PaperFections

New 2011 Copic Products-Part 4, Prize Winners & A New Color Chart!

Congrats to the winners from Friday's blog post giveaway -- here are the three winners chosen from my blog for the new 2011 Copic Color Swatch Book. I was laughing hysterically at some of your comments! 239 - Layne said... Copics –noun 1. colourful joy in a 6 inch marker! 2. tool which aids in "colouring for big kids"; a de-stressing tool . Oh well... so much for my New Year's resolutions - "Cull Crafting Cache". Seriously, with CHA around the corner? What was I thinking?!!? LOL! . 15 - Ramona said... your coloring on the flowers are just amazing!!! I love Copic!! Your markers are the bomb!!! They are like potato chips...you can't have just one!!! LOL Hugs~ Ramona . . . 184 - Jeanine said... I've used the white for some time since I have to have it all of coarse. God Bless, Jeanine . . Congratulations, ladies! Please email me with your mailing address and Copic will send your new 2011 Copic Color Swatch Book to you! For the rest of you -- thanks so much for leaving comments for the chance to win. If you didn't win, you'll be able to find these new 2011 Swatchbooks... Read more →

JustRite Christmas on Copic X-Press It Blending Card

Here's that project I promised you yesterday, colored with Copic markers on Copic's new X-Press It Blending Card -- look at how vibrant the colors are! This card is for JustRite's Friday Challenge #030, using an inspiration photo as inspiration for your project. You can find all the details about this week's challenge over at the JustRite Inspiration blog. Here's a closer view of this beautiful new Ornament stamp from JustRite Stampers (click on images for a larger view): Currently, this cardstock only comes in white. Some of you who regularly follow my blog may have noticed I've mentioned many times my phobia of white, LOL! I usually color on an ivory cardstock. But the Copic ink color is so pretty and vibrant on this cardstock that I compensated and used my Copic E50 Egg Shell marker to color any of the remaining white areas of the cardstock ... problem solved! :D The white paper doilies were airbrushed with the E50 marker, so they would match the ivory cardstock base I used. The Copic X-Press It Blending Card is currently available for retailers to order through your normal Copic distributor. If your favorite retailer isn't aware of it yet, let... Read more →

New Copic X-Press It Products!

These were the fabulous new products from Copic for summer 2010 CHA: X-PRESS IT BLENDING CARD This has us very excited! Marianne Walker mentioned a couple months ago that she recommend this paper to anyone living in Australia (because they can’t get Neenah over there), and now it's coming to the United States! Why did we fall in love with this paper? Because it blends beautifully, it bleeds less than our old favorite, Neenah Classic Crest, and it has a nice, bright white color. If you have ever tried Bazzil Simply Smooth paper, the Blending Card is like a hybrid between Neenah and Bazzil. This paper is now available for retailers to purchase through your usual Copic North American (and Australian!) distributors. It comes in a large pack with 125 sheets of letter sized paper. It is about 92 lb. paper -- just a little heavier than the Neenah, but it is a much tighter grained paper, so it doesn't feel too thick. Here’s an example Marianne colored for you: If you look at this close up on the pink popsicle, you can see that the Neenah is a much softer paper, and it can feather if you don't let... Read more →

Blogoversary Giveaway 5 Winner!

Thanks to all of you who entered my Blogoversary Giveaway #5 for the stamp sets by Cornish Heritage Farms. The winner is: Random Integer Generator Here are your random numbers: 35 Timestamp: 2010-01-20 15:24:02 UTC who is: Jan Castle said... Wonderful stamps - would love to win! Congratulations on your Anniversary; you just keep getting better! Thank you for the wealth of information, tutorials, and inspiration...and of course, keep up the great work!!! We all love it!!! Congratulations, Jan! Please email me your mailing address, using the link under my photo and I'll get your stamps out to you! I'm busy making some artwork before I leave for the annual Craft & Hobby Show, so I'll be back the next few days showing you those. Then I'll run another Blogoversary giveaway over the weekend, so please check back for that! If you happen to be in Anaheim for the CHA's SuperShow on Friday & Saturday, I hope you'll stop by the Splitcoaststampers booth for some fabulous make & take projects from these wonderful companies. On Saturday from 2-4pm I'll be there with JustRite Stampers, along with Kellie Fortin (Market Development Manager), Debbie Olson & Dennis Thomas (National Sales Manager) and... Read more →

