larger air can. I must say that the small air can it comes with is really only a "starter" can. The Air Can 80 that it comes with supplies about 15-20 minutes of air to work with. The Air Can 180 lasts for about 40-45 minutes. You will be pleasantly surprised by the number of projects you can create with this amount of air. When you air brush you typically use just short little bursts of air using only seconds at a time. You can not spray for long periods of time with this type of system being that the air can gets too cold and will not work after a while. This means you can't just sit there and air brush for long lengths of time. So I have found that my air can is lasting well. I will also admit that I am such an addict that I am looking in to purchasing an air compressor being that I believe that this is going to be a life-time addiction for me :D

I am going to share some pictures of how easily this system goes together. It comes with complete instructions and I HIGHLY recommend reading these before beginning to do anything with your new toy. There are precautions listed and advice that will really improve the quality of your work. Following are the basics.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before I attached the air adaptor (the can in the picture above) to the air grip (the little trigger mechanism). It easily screws together - sorry I missed this piece, but I didn't want to waste any of my precious air by pulling it apart again - LOL!

At the other end of the hose is a valve that houses the air regulator. The regulator does just what you think it will - it regulates the amount of air that is released from the can. The little screw at the top of the system is how you release the air.

I find it easier to attach this valve by holding it firmly in my left hand and turning my air can on to the valve/regulator by rotating it counterclockwise.

Be certain that your valve is opened as shown above before attaching, otherwise you will hear a "psst" as the air starts going out and it might startle you. If your hose is attached at the air adaptor/air grip it will stop you from loosing air, but I still recommend that the screw is in the position shown above. You will also want to be certain that you don't open that screw too far because guess what it comes COMPLETELY OFF. At that point the air just goes escaping in to the air. Guess how I found that out?!? LOL. So play with all the parts before you start putting your gadget together to familiarize yourself with all the little twisty parts before attaching it to your air can.

As soon as you have your pieces attached it is best to place the air can in to the foam grip stand that is provided in the kit.

Please note that you must NOT shake the air can or lay the air can on it's side while operating. The liquid within the can becomes so cold that it can cause frostbite. Now that's cold! Somehow this liquid can escape if the air can is on it's side, so be certain to place it in the foam grip whenever you are using your air brush. Fortunately I can tell you that I have not experienced this little dilemna (yet) - which actually surprises me being that I am apparently accident prone - LOL!

So with that you are ready to snap your marker in place and start creating magic. COPIC has put together some information on their website that is also helpful. This is only the beginning of the Airbrush Mania series I am putting together. I believe that as it becomes more common place we will see some incredibly innovative ways of using it. Hmm - what about temporary tattoos, or streaked hair, or ... OK - that may be a little much, but it is so fun to think about. I hope to share some of my innovations with you being that I am just having fun with it right now. I like to try spraying everything, including my fingers (but that is purely by accident :D)

OOPS - I forgot to add - the markers came in and went right out to their respective homes. Guess what - I am now completely sold out of some of the sets yet again. More are on order, many more - but patience is a virtue and I refuse to put them back up as a preorder item until I know what the correct ship dates are going to be. I am so sorry we continue to sell out of them at lightning speed, but please know that I am doing my best to get an inventory in stock that will not keep you waiting. So once again I am doing my utmost to be patient. Thank you all again for your continued support and I hope that I receive some magical news from my COPIC representative when I call tomorrow. I'll be updating on all items again once I receive updates. THANK YOU!

2007 Limited Edition and Other Surprises

There are a few of you who have noticed a little surprise that was snuck in to our online store. Some of you have already been purchasing this darling little image that Karen has just released. For those of you who are not familiar with the Lockhart Stamp Company line of images I am going to share the story behind the Limited Edition pieces.

Karen began her stamp company the end of the year 2005. I believe at that time she had something like 13-15 stamps. She decided that each year she would release an image that would be limited to 250 pieces. She selected a theme that is so very charming and began with a celebration from their lives - the arrival of her little grandson Nicholas.

The first image released was "The Flurries". Unfortunately there are none to be had at this point and I refuse to sell mine - LOL! If you are lucky to find one you will want to snap it up. In fact the most recent sale we noted was someone selling it for $20. Who would have thought that one little stamp could become so valuable?!?

