Hi friends! I have some announcements for this Sunday morning…and then I'll be back with some cards tomorrow. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! We have been kind of lazy so far, but in a little while we'll be heading out for some errands and a nice lunch together.

First announcement is just a reminder that I am teaching two Spring Cards classes next weekend at the Paper Garden Boutique! I'm very excited and there are a few spots left. Please CLICK HERE for all the information about signing up. Below are some pictures of the projects we're making. Five cards with a cheerful Spring theme. I'm using brand new stamps and papers from Memory Box and some favorites from Impression Obsession, Amuse and Hero Arts. Hope you can join me!

Second announcement: Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last blog post about the Sucre goodies and giveaway… The winner is lucky comment #13! Renee! WOO WOO! Congrats Renee! If you read this before I email you, send me your address so I can pass it on to Sucre. YAY!

 
 (I couldn't figure out how to get this darn thing on my blog, so I took a picture of it!!!)
 

Lastly, I just wanted to share this cool poster/image from Mary Engelbreit. It made me happy! Have a fabulous day everybody! 🙂

Today's post has a lot going on! This is my weekly post for the iCopic Blog and also I used a sketch from the Mojo Monday blog to get my layout started! I colored this image quite a while ago and it is one that I use as an example in my Copic classes. I finally turned it into a card! A shabby, vintagey card! I think it nicely illustrates a different way to use your Copic Markers to achieve a soft, glassy feel. This is a super super old stamp from PSX.

Here is the sketch!  

Here are the colors that I used – you can see I used very light shades in four different color families. When coloring, I left a lot of white space in the center of the bottles. I did this so that the images would appear see through, just like glass. I used my colorless blender pen extensively to push the color out the back of the paper (see pic below) so that just a very small amount of color was left.  
 

Here is the back side of my image. See that there is more color on the back than on the front!? That is because I kept using my blender pen over and over until I got the effect I wanted.

Are you in love with this seam binding ribbon like I am lately? Ooh La La. I found some keys in my stash and a pretty lavender flower. Then, I dug up some vintagey papers… I have been doing a bit of reorganizing in my craft room and found some good stuff!

 Here is a close up of the coloring of the bottles…

For the life of me, I could not get that ribbon, flower and keys to stay put! I had a needle and thread on my craft table left over from another project…so I actually sewed all that stuff right onto the paper! That'll teach it! Hahaha.

 
And…finally…this card is my entry to the MOXIE FAB Stamping with Markers Challenge!!! I hope you will go on over and check out the post and enter…because…you could win 36 Copic Markers!!! WOO WOO! Have a wonderful day. 
   
 

Happy Valentine's Day to you! The DH and I have the day off work and we are planning to spend the day together doing something fun…not sure what yet…but it will be fun! hahaha. Hope you have something planned with your loved ones for Valentines. It's all about pink and candy and cuteness! You've seen me post some other cards with this great collection from We R Memory Keepers. I decided to use up most of my stash of it to make Valentines for my girlfriends. They are basically the same, but each one just a little different too. LOVE IT!

 
  
 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

FROM ME & BUDDY!

So…I have noticed that every single card on my blog lately is PINK PINK PINK! Must be because I'm in Valentine mode! Sheesh. Okay, so today I made a card that has no pink and is actually a very warm and masculine color scheme! It's one of my projects for the Eat Cake Graphics Design Team. Cutest little kitty stamp with the most precious look on his face. I colored him in to look like my Buddy boy. {smile}.

I colored him in with my Copics to look like Buddy! Turns out Buddy is YR14 – Caramel! Hahaha. I added stripes in the YR14 over E31 and then some RV10 pink for his ears. Pretty easy coloring job… 

  Look at this face! Yup, YR14!

Today's Wednesday! My day over at the iCopic Blog! WOO WOO! Today I am sharing sweet Geisha Anya with her pretty kimono and shiny black hair. I found just the perfect piece of patterned paper to use with this card to make her a pretty little cherry blossom scene. I think I might possibly be addicted to coloring these Anya images now! Seems I can't stop!

