Fall for Copics

This month our Copic card and beginners class features some fun Fall images.  The oranges and yellows can be a bit tricky but I'll help you take the mystery out of it and create some fun cars in the meantime!  The class will be held at Scrapbooks-Plus on Sunday, September 16th at 12:30, followed by our Copic Club class where we will be coloring extra large images.  I hope you'll join us to learn the basics about Copic markers and make these fun cards!

Copic Christmas Card Class

Join us for a quick and easy Copic Christmas class on August 30th at 11am.  The class is only 1 hour and you'll leave with several colored images and enough paper to create 2 each of these cards!  This class if for those that are Copic 'pros' and those that have never picked up a marker before.  If you are looking to try these fun, vibrant markers this is a great chance to do just that!

Space is limited so call the store today to register!

Copic Club - Join us!!

We'd love to have you join us to learn more about how Copic Markers can enhance your art!  The class is hands on and all about FALL COLORS!! We are building a reference journal and two of the pages we are adding to our book are above.  If you don't have a book, we'll make one in class!

If you've taken the Copic Basic class, have a few markers and want to learn more techniques or have only heard of Copics and want to know more, please call the store today to sign up for our class on Wednesday, October 12 from 6:30-8:30. 

Easily Embellishing your paper

I was excited to see this paper in the Design Team kit! It was black and white and had this great scroll design on it! I knew right away I would be pulling out my Copic markers. I used a caribbean blue green sea color Bazzill cardstock which matches one of the borders from another paper in the DT kit (used on the second page of this layout) as my inspiration and chose a similar Copic color and a pale blue to blend. For those of you that use Copic markers, this is surprisingly great paper for blending!! --An added bonus!!

Here's a close up of the completed coloring above and below is the completed two page layout. You could really use your Copic markers to embellish any scrapbook paper. The markers are transparent so you can slightly alter (or significantly alter by layering your color) any paper of any color! I hope you find something creative to do with this fun paper!

Using the Page Map to Create a Special Page

This month I used the page map almost exactly as designed by Erica and love the result. You can make a great page quickly by using the page map.

The Teresa Collins Notation paper goes great with the vintage look papers of the Off the Record line so I combined papers from these two lines to create my page. Just pick the papers you want to use and cut them into the various shapes shown on the page map.

I did a few things to make this page unique.

The circles on the page map screamed flowers to me so I made flowers using the Tim Holtz Sizzix Tattered Flowers Die. The die cuts four flowers and I cut a couple of times using the Fabric store paper. When putting the flowers together, I used some on each side of the paper and used different numbers of flowers for each one. To finish the flowers, I added red buttons from the Doodlebug Boutique Button ladybug garden assortment. Before affixing them to the flowers, I threaded them with black string and tied a knot on top.

I made the accent lines on the page map by sewing. As a seamstress in my younger days, I fought against sewing in my scrapbooking saying that if I wanted to sew, I would sew. But the lines on the page map, suggested flower stems and I thought they’d look best if sewed. For me this meant buying a Sew Easy Stitch Piercer. This tool creates holes in the paper so sewing is a snap. You simply use it to put the holes where you want them. I made the flower stems. Using brown floss, I sewed the stems. Two great things with sewing. You don’t need to invest a great deal in the supplies. Scrapbooks Plus has a wide variety of floss and many can be purchased by the yard. You are not limited with straight lines like I have used. There are 7 different heads for the Sew Easy Stitch Piercer at Scrapbooks Plus so you can sew a variety of patterns. I’ve already got another one for my future pages.

For the background, I used a circle cutter to cut a partial circle in each corner to create tabs to slip another piece of paper in. To make each circle the same size and in the same location, I put making tape on the circle cutter to line up with the corner. (This sounds harder than it is. It is really quite easy.) I inked the tabs, inside and outside edges with Black Soot Distress Ink. I wasn’t quite happy with the little flowers on the tabs in two corners. I fixed that by coloring them with Copics. I used YG63, YG67 and R29.

I used the Tim Holtz Sizzix Tattered Banner die to cut the title. Since the die also includes smaller banners, I used these smaller ones for my journaling.

Check out the page map. This one really allows you to create a great page in no time at all.

Decorating A Plastic Box for your Copics

A plain plastic box is a boring place to keep your Copic pens. For this month’s project, I decided to take care of that and decorated my basic Copic box. I used vintage papers and Tim Holtz embellishments and stamps. It was so much fun to make and took only about an hour to complete. It looks great on my shelf. Another great part of this project I used a lot of leftover items. I’ll tell you what I did and you can use this as a starting point for decorating your own plastic box.

