Copic Creations Challenge with Belles and Whistles

Well I'm fading fast as I type! So i will type fast!

If you are looking for my My Time Made Easy post, please scroll down!

The 1st means a new challenge from the Copic Creations Challenge team. This time we want you to use SATURATED colors. Check out the Copic Creations Blog for all the details!

Our sponsor this round is Belles and Whistles stamps. I thought this cutie was just SO sweet and she was definitely fun to color!

Copic Markers used...

R30, R32, R35, R39

BG15, BG18, BG10

YR12, YR18

Y21, YR23, E25

E00, E21

YG63, YG67

Be sure to check out the blog and all the other design team members to see their awesome creations!!!!

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Copic Creations Challenge with StampFairy.com

It's the 15th, so there is a new challenge from Copic Creations!

This week is a super fun one! To color FUR!

There are so many different ways you can create texture using copic markers and fur is certainly a fun texture! You just HAVE to check out the Copic Creations blog to see what each design team member created. So much fun!

Our sponsor for this challenge is StampFairy.com

Stamp fairy has so much fun and cute digi stamps to choose from! They also have digi paper and wordart! If you are a digi fan, you definitely need to check it out!

Here is my card using one of the images from the Lenny Camping collection!

Sorry it's not the best photo of the card. I kinda realized after the fact that my camera settings were a bit off so the back corner of the card is a wee bit fuzzy. But at least the image is clear, right? haha!

I used the E20 family of of copics for Lenny the Bear (E21, E23, E25, E27) and a little bit of E49 for the darkest areas. I started by coloring Lenny smooth, just with a nice gradient of dark to the outside (with the darkest being on the underside where the shadow would fall) and then lightest on the inside. After letting those color set a moment (let all the alcohol evaporate away from your paper so that it's "dry". You can tell it's ready if it does NOT feel slightly cool to the touch if you laid your fingers on it). Once it's dry you can begin flicking the markers on top to get your fur effect. If you had not waited, the flicks would have spread and not been so strong. :D I did focus darker marker flicks towards the outside and lighter in the center (so E23 over the E21 area, E25 over the E23 area and E27 over the E25 area)

I hope you are inspired to play with us on this challenge!

I know it was very fun for me to break out of my normal coloring pattern!

Have a great day!!!

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Copic Creations with Susana’s Custom Art and Card Design

DOUBLE POST DAY! If you scroll down (and I hope you do!) I mention how the 1st is always a fun day of the month. So much going on in the crafting world with new releases and and challenges, etc. It's definitely a fun (but BUSY) time each month for many of us!

Today the Copic Creation team has a new challenge for you.. and it's an easy one! USE PINK!

Now last time we had a color challenge, i was a bit literal! Using ONLY copics from the BG family. This round, i did use some favorite pinks, but I did allow some other colors to be used! haha!

Our challenge is being sponsored by the generous and fabulous Susana from Susana’s Custom Art and Card Design. I just adore Susana! She has been an "early friend" in the online crafting world and was a big supporter of my starting my own stamp company. She's just sweet as can be and helpful and I love her to pieces! Susana carries many different stamp company lines in her store, one of them being EXCLUSIVE Elisabeth Bell stamps. And she was so generous to send us each our own to play with!

Here is my card using paper from October Afternoon (Go Fly A Kite)

For my pinks, I used R30, R32, R35 and R39. Normally i would have also used R37 but it has mysteriously disappeared from my craft room? So far, I havent found red marker traces anywhere... so we'll see where it decides to turn up!

Other copic colors used... for the purse... BG09, BG07, BG05 and a little BG45.

Skin is E21, E00 and E000 (with some R30 for her cheeks)

Money (happy day, i want to find some money!) is YG17 and YG13.

Hair: E99, YR23, Y21 and a little YR14 just to warm it up a bit.

The Sentiment on my card is from a Paper Makeup Stamps set called Retail Therapy. :D

SO there you have it! Be sure to check out Susana's store for some shopping as well as the copic creations blog to see all the other fabulous creations from the design team!

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Copic Creations with A Day for Daisies

The copic Creations challenge team is back with another challenge for you...

to break out those BG's! Any BG copic marker will do!

