Guess what's been happening?

Hi All,

Well, I am so excited to tell you about a couple of things.

First of all, Stamping Bella just had a new line of stamps released called KETTOs (if you have been on any online stamping forums lately, then you already know about them). I had placed an order almost 2 weeks ago, and I FINALLY GOT THEM! I have already mounted them, stamped some off, and am preparing to colour them, but I thought I would at least show you which images I got. They are very whimsical and cute! They all have different names, and different looks, but are all tied together witht the same style!

Secondly, I am officially a Certified Copic Designer! I took the full day class today in Toronto (actually Brampton), and it was great! Marianne Walker (by the way, she has a very popular blog called I Like Markers) showed us several different things. First, she talked about the types of paper and ink we should be using. Then, she talked about all the different types of markers Copic makes. She showed us several techniques of colouring and blending, and she showed us how to use our Colorless Blender for blending and for special effects. At the end, we got to use the airbrushing system (uh oh, I'm in trouble - it's definitely on the list).

Below is a shot of my collection to this point. This is including the markers I already had, and the few that we received with our class today (We received 2 Sketch markers, 2 original Copic markers, 1 Various Ink Refill, 2 multiliners, a Ciao Colorless Blender, a Copic Wide marker, and an Atyou Spica glitter pen).

I took a picture of one of my scrap sheets to show you the kinds of things we were doing.

I brought pre-stamped images from the Greeting Farm, so that I could work with them while I was there.

On the the top Anya (with the orange hat), I practiced blending colours within the same family, and only a few numbers apart. You can see that the bottom left corner of the hat is much darker, then fades into the lighter colour.

On the Mermaid Anya, I practiced blending 2 completely different colours together (yellow and purple hair). This technique takes a lot of practice, and I'm sure I will be trying to perfect it in colouring sessions to come.

Lastly, on the Cheerleader Anya at the bottom, I practiced fading from a dark colour to a light colour. We use the light-coloured marker as the "paint brush", and scoop up a darker coloured ink with it. I did that with her pom-poms, her bows, and the letter "A".

Let me know if you have questions, and I'd be happy to answer to the best of my ability. I hope to be adding the "Copic Certified" logo to the side of my blog soon.

Thanks for stopping by!