I started with paper from the Off the Records line by Echo Park. In some cases, I wrapped strips all around the box; in others I just pasted left over strips to cover spaces. (Since the box is not a perfect rectangle strips don’t go around squarely.) I used some items from the Off the Records border page. I really loved the border the one that provided space for a list. I just kept pasting

scraps on until whole box was covered. On top, I used boxes from the Off the Record
Journaling set. Some of the scraps had edges cut using Tim Holtz Sizzix Brackets Die and some were inked with Distress Inks before gluing to box. You really can use whatever scraps you have.


I added stickers from the Off the Record Sticker Set. This allowed me to use some of the stickers that I really liked that didn’t fit on my pages. Next I pulled out a stack of stamps and stamped wherever I pleased with a variety of stamps using Black Soot and Fired Brick ink. Lots of Tim Holtz stamps seemed perfect since so many deal with art or creativity. I then glued on at least one of every Tim Holtz embellishment I could find (gears, snaps, washers, paperclips). Okay, I did not use hangars, which I adore, or the film strip ribbon. (If found this after I was done or definitely would have added this. I also added a piece of chipboard that I had embossed with Peeled Paint embossing powder.

Once it looked the way, I wanted. I covered it with Modge Podge so that it would last a little better.

For the final look, I glued ribbon around the lip of the bottom section. (Make sure it is dry before you put the lid back on.) I tied a Tim Holtz Muse (coin shaped item with a word on it) to the ribbon and glued it to the top of the box so it hangs over the side to finish the look. I used the “Unique” muse as I think the box is unique.

I really encourage you to decorate a box you have. You’ll have so much fun. If you don’t have a plastic box for your Copics, they are available at Scrapbooks Plus. If you haven’t yet dived into Copics, sign up for a class at Scrapbooks Plus. You’ll learn to use this great new tool. Next class is August 17th. Call (703) 263-9503 to sign up.

Scenes from Curacao

I had a lot of photos I wanted to crop from our trip to Curacao.  I cropped 6 of my photos in 3x3 squares and layered my papers to create this somewhat geometric layout.  I like using smaller photos on my layouts when I have a lot of images I want to include.  I typically do this by doing a 'border' on one side of my two page layout and use larger photos to balance them.  I liked using them on this one page layout as I could fit a lot in without being too overwhelming... great for travel photos!!

I used a variety of the Design Team kit items on this layout- stickers, chipboard and paper.  I also used my Copic markers.  I have been using them more and more on my layouts where previously I had used them for images for cards.  I used them in several ways on this layout...

 This is a chipboard shield that I covered with paper.  You can just see at the top a thin black line around the edge of the shield.  I used my 100 Black Copic marker to 'finish' my edges.  I do this by using the chisel edge of the marker and holding the flat end perpendicular to the item I'm coloring, moving the paper, not the marker to create a solid line.  Remember to practice before doing this on your finished project as Copic markers will bleed on many papers so you may get some uneven lines if it touches one spot longer than another. 

Another way I used my Copic markers was to enhance the depth on this sticker flower.  I used W-3, Warm Grey No. 3 around the edges of the flower and leaves and in the center. It is a little hard to see but you can take a closer look in the store at the actual layout.  Again, the marker will bleed into the edge if you let it sit too long-- I actually used this to my advantage in some spots on this piece.  The sticker has a 'slick' finish on it so working in slow, short strokes works much better than long quick ones.

If you haven't used Copic markers before- or even if you have and want to join in on the fun, I'd encourage you to join us for Copic Club on Wednesday, August 17th at 6:30 to learn more about these fun tools!!

Copic Markers- oh so many uses!

If you have not used Copic Markers before, you really should give them a try!  I believe they are the most flexible markers on the market!  They are refillable, they are guaranteed not to dry out (if the cap is on) for 3 years and the nibs can be replaced so you never need to buy the same marker twice!  I just love them as they are so versatile and come in hundreds of colors!  They can write on practically anything. Let me show you a few items that i used my Copic markers for with this month's Design Team projects:

First, I used a Multiliner pen with the brushstroke tip to write on my photos.  There are lots of different sized nibs for Multiliners.  I like the brushstroke but it is easiest to start with a harder nib if you aren't used to working with a brush.  The brush is fun because you can vary the width of your stroke very easily with more or less pressure.  All Copic markers can be used to write on photos.  They dry almost instantly and do not smear.  They are great for adding text or for coloring.

