Classes coming to Toronto

I am going to be in Toronto May 28th to teach a Standard Copic Certification. Details on that event HERE.
While I am in Toronto I am revisiting a fabulous store named "Forever Scrapbooks". I love this shop...the owner Anne is super sweet!
I will be offering two copic card classes at this shop while I am there. This is a peek at the cards we will be creating Saturday Night (May 28th). All the stamps here are Hero Arts. The pretty papers are all Melissa Frances.
I will also be doing a Pure Innocence copic card class on Friday Night (May 27th)....picture hopefully to come by next week.
Hope to see you there!

New Copic Book Giveaway and Tutorial

Oh I have LOTS to share with you today! As many of you know, Marianne Walker's new book "Shadows and Shading" is now in print! This is an awesome guide to coloring that can be applied to many different mediums (including copics). You can purchase this book on Ellen's site HERE.

Here is a little piece of the book (photo courtesy of Sharon Harnist)....included are these fabulous lighting guides.
Now you get a chance to win your own copy! A book is being given away on each copic members blog listed at the bottom of my post, make sure you visit each one to improve your chances and see some great copic art! All you have to do is leave a little love in the comments. I will be making my draw Sunday night (12:00 am PST) and then will post the winner on my blog!
Here is my little piece of art that I wanted to share with you today. A couple of weeks ago Colleen Schaan shared this tutorial on splitcoast stampers. I was unable to play along as I was in Edmonton at the time but I really wanted to play with this technique. I used the Hero Arts stamps:
Tree Trunks
Fox and Sleeping Fox
Earth Flowers
I also used a sentiment set from My Favorite Things called "Textile Rectangle Die and Stamp Set"
Here is a close up of my fox colored....added a little texture with a towel and blender mist.
Here is the inside....this is for a dear friend (Marianne Walker)...my schedule got busy and I forgot to send her a card...so this is on it's way to her!
Now for the "How-to"....
I used glossy card stock and ripped a rough edge with post-it notes. I sprayed both G24 and G28, trying to keep my G28 as close to my post-it notes as possible.
To create the sky I used my B30 series of markers starting with B34.
Next a little B37.
Finally some B39.
Here is where the technique comes in. I filled my mister with copic's colorless blender, I tried to mask off the grass area but you will see further down that my blender soaked through my post-it note mask. I was ok with it.
Spritz up that nice rubber background stamp and then quickly stamp the glossy paper with it. Don't wait too long...it dries quickly!
Here is what mine looked like after stamping. I love the hint of trees this gives my background!
Since I was already playing around, I grabbed my earth flowers stamp and did some direct to stamp coloring with my markers.
I had to mist my stamp (with blender) to refresh my ink and then stamped on my glossy paper. I loved this extra layer of dimension.I love playing with the technique possibilities that my copics have to offer....Be sure to check out these ladies and enter for your chance to win a copy of the book!
Copicmarker

Marianne Walker

Lori Craig

Sharon Harnist

Jenn Balcer

Jennie Black

Colleen Schaan

Bianca Mandity

Debbie Olson

Sherrie Siemens

For our friends down unda:

CopicOz (Australia)

Kathy Jones (Australia)

Mandi-Lee Klinger (Australia)

Thanks for visiting!

Hero Arts Flower Day 3

Just a little note: I have updated my copic certification page. It is located at the top of my blog and you can find it HERE.

Ready for this flower to have a graphic/modern twist? This is the Hero Arts flower "Outlined Magnolia". I thought it would be cool to just add little sections of copic color and not stay "in the lines". I used my new YG61 with the YG63 and then masked it off and airbrushed another crafter's workshop stencil overtop in E18. ENTIRELY different from the last two I posted.....I am still not sure if I like this look although I must say it is growing on me. Just pushing myself outside my coloring/design box a little today.
What do you think?

Hero Arts Flower Day 2

Welcome to another look at Hero Arts "Outlined Magnolia" stamp. This reminded me of the beautiful pink magnolias that come off my mom-in-laws tree.
I paired this flower up with some Grove Memory Box paper that I had kicking around and some fabulous Spellbinder dies.
Here is a REALLY close shot of the copic coloring. You know I still can't get the new colors out of my hands so I used the BEAUTIFUL new YR30 and feather blended that into my R81 series of pinks. My favorite E40 series for a little bit of coloring outside the image. This is a gorgeous bloom to color and I love the size of it.....so much room for shading and blending!

Enjoy your Monday!

Hero Arts Flower Day 1

These next three posts I will be showing you this beautiful hero arts flower "Outline Magnolia" in three different ways.
Here is the clean one layer card. You know I HAD to use the new violet colors from copic....V20 & V25 and my blender to fade away to white. I then cut out a mask and laid over this beautiful stencil from Crafter's Workshop. I airbrushed YG03 and then airbrushed a bit of violet at the corners.
The little sentiment is also Hero Arts. I love this clean fresh look....reminds me of spring!
Come back Monday where I will have an ENTIRELY different look with this same bloom. See you then!

Need a taste of summer?

