Jen Gallacher

Copic Coloring: Magic of Christmas Card

I wanted to show you how I've begun (and I'm emphasize "begun") using Copic markers with my stamped images.

First I HIGHLY recommend that you purchase Neenah's Solar White paper. It allows the Copic color to seep into the paper and yet spread. It's so much easier to blend with this paper. Not absolutely necessary, but if you really want to play I suggest getting it.

Secondly, I suggest purchasing Memento's Tuxedo Black stamping ink. It does not bleed as you are blending and works in perfect harmony with the Neenah paper.

This is the stamp set "The Magic of Christmas" that I used on today's project:

And now for the card. First I stamped the Christmas branch image on the Neenah paper. And then I colored in the branches first with the light color and then with the dark color and then with the light color again. (I decided beforehand how I thought the light would hit this branch and shaded accordingly. I suggest watching some Youtube videos on shading with Copics if you have questions.)



And then because I only a few Copic Markers, I pulled out my Stampin' Up! markers to color in the smaller ornaments. Although these markers are not good for blending, they have rich colors and work perfectly fine, especially when there are not large areas to shade and color.



The next step was to stamp the medium ornament onto a square of the Neenah paper and color it in.


I then decided where I wanted this image to be placed on the branch and stamped it again. I also added shading to the right and slight bottom of each ornament with a gray marker. I also cut out the original ornament (minus the hook at the top of the ornament):



I decided that the stamped image looked kind of plain and empty so I cut down the image, distressed the sides and ran the entire piece through my Cuttlebug using an embossing folder. (NOTE: I also drew a line from the medium-sized ornament up to the branch with a black marker.)


Finally I assembled the card with some coordinating patterned paper, a silver bow, and grey photo corners. I added pearl gems to the center of the medium ornament and used adhesive squares to pop the colored ornament on top of the plain ornament. The sentiment is stamped with Versamark ink and then embossed with silver embossing powder.

Supplies:

* Green dot patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle)

* Red striped patterned paper (My Little Shoebox)

* Photo corners (Heidi Swapp)

* Embossing folder (Quickutz)

* Markers (Copic, Stampin' Up, Inque Boutique)

* Pearls (Zva Creative)

* Ribbon (Offray & Sons)

* Scallop Sentiment border punch (Fiskars)

* The Magic of Christmas clear stamp (Hero Arts)

* Stamping ink (Memento, Versamark)

* Embossing powder (American Crafts)

Today is a typical Saturday for us here in the Gallacher household: laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc. Brett is running a Relay Race this weekend and will be back this early afternoon. He has three sections of the race. I believe a 6 mile, a 6 mile, and a 4 mile. He thought at least two of them woud be in the middle of the night. Man, he's dedicated!