Copic Team and Give away!

Where have I been? In Oregon! Meeting some of the new copic certification instructors and design team....yes, it has been a fabulous few days!

First off will you help me welcome:

Lori Craig
Colleen Schaan and
Kathy Sanders (aka...colorin' Kate)

These girls are fabulous and extremely talented and will be awesome instructors in the certification program. We now have some specific regions that we will be able to serve. Here is the breif list:

Copic Blog Team includes:
Debbie Olson
Michelle Wooderson
Sharon Harnist
Sherrie Siemens
Sally Lynn MacDonald

Copic Certification Regional Instructors:
US:
Northwest: Sherrie Siemens / Marianne Walker
Southwest: Marianne Walker
Northern Midwest / Chicago: Kathy Sanders
Central Midwest: Lori Craig
Southern Midwest: Sharon Harnist
South: Colleen Schaan
Northeast: Sally Lynn MacDonald

Canada:
Western Canada: Sherrie Siemens
Eastern Canada: Sally Lynn MacDonald

Floaters:
Debbie Olson & Marianne Walker

I am looking forward to another fantastic year in certifications for 2010!
It was such a pleasure meeting together with these women and we got to do it all at the COPIC headquarters in Oregon. The staff is so warm, wonderful and diverse. YOU SHOULD SEE THE WAREHOUSE.....ALL those pretty markers just waiting for a hand to direct them....I couldn't help but stroke a few (tee hee).


SO.....in honor of the new girls joining us COPIC has generously offered some fabulous blog candy! You will get the choice of either 12 sketch markers (OF YOUR CHOICE) or the ABS1 airbrush system!




How to win? Please leave us (the people on the blog hop listed below) a comment letting us know either how you use Copics, which Copic products you use, why you love them OR why you wish you had Copics.

One winner will be chosen from every blog and in addition to that Copic will be reading through comments. If they find a testimonial that they really like, then they will contact that person to use his or her story for the CHA booth and would then give the person an equal prize to the random winners. In other words, make your comments good! There will probably be two or three winners chosen total on comments, as well as the one winner for each listed blog. These will not be announced right away.

The drawing will happen from my blog from this post on Saturday November 12th at 12pmPST. Good Luck....what a fabulous prize!

Here are the blogs to visit:

Blogs to visit:
Marianne Walker http://www.ilikemarkers.blogspot.com/
Debbie Olson http://debbiedesigns.typepad.com/muse_and_amuse/
Sherrie Siemens http://sherrie-cardcreme.blogspot.com/
Sally Lynn MacDonald http://www.inkyheart.typepad.com/
Sharon Harnist http://paperfections.typepad.com/paperfections/
Lori Craig http://loricraig.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Colleen Schaan http://www.distinctivetouches.com/
Michelle Wooderson http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #90!

Today is not only Friday...but a special day for me and my sweetie too!
16 wonderful years together today! The card today is NOT for our anniversary (thank goodness as it is a baby shower card), but there are always baby showers to go to and I wanted to make a really cute one...:)
I used the "shower time" set from MFT and stamped directly on this decorative acetate from "My Little Yellow Bicycle". The paper is from the "earth love" collection by Cosmo Cricket and I love these clouds in the patterned paper. I paper pieced her little shirt and I decided to color the acetate from the backside with my copics for the umbrella. There was that cute little flower on the patterned paper that I didn't want to cover up with paper piecing.
I also used my copic marker to color the head of my safety pin (it was pink but I wanted it more peach in color).
I did take a couple of liberties on the sketch...making the center circle much larger on mine and using a scalloped punch for the bottom.

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Jackie Pedro: The Scalloped Edge
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow

My sweetie took the day off so while the kiddos are at school we get to spend the day together...how fun! Have a great weekend!

Let's Color a Snowman!

Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is past (for us Canadians) so let the Christmas music play!
I couldn't help but be in the snowman mood as it is really blustery outside today. No snow...thankfully but the winter feeling is in the air.