Sorry for the not so perfect picture, but I took my boot (cast) off and it is a royal pain to get it back on to go and find a better picture. So instead I am sharing this one which was easy to attach. Here we have Grandma and Grandpa Flurry with baby Nicholas.

Last year Nicholas was a year old and like all little children loved being tossed in the air. So "Nicholas and Daddy" came about. If you think that you would like to purchase this Limited Edition stamp you should probably do so as soon as possible because once my inventory is gone, they are completely gone.

This year Nicholas, now two, has gotten to know his grandma and grandpa a whole lot better and I do believe that he is the light of their lives. Karen shared a story with me just recently that gives me the giggles. Nicholas came to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa and upon arrival was thrilled to see "Big Daddy". Karen was then wondering what she was going to be called and had her fingers crossed that she would not be called "BIG Mama" - LOL! Thankfully Nicholas is wise for his age and began calling her "Nanna" instead. What a relief for Karen! But we continue to giggle about it each time we talk about Nicholas. We are being treated this year to "Grandma and Grandpa with Nicholas" - I am so delighted with this sweet image!

What could be more fitting for this occasion then a little pocket card to record some of Nicholas favorite holiday memories? The inspiration for this design came from my friend Kendra. Today Kendra shared a picture of one of her creations and I just loved the layout - thank you Kendra for inspiring me! Please stop by her blog and check out her WAY cool creation!

Being that I love an old-fashioned Christmas style I decided to go with the new Cosmo Cricket papers that have been sitting here beckoning me from afar. I know that the Lockhart image is pretty "crisp" in nature and so I began with a color palette that would bring it into a realm that would coordinate with the Cosmo Cricket papers and in addition figured out a way that I could then age the whole creation, hopefully without muddying it too much.

I took a picture of my work in progress to share some of my coloring technique. First I lay down the lightest color. I then scribble some of the coordinating colors on a piece of plastic (or in this case my acrylic block being it was right there - LOL!) Next I use the light colored marker to pick the dark color up off the block and add shading to the image I am coloring. Once I have the color added to the image I then scribble off any excess dark color until the marker is once again "clean", as you can see by the example in the lower right hand corner of this picture.

I created a mask (Debbie has done a WONDERFUL job of explaining how to do this at her blog here) and airbrushed the sky with the blue-green color (BG72 - this is a color I hope to add to my store soon being that I have decided I just can't live without it - LOL!) from the trees and then added some E31 to age the appearance. I removed the mask and as you can see it still was a little too white! So I airbrushed additional E31 over the entire image, leaving the faces and bodies of the snowmen a little lighter.

In the image above please take note of the tree on the far left. As you can see it is brighter then the other trees and not nearly as well blended. Many times rather then using the blender pen to bring the colors together I will select one of the markers from the lightest color set to bring all the colors together. In this instance I selected E00 being that the colors in the Cosmo Cricket papers are not a true bright value. The addition of the E00 over top the BG72 and BG72 combined with E29 bring all the color tones together to work beautifully with the papers. 

As you can see in the image above I used my colorless blender pen to then remove some of the caramel from just the bodies of the snowmen to add a little contrast to the snowmen themselves - this helps make them pop just a little more. Sneaking out from behind you will notice this awesome  "Ribbon of Lights". These were also stamped on white cardstock, colored with Copics and airbrushed with E31 to age the strip and allow it to blend with the papers. Airbrushing is so quick and easy and it is quite simple to learn to control the amount of color that goes on to the paper.

To complete the "coloring" of the image I added some 2-way Glue and Hero Arts Prismaglitter, Spica clear glitter pen, and Sakura Clear Glaze pen on the lights. Again the paper and ribbons are all from the Cosmo Cricket "Be Good" collection - I adore this collection and hope to have some awesome things to share with you soon :D

So the "surprises" I was referring to in the title above are a wonderful new collection from Karen Lockhart called the Millinery series. To allow you a comparison of sizes I have taken a picture of the collection and shown it here below. Each of these was colored by Karen herself.

Hopefully the combination of these pictures along with the one above that shows the Ribbon of Lights "in action" will allow you to get a feel for how these would fit on a card front. Each "ribbon" is 5 1/4" in length and approximately 1/2" high. With time you will see these ribbons and embellishments come to life in some other fun creations. I'm taking it one day at a time around here and trying so hard to get as much done as possible.

