No Lines Technique

Hey, all!  It's been a few days...five to be exact!  That's right, 5 days without making a card or breaking out the Copics.  In fact, yesterday I even sat down and read a book for awhile.  What was I thinking?  The coloring bug didn't hit me until this morning and then I had to do something, so I decided to jump on the No Lines bandwagon and give it a go.  It was fun, but I must admit, it did take some time to get this image colored up.  Probably twice as long as it would normally take me and I'm no zippy colorer to begin with.

First, I had to select an image.  It couldn't be too detailed or that would be a real bear to color, but it couldn't be too simple either, because that might actually be less forgiving.  I settled on this beautiful image by Krista Smith (Saturated Canary) for Simply Sassy Stamps and it is called Fairy Tale.  Next, I needed to find a fairly light ink that was compatible with Copic Markers.  I've been hoarding stamping supplies for roughly 14 years now, so you would think this would be pretty easy...not so.  My favorite ink is Memento and while I own no less than 6 ink pads in black, the only colored pads I have are Summer Sky, Bamboo Leaves, and Rich Cocoa...none of which would fit the bill for this process.  I finally rummaged around and came up with a Memories Ink pad in Sand.  Not my favorite ink for Copics, but it would have to do.

I started as I normally would, by coloring the face, then the rest of the skin.  This is one of those techniques that you really have to stick with, because it does not look like much until you really commit and get further into the process.  The scary part was drawing all of the details back in, such as the eyes, strands of hair, and the checked pattern on the sleeves and the sash.  PHEW!  There is no worse feeling than getting deep into the process and then blowing it all by giving her a lazy eye...LOL!  Anyway, I survived and I had a good time playing around with this technique.  I'm sure I will break it out again once I forget how long it actually took me to complete this image...ha!

I want to give a shout out to one of my card making buddies who just started a new blog.  Her name is Denise and she tried this technique last week and achieved amazing results with it.  Check out her gorgeous No Lines card here.  Please visit her blog and leave her a little love while you're there.  Heck, why not even sign up as a follower?  Remember how excited you were when you first started your blog and folks started following you?  Yep, it's an awesome feeling!  In fact, to this day, I still get all goose-bumpy ;D

Okay, folks, that's it for now!  I've listed my Copic colors below.  I know it's really random when I decide to list them, but many times I just downright forget to do it.  The ol' noggin just ain't what it used to be ;D Until next time, stay crafty!

Copics used:
skin - YR00, E51, YR000, E50, R20 (cheeks)
eyes - E35, E31, G24, G21, G20
lips - R21
hair - E15, E13, E11, Y21, Y00
dress - R59, R29, R22
lace - R22, R20, C0
black details - C7, C5, C3, C1


I'm entering this card in this week's Saturated Canary Challenge.

A New Challenge at the Octopode: Friends!

Hey, all!  I'm back today with a card featuring images from one of the funkiest companies on the net...The Octopode.  I LOVE these images!  They are so quirky and original, I just can't get enough of them!  I practically begged Lily to let me join the team so I could play along once in a while.  She was kind enough to oblige me ;D   

Today I'm using images from the Alice in Wonderland set.  Aren't they fun?!  What we have here is Lily's re-imagining of the Cheshire Cat, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.  If you're interested in checking out these images or Lily's other fantastic designs, visit her shop on Etsy HERE.  While you're there, pick up some images and join the fun by creating a "friend" themed card or project.  There's a monthly prize drawing, which means you could win a gift certificate to spend in the shop!   

While you're flittering about Blogland, stop by The Octopode Challenge Blog and see what the DT is up to.  I guarantee, you will be blown away!  

Ok, I best keep it short tonight ;D  Sleep is sneaking up on me.  Until next time, stay crafty!

El Dia de los Muertos

Today is El Dia de los Muertos and though I haven't created anything new, I went through my cards and decided I would share some Day of the Dead themed projects I have created in years past.  If you're not familiar with this observance I'll give a brief rundown in a nutshell.

