Inspire Me

Copic - Color Selections just for You!!

Who-Hoo this is so exciting! Copic has listened to us and taken in everyone's suggestions and have made their recommendations for the top 36 & 72 Copic Marker Color Selections. What this means is trying to decide from the 300+ copic colors has just become a "no brainer". Simply print the attached charts and either start to fill in the colors or start shopping!

Now this is my current 36 color chart (to the left). Notice how each color group works in with a 2 or 3 digit sequencing difference, to allow for blending. For example Blues B00, B02 & B05; 2 to 3 digits difference in numbering sequence means that you will now be able to make several blended shades of blue.

I already filled in what colors I have and at a quick glance I can see what colors I am missing. I am in complete trouble when it comes to the Red Violets, Yellow Greens & Yellow Reds. Plus this will make remembering what colors I already own much easier. The great part about these 36 color selections is that they are compatible with Copic Original, Copic Sketch or Copic Ciao. Any of the three markers will work with these color selections. Actually, I own a little of all three types of markers, but my preference is still the Sketch marker since it has the Airbrushing capabilities and the Super Brush tip. Now if you're new to this just click back on my blog to the Copic areas and you will see very detailed explanations of the three markers and all their assets. Most of September 2007 was dedicated to Copic Information.

Let me just back up for a moment and explain how these colors were chosen in order of importance:

1. These colors are universal - available in Copic Original, Sketch or Ciao
2. Certain colors are most popular and needed to be included; 0=Colorless Blender, Y21=Buttercup yellow, B00=Frost Blue, E00=Skin White, R29=Lipstick Red, YG67=Moss, C3=Cool Gray #3
3. They picked two or three colors in sequence (b00, B02, B05 or BV00, BV04, BV08) so you have something to blend with.
4. R29, Lipstick Red is so vibrant that to get a shadow for it the sequence goes R29, R39, R59, so R59 is the shadow for R29.
5. Colors like pink just don't have enough cross-over, so they just picked a good cross section of what pinks are available.

Once you add the next 36 colors (tomorrow's blog) to make the 72 you will see how even more sequences are created.

Once you know which type of marker you prefer, this should help you build your collection 2 or 3 markers at a time in a sequence (always keep a 2 to 3 digit difference in your sequence)

So here is your own Copic Chart to fill out, this is a PDF file, Download copic_36_stampers_select_pdf_chart.pdf . If this doesn't work for everyone I do have this chart saved as an Excel file and would be happy to e-mail to anyone and then you can print it or manipulate it in any way you would like, just drop me a note in the comment section and it'll be on it's way.

Tomorrow I will share the list for the 72 color selections. It includes this set of 36 + 36 additional colors.

If you are already using another color recommendation chart/list from another person/site - that's okay. Just remember to always keep a 2 to 3 digit difference in your sequence. Other recommendations on other sites have been made compatible to Stampin Up or CTMH or to personal preference and all of those are valid and still a super tool. Since I have never owned inks from other Stamping Companies and mostly used Ranger ink products this is a great tool for me. So the most important thing to remember here is that we all want you to get the most out of your Copic Markers. So have fun!

They have also come up with three additional sets of 12 markers each in the following color collections:

1. Basic Brights  - Most of these have a 0 as the first digit, this means they are very vibrant. The last digit is mostly between a 4-7, meaning they are good middle bright (there are a few exceptions like the deep red, turquoise, and blue-violet)
2. Soft Pastels  - All but one of these markers end in a 0-3, meaning they are pale colors. The V15 (Mallow) is still a lighter purple, but it's in there to create a sequence.
3. Earthy Elements - Only 2 of these colors have a middle digit of 0, meaning most of these markers have a bit of grey in them - they're not super-bright colors. Then, they included the pale blue & yellow in this set (B00, Frost Blue & Y21, Buttercup Yellow), since these are used for backgrounds.

If you buy all three sets then you will be creating quite a few sequences - V12, V15, V17; E33, E35, E37; B00, B02, B05; BV00, BV04, BV08; Y02, Y06; R29, R59; G02, G07; YR02, YR04.

I will be including those charts also.

Thank you Copic, (actually Marianne, in particular - she worked for days on this after listening to what everyone had to say at CHA), For taking this sometimes complicated selection process and making it so easy for us to use!

