April Happenings at Memories Live On!

If you live here in the Bay Area or happen to be nearby, please stop in for one of these terrific classes or make & takes, if time permits. I am listing a few of the upcoming events here because I am so excited about the amazing talent that have come together to form the design team and instructors for Memories Live On! You can meet everyone here!

TOMORROW!

Saturday, April 4th (1:30p - 3p ) Free

Kids Make & Take
Kids old enough to glue and stamp are invited to make this most adorable little bunny bag with Lauren. Call to reserve a seat for a 1:30pm, 2pm, or 2:30pm time slot. (408) 446-9901



Tuesday, April 7th (11a - 1p) $35

Folding Star Book
Ever wonder how to make a folding star book? The album folds flat, but when you open it all up and look straight down at it, you see a star pattern in the middle and there are pockets all around the book to hold pictures and journaling notes. The binding is a little tricky to figure out, but Lisa will show you how it all goes together!



Saturday, April 11th (10a - 12p) Free

Hambly Notepad Make & Take
Ever look at all the pretty screen-printed overlays and papers made by Hambly but have no idea what to do with it? Allison, a designer for Hambly, will be on hand to show you how to put together this clever little notepad that combines the Hambly overlays, papers, and rub-ons. Make and take materials will vary from what's shown in the photo.






Saturday, April 11th (1p - 4p) $25

Show A Little Love With Unity!
Whether it's a gift for Mother's Day, a gift for a friend, or a treat for yourself, let Jane show you a little love with Unity! You will learn to make this cute little card holder that holds three All-Occasion cards and matching envelopes using the adorable stamp set, "Birds of a Feather" and one of my favorite paper lines, My Minds Eye (Bloom & Grow). As an added bonus, you will also make a little treat holder using the Marvy Giga Punch and Unity's "Label It!" stamp set.

Supplies:
Copics: BG10, BG15, G21, G24, Y00, Y38, YR07, YR23, RV10, W1, 0
If you have them, please bring Copics, a paper trimmer with the scoring blade, Crop-A-Dile, and your favorite adhesive. These items are NOT required but just a suggestion if you prefer not to have to wait for the limited class items to come around.
** Please be sure to clearly label all of your personal items before coming to class.**



Wednesday, April 15th (6:30p - 8p) $20

Sassafras Accordion Mini Album

Those Sassafras papers are sure fun and funky, but sometimes you gotta wonder "How on earth do I use it?" Well wonder no more! Holly, who adores the Sassafras designs, has put together this accordian album that embraces the eclectic and fun nature of the Sassafras papers, while creating a perfectly practical album to hold pictures of a little girl (or someone young at heart!).


Saturday, April 18th (10a - 11:30a) $30

"Today" Acrylic Album

Join Allison for this fantastic workshop and learn how to design your very own clear mini album. You'll create this funky custom album using Clearly Heavy overlays, plus learn other tips and techniques for using Hambly papers, overlays, rub-ons, and new stickers! The beauty of the album is in it's multi-layered design with differently shaped pages.



Sunday, April 19th (11:30a-1:30p / 2-4p) $25

Faux Postage, Chalked, Double Slider Cards, and Envelope Purse

KT will show you a faux postage template and learn how to make custom postage stamps using rubber stamps and inks. Then you will learn easy techniques and secrets using chalks with Versa Mark clear ink and Cuttlebug embossing folders to create stunning results. KT will also show you a clever double slider card and a purse made out of an envelope!
Visit KT's site at: http://KTATMLO.SHUTTERFLY.COM for FREE Monthly Downloads




Tuesday, April 21 (11a - 1p) $20

Personality Mini Album

Have some random pictures of your child and want to capture their special personality to celebrate a particular age or event? Come and learn how to put together a quick and easy 3x6 inch mini album highlighting a year of a child’s life. Sandy will teach you how to deconstruct a chipboard album and customize it for your purposes. Using a simple formula you can make the most use of your class materials so no more wasting those scraps of paper and extra stickers. Products to be used include the newest lines from Jenni Bowlin Studio, Sassafras Lass, Cosmo Cricket, Prima and Creative Imaginations. The color palate is suitable for a boy or a girl.