November 1st marks the beginning of a 2-day celebration observed by the Mexican people to honor the souls of family and loved ones who have passed away.  November 1st, also known as All Saints Day, honors the memories of the children and November 2nd, otherwise known as All Souls Day, honors the memories of the adults.

Rituals and celebrations include maintenance and cleaning of the grave sites, the creation of altars sharing the dearly departed's favorite food and drink, and gathering of family members to share stories and anecdotes regarding the deceased.  Altars include orange marigolds, sugar skulls, and pan de muerto (bread of the dead), as offerings to entice the souls of the dead back to earth to spend an evening with the living.

Rituals of a similar nature have been observed in Mexican cultures as far back as 2,500 - 3,000 years ago, however, one of the most popular images connected with the holiday appeared much more recently.  In the late 1800's Jose Guadalupe Posada began illustrating what many consider to be early political cartoons regarding the Mexican government and the severe separation of classes between the poverty stricken and the wealthy citizens of Mexico.  He created La Calavera de la Catrina, a wealthy Mexican upper-class female donning a fancy hat decorated with feathers and various finery.  She was depicted as a skeleton implying that no matter how differently we live in life, even if we are afforded every luxury, we all end up dead in the end.  During my forays on the Internet, I have also run across theories, that Posada was also mocking the wealthy Mexican citizens for trying to emulate the decadent lifestyles of rich Europeans.  Posada created a series of these political cartoons and was considered to be a very controversial figure during this period.    

It was only a matter of time before Posada's infamous La Catrina imagery became connected to the rituals of Dia de los Muertos.  Today, La Catrina remains as one of the most popular and recognizable symbols for this intriguing celebration.

My parents never actively participated in El Dia de los Muertos rituals when I was growing up, maybe because we are a culturally blended family, but mostly because I'm sure my father would consider it to be a bunch of nonsense.  Ah, what a stubborn fellow, my dad.  I do, however, remember attending my grandmother's funeral when I was a little girl and being very nervous.  I didn't know what to expect and not having a complete grasp on the concept of "death" at such an early age, I was left to draw my own scary conclusions, as only a child can do.  After a very tasteful and respectful service presided over by my uncle, we attended a reception, and I can't remember if it was at my grandmother's house or perhaps at the church.  What I do remember is that there were a lot of people there...relatives, friends, people in the community who came to pay their respects, and what began as a very somber event quickly turned into a party-like atmosphere.  Folks sat around and reminisced about my grandmother, sharing stories and laughter.  Food was a never-ending buffet of dishes that arrived with each attendee, ensuring that everyone went home filled to the brim with enchiladas, chili, beans, tortillas, etc.  And there were high octane libations, as well...lots of beer and the occasional bottle of tequila.  I have never been to a funeral since then where all the guests were having such a good time, except when my best friend's father passed away.  Again, everyone mourned and cried during the service, but the reception following was joyous and celebratory.  This too was a Mexican funeral.

As I think back on it now, I can't help but liken both services somewhat to El Dia de los Muertos rituals where the message is not as much about the life lost, as it is about the life lived, and I really respect that.

     

A New Challenge at Tiddly Inks: Anything Goes!

Hi Everybody!  How was your Halloween?  Did you dress up and take the kiddos out for a bit of good spirited panhandling?  Since we don't have kids and the cats are not much for dressing up in costumes, we just spent a quiet evening at home.  We did, however, catch 3 episodes of a new show that seems more than appropriate for this time of year, American Horror Story.  This show is so off the wall crazy, creepy, and genuinely frightening, I practically sat glued to the TV with my mouth agape the whole evening.  Don't get me wrong, this is NOT a family show.  It is a modern ghost story with lots of adult situations and it airs on FX, so they get away with a bit more...ummm...creative story-telling.  I'm completely addicted.   There's a new episode on Wednesday so I've got to squeeze in 2 more episodes between now and then.  I don't think it'll be a problem.  

Okay, I know you're not just here to find out about my television viewing preferences, even though they are impeccable...LOL!  Instead, you're interested in the new challenge at Tiddly Inks.  This week, it's a good one.  My absolute favorite...Anything Goes.  In fact, the theme for the entire month of November is going to be Anything Goes!  How great is that!

