As Promised

Before we get too far along, please look back at my post of Sept. 8, 2010. I used the same image. Look at the difference in the coloring. What do you think? Here is the closest I could get a photo without it blurring:

I did keep track of the copics and here they are;

E00, E11, E21, E25; R20; Y21, Y28, Y15, Y35, Y38; YR23,; B32; RV10, RV21, RV23, RV29; G82, G94; W2, W3, W5. Thought I would just make a simple card. The "yellow" border is a K&company border sticker. I just couldn't leave it alone, so I strung hemp between it and used a little liquid glue to be sure it stays on the card. The image is on dimensionals. I HAD to use some gems - after all, you don't see any flowers or ribbon! This is a standard size card. Most of the ones I make are 5 x 7 so I have room for all those extra things! This is a Bildmalarna image. She is perfect for a thinking of you card or a sympathy card. At least that is where I classed her in my mind. Hope you enjoy it. Will be trying to post at least once a week. DH has decided to retire for a couple of months or so. Hugs to you all! My goodness how my followers ranks have grown!! I am so thankful for all of you!! Barb F

Tutorial and "pattern" for Dividers

You asked for it! I never even thought of trying this before!

Start with a file folder - new or old. It is heavy weight paper and long enough to use one piece for the project.

Measure the inside of your box. This one is 6" wide X 9" long X 2 " deep. Make sure you write the measurements down. Measure twice to be sure you have measured correctly. You heard of the old adge - measure twice, cut once?

Cut the index tab off the folder.

This is the hard part. Turn the folder 90 degrees, keeping it folded. Cut it to the 6" wide. This is your width measurement. If you have a similar type of paper cutter, it will take you more than one cut to get all the way through both sides of the folder. Look at the next photo and you will see how I handled that. After I got the top layer cut, I had to pull the folder out so I could open it up.

Now you can finishcutting that piece off at the crease. Look at the next photo so you can see how to cut the remaining side of the folder.

This is turned around so you can see better, I hope. Cut this flap off.

There is still another piece remaining where you cut this flap from. Turn and cut again.









You will end up with a file folder that is only 6" wide after you cut the remaining side off.

Here is how you score your folder. Open it up. I decided that I wanted to increase the size in the middle from 3" to 3 1/2". It doesn't matter what size you choose, just divide that amount by two and measure that distance from the center fold of the folder. In the picture, I show both measurements off of the center fold. Now every score you make will be incremental from the previous score. You will want to be very sure of your measurements before scoring. If one is wrong, they will all be wrong. OK, so after you initial scores, measure 2" towards the ends and score again. The 2" is the depth measurement. From there, measure 1/4" and score. This is the width of the divider. It will give more stability to the divider. Then measure 2" again and score. This is so you can bend the divider into the outer pockets. If your divider doesn't sit down all the way in your box, you can either round the corners, or trim a little off the ends.

Once you are sure this fits the way you want it to, adhere it to the box with scor-tape or any other adhesive that is easy to use and will really hold. The dividers are supposed to move. That will allow you to be able to put your hand in to grab the copics so you can find the colors you want to use. So here are the score lines for a box divided into 3 equal parts. I suggest scoring from the center out to each side and this is how I am giving you the inch increments.

2 ---1/4 ---2 ---1 1/2 ---center ---1 1/2 ---2 --- 1/4 ---2
Sure hope this helps. Don't think I am going to try this tutorial stuff for a very long time!! It is a whole lot harder than it looks. I imagine if I had a camcorder this would have been a snap, but then maybe not. I tried to make this as easy and clear as possible. Hugs to you all. I hope some of you got to watch the copic tutorials from the Make it crafty gal. Wait until tomorrow when I post how much I have improved!!! I have to finish my card first though. Barb F

Copic storage

A bunch of you have asked me and now I understand why you were having so much trouble finding my storage boxes. Here is a link to a good starting point. For some of you, it may be the place to buy the boxes. I have 3 or 4 of these stacks. I used 4 of the larger (deeper) boxes and 1 lid for my copics. You can arrange the stacks how you wish, I do use the shallower ones. You might not. I found them here. Now you can do a search for cheaper or closer to you. Hugs to all, Barb F

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3719859

Here's another card to look at!

