Copics for Cardmakers Class - Day 7

Today's class was all about using those difficult colors - whites, reds, and blacks.  I don't have many grays so the white flowers proved quite difficult to get the white look but I still like the way they turned out.  I really like how the red flowers turned out.  I haven't had much success with reds in the past but for some reason they worked tonight.  I've also determined that I really like coloring flowers - they are so very forgiving!

The little halloween robot turned out cute but again my lack of grays made things a little harder than I think they needed to be.

Copics for Cardmakers Class - Day 6

I'm a little late with this post but it took me forever to color my critters yesterday.  I was really looking forward to the class because for some reason critters never turn out quite right for me.  And...last night proved to be very challenging as I expected.  My husband likes camo dog and I think I like the one I colored to resemble our dog, Peanut.

I experimented quite a bit and I also realized that I really need to invest in some more earth tones - I really don't have many which made the fox a huge challenge - hence the pink one at the end when I was just reaching for straws on possibilities.

Copics for Cardmakers Class - Day 5

Our class for this day was all about skin and hair.  I have the hardest time with both of those but I think my practice has helped quite a bit.  I also realize where I have some holes in my marker colors! I mostly used my Copics but I grabbed a couple ShinHan markers I have to see how they did.  I also experimented with all different colors of hair since I really don't have many of the earth tones.  I think I found some great combos for fire and some Halloween looks!

Copics for Cardmakers Class - Day 4

Today was all about looking at your light source and which direction it is coming from.  This is something I really struggle with.  I tried the techniques presented and I think the one of having the light coming from your face worked the best for these images for me.  I did try one with the light coming from the left and pointing down - the red flower - but I ended up going back to the light coming from me.  I also really liked the flicking method for flowers - the blue and yellow ones.

I tried two different combos for the leaves and I think G20, G24, and G28 is my favorite.

Copics for Cardmakers Class - Day 3

Today we learned how to take gray and use it to shade colors that maybe you only have one or two of.  I did my first cup with two colors of blue but for the rest of my practice sheet I decided to try using just single colors since I have a fair bit of markers that I don't have a natural blending shade to go with.  I really like how the B91 cup and the V01 umbrella turned out.  I was really hoping the YR68 cup would turn out because I love the bright orange color but it just turned out all muddy I think.  I'll keep trying it out though!

Copics for Cardmakers Class - Day 2

Today was all about blending in creative ways.  For me laying some ink on an acrylic block and then picking it up with the lighter marker worked better.  I really pushed myself and made a concerted effort to use colors I didn't think would work together.  I definitely created some crazy birds that way!!  But...I learned a lot about how to get some really unique looks.  The one bird where I used green and orange on his chest (YG06 and YR68) would work really great on a monster.  I love the way the color mottled down.  I also really liked the pink butterfly.  I think that would be a wonderful look on a skirt.  I was also really surprised at the effect I got with layering the grays - I'll probably use that quite a bit.

Here's my practice sheet - wowzers what a mess but there's a lot of learning there!!

Copics for Cardmakers Class - Day 1

I am taking an online class to try and improve my Copic coloring.  So...I thought I would post some of my practice sheets and other projects here.  Maybe when I look back I will be able to see an improvement.

Today's class was on blending.  I stepped out of my box a bit and tried some combinations that aren't "natural" combos - some I like and others were definite do not do that again!

Birthday Plane and ODBD Challenge

Hi!  Today's post is a dual duty - don't you just love it when you can get two things done at once?!?

This card is for my brother-in-law's birthday next week.  I had a lot of fun with this card and used a technique that I'm still perfecting - namely masking.  I created the background by masking off the large cloud in Close to My Heart's Lifting Spirits stamp set (C1570) to give the background dimension.  The clouds were stamped on Daisy White CS with CTMH Crystal Blue ink.  I stamped the plane and then masked it off before stamping the banner.  I used my favorite ink for alcohol marker coloring, Momento Tuxedo Black.  The sentiment is from CTMH's Your Own Kind of Wonderful stamp set (D1627).   I was so happy it fit in the banner!!  The pattern paper at the bottom is from a limited edition paper release from CTMH (Free to Be Me) and is unfortunately no longer available.

Here are the ShinHan and Copic markers I used to color the plane (I love how they work well together!!):

ShinHan:
YR24
Y222
WG4
B62
Copics:
B000
B91
B95

I'm also linking this card up for the September Our Daily Bread Designs (ODBD) challenge to create your own background.

Country Born Birthday

I CASEd this card from Leanne Garner using the Close to My Heart Country Born stamp set (D1543).  I loved the way she created a full scene from these stamps so I had to try my hand it as well.

I colored the scene with the following Copic colors:
B0000
B00
G43
G46
N4
N0
N8
E42
E50
E18
E47
E37

I created the background with CTMH Topiary and Lagoon ink pads.

The sentiment is from the Cricut Art Philosophy Stamp Set.