CHA People

I was fortunate enough to spend time with some of my favorite people: (Above) Saturday night was SplitcoastStampers.com Cupcake Reception and the chance to meet up with several of my Dirty Dozen Design Team Alumni friends. From left: Debbie Olson (my roomate this trip!), Jenn Balcer, Taylor VanBruggen, Lori Craig, Jami Sibley and me. These were most of the girls that came to visit me in November. Sunday, the first day of the show -- Jenn Balcer, Daven & Lori Craig from SplitcoastStampers.com got a hands-on tutorial at FLOWER SOFT -- a really neat product that I can't wait to try out! Debbie Olson demonstrating and teaching a make-and-take at the JustRite Stampers booth. She had the morning shift and I had afternoons. My sweet friends Joy (left) and Cami (right), together with their partner Kimberly at their absolutely adorable Our Craft Lounge booth. Sunday night dinner with the SplitcoastStampers.com Dirty Dozen Design Team (current & alumni) -- good times! Monday night dinner was provided so graciously by my friends Daisy & Joy from Eclectic Paperie. They had invited TIM HOLTZ (along with his entourage) sat at the table behind me! Me & Beth Silaika -- such a sweetheart. It... Read more →

CHA Winter Product Releases

Some new products I was intrigued with from Winter CHA: RANGER -- new fillable/refillable markers for their alcohol inks: I got to watch Tim Holtz demonstrating these up close but was so enamored, I forgot to take a photo! I guess after my buddy, Lisa Strahl, filled an empty Copic marker with Alcohol Ink last summer, Ranger figured they should make their own markers! The markers are sold empty, so you can fill them with whatever Alcohol Inks you may already own. You can also custom mix your own colors or fill one with clear blender solution, for some really neat effects. If you like TIM HOLTZ Grungeboard, you'll love his new Grunge PAPER: Gives a LOT more possibilities, I think -- I can't wait to try this! ART INSTITUTE GLITTER -- For a girl who loves sparkles, I was in heaven here! This gorgeous tree had exquisite butterflies made from their Fantasy Film and glitters (you may be able to see all the sparkle better if you click on the photo for a larger view): A gorgeous heart made of their Fantasy Film: I wasn't aware they also carry beads and fabulous vintage glass glitters ! I also got... Read more →

CHA Winter Paper Releases

Here were a few of my favorite paper lines at CHA: WEBSTER'S PAGES had two beautiful new releases for Winter CHA, designed by company co-owner Brandin O'Neill: Magical Wishes (above, left -- fabulous for babies, little girls or Spring) & A Sweet Life (above, right -- will be wonderful for boys or Summer) -- gorgeous as always! Both new collections will integrate nicely with their existing line, as well, since a lot of the papers use some of these same colors in them. (Above): Also new are die cut cardstock stickers and alphabets, VELLUM (that someone was so kindly pointing to!), and more new 12" calendar pages. A fabulous new Spring Whimsy trim collection (or available by the roll): Below, left: Vellum Journaling Cards (new), 2008 mid-season releases Hello Beautiful & Old World Journaling Cards, along with Mini Calendar Journaling & Original Journaling Cards (lower shelf) -- I love these petite sizes of their wonderful patterns, packaged in clear CD cases! In fact, I have some and hopefully will have a new project with them soon to share with you. Webster's Magnetic Expressions are not a new product, but after being able to see them in person, I was better... Read more →