Thanks for stopping by to share in my excitement - sorry there was no fun build-up this time for these latest releases. I just couldn't pull it off this time round. Maybe my next celebration will be when I am up and around again.

So go and get your "Nanna and Big Daddy with Nicholas" stamp as soon as possible being that my guess is that this year they are going to fly out the doors. Have a wonderful weekend!

COPIC Markers - How do I package these, what paper do I use and answers to other questions

This post has been WAY too long in coming on so many levels. Once again I thank you for the beautiful cards, warm emails and posts to my blog in regards to your concern for my well-being. Please keep your fingers crossed that I will be able to walk on my foot tomorrow. Being that I was diagnosed with an acute foot fracture (or more specifically I broke a major weight bearing bone in my foot) I must start with a minimum of use after staying off of it completely for the last two weeks. It still hurts and therefore I am hoping that the bone has laid down the "glue" necessary for it to heal correctly over the last two weeks. If this hasn't happened... well I don't even want to think about it - LOL! I've been a good girl and so I am thinking positively at this point :D Thank you again for your thoughts, prayers and advice!!!

I just want you all to know that hopefully you will find your long wait for your COPIC markers worth while. The one thing that is important to me is to make certain that I am providing my customers with accurate, educational information - but also a good value for their dollar. I know that you can find all sorts of other places to purchase your products through and I thank you again so much for supporting us here at Ellen Hutson LLC. We are trying to give you the best value for your dollar and bring the products to you in a professional manner that will make your life easier.

Our sets of 24 will be sent to you in a beautiful COPIC wallet - as pictured below :D

These wallets make it convenient to travel with the markers and will help keep your markers organized. If you have purchased both sets I would highly recommend that you reorganize them by color family once they arrive in your homes. Mine are organized by color families starting with the lightest color and working to the darkest. For example I start with the BV colors and organize them as follows: BV000, BV02, BV04, BV08. Then they go in the following order: BV, V, RV, R, YR, Y, YG, G, BG, B, E, and other neutrals. By ordering them this way it is easy for me to quickly reach for a combination of colors that will make blending easy. Even though I have a multitude more colors I have been limiting my use to these 48 to be certain that what I have provided really "does the job".

Many of you have asked if I will add colors over time and I want you to know that that is a possibility. There are some other neutrals as well as a few other "colors" that I would love to have included in these sets, but being a pragmatist I wanted to make these sets more of a reality for the many who would delight in the use of these markers and thus I limited myself to the 48. If you would like to see me add to the line please let me know, but again I do not want to assume that you all have oodles and oodles of dollars to spend on markers and so I will keep it as is, at least for now.

The sets of twelve that I have put together come in a cute little clear case.

These little cases can also be reorganized as you add to your markers so that you once again have them organized by color family, similar to how I organize my wallets above. I will be adding both the empty clear cases and the wallets to the store for you to be able to purchase separately, but being that the markers aren't even here yet I haven't put those items up yet. Please know that they are here and will be added to the store soon. If you are in need of either item please let me know and I'll try and get them posted sooner rather than later.

Many have asked about paper. What paper is it that I recommend for use with the COPIC markers? I have not had the opportunity to study paper as thoroughly as I have studied ink pads. This is probably due to the fact that I use the Neenah Classic Crest series of paper for most of my work and it has done well by me. I typically use the Solar White which is listed in the upper right hand corner of the above link. I have used the markers on a few others as well and so I will put together a "model" or example for you all to see as soon as time (and my ability to motor around this house of mine) allows.

See you tomorrow night - I'm trying to get a couple more projects done for Nichole's new release - this has indeed been a challenge for me this month - LOL! (Can I admit out lout that I'm behind on EVERYTHING in life :D that is tough for a type A individual to do!) The projects are incomplete not because of the lack of inspiration and an INCREDIBLE product, but because it is SO hard to get to my supplies :D. The packaging and stamps that Nichole has put together this month will blow your socks off - that is if she hasn't already done so with her exquisite samples! So put those socks back on so that they can be blown off just one more time tomorrow night. Head on over to Nichole's blog for an annoucement regarding a pre-release party she has planned :D

