Hey! I Need That!!!

Happy Wednesday,

I love snowman. They are one of the positive things that come out of winter.  The kids down the street make a small snowman in their yard every time we get a few inches of that white yucky stuff.  It might not be the most structurally sound snowman in history, but he is built with love.  I look forward to seeing him.

This card looks really intimidating.  When you have the blank image in front of you, the first thought is..."Where do I start?".   I started with the deer.  Then did the snowman.    The trees seem hard, but there are no tree-police to come to see if you did it perfectly.  I didn't spend a lot of time I did a lot of scribbling.  You can cover it up with glitter to hide any spots...you don't love.   I did the same with the sky.  I didn't color it solid...just a light scribble.  It looks like clouds.  So take a deep breath and give it a try.

Copics used:

Deer: E30, E31, E33, E35, W1
Trees: G24, G21, W2-glitter
Snow-W3, W1, W0
Cheeks: R00
Blue: B12, B14, B16, B18
Dark Blue: B37, B39
Hat: N9, N7, N5
Carrot:YR12, YR14
Sky: B000
Wood: E44

Fishy Buisness

Happy Friday,

Well friends we made it through another week.  This week was much less stressful than last week.  Our little area of NY was hit with a huge rain storm last week.  Some areas received 5 inches of rain in just a few hours.  It caused massive flooding.   The lake we live near (the same one that inspired the name of this blog) spilled over.    The water rolled off the hills and caused the water level to rise about 18 inches.    The flood waters have started to recede but the lake is still closed.

Connor "walking on water"

Our neighbor's dock is totally submerged

Our dogs love the lake, no matter what

Widget was determined to rescue every stick that floated by.

To celebrate the start of lake season, I thought I'd make a fishy card.  My dad loves to fish and hunt.  I have seen so more than my fair of fishing shows on TV.  If I wasn't watching my dad fish... I had to watch him learn to fish from some weirdo on TV.    I found this stamp in Akron and I had to get it.  I made two versions of this card.  One says "Happy Father's Day" and the other says "What a Catch".

I love how this turned out!  I stamped the image twice.  I colored one and cut it out and used dimensional glue to adhere it to the background.    I colored the water with copics, but sponged ink to color the sky.

 Copics used:

Water: B12, B24, B26
Fish: YG61, YG63, YG67, YG03, G20, accented with E04, E07
I used the advanced blending technique that we learned in class.   Don't be afraid to leave some areas white.

I finished the fish off with glitter.

You're a Good Egg

Happy Monday,

I hope you had a restful weekend.  I had two wonderful classes with the Brockport crew.  We made some fun spring cards (including this one) and learned some new copic techniques.  They did a great job.  I'm so proud of their progress.

Here is one of the cards we made in the April Card Lover's Class.

Copics used:

Bunny: E30, E31, E33, E35, E37

Bunny tail: W3,W1

Grass: YG03, YG06, YG09

Eggs: R20, R21, R22

BV000, BV00, BV02, BV04, YR04, YR07

B00, B01, B02,, Y11, Y13, Y15, Y35

G00, G02, RV11, RV13

Calla Lily Challenge

Happy Friday Friends,


April is going by so fast.  I can't believe that Easter will be here in just over a week.   I have a beautiful Calla Lily card to share with you.  I chose to color my lilies in purple.  I know that isn't common, but it is the color of Easter.   You can easily make them white or pink.

I wanted each flower to look different. It would be weird if they all looked the same. I used the same markers to color each flower, but I varied the amount on each.  Meaning one may have more dark areas and others are light.  Some have yellow at the bottom some don't.  I left areas white, but changed the amount for each flower.   It was a fun challenge.

Copics used:

Purple: BV000, BV00, BV01, BV04
Yellow: Y11, Y15
Green: YG61, YG63, YG67, G85
Blue: B000, B00, 0

Easter Tulips

Happy Thursday Friends!

I've been working hard this week trying to catch up on things.  I must be working too hard... somebody is keeping her eye on me.  

I have another Easter Card for you today. I used a tulips stamp that I bought last year.  I was excited to ink it up.  It was a lot of fun to color.  

close up of the tulips.  I cut them out after I colored them.

