Pink Birdie Birthday Card

This is a card I made for my friend Becky's birthday. I wanted it to have a doodle-like look to it so I used some doodle stamps (I think they are G-Studio clear stamps from Michaels) and colored them in with my Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils (from an online artist supply store). I cut out the notebook paper using my Silhouette and the round holed notebook paper design from their store. The baby bird is from Miss Kate Cuttables (it was originally a freebie but is now $.50), also cut on my Silhouette.

I made the flower using the Spellbinders 3D flower die, Spiral Blossom Two. I inked the edges with Picked Raspberry, Tim Holtz Distress Ink (using a blending tool) then coated it with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint before rolling it up and glueing it (with Glossy Accents). I wrapped Tickled Pink Trendy Twine around the notebook page and used a couple strips of Washi tape on the top and bottom of it to finish off the card.

The A7 sized card and envelope were cut using Sizzix Pro Dies.

Train Thank You Card

This is a card I made for Alan and Janet Moon for generously hosting The Gathering of Friends each year (for those who are unfamiliar, this is a board gaming convention with about 375 people - quite an undertaking!). Alan is also the designer of Ticket to Ride, as well as many other board games. If you are curious about board gaming, I highly recommend that you click the link and read about this game.

I wanted to personalize a thank you card for him. He likes trains and lives in the New York area so I themed the card around this. The convention was held in April thus the "April 2013" on one of the tickets.

I cut the train using my Silhouette Cameo and an SVG file (not sure where I got this one, sorry!). I love lover love the Silhouette! It is so easy to cut SVG files or any font on your computer - you can even make your own designs. The background clocks (actually pocket watches) were embossed using a Tim Holtz's Texture Fades embossing folder from Sizzix. The New York Central ticket is from Tim Holtz's Visual Artistry, The Journey, set by Stampers Anonymous. Note: I couldn't find where to search on the Stampers Anonymous website and I didn't want to look through all the sets so I put a link to its listing on the Simon Says Stamp website.

The twine is from Annie's Paper Boutique; this one is called Stars & Stripes. I had gone a bit twine crazy and ordered a bunch of different colors. Unfortunately there are more I want... now if I could only find space in which to put them! Be sure to check out the bundles, specials, and limited editions.

Mother's Day Card 2013

For this card, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut Paisley, one in a set of four from My Scrap Chick. Instead of using the smaller eyes that came with the set, I used a paw print punch on black paper and took two of the toe prints for the eyes. Hint: a lot of the paw print punches make great eyes; the base of the paw can be used as an animal nose. I used an opaque white pen to add the white and highlight in her eyes, chalked a little black around where the eyelashes would go, then used my black Multiliner pen in .05 to draw the lashes. I colored Paisley's hair brush with Copic Sketch markers. I also chalked her cheeks, shading on her skin, and shading on her outfit. The 3D bow was also cut on the Silhouette (sorry I don't remember where I got that exact file but there are a lot available on the web, even as freebies).

I really love using tags and banners on cards. Lately I've been making a lot of cards featuring them. On this one I used mini tags strung across twine. You may cut the tags with an electronic die cutting machine or buy the actual dies, such as the Mini Tags or Mini Designer Tags from Taylored Expressions. You can easily find small message stamps to go on them, such as the Many Minis - Holidays (also from Taylored Expressions). I decorated the tags using rubber stamps, Stickles (red inside star), Swarovski crystals, and some small pearls that are used to decorate fingernails (found them on eBay). I added a couple of buttons between some of the tags, as well as small pieces of ribbon (black, pink, red) tied in simple knots around the twine.

The base card is an A7 (5x7) size, cut using my Sizzix Big Shot Pro die. I cut my own envelopes using the matching Sizzix envelope die. You can get one A7 envelope or two A2 envelopes out of a sheet of 11x17 paper. I purchase Hammermill 28lb Color Copy Digital paper at Costco for $18.39 for 1,000 sheets (2 reams) including shipping. It comes out to less than two cents a sheet. The paper is very smooth and has a nice thickness to it, making the envelopes feel expensive. My paper was dinged in the corner in shipping but since I'm only using the center parts, it didn't really matter. I use the paper left over from the A7 envelopes in other projects or as scrap.

Copic Intermediate Certification Class

I took the Copic Intermediate Certification class on November 10, 2012. The class was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I went to that one so I could visit family while in Michigan. My sister attended the class with me (by the way, she also held a special early Thanksgiving for our family while I was there - thanks Jen!). The instructor was Debbie Olsen. I'll just touch on a few of the things we covered in this full day class to give you an idea of what was covered. If you are planning to do some serious Copic coloring, you should consider taking the class.

The first things we covered were shading, highlights, and shadows and how the Copic color system works into this. We started by coloring some trees. Here you can see one of the trees I colored, along with the colors of Copics I used to color it.

I really love the way these alcohol markers blend. The brush tip is the best I've used for markers. These tips make it so easy to get great results.

We looked at different types of light and concepts: linear direction of light, direct vs. indirect light, radial light, and single point (spot) light. I included an image from the radial light section below.

The candle is the central source of light - it radiates out to touch the tops of nearby objects with its warm glow, while cool shading dominates the bottoms of the objects where the light tapers off.

Next we covered composition and design for paper crafting. Artists and photographers are very familiar with these concepts - rule of thirds, color weight, balance, movement, etc.

Working with reds is tricky because red is such an intense dye. It is not as forgiving as other colors, e.g. you can't easily "fix" it with the blender pen. We went over some tips for coloring with red and practiced on this Santa image (I didn't get to finish his face or shading the dog and his hands).

Other tricky items covered were coloring skin tones, including shading on the face, and hair. The book (given to us in class) has recommendations for all different skin tones as well as different hair colors and types (e.g. straight vs. curly). We practiced coloring on several images of people, I only included one below.

For our final project, we colored a larger image of lilacs (well, larger than the previous images!). I included a partial section of my project below to give you an idea of the complexity of the final image.

To find a certified instructor in your area, go to instructor search on the Copic website. Happy coloring!

Images by Marianne Walker, Copic.