How do you use your Copics?

Hi guys.

     I sure hope you are having a great week so far.  We have been in the triple digits this week, so by the time I get home from work Jerry and the M&Ms have all the lights off and just the air conditioner along with fans in each bedroom going. :O)  Yep, it's been a SUPER HOT week and it looks like we are going to stay that way for the whole weekend as well.
     My post today is going to be just a little different as I wanted to share how my youngest M&M uses her Copic 'Ciao'  markers.   She loves to draw and she uses her charcoal pencils to make her pictures quite often.  We have a lot of them hung up around our house and bedrooms that she has made.  However,  Madison also loves to draw on her skin,  Grrr... I have never really liked that.  I didn't like it when I was younger and I still don't. I don't even like it when someone uses there skin to write themselves a note.  lol....I am just that way.  I do however feel that everyone has a right to do whatever they want in this area.
     However, this is my daughter, so I tend to not want her to do it.  It hasn't stopped her one bit.  lol.... And as she really isn't hurting anything by doing it I tend to not make too big of a fuss.  She does know that when we have to go somewhere important that they have to be gone.
     Anyway, this kid is talented and I wanted to share with you her latest creation that she drew on her ankle and foot.  It looks really nice and I am very thankful that it isn't permanent.  I have asked her many times if she is going to become a tattoo artist and she insist that she isn't going to be, but we shall see.  :O)   Until then it is always interesting to see what she will come up with next.
     Thanks for stopping by.  Thanks for always letting me share a little of our crazy life with you all.
I will talk at you tomorrow when I have another card that I really want to share as well.
Hugs Lisa G
   

A CARD FULL OF FIRSTS...

Hello again.

     I say "again"  as I have already typed this post up once this morning and as I am doing it on my laptop I hit some key by accident and it totally deleted every last word that I had typed.  Needless to say, I am not exactly as happy lady at the moment.  :O)  Grinning, nothing I can do but type it again and hope I don't  mess up.
     So, I am going to get right to my card as I need to hit the shower and get ready for work real soon.  I was relaxing at my desk yesterday when I decided that I really wanted to make a card using the doodlebug designs sequins that I won from AmyR some time ago.  Thank you again Amy.  I love the look of them on everybody else's cards, but for some reason I am a little intimidated by them. Therefore I have decided that I am making a card with them on it no matter what.  lol... Such a major problem to have.  I know.
     As you will see I pulled out this digi from Saturated Canary to color as I love her flowing hair and her eyes.  I really wanted to take my time and color her hair bit by bit in order to really get some good shading on it.  Once I was done putting the whole card together I decided that I really like how she turned out, but maybe I should be brave and use my new colored pencils by Spectrum Noir.  I have three of the sets out of the five, and I really wanted them in order to add that extra depth that the company claims you can get along with your Copic markers. (I figured that if I just didn't like them I could always give them to Madison.)
      Anyway,  I'm not sure I have ever shared the fact that as a crafter I tend to walk on the safe side of things.  What I mean to say is that if I like something I have made I will leave it instead of trying to get that extra little something that might take it from ok to great.  Yes, I am a chicken.  I only share this little tidbit with you, so that you can understand my dilemma while making this card.
     With my whole card put together I finally made myself go for it.  With great fear and trepidation  I pulled out those pencils and added that extra depth that her hair needed.  I am so so happy that I took the chance and did it!!!  I love how her hair turned out and I am quite happy (now) that I did pickup these three sets as it does really add that little extra something to your image.
     I will just mention this one last thing about today's card and that is the fact that I really really need to start saving for a new camera.  I like how my card turned out and in real life it looks quite good with the green and brown paper.  However my pictures are not showing up as good as they should be.  So, I am wondering.  What kind of camera do you guys use and is it expensive or is it reasonable?  I would truly love some help on this one.  I can't tell you how much I dislike the way the green paper and card stock has made her look washed out in the photo when in real life she does look good.  Even if I say so myself.  lol..
     I hope you all have a fantastic Monday and I will talk at you tomorrow.
Hugs, Lisa G

supplies:
stamps-Color Me Wonderful-SC & Glowgirl-HA
cs- Neenah solor white classic crest both 80lb & 110lb & Simply Chartruese-PTI
dp-Sugar & Spice-doodlebug designs, inc
dies-standard circles sm & lacey circles-Spellbinders, mini stitched bow-Lil'inker design
sequins-Bumblebee, Lily White & Cupcake-doodlebug design, inc-Thanks again Amy!!!
glaze pen-clear-Sakura
inks-Tuxedo Black, Angel Pink & Pear Tart-Memento-Onyx Black-Versafine
Spectrum Noir colored pencils- #86 from the Nature set-Bought off of Etsy  here.  (Bonni is fantastic! She also has the cheapest price I have come across!!)
Copic Marker:
skin-E50-E51-E21-R20
eyes-E33-E37
lips-E04
hair-E50-E51-E53-YR30
shirt-YG23-YG25
skirt-YR30-YR31
little Copic markers-W2-W1-0

Pop-Up Box Card...