Marianne - YOU ROCK!!

And now after all that explanation I'm going to make this the easiest thing you've ever done by saying, remember this:

ANY Copic color is a stamping, scrapping, airbrushing, creating color!

Tamp-a-Tile Bullseye Guest Designer

Lots of times I like to have friends over to play. So I decided to highlight some of their work - so you could see how different we all create. This day, my friend Ginger also played with the Tamp-a-Tiles and immediately fell in love with them! She chose to use the Bullseye template and created this awesome card:

She started by using a card I had posted a while back and this was her final result. I just love it! It's so awesome how no two cards come out alike when you are using the Tamp-a-Tile system. She airbrushed the four corners with a three color combination of Copic markers. She Airbrushed the inside circle in a light purple and the center with another shade of purple. She outlined the center circle with a yellow Copic super brush multi-liner. Ginger then stamped the flower images with Firecracker designs Scatter Joy set. The medium flower for the center and the large 4 1/2" flower for the outer circle. She then used three colors of Stickles, magenta, fruit punch & Turquoise. The border was created using the Corner Tag punch from Tonic and the Tonic Border punch system. She added rhinestones for that all important "Bling" and her card is ready for many different occasions.

Let me show you a small comparison of the two cards:

Ginger's Card on the left and the sample on the right. Isn't it cool how each one used the same tools and yet each has it's own flair.

Thanks Ginger for letting me share your awesome work!

Legally Diva Senior & Beautiful Bunny

I have a lot to share with you today so be sure to go all the way to end of this post.

Well I had so much fun making my last Chin Hair Goddess that I thought I would share her sister with you. I'm afraid that this will be be me at her age, so we'll have to nickname her Cher.

Cher Comes from the I Brake For Stamps Seniors set.

Della really has some great sets - be sure to check them out!

Cher was colored using my copic markers with stickles added to the top for some of that all important bling. I loved being able to color her with Copic because I could use so many layers of color and get such great dimension with them. The paper comes from The Scrapbook Diva and is cardstock weight and really says Legally Diva on it. If ever paper and a set of stamps were made for each other than this was a match made in heaven! Cher is mounted on metallics from Cutcardstock. I airbrushed the edges slightly with my Copics and edged the outer parts of the card with the broad nib part of the marker. It works great and gives you a straight line every time. Here is a close-up of Cher

I even gave her some belly button bling. You just have to love these seniors from Della's. Besides the quality of her stamps is fantastic!

Okay onto the next cards. This is another set from Della. Only this one is a little more on the calm side. We move onto the Easter set. Once again this set has such great detail and stamps beautifully! Here is the first of many cards to come from this set.

As always it is first stamped onto Stampers Select cardstock using Adirondack Raisin and then I created a mask to cover the bunny and flower. Using my Copic airbrushing system I airbrushed the back with eggshell. I then colored the rest of my card with more copic markers. Mounted it on metallic cardstock and on to Kaiser Stripes. I added a strip of felt flowered ribbon and Boom this card was done. It's a very sweet and subtle card perfect for an Easter wish.

So if you head over to Della's be sure to tell her who sent you. All of these stamps are also available through Inspire Me. Just drop me a quick E-mail and tell me what you want and it will be on it's way.

I'm going to end this post and I'll start another one. Since I still want to show you more about the Tamp-a-Tiles but from another very talented individual - Stay tuned!

Tamp-a-Tile, Goddess with chin hairs

So the other day I made a very glitzy and artsy goddess. Today's Goddess is still a goddess in her own right she's just a little more worldly. (Said with a huge grin on my face)

Okay, let's start with the background which I used the Goddess Tamp-a-Tile to create. I chose to use my watercolor pencils which had to be dusted off. On watercolor paper, I colored each section leaving the goddess portion uncolored. I then used my Stampin Up blender pen to soften and blend the lines a little more. I tore around the background and colored it with my black watercolor pencil and again smudged it with the blender pen. Then to add a little more dimension to my back ground I randomly airbrushed with my Copic marker # RV42 Salmon Pink. (Now I will point out one flaw and that is the purple mark on the left. A chalk ink pad fell onto my work and left that mark. I wasn't sure what to do with it and couldn't find any embellishment to place over it so for now it remains visible but hopefully not distracting) I then mounted my background onto a piece of purple passion leopard cardstock by the Scrapbook Diva, Danielle, herself. I have every color of leopard paper she makes and it is fantastic! It comes in cardstock weight and text weight. Plus she has lots of other cool things on her website.