Today I'm using Cast a Spell and she is available in the Tiddly Inks shop.  I love her "magical" personae and felt that it was crying out for bling.  And bling is what I gave her...lol!  I even included a tiny vial filled with a powerful spell designed to craft good fortune to all who call upon it.  The spell is so filled with creative goodness it even resembles glitter.  Ok, it IS glitter.  You busted me, okay?!  LOL!   

You'll want to head over to the Tiddly Inks Challenge blog and check out all the wonderful creations that the DT has whipped up for you and also drop in on Christy's blog where she'll undoubtedly have some surprises.

Okay, better scoot!  Catch ya' later!

Raven's Birthday Blog Hop!

I'm back with a double duty card.  Don't you love it when a project serves a couple of purposes.  I know I do ;D

First of all, my blog buddy Raven is having a birthday extravaganza this weekend and she is celebrating with a huge blog hop.  I met Raven through Bombshell Stamps and the funny thing is, she lives right here in Albuquerque!  We haven't met in person yet, but I'm sure our paths will cross soon :)

Believe it or not, no Copic markers were harmed in the creation of this card...lol!  Yep, that's right.  Not a single drop!  Instead, I opted to use a very cool skelly image from Deadbeat Designs as my focal point.  He seems to be rejoicing that we are celebrating Raven's birthday :D  I love this happy guy.  When I started putting this card together, I was stumped for a layout.  Whenever that happens, I always hop over to Amy Sheffer's blog, Pickled Paper Designs.  Her blog is bursting at the seams with inspiration and I know that whenever I visit, I will leave with lots of creative ideas.  Here's the card layout that I lifted from Amy ;D

In addition to creating this card for Raven's birthday celebration, I made 9 more just like it and shipped them off to my sister-in-law, Diane, about a week ago.  We had talked about a completely different design  for her Halloween cards this year, but I went in the opposite direction at the very last minute.  I'm sure she's used to it by now...or at least, I hope she is...lol!  I actually rather like this design quite a bit :)

Okay, enough yammering from me...there's a blog hop happening and time's a wasting!  Here's the hop list, so just run right down the sites and see what birthday surprises Raven's buddies cooked up for her! 

 Happy Birthday, Raven!   I hope your day is fabulous!

Raven Baca

Vanessa Torres

Theresa

Stefani Chastain

Ruthie Nixon

Percilla Gurule

Misty Littlejohn

Michelle Criswell

Kristi Bennett

Jenny

Jennifer Anderson

Haidee Shableau

Erika Valdez

Christel Young Bonner

Cheryl Valadez <---Hola! That's me!

Brynn Thornburgh

Abby Scrapbookaholic

Guest Designer Call at Kraftin' Kimmie!

Hey, all!  I'm back today to share a card with you featuring my absolute favorite Kraftin' Kimmie stamp image, the one and only, Charlotte.  One look and it's easy to see that she is seriously up to no good.  Those bedraggled baby dolls have obviously seen better days and that smirk on Charlotte's face means that you should probably check for spiders under your pillow or garden snakes in your bath.  Hahaha!  She is not to be trusted ;D  

I broke Charlotte out for an appearance, because Kraftin' Kimmie is doing some celebrating.  Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps is turning 2 and this is the 100th challenge on her blog.  WOW!  A couple of giant milestones!  Congratulations to Kimmie and her lovely designers and artists for making Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps a virtual amusement park of inspiration and creativity!  I don't always get a chance to join the fun, but I do swing by the challenge blog frequently to see what Kimmie and the Krafty Girls are up to.  Plus mom keeps me in stock with all of the latest and greatest Kraftin' Kimmie images.  Yep, you heard that right.  My mother frequently mails me Kraftin' Kimmie Care Packages, because she's such a doll and I am a 44 year old spoiled brat...LOL!  Love you, mom! 