Hello there.

     I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  If you celebrate the 4th of July I hope you had a great one as well.  We do celebrate it, but as one of our M&Ms has a soar throat that the Dr says is viral we decided to stay home and take it easy.  We however are able to see our town's fireworks show from our back yard so we watched it here.  Makes for much less traffic to navigate that way.  lol...
     Ok, so let's get onto my card for today.  I have been in the mood to try new things and really branch out just a tad.  That of course is until my Pre-order of The Creeper Crew 2 comes in from The Greeting Farm.  Then watch out!  :O)  I love me some Creeper Crew stamps and I can NOT wait to get my Copics and color them up.
     Anyway, on to today's card.  I have been seeing more and more people making pop-up box cards and I got to thinking "what the heck give it a try".  So I went onto YouTube and looked it up.  I ended up on the Splitcoast stampers web page and found this great video and tutorial on it.  Check it out here.  I really like the fact that they have both the written out dimensions and they also have the video if you are a visual person.  It was super simple and I really enjoyed making it as well as how it came out.  I always know that I did something pretty good or different when both Jerry and the M&Ms want to see it and exam it. I have to admit I love the reaction they gave me as they thought I had come up with something really cool.  lmbo... I of course showed them that it really was just simple paper cutting and folding. (They liked it anyway.)
     Well guys, I am off to get my crafting on.  I don't know if I have mentioned it, but I just love to  plug into my Nook with my skull candy ear buds (Miss M&M insisted I had to have them) and listen to Glee on Netflix, It really gets me into the creative mood for some reason.
     Have a great day and I will talk at you tomorrow.
Hugs Lisa G

I didn't envision actually using my card, so I used some out SU Cardstock in a color
I wasn't going to miss. However I didn't mess it up while I was working on the folds
so I just decided to go with it, Hence the mustard with the floral print.  :O)  

Supplies:
stamps-Princess Rose Red-SC & Love,hugs & Hearts-TSOL
cs-Neenah-Classic Crest Solor White 80lb & More Mustard-SU
dp-sarajane-Children at play-MM (very very old from my stash)
floral wire
inks-Onyx Black-Versafine & Angel Pink, New Sprout-Memento
Copics-

Miss You.

Hi guys.

     Wow, can you believe tomorrow is already July 4th?  I just can't believe how fast time goes.  I have really missed making cards and posting them to share with you all.  Between work and the fact that both my desk top and laptop both decided to go on vacation without me I haven't had two minutes to do anything.  :O)  Oh well, I am back and I couldn't be happier.
      I want to share a card I made to enter into the open design call for Little Blue Button Stamps.  You can check out all the details here. I think they have so many adorable stamps and even though I don't have many of them I still wanted to go for it.
     For my card today I actually used a stamp that they are giving away as this month's Freebie.  Her name is Eris, My little Friend and I am sure you can agree with me that she is adorable.  When I first printed her out I really felt that she needed to have a unique color of hair to go along with her little friend that reminds me of Toothless from 'How to train your Dragon'.
     I really had a great time with card. After I colored Eris up and used colors that I don't usually go with I then decided that I wanted to use some clear embossing powder to make the edges of the papers pop.  On the yellow cloud(Scalloped Oval Spellbinder) I used even more of the embossing powder as it just made the paper look so much more richer in color.  I also had a fun time mixing up some sentiment stamps and of course I still love my enamel dots, so I put a few of them on to add to the overall feel of this card.
     I hope you all like it as much as I do.  I truly wanted to go with a fun/happy kind of feel to it.  Oh, and yes, I laptop is back up and running like a dream.  :O)  Very happy about that.
I hope you all have a  Happy 4th of July.  Stay safe and have a great weekend.
     Talk at you later.
Hugs Lisa G

Supplies:
stamps-Eris, My little friend-LBBS, All the time-HA & Club Extra 12/13-TSOL
cs-Neenah -Natural White, Summer Sunrise, Simple Chartreuse, Enchanted Evening & Raspberry Fizz-PTI
Misc. Enamel Dots
Clear embossing powder-SU
Dies-Spellbinders & Lil'Inkers
Wink of Stella-clear-Thank you Steph!
Copics

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY...

Hi guys,
      I thought I would just pop in real quick and share a VERY simple card that I made for Father's Day.