COPIC - At You Spica Glitter Pens

So what can I tell you about the Spica Glitter Pens? Being that these are brand new to the market place I have to admit that I don't have a ton of information to share with you. So rather then go on and on about these pens and what they can do, I will once again share the information that has been provided by COPIC themselves as to what the features of these pens are and then add my own two cents worth (and believe me - it is only two cents - LOL!):

• water based pigment ink
• acid free
• non-toxic
• archival
• micro glass flakes for maximum sparkle (this is such a cool feature - these babies REALLY sparkle in the light. I am LOVING putting the color on a project and just watching it. As the ink comes out there is this amazing little "pool" - for lack of a better word" - of color that quickly dissipates in to the paper leaving the most incredible sparkley finish on your work.)
• twice the writing length of other pens, 360 yds. (Well this is something I just have to take their word for being that I don't have a clue what other pens writing distance is - LOL! But I am thrilled that these will last a longer time being that they are SO enticing.
• perfect for card making, scrapbooks and doodling
• transparent ink - great for color and bling overlays
• 12 bold colors, 1 clear pen

I have tried to make this color chart so that you can get a better understanding as to what these markers will look like. This chart was made on plain white paper and each circle is colored only with the Spica Glitter Pen indicated. To add a comparison I also used the Sakura Stardust Clear Glitter Pen. As you can see the Sakura pen clear really isn't clear. The advantage of the COPIC clear is that it truly is clear. It was REALLY hard to try and show the effect of the clear pen in a picture. All it lays down is sparkle - I was fascinated by this and can hardly wait to experiment more with it.

For all those of you who have placed orders this month the little thank you notes that are included with your order have three of the colors used on it to add sparkle - red, melon and gold.

One of my favorite ways to use the pen is to add highlights to a colored design (be it Prismacolored, watercolored, COPIC colored - whatever) to emphasize, or add details. For example on this angel I have used the pen to add shimmery red highlights to the berries, the plaid design on the dress, and the candlestick. Gold was added to the leaf wings, hair and dots and tassles on her dress, and melon was added to the ribbon on the candlestick. What is interesting is that you won't see the same color line that you get with other product being that this goes on transparent. What I do get is an amazing shimmer with the added interest of transparent color that I just can't seem to capture with my camera.

Hopefully this is somewhat helpful information, but as with all things new it is going to be an experimental process for me to see what exactly I can do with these other then just add amazing bling to my work :D

COPIC Update - Not Good News

Well if persistence and follow-through would make things happen in this world I would be so happy, because I have been incredibly persistent in my calls to follow up on getting the COPIC markers here in a timely manner.  Unfortunately I do not have good news to share. In fact I am rather bummed and feeling I wish that I could be in control, but alas I am not. I believed that the remaining Sketch markers that had been backordered were arriving today, but they aren't. In fact they are not even landed here in the U.S. yet. I am SO SORRY! After many phonecalls, some begging and pleading to get more information, I have the following to share with you. The remaining markers are to land on August the 17th. I have asked that the turnaround time be kept to the bare minimum and that the order be expedited to me. This wait has been a LOT longer then I had anticipated and I am SO sorry.

It seems like life keeps handing me lemons these days and I am doing my best to turn each lemon in to lemonade, but I've got SO much lemonade mixed up at this point that I'm not certain what to do with it all at this point - LOL! If only I could turn that lemonade in to COPIC markers I would be so very happy! I thank you all so much for your patience and belief in me!!!

COPIC - Which Ink Pad do I use?

You girls are so much faster than I am - LOL! OK, so I have researched the ink pads in depth. Being that I am not one to rely on other people's work I did my own test back in June but just haven't had the time to upload the information I discovered. I guess this foot injury is coming in handy after all! Thank goodness I had all the work done, I even had my test sheet scanned - LOL! So here are the answers to the long awaited ink pad questions.

