I'm entering the world of copic user. I couldn't stand it anymore. I know I'm not the best colourer (is that even a word?) in the world, but it was made worse by the crap markers I had. I'm pretty good with my watercolour pencils and my chalks, but if I wanted more bold colours I needed to use markers. So I decided to take the plunge.
I bought 36 markers yesterday, with plans to buy at least another 15 more. Now I just have to wait for my new cardstock and memento ink to show up and its off to the copic races
I know that the copics aren't going to solve all my colouring issues, as some of them are my lack of ability, but with some practice they should help a little bit. Or at least that's what I told my husband when he had sticker shock when he saw the price of the markers. Ha! I told him cardmaking is a dangerous habit.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Hau`oli la hanau !
Five years ago my sister and her family set out on a crazy adventure and they moved halfway around the world to Hawaii. Its been great. We get a trip out of it every year to the North Shore of Oahu in the middle of winter. We just got back from three weeks at the beginning of February and it was awesome. I love it there, and am mildly jealous that my sister lives there and can go to the beach anytime she feels like it, gets to wear shorts and flip flops year round......sigh if only.
My Brother In Laws birthday is coming up next week, and I decided because they live in the sun and surf that I was going with that theme for his gift and present. We bought a shirt and a hat from a store called Life is Good. The shirt has an old Woodie with a surfboard on it. Once I had the shirt in my hand I remembered that I actually owned a stamp set that had the same thing in it. I haven't used my SU Just Beachy set in ages, but of course it was great luck that I had it.
So I decided to go with some beachy colours and do a little beach scene using the woodie with the surfboard on the roof rack. I did all the colouring with my SU water colour pencils (they are quickly becoming my favourite tool to use for colouring)
I think its pretty cool Dude!
My Brother In Laws birthday is coming up next week, and I decided because they live in the sun and surf that I was going with that theme for his gift and present. We bought a shirt and a hat from a store called Life is Good. The shirt has an old Woodie with a surfboard on it. Once I had the shirt in my hand I remembered that I actually owned a stamp set that had the same thing in it. I haven't used my SU Just Beachy set in ages, but of course it was great luck that I had it.
So I decided to go with some beachy colours and do a little beach scene using the woodie with the surfboard on the roof rack. I did all the colouring with my SU water colour pencils (they are quickly becoming my favourite tool to use for colouring)
I think its pretty cool Dude!
Stamps: SU Just Beachy
Ink: Colourbox Dragonfly Black & SU Watercolour pencils
Paper: Random scraps of cardstock
Monday, February 14, 2011
Little Pinky Bunny
My little sister is having a baby in a few weeks. She had her baby shower on the weekend. So of course a card was in order.
When we first found out she was having a baby and found it was going to be a girl, for fun we asked my 2 kids what they thought the baby's name should be. Of course they came up with something awesome. The first thing that both of them said was Pinky. I asked my oldest what she thought the middle name would be, and after some pondering she announced that my sister and BIL would of course give the baby the middle name Bunny.
Since that day my kids have been looking forward to the arrival of Pinky Bunny. They talk about her all the time. I'm almost positive that no matter what my sister decides to name her baby that my kids will call her Pinky Bunny anyway.
So I made a card just for Pinky Bunny. I used a Pink Cat Studios digi stamp. I only had one other set of "baby" stamps and I've used it for years. I didn't want to buy a whole new set of stamps, so the digi was the best option, and of course Pink Cat Studios has some pretty cute ones.
I had a perfect design in my head, but it didn't really turn out how I wanted it. I had a hard time choosing a background paper that I liked, and I just didn't end up liking the colour combinations that I used for the solids and the buttons. But cest la vie. I went with it. My sister liked it
When we first found out she was having a baby and found it was going to be a girl, for fun we asked my 2 kids what they thought the baby's name should be. Of course they came up with something awesome. The first thing that both of them said was Pinky. I asked my oldest what she thought the middle name would be, and after some pondering she announced that my sister and BIL would of course give the baby the middle name Bunny.
Since that day my kids have been looking forward to the arrival of Pinky Bunny. They talk about her all the time. I'm almost positive that no matter what my sister decides to name her baby that my kids will call her Pinky Bunny anyway.
So I made a card just for Pinky Bunny. I used a Pink Cat Studios digi stamp. I only had one other set of "baby" stamps and I've used it for years. I didn't want to buy a whole new set of stamps, so the digi was the best option, and of course Pink Cat Studios has some pretty cute ones.