Here is a close up of her hairdo! NO BLACK was used to color her hair! Black is too harsh and will come out flat. Instead I used cool grey tones: C2, C5 and C7. Her flower and Kimono were colored with pretty shades of: R12. R14 and R17. For the hair, I started with my lightest shade first to lay a foundation of color. I did leave some white space, as you see. I went back over with my medium shade and finally streaked in some of the C7. Practice "flicking" your brush pen tip to feather out from thick to thin lines. It's an optical illusion that your eye sees black when really it's grey.  

HELLLOOOOOO! Monday already? Yup! Well…nothing we can do about it I guess. Today I'm posting a card using some SUPER cute stamps from Pink Persimmon!  I fell in love with their stamps last year and the wonderful Darcy was nice enough to recently mail me some new stamps to play with. (Thank you Darcy!) I adore their vintage images, and the stamp quality is superb. They stamp perfectly right from the package. I hope you will take a minute to hop over to the Pink Persimmon shop and check out the images. You will want some for sure! Today's card is a sweet cupckae birthday greeting done in vintage shades of pink and aqua. I don't normally say this…but I love how this card came out! Hope you likey!

Here is a close up of the coloring of the banner and the cupcake. My Copic shades are shown below. I went sparingly with the markes and then "diluted" my coloring by going over it with my blender pen. I think it looks sort of soft and watercolor-ish.

The first thing I did was to make my own background paper using the banner set and some cream cardstock. MMMMMMM. YUMMY! I used Versamagic inks for a soft matte finish. Kept the color palette simple.

Here are the Copics I used for the cupcake and banner: 

These are the four stamp sets I used for my card. You can see how they all coordinate perfectly and are about the same scale and style. The combinations are endless. The banner set is a personal favorite! 
 

 

 
 Have a great week cupcakes!

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope your weekend is off to a good start! The sun is shining here and I think once this post is done I will grab my kitty and go take a nice long nap. The DH and I spent the morning at H&R Block getting our taxes done. Ick. Aren't you always so happy when that is over for the year? I know I am. Such a relief…and a nice tax refund coming to us in a few weeks. Gonna try and save the money… We will have our ten year wedding anniversary (18 years together) this year and we really want to try to save for a vacation to celebrate. It's been a good long while since we went on a vacay. Anyhoo…I seriously digressed right there. I have a card to share!

Today's card is a red hot number – a Valentine made with the mostest prettiest and cool paper and ribbon from American Crafts!   I am a fan of their cardstock – as you know from a previous post. And this red/kraft designer paper is off the hook! The polka dot ribbon too! YUM.

As I have been prone to do lately…got out everything but the kitchen sink and put it on this card! Pretty red Prima flower, a glossy sticker, a heart brad, a doily and a red stick pin. The paper heart on the doily was cut out from the patterned background paper. Isn't that sweet?
 

I added glitter glue to the top of the rose petals to jazz it up. The horizontal element is a piece of red cardstock layered with some lace and then polka dot ribbon.
 

The circular piece is again – cut from the patterned paper. I could make fifty cards with this pretty paper. I shoulda bought more. The rule for 2011 is NO HOARDING…so I'm using it! hahaha. 
 

 
 
 I hope you have a happy heart today!
 
 

One of the things I enjoy doing every year is making cards for Chinese New Year. I have many wonderful friends who are Asian and I love to make cards to send them to celebrate the New Year tradition. Gung Hay Fat Choy! 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit! Are you a Rabbit? I am a Dragon myself!

Usually my Chinese New Year cards are very strong and use red and black and gold (click here to see my cards from last year) but this year I went with a different color scheme. My card was all based on this wonderful sheet of paper I've had in my stash that is chartreuse. Since it's the Year of the Rabbit I thought I would shake it up, and go with a Spring/green theme.

I stamped the Hero Arts rabbit in black first and then masked it. Then I stamped the small Chinese lettering background in chartreuse ink…then I put the larger lettering over that with black ink. I ran the whole image through a circle nestability.  

I printed out my saying from the computer so it would have a pretty font and the right color for the year. I do this a lot since I'm a font-a-holic! I think this looks pretty.  

This is one of my favorite shots of San Francisco's Chinatown that I took in October of last year. It captures the exact feel and color of the area. Love to go here and eat and shop and take pictures!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!