I also used them to color the edges of my wood frame.  I didn't want to cover the frame with paint, but I didn't want to leave the 'raw' wood on the edges.  Copic markers color is transparent.  You can 'build' the depth of the color when you use it by layering more color in the same place for a darker color.  The reason I chose these for this project was so that I could take advantage of this transparent quality and be able to still see that it is a wood frame with the grain showing through.   I covered the front of my frame with paper and embellishments from the Design Team kit this month but the edges were quickly and easily finished with Copic Markers.  I used a shade of red for the outer edge and a shade of dark blue for the inner edge by the photo.

If you are interested in learning more about these markers, join us on August 17th at 6:30 for our upcoming Copic Club class at the store!  Here's the completed photo frame.

Instant Matching Embellishments for Any Layout

You can create matching embellishments for any layout quickly and easily using Copic Markers.  Copic Markers are ethanol-based markers that can color on practically any surface and dry acid-free making them ideal for scrapbooking!  Below I've used an orange shade Copic to color a Kaisercraft wood key.

I colored more keys with my Copic Markers in different shades but these were brown chipboard!  Copic Markers dry very quickly making them ideal for me as I'm rather impatient and wouldn't want to wait for them to dry as I would using many other mediums!

Here's my completed layout.  If you want to learn more about Copic Markers, join me on Sunday, May 22nd at 12:30 for our Copic Basics class.  Call the store to register today!

Have you joined the Copic Craze?

Have you tried Copic Markers yet?  What's all the fuss about these markers you ask.  Why do I need to take a class to learn how to color (I learned that in Kindergarten, didn't I?!?)?  Copic Markers are alcohol based markers which gives them some unique characteristics.  Just a few of these are:  bright, vibrant color that you can apply to virtually any surface, the ability to blend colors, and no paper pilling no matter how many times you color in the same spot.  If you are curious about how these markers can make your projects POP, join me on Sunday, March 27th at 12:30pm for our Copic Basic class where you'll learn the basics and we'll complete the three projects above- 2 cards and a cute bookmark. 

If you've used Copic markers before or if you are taking the Basic class, stay for our Copic Club at 2:30.  We'll be working with yellows.  This class fee includes 3 markers and new pages for the technique and color book that we create in this class and add to monthly.

I hope you'll join us on Sunday, March 27th for one or both of these classes.  Call the store to register today!

Laura

Santa? by Esther

This is my offering for the page map for December. The main feature is a single photo from 1972 showing my daughter at two years old in a plaid pant outfit with a questioning, worried look about Santa. She was really excited to visit him until she sat on his knee for the photo.

The cardstock base is Brrr from Traditions that has been adorned with a piece of Stripe-n-Scallop that was cut along its diagonal with the stripe. The left side features the lovely tree from the Fancy Pants collection called Shimmer with the lettering removed. The large rectangle used to mount the photo is from the remaining piece of cardstock.

At the top are three blocks from Tradition Cards showing sentiments related to the holiday. They were shaped with the Fiskars Deckle Scissors. Green ribbon was placed just below the sentiments. The title and journaling were computer generated on white cardstock.

Holly was made using brown coffee filters dyed with a Copic green marker. Red cardstock and beads were applied to center of holly to form the berries. The leaves are raised with glue dots to give dimension.

Christmas Flora by Esther

This layout was highlighting flowers that were sent to two aunts last year for Christmas. Each aunt took pictures as the amaryllis bulbs grew to produce large red blooms for the holidays. The pictures were different sizes & orientations and were not fitting the layout.

I attempted to get balance and unity by cropping the picutres and mounting them on solid cardstock. All of the corners were rounded. They were then placed on a patterned paper.

The letters for Flora are fabric letters by American Crafts that were made green with a copic marker. A red & green Copic markers were used to color in the rubber stamped poinseittia at bottom left. At the top of the layout, I used Sticles to give gold lettering on a transparent sheet. It was attaced to solid cardstock with brads. This was like writing with cake frosting. The Stickles had to flow onto the transparency. The hardest part was waiting for it ot dry.

When you have pictures that are different in size to combine on a layout, look for ways to unify them to fit the theme.Recording the memory was more important than having all the pictures the same size.