My Copic Intermediate Certification

You may have noticed it's been a bit quiet here lately.  Well, in part, having three kids home 24/7 is starting to kick my butt, LOL.  I skipped CTMH convention and CHA, nobody went to camp this year, and no week at Grandma & Grandpa's house (Grandpa's been having worse than usual back problems, and I just couldn't subject my 74yo parents to the current attitudes of 11 & 9 yo girls and a 7yo boy!), and I am feeling it.

However, I did escape for a day to attend an Intermediate Certification class for Copic Markers, followed by the launch party for the new Chicagoland Scrapbooker Magazine.  It was a great (if extremely long) day, and I learned so much more about using my Copics!  Of course, now I feel like I need several more markers, but that will have to wait until the budget allows!  So, I decided to celebrate my new certification by coloring.  I did the same image twice in different colors; I'll share one here today and the other over on the Cutters Creek blog on Thursday.

So, here's the first:

Now, I have a confession to make here.  I colored the image first, loving the colors and all, then I discovered I did not have a single piece of pattern paper with a decent purple in it!  Lucky me, I found some cute stamps I liked for this and made my own pattern paper with Gypsy and Lagoon stamp pads.

Notice the shading and the cast shadow?  I really improved this part of my coloring in the class.  We used a transparency with straight lines to help "see" your light source.  For this type of diffused light, just imagine a series of parallel lines coming from the direction of your light source to help determine where the highlights and shadows should be on an image, as well as where the cast shadow appears.

And here's a simple thing I love about Copic Markers: I used one to color the clear bling on this large sparkly brad.

Supplies from Close To My Heart used in this card:

• Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge collection
• Kraft, Gypsy, & White Daisy cardstock
• D1330 Connections stamp set (discontinued)
• Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Lagoon and Gypsy
• Rhinestone Designer Brads
• Burlap Ribbon (coming August 1!)
• Natural Hemp (used to tie the burlap ribbon)
• Liquid Glass (used to adhere ribbon & brad to card front)

Supplies from Cutters Creek used in this card:

•  American Crafts glitter cardstock in Aqua
• X-press Blending Cardstock
• Sarah Kay stamp "Lucy & Kitty" by Stampavie (currently sold out, but just ask Kim if you're interested)
• Memento Tuxedo Black stamp pad
• Copic Sketch Markers: BV02, BV04, BV06, R20, BG11, BG15, BG18, B32, B34, B39, E00, E02, E11, E15, E37, E59, C1, C3, C5
• Scor Tape
• Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive (to adhered stamped image to front of glitter cardstock)

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to come back here on Thursday for the newest Creations by AR release, and also swing by the Cutters Creek blog Thursday to see a Christmas version of this same image.

Dad's Day Card For Hubby - Cutters Creek Bog Hop

Welcome to the Cutters Creek Design Team Fathers Day Blog Hop! If you just came from Kim's Blog, you are in the right place! If you just happened upon my blog today and you want to hop from the beginning, and play for the Grand Prize you can start from the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog and check out Chris' great project! The objective for our Blog Hop this weekend is to inspire you to create something beautiful for all of the “Fathers” in your life! We have a bit of everything, from cards to gift ideas to layouts about our fathers!

For my project, I decided to make a card for my hubby from me.  I just HAD to use one of my new Sarah Kay stamps, so this was a good excuse!  Here's my 6x6 card:

I used patterned paper and stickers from Echo Park Paper's Note To Self collection, and pulled out some CTMH cardstock to match.  I distressed the edges of all of my papers (and the outer edges of my stamped image) with Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Vintage Photo.  I trimmed a piece of X-press Blending Card to size and stamped my Sarah Kay "A Kiss For Chloe" image (note: this is currently sold out in the store, but Kim can order more) with Memento Rich Cocoa ink.  I colored the image with my Copic Sketch markers.  I also filled in a bit of a background with the Copics - I can't wait to save up enough for the airbrush system, because it will make my backgrounds look SO much better!  Finally, I cut the stems off a few Cutters Creek flowers and adhered them with Glue Dots.

Here are the Copic colors I used:

Now for the details about the Grand Prize I mentioned at the beginning of my post. To qualify you must leave a comment at every stop along the way. Comments should be made by Midnight, June 3rd. We will use Random.org to select a winner so be sure to check back with us on Monday to find out if you have won!

Don't forget to leave a comment here before you hop along to Deanna's Blog. Thanks for hopping by!