Make a Difference

I’ve got some cool Copic news and a giveaway today! But, first, this is a card that was recently published in CardMaker’s Sketch Book: Christmas Celebration. I love this gnome image from Kim Hughes‘ set, Forest Friendzy. He’s colored with Copic Markers (YG93,YG95, R59, E31, E34, E00, E02 andW1). This Sketch Book is a great idea resource with tons of beautiful samples. I was very excited to be a part of the book.

I’m posting really late this evening. I’m usually up late, but tonight I returned home from a few days of meetings at Copic’s North American headquarters, Imagination International Inc. (Triple I, as Marianne likes to call it!)  Great discussions, good friends, a visit to the warehouse to see all those markers and an opportunity to meet the wonderful folks that work so hard at Copic, including the ROCKSTARS who focus on packing orders and shipping product. (Debbie has a few pictures. :))  Many thanks to the wonderful staff for their warm hospitality.

On with the announcements, right? Copic is excited to announce their 2010 Blog Team, as well as Regional Copic Certification Instructors.

Copic Blog Team now includes:

Debbie Olson
Michelle Wooderson
Sharon Harnist
Sherrie Siemens
Sally Lynn MacDonald

Copic Certification Regional Instructors-US:
Northwest: Sherrie Siemens / Marianne Walker
Southwest: Marianne Walker
Northern Midwest / Chicago: Kathy Sanders
Central Midwest: Lori Craig
Southern Midwest: Sharon Harnist
South: Colleen Schaan
Northeast: Sally Lynn MacDonald

Copic Certification Regional Instructors- Canada:
Western Canada: Sherrie Siemens
Eastern Canada: Sally Lynn MacDonald

Floaters:
Debbie Olson & Marianne Walker

I’m excited that I will be teaching several Copic Certifications in the coming year, mainly in the Midwest.  If you are interested in receiving information about any upcoming certification classes in your area of the country, you can sign up at Marianne’s blog (large green box on her right sidebar).

GIVEAWAY!

So, what you really want is the info on the awesome Copic giveaway, right? To celebrate the new team, we each have some blog candy to give away!  Winner gets their choice of either an ABS-1:

or their choice of any 12 Sketch Colors!!

Please leave us a comment letting us know either:
1. How you use Copics
2. Which Copic products you use
3. Why you love them or why you wish you had Copics

There will be 2 ways to win:

1. One winner from each blog will be randomly chosen.

2. In addition, we will be reading through comments as well. If we find a testimonial that we really like, we will contact that person to use their story for our CHA booth. You would then be given an equal prize to the random winners!

Make your comments good! There will be 2 or 3 “comment” winners chosen total. These will not be announced right away (please give us a little time to read through them all!).

Blogs to visit:

Marianne Walker
Debbie Olson
Sherrie Siemens
Sally Lynn MacDonald
Sharon Harnist
Lori Craig
Colleen Schaan
Michelle Wooderson

I will be taking entries here on my blog until this Saturday, November 14 at 8pm CST and I’ll post the winner soon thereafter.  Please note, we’ve each set our own blog giveaway cut off times, and they will vary by person. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say about your Copic products … Good Luck!!

I’m pretty sure someone will call fowl play with my sketch liberties today.  You can do that when you’ve been under the weather. You can do that when you haven’t really stamped in weeks… You can do that when you really want to make a card and your supposed to be tying bows on 27 Fall Party treats. You can do that…whenever you want.

I pulled out Kim Hughes’ On the Farm from CHF for today’s sketch.  Copic Makers, a few buttons and a Fiskars punch. Now it’s back to the 27 bows. Hope your weekend is full of treats and sweets. Hugs!

For ideas that more closely resemble today’s sketch, visit Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo and Sharon. They won’t let you down.

• Stamps: On the Farm - Cornish Heritage Farms 
• Cardstock: Chocolate and Real Red Prism, Farm Fresh - October Afternoon 
• Ink: Rich Cocoa Memento 
• Accs: Copic Markers, Fiskars punch, buttons 

Felt great to be able to stamp first thing this morning. Told you yesterday I’d be using Cutie Kim’s again this week. Great sketch by Roxie at Splitcoaststampers today.  Hope you find time to stamp.