Anyway, in addition to the regularly scheduled challenge, Kimmie is offering one lucky participant the opportunity to play along with the Krafty Girls for the month of December and also receive some of her fabulous stamps.  All she's asking is that we create a card featuring our favorite Kraftin' Kimmie image.  When I read that, I knew immediately which one I would use ;D  

How about you?  What's your favorite?  What are you waiting for?  Break it out, get it inky, and get your Kraftin' Kimmie creation linked up on this post on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps blog.  See you there ;D 

Monthly Bombshell Blog Hop: A Very Skelly Halloween

Hey, everybody!  It's the last Wednesday of the month and you know what that means.  It's time for the monthly Bombshell Blog Hop!  This month, our Blog Hop Mistress Extraordinaire, Alison, has challenged us to use a skeleton or skull somewhere on our project.  Gosh this was a toughy, 'cuz I just don't have very many skull and skelly stamps...NOT!  Actually, I DON'T have many...I have TONS!!!  LOL!  The hardest part was narrowing it down to just the right image.

After much hemming and hawing, I finally settled on the Altar Sugar Skull set.  Be sure to visit the Bombshell Stamps shop so you can see all of the skull and skelly images they have to offer.  Seriously, it is the absolute best selection of Dia de los Muertos images I have yet to run across and you know I would never steer you wrong.  

I'm going through this phase, where I feel I need to glue a bunch of stuff to each of my cards and this one is no exception.  If postage on a single card is less than $2.00, then I haven't done my job and definitely need to glue some more stuff to it...lol!

Also, I have a confession.  You see that sentiment on the bottom of my card?  Yes, you've seen it many times before.  Truth is, I stamped a bunch of these for a class and had lots leftover, so when I need a quick and tiny sentiment, I just reach for one of these.  I don't know why I'm coming clean on this, but you're a good listener and I feel I can trust you to keep my secret ;D

Anyway, enough of that!  LOL!  Time to hop!  Start at the Bombshell Blog and go down the list to soak in every creation the dt and friends came up with.  This is truly the best hop yet and these projects are freakin' insane!  You better prop your chin up 'cuz it's gonna hit the floor, now get started.

  

Bombshell Blog

Alison

Mary G.

Glittery Katie

Cheryl <---HOLA!

Alex

Kelli

Torrey

Meredith

Paula

Milo

Alaine

Sparkly Mary

Stempelientje

Kathi

A card and a new video tutorial!

Hey, everybody!  I'm just popping in super quick to share a new video tutorial I put together for the Color Me Copic Club the other night and a look at the card I created using the image.

In my video, I didn't focus on a particular technique.  Instead I opted to make the predominant color families my focal point, those being red and green.  The image I used is called Santa by Kenny K and it's available at Kenny K Downloads if you want to take a closer look ;D  His stuff is soooo dang cool and makes for a perfect pairing with the Copics.   

Okay, I have to confess, I had a good time coloring the image, of course, but shooting the video was HARD!  First of all, I don't know if you've noticed (of course you've noticed), but I'm a bit of a chatty Cathy.  No offense to any "Cathy's" out there...lol!  I do like to ramble on and it's never been more apparent than in this video.  I needed to keep it under 15 minutes and I clocked in at 21minutes...YIKES!  How was I going to slash 6 minutes?  In a stroke of brilliance, or maybe just a case of indigestion, I decided that I would fast forward through a couple of parts.  Yep, you guessed it...it's a little awkward and the transitions are not very smooth.  Plus, I added text to these sections explaining that I was fast forwarding except that I stated..."This portion of the video has been sped up".  Sped up?  I'm not even using that phrase correctly.  What's the matter with me?  Did I experience a bit of grammar amnesia, or what I like to call Gramnesia?  Ugh!

Onto horrible offense number 2.  You probably won't have to look too closely to see that my nails look atrocious and not only that...I have a huge hang nail on my thumb.  Gross!  How unkempt you must think I am.  Freddie Krueger has a better manicure than I do!  Wonder where he gets his nails done.

