Author: Michelle

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Catch up on Life and Layouts

 Hard to believe I missed an entire month of posting but with the business of March I know why.

The first weekend had us hosting the Houghton Grandparents and nursing a sick Lori back to feeling good so she could participate at her state swim meet.  She did EXCEPTIONALLY well for having been crazy sick for 3 full days before the event.

The second weekend had Lori and I traveling to Minneapolis for regional swimming (and some retail therapy at the Mall of America).  John was on call.  Grandma Weaver flew in from Denver to play with Sara and take her to a dive meet in the wee hours on the morning in Grinelle.  Both girls had a great weekend and we can’t thank Grandma enough for helping us make it all happen!

The third weekend found us on spring break and visiting john’s sister Sheri in Salida, Colorado.  We spent the next week in Denver and then the fourth weekend returned home.

The last weekend in March saw john back on call and the girls celebrating Easter quietly at home.  We managed to get an Easter service in and a dinner all together Saturday night so a successful weekend and closure to the crazy month.

In the past month I did have four new layouts posting at Get It Scrapped.  Debbie Hodge and her amazing team keep cranking out great work.  Here they are and links to the articles you can find them in;

Using the Colors found in Nature…

9 Photos on 2 Pages

 

Tearing

Using Journaling

I can’t promise that I will keep up this month, but I do have a little more breathing room so I am going to make every effort to back to regular postings 🙂

Hugs all!

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Copic Storage

I have written a lot of tutorials on Copic markers.  I have talked about how to buy them and how to blend them and I have answered questions about which colors go together, which ones to add to a set, where to put highlights and how to shade specific images.  But I am pretty sure that the number one question has been what are you storing your markers in?  There seems to be a lot of curiosity about my bag.

So to answer the question for all of you that have asked and for all that are curious it is a combination of two bags.  I use Copic wallets to hold my markers.  They are designed for the job and hold the markers using minimal space; they stack nicely together and travel well.

When my collection grew out of a single 72 count wallet then I went looking for a bag that would carry the wallets neatly.  I discovered I had the perfect solution already in my home.  I have a 31 bag that fits two Copic wallets perfectly.  It actually looks like it was made to hold them.  The name of the bag has changed and the pockets on the side have changed more than once as well.  But 31 bags still carry the size.  The dimensions of the bag are 13” W x 6.5” D x 8” H.   The beauty of the system is I can tip the bag on its side and if the wallets are opened with their flaps tucked in I can have easy access to all of my markers right at my desk, in fact mine sits right at my shoulder within easy reach.

Then if I am going to a crop I grab the handles of the 31 Bag and carry the markers out with no packing or re-bagging.

My collection has held stable now at 3 Copic 72 count wallets which meant I had to go in search one more time for a carrying bag.  31 bags came to the rescue again but when I last looked they discontinued the size.  Just in case they bring it back the bag that I think works great for my 3 Copic wallets is 12”x12”x9”.  This bag has the same qualities of the first sitting on its side and being ready to carry out any time.  This larger bag has a little bit of wiggle room but to me is still the best thing for storing and traveling with my markers.

Copic of course makes a large bag that comes with baskets that can hold an entire collection.  It will also hold either the Copic plastic cases or the Copic wallets quite well it is just quite a bit bigger than what I need.  There are also tons of desk top storage ideas and homemade carrying ideas for Copics check out Pinterest for some great ideas!

Happy Wednesday all!

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Articles

Get It Scrapped update time!  There are a slew of new things to read over at Get It Scrapped including inspiration for including 8 photos on a two page layout:

Then there is also an article about using themed papers, with strong motifs:

Both were so much fun and got lots of Thanksgiving photos scrapped from my stash.  I think I can reasonable say that I am far enough behind right now that I will never catch up 🙂

Check out today’s article while you are there as well that includes a pile of links to more inspiration!

As the Midwest is shoveling out it’s streets and driveways i hope you all are safe, warm and having a great start to your weekends!

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Indulge!

I have to tell you that I had the best time thinking of how I wanted to do this layout and then making it.  It came together in a snap and I have to say it turned out even better than I had hoped 🙂  One of the happy accidents includes the color bands.  I planned on painting bands and then just painted colors that I liked and that I liked how they looked together.  Then I realized that the 4 bands that I created matched the found objects and the photo just perfectly.  You gotta love it when life just happens and happens so lovely!

If you have not checked in to Get It Scrapped lately make sure to stop by.  The goodness just keeps coming!  Lots of new articles including the one on indulgences and a collection of articles that highlight trends in scrapbooking.  There is also new sketch bundles and so much more!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

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CHA – Make and Takes

I wanted to continue sharing some of the fun at CHA!  I am getting to it slowly as I have a few projects all going on at once.  It is exciting and fun but I will admit the house is getting a little neglected.  I am probably going to have to spend a day out of my craft space to do a once over!

In the mean time here are two of the make and takes that I did at CHA that I really loved.  With only one day Tami and I had to pick and choose a little so we could get through the majority of the show.  We really needed two days to do it justice.  Below is a card that we made at the Faber Castell booth.  LOVED the variety of things they let us try!  We used some Faber Castell water color pencils on the resist paper and then added water to create our beautiful background.  Then we got to try out their wonderful gillatos on wood birds.  We used water to do a little blending again and visited about the new sets that they have put together with their gillatos.  If you have not tried these yet it is worth a try, they are a lot of fun!

Next is a simple card from Authentique.  We got to use new small file folders to create or card base and then small die cut puzzle pieces and embellishments that match to adorn our card.  i realized after putting mine all together that I have my folder facing backwards.  The front is even cuter since the file folders have a complimentary pattern on the inside and you can see that if I had it faced it the right way!

So there are two fun ones, I will attempt to add a couple more this week!  But no promises.

Hope everyone is enjoying their day and if you love football and/or food are enjoying the day with a pile of friends and family!

Hugs!