I then stamped my "chin hair" goddess (I'm going to call her Fern - After a dear friends' mother who would say something like this and still wears leopard print pants (You just gotta love her!) from I brake for stamps on to a piece of stampers select cardstock from papertrey. Here is what comes with the set from I brake for stamps. These stamps from Della at I Brake are amazing quality. They are deeply etched for perfect & clear stamping every time. I know this set is going to bring hours of fun! Next I colored fern with my Copics. I used the following colors:

RV11-Pink, RV23-pure Pink, RV42-Salmon Pink, E000-pale fruit pink, E33-Sand, E71-Champagne, Y21 Buttercup Yellow, Y28 Lionet Gold, R29 Lipstick Red, B60 Pale Blue Grey and 0 Colorless blender. I then cut Fern out and added a little bling with my stickles. A red dot on the purse and feet, fruit punch on the lines of her pants, and yellow in her hair. After she was dry I adhered her to the center of my background (Where normally the goddess image would go) using the thinest foam mount I had.

The saying was stamped on lavender cardstock with Concord distress ink from Ranger and outlined in Lavender stickles. That is also popped using regular pop foam squares.

Well I hope you enjoyed "Fern" and I will be introducing you to her other friends shortly. Can you tell that I am just having way to much fun with these Tamp-a-Tiles? I can't wait until her website goes up, still having some server issues but Terry is working on them daily.

By the way be sure to go on over to I Brake for stamps as she is having an awesome sale. While you are there be sure to sign up for her e-mail list and you will always find out when her specials are running.

Take care.

Tamp-a-tile Birthday Bullseye

Still using my Tamp-A-Tile Bullseye, indulge me for one last time then I'm moving onto the Goddess tile. That tile must have been made just for me, ha ha.

Using the bullseye tile again I created a flowered birthday card by:

1. Taking out the four corners of the tile and airbrushing a pink, purple and yellow Copic marker colors, using the brush end of the marker to create a splatter effect. Place the corners of the tile back into place.
2. Remove the larger circle and airbrush Copic marker VO5-marigold. Put tile back into place.
3. Remove center circle and airbrush the same color. This time I left some definition around each circle and added a line of color to the inside of the large circle using Copics Super Brush Multiliner in yellow.
4. For my flowers I used the Scatter Joy stamp set from Firecracker Designs by Pamela Clark. It's an amazing set with the largest flower measuring 4" across. Now that's a flower! (just a sidebar note: if you haven't checked out pamela's stamps be sure to do so right away. She has great sets and you'll be seeing a lot more of her stamps in my projects since I love  them) I stamped the inner circle flower in Ranger Distress Concord ink. I place 1 large Rhinestone in the center and surrounded it with 8 smaller rhinestones. They were originally a pale lavender and just didn't stand out. So Copic to the rescue again, I used my VO9-Violet and re-colored them.
5. After stamping the large flower on the outer rim I then added some Bling. I traced the petals with stickles in yellow and purple.
6. I matted my flower on pink Kaiser cardstock and then on a blue 6 x 6 card. Since I felt that I had too much empty space on the front of my card I decided to trim the front of the card to match the size of my pink mat. That left room to stamp Happy Birthday on the bottom and emboss it in yellow. So even though the card opens up the sentiment stays in plain view. So the inside can be used to hold a gift card.
7. To finish the card two re-colored rhinestones were added to the embossed flowers.

I hope you have enjoyed the bullseye series and that it gave you lots of ideas. I would love it if you would share some of your Tamp-a-tile ideas with me also.

At this point Terry, Tamp-a-Tiles owner is almost ready to reveal her new website. So until then if you are interested in purchasing any of the 32 tiles, please contact me.

Have a great day!