You guys are just the best!! Keep up those nice comments and I will continue flying!! Honestly you all make me feel so special. So here is another birthday card. I am doing well - this one is for Jan. 30! See how far ahead I am! I love this image and hope my granddaughter does. I got to use a bunch of spellbinder's, including the fancy tags! So much fun! I wish you could see the details in the pink print. Its from Nana's kitchen. Actually putting it on the front was an accident! I had the front all sticky and picked up the wrong paper. Oh well - I like it better than what I was going to do!! Lots of stickles and inking edges with distress inks.That is so much fun to do. Sorry I can't list the colors I used as I accidentally threw out the card after taking photos (see below this post).  So here are the rest of the photos. Images are Bildmalarna, words from Gina K stamp sets. Flowers are Wild Orchid and I don't remember where the paper ones inside came from.

Guess I managed to give credits where due. Thanks for looking, joining my crew and commenting! I appreciate it all!! Hugs to you, Barb F

Birthday gift and Matching card

Ok - so here is the card and the gift. The guy likes to cook and does the household accounts and its his birthday. The box is a covered kleenex box. If you are interested, go to Stamptv.com for the instructions. They are both on Youtube and written and much better than I could ever do! It is called Kitchen Organizer. I used Tim Holtz papers and inked edges with his distress inks. One of these days soon I will show you what I did to organize the sponges! Not my idea but fab just the same! Edwins's background is distress ink. I buy Magnolia stamps from either Magnoliaicious or Stampingscrapping.com. Inside, the stove is heat embossed with black. It is dimensional as is the greeting on the inside. Both greetings are from Gina K (StampTV). I used Spellbinder's dies with my Cuttlebug. Those are just two things that are new to me that I had to have! I think I have covered it all. Of course there are lots of stickles! Hope you enjoy it. Please leave me a comment so I know if you like it. Thanks, Hugs to you all, Barb F

For those that need to know - here are the copics I used: E00, E11, E21, E33, E37, E29, E57; R20, R17; G21; B12; C1; YR23.

Wow! And some more technique

I am overwhelmed at the response my last post got! Welcome to my new people as well as my "old" ones! I can't believe how many followers I have! As most of you know, I am just a crafter - actually I have become a crafter since I started making cards! Because of some of the emails I have received, I am going to elaborate just a little more about copics.
Here is how I plan a card, a project, or even a scrapbook page. First I decide on the image/s I am going to use, then stamp on white cardstock. If I am coloring or not depends on which cardstock I use. Remember, I don't sell my stuff. Then I find the appropriate papers or cardstocks that I think I will use. When you cut the white cardstock that you stamped to color, you have scraps. Make yourself  an inch wide scrap or so. Now that you have the papers selected, you can take your colored copic chart and try to match up colors. When you think you have a color picked out, make a colored line going to the edge of your scrap. Now you can really match it up to the cardstock. Take that colored edge right up to the paper you want to use. Sometimes (actually a lot of the time) you might need to mix colors to get exactly what you want. (Mixing is touching one tip of one marker to the tip of another marker, and then coloring. - Don't forget to clean that tip off by coloring on scrap until it colors only the color it is supposed to !). I usually write the color on the swatch if I think I might use it. I do this for all the colors that are in the papers. This is just a beginning. I remove those colors from my boxes, plus the E00, E11 and R20 which I usually use for the skin tones. I move the boxes out of my way and start. When I am finished, it is pretty easy to put the markers in the section they belong. I colored a chart which I downloaded ages back from carpedium.com.(Think that is how you spell it.) I now buy my markers from Oozark.com. Met the guy in my certification class. He is quick, and the least expensive, and usually has everything in stock. I think he may also have a chart. You will want to print it on the paper/cardstock you will be using so that the color will be exactly for your images as for the chart. Then of course, you will color it with the copics you have.  Here is a photo of the swatches for the last two cards I made. There are more colors listed on the back as I do try to keep track of what I really use. But this is how I start. Hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think! I will be posting these two cards. One today and the other soon as I get more time. Hugs to all of you! Barb F

