As we close in on the first Copic College April 6-8 in Ankeny, IA I thought you might all like to know who your instructors will be!

I will be doing the main teaching and if you are here you might be familiar with my back ground, but if not here is a little synopsis, plus a little extra 🙂

Hi! Michelle Houghton here.  I am the wife to an amazing husband and the mother of two beautiful girls in Iowa.  I am a busy stay-at-home mom, teaching doodling and Copic classes both on-line and across the US and Canada.

Prior to motherhood, I was an art teacher and I love being able to continue sharing my art through card making and scrapbooking techniques.  I have been scrapbooking for about 20 years and coloring with Copic markers for the last 10 years.  When I first tried Copics I fell in love and have since gotten both my Certification and Intermediate Certification from Imagination International Inc., the United States distributor of Copic Markers. After about 5 years of teaching Copic classes on-line I began teaching for III as a Regional Instructor, I also ran their Copic In The Craft Room site and helped create new curriculum for their Certification Team.  

This past year III discontinued their Copic Certifications and Workshops leaving me to decide what was next. I decided that I am not ready to stop teaching this art form that I love, so I am off on my latest adventure of my own small business and Copic coloring weekends. I was given the amazing gift of being allowed to continue running Copic In The Craft Room on-line with it’s video tutorials and inspiration. And have created Copic College currently I am frantically putting the manual together and planning games, raffles, food and fun for amazing weekends.

Bottom line: I love to teach! Teaching live and on-line has been an amazing adventure!

Then I have 3 amazing instructors joining me for these weekends to make sure everyone gets the individual attention they need and want to really push your coloring skills, no matter what level you are starting at!

Next the lovely Katie Belding will be joining me in Ankeny, IA!

Hello! I have been crafting since I was in elementary school and have yet to meet a paper craft that I didn’t love!  As an elementary teacher for 15 years, I found one of my passions was to create for the classroom. When I decided to leave teaching, I discovered I could continue my creative outlet by working and teaching classes at Memory Bound, where I have now been for 10 years.  I was introduced to Copic markers about six years ago, fell in love with them and became a Copic certified instructor. Copics are definitely my go to marker when creating cards or memory keeping!

In Minneapolis, MN the wonderful Stephen Kromp will be hanging out with us!

Hello! I’m Stephen, professional dog groomer by day – card maker by night, living in Ontario, Canada. I accidentally fell into the wonderful word of card making in 2014 and I never looked back. Stamping and Copic colouring are a passion of mine and I enjoy sharing that passion with others. I’m excited to be working on the Design Teams for Stamp AnnieThing, Stamping Bella, and Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps.

Last but certainly not least my dear friend Amanda Farhang is joining us in both Anaheim, CA and Atlanta, GA in the fall.

Hi from Southern California!  My name is Amanda and I live a quiet life with my handsome hubby and our fur princess. By day, I work on mastering Microsoft Excel, and by night I play with inky things.  

For as long as I can remember I have been making and baking. I grew up surrounded by creative people. My family is made up of do-it-yourselfers, quilters and leatherworkers, bakers and flower arrangers. We have always jumped into creative opportunities feet first, and we’ve learned as we went.  The true pleasure is in making something with our own hands for those we love.

I first started coloring with copic markers in 2011 (ish?).  I saw a video on YouTube and my first reaction was: “Cool, but I’m not sure I’ll be any good at it….  Besides, they cost so much!”   And then I saw another YouTube video, and another, and another…   And almost overnight, alcohol ink markers didn’t sound like an unreasonable “hobby”. Famous last words?  Yep. That was the beginning of my obsession.

My collection of markers has slowly grown over the last few years, and I still don’t have all of them! I have taken every opportunity to play, scribble, and experiment.  I have learned by coloring in and outside of the lines! I have approached every image with the thought that “It’s just paper, and I like to color.”    90% of the time that I sit down with my markers, I have no “end project” in mind.  I color just for the enjoyment of seeing color transform a page.  If I don’t like something, no big deal, I’ll try something different next time.  Its. Just. Paper.   You could say that is my “crafty mantra”.  

If I had to offer advice to a new colorist, I would say: Play with it. Enjoy it.  It’s. Just. Paper. The more you play with your crafty tools, the more you experiment with color combinations and fun techniques, the better your final images will be.  Sometimes it will look like a hot mess before it starts to look half way decent.  Work through the ugly to get to the pretty.  It’s a process.  

I have to tell you this is a talented group! If you have not checked out the Copic College information do that next! We are going to have a blast with 20 hours of coloring, games, food, and fun!