Excerpts From My Copic Coloring Book

I have some fun stuff from my Copic coloring book and a nice tutorial from The Stamping Boutique's blog to share with you today.  The first photo is of my Copic coloring book, I've posted it here before so you may have already seen it.  I made this 8 X 8 book for myself as a tool to help me remember great color combination's, record new techniques I've learned and to slowly be able to throw away all those little slips of paper with great color combos I'd like to try!

This second photo is a Copic color chart I printed, colored in and put inside the front cover of my book.  Who knows maybe one day I'll need to take it and my markers somewhere with me!

On to the "good stuff"!  I found a wonderful Copic coloring tutorial on The Stamping Boutique's blog by Ashley Scheffler.  She has three different tutorials on how to color this The Stamping Boutique image called Beach Baby.  I will give you a link to each so you can try it out for yourself.  Here's the link to Coloring Water With Copic Markers.  The next part of the tutorial is Coloring Sand With Copic Markers.  And, the final tutorial for this image, Coloring Everything Else.

I've done my "homework" and written directions for myself and put them in my book.

I decided to do each tutorial separately so I could practice the coloring skills. I colored the image one more time and made up a card front with the new skills I've acquired by doing the tutorials!

Here she is up close and personal.  

I really need to tell you that this was one of those images that really intimidated me when it came to coloring it.  I made my first card with this image three months ago when I started on The Stamping Boutique design team and really wasn't happy with it but posted it.  My daughter found the first card in my stash today and we compared them.  My coloring has improved in 90 days, how fun, I think I'll keep practicing!

Edited to add:
Carol left a comment asking about where to get the Copic color chart.  I believe it's on the Copic website but I had it in a folder on my desk top so I hope it's okay with Copic to share it with you here.  Click on the photo to make it larger and then right click on your mouse to get a drop down menu, go down the menu to "save image as" and click, it's yours.  I save this kind of stuff on my desktop so it's easy for me to find after downloading it.   Enjoy!

Challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Let's Get Digital

The Shabby Team Room - Old Meets New, 

Old - Bind It All covers and wire for coloring book, New Copic coloring techniques, Digital Images

Sunday's With Crissy - Your Favorite Time Of Year 

Crafty Emma - Anything Goes 

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Hot, Hot, Hot! 

Digital Tuesday - Cool It

In Style Stamps Blog Hop Today!

It's Blog Hop day at In Style Stamps, this months theme is end of summer!  I hope you arrived here from  Axa's blog Crafts & Love, but if not you can start here.

Instead of making a card I made a gift box using the In Style Stamps Flower Love digital image.  It's a quick and simple image to color and then I got a little carried away, in a very fun way of course!   The Flower Love image I used is a new release and became available for purchase August 20th.

I added the dots around the Flower Love image using a stamp from Waltzing Mouse then cut it out with a Spellbinders Labels 10 die and matted it with a bigger Labels 10 die and matted it again with the largest Labels 10 die.  I added a bow using Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist ribbon.  The Gingham patterned paper is from a Martha Stewart pad.

After I made the tag I needed a box so I got out my trusty Scor - Pal and made a box that I could fill with A6 sized cards later.  I used the Papertrey Ink jumbo ric rac die to decorate the sides and layered white and another piece of the Bayou Blue paper after embossing it with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The "live your bliss" stamp is also made by Papertrey Ink.

Here's a side view.

I have one more project to share with you that I made for a friends baby shower tomorrow.  I was asked if I could make a book to write notes of advice, best wishes and scripture in.  Do you know what I said?  I have just the thing!  So, here's my little book.

I used Ellie one more time and paper pieced her and colored her just a tiny bit with Copic markers.  It wasn't my intention to paper piece her in the beginning.  The Spellbinders Fancy Tag was printed on the same white sheet of card stock as Ellie.  It had no pop off of the cover so I thought I'd try it in color.  Ellie just happened to print with it again on the colored paper and I thought I'd see what it would look like if... 

...and here's a photo of the inside.  I used the Stampin' Up! Top Note die for the cards to write notes to our friend on.  The other tools used to make this little book are a Bind It All, paper trimmer and Scor - Pal.
Hope she likes it!

Ohhh, I seem to have gotten a little off the theme of the hop in my excitement over my project...

