Happy Card Maker

Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Well 2009 is almost finished. So, I wanted to get in one more post to my blog before years end.

The card that I have posted today is a Thomas Kinkade stamp called "Foxglove Cottage". I purchased the stamps from CornishHeritageFarms. They not only have the complete line of Thomas Kinkade stamps, but also a lot of other unusual stamps.

The image for "Foxglove Cottage" was colored with Copic Markers and Spica Pens. The images from the TK series may look impossible to color, but if you do it in easy steps, it all comes together quite beautiful.
Here is the card;

Copic Tidbits for this Card;

1. Color in the bright colors first, such as the windows, and flowers

2. Fill in with the earth tones, the grass, trees, and the house

3. When you are done with the complete picture, use a W1 grey marker to color over everything except the windows and bright spots that you colored in Step#1

4. Use a Spice Pen to color in the bright spots.

Walla!!! your done.

If you break the image down into steps it makes it a lot easier to color the image. Give it a try, It's Simple.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Happy New Year

Bob L.

Monday, December 28, 2008


I hope everyone has had a very Merry Christmas and will have a great New Year.
Now it's time to get back to crafting!!! Yea
The card I've posted to day is one of my stamps from Stampscapes. It is actually made up of eight (8) stamps from this company. The stamps are stamped one at a time to make up the complete picture.


The normal way to color a Stampscape creation is by using different tools, such as ColorBox Stylus, Tonal Applicators, and very small stipple brushes. On this card I used Bic makers. It gives a sharper appearance, but still pleasing.

Stampscape scenes can be color with numerous coloring mediums, such as Chalk Pencils, Copic Markers, and Prisma-Color Pencils. The medium used will give a slightly different effect, but still very pleasing.

Don't be afraid of giving it a try. I think you will be very pleased with the results.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Bob L.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

I wish to take the opportunity to wish all of my blog friends a Very Merry Christmas ans wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

It has been a hard year for a lot of people and I hope that the new year is much better for everyone.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Bob L.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The wife and I made two road trips this week. One of them was on Saturday to The Stamping Place in West Columbia, SC. Great store and we wanted to see the new releases of the Hero Arts stamps. Needless to say I bought a few. You can see the sample card that I made from one set, posted below.


The next trip was on Tuesday, to Stamps and More by Eleanor which is located in Piedmont, SC near Greenville, SC. If you get a chance visit this store. Thier motto is "Every Day Is Demo Day". If they have it in the store, they will demo it. Great learning experience. And they have a lot to demo.
For you crafty people that don't like images without noses and a mouth, here is an image that will please you. It,s from the Hero Arts new release called "Call Me". I think it's real cute.

The colors used for this card are;

Dress: RV00,RV02,RV04, RV06 Hair: YR23, Y23, E35 Skin: E000, E00, E01, R20

Copic Tidbit:

Ground your images. You don't want your image hanging in the sky, so use a lighter color of the main image to be around the shadow side of the image to make it pop. You do not always have to use a grey or BG10, but use other colors that are used in the image. Don't leave a lot of white space. Mask the image and use a background stamp to fill in the white space, as I've done here.

Have a GREAT DAY and a HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!!!

Bob L.

Thursday, December 17, 2009
Copic Tidbit:
I have been ask quit a few times how do i pick the colors when I air brush a background sky, say a sunset. With the Copic Color System, you have so many colors to pick from, it makes it fairly simple. The first thing I do is to use my trusty internet. I search for picture of a sunset that I like, then duplicate it with the air brusk and my choosen copic colors.
Here is a picture that I recently used on a card;

As you can see in the picture, every color in the picture has a matching color in the Copic Coloring System. If I wanted palm trees in the fore ground, I will air brush my sunset first, then stamp the palm trees in a dark color ink last. If I wanted to do an open image in the foreground, I would stamp and color the foreground image first then mask it, and do my background with the air brush. One tip is to use a very thin masking material, such as Grafix Frisket Film, it,s can be found at Michaels or any other store that sells air brush material. Make sure that you cut you mask very close to the stamped image, so that you eliminate the halo around the image.

Give it a try you will like the results!!!

Have a GREAT HOLIDAY SEASON!!!

Bob L.

The chart only shows a small sample of the items that can be airbrushed. The ribbon needs to be airbrushed from both sided so that when you tie the bow it's the same color . The flowers can be done in multiple colors. And don't forget backgrounds, the possibilities are endless.

It's to the point now where I buy everything I can in white, then airbrush it to the color that I need for my card. It may not save you money to start, but just think of all of the room you save, not having to store all those different colors.

Next thing I have to do is convince my supportive wife that I just have to have a compressor.

If you buy the ABS1 system, remember to buy extra air cans at the same time. Once you start airbrushing, it's addictive.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Bob L.