I know I could use a taste of summer right now. I don't know what it is like where you are at but it is another wet cold day here. I thought a summery card may chase the winter blues a little.
This is a stampy/scrappy card. I used a large sentiment strip from a MME patterned paper line and then stamped a Hero Arts fruit image. I think the image may have intended to be an orange, but today it is a lemon! I colored it with my copics and added a bit of glossy shine. Here are all my supplies for this fun card:
Stamps:
Antique Fruit Engravings (Hero Arts)
Paper:
Kraft (Bazzill)
Breaking Free Collection (My Mind's Eye)
Ink:
Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Butter Spica Glitter Pen (Copic)
Glossy Accents (Ranger)
Tiny Type (Cosmo Cricket)
Opaque White (Copic)

Have a fantastic weekend! Ours is chalked full of band gigs/volleyball tournaments...lotsa runnin' around!

Fall In Love

I have fallen in love with fall! The color is dancing on the leaves around these parts and the views are spectacular! It truly is my favorite season!
Just some simple stamping for me today......after a long and delightful weekend I felt like just playing a little in my studio. Have you seen the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World? It is really pretty and the colors inspired me.
This is a clear background stamp from Hero Arts called "Birds and Butterflies". You can find it at Ellen's shop HERE. I inked it up with some pigment ink and then sponged the edges of the stamp with my chocolate brilliance ink before stamping.
I then used my R19 copic marker to color in the birds and outlined them with my sepia multiliner pen.
The pretty little chipboard accent is from Basic Grey and the satin ribbon was in my stash (I think it was Making Memories).
Thanks for stopping by!

Sketch Friday!

Some fun techniques to share with you today for friday's sketch challenge. I wanted to give a real homespun feel to this card to go with the sentiment. I figured the designer woodgrain stamp would be my "fire" in this quote and the apple would be the "food". They are both stamps from Hero Arts....love em'! You can find this woodgrain backgrounder HERE and the fruit engravings clear set HERE at Ellen's shop!

To the techniques....I stamped the woodgrain with versacraft ink onto a piece of canvas, fraying the edges a little before stitching onto my card base.
For the apple....it is stamped on a Jenni Bowlin label and then I filled my aqua painter with copic colorless blending solution and painted in the colors and shadows using the palette technique.
These look like the YUMMY honey crisp apples I have sitting on the counter right now! Oh how I love farm fresh apples....straight from the orchard (Willowview Farms) to be exact.

I love this sentiment...and I strive for it in our home too...it is a rub-on from Melissa Frances. The little stick pins were blue, I colored them with my E49 marker...

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
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Lori Craig: Making a Difference
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Rosie Hughes: Love my Craft Room

Pop in tomorrow as it is the kick off for the MFT teasers for October....I have a fun crafty project to show you!

Flowers and more Flowers!

Awww, don't they look purrrdy all grouped together? I had a lot of fun this week playing with some cling sets from Hero Arts. The flowers are so beautiful! I kept in the same color scheme...red, black, cream, yellow and green. What a fun set this is to give away....
Here is my card today specifically for Taylor's sketch challenge. The fall rains are about to start here and when they get going they do not stop for a while....enjoying the last bits of summer.
I used my Jumbo scallop die-namic die from MFT for bottom detail and sanded the edges of the core'dinations cardstock.
My base panel WAS white to begin with. I did some airbrushing in Y21,38 and R02 to achieve the fall sunset look.
I used these butterflies to mimic the three brads going up the side of Taylor's sketch.
I colored these butterflies from Hero with my copics. Can you see the feather blending on the middle butterfly? A combo of Y21, R02. Then I took my spica pens to them so they would shimmer.

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
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Rosie Hughes: Love my Craft Room

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your weekend!

Bloom

Playing with some flowers today in my studio (paper ones that is). This bloom is one of the many in the pretty cling set from Hero Arts called "Antique Flower Engravings". I stamped it and then using my MASK IT product by X-press it and then stamped the background twigs from another Hero Arts set called "earth flowers". I wanted to give it a fall look so I did some airbrushing with my Y21 (at half strength).
The flower was colored with my copics directly on this Jenni Bowlin patterned paper. I thought this label was so pretty that I made it a stand alone card. I just mounted it to a white card base.
I did add some red and butter spica colors to give a little shimmer. Sooooo pretty.
The sentiment is a rub-on by Melissa Frances. I actually made a set of 4 cards with this floral theme...maybe I will have to photograph them all together and show you that tomorrow!

Have a great day! (Don't forget to scroll down to read the little certification update)

What's Cooking?.....

sweetie pie....

Oh how I have missed Taylor's friday sketch challenges! Being away on holidays for a couple of weeks will do that! Today's card is ALL stampin'....no patterned paper to be seen (a rarity for me as I LOOOOOVE patterned paper).
I used some new HERO arts images for this design. First I created the background using the Kitchen Silhouette stamp. I inked it up in versamark and clear embossed it on kraft cardstock.
I then used my shabby shutters and walnut inks over top giving the resist technique. I thought it gave this card a nice well worn charm.

Here I grabbed the "What's Cooking?" set and stamped my row of utensils and most importantly the pie. I colored them all with my copics and the background is even airbrushed.....
Did you know this strip was originally white!
I am LOOOVING the new X-press it Blending Card paper for my copic work! I picked up a stack while in Oregon on vacation...so I can tell you store owners copic has it in stock! Yeah!
I added a lot of copic ink to this paper and not a speck of bleeding and beautiful blendability!

Thanks go to Lori Craig this week for coming up with the awesome sketch! You can visit Taylor's blog HERE to see it!

Don't forget to visit the rest of the sketch girls....
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Making a Difference

Have a fabulous weekend!