Tamp-a-Tile Valentine's

I want to introduce a new product to you, Well new to me, They are called Tamp-a-Tiles and what an ingenious product. There are 32 different designs:

So what are Tamp-a-Tiles? They are a user-friendly masking tool used to make artistic backgrounds, shapes or designs on any surface, such as paper , fabric, clay and much more. Each tile is composed of separate pieces of clear plastic, forming a design, encased in a frame. Sort of like a small puzzle with numbered pieces. Each piece of the design lifts out, enabling you to apply color in the empty space.

What I love about them is that they will work with every one of my stamps. Can you imagine a product that would work with every stamp you own? With every ink you already own? With every kind of paper you already own? With every kind of medium you already own? The list is endless and I hope to take the next month and show you several tiles and my interpretation of them. Terry, the owner has been furiously working on a new web site for all of us to view some amazing art work. It will be up and running very soon. So basically I'm throwing a major tease out to all of you. However if you can't wait for the website, you can purchase any of the tiles through me :) Okay for my first tile I started with the hearts #22. It was the perfect time of year.

Like I said these tiles go with tools & stamps that you already own. So for this one I choose to use my Copic markers and the airbrush system, and then finally an alcohol ink polish stone effect. First I airbrushed on a thin layer of #Y15, Cadmium Yellow. Then I placed the heart tile down and airbrushed in the following colors V09, Violet - R29, Lipstick red - R37 Carmine. Once the hearts were done I used a paper piercing tool to outline the large heart. I then took a small cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and dabbed at all the color, mixing as I went. I created a small extra piece of polish stone that i used to create the heart tag. My stamp set is from Hampton Art, Doodle Me Pink. Ribbon is from Target. The great thing about these tiles is that they were a mess after the airbrushing but no big deal, a small alcohol wipe and boom they were clean again.

My next card went in a totally different direction: This time I used the tile to place adhesive in the right spots to add glitter and micro beads to. I sealed the card with a light spray coat of sealer and it sparkles beautifully! To finish the card I used a metallic card from Kasier, along with their rhinestones. My border is made from my favorite Tonic Border Punch system and the hugs & Kisses is from Stampendous Wired Hearts Class-a-Peel collection.

Remember that any one of these techniques could be completed on a scrapbook page or canvas or piece of clay. Even a great cover for an altered book. Okay one last design for tonight, but I must confess that you'll be seeing much more of these along with how to's.

This time I used a piece of already made Polish Stone paper from Murdock Country Creations, cotton candy. I sprayed it with red glitter spray from Krylon. The heart tiles were also airbrushed on white cardstock and then after I was done spraying I placed the tile back in place and with my Couzzle knife I cut out the two upside down hearts and popped them on my card. I added glittered hearts down the side, a small piece of ribbon with a charm, matted it on red and that was it.

I have many more samples to show you, plus my mind is working faster than my hands can. There is just so much that you can do with them. Anyhow I hope you're looking forward to all the upcoming designs as much as I am to show them all to you! Plus I promise that the minute Terry has the web site up and running you will all be the first to know!

Giftcard Holders

I love being able to give a gift within a gift. Something that people can keep long after the actual gift has been used. Leaving that warm loving holiday feeling in them year round. I've made several of these gift card holders from Creative Imaginations for different celebrations. I would like to share two of them with you. The first one is for a baby shower and when they parents are done using the gift card it became a frame for the baby's room. This is the front and back cover of the holder. I used Sharon Ann baby paper & stickers,

American Crafts ribbon, Bazzill Bling paper, and chalk ink for distressing the edges. I covered the covers with one piece of paper, added epoxy stickers and with my crop-a-dile I punched a hole in each side of the book. The intent is that the giftcard holder/frame can be tied closed with the ribbon and when the gift card has been used pull the ribbon and use it to hang the frame. This is what the inside looks like:

More Sharon Ann papers & stickers. The wide satin ribbon is actually a piece of blanket binding and the crown is adorned with dot sparklers from Stampendous. The file tab at the top allows for the parents to write the baby's name or date of birth. Then as they use the gift card they can insert the baby's picture and hang the frame or choose to sit it on top of a stand. Sweet, huh?