Thursday, April 23rd (6p - 8p) $20

Bon Appetit Recipe Book

If you've been thinking about compiling all those cherished family recipes you have lying around, this recipe book is for you! Featuring Teresa Collins' Bon Appetit line, this mini-album makes a great gift either filled with recipes or not. Trisha will teach you how to put this wonderful book together and show you how to use the Bind-It-All!




Saturday, April 25th (10:30a - 1p) $35

Spring Fold Out Album

Lauren will show you how to make a 6x 5 1/2 3d fold out album that is great for spring with vibrant colors of orange, pink, yellow. You can add your Easter or Spring pictures to this unique album!




Saturday, April 25th (2p - 4p) $25

Time to Get Fussy!

Get ready to learn one of the most popular techniques used in scrapbooking today…fussy cutting! Learn how to get the most of the beautiful patterned papers available with Melita! Please bring micro-tip scissors and your basic scrapbooking tool kit to the class. You will be making two double-page layouts and one single-page layout featuring a brightly colored new line from Best Creations that will be great for scrapping your summer memories.




Tuesday, April 28th (11a - 1p) $20

Homegrown Cards Gift Set

Using the adorable Homegrown Collection by Three Bugs in a Rug, Sandy will show you how to make this 3x3 card set and box. You’ll have all the necessary supplies (precut) to make 6 cards (2 of each style shown) and 6 coordinating envelopes that fit nicely in a custom made box. Learn the techniques involved to make the cards and construct the box, so you can make many more for Mother’s Day, teacher appreciation day, hostess gifts, you name it!
Bring your favorite roll adhesive and bone folder (not required, but it will give you nice crisp edges), fine point Journaling Pen, small precision point scissors. If you can't make it to the class, kits will be available.

A neat little Copic trick and last week's Monday's Fun Day Winner!

Whoopsie! In the excitement of getting the post for Unity up over the weekend, I completely forgot to get the Monday's Fun Day winner from last week posted!

I have a pair of awesome Thickers and a few other goodies from my own stash for one lucky winner.

Let's see...

Okay.

Here you go!


Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2009-03-31 23:43:40 UTC


That's would be:

L. Ann said...
I loved the card you made for your son's teacher. The pop up was especially cute.

Congratulations!!!

Email me at: jane.matsumoto@sbcglobal.net and I will get this package out to you in Thursday's mail.


Now...do you want to see something neat?

I was coloring with my Copics directly onto my stamps the other night and using the Colorless Blender Marker on the paper to help release the ink from the stamp, instead of "spritzing" the stamp with blending solution(which is normally what I do). Then it dawned me... what would happen if I colored my paper and used the Colorless Blender Marker on my stamp and stamped into the colored area?

Would the image be as clear?

Here's what happened...

Pretty neat, eh?

LOL! I know... I am SO easily amused!

I'll be back again soon. Right now, I am tending to a very miserable little 6 year old. Ken is severely allergic to the environment right now and there's nothing I can do for him until we get him to the Allergy and Asthma Center tomorrow for testing. Until then, he has to be off all medication and anything with antihistamine. Yesterday, I had to pick him up from school early and when I got there, his left eye was so swollen that it was nearly closed. Poor little guy. Amazingly, he still wanted to go to school today... still has 100% attendance for the school year! He was okay today since the teacher kept him indoors during recess. Still... a mother's worry never ends! *sigh*

Unity World Record Inspirational Blog Hop and an early Monday's Fun Day Giveaway

View the Inspirational Blog Hop by starting at Unity!


"Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal." ~ Starr






Yes ladies, these are the projects for my April class at Memories Live On!

Stamp set: Bird's of a Feather, Label It!
Paper: My Mind's Eye (Bloom & Grow), Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Bazzill
Accessories: Copics, Nestabilities, ribbon, Marvy Giga Scalloped Circle punch


MONDAY'S FUN DAY GIVEAWAY!!
In honor of this awesome event, I am doing Monday's Fun Day a couple of days early.
This cute stamp is up for grabs, compliments of Memories Live On!


Just leave a post here and spread the word! I will select a number next Sunday!