I hope you have time to hop along with the In Style Stamps blog hop, the next stop on our hop is the fabulous Barbara at Forgotten Scraps, enjoy yourself!

In My Prayers

We've made Prayer Journal's in a couple of classes recently. These are two that I've made using a Stampin' Up! retired Groovy Guava designer paper pack. You can see the first one I made in it's entirety HERE back in January. We used the Zutter Bind It All and Spellbinder's Nestabilities Oval and Scalloped Oval dies. The butterfly stamp on the Prayer Journal above is from The Angel Company, In My Prayers is from a There She Goes set called Blessings. The butterfly below is a new set from Taylored Expressions that my friend Susan bought at CHA, it's called Whimsical Wishes.

I colored each of the butterflies with a Copic marker E95 and added a little glittery detail with a Copic Spica clear glitter pen. In real life you can see the shimmer!

Prayer Journal C.A.S.E.

I was blog browsing the first part of December after checking out what was new at Clear Dollar Stamps and came across a really nice prayer journal. I've included a link to their gallery, I have first hand knowledge being a design team alumni, they have wonderfully talented ladies on their team! I'm not sure who's original idea it is but I knew I had to make one, at least one!
I kind of filed the idea in my mind but it just kept coming up. One of my dear friends had a house fire on December 4th, they lost almost everything. I thought okay Lord, I'm going to make the prayer journal and start using it right away! I thought of several people who would enjoy one as a gift too so I got busy. The one you see pictured here is mine, I made one almost identical as a gift and I need to make a few more.
The paper is a pad of double sided designer paper I bought at Michael's, the stamps are from There She Goes and Verve Visual. For the actual prayer card I used Microsoft Office Publisher to make it, I loved the Clear Dollar Stamps idea but knew I could make that part myself. I borrowed my stamping friend Susan's SU Top Note Die for the prayer cards too.
I also used Spellbinders Nestabilities dies, Copic markers and a Zutter Bind It All to put it all together. Have a blessed New Year & happy stamping!

Media Folder Mini Album

Stacy came over last night and we made a couple of mini albums out of media folders. I learned how to make these last November when Paula came to visit. I made this one for my brother's new granddaughter. The cardstock and patterned paper is from PapertreyINK Guidelines Collection. I also found the flower there, it's from Maya Road and is almost translucent. I tried coloring it with my Palette ink pad but the ink never dried and just wiped off. I then tried my Copic marker, hmm... two coats made it look even better, cool!

It's good to have friends! I borrowed a Sizzix top note die from Susan and a Sizzix envelope die from Marilyn to complete the inside of the mini album. Lucky for me I already had the old Sizzix large tag die.

I made a matching card to go with my gift using Lizzie Anne Designs Petite Phrases and sketch challenge 218.

I hope you have a wonderful day. I need to get with it, I'm having friends over to stamp today!

SNEAK PEAKS! CLEAR DOLLAR STAMPS!!

Good Morning! I'm so excited to share the projects I made for Clear Dollar Stamps December 1st new release stamps! These new sets are called Tree Delight Tag & Christmas Tree Delight Wheel.
This months' Design Team Challenge was to make a gift ensemble. We usually get to choose which stamps we'd like to work with but this month Laurie chose for us based on our stamping style. I love the sets she chose for me!

You can buy these at Clear Dollar Stamps December 1st!

On to the stamping fun! Christmas Tree Delight Wheel is a clear acrylic stamp that fits on a wheel much like the Stampin' Up! Stampin' Around wheels, you can buy these at Clear Dollar Stamps. It's so nice to store these "wheel" stamps because you take them off the wheel and store them flat. Or... if you're like me you mount them on an acrylic block and stamp with them that way. I love having the option of using these stamps on an acrylic block!

I had so much fun putting this gift ensemble together! I wanted to see if I could use up the entire package of Basic Gray Wassail Christmas paper on this project and I almost did. Once I put pictures in the mini album I'll have reached my goal! You can buy this great Christmas paper at Clear Dollar Stamps now, it comes in a 6 X 6 pad and has buttons and brads that coordinate with the paper pack.

