~*~ Copic Mondays By Laura B ~*~

Copic Mondays will return on May 24th. I am leaving for Vegas this weekend to go through the certification course, and I won't return in time to make a on Monday, May 17th. I can't wait to get home and share all the fun things I learn!

If you would like to post any questions you have about Copics to the blog, I will check them before class. I will try to get answers to as many questions as possible!

In the mean time, enjoy all the great projects the design team has to share with you. We have some amazingly talented ladies! There are so many fun things we have planned for our readers! Check back often~

Until then, have a wonderful week!

Child's Birthday Card by Chris

Got a Cricut? Got ZooBalloo? Got American Craft Glitter Paper? Then it’s a breeze to make this birthday card. I used the AC sunflower paper for my base and the chestnut for the lower level. Both the lower level and the base animal were cut at 4 inches on my personal cricut. I glued the two pieces together and set them aside. I decided to use a brown cardstock for the card and cut an 8.5x11 paper in half on the short end. (I wanted a long card to balance a tall giraffe.) Using my scor-pal I scored the card at 5.5 inches. I decided the giraffe needed to be grounded and took some scraps of green cardstock and fringed them with my cutterbees. I glued these strips down first on the bottom of the card so I could slip two of the giraffe’s legs behind the fringe and two in front, thinking that that might give it a more dimensional look. Two dots of Diamond Black stickles accented the eyes. I then cut the letter G at 3 inches from the chestnut glitter paper and using Glue Dots Pop Up Dots angled the G over the giraffe and into the space on the right. Happy Birthday was stamped with white ink.

The card still needed something else and thinking of the African plains decided it was the sun! Of course this fit nicely with the scrap of yellow glitter paper that I left and using my George cartridge cut a circle and trimmed it to fit the corner. A few rays of yellow stickles finished that off, but the right corner needed more. Can you see the ant crawling through the grass? I found an old stamp and using Tuxedo Black from Memento ink added him, stamped an Image Tree “Homemade” stamp on the back and its ready to send.

Cutters Creek Items Used:
Cricut: Personal cutter with George cartridge
Cricut Cartridge: Zooballoo
Ranger Stickles: Diamond Black and Yellow
Cutterbee Scissors
Scor-Pal
Image Tree Clear Stamp Card Set-Handmade
American Crafts Glitter Paper: sunflower and chestnut
Glue Dots Pop Up Dots
Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black

Mother's Day with Sandi

I decided to make a Trifold card for Mother’s Day. I found this lace edge pattern in the Make The Cut Library and welded two together to create this pretty ribbon. I then created a shadow image which I cut out with white cardstock and used as the base. I sprayed the pink cardstock with Shimmerz Ruby Spritz before gluing it to the base. I glued pearls to the center using Tim Holtz Glossy Accents.


I used the Plantin School Book Cartridge to create the words which I welded together using Design Studio. I sprayed them with Shimmerz Ruby Spritz and once the spray was dry, I added Diamond Stickles. I had a quilling book for a few years and always wanted to try quilling and decided now was the time. I used regular card stock and cut it into 1/8 inch strips. The pink petals are very pretty when they unwind the way they are meant to.


Before I quilled the leaves I ran the cardstock through a crimper for an interesting effect.

 
I cut the butterfly using the Home Décor Cricut Cartridge and I added Diamond Stickles. I used Kaiser Scrapbook paper flowers which I colored with Copic Ciao Marker R20 Blush and embellished with self adhesive pearls by Kaisercraft.


I created the white background with the Martha Stuart Lattice Punch. The trick is to cut the white paper ¼ inch wider to make up for what is cut off using the punch.



I’m really pleased with the soft dainty look of this card.


You can by these items at Cutters Creek
Shimmerz Spritz
Copic Markers
Stickles
Kaisercraft self adhesive pearls
Paper Flowers
Cricut Cartridges
Glossy Accents

Springtime Thank You by Laura C.

This is a super simple card with just enough bling to make it special!

It's a standard 4 1/4" by 5 1/2" card base in sage green cardstock. The white is a 4x5 piece of bazzill white embossed in the cuttlebug with the swiss dot folder. I trimmed this embossed piece to a 4 3/4" length. This piece of embossed white was cut into two pieces, one 2" and one 1 3/8".
took a 1" x 4 3/4" scrap of pink cardstock and punched one edge with a lace punch. I layered this by adhering the pink cardstock to the underside of larger white piece, and then adhering the smaller white piece under the lace edge of the pink. To make the flower, it's just the spellbinders standard circles large using white cardstock and classic scallop circles large using pink cardstock. I stamped a little "thanks" in pink on the white circle, then inked the edges with an olive green ink. The stem is a thin piece of the sage green cardstock and the leaves are hand cut from the american crafts glitter paper. The flower was assembled, the white "thanks" piece pop dotted for some texture, and the final touch is some pretty bling!

This is a quick but beautiful way to tell someone thank you!


Cutters Creek products used:

Cuttlebug swiss dot A2 folder
spellbinders standard circles large
spellbinders classic scallop circles large
Kaisercraft rhinestones: yellow/green
American Crafts glitter paper: leaf
Glue glider pro: perma tac

Mother's Day Card by Laura B.

For my Mother-in-Law I wanted to create a card in hubby's favorite color, purple. I gathered up all of my stray purple scraps and odds and ends that I could find. The individual pieces of cardstock needed are nice and small, so my favorite purple scrap papers worked great.

To begin this card, you need to cut your base card 5.25 inches x 12 inches. Score at 2", 4", 8" and 10 inches. I recommend the ScorPal for this task. Measure down from the top of the card 1.5 inches and make a mark on the 2" and 10" score lines. Measure up from the bottome of the card, and mark on the 2" and 10" score lines. Use your ruler to draw a light line between the 2" - 10" score marks for your cut line. Use a straight edge and a craft knife to cut your card on your lines. Erase your marks.