Check out the Copic Creations blog to read all the details including reading about our awesome sponsor for the next 2 weeks, A Day for Daisies!

A Day for Daisies has adorable digi stamps that you just simply must check out! :D

Here is my card for the challenge (i may have gone a little BG overboard... i didnt use a single marker from another color family!)

Digi stamp is Angelic Angel. She reminds me very much of the West Wind character from the Anime film, Unico that i used to love and adore and watch over and over and over as a kid.

Man, i loved that movie.

Ok, back to the copics...

I literally only used BG color for this. So there are a lot in there. Her skin and clouds are the lightest, BG0000 with a little BG000 to shade. Her dress is BG70, BG72, BG75 and BG78. Her hair... well thats just a hodgepodge of everything really. It's main colors are BG32, BG34 ,BG75, BG49 and BG10 I also outlines the entire image with BG96 and B93.

Be sure to check out the rest of the team by going to the Copic Creations blog and get your card entered to win a fabulous prize!!!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Lily of the Valley

2nd post of the day! Scroll down to see my post for My Time Made Easy!!!

Today the copic creations challenge blog has yet another challenge for ya.... to draw grass and landscaping around your image! You know you've seen it done and have been aching to try... so now is the perfect time!

And our sponsor for this challenge is a perfect one... Lily of the Valley!

Their images are just so cute and many of them are perfect for a little landscape doodling!!!

Here is my card...

Is this image not just the sweetest thing! Reminds me of my boys... only these days, my boys are either playing crazy or fighting. I mean, i know it's the norm of brotherhood... but MAN, it's getting a little bit extreme! haha! Every once in awhile i might get a moment of sharing a milkshake with them! :D

Here's a close up of the colored image so you can see my take on the challenge at hand...

To the left you can see the actual stamp itself. THat way you can see that I decided to create a stone wall. It does look like thay are sitting on something, but it could have been a log, a hill, etc. I like the idea of the stone wall for some reason. :D I did also draw in some grass. Since some grass lines were already added my the illustrator, i kept my extra flick marks to a minimum, but adding grass is a GREAT way to enhance your images, and so so easy too! Just a little flick of the pen or marker and you have grass! I like to use a couple different colors for some added depth. :D

Now unfortunately, I dont happen to own any lily of the valley sentiment stamps though they have QUITE a few! You can check them out here. Instead I used one of my absolute favorites from Paper Makeup Stamps, you make the world a better place. Because afterall... the boys may be at each others throats half the day, but they truly are always by each others side and are not at all happy if the other is away or sick, hurt, etc. So it seemed so fitting for this card. :D

A quick recap of the colors used on my card... and then i'll send you on your merry way...

Boys Hair: Y21, YR23, YR30 (YR23 was only used on the boy to the left)

Skin: E00, E21

Shirts: Left G40, G82, G28, Right YG97, YG95, YG91

Pants: E21, E25 ,E27

Wall: C3, C5, W4, N2 (he various grays from warms, cools, yada yada help to give it a more earthy look)

Grass: YG63, YG67, G99,

Sku: BG72, BG70

Now be sure to check out the copic creations blog to get yourself entered in this challenge!!!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Sparkle Creations

Copic Creations is a Bi Monthly Challenge blog challenging YOU to use your copics in different ways! Every 2 weeks we bring you a new challenge! Often times we are sponsored by a stamp company who generously lets us use their images for the challenge. This week we are being sponsored by Sparkle Creations who has an awesome line of rubber stamps!

Our challenge this week is to use PASTEL colors. Um... i veered off the path a smidgen, seeing as pink, etc just didnt seem fitting for Turntables Josh, however, using paler versions of colors is a great way to show depth in your coloring! By sticking to the less bright and slighter more muted tones and just using a bit of the deeper tones to add depth you can really make an image pop.

The Copic Creations design team has done an outstanding job demonstrating this, so be sure to check out all their work!

Here is my card using Turntables Josh

Light Blue and Light Green are definitely in the pastel family. Red... not really, but i did try to use R02 to lighten it up a bit. Somehow, i didnt think this slightly punk kid would be wearing a pink tshirt. But ya never know these days. Emo kids do tend to show all sides!

