Copic Obsession

Yes—I have fallen under the Copic fever that everyone seems to have! At the last stamp show I attended I saw some at the Lost Coast Designs Booth. She had a sample pack for us to test and I could tell how much I liked them. I decided to splurge on myself and got both sets: Earth & Air and Fire & Water. This gave me a nice collection of muted tones; the kind of colors I love to work with. I used them in the card above; supplemented with some of my Prismacolor Alcohol markers for the bright yellow, red and black colors. I also had to use some of my Stampin Up! water based markers for the lighter grey and stone tones.

This made me decide to supplement with some more Copics from Ellen Hutson's store. I also got a blender pen which I highly recommend.

Then, since I am obsessed I decided it wasn't enough so I found this great bargain at Dick Blick. Click on the image to see more. This was a fabulous addition because it has all the primary colors plus black. It came with a pad of paper, which is almost a thin, tracing paper, but it shows off the colors so well. I have just used it to practice so far. The kit has a litle carrying case (for all my singles I bought!) and a great book on Manga & Anime. Even though I can't draw a stick figure, I have always wished to be an artist, so I read the book completely to get ideas and learn coloring techniques. I do recommend the book—even if you are just a crafter like me. It gave lots of tips on shading and coloring and some images you can photo-copy to use for coloring practice if you like.

So, here's my Copic Tip for you that I learned from the book and haven't read anywhere else. When you are coloring, put a layer of the blender pen first and lay it down on the paper like a primer. This will help the colors to blend together easier. It really does help. You can, of course, also use it on top of the colors once you have colored your image.

Macau's a go!

Yahoo! I thought I'd better update since we got our tickets--thank goodness for Frequent Flyer Miles! I will update more soon! We fly into Hong Kong and take a boat over to Macau! We are hoping we can meet Johnny and Manami from Japan in Hong Kong for our last 3 days.
:)

Postage People ATC's

I joined a swap to do some postage people ATC's, which are all the rage right now. Basically, you find a postage stamp with a person or animal head and then find a body image to match and make them into an ATC.

Sounds easy, right? Well, it's much harder than it looks. Dymphie suggested that we find a body that is facing the proper direction and then color on the stamp to help blend the head into the body. That helped a lot.

I was lucky enough that I had a stamp that would match thes Paul Revere stamps. I hope none of the "Daughters of the American Revolution" members or some other heritage group get mad at me for dressing him in "drag", ha ha!

There are some fabulous examples of postage people here on the bockel24 site. Dymphie is another great postage people maker. And don't forget to check out Linda's who is the hostess for the swap I'm in! For more inspiration, check out this interesting photo form that is very similar to postage people, called Sleeve Face Photos

Patterened paper by foofala. Cardstock by Club Stamp and Stampin Up! Chocolate & Lady stamps from Club Stamp, zig-zag from Hero Arts, and postmark from Sugar Lump Designs

A Valentine from Random

That's what my friend Sue sent to me on Thursday! She is so very sweet to send me pictures of the CHA show this year. That's the huge Scrapbook Trade show that is held in Anaheim every year. They were needing cat photos to show of the new pet line from Sonburn Studios called "Reigning Cats & Dogs". I tried to find a link to see the entire line, but I guess nobody's posted it yet.

Here is the layout they made of Random and pictures of the booth at the show. I can't even tell you how excited this made me--I wish I could have seen it in person! Prince Random is indeed the Reigning Cat and he took center stage.



The layout was made by the designer of the line, Helen Naylor. I will ever be grateful to have this last, fitting memorial for my sweet friend. Meridith, my online pal and representative for the company said they are going to mail me the layout so I will have it to put in my scrapbook forever. Photo by Matt Vigil; Random's on-staff photographer!

The answer to where...

Well, I know you've been on pins and needles wondering where we're going for our first vacation in three years! I know I have been too. I'll tell you, but it's not finalized yet, so I hope I don't "jinx" it! Are you wondering where in Europe we are going so we can see the remains of that lovely 17th century cathedral? Well, guess again! That cathedral is in China—can you believe it? Well, it's in Macau, to be precise. Macau was a Portugese colony much like Hong Kong belonged to the British for many years. It has reverted back to China, but there is a definite European feel from all I have seen. I know next to nothing about Macau, but it looks fabulous—a wonderful blending of East-Meets-West. Exotic and old-world rolled into one.

The extra exciting part of this destination; to me at least; is that is is just 40 miles west of Hong Kong. Ah, beautiful Hong Kong, home of "Pool-on-the-roof". Yes, whenever times would get tough over the last years, Matt would turn to me and ask where I wanted to stay. Many times my answer was "Pool on the roof!" You see, hotels are reasonable in Hong Kong, and you can get a wonderful skyscraper place with a beautiful pool overlooking Victoria Harbor! You can click the photo to see the hotel.

Doesn't this look like an exciting trip!? I will keep you posted if we get to go--we are going to discuss it with Matt's family in more detail this weekend. The whole reason we will be able to go is if we go with Matt's Dad to visit a professor friend of his. We will use our frequent flyer miles for the plane and then we will know someone in Macau so our trip will be affordable--yahoo! Cross your fingers for me!