I’m always volunteering my sweet hubby to BBQ for this function or that get-to-gether or this fundraiser. He’s so sweet and agreeable. The next time I over-commit him without his knowledge, I’ll pull this out and write a sweet note inside and beg for mercy.

• Stamps: Summer Trees by Kim Hughes - available 05/07/09 from CHF
• Cardstock: Baja Breeze & Real Red (Stampin’ Up!), Simply Smooth White (Prism), Spring Willow Light (Prism)
• Ink: Baja Breeze (Stampin’ Up!), Ladybug & Pear Tart Memento and Black
• Accessories:  BBQ paper (Adorn It), Oval & Scalloped Oval Punch (Stampin’ Up!), Ribbon Trim die-cut (Sizzix), sky brads (Pink Hedgehog Papercrafts)

Cutie Kim Hughes has a new stamp set release on Thursday this week. Summer Trees is her set for the month, and being married to a BBQ man, I think it’s darling. OK, honestly, have you ever laid eyes on a KH set that wasn’t darling? I’ll find lots of uses for this one in the coming months. 

I sat down last night and made 3 pretty quick cards with Summer Trees set and my Wild Raspberry K&Company stuff. Small prints perfect for paper piecing and larger prints for backgrounds. So yummy! I found the new collection at Archivers on Saturday, and LOVE the patterned paper. I got some glittered adhesive border strips (hearts here) and cool rhinestones, as well. I’m going to do my best to use it like crazy this week. I hit the sentiment with my clear Spica glitter pen, and it’s much easier to read the sentiment IRL. Don’t be afraid to stamp on your patterned paper.

I have lunch plans with a special friend who is passing thru my neck of the woods today. Very excited about that! Only wish we were going to have time to stamp and chat and giggle the night away like we would when we both lived in Wichita.

I’m also knee deep in PTO stuff this week, and it’s the countdown to year-end.  I can’t believe that summer is just peeking around the corner. I say bring it on! WELCOME SUMMER!

See you tomorrow!

Love me some good Kim Hughes rubber! Look at this little guy! I thought she was darling til Jenn reminded me he was a he. I said, how do you know? She’s like…dude! the beard. I need some sleep. LOL!

This is for Charmaine’s Weekend Sketch Challenge today. Check out the sketch and then grab some goods and play along.  You can see other great samples from my Girl Friday friends: Beate, Cambria, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo & Sharon.

• Stamps: Whimsical Wishes - (Cornish Heritage Farms)
  
• Cardstock: Teal - Frosted & Dark (Prism), White & Meg Paisley pattern paper (Making Memories)
  
• Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento) 
• Accs: Copics, Dazzling Diamonds, Ribbon, Flowers 

Here’s a quickie…based on Taylor’s Sketch. I love how easy it is to make a fast card with stamps from the Kim Hughes line. The sentiment and clover are from Sweet Spring. The textured cardstock is Core’dinations. Using 2 CHF Backgrounders: PinDot and Pretty Pattern, this card qualifies for the Friday Limited Supply Challenge (use stamps to make your own patterned paper) this week, too. How’s that for fast!

If you stopped by looking for a winner on the Friday Sketch, I’ll be posting Tuesday night at 10:00 p.m. central. Have a great day!

I have two stamp lines that I love to work with - surprisingly, because I’m generally drawn to shabby, vintage stuff - on a regular basis. My adoration probably has a lot to do with the women behind the art. Kim Hughes and Taylor Van Bruggen are two of my favorite people. Their respective stamp lines are a sweet compliment to each other, with thick, smooth line art. Copic heaven!

This is my offering for the weekend sketch. You can see it here, and I hope you’ll play along. Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Laurie, Mary Jo and Sharon and I are so glad to be Girl Friday Friends again. Check out their samples.