So you see, pastel doesnt have to mean spring though that is something i think of often when using pastels. :D

Ok, thats what i got for ya today! Have a good one!!!

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Copic Creations Challenge with La La Land Crafts

Woops, sorry this port is going up a little late! This is why you dont post late at night, you forget to hit PUBLISH! It was stuck in draft mode!

This is also my 2nd post for the day! Scroll down to see my post for My Time Made Easy!

The 1st of the month is always a busy day of the month, with a new release from MTME, a new challenge from Copic Creations, and every other month, gearing up for a new release from Paper Makeup Stamps!

Well, i already mentioned for you to scroll down to see the awesome new stuff from MTME, this post is my post for the Copic Creations challenge BUT i also have a little something to say about PMS at the end, so hang in there!

For our challenge at Copic Creations, we were sponsored by La La Land Crafts and oh my CUTENESS overload!!!! I really really love their Marci and Luka collections! Another huge bonus is that they sell both digis and rubber stamps!

Ok, here is my card using Summer Luka!

The challenge being issued by the Copic Creations team is to color clothing WHITE.

Go figure, last challenge I had a wedding dress. HAhahaha! Coloring clothing white isnt somethng i generally think about doing unless it's clothing that should obviously be white like a wedding gown. And even that i colored ivory last time! But I think that Luka's swimsuit is a perfect thing to be white! And he really was so much fun to color!

Copics used were...

Skin: E13, E11, E21, E00

Hair: Y21, Y26, YR31

Blues: B12, B14, B16, B37

Greens: G20, G21, G24, G28

WHITE: BG70, B60, N2

So there you have it! My sentiment is actually the freebie with order (quanities limited) from the upcoming Paper Makeup Stamps release. I just love the font and it was sitting on my desk BEGGING to be used and it matched the stamp. I figured the owner of PMS wouldnt fire me. ;)

For the big news from PMS... today is friday and though there is a bit going on, we decided to give away another Friday Freebie anyway! There won't be one next week (we'll be in release mode!) so grab this one while you can! Check out the PMS blog to grab it!

Also - we announced 3 team members who moved up to Senior status as well as 4 NEW team members! You will have to read all about it!!!!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Penny Black and a prize winner

The Copic Creations Challenge Blog has another challenge for you and it's to DOODLE!

Thats right, anyway you can think of, doodle on your images. It can be with the copic markers, multiliner, etc.

AND, we are being sponsored by Penny Black who graciously gave us each a different stamp and sentiment!

Now these were given to us at RANDOM.... so how in the world did I end up with a WEDDING STAMP! HAHAHAHA! It's like I can't escape the wedding madness (ok, for those coming over from the copic creations blog and who aren't regular followers of my blog, i'm a makeup artist who works the most it seems these days in the wedding industry. I have a wedding every weekend thru mid November, and it's been that way since March. So to say i often have brides on the brain is an understatement!

ANd i got Bride and Groom from Penny black. It made me giggle a bit, really. :D

Here's my card...

For my doodling, i took accent colors from the images and dotted around the bride and groom. I also took a spica and a gelly roll pen and dotted inside her dress to create the bling. I di dmost at the top and then faded it down, but it didnt seem to capture as well in the photo. bummer.

You may notice her dress is a tad yellow as well. I have had SO many brides with Ivory dresses. Much more common than the white gowns these days. Gone are the days of the white dress that was so white it was almost blue! Haha! I used YR31 and YR30 to shade the dress.

My image was a tad on the large side, so I was having a hard time figuring out how to get the sentiment on the card as well, but I love it and I think i'm going to stamp it on the back of my cards that I put in my brides touch up bags. Or maybe i'll get really ambitious and make a bunch of thankyou cards with them... but really... i dont see that happening!!! hahaha! i can only hope I find that kind of time!

But i did come up with this fun way to use the sentiment INSIDE my card (who woulda thunk, huh?)

As you can see, i used the bride and groom image again, this time stamping it in a pigment ink.

I truly adore this sentiment!

Thank you so much Penny Black for knowing me so well!