I had a perfect design in my head, but it didn't really turn out how I wanted it. I had a hard time choosing a background paper that I liked, and I just didn't end up liking the colour combinations that I used for the solids and the buttons. But cest la vie. I went with it. My sister liked it
Sunday, February 13, 2011
2 Littlest Valentines
I have two kids, two little girls under the age of 5. What do little girls love more than anything? Pink and cute little animals. The two of them are obsessed with "stuffies", and pretty much my life revolves around all things pink. So hey Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity to exploit both of those.
I really really loathe colouring in stamped images. I'm horrible at it, but sometimes that's just what you have to do. I've tried markers (all been them a bit on the crappier side) and I've done the whole chalk thing. I find I'm best using my watercolour pencils from Stampin Up. I'm still not awesome at it, and they don't really have the most in terms of colour collections but that's what I ended up using for both of these cards to colour in the stamped images.
I also branched out this time and used a digi stamp for the first time. The heart teddy bear came from Pink Cat Studios. It took me a long time to decide to use a digi stamp just because of its unconventional-ness, but I went with it, and i think it worked out well in this case.
Anyway, without further adieu this is what I came up with for my kids. A swingin' Monkey and a balloon toting bear :)
Monkey Card:
I really really loathe colouring in stamped images. I'm horrible at it, but sometimes that's just what you have to do. I've tried markers (all been them a bit on the crappier side) and I've done the whole chalk thing. I find I'm best using my watercolour pencils from Stampin Up. I'm still not awesome at it, and they don't really have the most in terms of colour collections but that's what I ended up using for both of these cards to colour in the stamped images.
I also branched out this time and used a digi stamp for the first time. The heart teddy bear came from Pink Cat Studios. It took me a long time to decide to use a digi stamp just because of its unconventional-ness, but I went with it, and i think it worked out well in this case.
Anyway, without further adieu this is what I came up with for my kids. A swingin' Monkey and a balloon toting bear :)
Monkey Card:
Stamps: Verve Love Monkey, Verve Heart to Heart, Verve Forever in our Hearts
Paper: GCD Studios Light Stripe, Rose Coloured Glasses
Ink: SU Pink Passion, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery
Other: SU Watercolour Pencils, Embroidery Thread, Offrey Ribbon
Bear Card:
Stamps: Verve Heart to Heart, Pink Cat Studios Heart Teddy Bear
Ink: Rose Red
Paper: GCD Studios Rose Circles
Other: Embroidery Thread
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Baby Baby Baby ooooh....
I'm embarrassed to say I have Justin Bieber on the brain :)
A friend of mine is having her second child in a couple of weeks. I only see her about once a month as we have a regular dinner set up, and by the time next months dinner rolls around she will have hopefully given birth. So tonight is the last dinner before the baby arrives.
I got busy making stuff for her. We were away in Hawaii for a couple of weeks in January and while I was there I managed to pick up some awesome Hawaiian fabric. I decided to use it to make a blanket, a bib and a burp cloth for her (I make this pretty much for everyone I know having a kid). Unfortunately I didn't take pictures before I wrapped it, but trust me they look awesome with the fabric.
She doesn't know whether or not she is having a boy or a girl, so the card I made to go with the present had to be fairly neutral. I decided to go with yellow as my base colour. I really liked the cards I made for my sisters baby shower a while ago so I also decided to go ahead and do the same for my friend. So she got herself a onesie card again. I can't help myself though I had to girly it up a bit with the bow.
A friend of mine is having her second child in a couple of weeks. I only see her about once a month as we have a regular dinner set up, and by the time next months dinner rolls around she will have hopefully given birth. So tonight is the last dinner before the baby arrives.
I got busy making stuff for her. We were away in Hawaii for a couple of weeks in January and while I was there I managed to pick up some awesome Hawaiian fabric. I decided to use it to make a blanket, a bib and a burp cloth for her (I make this pretty much for everyone I know having a kid). Unfortunately I didn't take pictures before I wrapped it, but trust me they look awesome with the fabric.
She doesn't know whether or not she is having a boy or a girl, so the card I made to go with the present had to be fairly neutral. I decided to go with yellow as my base colour. I really liked the cards I made for my sisters baby shower a while ago so I also decided to go ahead and do the same for my friend. So she got herself a onesie card again. I can't help myself though I had to girly it up a bit with the bow.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Be Mine - Mojo 177
I haven't participated in a Mojo Monday sketch challenge for a long team, even though I look at them every single week. As soon as I saw this week's sketch though I knew that I was going to go ahead and make a card using it, and put my own little spin on it.
