Was at Art Friend and was tempted by this display FULL of copic markers! So many pretty colours! It doesn’t help that I just saw a video tutorial on them.

In case you are wondering, copic markers are these alcohol based markers which allow you to blend the colours when colouring. It’s used loads by art people and manga illustrators. I’m crap at explaining so here are some links with more info:

• http://www.copicmarker.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copic
• http://www.ilikemarkers.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I got a couple of markers to play around with. Was quite happy to see that they are actually cheaper here than in the US (for once). Came up with this:

A 'just because' card

Bits and bobs used: Flower stamp from AnBC, ‘joy’ stamp from “Happy Holidays” set from Creative Cafe, Threading Water Fiskas border punch. Charcoal and Brown VersaColor ink and a gold ink from AnBC. Clear embossing powder for the text.

Close up look at the embossing

I used the following copics though not to very good effect

The copics I used

Tiny card for a tiny baby!

Haha if you get the programming reference in the post title, if not just humour me ok.

A quick one today. I still have 4 other cards to take pics of and post about but I have been bitten by the lazybug. Anyway, a small card I made many moons back for my ex-colleague’s baby girl’s 满月 celebration. It’s a small card, a piece of A6 cardstock folded over, appropriate for a small baby with tiny little cute fingers!

Bits and bobs used: Pink cardstock base with a slight shimmery coating from the average stationary store, Flower stamp from AnBC stamped on white cardstock and coloured with colour pencils. Ribbon from MWL (not sure what brand). Text made using old school label maker. Charcoal VersaColor ink used.

Thank you card for queen boo

This is a thank you card for my Internet trawler friend who loves orange, blue and polka dots. She has been asking me for one and ta-da! Here it is. I made it weeks ago but am only meeting her later today so couldn’t post it. She’s rolling ard in bed now nursing a pseudo hangover and highly unlikely to stumble across this so I decided to heck it and just post. Enough of rambling…

Bits and bobs used: Regular light blue card stock as the base, white cardstock for the scalloped edge, orange paper tape from a korean stationary spree, green polka dot patterned paper from a packet of ‘Pastels’ patterned paper from Grant Archival, ‘Flora graphs’ acrylic stamp set from Inkadinkado stamped on remnant graph paper from my secondary school days, ‘many thanks’ stamp from Hero Arts stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder. Ink used: Satin red and Majestic blue Versafine ink. Tangerine VersaCraft ink. Charcoal VersaColor ink. ‘Threading Water’ Fiskas punch used for the scalloped edge.

I also made a matching envelope using much of the same materials. Flower stamp also from ‘Flora graphs’ set.

Matching envelope

birthday card for a friend

Another birthday card. This time it’s for one of my best friends. I made it 2 weeks or so ago but didn’t post it till now as I didn’t want her to unwittingly stumble upon this. The Internets are not safe I tell you. Anyway they have been popped into the mail and she should have gotten it or will be getting it in a couple of days.

I made another one of those moving parts cards, this time with LOTS of moving parts. Took me a much shorter time to make this one. Abt an hour or so cuz those flower stamps were hell to stamp and cut out. The flowers are part of a larger stamp with flourishes at the ends. I covered the flourishes with scrap paper and inked the flower bit carefully. Multiply that by 6 and you have a blearly-eyed stamper. I made one too many flowers so it’ll feature in a future card I’m sure.

The birds move along the tracks but the flowers just turn on the spot (like real flowers are known to do, they don’t have legs yo!). 7 brads in total. I’m still figuring out how to get them to move smoothly as mine are still abit stiff. In my next card I think I’ll make something move horizontally and attach a tab with the text “pull me” on it. We will see, yes we will.

Bits and bobs used: White and light blue cardstock from your average stationary shop at 35cents per 100g, blue patterned paper is the back design of some japanese origami paper, flowers are from the same set as the russian doll stamp in my previous post from AnBC, birds are from the clear stamp set ‘Whoo loves you‘ by hero arts, ‘happy birthday’ stamp from hero arts, brads from making memories. Stamped in satin red and majestic blue Versafine ink.

Nothing beats getting a surprise card and I don’t want to spoil it for them. Though one of them probably wouldn’t know this blog exists, the other is queen of trawling and would stumble across this in no time.

To tide this blog over the dry spell I’ll get ard to posting some mini cards over the weekend. I made 4 mini ones as part of a series and another one for my ex-colleague’s baby girl’s 满月 (first month) celebration.

A card I gave a friend for her 25th birthday

My first real attempt at card making. I took about 2+ hours and alot (i mean ALOT) of trial and error to get this card out. My paper cutter (salvaged by my dad from somewhere) is not the sharpest one on the block and I kept getting frayed edges which I had to trim with scissors. The jumping dolls also took a long time and much testing to get right.

Good thing to note is to lay out your moving parts before cutting out the tracks. The middle doll is up in the business of the rightmost one, especially when they are at the same level. Also, I think it’s my camera but the orange in the card is not that neon in real life.

I was inspired by Kelly at Sunset House who made a fantastic video tutorial on how to make moving bits on cards. Kudos to you Kelly!

Bits and bobs used: Orange, green and white cardstock from average stationary stores, ‘Preppy’ patterned paper from American Crafts’ Modabella range bought from made with love, orange stitched ribbon from Daiso, Russian doll stamp part of a set from AnBC, ‘Happy Birthday’ stamp from Hero Arts, ‘Yayyy’ label made using retro label maker bought from Malaysia. Stamped in brown and charcoal Versacolour ink.

I even made a matching envelope. Additional stamps are also from the same set as the russian doll stamp. Happy birthday stamped in gold ink from AnBC.

Stamped on the envelope too