Now be sure to check out the Copic Creations Blog so you can get in on some COOOOOOL prizes!

Speaking of prizes... the last copic creations challenge was our anniversary! And i was sporting a fun prize on my blog! A grab bag worth $50 bucks!!!!! Yep!

ANd my winner is MaryJDesigns - http://maryjdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-first-gd-card-for-pollycrafts.html

Mary, please contact me so i can get your prize out to you!!!

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Copic Creations ANNIVERSARY!

If you are looking for my My Time Made Easy post, please scroll down!

Today the Copic Creations team is celebrating an anniversary! WOOHOO!

There is a slew of prizes and good things to be had over at the copic creations blog! You just have to check it out!

But wait... there's more! I'm having a SEPARATE giveaway right here on my blog! :D

Some of the followers of copic creations may not know my stamp company, but it's called Paper Makeup Stamps. Last challenge the team all used PMS on their cards and they just blew me away thats for sure! I have a goodie bag of PMS stamps up for grabs from 1 lucky player in the challenge this week! You just have to link up your creation to win. :D

The grab bag will be valued at over $50!!!!!!!! And it will include lots and lots of lovely stamps for you to color to your hearts content!

And now, my card using stamps from one of our sponsors, Clear Art Stamps and using our challenge to go a bit distressed and vintage!

These stamps were fun to work with! I was excited when Clear Art Stamps told us to choose any stamp set to work with! I fell in love with this one called Photo Studio.

For followers of my blog, they know that photography is another hobby and profession i've been getting into, so this set was just perfect. I stamped 2 images together to create this little scene as well as my sentiment from this set. My papers were wrinkled and crinkled after coloring, though it's a little hard to make out in the photo. :D

Here's a close up of the main image. It just now occured to me I forgot to color the little animal on the pull string. WOOPS! See it happens to all! Ok, it especially happens to me.

Now, be sure to check out what everyone else has done and enter yourself to win some fantastic prizes!!!!!

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Copic Creations with PMS plus Thru the Craftroom door AND a design team call!

YEEEAH! I love it when my teams coincide together!!!

It's the 15th, which means the Copic Creations Challenge is issuing another challenge for you!

This round is being sponsored by ME, um, i mean, Paper Makeup Stamps!

Hehehe. I've already had a chance to see what my fellow copic creations gals have some up with and they have COMPLETELY blown me away! If you didnt come over here from there, then you really should check out the Copic Creations Blog! PS - PMS is also sponsoring Thru the Craftroom Door this week! Read on to read about that challenge!

With the warmer weather moving in (yeeeeah, i'm such a sunshiney type of person) the challenge is to use YELLOWS! This is a super fun challenge because you can really get a variety of looks from using the yellow family copic markers!

Here is my card using the new Lea stamp and previously released simple sentiment, Hello Sunshine. Check out all the new releases HERE.

I used a variety of different yellow tones on my card.

Here's a closer image that I will break down my color choices...

I also took this photo a bit at an angle so you could see the twinkling h2o's painting on her wings and kite.

Her hair is colored with Y21, Y26 and a bit of my own made up color Y20 though it's pretty safe to say that the new released YR30 looks about the same as my Y20.

Her dress is Y32, Y35 and Y38 as is her kite, bows, etc.

Her wings are YR31 and YR30.

Thru the Craftroom Door is an online magazine run by 2 of my online buddies, Suzanne Dean (also a fellow Copic Creations team member, i heart her!) and Marti Wills. You really should check out their magazine for some amazing inspiration! But you don't have to be a subscriber to play along! Check out their challenges HERE. The challenge from Thru the Craftroom Door is to use Any WInged thing! Which of course I was able to easily do as well in my card above!

And wait... there is 1 more special announcement...

Paper Makeup Stamps is having a design team call!!!

That's right! Check out THIS POST to read all about it and submit your designs!

Have a most wonderful day everyone!!!!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Lily of the Valley

If you are looking for my My Time Made Easy group blog hop post, please scroll down!

ANd now.. forgive my incredibly brash post as by the time I've gotten to typing this one, I'm pooped beyond belief! Today was a big work day for me, 2 weddings, plus some prom girls and a bachelorette makeup. Total of 17 makeup applications and then 1 hairstyle for the day. I was up at 6am, and it's nearing midnight, so yeah.... it's definitely time for bed!