This one was fun! I’ve combined Kim’s Comforting Hugs from CHF with my favoritist image from Taylor’s Stamp a Sweet Impression Line, Cuppie with Pencil. I’ve given her a little nurse’s hat from Kim’s set, and you can’t even distinguish that they are 2 different artist. I love that!

I’m so glad to be back to stamping! Tonight, I’ve cleared the calendar, I’m ordering pizza and I’ll be right HERE! It’s a virtual stamp night, ink slinging extravaganza! I’m so ready!! Take a peek at the easy-peasy prep list - you can do it! 555-PIZZA and I’ll see you there!

• Stamps: Love is Sweet - Taylored Expressions & Comforting Hugs - Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms
• Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Palette of Prints (all Stampin’ Up!)
• Ink: Brown Memento
• Accs: Copic Markers, Brads (American Crafts), Jumbo Library Clip (Stampin’ Up!)

An old standby layout, darling Urban Prairie paper (I think I’m addicted to this!) and ca-ute Kim Hughes stamps make me smile. CHF released Kim Hughes newest sets today, major cuteness!  If you missed my post yesterday, scroll down for a Copic give-away while there is still time to enter.

I’m busy, busy at Splitcoast this week. Lots of first of the year stuff going on, lots of new stamps to oogle over, prepping for CHA in just a few short weeks. It’s a barrel of fun! :)  I’ll see you in the morning with a Copic winner! Have a great day!

Happy New Year! Did you bring it in with a bang? We went out to eat with friends and then headed to one of the couple’s homes for dessert and lively conversation while all the kids played wii. It was a very nice evening. Whatever your celebration last night, hope that your day is relaxing and filled with your favorite things. We’re just being lazy. Sweet hubby has a pot of chili in the crock pot, the girls have been playing all day. I’ve been hanging out and stamped a little.

I have these Urban Prairie die cut stickers that I got at Archivers last week. (I think this is my favorite Basic Grey pattern ever.) The base of my tree was formed with one of them. I was thinking about what would make the cutest leaves of the tree and thought about these Lable Two Nestabilities. (I got mine from Ellen Hutson, but when I went to get the link, it looks like they are temporarily out of stock. I know Ellen is doing inventory, so I’m sure she’ll have them back up for purchase soon!) First I stamped CHF’s Pretty Pattern Backgrounder on Certainly Celery card stock, cut the large label and then a second nested shape. The layers are put on different thicknesses of dimensional foam for varigated height. The bird is from Kim Hughes Pretty Birds set. It’s colored with Copics and glittered. The bling on the tree is from Mark Richards. The sentiment tag is also a die cut from the same sheet of Urban Prairie stickers!

Have a restful, wonderful afternoon!

I stamped for a long time yesterday. It felt so good to just sit and stir at my desk. It’s been a long week for everyone, no?

One of the cards that I created was from Jen’s Saturday Sketch. I struggled with that top strip, and finally cheated with a row of pearls. I always try to create with some sort of visual triangle element (sheep, knot on the ribbon and flower on top left). I heard somewhere that this is a strong art principle. Who knows? LOL!

I love this little ewe from Kim Hughes‘ Sweet Spring set. She’s colored with Copics, and her head is popped up for dimension. For the sentiment. I used two of Kim Hughes’ very own fonts that I downloaded from Scrap N Fonts. I think this is a combo of Alayna and Slim Mitch. I cut the font with my Spellbinders ribbon labels. Love those! The paper is from Basic Grey, Urban Prairie. Pink twill from Taylored Expressions. Pink pearls are from Mark Richards.

Now since I slacked all day yesterday, I’m going to head to church and spend the rest of the day shuffling piles of Christmas stuff that made it in from the car and onto the kitchen table. See if I can find a place for the Elmer’s Fashion Studio with 500 pieces to glitter, glue and color that arrived here in the Christmas gift giving frenzy and the not one, but TWO, sets of paints that my sweet SIL picked out for the girls. Any ideas? I have one! LOL!

Have a great Sunday! Maybe I’ll get a chance to post more favorites from yesterday’s creative session later on this afternoon. Hope you Sunday is restful, peaceful and warm.