Minute by Minute

From my post title you can probably guess that I like the Doobie Brothers...and yes I do.  What a Fool Believes is on my top 10 list of songs.  Today, the title reference has more to do with my life the last few weeks.  Every minute has been occupied with something.  So I am back to posting.  I have a few updates I will make over the weekend.  Although I have not been blogging, I have not short of things to blog.  My son turned 5 earlier this month and I was on birthday planning mode just about every available second I had.  He wanted a Super Mario/Mario Kart party.  He just loves Toad.  I made some Mario inspired games and decorations.  There has been crafting but not much card making or scrapbooking.  In the middle of all that, I went to Philadelphia for Standard Copic Certification.  I had a great time.  2 of the posts i will make this weekend will be related to Copics 1) my review of Suzanne Dean's Advanced on the road class (Finally!) 2) my review of Standard Copic Certification.  I will also include a comparison of the two and what I think is best to take based on your expected outcome.  I started taking a Summer Card Camp and will post more on that later.

Enjoy the day.

CMC Challenge #17

It has been a crazy two weeks in my house.  My husband has been out of town and work has just been crazy.  I needed a moment to myself so I decided to do the  Color Me Creative Challenge.  I was late to the game, but decided to still play.  This challenge was tagged Spring Break.  Spring Break for me is no different than any other time of the year. I work full time and my kids are too young to be impacted by it. I decided to be inspired by my dad.  He loved fishing and this time of the year was when he would get his boat ready for a season full of fishing.  I will miss those days. 

This card isn't my best coloring.  I couldn't really get a moment to myself so I was coloring this while sitting on my bed with my kids watching TV in the room with me. Hopefully you won't notice the mistakes I had to "cover up" thanks to my kids bouncin' on my bed while i was coloring.

Paper: Sky (a|s), Baby Boy (Wild Asparagus), Cryogen White

Stamps: Best Fishes! (Sugar Nellie)

Other: Copics

The current CMC challenge is all about WHITE.  I can use some practice there so if you are like me and need practice or just want to show off your coloring white skills, then head on over to the CMC Challenge group and join in. 

Another PTI Make It Monday #12 Post

Here is my third Make It Monday #12 Card.  For this one i decided to color on Kraft paper.  This was my first time coloring on Kraft paper.  I like the result.

I did realize today that I need to clean my Copic pen lids and my nibs.  I got some sticky deposits on my image's face that make it impossible to blend.  Suzanne Dean told me how to clean them when i took her On The Road classes two weeks ago.  Fill a bin with some alcohol, toss in the lids, swish them around then use a qtip (if you want) to get in the lids.  Once the lids dry, put them back on.  She also said I can quickly dip the nips in alcohol and then wipe with a "wipe" to clean off the ickyness.  I should be able to do this a few times before i have to replace the nibs. I do plan on coloring another one of these images in the same manner, but will wait until my pens are clean. From coloring on Kraft, I've determined that using colors that end in 0 or 1 pretty much make the paper look greyish....so avoid those.

The image I used is Laundry from The Greeting Farm (TGF).  I have a few images, digital and rubber, from TGF.  You will be seeing more :)  The sentiment is from the PTI set On My Couch.

Here is what i did.....  You can see on the right side of her face where my Copic started leaving stickiness. 

OMG!!!!.. I just realized those are slippers on her feet.  I was wondering why her feet looked funny.. LOL.  I'll get it right on the next card.

Supplies:

Paper: Vintage Cream (PTI), Kraft (PTI), Melon Mambo (PTI)

Stamps: Laundry (The Greeting Farm),On My Couch (PTI)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Other: Black Slick Writer (American Crafts), Copics

PaperTreyInk Make It Monday #12

The Make It Monday Challenge for this week is drawing line frames. For this challenge I made 3 cards.  Two of them are pretty much the same.  I kept the cards simple.