The copic Creations team is playing with CLOUDS this week! What a fun challenge, huh?

We are being sponsored by Lily of the Valley stamps! My card uses a stamp i've actually had since i first saw Lily of the Vally on a blog and went OMG, i must have those stamps! ANd this is one I've not gotten around to inking up. It was perfect for this challenge!!!

To create my clouds, I first stamped out my image and then a 2nd image on scratch paper which I cut out to create a mask. Then I used some cloud stencils i've had for a couple years (picked them up at a local store) and also the copic airbrush system.

My sentiment is from Paper Makeup Stamps (the coordinating sentiment from Jerry in the clouds).

Be sure to check out the Copic Creations blog for more samples from the design team as well as details on this weeks challenge and to read the winner of our last challenge!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Crafty Secrets

If you are looking for my My Time Made Easy Post, just scroll down. :D

Today the Copic Creations team is celebrating our favorite copic techniques and we're being sponsored by Crafty Secrets. Craft Secrets sent each of us 3 stamp sets of our choice! I heart them!

Here is my card... using 1 of my very favorite flowers... Poppies!!!!

I used 2 of my favorite techniques on this card. One is coloring with a high contrast meaning that the edges and folds of the image are very dark (I used R59 here) while the highlights of the image or very right (R20). Inbetween i used R22, R24, R27, R29 in various spots.

I also used another all time favorite technique with copics and it didnt show up much in the photo. Pooo. But thats using the copic airbrush system. Ok, so granted i have airbrush on the brain since I also airbrush makeup, but there is something about it that just really makes an image stand out to me. ANd it seems easy to me to avoid the image without much masking, etc. Here I used B00 as my sky color. It shows up more in person.

ANd now I am totally spent, so rather than ramble on about nothing, i'm just going to direct your attention to the Copic Creations Blog. But be sure to check out my My Time Made Easy post as well!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Sugar Nellie

I'm back with my card for this week's Copic Creations Challenge!

For the next 2 weeks, the Copic Creations Challenge is being sponsored by Sugar Nellie.

Did you know that Sugar Nellie now has digi stamps?! It may be old news to some, but it was new to me! I see some of them in my future!

For this time around though I decided that one of my gorjuss girls needed some love. I dont know that this one had ever seen ink before! A true shame!!!!!

Our challenge for you this week is to pull out those BLLLLUUUUUUUEEES!

What is your favorite blue combo? Mine is a slight toss up. I love the B30s and the B90's.

It really depends on the paper i'm using of course as you want to have things match. For the above image... i actually combined both! I used B30, B37, B34 and then B91. I like B32 but i find often that is makes the overall tone too bright when i'm finished if i've gone all the way to B37 and B39. The B91 has a softer effect and since the blues in my paper were a little more muted, i used that instead of B32 for my lightest color. If the B91 is too pale/unvibrant, you might think of layering both of them together! :D

So what are you waiting for?! You dont have to use Sugar Nellie images to play in the Copic Creations challenge, but if you play, you just might WIN some sugar nellie images!

You have nothing to lose! Be sure to link up your card to the Copic Creations Blog and while you're there, be sure to check our the awesome creations from the rest of the design team! They never cease to amaze me!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Crafts and Me!

Thank you for reading on to my Copic Creations Challenge project!

For the past 2 challenges, we have worked with warm and cool colors. In my last copic creations post (which you can read here) I chatted about the color wheel and a little bit about color theory.

This week, the Copic Creations team is taking color theory one step further and asking that you use complimentary colors on your card.

Complimentary colors are the colors that are across each other on the color wheel. They are in essence, exact opposites of each other. The reasoning behind using colors that are the opposites is that they really make each other stand out. In makeup... if you use the opposite of your eye color, your eye color will stand out even more. If you have blue eyes, well... the idea of using orange may not suit your fashion ideas, BUT you can use a copper or even a warm bronze and get a similar effect. Or you can just use orange. HAHAHAHA.

