TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

358 COPIC'S WOW!

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!
So today I just thought I'd Blog about a recent video I saw.  It was about storage and I'm all about storage.  It was for Copic markers which I still do not own even 1 but I do have markers so it could come in hand.  What the real surprise was for me was that she had 358 Copic markers!!  I can't even imagine having 200 markers of a combined combination yet alone 358 of 1 brand!  As I watched her video I pondered why does one need 39 grey markers?  I mean wouldn't you spend more time taking caps on and off than you would coloring?  I understand you need various colors to create the shading while coloring with Copics but this just seemed silly to me.   I am a Tombow girl.  Yes Copic colored images are beautiful but so are the Tombow colored ones.  I think the thing that prevents me from further exploring Copic coloring IS the number of markers you really do need to have.  I guess I don't mind using a little water to lighted my greys.  I have 2 Tombow greys, 1 light, 1 dark.  To water color you don't need numerous shades of 1 color ink.  You can achieve various shades just using water.  
Please do not think I am dissing Copic's....I'm not.  Everyone has their own favorite markers.  My only reason for today's post is the amazement of so many markers!  I know if I were to get all of the Tombow ones that there are probably 98 of them (a guess) and of course now if you add  Tim Holtz ones that's an additional 61 ish?  And what about American Craft markers (similar to Stampin Up) that's another about 30.  So you could be around 200 ish if you had them all.  I probably have about 90 markers in all but they are a combination of Tombow, Tim Holtz and American Craft.  I keep each set separate so I guess it just doesn't seem as much as when you have 358 markers of 1 brand in 1 place!  LOL  
Anyway for those you you with a bunch of markers this particular person used a deep Art Bin case that she had fitted with a grid panel for lighting from the home improvement store.  Here's a link to her video.HERE  
Well enough of my rambling.  I'm off for a long weekend rest up north.  No Phones, no internet......Peace :)

Till next time

HAPPY CARDING

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Hoppy Easter Card

Hoppy Easter... Hoppy Spring... Hoppy Hoppy Everything!!!  I don't know where I've ever heard this but I love saying it!  Actually I usually say Happy not Hoppy but because of my Bunny card decided to say Hoppy!  Ok I know.....I'm crazy!  LOL


Isn't this adorable??  The base for this card is typical 4.25 x 5.5 and the pink is from Stampin Up.  The papers are from Hobby Lobby and the ribbon from Michael's dollar bin.  The Bunny was a rubber stamp that I received in one of my British Magazines.  He is sooo adorable.  I stamped him on Northwoods watercolor paper and embossed then colored him with Tombow markers.  I used my Brother Scan and Cut machine to cut him out.  So easy with that machine.  It even did a perfect job on the whiskers!  I then added a little bling and from the advise of a fellow card maker snipped off the tip of a Q-Tip for a little fluffy tail.  Cool idea Marilyn!  Thanks!
Well first Easter card done next one coming up!

Til later
HAPPY CARDING!











Saturday, February 6, 2016

Framed Samplers

Hello everyone!   Are you ready for some Football?  Superbowl is tomorrow and I will probably be locked up in my craft room for the duration!  LOL  Yeah....I'm not so much into it and if the Bears or Packers aren't even playing I'm even less into it.
This past Christmas June (from my stamping group) gave all of us a framed Christmas Sampler.  It was so cute that we all decided to make inserts for the rest of the year.  Now I know Valentines day and St Patty's day are coming but we just didn't think we'd get those all done before Easter/Spring was upon us so we hopped (no pun intended) right over to the Easter/Spring one.  I got to choose the base colors and went with blue, pink, and green.  We then each made 5 squares of 2 different designs and then swapped so each of our frames had a little piece of art from our fellow crafter.  Each of us took it upon ourselves to make some extra so that we could put together a frame to donate to "Relay for Life" as a raffle.  My daughter-in-law helps run the event fundraising through her work.  Can't wait til she sees the finished project.  Here's what we produced.

The top one in the white frame is our donation.  One of the ladies couldn't stand the fact that we were skipping over St. Patty's day so she supplied us with all the pieces we needed to put together a St Patty's Day sampler too.  So we did!

Now we have to all flip out ours Easter/Spring and slip St Patty's in our frames!  LOL  Next up will be a Patriotic one to carry us from May to September.  We'll start that one in April.  I think a real cute idea would be 1 with all holidays in 1 frame.  Each square a different representation.  Hmmmmm.....maybe I'll just work on one of those for me! heehee.

Well I have to go start planning my tomorrow!

HAPPY CARDING!!








Friday, February 5, 2016

Anna Griffin dies

Well I got all caught up in the Anna Griffin craze on HSN.  I think I own only one embossing folder by Anna Griffin and that's all of my collection!  LOL  So I'm watching HSN and these beautiful dies come up.  Oh my what gorgeous cards I could make!  Auto ship?  Hmmmm....that can be pricey but the dies are so beautiful.  So auto ship it is!!  My first shipment came and they were just as awesome as on TV.  I couldn't wait to give it a try.  I have a Cuttlebug and a Big Shot so I'm good to go.  Got some paper, read the insert for the sandwich and into the Cuttlebug it went.  Well kind of.  It was so tight I swear the machine was going to break.  So I took out the rubber mat and tried again.  Hmmm...not a clean cut.  Next I tried a different plate arrangement....still very very tight but it went through.  I decided to try the Big Shot.  A million tries later I got one cut.  But my new Anna Griffin die warped!!!  Big time!!  I am now viewing a million You Tube videos on how to use Anna Griffin dies.  If anyone can help...please advise!
After so much frustration I decided to make at least 1 card with some of the pieces.  So here's what I came up with.  I used white cardstock from Recollections for the base of 5"x7".  The blue/grey is a shimmer paper from Achievers that I got maybe 5 years ago.  The Birthday and Bird stamp are oldies from Michael's that I now keep in a folder (they are clear stamps) and I no longer remember who they are by.  I used a Recollection border punch for the little loopy pieces. The pearls are tiny beads that I had in a storage box and I glued each one on.   I'm giving this card to one of my "Lady friends" for her Birthday. 



Well if anyone has any pointers I could sure use them
Thanks for stopping by and

HAPPY CARDING!