Good morning. Tracy here today for Tips and Tricks Tuesday!  A long time ago I went to a crop and a couple of the ladies gave out strips of plastic canvas. They used the plastic canvas to line up holes for punching. The canvas even comes in circles so you could punch circles if you wish. Just line it up  against your paper and punch holes using a needle or an official “puncher”, which I was not able to find in my mess on my desk!! I had a very productive weekend which ended in a huge mess for me to clean up. Hate when that happens. I am NOT a neat crafter!! How about you? 😉

Just use the corners of the squares as a guide that way they stay even.

For my card I used Blush Bonnie from The Greeting Farm, colored with Copic Markers.  The paper is The Sweetest Thing -Tangerine from My Minds Eye and I have to say it’s my FAVORITE paper pad as of right. As I mentioned I had a productive weekend and I think I made about 10 cards. I used this paper for 4 of those. I couldn’t stop using it, LOVE IT!!

Thanks for coming by today!

Tracy Valure

Happy Thursday! It’s Michelle here with today’s post…and I must say…I am ready to leave this week behind!!  My daughter caught up stomach bug on top of the cold she still hasn’t completely shaken.  Let’s just say that Mom hasn’t been feeling too creative this week!

Hopefully you’ll forgive me for no 3D project today…I needed to ease back into stamping with a card…my first love!

I went with some fun products:

La-La Land  Crafts Marci With Cat, Authentique’s Lively Collection (don’t you just love these papers?!) and Copic Markers. I used the following Copic Markers:  RV55, RV52, R02, E00, E02, E35, YR24, YR23, Y21, E57, E57.

My little tip of the day….don’t forget to use paper piecing as a fun way to add a touch of interest to your little people’s clothes!  I chose more muted pattern for her dress and then shaded it with copic markers like I would have, had I just colored it on the white cardstock.

Here’s to the weekend!!

Michelle Pearson – Inspiration Blooms

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Hello again everyone!  Kelli here with part 2 of the instant color window slider card, click HERE for part 1.  I really didn’t know what to name it, but that sounds good.  😉  I used the adorable Sweet Pea Stamps – Flowers on the Beach for the main image and stamped her in Memento – Tuxedo Black ink (on the card stock) and colored her with Copics:
E29, E59, E57, E55
E02, E01, E00, E000
G28, G07, G05, G03, G02
R29, R27, R24, R22
Y35, YR18, YR16, YR15
RV14, RV13, RV11
E31, E53, E51
B32, B0000

The patterned paper is from the Echo Park – For the Record 2 Tailored 6×6 paper pad.  I love how the little bit of  washi tape peeking out coordinates really well with all the other colors and it’s the Lace Dot in Mint Green.  The button is from the Prima Wood Buttons.  I just added a little hemp twine bow to it and adhered it to the card using Glossy Accents.  That is a perfect “glue” for bigger items like that that you really want stuck down.  Last but not least, the little banner stamp and the sentiment are from SP & Company.

Here are 3 progression pictures of what it looks like as you’re pulling it out.  It’s actually pretty neat in person!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great day!  🙂

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Hi ya everyone, Melissa here today and I wanted to do a little something different.  I know there are a lot of questions surrounding the comparable markers you can purchase at MarkerPop.  In this post I’m going to do a breif comparison of the Copic Sketch Markers to the Shinhan Touch Markers.  Both are alcohol based markers and therefore are able to blend nicely and dry quickly so that you can layer colors.  I’m going to try very hard to give you a non-biased opinion of the two.  I have used Copics for a number of years now but am always open to new markers and a cheaper alternative for those that need one.

Let’s start with some basics.  In the picture above I separated out colors based on similarities in hues and shades.  Therefore the Copic Y38, YR24, YG07, and YG23 are fairly close in color to the Shinhan YR33, YR31, GY48, and GY 47.  I chose the adorable little dragon from the Lawn Fawn set called Critter’s Ever After and stamped him twice on Xpress It paper with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.  The I colored both images with each set of markers.

Initial Comparison:

• Shinhan are not as comfortable, they feel larger.  Sketch are oval and therefore much easier to hold.  The discomfort isn’t bad with the Shinhans however and if used heavily I probably would NOT have noticed so much.  However, they did feel large to me.
• Copics flick much easier to do the size.  When I flick with my Copics, it helps me to later blend out colors.  I had a hard time flicking with the Shinhan and again feel like it’s their size and shape.  Again, with practice and use I could probably overcome this.
• Shinhan markers are JUICY.  They have lots of ink and I felt like they bled a lot do to this.  However, a nice juicy marker isn’t a bad thing as you can get down a lot of color.  Here’s a good example of what I mean.  Check out the back of my Xpress it.  It’s easy to see which are more juicy.  The Copics I used were also nice and full of ink.

• Overall the blending between the two markers were very much the same.  I had no problem getting a nice smooth transition between the two shades of green.  You can see this below.

•  Again, upon finishing with the green I noticed that BOTH markers really did finish quite similar and I kept having to look at the back of the paper once I cut off the labels telling me which was the Touch and which was the Copic.

• Color Charts – both companies have a color chart Shinhan HERE and Copic HERE.  Copics color chart is very reasonable in terms of why colors are placed where on the chart.  It’s very simple to choose colors in a family and know they will blend together.  I’ve been Copic certified so I understand this system.  Shinhan’s color chart doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in terms of the layout.
• Copics have a lot more colors in the sketch markers.  Shinhan does not, but it might not be necessary when just starting out.
• Both offer replacement nibs and refills.

Overall, I thought the markers were quiet comparable in terms of quality and blending.  I’ll leave you with these final image and you can judge for yourself if the difference between the two is so noticeable that you would be swayed one way or the other!

I’ll leave you guessing on which is which!!! 🙂

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