PaperFections

Copic Announcements and Giveaways!!

Here are those Copic announcements I promised you last week!  Let me begin by saying that if you are a newcomer to my blog, you can find all the information I've compiled about Copic products, including links to tutorials, chart downloads and my favorite color combinations, on my Copic Info page (link is directly under my blog banner).

It is with great excitement Copic is announcing the addition of some fabulous new designers and instructors in 2010 to the Copic Team!  New team members will be effective as of December 1, 2009.

Copic Blog Team now includes:

Debbie Olson
Michelle Wooderson
Sharon Harnist
Sherrie Siemens
Sally Lynn MacDonald

Copic Certification Regional Instructors-US:
Northwest: Sherrie Siemens / Marianne Walker
Southwest: Marianne Walker
Northern Midwest / Chicago: Kathy Sanders
Central Midwest: Lori Craig
Southern Midwest: Sharon Harnist
South: Colleen Schaan
Northeast: Sally Lynn MacDonald

Copic Certification Regional Instructors- Canada:
Western Canada: Sherrie Siemens
Eastern Canada: Sally Lynn MacDonald

Floaters:
Debbie Olson & Marianne Walker

So yes, this means I’ll finally be teaching some Copic Certification classes, mainly close to home in Texas.  I’ll be assisting Sally Lynn in San Antonio on December 13-14, so I look forward to seeing you there, if you're attending.  (Both classes are still open to Stores & Designers).  And hope to get a class scheduled in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area around Feb-Mar 2010, so keep an eye out here on my blog for that announcement!  And I'll also be demonstrating at the Copic booth at CHA in Anaheim in January so if you are there, please stop by and say hello!

If you are interested in receiving information about any upcoming Certification classes in your area, you can sign up at Marianne’s blog (large green box on her right sidebar).

GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate the new team, we each have some blog candy to give away (courtesy of Copic)!  Winner gets their choice of either an ABS-1:

 

or any 12 Sketch Colors!!

Please leave us a comment letting us know either:
1. How you use Copics,
2. Which Copic products you use, or
3. Why you love them or why you wish you had Copics

There will be 2 ways to win:

1. One winner from each blog will be randomly chosen.

2. In addition, Copic will be reading through comments as well. If they find a testimonial they really like, they will contact that person to use their story for their CHA booth. You would then be given an equal prize to the random winners!

So make your comments good! There will be 2 or 3 “comment” winners chosen total. These will not be announced right away (please give us a little time to read through all your comments!).  Only one comment per person, per blog, please.

Blogs to visit:

Marianne Walker
Debbie Olson
Sherrie Siemens
Sally Lynn MacDonald
Sharon Harnist
Lori Craig
Colleen Schaan
Michelle Wooderson

I will be taking entries here on my blog until this Saturday, November 14 at 10pm CST, at which time I'll let Random.org choose the winning number and post the result on Sunday.  I can’t wait to hear what you all have to say about your Copic products … Good Luck!!

Creative Cuts & More Blog Hop-Treasured Family Recipes

Welcome to the first day of the Creative Cuts & More Mega Recipe Blog Hop, which will feature the 8”x8” Treasured Family Recipes Kit.  There will be 24 designers who will be creating wonderful pages to inspire you today. Plus, we all will be sharing some of our own delicious treasured family recipes with you!

I've been meaning for years to put all of my family's favorite holiday recipes into one cookbook so when the holidays roll around, all I need to do is grab that one book, to make it easier for me to compile my shopping list and for recipe prep!  That's where this great kit comes in ... it makes such an easy job of putting all my recipes together into one {pretty} spot!  Here's everything you'll get in this kit, featuring Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird papers and chipboard stickers, die cut words & images, 8-inch black chipboard mini album, and Bazzill textured cardstock:

 
This is the cover I created for my album:

 
I covered the front of the black chipboard album with patterned paper and solid Bazzill textured cardstock (that I punched) from the kit. 

To make the black chipboard letters match the paper I chose a little better, I covered them with cream pigment ink and then heat embossed them with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder.  Also included in the kit are the shadows for the chipboard lettering, cut from vanilla cardstock.  They were blending into my patterned paper a little too much for my liking so to make them stand out a little better, I colored the vanilla paper with R27 Copic marker.

I decided to customize the cover a little further, by adding our family name to the die cut hole. 
I used JustRite Stampers' (not included in the kit) 25-point Times New Roman font on the 2-3/8" round wood stamper to spell out "Harnist Recipes".