       So,  I finally decided to pick up one of the new 'Spectrum Noir'  pencil sets. Guess what  came in the mail today. You just know I had to pull out an easy stamp to color up and play with.  I am thinking that I am going to like playing around with these.   I have seen some YouTube videos where the person has colored an image with their Copics and then used colored pencils to add even more highlight.  I am hoping to try that idea out and actually get good at it. Hmmmm, we'll see.  :O)  lol...  Wish me luck!
     In the meantime, I pulled out this adorable stamp set from Lawn Fawn and colored up the world to add it to the sentiment as a Father's Day card.   I am sure you have noticed lately that I have been having a lot of fun pulling from several different stamp sets to make a card.  It makes me feel like I am using what I have spent my money on, so to me it is a win, win situation.
     Anyhow, we took the M&Ms to see the movie 'How to Train your Dagon' (AWESOME MOVIE!!!) this even and it was so much fun for all of us!
We all love Toothless as she reminds us of my Lucy, so this movie is super special to us all.  Yes, we are four dorks, but we are all good with that.  It is almost 2am as I write this, but we went to the last showing of the evening and when we got home the M&Ms and myself were all so wound up that we sat and laughed with each other for over an hour. Jerry wasn't too happy with us after a short while, so he went to bed.  lmbo.... Party pooper!   I only mention this as I have come down now, and I am sure that this post is jumping all over the place.
     With that being said I am going to head off to bed.  Talk at you all later.
Happy Father's Day.
Hugs,  Lisa G

Supplies:
stamps-Wish you were here & Happy everything-LF
dies-Stitched Journeling card
cardstock-Neenah-classic cream
dp-minuet-memory box
colored hemp-AC
colored pencils-Spectrum noir- Nature #43-45-46-62-72
low odour thinner-Daler & Rowney

Happy 52nd Anniversary...

Hi guys.
   

     So I have to ask, do you guys sit down at your computer and start to type about one thing only to hit the backspace bar and completely start all over again and again and again?  Well I do and I more times than not always end up talking about something completely different than what I originally had decided to go with.  This is what I have done today at least three or four times now. Yes, it's a record high on the old do over score board.  lol....
     As I really want to get to creating another card or two today I have decided to just jump into it...  
     Tomorrow will be my Mom and Dad's 52nd Wedding Anniversary and I wanted to make them a very nice card for just the occasion.  When I first started the card I had the idea of making it look very classy and very formal, but if you knew my Mom and Dad you would know that they are awesome parents and they are just as kooky as all get out. (not in a bad way, but in a fun way.) I have had a wonderful life due to my Parents.  After all these years us kids still know our Parents love and respect each other. For me that is an awesome foundation in any life.  I could go on and on, but truly I have awesome Parents and like most kids I am sure I haven't told them nearly enough just how much they mean to me and how much I love them.
     So, instead of a formal card I pulled out my April 2014 club set from The Stamps of Life and  added my own touch to the sentiments to make it into a VERY non traditional Anniversary card.  :O)  It is who I am and it surely is very much how my Mom and Dad are.  I also used my very first corrugated board easel card as well. Sounds funny, but I see a lot of people making cards out of it and I finally got my hands on a box and decided I wanted to use it for this card.  I had so much fun coloring up these jars and making this card.
     Thanks for stopping by everyone. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.  Talk at you later.
Hugs Lisa G

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Hi guys.

     So, today's blog post is going to be pretty short as I do have to head off to work, but before I go I just wanted to take a moment and wish my Sister (Chris) a very Happy Birthday!
     Yep today is her Birthday and for once I was able to get a card made up for her on time.  lol... What is the old saying about the shoemaker's kids not having any shoes?  Well, in my house it would be the card makers family never getting their cards on time or at all.  lol...
     Anyway my Sister is three years older than me, but my birthday comes two weeks before hers on the calender, so each year when we were little I always felt that I should have been the oldest.  Of course now that we are the ages that we are I have no problem being the younger of the two of us. lmbo....
     I do remember saying this was going to be a short one, so let's get started.   I pulled out this Greeting Farm stamp from my stash for the specific idea of using Birthday balloons on this card.  This adorable  Anya only comes holding three balloons, so I decided to stamp out a few extra and color them up with my Copics. I used a touch of clear Wink of Stella on a couple of them to add that extra sparkle, and of course I used my Glossy Accents to really get that glossy balloon look on all of them. :O)  You might have guessed that I had a great time coloring this card and putting it together.
     Ok guys, I had better get to bed, as 5am rolls around pretty fast. Have a great day and I will talk at you later.
Hugs Lisa G

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!!

Did I mention that my Sister is a red head? Yes indeed she is, so that is why my
Anya here has red hair.  

I will try and come back to add my supplies tonight or tomorrow as there is a ton of them and I just don't have the time or energy just now.  :O(