With the holidays coming I just did this one for Christmas. I wanted the outside to be for Christmas but the inside to be basic enough to be used year round. I used awesome paper from Junkitz, I believe the ribbon came from Joann's. For the Believe mat I used a tonic punch that was not designed to be a corner Punch and added the corner frames to it and turned it into a corner punch, so I get double use from one punch. The red mantle comes from a leftover piece that I had used the diamonds tonic corner punch system on for another project, never waste. I had cut the stockings and holly from the Junkitz paper and hung them on a small piece of gold wire. I highlighted areas of the stockings with stickles and the Copic Super Brush multiliner. I haven't quite finished the inside, but as I mentioned, it will more than likely be very basic since I want the receiver to be able to this year round. Here's how far I've gotten with the inside. It feels a little masculine to me, so I think I'm going to put a picture of the boys under the giftcard and give it to my Mother-In-Law. However, if you have another suggestion, I'd love to hear it!

I just loved the paper from Junkitz and this went together so quickly. Enjoy!

Please use a coaster for that

Have you ever used a coaster before? Yeah, I know for a drink, coffee, anything potentially drippy, but I mean for scrapping, stamping, creating decorations and so much more. Well I ordered hundreds of them and I am just having a blast. Check out all the fun things that I've done so far:

 

This is a great gift. I took two coasters and the Spellbinders nestabilities scallop circle die and die cut two holes in the center of each coaster. I then covered the coasters with paper from A2Z (after I also cut out the centers with my scallop circle die) I slipped in two recent school pictures of the kids and then placed the coasters into my Bind-it-All. I punched opposing sides f the coasters and then laced yellow ribbon from Offray into each side leaving enough ribbon at the top to use as a hanger. I added school stickers from American Crafts, a few rhinestones and that was it! (If you didn't quite center your cuts and were left with some white space I simply took my Copic airbrush system and airbrushed in a complementing frame around the circle.) Seriously beside doing the cutting this is a 5 minute project and will be kept for years to come! For another great gift (I posted this before so I won't add any detail) is this box/holder which works for flowers, candles, pens etc.

 

Then I just couldn't stop I made these great & simple home decorations:

 

Paper from Junkitz, my letters cut out with my Cricut, some rhinestones from kaiser, spiders from Ek Success, of course my Copic Airbrush system , mount the three coasters on the ribbon of your choice and BOOM great decoration! And do you know what I love the most about these? The storage. It takes very little space when I have to store them until next year. I just fold them up and place them in the Holiday bin.

I have all of this stuff available as kits if anyone is interested. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun these were to make and my kids just loved the ornaments. You know how excited they get when they see you are using their pictures. At least my kids do. I'm sure there will be so many more coaster projects coming up so keep a look out!

Christmas Cards on World Cardmaking Day!

Spellbinders, Copic, Tonic, Pebbles, Hot off the Press, Die Cuts with a View, and Stickles. Keep whispering sweet things in my ears. My favorite products, my favorite toys - tell me this isn't a dream!

What a better thing to do on World Cardmaking Day than to make more cards! The mojo was flowing, I cleaned, I organized, I crafted - what more could anyone want?!

Here is card 13:

I used so many fun items. The best was the Spellbinders, Christmas Ride Die. I first cut it, then embossed it then used it as a stencil. I think I'm going to go back and darken my chalk areas since they look a little pastelly. I'll be giving a lot more information about Spellbinders since I just got my package of goodies. But I wanted to finish with my 20 cards first. Again I started with the Die Cuts with a View card pack. Added 2 strips of cut paper and then the cut out die from Spellbinders. I cut some of the words from the word sheet, mounted those on chipboard, added a few gold swirl stickers from Stampendous. On the inside I Stamped this :

I punched the corner with a corner punch from Tonic and even added the extra piece to the corner. I'm happy with this card.

Card 14:

This is basically a repeat from a past card but I changed the orientation and placement of the stickers. DCWV card base, foam scallop circles cut from my Nestabilities Dies and the Fa LA LA LA from my Dymo label maker. Since you know how I am about cards that feel too bright, I airbrushed in some red using my Copic airbrushing system.