Beginning at the front your first fold will be a mountain fold on the 2" score line. Your fold on the 10" line will be a valley fold. For the center of the card you will fold the top and bottom strips the same way, and then the middle strip will be folded the opposite way. Fold the top and bottom strip on the 4" score line using a valley fold. Fold the middle strip on the 4" score line as a mountain fold. Fold the 8" score line on the top and bottom strip as a mountain fold. Fold the 8" score line in the middle as a valley fold. Use your bone folder to make nice crisp folds.

I cut two matching strips for my front and back flaps using a 1.75" x 5.25" strip. I adhered it using my Glue Glider Pro I cut a 4 x 6 inch piece of cardstock and embossed it using my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. I cut four strips total from this piece. Two pieces measuring 1.75" x 2.25", and two pieces measuring 1.25" x 3.75". I also cut four pieces of cardstock at 1.25" x 1.75". I adhered all of them using my Glue Glider Pro.

For the butterflies, I used different punches and I embossed scraps of paper using my heat tool.



I added my fibers using Beacon's 3 in 1 adhesive. The lavendar pearls are from Kaisercraft.



For my sentiments, I stamped them using my Inkadinkado stamps on a strip of Bazzill Ivory cardstock cut at 3.5" x 2".



I arranged various embellishments from my "leftovers" drawer to pull the card together.



I hope my mother-in-law enjoys her card. It looks very difficult to make, but it took less than an hour start to finish.



Products available from Cutters Creek Store:



ScorPal

Bazzill Cardstock

Cuttlebug & Cuttlebug Folders

Beacon 3 in 1 Adhesive

Kaisercraft Pearls

Glue Glider Pro

Inks and Embossing powders

Ranger Heat Tool

Fiskars Craft Knife

Tim Holtz Design Ruler

Mother's Day with Lori

I created an 8" x 3.5" Mother's Day card with some of my favorite products in the store. First, I used Make The Cut and a free font called Miss Scarlet with my Cricut to create my MOM cut and a shadow layer. I cut the mom layer from pink cardstock, and the shadow layer from American Crafts glitter cardstock in Leaf. I layered my patterned paper and a punched border strip on a dark purple card base, and adhered it all with Tombow mono-adhesive. I then adhered the MOM layers on top, also using Tombow.

Next, I chose three sizes of Petaloo Color Me Crazy flowers in the same style. I sponged them with stamping ink in bright pink and dark purple. (These flowers take ink beautifully!) I used a pink pearl brad from American Crafts (Brights package) as my flower center, and attached it to the front of my card with a glue dot.

Items available at Cutters Creek:

Make The Cut software
Green At Heart collection, Basic Grey
Glitter Paper, American Crafts
Cardstock
Color Me Crazy paper flowers, Petaloo
Pearl Brads, American Crafts
Tombow adhesive

Copic Mondays-More Marker Basics

Copic Mondays-By Laura Burleson

We have been talking about coloring and color combinations in our recent articles. Are you new or relatively new to Copics? Do you have a bunch of markers, but you really aren't sure what ones to purchase next?

In Wendy's first Copic Mondays article she took you all through each type of Copic Marker. She explained the difference between Sketch, Ciao, and the Spicas. She also reference the Copic Color Wheel, remember? Did you all print one out?

This has to be my single most valuable Copic resource. I have the chart printed on the two main cardstock papers I use for my stamped images. Each tine I get a marker, I color in that box on the chart. Now you are probably saying, "Why on earth does she do two of those?" Well, your markers will color slightly different on each cardstock that you use. Sometimes it is a subtle difference, but it can be different. When you are trying to make that perfect project, it is important to know how your markers are going to color on your chosen materials.

Of course you don't need to make a full chart to check colors on every single project. It is, however, a good idea to check your colors on a scrap sheet of paper before coloring on your project.

Here are samples of my two main charts:

I know it is difficult to see the subtle differences in the photos, but there is a difference in the coloring on the two pages.

So how do you know what colors you want before you purchase?

When selecting your first colors, you want to buy in lots of three in your color range. As Wendy discussed, it gives you an option for a highlight color, main color, and shading color. My biggest question was still, "Okay, so which ones?"

Last week we covered my favorites for hair colors. In week 3 we looked at skin colors. So this week here are some of my other favorite color combinations:

Pinks: R81, R83, R85 (Mauve pink) or RV02, Rv21, RV23 (Girly Pink)

Oranges: YR00, YR12, YR16, or YR18 (Pumpkin Orange)

Yellows: Y00, Y11, Y21 (Buttery Yellow)

Yellow-Red: YR21, YR23, YR26 (Mustard Yellow)

Reds: R02, R22, R27 (True Red) or R22, R24, R29 (Rich Red)

Blue (for jeans): B91, B93, B95 or B97

Blue Green (Water) BG10, BG11, BG13

Lavender: V01, V12, V15 or V17

Yellow-Green: YG01, YG23, YG25 or for a softer look YG01, YG13, YG17

Green: G40, G21, G24 (Mossy Green) or G40, G94, G99 (Olive Green)

Brown: E31, E33, E35, E37

Blue: B24, B26, B29

For Shadows use C1, W1 or T1

Here is what they look like grouped together:

I hope this helps to give you a better idea of selecting colors in groups for highlighting and contrast. Leave me a comment to let me know what you would like to see in future posts on Copic Markers. I can't wait to attend the certification class and share more great techniques with you! Happy Monday~

Laura

All markers used in this post are Sketch Markers by Copic. All markers are available from Cutters Creek. The cardstock used was the Bazzill (Prism) white cardstock.