I eluded to some fun copic news coming....stay tuned for November 11th for all the details! There will of coarse be some FABULOUS blog candy along with the excitement.
One tidbit I can tell you is that I am officially part of the copic blog team....what does that mean....well it just means you will continue to see copic techniques on my blog...like today!
Watch my blog and Marianne's for the announcements next week!

I included a video along with today's card. I noticed I rambled a little long so I had to cut the ending to meet youtube format.....lol!

Here it is:

Beauty

Beauty....
There are so many things that are beautiful, especially this time of year. Where we live we get to experience all four seasons and things are so pretty right now!
When I first looked at this image from Cornish the first things that came to mind were kindness, gentleness (fruits of the spirit) and then I thought "BEAUTY".
This image is called "horse and rider" from the Saturday Evening Post line at CHF. I colored it with my copics and then airbrushed the paper to give it more of a cream look. I used E50, E11 and E15 for the airbrushing.
I wanted to add in the woodgrain backgrounder but wanted a little more of a modern spin on it so I stamped it on acetate. I layered it all over beautiful Melissa Frances paper and used these rose resin embellishments from Melissa Frances as well.

I wanted to show you a close shot of the sentiment and you can also see the edges of my airbrushing and how my grey shadows blend really nicely into that airbrushing. You might have to click on the photo to get in really close to see.

I have some pretty exciting announcements coming next week...so watch for those! There's something in it for you too....my lips are sealed till then!

Have a great day!

Stamping Bella Blog Hop

Happy Halloween! Welcome to the Chichiboulie Blog Hop sponsored by Stamping Bella! If you've just happened upon my blog, you can CLICK HERE to start from the beginning at Bloggabella...you are at the very end of the hop! Since it is the eve of November I wanted to use Poppy Bittybloom because here in Canada we celebrate Remembrance Day November 11th!

As many of you know reds can be really tricky to work with in the copics. They are dye rich and can get away on you quite easily! The trick is to not add too much ink and give yourself a "buffer zone" around the outline of the image...don't color too close to the lines. To color I used R11, R14, R24, R29.

I love the shape of her flower so I HAD to use my blossom dies from Spellbinders. I colored my image first then ran the smaller die through my machine using the embossing mat...so that I didn't cut my paper. I left the die in place then airbrushed around it so that when the die is removed you see that pretty white border. I then took my largest blossom die and cut out my image. That top flower is only ONE layer of paper!

The beautiful scrolling felt piece is from Prima, I manipulated it a tad so that my sentiment would fit. This sentiment is also new to me from Stamping Bella, so glad I bought it!
Here is a really close shot of the coloring....if you click on the photo you can see it even bigger! Eeeek, remember that I am working with red....
I did my shading and grounding around the image with my prismacolor pencils. I said it yesterday but don't want you to miss this....make sure you do your marker work first!

How about a prize? In addition to the fabulous eye candy, we have decided to hide a prize somewhere along the hop! One pre-selected blogger will draw a random winner from the comments on her post, and the winner will receive a $25 Gift Voucher to Stamping Bella!!! The fun part is...we're not telling you who it is! So as you hop, make sure you leave comments on every post so you have a chance to win!! We will announce the winner on Monday in the Splitcoast forum. MWAH!

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #89

Happy Friday! Wouldn't this be perfect for someone turning 40?....I'm not there YET....
Retro is so hot you will love this new ATC set coming out by Cornish Heritage Farms. It is due to be released November 3rd! There are a lot of fun little sassy sayings but this one in particular I use quite often...lol!
Nothing says retro quite like the Early Bird paper from Cosmo Cricket! I love this stuff! I colored my retro vacuum with my copics then did my shading with my prismacolor pencils. When you are combining coloring mediums such as this...make sure you do your marker coloring FIRST. This will keep you from damaging the tips of your markers:)
Here are all my card deets:
Stamps:
Domestic Love (ATC), Invitation Essentials (MLM) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Tuxedo Black memento (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket)
Simply Smooth Vanilla (Prism)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Chipboard (Cosmo Cricket)
Prismacolor Pencils
Sewing
Corner Rounder (Marvy)

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Jackie Pedro: The Scalloped Edge
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow


Come back tomorrow....I played along in the Stamping Bella Blog Hop....oh man..love how my card turned out! (Big self hug)....see you then!