Ok, back to PAPERCRAFTING. :D

The sponsor for this challenge is Crafts and Me. This UK based store carries all kinds of wonderful crafting products as well as stamps. But they are the EXCLUSIVE home to a line of GORGEOUS digital stamps that you can find HERE.

Here is my card using Hearts of Ice. Sentiment is from an old SU stamp set for anyone who is curious.

For my complimentary coloring, I used warm Yellows to create her blonde hair (Y21, YR23, E99) and then colored her hat and bits of her coat you can see with cool purples (BV01, BV13, BV17). Since her broken heart was colored red, I went with the complimentary color for her eyes which is green.

Here is a close up of the image itself...

You'll notice i added some dashes of white gel pen. Just for extra highlight effect. :D

I also added some liquid pearls around her hoodie for fun.

Be sure to join in on our challenge... up for grabs is 4 digitial images!

This challenge will run for 2 weeks!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Bugaboo Stamps

Copic Creations Challenge is back with a new challenge for you!

The Copic Creations challenge is a bimonthly challenge bringing new challenges to use those copics on with new sponsors giving fantastic prizes!

Our sponsor for this challenge is Bugaboo Digital Stamps and our challenge to you is to use WARM colors!

Now using warm colors can mean a lot of things! You can go with reds, oranges and yellows because that certainly fits the bill! But you can also find the warm versions of many colors... even greens, purples, blues, etc.

Here is my card...

My card uses one of the Scarlette designs digi available from Bugaboo Stamps.

Bugaboo has many different characters. They are all so stinkin' cute!

The sentiment is from the Retail Therapy set from Paper Makeup Stamps.

Ok, back to the challenge at hand... using warm colors.

If you look at the color wheel...

By the way my "online friend" Debbie Olson has done a fantastic write up for Ellen Hutson on the copic colors that you may read about HERE. I actually stumbled on it while trying to find a color wheel to show here on my blog).

Ok, so as you can see at the above chart, there is a color wheel. Of course you can probably pick out the primary colors which you have known since gradeschool. Yellow, Red and Blue. Well, out of those 3 colors, 2 of them are warm colors. Which makes the majority of the color wheel warm. Due to both red and yellow being labeled as warm colors.. Orange is actually the most warm of all. So think of orange as the sun and as you get further away from the sun, you get cooler! :D So look opposite of orange on the color wheel and what do you see? BLUE! Which by the primary colors, you probably could have already guessed was the coolest color. So just as blue is the coolest color, as you venture your way around the color wheel, you get warmer.

Now take the color green for example and look at it on the color chart. Yellow Green is closer to orange, our warmest color. So it is the warmest version of green you can get. I used this "warm green" on my card and in my color. But waaaaaait a second you say. I also used blue green. Well yes, I did use a little blue green to even out my coloring since there was some blue green in my paper. However, blue green is the warmest blue color. Going warm on the other side of the blue on the wheel is purple. And as you can imagine, purple is a bit of it's own entity with a warm purple and a cool purple. So i just left that one alone for now!

So that is my way quick color theory break down for ya. Some people study color theory for YEARS and I did in fact take whole classes just on color theory. It's present everywhere from makeup, to art to fashion to advertising, to well, you get the idea. ;)

So now it's your turn! You dont have to use bugaboo stamps to play, but they are very affordable digis, so try one out if ya want. The only requirement is that you play with warm coloring in your creation. When you are done, go back to the Copic Creations blog and link it up! Most importantly, HAVE FUN! Create with reckless abandon and step outside of your comfort zone. You might just find that you like it there! ;)

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Copic Creations Challenge with Lily of the Valley

If you are looking for my My Time Made Easy post, please scroll down!

It's the first of the month which means its time for another 2 week challenge from the Copic Creations Challenge team! This round we are being sponsored by Lily of the Valley which is a stamp company in the UK. Be sure to check out the Copic Creations Challenge blog to read all about their sponsorship and the prizes to be won!

The challenge this week is to use COOL COLORS!

Here's my first card (cause yep, i actually made 2!!!!)

It isnt an overly "cool" image though i did think the snowy scene seemed cold. Yes it's a little christmasie so i will just count 1 down for next year! hahahaa!