Gamer Birthday Card

This card was made for another nephew of mine who likes to play video games.  I'm sure his games are much more sophisticated than this old Nintendo controller.  The controller cut is from the Cricut Wrap It Up Cartridge.  Rather than cut out all the colored buttons I backed the top cuts with white paper and then used Copics to color in the correct colors.  I then coated each of those pieces with Close to My Heart Liquid Glass.  The star holographic paper is from Hot Off the Press.  The background paper is from the DCWV Boyhood Stack and the solid card stock is from Core'dinations.

My Little Pony Birthday Card

I made this birthday card for my nephew.  He really likes My Little Pony so I found a really nice graphic online and cut it out with my Cameo.  The paper is from the Boyhood Stack from DCWV.  The solid card stock is from Core'dinations.  I added a Close to My Heart 4mm sparkle for the eye and popped the sentiment up on homemade foam tape.  I like making my own adhesive foam from those inexpensive fun foam sheets from Hobby Lobby and some Scor-Tape.

The inside stars were stamped in Ponderosa Pine ink from CTMH and the stars are from the (now retired) Unicorn Dreams hostess stamp set from CTMH.

Butterfly Birthday

This was a fun card to make with my Cameo.  I made this card for a very dear friend for her birthday. The cut file was a freebie from Bird's Cards.

I created the sentiment for the front on my computer and the inside sentiment is from one of the special stamp sets that comes with the Close to My Heart Cricut Artiste Cartridge.  The sweet little butterfly is from a retired Petite Perks stamp set.

The paper is from my stash and unfortunately I have no idea who the manufacturer is.

Elegant Cross Birthday Card

My goal this year was to make birthday cards for my family and some close friends.  I've been doing really well and making the cards and getting them sent out on time but blogging them is an entirely different animal!!  I use a Filofax to keep myself organized and I have a small post-it note for each month that outlines which cards I need to make for the following month.  I like having everything ready to go several weeks before I need it just in case something pops on my schedule that I did not anticipate.  But...that also means that I can't blog about it right away because I don't want the recipient of the card to see it virtually before they see it in real life.  That means the pictures sit on my phone until I am sure the cards have been received (and normally quite a bit longer than that usually!).

So over the next few days I'll be sharing some of the birthday cards I've made this year.

First up is a wonderful card for a special gentleman.

His faith is very important to him and I had this paper from The Paper Studio that I thought he would really appreciate.  The bottom solid color is from Core'dinations and I embossed it using a Darice EF and then sanded it slightly to get that two color look.  I wrapped some brown velvet ribbon I found in my ribbon basket under and the sentiment was printed out from my computer using the Lavenderia font.  I used CTMH Chocolate ink for the sentiment and to ink around the edges of my layers for some added dimension.

And....Father's Day!

I shared the Mother's Day cards yesterday so naturally here are the Father's Day cards.  These also went out on time but I'm just now getting around to posting them here.

This card was made using the Close To My Heart Timberline paper collection and the You're The Best stamp set.  Unfortunately both of these items are now retired.  I stamped the background on Kraft paper that I cut from a big roll we use for gift wrap and the other solid color papers are from Coor'dinations.  The metal embellishments are Durable Triangle Studs (Z1928) from Close To My Heart and you can purchase those on my shopping site.  I've used them on several projects and I'm really impressed with how well they adhere.





This next card was really fun to make and used the same stamp set as the one above.  I loved how the teal paper from Close to My Heart is embossed on one side so that when you rub ink over it you get a really cool effect.  You can't purchase this particular paper anymore but we have several new paper collection packs that have this same feature.  Check them out here.  The color I used is Lagoon and you can find it in the Adventure Assortment.  I used Chocolate Ink for all the stamping and inking and used the (now retired) Timberline paper.

Outside

Inside

This card was sort of an experiment.  For my birthday I received a Silhouette Cameo and this was the first digi stamp I cut out with it and then I also cut out the shadow piece as well.  I love using the Cameo for this purpose.  I am a terrible fussy cutter so this has really opened up a lot of possibilities for me.  The paper I used on this card is from the Boyhood Stack from DCWV.  I used the same stamp set from CTMH as I used on the cards above for the sentiment and the digi is from Birdie Brown.  I colored it with my Copics and tried to give it a cartoony feel so I didn't do very much blending at all.  Sorry but I've lost the list of colors I used.  The shirt is probably R46 and R89 and the overalls are most likely done with B95 and B99.    

Mother's Day Cards - Better Late Than Never!

I am so behind on posting my projects!!  But...the cards themselves went out on time and that's what counts!  Here are some cards I made for some of the mom's in our lives.

The owl comes from the Cindy Loo Cricut Cartridge and I cut it out of some Core-dinations card stock.  The pattern paper in the background is from my stash and I have no idea where it came from.  I printed the sentiment out on my computer using one of the standard fonts that comes with Word.

The Donkey is a wonderful digi stamp that was released by Meljen's Designs as a card drive stamp for Michelle Oatman when she needed a pick me up after an accident she had.  You've got to check out her blog!  It's awesome!!  I colored it using my Copics but unfortunately I lost the list of colors that I used.  I fussy cut it out and mounted it on some paper in my stash that I think is from American Crafts.

I made another really cool card for one of our other moms but I'll be darned if I can find the picture.  If I find it, I'll post it later.