Ranger CHA Releases

One of my favorite companies (as well as yours, I'm sure!) had several new releases at CHA, my favorite being a new sticky-back canvas and Studio professional-grade acrylic paints by Claudine Hellmuth: Their make & take was done with the canvas, which is like a cardstock that can be painted, run through your printer, stamped on, die cut (woo-hoo!) and then the backing peeled off and the canvas stuck to your project. For the make & take, they stuck it to fabric, die cut it, and then we got to use the new Studio acrylic paints to paint it and make a flower pin: The paints dried in about a minute with the help of a heat tool. They come in these colors: They also used the canvas to display the Adirondack Dimensional Pearls and how well they work together: And also with the Adirondack color washes: Also new are additional METALLIC colors of Distress Crackle Paint (ohh-ahh!): And finally . . . new designer colors of Stickles glitter glue: These will be available in Tim Holtz's Distress colors (and not as sparkly as regular Stickles) as well as Suze Weinberg's Glitz colors. More later! . . . . Read more →

CHA Paper Releases

Here are photos of some new releases of papers at CHA-Summer. This is just a small sampling of what I got to see -- there were a lot of booths I just never made it to! But I thought those of you who share my paper passion (including my friend, Stanna!) -- I knew you'd love seeing these!. I was very pleased to see FIVE new paper collections from one of my favorite manufacturers, BasicGrey. I can't wait to play with these (click on any of these photos for a larger view)! Just a few of the MANY collections at Rusty Pickle that caught my eye: Another of my favorite manufacturers, Websters Pages, has two new collections (drool)! I loved the "paint chip" samples they had and was honored to get to meet Brandin O'Neill, whom I've had the pleasure of chatting with at their new online community, inspireMe (waving to Brandin!) They have some chat forums there, along with a fabulous gallery using their products. Below are Inspired (left) and Reflections of Nature (right): Jenni Bowlin has some cute new 4-inch chipboard alterable books, along with 4-inch scaled down patterned paper collections to use with them -- pure genius!... Read more →

CHA Sneak Peek-Saturday Evening Post Rubber Stamps

Licensed exclusively by Cornish Heritage Farms! I adore vintage Santas, so I loved CHF's first choices to release. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T Read more →

CHA Sneak Peek - Tsukineko Versamark

Two new Dazzle (shimmer) COLORS of Versamark -- Champagne (gold) and Frost (pearl). Ohhh, the possibilities! Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T Read more →

Tsukineko Memento

New/additional colors of Memento inks and new -- MARKERS! Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T Read more →

Tim Holtz at CHA

The usual hub-ub surrounding Tim's demonstrations at the Ranger booth! Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T Read more →

Test Post & CHA

Testing a post from my BlackBerry tonight because I'm unexpectedly without Internet service -- ugh! I'm leaving in the morning for CHA in Chicago and hope to bring you some reports, if this works out! That bowl of beautiful Rainier cherries you're hopefully seeing somewhere on this post are one of my favorite fruits of the season and my dessert tonight! Talk to you again soon! Sharon Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T Read more →

CHA Spellbinders Sample: Baby Dress Card

OMGoodness, you don't know how much I was bouncing in my chair when this design came together, as it had been in my head for a while and I love when things work out exactly how I imagined! I created this sample for the Spellbinders booth at Feb '08 CHA-Winter. This sweet little baby dress was created entirely from Spellbinders dies -- the dress from patterned paper, using the largest of the large set of Nestabilities Petite Scalloped Circles. I cut the circle from patterned paper and then trimmed away the V's on each side to create the sleeves of the dress and the shoulders. The neck was cut away by using the new Nestabilities Classic Petite Ovals (smallest of the small set). All edges were inked. A duplicate dress was cut from white shimmer cardstock and positioned slightly off-center underneath the dress, to give the look of a petticoat. The dress is finished by piercing holes in all the scallops, a tiny light green silk bow & flat-backed light pink pearls. It is popped up on the cardfront. The "sweet pea" tag image by Lockhart Stamp Co was stamped on white shimmer cardstock and colored with Copic markers. Here's... Read more →