Fall Fabric Card

Ah, the crispness of fall. Do you see all the texture in clothing that is out there this fall? I wanted to make a textural card using fabric today.

I was inspired by the plum color challenge over at Moxie Fab World...this is quite a cool plum (perfect for fall!)


No...I have not been able to put my creatopia away yet...and yes, the fabric adhesive cartridge is wonderful!
The only paper on this card is the card base, image and ribbon tag.
I took inspiration from my quilting and cut 5x1.5" strips of the grey and patterned fabric. I was able to run the felt base and my strips through my creatopia and place them on like a quilt block. I sewed the edges (just for decoration) and added one of "My Favorite Things" a coffee image!

Here are all my card deets:
Stamps:
Hot Stuff (My Favorite Things)
Paper:
White Neenah
Ink:
Rich Cocoa Memento (Tsukineko)
Accessories:
Fabric
Brown Felt
Copic Markers
Tag Trio Die (Spellbinders)
Ribbon (Offray)
Button (PTI)
Creatopia Fabric Adhesive (Xyron)
Prismacolor Pencils
Sewing

See you tomorrow for Taylor's Sketch Challenge!

Fa la la la la

Thought I would play along with the sketch challenge on SCS today. I just wanted to stamp for fun and this new image from Stamping Bella was calling for some ink!

On the sketch there were 3 background panels. I used my ribbon and my felt strip to represent those panels.
The music paper from the Jolly by Golly collection (Cosmo Cricket) was perfect for this theme.
Here are the rest of my card details:
Stamps:
The Choir (Stamping Bella)
Paper:
White (Neenah)
Olive (PTI)
Jolly by Golly (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink:
Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Prismacolor Pencils
Rectangular Dies (Spellbinders)
Ribbon (SEI)
Felt Strip (Making Memories)
Glitter (Martha Stewart)

Have a great day!

Reading is Chic! Taylor's Sketch Challenge!

This is one of my daughter's favorite books...it has seen better days as the condition of it's cover is quite poor. Enter CREATOPIA! I Love the fabric adhesive and it made doing this book cover very quick and easy! I used Taylor's sketch for the layout inspiration.
CLICK ON THE PHOTOS IF YOU WOULD LIKE A CLOSER LOOK!
Who says books can't be chic...not me! This is Michael Miller fabric...did you notice the shape of the pattern? Very similar to the labels 9 die by Spellbinders. The book is covered with fabric that I ran through the creatopia machine to apply adhesive to the backing. All I did was measure the dimensions of the book (spine included) then added an inch to each side.
I took a piece of an old sheet and stamped "Betty the Bookworm" from Stampingbella in versacraft ink. I heat set it with my iron, colored it with my copics and then ran the rough square through the creatopia to get the adhesive on the back.....THEN I ran it through with the spellbinder die. LOVED IT!
I cut a smaller nestie of the same label 9 die in cotton batting so that the image would puff. See the dimension in this picture. It is really sweet in real life!
Here is a close shot of my paper version of coloring "Betty"...she looks a lot like my adorable little niece with her chic glasses! I didn't deviate too much from the colors in the fabric. BG01, BG05, YG93,YG95, YG99, YG01, YG03.
Wow, was this ever a FUN project....now that I have tested it out my daughter says she wants to cover her hardcover bible from school....it's cover has seen better days too!

I think this would make a great gift idea...add some cool factor and cover a book to give away!


Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Jackie Pedro: The Scalloped Edge
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow

Enjoy blog hoppin' around and make sure you give the new gals a welcome hello!
Have a great weekend!