Thursday, December 10, 2009


Copic Tidbit:
I need refills. What ones should I buy? My answer to this is to buy the lightest colors in the blending group that you have put together. So, for instance in the card that I have posted below, on the dress I have used RV00,RV02,RV04, and RV06. So which color did I use the most of? It's the RV00 and then next RV02. These are the refills that I would buy for this blending group. Eventually you will have to buy the darker refills, but not for awhile, because you are using very little of that color. So go through your blending groups and buy the lightest colors in that group.


Today I have posted another Christmas card, "Tilda with Candy Cane". The paper that I used for the backgrounds was from the "Little Yellow Bicycle" . The pack is called "25 Days of Christmas". Check it out it really has a great selection of papers. The placard for the background was cut with a Spellbinder die. The sentiment stamp is from Just-Rite Stamps. Although the coloring was simple with my Copics, putting the card together is my difficult part, but I think it came out pretty cute.

I added some xmas tree brad to the corners, I don't have the slightest idea where they came from, part of my stash. The poinsetta is from "makingmemeroies". Add a little Red Spica pen to the candy cane, and walla, it's done.

The colors used for this card are;

CandyCane; R29 and red Spica Pen Shoes; E11,E13,E15 Hair; Y11, Y21, E97,E99 Dress; RV00,RV02,RV04,RV06 Socks; B01,B02,B04
Hope you enjoy my rendition.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Bob L.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Copic Tidbit;
Today I want to talk about colors that are difficult to blend. Two colors that come to mind are Red and Black. Today I'll discuss Red. With this color group you need to use more colors. Instead of 3 use 5. My favorite numbers for red are R20,R22,R24,R27,R29. With R29 and R27 there is not much difference between the two. Lay down the R29 first then the R27 blending from the R29. Then progressively move to the lighter colors. Using this method you will be able, with practice, to get a good blending of red.


Todays card is one that my wife made. She does pretty good. She won't use my Copics,she uses her Pro-Markers by Letraset. She does not have the colors that I have with the Copics, but she does a great job with what she has.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Copic Tidbit:
Don't over look the new four 0 series of markers. They are like a Colorless Blender on steriods with color in them. If you have a red shirt use the R0000 at the end of your blending to add high lights to your image. These four 0 series markers are well worth the price. So, add them to your arsenal in your favorite color groups.

The card I finished today uses a stamp from "The Angel Company" it is called "Toodles". The set includes 11 images in the set. I love all the images and sayings in the set.

The image was colored with Copic Sketch Markers. The background layering was designed and cut on my KNK. This machine works great for this type of die cutting because you can design any pattern and cut it to the exact size you need. The rectangle was embossed with the Cuddlebug embossing folder "Swiss Dots"

It's a cute little card to make and colors very easy with your Copic Markers.

Bye the way, there is something wrong with this card. Let me know when you spot it.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Bob L.

Friday. December 4, 2009
Yesterday I had my last round of cataract surgery on my left eye. I can now spot a flea on a cat at 100 feet. I'll have to wait two weeks until I can be fitted for glasses for the remaining corrections.

Copic Buying Tidbit:

When buying Copic markers, I try to buy them in blending groups. So for instance if I'm interest in a light BG (Blue Green) color, I would buy a BG01, BG05, and a BG07. The BG07 would be the shadow color. If I wanted a deeper shadow, I would use BG09. If you buy your marker in blending groups as a Light, Mid-tone, and shadow, you build up good useful blending groups. Try to keep the marker seperated by 2 to 3 digits. What ever you do, do not buy random colors, just because they look good on the color chart. This will keep you from having a bunch of random markers that do not blend well.

The card today, because of my vision problems, was done about a week ago. The stamp is from "The Angel Company" and is called "Oceans of Love". It's a cute stamp that provides plenty of open areas to color and blend. The background paper is from K&C Company and has glitter and Crystal Lacquer already on it.

It's a very simple card, but I think quite cute. The colors for the Copic Marker used are listed below;

Boat & Oar: E30,E31,E34 Bears: E13,E15,E17 Boy Shirt & Water: B01,B04,B06 Girls Blouse:YG01,YG03,YG05 Girls Hat: RV00.RV02,RV04
Hope you enjoy it. Happy coloring.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Bob L.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Copic Tidbit;
A new Copic Sketch marker will cover evenly, four 8 1/2"X11" sheets of Nenaah cardstock and another 3/4 sheet, but streaky. At this time you need to refill.A regular Various Ink Refill bottle holds 25cc of ink. This will refill a Sketch marker 10-12 times.

Here is another card that I finished yesterday. I call it "Wind Blown Tilda". Once again it is in my minimalist style.

The circular sentiment stal is from "Just_Rite stamps: which are just right for these types of cards. I used a Silver glitter pen on the snow flakes and the wind. The scrolls on the pattern paper on the right side of the card are scrolls from "The Angel Company" stamped in silver.

And here she is;

"Wind Blow Tilda" (Close-up)

The Copic colors used for this image were;

Cape: G12,G14,G16,G19 Dress: R20,R22,R24,R27,R29 Hair: Y15,Y26,E13 Boots: C1,C3,C5

She is a cute young lady, but cold.

Hope you enjoy my effort.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Bob L