For the first 2, I used the large tree in Through the Trees from PaperTrey Ink.  I love this tree stamp.  I then added the sentiment in Woodland Friends from A Muse Studio.   For both cards, I stamped the tree in  Grass and French Roast, also from A Muse Studio.  I stamped the sentiment in Tuxedo Black (Memento) on the first card and in French Roast on the other.

Supplies:

Card 1

Paper: Stampers Select (PTI), Kraft (PTI)

Stamps: Through the Trees (PTI), Woodland Friends (a|s)

Ink: French Roast (a|s), Grass (a|s), Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Other: Black Slick Writer (American Crafts)

Card 2

Paper: Stampers Select (PTI), Grass (a|s)

Stamps: Through the Trees (PTI), Woodland Friends (a|s)

Ink: French Roast (a|s), Grass (a|s)

Other: Sepia Writing Pen (Martha Stewart)

Color Me Creative Copic Challenge: Pastels

This is my first Color Me Creative Copic Challenge. The challenge this round is to use Copics to color pastels. This was "challenging". :) It was very easy to fall back into the norm of having color everywhere. Trying to leave more white space requires more effort. I will need to practice this more. What I like about the CMC challenges is that they will get me to use Copics in a manner outside of my norm.

This is the card when I submitted it for the challenge.

I thought it needed more so I reworked it. I added some grounding, Shimmerz to the wings and glitter with my Spica.  Since i didn't have matching cardstock, I made my own with strips of white paper and my Copics.  I still have some more practice to do for the hair, but overall I like it better now.

Anyone know what the stamp image is?

Supplies:

Paper: Stampers Select (PTI), French Roast (a|s), Animal Crackers (Making Memories)

Stamps: ???? I don't know image, Essential Sentiments (a|s)

Other: Copics (BG01, BG05, R85, R83, R81, C00, C1, C2, C3, E00, E11, E21, Clear Spica), Angel Wings (Shimmerz),

CMC Beginner/Intermediate Class Review

Many of you know from my previous posts that I took Suzanne Deans On The Road Color Me Creative Classes.  These classes are a great way to get some hands on face to face instruction with Suzanne.  I have really enjoyed her free You Tube videos but nothing compares to having the one on one interaction.  She  individually looked at our work and provided individual feedback for each technique.  She would even jump in with a marker to show us what we needed to do, if needed.  I highly recommend the classes.  I have not taken any of her online Copic classes (yet) so I cannot offer a comparison.  I do plan on taking some of her online classes as well.  Suzanne stated that completing both of her On The Road classes gets you about half way through the techniques covered in her Online Copic 2 class.  Based on the Online class descriptions and what we actually did in class, I’d say we also touched on techniques in the Copic 3 class.

The class description below is taken from her class website followed by my review.  Visit CMC Road website here for more details, class schedule and availability.

 

Beginner/Intermediate Class

You will learn how to get comfortable with the markers, learn light sourcing, shading

and highlighting along with other practical techniques to bring your coloring to life!

*briefly learn about the basics of Copics and how they work/tips & tricks

*get comfortable with the markers and laying down color lightly
**Learn how to "f-l-i-c-k" layer/blend colors
*choosing successful color combos and layer colors

*learn about light sources and how to create dimension in your coloring

*shading and highlighting techniques (light & shadow)

*creating good skin tone and hair colors

*shading round objects

*coloring white

*Bridging Colors

*multi-liner pens & Spica pens

*Colorless Blender Techniques/Review

*Blues, Pinks, Browns, Yellows

My Review

At first I wasn’t sure if I needed to take the Beginner/Intermediate class.  I had never classified myself as a beginner or advanced user.  I am just a Copic user.  I had taken a couple classes at my local LSSs (I’m fortunate to have multiple LSSs).  I had seen many of Suzanne videos from a year ago.  I practiced off and on and was actually pleased with how I colored most my images. My method for coloring was similar to Suzanne’s “f-l-i-c-k” technique.   The reason I decided to take the Beg/Int class is because I wanted to improve my techniques for light sourcing, shading round objects and coloring and shading hair .  I tend to ALWAYS light source from the upper right.  I’m not sure why, because my desk light is on the left. My images also have very dull hair and not shiny, healthy, superstar hair.  Looking back at some of my images from class, I’m quite impressed with center light sourcing and my new hair techniques. 