Each one of these butterflies was stamped in the same manner, but I used different ink pads. The name of each ink pad is listed next to the image. The wings on the left side of the butterfly were colored before heat setting - those on the right were heat set before coloring. Following are the differences from wing to wing:

• top left wing - Sketch markers only,
• bottom left wing - Sketch markers and Colorless Blender,
• bottom right wing - Sketch markers and Colorless Blender after heat setting,
• top right wing - Colorless Blender only after heat setting

My favorite ink results are as follows:

1. Tsukineko Brilliance (if patient you can wait for it to dry and color without heat setting - this is the method I used in my testing. Typically though I am rather impatient and therefore I need to heat set my image first Ü). By studying the results to my little experiement I had an aha moment. Lo and behold pigment inks were awesome! (Fabrico Craft is another example of a pigment ink.) It was one of those duh moments! Of course pigment inks will work great - that is why COPIC makes a small multiliner for drawing details that is PIGMENT. SO if you have a pigment pad try it first before running out and buying something new Ü BTW I am working at getting these pens uploaded as well - hopefully in the next couple of days. I have already uploaded the Brilliance Black and Coffee Bean, so if you do not have a pigment pad that you are happy with these will be an awesome addition to your stamping collection.
2. Adirondack (this dye ink is AMAZING! I don't know if it is due to the fact that Ranger makes alcohol inks, but I'm LOVING this ink with the COPIC markers.) I can highly recommend it and that is why I have added it to my webstore. It is actually my first choice due to it's quick drying time, but I listed it second being that I don't want to sell you a product that you don't need. If you already have a pigment pad that will work with your COPIC markers you don't need this one (or perhaps maybe you do if you have to have it all - LOL Ü). Being that I don't always like to use a black ink I also added the Espresso for a rich deep brown to use in stamping your images. I feel REALLY good about using this ink with the COPIC markers! Just you watch - pretty soon all my competitors are going to have it in their stores too - LOL!

Sadly, I just can not recommend the Palette ink pads for use with the COPIC markers - the results are always "iffy" at best, sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. If you want consistency you need to either use a pigment ink or the Adirondack. I hope that the document that I have attached above can be viewed in a large enough format so that you can easily see the results for yourself. You will notice that many of the inks do a "so, so" job without the Colorless Blender, but as soon as the solvent is added you end up with a mess. The Colorless Blender is a tool that is a must have for COPIC users and I will share those reasons in the coming days (and months). Have you heard the term "trust me" - LOL! Well please trust me on this one - it is amazing the techniques that you can use the blender pen for. As time allows I will share more and more with you regarding these fabulous tools.

Again I know that these are expensive markers, but I want you to know that I will not sell a product that I don't believe is a good VALUE for what it is. I believe in the Lifetime aspect of the products I purchase - these markers will be around for your lifetime and therefore I feel good about this investment in color. Thanks again for stopping by AND for your patience with me. It is always my goal to educate, educate, educate - the rest is then up to you Ü

COPIC Sketch vs. Ciao vs. Original - Which one and why?

ETA: I just was in contact with Marianne, the COPIC representative I have been learning everything I know from, and the information regarding the Ciao Nibs not being replaceable is no longer true. They will be updating their website to reflect this change as well. This piece of information will come in SO useful for those who own the Ciao markers. Do not throw them out, but order replacement tips if the current nibs wear out! I apologize for this error, but am so grateful to know this information now so that I do not provide misleading information regarding the Ciao markers! Would I still have selected the Sketch Marker - YES. For me it is once again about the color selections, comfort of use and versatility of using it in the airbrush system.

The COPIC Sketch Marker with its’ Super Brush tip and Medium Broad tip is the perfect tool for coloring in stamped images! At least that's my opinion - LOL! After many months of research and testing and playing I came to this conclusion without a doubt in my mind. Not only can you color in stamped images boldly, you can blend and airbrush, you can use these markers on textiles, in fine arts lettering and calligraphy, in producing graphics or to add a painted feeling to your works of art.  The possibilities are endless and we (Julie Ebersole, Debbie Olson, Trudee Sauer, Michelle Wooderson and myself) will do our very best to educate you to the limitless uses these markers provide. Education is so important to me and I hope that I will always be able to provide you with the reasoning behind my selections.

Following are the reasons that I selected COPIC Sketch markers as the marker that I felt would best suit the needs of a rubber stamper:

·   AMAZING color selection – in fact it was so amazing no one seemed to know which colors to start with – LOL! This is why I went ahead and broke it down in to a set of 48 colors that I think are the must have colors.

This is the primary reason I selected the Sketch variety of COPIC marker over the Ciao. The Sketch markers are available in more colors than the Ciao and when I made my final selection of colors, basing it totally on color, some of the colors were missing from the Ciao collection – colors that I feel are extremely important when shading and blending. This selection of colors will provide you with an amazing assortment of colors necessary to color in any stamped image. By touching two tips together you can create your own color and add even more colors to your color assortment.