Copic Storage

I found these wonderful boxes at JoAnn's.They come as a stack of 3 - 2 are this size and the other one is about half as deep. This stack is made from 2 purchases. That gives you 2 lids, 4 deep boxes and 2 shallow ones. The shallow stack I use to keep images that I have colored but not put on anything and also images that I have just stamped ready to color. They are deep enough to use for quite a few things. So here are some photos of how I store my Ciao markers. I do have a few sketchers and I think one of each of the original and wide. I made the dividers from file folders as they are long enough to do this and the material is sturdy. If  you wait until these go on sale I think they are about $5 a set (normally $10). I love the mobility of these. They hold the entire set of Ciao including the 36 new colors. That is what I have in them plus a few extra pens and things. Because they are plastic, they aren't heavy and are waterproof and if you put the lid on correctly and latch the boxes together, they are also spill proof! That last proof is really necessary for me. I have a set I put the reinkers in.I just love these boxes!! So here is how to make the dividers from a colored file folder. Cut it 6" wide x the entire open length. This will take a couple of putting into a paper cutter or you can mark it and cut it with scissors. You should have a piece 6" x 16" or so. Find the center and score 1 1/2" each side of that. There will be a 3" flat between the scores. From one of the score lines, score 2" away, then 1/4" away, then another 2". Now turn it around and do the same thing - 2", 1/4", 2". One end will be 1/2 " longer than the other but since neither one goes to the end of the box, it doesn't matter. I used scor-tape to adhere it to my box. And here is how I chose to fill it. On the blue divider, I put B/, E/ ,C&W. Obviously one color to each section. On the orange divider, BV/, V/, RV. On the green divider, YG, G, BG. On the red divider, YR/, R/, Y.

all of the Ciao

what the inside looks like

there are more E's

see divider from the side view

inside of the lid

looking down on the empty box

Second birthday already

We are in the middle of some serious snow! Supposed to have gone to a birthday party tonight but we are lucky to even see our street! Finished the card anyhow and decided to post it while I have the opportunity. I don't usually buy collections of papers but all of this is from one. Don't have any idea which one but I love the color - all of it! I could hardly believe that I didn't use my "blender" once! It has been a bit since I colored a Tilda, so it was a huge suprise that it went so well. For those of you who are thrilled to know the colors of copics I used, here they are!

E00, E11, E51; R20, R32, R37; Y21, Y28; YR23; YG63, YG67; B45. I used a few spellbinders' dies. They have a fancy label one out that I just had to use. It is a set of 3. I put glossy accents on the greeting one on the front of the card and used my red spica pen on the other label one on the right side of the inside. There are lots of stickles as those of you who know me, know I love sparkle. That "page" on the left inside is really a page from a dilapidated book. I colored it with a few Tim Holtz distress inks and crumbled it inbetween so you can see the wrinkles. I tore the edges to make it look really old. Then I ran it through a xyron to put sticky on it. Next time I will try putting the sticky on it first and then distressing it. Not sure if that will work, but it was awfully hard to remove from the sticky to put it on my card. I love the way it came out. The gal I made this for is a elementary teacher. Thought she would enjoy all the references to school stuff. There were a lot of stickers that came with the papers. I especially loved the border ones. I even used the tiny, inbetween pieces to separate colors. Of course I had to use flowers, (Wild Orchid), I found some alphabet brads in my stash. Think that about covers it. Hope you enjoy the card as I hope she will when I give it to her. Usually I don't post a card until I give it to that person, but figured since its a new year, what the hey!  Hugs to you all, Barb F

I'm back and some cards!

Happy New Year to all of you! I want to apologize for just letting you all hang. I was ill in the beginning and then when I felt better, I didn't feel like getting online and posting and then before you knew it, the holidays were here. I also made a couple of trips to see my kids. Hope this post lets you see that I wasn't completely idle. It is going to be a long post with lots of photos! Hope you enjoy them. I also made a couple of cards that went out rather quickly, including about 25 different Christmas cards. So here goes. The butterflies are cuttlebug cutouts, embossed and covered with diamond glaze. This gives it a kind of leathery feel and you can shape them. There is white flower soft for the snowman's snow and of course there is a lot of stickles on all the cards. I used flower soft for the sand for the pirate. That ship is a sticker that I added stickles to. If there is any part you want to know about, just email me. I did not keep track of the copics as I knew I would probably never find the paper I wrote on ever again, so I didn't keep track.



Hugs to you all! I gave up trying to arrange the photos. Barb F