 
For the inside tabbed dividers of the album, I made labels with JustRite Stampers Recipe Borders & Centers (not included in the kit):

 
Adhesive chipboard pieces from the kit were added to the inside front cover of the album (left above) and on the divider pages.

 
One of our favorite family side dishes is a casserole that incorporates two main vegetables, corn and green beans.  Any time I can save space in the oven around the holidays and get two vegetables into one dish, that's the recipe for me (AND it's heavenly)!  Here's the recipe we've used for years:

Green Bean & Corn Casserole

16 oz can French cut green beans

16 oz can small kernel  corn

8 oz can sliced water chestnuts

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 can Cream of Celery soup

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Salt & pepper
1-1/2 cups Ritz cracker crumbs (1 sleeve of crackers)
1/2 cup toasted almonds
1/4 cup butter, melted

Saute onion in margarine just until softened. In a 9x9 baking dish, combine all vegetables. In a medium mixing bowl, combine soup, sour cream and cheese. Pour soup mixture into vegetables and stir lightly to coat; season with salt and pepper to taste. In a small mixing bowl, combine cracker crumbs, toasted almonds and butter; sprinkle over casserole. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and bubbling. Serves 6-8. (Recipe can easily be doubled and cooked in a 9x13 dish).

And here's the page I created for my recipe:

 
I printed my recipe onto vanilla cardstock (not included in the kit), cut it out and layered it onto a cardstock mat I made using Martha Stewart's Punch Around The Page edge & corner punch.  More patterned paper from the kit and a wonderful adhesive chipboard complete this page.

Here are the blogs to visit in today's hop, starting at the Creative Cuts & More blog: Die Cut Diva.  Then on to Jen Johnson, Lori Renn, Michele Kovack, Ellen Sosnoski, Kayla Dupont, Courtney Holgate, Sharon Harnist <=(YOU ARE HERE!) Eva Dobilas, Noelle Reese, Joan Ervin, Suzanne Blickenstaff, Angie Pearl, Cathy Tidwell, Holly Simoni, Lila Holgate, Kendra Wietstock, Chris Penaflor, Holly Brown, AJ Otto, Stephany Zerbe, Lisa Somerville, Chris Dickinson, Stacy Cohen, Pam Smerker.

As a continuing part of the celebration, CC&M will be giving away great gifts! Each day they will give away one kit. Here is the twist – go through the blog hop and leave comments for all the designers. After you have finished the blog hop, return to Die Cut Diva and instead of leaving a comment, you need to share a recipe to have a chance at winning the kit!  To be entered for another chance to win the kit, share the recipe on your blog and link it back to the Die Cut Diva blog. Help us also make this a great recipe swap ... I look forward to seeing all your wonderful recipes!

As part of the celebration CC&M will be having a great sale. For the next six days, they will offer 20% off the entire store. But act quickly, it is only for six days – this sale will end on Nov 14.  To receive your discount, make sure to enter this code: recipebloghop2009 during checkout.

Make sure to check back at the Die Cut Diva blog tomorrow, for the Holiday Treats Apron Recipe Kit Blog Hop. There will be 24 different designers who will be showcasing their great creations and sharing holiday treat recipes!

Thanks for stopping by today!  ~ Sharon

Supplies:
Stamps: JustRite Stampers 25-point Times New Roman font set (with 2-3/8" Wood Stamper) & Recipe Borders & Centers
Paper: Treasured Family Recipes Kit, Neenah Classic Cream cardstock
Ink: Memento Dew DropsTuxedo Black, Rhubarb Stalk & Bamboo Leaves, Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream pigment ink, CopicSketch Marker-R27
Accessories: Treasured Family Recipes Kit, SpellbindersClassic Circle & Petite Scalloped Circle Nestabilities dies, 1" and 1-1/4" circle punches, SU Scallop Circle (1-1/2"), Martha Stewart Loops Corner Punch & Loops Edge Punch, Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder-Vintage Photo, Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy grosgrain ribbon

WSC105: Snowy Good Friends

I've been a bad blogger this week and have neglected to mention some wonderful blog candy that's up for grabs over at the JustRite blog. They are introducing the November release of new stamps AND have daily blog candy prize drawings!  You still have time to enter into a few of the drawings, so be sure not to miss that!

