January, 2015 | Copic in the Craftroom

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Michelle — 1 Comment

MFT Sketch Challenge 212 – Closing in on Seattle Copic Workshops

Well I figured I would keep coloring while I was n a roll so here is another card I completed for the on-going challenges over at My Favorite Things. This is my interpretation of this week’s sketch challenge:

I kept it pretty simple today, to me the fun part was using the acorns to form my scallop at the bottom edge. 🙂 Supplies: cardstock; Bazzill Basics and American Crafts, ink; Memento (Rich Cocoa) and Copic (YG61, YG63, E50, E53, E55, E57, E59), burlap banner; Little Yellow Bicycle.

We are coming down to wire for my Copic Workshops in Seattle. If you or anyone you know live in the area and would like to join me for a half day, full day or even two full days of coloring fun make sure to get signed up NOW before it is too late.

Happy Coloring!

Posted on January 20, 2015January 20, 2015 by Michelle

Flat Geometry

I had a great time playing with my latest challenge over at Get It Scrapped. A group of us each created a page with an image made out of “flat geometry”, a current trend in design. Basically we are trying to show dementia and form with two dimensional geometric shapes. I decided to add a rocket using flat geometry to my layout that was leftover from sprig break of 2013. I am back tracking and trying to fill in some gaps in my scrapbooks and maybe get a little caught up even. It is a lofty goal even if it remains just a goal. Here is a close up of the rocket:

I colored strips of paper using Copic markers so that I could get a nice value range in my blue hue, then I cut them all into triangles and quadrilaterals, leaving them in little piles of similar color. I sketched out a rocket shape on a scratch piece of cardstock and cut it out then glues all my little pieces onto the rocket base, filling it in. I tried to use value cues to show the cylinder shape of the rocket body, and the cone of the nose. You can see the flames that I created on the full layout below:

Blast Off by Michelle Houghton | Supplies: cardstock; American Crafts, patterned paper; Pink Paislee, Heidi Swapp and SEI, letters; Pebbles, ink; Zig and Copic

I had set all the papers aside with photos a while back so I had supplies I was hoping to use already to go. The rocket was the perfect piece to tie it all to gather with a wonderful unique handmade touch!

Check out all the flat geometry looks HERE

Happy scrapping!

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Michelle — 1 Comment

MFT Color Challenge #13

Yep I am still having fun here with coloring. These are such easy fun challenges at My Favorite Things, I can see myself coming back for more of these 🙂 Besides it get’s me building up my card stash which is always a good thing to have on hand. The color challenge gives us 4 colors we need to incorporate on a card. The image I colored and added to my card is really just for fun. the little raccoon really has nothing to do sentiment, but he is too cute!

Supplies include: cardstock; Bazzill Basics and American Crafts, twine; American Crafts, stickers; Bo Bunny, embossing folder; Cuttlebug, raccoon image; My Favorite Things, ink; Copic, C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, E93

Happy coloring!

Posted on January 19, 2015January 17, 2015 by Michelle — 1 Comment

MFT Challenge 211

I was invited to check out the My Favorite Things Challenge blog this past week. They run regular sketch and color challenges for card and stamping fans. You could most likely translate the challenges into other crafty pursuits as well. I figured I am in a coloring, crafty mood why not? Besides a very dear friend of mine is having a baby shower and I would love to make a special card for her as I know she will be appreciative. Here is the tag I made using the current sketch at MFT.

I do not have any shape die cuts so I just eyeballed the oval and the tag but I don’t think my wobbly lines show too bad :-). Supplies for the tag include; cardstock; Bazzil Swiss Dots, patterned paper; Graphic 45, flowers and trim; American Crafts, stamp; My Favorite Things, ink; Memento and Copic.

The flowers are hand colored to match the patterned paper I used Copic markers in R20 and E93. Here is a close up of the fox and a list of the colors I used:

E11, E13, E15, E17, E19, E49. I used Memento ink in Rich Cocoa to stamp the image and even double stamped to keep the lines light and hopefully invisible after I colored. The E49 I used was to go back over the little nose and eyes. I know this is a unique image to use for a baby shower gift but the new arrivals last name is “Fox” and the beautiful mama LOVES her foxes so the image could not be any more perfect!

Thank you MFT for the inspiration.

Happy coloring!

Posted on January 17, 2015January 15, 2015 by Michelle

Vintage Values and Monotones

Are you curious what the new Copic class Vintage Values and Monotones is all about? Well here is the scoop!

Vintage Values and Monotones is coloring without color! Most of us Copic users are color fans that is why we love Copic so much. But some images scream for the simplicity of black and white, or the warmth of Earthy sepia tones. The trick is without color to fall back on your shading has to be spot on! So that is what we are going to talk about in class. Remembering those basics of light source and form and pushing contrast to show detention on your images.

So what do you walk away with?

1 – 4 colored images each colored in a different monotone range.

2 – Knowlege on how to better use contrast or “Value” to punch the depth of your images

3 – Lots of great ideas to transfer onto your color images.

4 – A new love of monotone coloring!

Here is a look at 2 of the images we will be coloring in class. This first is done in cool gray tones in class we will look at him in warm grays, sepia and mixed sepia tones as well.

This second image is colored in Sepia tones. Sepia refers to a very specific Earth tone, we broaden that definition for our class, instructors will share how that works during class time.

I hope that helps give you a clearer picture of what Vintage Values and Monotones is all about. Having just watched Colleen Schaan teach the class this past weekend at CHA gave me a new appreciation of the curriculum and the students who participated were LOVING the information and the skill building. There were multiple “Ah Ha!” moments through out the class. Students could really see how this was going to transfer over to their coloring in color and how this class would improve there overall coloring ability!

Thanks for stopping by today and reading all about Vintage Values and Monotones. Check out all the available class openings for this class and all of the Copic offerings HERE.

I have two weekends open now! February 13th and 14th in Seattle, Washington and March 13th and 14th in St. Louis, Missouri. Hope I will see you this year some time!

Happy Coloring