At the beginning of the class she took some time to discuss the Copic baisic.  This part I already knew.  After that portion, there was never a time when I felt like I had made a wrong choice.   Once we picked up the markers we colored for the entire class with the exception of the 35 min break we had for lunch.  Throughout the class Suzanne provided tips, tricks and some of her latest color combos and findings.   In hindsight, the class was a must for me.  The class includes a step my step manual on the techniques we used in classes plus many more.

If I had to offer a suggestion for improvement, it would be to include at least one darker skin tone since I find the darker skin tones harder to blend.  Suzanne does have a You Tube video on coloring African American skin and hair.  I refer to it from time to time.  The technique is also covered in the manual from the class. 

Suzanne provided two types of paper for us to use: Cryogen White and Copic XPress.  The Cryogen white has a subtle iridescent finish so it sparkles.  This is my new favorite paper for Copics.  I will be ordering this.  The Copic XPress paper worked well too.  It just doesn't give that nice sparkle that the Cryogen does.

We colored many different images. Since I know many of you want to see some of the images i did, here are a few of my favorites. 

 

This is the first image we did with center lighting.  I really like this light source.  You can see from my image that I still have some practicing.  That bun....oh my.  The Copics and I were not seeing eye to eye on that bun.  I have some extra images of her so I'm going to find a way to fix that bun and still use her.  

 This is another center light source.  I need to rework her hair in the back because I don't like how the edges turned out.  A great thing about Copics is that I can continue work on this image even though it has been over a week since I last worked on it.

 In this image you can see the shimmer that the Cryogen white paper gives. 

For this bear I was trying to show him as white by giving him some shading and adding some background color.  I plan to go back and give him more shading contrast. 

I hope my review was helpful.  Suzanne's class was beneficial to me.  If you want to improve your Copic skills, consider checking out her online or on the road classes. 

I'll be back to post my review of the advanced class.

Amazing Time with Suzanne Dean

Wow!!!  That's the word to describe the Copic classes I took today with Suzanne Dean.  She was at Inspiration Station in Stafford Springs, CT for her Color Me Creative on the road classes.  She is a great teacher with a wonderful personality and sense of humor.  Going into the class I was pretty comfortable with the images I would select to color.  Of course many of the images Suzanne selected were outside of my comfort zone.  This was good.  We did glass, metal, black hair, fur, pleats, PLEATS, pleats...did i say pleats.  The pleats were definitely the most difficult for me.   Some of my images looked like i colored them while i was in the car on a cobblestone road with one eye open and one arm tied behind my back.  In the end, i learned a lot of new techniques and added many things to the list of "things I need to practice, practice, practice"....like pleats and apparently fur too (based on the comments from my husband when I got home).

Of all the techniques, i most enjoyed coloring glass (surprisingly) and the different hair color combos and styles.  You will definitely see some new techniques in upcoming cards.  Until today, I had never done center lighting on my images.  I have to admit that I really like it and will be doing it more often. 

So I know you want to see pics of my work.  As beautiful as it is (LOL), that will have to come later in the week.  I'm exhausted.  I have work to complete for tomorrow and we still haven't done our taxes. 

Since I can't post more tonight, I will leave you with a pic of Suzanne and me.  It isn't a great picture of me but the picture isn't about me....it's about Suzanne.

Thanks Suzanne for coming and providing me with a wonderful opportunity.  In the future, I will definitely be heading over to the Color Me Creative Classroom to take some additional Copic classes.  You Rock!!  Thanks to Inspiration Station for hosting this.