For the gift bag I used Basic Gray Wassail paper & Brads, Clear Dollar Stamps Christmas Tree Delight Wheel and Tree Delight Tag sets. The other supplies I used were, Arjo Wiggins Curious Iridescents Cryogen White cardstock and Stampin' Up! True Thyme cardstock, Dew Drops and half pearls, the Spellbinders Snowflake die, the Sizzix Frames die and large Tag die. I colored the trees with Copic markers and cut two of them out and popped them up on foam tape. I finished off the tag with a scrap of Organdy ribbon from my stash.

For the tall coffee tin, I used Clear Dollar Stamps Christmas Tree Delight wheel and cut out a couple of the trees, colored them with Copic markers and added Liquid Pearls to them because I'd run out of the little half pearls. I'd never tried Liquid Pearls before, it's a nice product. I used the snowflake from the Spellbinders Snowflake die on the top of the can and round punches to make the From Me To You tag. I wrapped the tin in Basic Gray Wassail paper.

The clear Nuggets box comes from Clear Dollar Stamps and was quick and easy to make. I used the Tree Delight Tag set to stamp on return address labels and colored in the trees with Copic markers and added Liquid Pearls to the trees. I made a belly band for the box using a few scraps of Basic Gray Wassail paper and left over Snowflake pieces from the Spellbinders die. The little tag is a Spellbinders die too. The white cardstock again is the Cryogen White, I really like the sparkle and it's takes the Copic markers beautifully.

The Christmas card uses Basic Gray Wassail paper and the Tree Delight Tag set, the tag is again a Spellbinders die.

The mini album was big fun, I used the Bind It All, you can find one of those at Clear Dollar Stamps too! I again used the Basic Gray Wassail paper and Brads, Christmas Tree Delight Wheel stamp and Copic markers, Dew Drops, half pearls and a little Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects.

Whew! A long post for me today! Thank you for letting me share... =)

Life is like a box of chocolates...

I was in WalMart the other day looking for Valentine candies to fill little jars and these boxes of chocolates caught my eye. They've been around forever but that day they looked different to me... I pictured them in my mind a little more like this!
A friend of mine called Monday and asked if I could make a mini album for her that she was going to give as a gift. She needs it this coming Sunday. I said sure, I can do that! I put her to work gathering pictures and I took off for Lake Havasu to go shopping, we were in need of a few things from WalMart.
Do you remember the movie Forrest Gump? I saw it with my Mom and Dad in Laughlin Nevada on their 50th wedding anniversary back in 1990something (1996). I kept thinking about what he said in the movie while I was making this - Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get...

That statemet just seemed kind of profound to me today, this is the anniversary of my Mom's death 8 years ago. I've had a good day working on this project and thinking about my Mom and enjoying the memories I have of her.

I was pregnant with my second child when she passed away so she never got to know my second and third child. I think working with baby pictures today made me think more about his statement about never really knowing where life is going to take us. On a happier note though, I do have faith in God to walk through all lifes twists and turns with me.

A little bit about my project now - I used 12 x 12 sheets of kraft cardstock for the accordian fold pages of the mini album. I cut them to fit the box and scored each fold and used double faced scotch tape to put them together.
I cropped the pictures so they would fit into the space I had, matted them and put them on the pages and decorated around them with rubber stamping, eyelets and a few tags I printed out on the computer with the little boys name and all his personal info.
I covered the outside of the candy box with some designer paper from my stash. It's made by Petals & Possibilities and called All Boy. I then used the brayer to color the chipboard monogram initials with Bayou Blue ink by Stampin' Up!, I stuck them to the box with glue dots and added dew drops to each letter and used a strip of Bayou Blue stitched ribbon to finish it off.

Maya Road Altered Dinner Break Tin

I haven't been totally goofing off today, I did work all morning on Christmas cards. But I've had this tin on my mind and was brought a bag of "vacation" goodies last week and just couldn't help myself! I think I would have been okay if I hadn't looked in the bag... This is a job I'm working on, a vacation in Spain scrapbook in a small container... or two... Two of the mini albums will fit in this tin and I have another tin the same size and type I received by mistake so who knows where this could go!
I used a bunch of the receipts, airline boarding passes, luggage claim stickers, money, etc. on this tin. I stuck everything on the way I thought I'd like it and modge podged over the top of it. I really like the way one of the boarding passes fit on the lid of this tin, I didn't have to make much of an adjustment in it's size at all. I was able to keep its integrity.