Next up is a digi stamp from LOTV. I think i forgot the cool image thing on this one! I just couldnt resist coloring her up!

Ok, it's late and i'm still trying to catch up so now i'm going to try to catch up on SLEEP!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Prairie Fairy Designs

Copic Creations is BACK! And this challenge is one that everyone who owns a copic marker can easily play along with! The challenge is to use something new! So if you got new copics, you're covered! If you already have all of the copics (ahem) you can use other new toys you may have gotten this holiday season!

Our sponsor for this challenge is Prairie Fairy Design..

Prairie Fairy Designs is a digital stamp company who has designs for just about any digi stamp lover. Some cute to whimsical to hysterical, they have you covered. You'll just have to check them out!

Here is my card...

Sadly, i didnt get any new craft items this Christmas! I know! Crazy right? My hubby has decided i have to buy my own. He says it's like buying him a new landscaping tool... how would i know what to get or what a good price is! However, this holiday season, my hubby bought me a new fancy camera! And some very nice lenses, a great flash and some other fun things. And my daddy got me a lighting kit! So sure, these things are really geared towards my makeup business that i am developing into a photography business as well, but ya know what... man these nice things can make a card look so much better! I still need to learn how to use my camera for a card, my sentiment kept getting blurry due to a low aperature and the boket. But i love the depth in the photo. :D

I used the Sorry Roocat digi from Prairie Fairy. I found him quite hilarious paired with this snorkle paper from cosmo cricket. The fishies on the paper just make him look so guilty!

I hand wrote my sentiment on there because i just need an I'm Sorry. I swear i have a stamp somewhere that says I'm sorry! Ah well.

Ok, now be sure to check out the Copic Creations blog to read more on this challenge and enter to win a fabulous prize! AND you have to check out the awesome creations from the rest of the design team! Good luck!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Just Rite Stamps

It's the last copic creations challenge of the year and oh man is this one a good one!

I know everyone is busy busy busy with holidays things, kids winter programs at school, card sending, present making, shopping, oh it goes on and on but i hope you take the time to check out the Copic Creations challenge. The prize is an ENTIRE set of Copic Spica Pens as well as some stamp goodies from this week's sponsor, Just Rite Stamps!

Just Rite generously donated some of their new holiday releases for the Copic Creations team to work with. I chose the Vintage Christmas Set. MAN, they are BIG! I had no idea until i get them in the mail but i was absolutely giddy when i saw them! A big bonus is that Just Rite is having a holiday sale and this set is only 12.71!

So while my original plan was to make a card using the way cool vintage santa image... as I looked at the pretty stamps with the separate border around them, i thought, this is PERFECT for an ornament! I like to make a few ornaments every year and this year I havent gotten around to it with all the ickies in our house so this was just perfect!!! This is what came up with! It's a double sided ornament... the center dangles on a piece of clear thread so that it spins. Kinda fun... veeeeeeery hard to get it to stay still for a picture! ahahahaha!

And now for some detail shots of each cause I know it's a little hard to catch in the above shots.

First let me say that the challenge this week with copics is to make things Sparkle! (hence why the Copic Spica Pens are part of the give away!). Ok, so the other challenge is to get all that sparkle photographed, but man does it look pretty in person! I totally heart my copic spica pens!

Here's a look at my snowman... I lined every thing with the copic spica pens (black for his hat, lipstick for the hat band and scarf, clear all over him... then i went a little nuts and spritzed him with some smooch spritz and well, thats pretty much all that photographed! but outlining every thing in spica pen turned out really pretty!

Here's a close up shot of Mr. Snowman, not angled at the light!

Here you can see the liquid pearls i used on the snowflakes and snow on his hat.

Colors Used: Boo, B000 and B000 for the snow man... a smidgen of C2 was used in areas of shadow. His hat and coal bits are C9, C7, C5, C3 and his hat band and scark are R59. R29 R24

And now for Mr. Clause... first the shimmer shot... basically the same MO as the snowman except instead of liquid pearl accents, i used silver stickles in his eye reflection to give that Santa Glint. His glasses were colored with a gold spica pen. And yes, i went smooch spritz crazy and i couldnt hold the ornament still to save my life so it's all a little blurry. Sorry.

