It has been over two years since I picked up my copic markers.  In fact, I was nervous they may be dried out!  Over the weekend, I was under the weather and had a hard time just laying in bed.  I wanted to do something mindless and crafty and decided I should practice coloring.

It was very late at night, but I set my desk up with all of the necessary tools.  I watched a few youtube copic coloring tutorials to help me remember the tips and tricks.  I used a few different color combinations and only focused on hair.  Here is what I came up with.

I tried to practice with different hair styles so I would get a better sense of where to put the highlights.

Doing this activity really inspired me and made me consider pulling out my other mediums, such as prismacolor pencils and practicing with them.  I hope you give some coloring a try.  Happy Scrapping!

Sewing to add interest

Do you ever make a layout and feel the background just needs a little something?  Texture? Color? I run into to this sometimes and although my go to tends to be added paint or ink, this time I did a little something different.

On this layout, I took two colors of thread, a blush and a yellow and sewed a grid in the background.  I just love the way that this turned out.  I used a 6x6 paperpad to pick coordinating colors to back the silhouette flower cuts with.

All of the white leaves are from another project and I had some leftover.  I am glad I saved them because they matched the floral design of this layout perfectly.

I only adhered the edge of each leaf stem so that they would stay fluffy and dimensional on the page.  Then, I finished it off with some white paint splatter.  I love the way it turned out!  Happy Scrapping!

30 minute or less layouts

Sometimes I want to get crafty, but I just have limited time.  When this happens, I typically plan a layout that is simple in design and technique.  Here is a layout I made in under 30 minutes using the idea to coordinate 4 stripes of acrylic paint with the teacup embellishments. 

I ran my design paper through my large scale printer to add my journaling centered on top of the photo.  I knew I wanted to tell the story of my oldest daughter Reagan's first time going on the teacups at Disney World.  I then used acrylic paint and a one inch brush to paint a few strokes of each color.  I added a few coordinating embellishments to each brushstroke.

This is a simple layout, but packs a color punch.  I love the way it turned out...and it only took a half hour.  Don't let time be a barrier to getting creative.  Happy Scrapping!