On to Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #105 (sorry I'm a little bit late today!) ... I was feeling a bit in the Christmas spirit and hadn't used these darling JustRite snowpeople from the Old Fashioned Christmas Set yet, so I decided to give them some inky love!  What started out as a card ended up as a holiday door hanger for my girls ...thus, all the pink I have going on here!

Who can resist these sweet snowpeople put under a bubble clear party favor, filled with chunky glass glitter and made into a shaker?!!  You can see a little better view of the bubble holder in this photo, along with the Copic markers I used to color:

 
I used Craft-a-Board for a 6-inch base behind the Basic Grey paper, to give some sturdiness, and cut a hole in it for the party favor's bubble to pop through.  The favor is a clamshell -- the snowpeople are glued to the inside flat back of it.  I found some pink & red cute little pompette trim in my stash (Beaux Regards from sweet Cindy's StarLitStudio store) that matched perfectly and then larger pom-pom trim was added to the bottom edge and looped at the top, to make the hanger.

The only pink buttons I had were a little too light for my preference (see them closest to my Copic Airbrush System in the photo above), so I airbrushed them with the same Copic R85 I used to color the snowlady.

Since the snow inside my shaker would have covered up the lower portion of the JustRite border for this 3.25" round stamp, I decided to leave it off the main image and just cut it up and used over on the lower right!

You can find more samples of this sketch by visiting these fabulous ladies:  Beate, Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Lori and Mary Jo.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend and can play along with this sketch!  And don't forget to check out that JustRite blog candy giveaway!!

Supplies --
Stamps: JustRite Old Fashioned Christmas
Paper: Neenah Natural White, Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly Mini Deck
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Accessories: Craft-a-Board, Copic Airbrush System, Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities, Clear Favor Circle, Beaux Regards red/pink pompette trim, Wrights red pom-pom trim, PTI buttons, Diamond Dust chunky glass glitter
 

Taylored Expressions Release Day-Celebrate Life

Welcome to Taylored Expressions' release day ... the stamp sets we've previewed for you this week are now available in the TE Store!  Today the Baker's Dozen designers are showcasing the last stamp set for this month, Celebrate Life, illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Whimsical Wishes line of TE stamps.  I have a lot of fabulous ideas for this bold, new set that I can't wait to show you this month!  This set will make wonderful Fall/Thanksgiving or even sympathy cards as well as being able to use it year-round!  I just had to use my favorite image from the set first, though ... the pumpkin!

Isn't it a gorgeous pumpkin?!!  I love all the swirly vines!  The pumpkin and one of the leaves are the only line art images in this set ... the rest of the images are bold/solid and don't have to be colored in.  But, of course, I chose an image today that I could color with my beloved Copic markers!  I stamped the pumpkin with Memento Rich Cocoa onto Choice Buttercream cardstock and then colored it with these Copic markers:

Chocolate Copic Spica glitter pen accents the stem and vines.  The beautiful "Give thanks" sentiment was stamped with Memento Rhubarb Stalk ink (obviously, my favorite red ink!) and then Copic Y21 was used to airbrush the background.

I die cut a top-folded piece of  Prism Suede Brown Dark cardstock with Spellbinders Polka Dot Frame die for a card base, leaving the card hinged at the top.  Then I die cut the patterned paper and adhered it on top of the card base.  This die cuts a window in the center, so I just adhered my stamped piece to the inside of the card front. 

Brown & gold Zva crystal swirls were added for the finishing touch. 

I hope you'll check out the fabulous samples the other Baker's Dozen Designers have for you today: Taylor VanBruggen, Charmaine Ikach, Dawn Easton, Denise Marzec, Donna Baker, Jackie Pedro, Jodi Collins, Laura Fredrickson, Karen Giron, Karen Motz, Laurie Schmidlin, Sankari Wegman and Jami Sibley.  We hope you've enjoyed this month's sneak peeks and be sure to visit the Taylored Expressions blog to see full photos of all this month's stamp sets, bundles <== (yes, here's ANOTHER bundle for you this month!) and Spa Key Ingredients Kit.  ~ Sharon

Supplies --
Stamps: Taylored Expressions Celebrate Life
Paper: TE Choice Buttercream, Basic Grey Indian Summer 6x6, Prism Suede Brown Dark
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa & Rhubarb Stalk, Copic markers & Chocolate Spica glitter pen
Accessories: Copic Airbrush System, Spellbinders Polka Dot Frame die, Zva brown/gold crystal swirls