And, last but certainly not least, horrible offense number 3.  During my last video, which was my first, my lovely husband pointed out to me that my "crutch" word is "so".  It's my awkward silence filler.  Other folks prefer "and" or "um", but I like "so".  I do it unconsciously, not even realizing it until he pointed it out to me.  Now, I hear it and it is literally like nails on a chalkboard to my ears.  I thought that I could get it under control for this video, but alas, I did not.  College campuses across the nation will be using it as their newest drinking game.  Drink a shot every time Cheryl says "so".  They'll be face down on the floor after only 3 minutes in, but hey, I'll be famous, right?    

SO...lol!  I've got a LOT to learn still, but I love a challenge and eventually I'll make a decent video.  Maybe I'll contact Scorsese for some pointers.  He does that sort of thing for newbies, right?  

Here's a link to my video.  Again, be gentle ;)

Ms. October's Challenge at Bombshell Stamps: Think Pink

It's confession time...I have been a bad, bad Bombshell and I am hanging my head in shame.  This is the first challenge I've joined in a very loooooooong time.  The thing is, I LOVE these stamps.  These images are so unique and so wonderful to work with, I could just play with them everyday and be perfectly content.  So why the lapse in challenges?  Don't know.  Just me being irresponsible and clinging to the coat tails of my super talented Bombshell Sistahs, I suppose.  Well, starting now,  I'm going to do gooder.  Yep, that's incorrect grammar, but hopefully it makes the point.

Once again I hadn't prepared a card for the newest challenge, so at 11:00pm I started to feel really guilty... and I mean REALLY guilty.  I thought "dang!", get your dang Copics out and color up a dang image, dang it!  Insert stronger profanity where appropriate.  Nope, stronger than that.  Yep, you got it ;D  Finally, at 2:30am I finished this card.  I'm hoping my Bombshell mojo is back and I'll be cranking out stuff on a more regular basis now.  

This challenge is brought to you by our current pin-up for October, Hey Hey Paula.  She's a talented lady with a fabulous blog, so you will want take a spin around her site while you're tooling around Blog Land. She is challenging everyone to Think Pink in observance of Breast Cancer Awareness month.  What a great theme!  

I have used Rose's Portrait and Sacred Heart to create my card.  The images are colored with Copics and I have the colors set aside to add to this post later today.  It's 3:00am here now, so I best be packing away my guilt for the evening and call it a day.  Head to the Bombshell Stamps Blog and see all of the exquisite samples the Bombshells have dreamed up for you.  Nothing short of jaw-dropping!  Most importantly, don't forget to play along because there are prizes to be had in a random drawing at the end of the month.  

Until next time, stay crafty!

Copics used:

skin - E11, E02, E00, E000, R20

lips and eyes - R35, R32, YG45, YG41, B02, B000

hair - E15, E13, Y21, Y00

flowers - R35, R22, R21, R20

leaves - G28, G24, G21

additional colors on shawl - B02, B000, BG10, 0

A New Challenge at Tiddly Inks: Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner, are you ready for it?  Got your costume all squared away?  Did you send out those party invitations? I didn't receive mine, just so you know ;D  How about your Halloween cards?  Are those finished?  If they're not, you better get on the move, and if they are, how about squeezing one more in for the latest and greatest challenge at Tiddly Inks?

This week we're asking you to create something with a Halloween flair featuring a TI image.  There's a number of wonderful images in the Tiddly Inks shop and something is bound to grab your attention.  I opted to use Tainted from the Gothic Pin Up line.  She was the perfect victim for my favorite green hued Copic complexion combo.  I love this combo because it has an eerie glow to it, don't you agree?

The Tiddly Inks challenge blog is bursting at it's seams with spooky Halloween projects from the design team, so check it out and get inspired.  Also stop by Christy's blog because you just never know what tricks or treats she might have up her sleeve ;D

My Copic colors are listed at the end of this post.  Also, let me say a big "thank you" to the ladies who joined me Saturday for my impromptu Halloween card class at CP2 on Saturday.  Yowza!  You gals are rocking those Copics hard!  Keep up the awesome work :D

Stay crafty!

Copics used:
skin - G05, G02, G00, G000
hair - BV04, BV02, BV01, C1, C00
shirt - R39, R29, R22
skirt - C7, C5, C3, C1