Card 15: Believe it or not this card started out as the red print on the bottom with the full back side being the green swirl. Seemed odd, so I cut 3" off each side and reversed the. Giving each side a different bottom. I added the stickers to spell out Ho Ho Ho and a Merry Christmas sticker mounted on chipboard and outlined with Stickles. Two reindeer stickers and a 1/2 a Santa sticker. The V'd border is the revers out from one of my Tonic border punches. I added Snow Text writer from DecoArt on each point to look like snow and Glitter from the Art Institute. I punch each lower corner with a tonic corner punch and backed it with a small scrap of the green. A little whimsical card with no stamping and a lot of stickers. Which, for those of you that don't me, I dislike stickers. So to do a project of any kind using or altering stickers is more work for me than anything else.

Card 16: This card started out as just these lights printed on white. It definitely lacked Bling and pop. So back to my good "ol stickles and I covered each light with the matching stickles color. I airbrushed the edges with my Copic Airbrushing System in yellow, then did the binding using one of my all time favorite templates from Hot Off the Press, Lattice Folds.

Simply line up the edge of your card with the template and with a pencil mark the lines. Take a pair of scissors and cut the lines. The fold down every other one and lock the bottom of the fold into the top of the next cut. It works great on card folds and in scrapbook pages, just about anywhere. They also have many other templates to offer. Go check it out and if you need more info on how to use them, just watch one of their webisodes or e-mail me. I'd love to help! The other decorative border is from my newest toy the Tonic punch system. Simply place your punch into the system and line it up, then punch away. You can make beautiful borders in minutes! Here are the corner and border punches that are available. If you are interested drop me a line and I would be happy to ship them to you. They are $7.25 each.

On the inside I stamped this cute little saying "twinkling Lights" I matted it on some of my favorite paper, Polished Stone designed by Murdocks. In order to achieve my border look I cut 1" from the bottom of the front and then used it inside the card as a place to insert money or a gift card.

Well, I can't (I could but I'm not - tee, he) reveal all of them today so I'm going to keep you hanging just a bit more and stop here. The last four cards will be coming up. Instead I'm going to switch gears and go make supper for my family. They might like that..........

More Christmas Cards!

Can you believe it? I completed several more cards today plus a spare project! So I'll get right to it! Still using the Die Cuts with a View card pack and adding to the base of those cards I came up with these today. Card # 7

I love this little card. It started with just a plain red card and I used all the spare strips of paper I had leftover from the DCWV pack and pieced them on. Adding ribbon where they didn't quite meet up. The tree and snowman come from American Traditional papers and I accented them with Stickles and Liquid pearls. I even added some pink Spica dots to the dotted paper for more bling.

Card 8 & 9 are the same base. This one I added two pieces of ribbon as an anchor for my sticker saying. My mats were cut with the classic square nestabilities set. I accented my Merry Christmas with red stickles. The trees are stickers mounted on chipboard to give a little extra dimension. Card 9 is the same base, different ribbon, trees and an added Santa that is just so cute!

I placed the Santa on chipboard and then added liquid Applique' to his hair and beard. I just love that stuff! Plus it comes in so many colors. Even more than this!. Let it sit overnight and then heat for even more fluffiness or heat set right away. Of course I used stickles around my saying and on the trees. I like this one.

Card # 10 & 11 are the same cards but with different stitching.

I cut my letters and sayings from my cricut. That machine is so much fun! Popped my gift and added stickles to the yellow part of the candle. The stitching was done with the new stitches template from Hot off the Press. Isn't this template cool? I just didn't have room to add a sewing machine in my office. So this was perfect for me! Card 11 is the same but I used a different stitch. A cross stitch. So easy to do especially when I used my micro liners from Copic.

Card # 12  There is actually a lot of elements to this card. I airbrushed the card with Copic green since I felt the card was just so bright. I added a strip of stripes and embossed it in my Wizard (that will be another whole post - This tool is way cool!) using an A2 embossing folder from Cuttlebug. I then sanded the top a little. Cut small scallop circles from white foam with my nestabilities dies and topped them with the circle stickers that came with the card pack. I then added dotted ribbon and airbrushed that also. Using my old Dymo label maker I punched Tis the season.

Tomorrow I'll share more cards and some other projects. I just have so much to tell you and share that there just isn't enough blog space or time. Do you ever find that? I'm beginning to think that kids don't need baths at night, right?! That would give me about another 1/2 hour to blog. Oh, that's bad, I know. I'm just still looking for that 26 hour day. If you find it let me know.

Ta ta................