And now for a better version...

Ok, this one is a little blurry too but that was a photography mistake. I'm still learning the ins and outs of my new camera. haha. Absolutely NON of the shimmer showed up here, but you can see the glint in his eye from the stickles! :D

Now be sure to go to the copic creations blog, check out the other team members creations and get yourself entered to win this AWESOME prize!!!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Whimsy Stamps

Scroll down if you are looking for my My Time Made Easy blog hop post!

Today is another day for the Copic Creations Challenge team and this time we are challenging you to focus on your light source!

Light source to me is something very important with coloring! The trickest part is to remember that your light is coming from the same spot so if you have multiple images in your stamp image, it might he to the right corner on one image and right above for another. Keeping continuity with your light source really helps to make an image come to life!

Here's my project for you (using a Whimsy Stamps digital image!)

Now i will apologize for not turning my image into an adorable card like all my fabby design team friends did (their cards all amaze me!) but with the ickies i've had, i decided to just focus on the image! The most fun, was that i printed the image much larger than would fit on a card and made myself my first Christmas decoration of the year! Since I havent felt up to decorating the house just yet - this is also the first decoration i've even put up (for the photo... and i'm not taking it down!)

I decided to have my light source come from the upper left corner. I've had many of my students ask me, how in the world do you determine where the light source is coming from?!

I take my cues from the little details the illustrator has left. Notice on the center snowman's hat? There are lines along the sides, but not just there at the top. So i'm letting that be the lightest part of his hat, and if the light is going to hit there, i need to make sure the other snowmen follow suit. it may help you to place an object (that you wont move!) at the point you determine is your light source. Just make sure not to move your image either!

I didnt have any sentiments from Whimsy Stamps, so i used a PMS sentiment from the Snow Happy set. It's appropriate, no?

Now if you havent already been to the copic creations blog... you need to go go go! Lots of beautiful samples and details on how to enter in our contest and win prizes!

Good Luck!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Tickled Pink Stamps

It's the 15th which means another fun and fabby challenge coming to you from Copic Creations!

Since our next challenge (they are the 1st and 15th of every month) falls on a holiday... we'll be taking that one off and are giving you a WHOLE MONTH to complete this challenge. You have NO EXCUSES! You must play! ;)

For our challenge - we are asking that you paper piece! Yep, that doesnt sound very copic challenge-ish does it? Well, there is a often forgetten thing when people paper piece. In order for the over all image to have that depth you need to shade your paper piecing! So thats the challenge!

Here's my card...

Before i get into card details... i need to tell you about our sponsor for the challenge!

Her name is Kellie Winnell and she's the owner of Tickled Pink Stamps in Australia.

This gal is too fun! She first opened her online shop down under because stamps like magnolia's, etc were hard to come by. Then she thought... well i want to start my own company too and the Lil Lolita stamp line was born! She sells her stamps both digi and in rubber so there is something for everyone! AND... RIGHT NOW... Tickled Pink Stamps is have a PRE-Christmas SALE! With 10% - 35% OFF some selected stamps, a discount of paper pads, charms and well EVERYTHING in store! So be sure to get that something you have always wanted before it's all GONE....

You really have to check them out!

The image i used is from the christmas cllection that was JUST released. You can view them all HERE.

First I printed the digi out onto xpress it cardstock, and then printed the digi again on 2 different patterned papers (it's just as easy to run patterned paper thru your printer as it is the cardstock! THen i cut out my pieces and paper pieces away. I will note, it is easiest to me if you color the rest of your image you arent paperpiecing before you add the paper on top other wise you kind hit the walls of the paper and that colorless blender just doesnt work as well to get the ink back where it's supposed to on top of the patterned paper.

Once you are at this step, you shade your paper pieced imaged much like you would shade a regular image. You can use a color if you have one that matches the paper... i chose greys instead to create more shadows (N2, N4 and N6 to be exact)

When i was done with my image, i added liquid applique to her hat and dress for that extra santa effect.

Now go check out the copic creations blog to see more samples and then go buy some goodies from Kellie!

Have a wonderful day!!!!

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