·   Fast-drying, permanent, non-toxic, and toner compatible – what does this mean? These markers not only work great on stamped images, but you can also use them with printed or copied graphics. When sending your cardstock through a printer to add a sentiment or digital element you can still use these markers! COPIC ink does not dissolve toner. Since COPIC markers are alcohol based, ink dries quickly and blends smoothly.

·   Works well with watercolors, and can be easily touched up with colored pencils. Blending this fine art medium with other fine art media adds so much to the versatility of this product.

·   Liquid ink flow - both points get the same amount of ink – thus one end will not dry out.

·   Oval body profile is roll resistant on working surfaces - meaning it won’t roll over and off your desk (being these are alcohol ink I didn’t relish the idea of cleaning the ink from my carpet - round Ciaos roll). The oval shape is another of the primary reasons I selected the Sketch vs. the Original as well. The original felt too large and clumsy in my hand.

·   Body inscriptions and symbols are wear resistant and easily cleaned with COPIC Blender Solution. The high quality construction of the marker has a tight fitting cap and clearly printed identification of color code. What does this mean – it means that writing and coding will never come off.

·   Replacement Nibs are available for the Sketch. This adds to the longevity of the marker making it less costly over time. It also allows for different shaped nibs to be inserted in to the Sketch marker should you want to choose a bullet tip similar to the Copic Original tip you can purchase these seperately and insert them when you want to use a bullet tip.

·   Sketch markers have a broad tip (good for filling large spaces) and the other is a brush-tip (this tip places the ink onto the paper much like a paintbrush - this is how artists/crafters can get a 'watercolor style' effect using COPICs). The Ciao has the exact same tips therefore this was of little consequence in choosing between these two lines, but the Original has a slightly broader "broad tip" and has a "bullet-tip" on the opposite end. I found that I can get a MUCH finer line with the brush tip vs the bullet tip. I do believe that the bullet tip may offer some benefits to those who do not have a "light hand", but for the average individual I firmly believe that the brush tip will provide much better control.

·   Refillable with the standard COPIC Various Ink (here is where my math skills have come in helpful! Each marker costs $4.99, each refill costs$ 5.79 – I am told that this refill will fill your marker six (6) times. So $4.99 + $5.79 =$10.78/7 (original + 6 refills) = $1.54. That is an amazing value for a product of this caliber!

·   The color and codes of the Various Ink Refills are identical to COPIC Sketch Markers for easy identification.

·   The refill bottles are calibrated for easy refill measurement. 3 ml fully refills a marker.

·   The colors can also be intermixed to create an infinite color range. They can be mixed with the Colorless Blender solution (solvent) to create a diluted tone value. Special colors can be filled into empty COPIC Markers, creating an original color. This cannot be done with the Ciao markers being there are no empty Ciao markers to begin with.

·    Fit into a special airbrush system, thus turning the markers into an airbrush. Ciaos did not do this. Having a sense as to what future trends are going to be this was extremely important to me. I wanted to be certain that I was providing my customers with a product that would stand the test of time and thus meet their needs today AND tomorrow.

·   The high quality inks are checked four times for accuracy in manufacturing. Anyone who uses COPIC products quickly feels the quality difference of these markers.

So why did I not select Prismacolor markers? There are a number of reasons I choose not to go with Prismacolor Alcohol Markers:

·   Much more limiting color selection.

·   Clear Blender pens are extremely expensive in comparison to the COPIC refillable colorless blender.

·   Capillary ink feed (both ends do not get the same amount of ink therefore the big end gets all the ink and the small end dries out REALLY fast).

·   NOT refillable – therefore over time these will cost a lot more and end up being a much larger addition to our landfills.

·   NON-replaceable nibs – if nib becomes worn (which I’ve heard happens more readily with this marker) you must buy an entire new marker.

·   Labels and stickers are not reliable – pretty soon you won’t know what color your marker is without having them laid out on your work surface.

·   Have a distinct odor – COPIC markers are virtually odorless.

Not as versatile when used with other art media – other media can cause the ink to run.

