SSS43, cool storage and some time away!

Here are TWO cards this week for the Sweet Stop sketch Challenge.  You can see the sketch and the cards by the other designers by clicking on the Sweet Stop badget to the right!  I had originally colored up the rabbit for this sketch but I had the background from the cat made up for it.  When I put the two together, it just didn't work for me.  The rabbit was too strong in color values for the background.  So, I scrapped the idea of the original background and started over.  I like the darker colors that I came up with for him.  I hope you do too!  He is colored with copic markers and I then used a rag with blender solution on it to dab some texture onto him.  This card will go to my grandson, Jim, for his Valentines day card.

The second card......not wanting to waste the background I had created originally, I used a sweet cat image from a gal in the copic junkie group.  Her challenge to us was to color the image with copics and post to the group.  Since I wanted the cat to 'match' the background better than if I color it real cat colors, I chose the yellowish/brown color along with purple and blended the two together.  I think I could use a little more practice with this technique.  It is one of the harder techniques to master with copic markers.  This card will go to my grand-daughter, Audrey, for Valentines day.

THEN one of the members of the copic junkies group shared how she stored her copic markers.  Thank you Laurie for your suggestion!  I had to search where there was a Container Store in our area and it happened to be close to where my husband works.  So, today I went there to search for my own.  The plastics containers have lids that I won'e use when I have the markers at home.  I then found a neat 'tote' to put the plastic containers in.  Now I feel that I can take most of the markers and they won't get lost!  Yeah!!

Finally.....we get to have a few days away!   My mom will be here and tend to the dog while we spend a few days with Ray's folks.  We haven't been to their house for over a year and it is more than time.  We will meet our car club in the morning to see the Salem Roadster show and go to MC from there.  We will also have dinner with one of Ray's old high school buddies tomorrow night.  It will be fun!

Kimm's Copic Challenge

Kimm Bennington-Thompson has a copic challenge on her blog. I've had this little hAnglar image colored up for almost a week and finally got a chance to turn it into a card. The original copic colors for the challenge were BG15, YG06 and RV09. I didn't have all three but came close to the colors. I used BG13, YG06, and RV14.....plus a bunch of others to complete the image. I hope you enjoy. Isn't this little 'bug' an absolutely darling image!! It is from a company in Sweden called hAnglar stAnglar and was shared with me from a friend in Sweden. I used a Signo pen to highlight the rosy cheeks, nestibilities around the main image and Pierceabilities to cut the yellow background and to pierce the hearts. The little green flowers are some gems I got at the LSS (local Stamp Store).

Kimm BT asked me if I would be on her copic design team. I really debated this as I have turned down other offers to be on design teams recently that had less requirements. Maybe she asked when I was particularly open? Who knows. BUT I did accept her offer. It is only a 6 month requirement and I thought I could handle that. I hope to be posting weekly with my copic colored card. I'll even try to throw in some of the Paper Temptress paper that I have on my creations. Patricia asked me to be on the PT design team and I just couldn't at the time. So, I'll unofficially give her some press with papers now and again!!

Kimm's Copic Challenge

My friend, Kimm B-T, is hosting a copic challenge. You can click the link to her blog to the left....she is listed as one of the blogs that I follow. The challenge is to make a card with three copic colors Kimm has chosen plus one from the green family. I had B21, and Y21 but not the Red. So I ended up using Y11, B21 and R21 as well as GY03 for my green. It was a fun card to do. My Versafine Black pad didn't cooperate tonight.......even though I hit the image with a heat gun for a while, the ink still feathered out when I was working near thick lines with the copics. I really need a Momento pad!! The cute little flower charm was a recent purchase from Michael's from their bridal section. They have a number of charms and they are way cheaper in that section than in the scrapbook/cardmaking section of M's!! I'll link my card on her blog tomorrow night.

I spent part of the day babysitting my grandson, Zander. He was very needy today. Wanted to have attention all the time and wasn't napping worth a hoot. Finally at 2:45pm he got his nap. He is cutting teeth and I'm sure that is his problem. While he was up after lunch, he played with the fabric grocery bags as I unpacked my treasures from last weekend's Saturday Market purchases. I needed to choose several of the 'trophies' that I purchased for the flower show tomorrow morning. I'll set up the trophy table then act as one of the judges. This will be the first show of the season for the Portland Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society. The last show will be on Mother's Day. There are only 6 trophies for this show so it is very low key. The MD show has about 35 trophies so it is a lot more work. So we'll hit the hay a little early tonight since we have to be at the garden at about 7:30 am. We still need to see if we have any flowers worth taking in for the competition too! We have probably about 15 plants blooming now.....not too many to choose from!

Sunday Success and Not So Much Success

I get this call from Pastor Wednesday afternoon. "Hey, Ann. Our organist for Sunday can't play for the late service. Can you do it?" Well.....I was already scheduled to be playing 4 of the songs with praise band already so what are a few more. Fortunately, they weren't too hard. A little bit of litury and a couple of hymns. Then we added in an voluntary for offering and some special music. The special music was fun. It was a piece that my daughter, Leah, and I did before. My Faith Looks Up To Thee. A very pensive piece with piano and some singing. I asked her if she would sing it again at Praise Team practice on Thursday night. She said yes and while we were practicing, my son and his wife (they are part of praise team as well) chimed right in with harmony. It sounded so nice! So we ended up with all three of them singing for service during communion. I was tickled that it came off beautifully. Some of the other songs, however, had their glitches here and there. I'm hoping that most of the parishioners didn't notice. Only the people who knew how it was really supposed to sound probably noticed! At least I hope!!
Ray went to a baseball game today with my son-in-law, Adam. Oregon State playing Oregon. Adam loves Oregon, Ray love Oregon State. Time for a little good natured battle of the schools going on here! While Ray was at the game (and BTW....Oregon State won!) I participated in a Copic Challenge that my friend, Kimm Bennington-Thompson hosted from her blog. You used only three colors of copics that were picked for you. Then you could add in one more color from a picked color family. This card is what I came up with. The dotted background is a technique I submitted to the Technique Junkie newsletter and was published this month. It is called Chalk Lines. I didn't do lines as you can see but I used the same technique. The sweet tulip heart is some handdrawn art from Kathryn the Teawife's mom. Kathryn is a TJ member and was kind enough to give me a copy of it! Isn't it a darling image!! Kudos to your mom, Kathryn. I used copics R08, YR04, G07 and my pick from the Y group, Y06. To get the shading on the red tulips, I added some green and blended over with the red. I love the way you can shade with colors that don't really belong to the same color group. I also added yellow on the leaves to add some 'veins'. I hope you like it! And as you can tell by the shadow on the card.....we actually have a little bit of sun today! Here is the link to Kimm's post about the copic challenge. Click HERE!