Copics used:

Orange: Y15, YR02, YR04, YR09 

 (you can do an easier orange YR04, YR07, YR09)

Green: YG03, YG61, YG63, YG67

Yellow: Y11, Y13, Y15

Blue: B01, B00, B000, B0000

color the flowers first then do the sky

Deer Winter

Hello friends,

I can't believe that it is December 3rd already!  Christmas is going to be here before I know it.  In all the craziness of the season, I thought we could use a peaceful moment.  This winter scene is so peaceful and calm.

Copics used:

Deer: E30, E31, E33, E35, E37, E39  I added W1 and W3 for shadows
Trees: E40, E41, E43, E44
Grass: E13, E15
Snow: B00, B01
Sky: B000, B21, B41, B45--I didn't airbrush, I colored by hand. I thought creating a mask for this would have been a nightmare.
Sun: Y13, Y15, Y17, Y19

I finished it off with some glitter and ribbon.  I cut a small piece of ribbon and tied a double knot on top of the original knot to give a bit more interest.

Cornucopia

Hello friends,

 I love this stamp by Northwoods.  It was a lot of fun to color.  The colors are listed below.  There are so many colors, I broke it up with photos.  I hope you enjoy...

Cornucopia: E30, E31, E33, E35, E37, E39

 Corn: random browns, E31, E33

Apples: R22, R24, R27, R29

Green Pumpkins (I really have no clue what these are): YG03, YG05, YG09, G43, G46

Onion: E000, E13, E15

Brown Gourde: Y11, YR21, YR24, YR27

 Pumpkins: YR12, YR16, YR18, E71, E74, E77

Leaves at top: Y13, YG03,YG05, YR12

 Grapes: BV02, BV04

Zucchini:  Y11, Y13, G43, G46

Green Pepper: G02, G05, G07

Red Leaf: R14, R24, R29

Green Leafs: YG61, YG63, YG67

Oak Leaves: Y13, Y15, YR12

 I got a small smudge on the top corner of my card.  It looked like a creative opportunity to me. 

I covered it.   Quick fix, but works. 

A Mother's Love

Happy Saturday Stampers!

I hope you are enjoying some R&R.  Connor and I are participating in a Zumbathon today.  It is a charity event for a church group in town.  It is 3 hours of Zumba.  Again.. not sure what we are thinking when we sign up for these things...  I'm pretty sure as you read this... I'm asleep.  

This card was a strange one for me.  This image of the Mom and her foul is so sweet.  It was one of those stamps I just had to have.  I anxiously waited for it to arrive in the mail.  Then when it did... I had no idea what to do with it.    I was tempted to just hide the stamp in a pile of papers on my desk.   Resisting the easy way out... I inked it up and started coloring.    It was a hard stamp to color.  Horses are complicated.  There are lots of shadows and subtle details in their faces.    In the end, I think it turned out alright.  Not my favorite card.  I'm proud of myself for not hiding the stamp.  I might revisit this stamp for a Mother's Day Card.

Enjoy your day,
Chris 

Copics used:

Mom: E30, E31, E33, E35, E37

Baby: E40, E41,E43, E44, E47

Sponged the background with green and blue ink

Stamp is called Mother and Foul by Northwoods

Butterflies and Marigolds

Hello Stampers,

Northwoods is one of my favorite companies.  They specialize in scenes.  Their images tend to be very detailed and a challenge to color.   This images is part of a limited edition collection they released earlier this year.  

I wanted to show you how neat these images look colored with Copics.  It is beautiful!!
Each butterfly is cut out an adhered in with a pop dot.  Love the look.

I used a glitter gel pen to add some sparkle to the flowers

A special note to my copic friends.  This card is a bit tricky to color.  It has a lot of advanced blending incorporated into the flowers.  You can do it!!  Just take your time and don't over saturate the paper. 

Copics used:

Flowers: Y13, Y15, YR12, YR31, YR16

Green: YG03, YG05, YG09

Butterfly 1: Y11, Y13, Y15

Butterfly 2: RV91, RV93, RV95

Butterfly 3: B000, B00, BV00

Sky Shading: BV31