I think if (if? lol) I get to do this again I'll use the modge podge on the tin to glue the stuff down and then use it again on top of everything. I was kind of worried when the lighter weight papers started to wrinkle and bubble when I applied the modge podge, I don't think anyone I know will be returning to Spain soon so I could replace what I might have ruined. Then I had to remind myself... it's only paper!


When ever I make a scrapbook for someone and know I'll be doing it in advance I ask them to save me all the stuff that could be in their pockets at the end of the day. And to also pick up interesting stuff along the way that I might be able to use in their books. Kind of like a treasure hunt.
This tin and the chip board albums that fit inside came from the online store Frantic Stamper. She has a great selection of stuff and her shipping is quick!
I just posted this and thought of something else! dd2njoy, Diane left a comment the other day asking - Do you ever get days like you don't feel like stamping,especially after making the same card over 100 times??? The answer to the question is no, I can't seem to keep up with all the stuff that flows through my head and I want to get on paper so I just do the best I can. There are a few things in my life I feel I MUST do and this is one of them.

Have a great day!

My First At Home Class~

I wanted to show just one more altered file folder today. I had my first At Home Class today and this is what we got together to make. We had a great time and it all went very well.

There will be another class Tuesday, October 30th at 10:30 a.m., we'll be making 3 Autumn cards. They are posted on my blog here and here. The class fee is $10.00, you can e mail me for directions to the house and reserve your spot if you are interested and please bring your crop kit and adhesives and we'll have some fun! Supply List: Paper - by PSX, Real Red card stock, Accessories - Ribbon, file folder, Prong fasteners.

I found the tutorial for this on Splitcoaststampers a few weeks ago and have had a lot of fun with them.

Wendy at Life In The Button Factory linked her blog to mine showing her cool altered file folder today. She e mailed to tell me she'd found my gallery at Splitcoaststampers and my altered file folders inspired her to make one too. I think that's pretty cool, thanks Wendy!

Oh No!! I Can't Stop...

Have you ever made a project and had so much fun with it you had to make another one? And another one, and another one? I think it's happening to me... Good thing I'm in recovery!
I worked at Scrapbooker's Corner today and on my way I stopped by my bosses office to show her what I'd done with her file folders and punch I "borrowed" Saturday. She thought they were cool and suggested I add ribbon to the prong fasteners. Ohhhhhhh, what a great idea! And I was off ~
So, oh boy!! Look what I made at work today! hehehe (insert silly grin)

Halloween will be fun this year knowing I have a cute album to fill with pictures of the kids.

There's a reduced table at the store and I was straightening it this morning and noticed this paper and thought, how cute is that! One of my girl friends came in to ask me if I'd gotten her e mail about a get well card she needs and saw this and wants two of them for her grandkids Halloween pictures too. What could be better, another "job" in the works.

Supply List: Paper - American Traditional Designs Spooky Town Brights, Bazzill cardstock, Stamps - Hero Arts Happy Halloween, Ink - Noir Black, Accessories - Prima flowers, Brads, foam tape, Stampin' Up! Slit Punch, Grossgrain and Organdy Ribbons, Prong fasteners.

Altered File Folders

Hey these are fun! Quick to put together too! The most time consuming part for me was adding the pictures.
SCS has a tutorial for Altered file folders this week so I had to check it out and make some. This is my first one and I'll post the other one tomorrow. My second one doesn't have pictures in it yet, it's a Thanksgiving theme and I though I'd wait and fill it after this Thanksgiving.

There wasn't much stamping going on in this project and that can be a challenge for me too.

Supply List: Bazzill cardstocks, Patterned paper by Scrapease, Ink - Night of Navy, Stamps - Memories by Just For Fun, Christmas by SU Season of Joy and a date stamp from the office supply, Accessories - Prong fasteners, glue dots, brads, Su Photo Corners Punch.

I have file drawers in my "stamp room" that hold my paper and stamps and other stuff, these will go in there nicely too!

Melissa's Wedding Album

Today is my oldest son's 18th birhtday, seems hard to believe that much time has passed! Happy Birthday Daryl!!

I've worked at the Scrapbooker's Corner for a few hours the last couple of days and totally enjoyed myself. I've been learning how to use their Cricket machine, playing with Alcohol Inks (not very successfully!) and made up a couple of cards to use for classes I get to teach.

I'm looking forward to staying home Thursday and working right here on scrapbook projects.