I hope that you find this information helpful when making your decisions regarding these fine art materials. I realize that you have many places that you can choose to purchase your markers through as well - I sincerely hope that the education that we are trying to provide you over the next months and years will show you how much your support means to us. I would like to thank you so much for your continued support and enthusiasm and will do my best to continue to inspire and educate you as we move forward with this new product line.

COPIC Marker Update

I just wanted to give you an update to the COPIC marker orders. I have been constantly "bugging" the poor COPIC people on a regular basis - LOL! I am hopeful that the product that is to land in their warehouse today will include those missing markers and refills that we are awaiting to complete shipment of your orders. Please know that we have everything lined up and ready to go except for these missing products and we will be on it immediately upon their arrival here. Thank you to all for your patience!!! We truly appreciate your business and always want our customer service to be top notch.

Thank you,

Ellen

COPIC Coordinates

In coloring and analyzing and coloring and analyzing I went through a LOT of options to determine the colors selected for the markers carried in my store.

Following is a list of the colors that I have selected and the closet coordinating Stampin' Up! color. As with all things I have used my own eyes to determine whether or not these coordinate and so I can not guarantee that what I have selected would be the color you would select. Oddly enough when I began this project my goal was to determine what colors would coordinate and just leave it at that, providing you with a list. Well after all the time and energy that was spent the COPIC "family" suggested that I carry them in my store.

• BV02, Prune - Almost Amethyst
• V15, Mallow - Orchid Opulence
• V17, Amethyst - Lavender Lilac
• RV11, Pink - Pretty in Pink
• R59, Cardinal - Cranberry Crisp
• R20, Blush - Cameo Coral
• R14, Light Rouge - Regal Rose
• R27, Cadmium Red - Ruby Red
• R29, Lipstick Red - Real Red
• YR21, Cream -Apricot Appeal
• YR24, Pale Sepia - More Mustard
• YR14, Caramel - Pumpkin Pie
• YR09, Chinese Orange - Only Orange
• Y21, Buttercup Yellow - So Saffron
• Y15, Cadmium Yellow - Yoyo Yellow
• Y19, Napoli Yellow - Summer Sun
• YG95, Pale Olive - Old Olive
• G21, Lime Green - Certainly Celery
• G28, Ocean Green - Garden Green
• G99, Olive - Always Artichoke
• BG45, Nile Blue - Cool Caribbean
• BG09, Blue Green - Taken with Teal
• BG93, Green Gray - Mellow Moss
• B21, Baby Blue - Bashful Blue
• B23, Phthalo Blue - Ballet Blue
• B95, Light Grayish Cobalt - Brocade Blue
• B99. Agate - Night of Navy
• E00, Skin White - Blush Blossom
• E31, Brick Beige - Creamy Caramel
• E27, Africano - Close to Cocoa
• E09, Burnt Sienna - Really Rust
• T5, Toner Grey No. 5 - Going Grey
• 100, Black - Basic Black

We are working on trying to get the colors that you are viewing on the screen to be as close to the actual color as possible. Unfortunately each computer screen seems to have a slightly different color cast to it and I don't have one of those awesome, fancy gismos that gets the color correct for multiple screens.. Again I am not going to say that these colors are exact matches, but I believe that they are indeed excellent coordinates to the above listed colors.

My reasoning for selecting additional markers in each color range that were not SU coordinates was extremely important. When blending with alcohol ink markers I have found that I can get the most beautiful transition of color without a line in my work if I begin with the lightest color and then begin layering colors on top of it. At times I even touch two of the tips together to help make the transition between colors even smoother. I will demonstrate this technique through pictures so that it all makes more sense. You will also notice that my collection 12A is extremely light colors. These are the colors that Karen and I use as a base in many of the projects we color.

I have tried to select the colors that are the easiest to work when blending and therefore not all colors are coordinates to the SU colors. I hope that you find this color palette easy to work with and easy to work with the many products you may already own.

Thank you again for your trust in me - I truly hope that I will not let you down by guiding you to the products I believe have the most value for their dollar. I know that this is not an inexpensive marker to invest in - but I also know that it will last me the remainder of my life and therefore it is a good investment for me.

I will be discussing in a future post why I selected the Sketch marker vs. the Ciao and the COPIC orignial. It started out being a decision that I found difficult - that is until I began really working with the colors. It then became clear to me and so I hope to share that story soon.