Now get ready for some amazing talent!
Hop on over to visit with Tanis and check out her fabulous blog:
Paper Princess at Play.

Happy Hopping!

Using your Copic "0" Blender Marker

I had a few questions come through about how to use the "0" Blender Pen.
A couple of emails sounded frustrated and I can relate! It is a colorless marker that is called a "Blender" and it doesn't really do what we think it is "supposed" to do. A blender pen is supposed to blend, right?

What I have learned is that the Copic Colorless "0" Blender Marker is a "pusher" (Marianne called these markers that in class and I have been using it ever since). If you play around with the Blender Marker, you will see that instead of truly blending your colors together, it merely pushes the color in the direction you are using the marker. It also lightens the area that you are working in and thus the color fades as you go. The blending really comes as part of the package as you push the color and it lightens and fades.



This sample and the next were done on Papertrey Ink white cardstock that Rachel and Lorie kindly sent to me. Thank you, ladies!! The paper is amazing!
Now, take a look at the back of the last sample I just did... it shows off the quality of the cardstock. I put on at least 12 layers of colorless blender inside that circle and the ring of color still held strong.




One of the questions that I received was "Why doesn't my coloring look as smooth? It has lines and splotches!"

I think that some splotches and lines are natural and depending on the "look" that you are going for, it actually may be desirable! I also think we are our own worst critic. ;)

You can try "wetting" your image by using a juicy Blending Marker first before laying down the color. If you are in my class, you will hear me say "Keep that marker moving!" If you stop, the ink will dry and when you pick up where you left off, you will see a slight streak. You want to work in circles and keep that marker moving so that the area stays wet as you go. If you go over it first with the Blender Marker, you are essentially "wetting" the area first so that it will give you a smoother finish. You have to work quickly before the area dries. This technique is especially terrific for coloring very large areas where streaks would be obvious. (pictures are coming)

My other answer is "Practice!" I know it sounds silly to hear, but in the end, it's about knowing your product. The more you play around with your markers, the better you will know how it reacts with your paper and ink and your "touch".

Moving on...

Colorless Blender Markers are terrific for touching up little mistakes, such as coloring outside the line. When you do this, be aware that you are pushing the color in front of the marker so go in the direction of the line but stop just before you get to the stamped line. Otherwise, you will get a build up of color on the other side that you may not want.





Fun techniques!

Marianne has done a few fun things with the Colorless Blender Marker on her awesome blog, I Like Markers. Here are a few links that you might be interested in!

Simple Bricks
Jeans
Air Bubbles


Coloring with one marker color and using the Colorless Blender Marker to highlight.

Here I started coloring one of my Unity "Birds Of A Feather" stamps using one color (BG10).



I am using Neenah Classic Crest Solar White and I found (for me) the marker bleeds outside the stamped line if I color too close to it. SO my solution is to color close to the line but not up against it. I allow the ink to soak into the paper and bleed out towards the line.



Here, I am going back over the shadows and then I am going out and smoothing the rest of the image so that I blend the darker areas with the lighter areas.



I could leave it as is but I wanted to lighten a few areas so I took the Colorless Blender marker and faded out the areas I wanted to add highlights.





Sunday, I will finish this image with another technique.

I hope you found this post helpful!

A few thanks and a couple of sneak peeks for Friday and Saturday!

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all who have sent me "get well" wishes! I'm hanging in there!



BIG thanks to Rachel and Lorie for sending me PTI samples! I will be posting some Copic samples with them later tonight. The cards that came with them are amazing! They will be posted along with the samples!!

Sneak peeks to what I am working on for Friday night's Copic tutorials and the Inspirational Unity World Wide Blog Hop this Saturday!! *Phew* That was a mouthful! LOL!!







Don't forget to get to click up above on the "Monday's Fun Day" link and get yourself in for a chance to win a couple of really fun Thickers, courtesy of Memories Live On! BTW, that's not all you get! I always throw in a few extra goodies of my own! This Monday's Fun Day is up until this Saturday morning!!! I have another Monday's Fun Day that I am putting up extra early in honor of Unity's Inspirational World Wide Blog Hop so get in while it's still good!!!

Have a terrifc day!!