Right after Christmas I loaded up on Verve stamps, most of them were Valentine related, so what better a time to use them. Valentine's is just a bit less then a week away and I need to make at least 3 of them for the kids and the husband. I always have a hard time coming up with something for my husband. I want it to be not to feminine, not too masculine, not to cheesy. All tough things when it comes to Valentine's, hearts and pretty much all things pink.
As soon as I saw the sketch for this week I knew I was going to attempt to make a mini envelope on my card. It fits in perfect with the sketch, and what better to fill a valentine envelope with than a couple of hearts and little message.
So here's what I came up with:
I'm really pleased with this card. You can't really see it in the photo but the two hearts look like they are almost popping out of the envelope. I'm also really happy with the way the colour combinations came together, and I think the dotted paper that I used lent itself perfectly to the occasion.
Right after Christmas I loaded up on Verve stamps, most of them were Valentine related, so what better a time to use them. Valentine's is just a bit less then a week away and I need to make at least 3 of them for the kids and the husband. I always have a hard time coming up with something for my husband. I want it to be not to feminine, not too masculine, not to cheesy. All tough things when it comes to Valentine's, hearts and pretty much all things pink.
As soon as I saw the sketch for this week I knew I was going to attempt to make a mini envelope on my card. It fits in perfect with the sketch, and what better to fill a valentine envelope with than a couple of hearts and little message.
So here's what I came up with:
I'm really pleased with this card. You can't really see it in the photo but the two hearts look like they are almost popping out of the envelope. I'm also really happy with the way the colour combinations came together, and I think the dotted paper that I used lent itself perfectly to the occasion.
Stamps: Verve: Flirty Phrases, Heart to Heart
Ink: SU Pretty In Pink, Rose Red
Paper: Paper Co Ruby Jewel, GCD Rose Coloured Glasses Stripes
Other: Recollections Pearl Stickers.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Holy Buttons Batman!
Day one of Cardapalooza. My daughter attended what seems like her 1,356,749th birthday party for one of the kids in her school. It took place at an indoor playground, which seems like the statutory place to hold a five year olds birthday party. Not particularly inspiring.
I don't really know the little boy the party was for, so didn't really have much to go on to personalize the card. Heck even my daughter didn't really know what he would like and she spends every afternoon with the kid. So I decided to go pretty neutral
Last week on the Mojo Monday sketch they had a sort of swooping design so I decided to go with that as my inspiration. I also hit Michael's this week to find some new paper (ha not that I needed any I must already have over 1000 pieces of the stuff), and I found one that looked like it belonged on a birthday card. Lots of colourful dots. I figured what better than buttons to go with the dots. So I did my best to match the colour of the dots with the buttons that I had on hand and this was the outcome.
I think its cute, turned out pretty good. My stamping was pretty crap, because for some reason the ink that I used wouldn't adhere to my new Verve stamp, and the paper got a little crumpled on the edge thanks to the rambunctiousness of my 2 year old.
In other news, it appears that the top of my grand piano seems to be the perfect place to take a picture of a card, especially when the sun is out.
Stamps & Ink: Verve Stamps Happy Birthday, SU Brilliant Blue
Paper: Recollections CardStock, Brightlights Big City
Other: Misc Buttons
I don't really know the little boy the party was for, so didn't really have much to go on to personalize the card. Heck even my daughter didn't really know what he would like and she spends every afternoon with the kid. So I decided to go pretty neutral
Last week on the Mojo Monday sketch they had a sort of swooping design so I decided to go with that as my inspiration. I also hit Michael's this week to find some new paper (ha not that I needed any I must already have over 1000 pieces of the stuff), and I found one that looked like it belonged on a birthday card. Lots of colourful dots. I figured what better than buttons to go with the dots. So I did my best to match the colour of the dots with the buttons that I had on hand and this was the outcome.
I think its cute, turned out pretty good. My stamping was pretty crap, because for some reason the ink that I used wouldn't adhere to my new Verve stamp, and the paper got a little crumpled on the edge thanks to the rambunctiousness of my 2 year old.
In other news, it appears that the top of my grand piano seems to be the perfect place to take a picture of a card, especially when the sun is out.
Stamps & Ink: Verve Stamps Happy Birthday, SU Brilliant Blue
Paper: Recollections CardStock, Brightlights Big City
Other: Misc Buttons
Friday, February 4, 2011
Card-a-palooza
The next two months are going to be a Card-a-palooza for me. I have birthdays coming out the ying yang. New babies waiting to be born all over the place, and of course, the big pink and red day coming up in a week and a half, Valentine's day!
I be a little bit more active on my blog in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I will actually get some time to sit down and make some cards :)
I be a little bit more active on my blog in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I will actually get some time to sit down and make some cards :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