I have two layouts from Melissa's Wedding album for you today. I've used my Fancy Pants Pollen Dust clear stamp set to make the paper for the pages. All of them are the same and it gets to me at times.

I thought since this is a wedding album it needs to be elegant so the pages should be tone on tone. Which is really White card stock and Sahara Sand ink. I received my Spellbinders Nestabilities preorder from PAPERTREYink. the other day and I must say, they rock! All I'd been doing with this album was making paper, printing and matting pictures and sticking them down. Now that I have those new dies I've really started adding some detail to the pages.


Another great thing about those dies is they go through my Zip' E Mate (whew!), I thought they would but had never tried that brand before. I used my Lizzie Anne Designs Gettin' Hitched stamp set and the Copic Spica glitter pens for the Groom's toast on the first layout.
While I was out today I saw the Pastor of Grace Assembly Of God church here in town and he wants to see me about making Christmas cards for his church again this year. I've made all their Birthday, Anniversary, Get Well, Sympathy, and Pastor's note cards this year. It's truly a blessing to have that job and I'm excited to see what I can come up with for Christmas for them this year.

Melissa's Wedding Album

I'm working on Melissa's Wedding Album today and just finished this layout and wanted to share it with you. The pictures were taken New Year's Eve 2006, this is her future husband Shelvy proposing to her. I love the smile on his face that was captured by the photographer, what a sweet moment.

I used the Doodle This stamp set for this layout, I like the flourishes and this was a casual affair they were at. I have an EK Success mini flower punch and thought it would be perfect to cover the flowers in this stamp and give the layout some depth. Melissa's birth stone is the Pearl and I just happen to have some "Pearls" with adhesive backs for the flower centers. I'm not all that crazy about my own handwriting but I did my best with that part.

CD Mailer Mini Album

It's been a much smoother day today!

The kids and I went to church this morning and I sat in the audience, which I haven't done in quite awhile.

I'm usually back in the sound booth, I get to run the sound system for our worship team on Sunday mornings and our band on Friday nights and also run the Power Point for the projector screen. There's one other guy that helps out and I have to remember not to be a hog and let him have a chance too.

I've been doing some stamping today but what I have to share with you in pictures isn't what I've been working on today.

I was looking through my pictures and noticed this mini album I made several months ago for a friend of mine.

I was going to give a class using a Stampin' Up! Simply Scrappin' kit and discovered that I didn't have any old black and white pictures so I used his.

The kit I used is called Out & About, the paper I used in it is Not Quite Navy, Sage Shadow, Really Rust and the designer paper that comes with the kit. I used the stickers that come with the kit for embellishments. The monogram on the front of the mini album is made with Sizzix Fun Serif alphabet die cuts.

I bought the CD mailers from U Line, they hold 1 CD. I used 12 x 12 paper and cut it into
5 1/2" lengths and taped them together, then measured the inside width of the mailer and used my ScorIt to score every 4 3/4" so I could accordian fold the paper and fit it into the mailer. Then came the fun part, decorating and adding the pictures. After that part was done I used my double sided tape and taped it into the CD mailer, I also put a piece of the Not Quite Navy card stock on the inside of the front cover for a more finished look.

I used some of the designer paper that came in the kit to cover the outside of the CD mailer and a couple of the stickers to go with the monogram and it was done. It took me an afternoon to design that fun little project for us to do and I've made several since then.

I love "containers", boxes, tins, jars, etc. My friends have started to bring me odd stuff because they know I like to make other things out of them. I just like to make things!

Finished Projects

I just finished a really neat job, I'm 40 something and I went to the Prom! One of my friends daughters was going to Prom and she asked me to hem her dress. As with me, one thing led to another and I was also taking pictures and making a Prom Scrapbook before I was all done!
I thought I'd share a few layouts from the scrapbook with you. Her dress was pink so I used Pretty in Pink and White for her book. You'll see blank tags and lines, she's going to do her own journaling in her handwriting.
I love making my own paper using background stamps and Stampin' Around wheels. I have pretty designer paper but forget to use it because I get busy making my own! Everything matches perfectly this way too. You might notice on this layout above that I used some of the netting I cut off her dress on the pages.
We decided on an 8 x 8 format for this scrapbook. I really like the size, it fits real well with rubber stamping and incorperating those background stamps I love.