It's already the middle of March and the third quarter is over. I left this weekend for short visits with family. Saturday morning found me wearing green and in Ocoee having breakfast with Cait and Tony. I left them and headed to Lakeland for a stop at Violette's Scrapbook Store. Had a slight scenic detour because of road construction, but I found them. I meandered toward the coast following 17 instead of heading back to 4. It was scenic, but the best part was the wonderful citrus scent that followed me the entire way down because of all the orange groves. I had the top down on my car and it was a beautiful day. I made it to Ft Myers in early afternoon and spent the next two days relaxing and catching up with my sister. We ate at some of my favorite spots: Skyline Chili, Panerra's and Sweet Tomatoes. Monday found me going across Alligator Alley to spend time with Vince and Jocelyn. We had dinner at Mango's in Ft Lauderdale and played with Vince's new phone. By Tuesday afternoon I was on the road again heading home. It's straight up 95 - not very interesting but at least there wasn't too much traffic so I could use cruise control. A sunburn on my shoulders from driving with the top down and 704 miles later, I was back in time for our weekly "cult" meeting. I am ready for some creative time. I started Tim Holtz's new online class that started Monday and spent this morning catching up. I haven't learned too much new so far since I have been following his blog and using these products for a while. I appreciate all the work he has done and love the concise way he has of explaining himself. I would recommend this class to anyone who wants a better understanding of how ink works. Head to the "
Charm swap" page: I updated the page with the rest of our flower swaps.
Before I left, I played with different color combinations for coloring faces with copics. Some combinations were ones I had taken note of from researching online. I decided to stay with the tags for my samples.
I picked a face color and played with one of my new stamps from My Favorite Things. I enjoy coloring with the copics. I need to use less ink to blend - I find the color migrating a bit at the edges in places. This is the index of colors that I used. I will post the finished card later.
Michael has been out of town with his fur baby and I have been coloring with my copics. I added new tags of color combinations from my last order of markers. Dick Blick has the best sales. I especially love the copic spica glitter pens - they have beautiful color and bling and write so nicely. I also added a couple of new face combinations and played with some hair colors. 
I stamped one of my new sets from My Favorite Things and played with different color combinations. I masked off the mushroom and drew in some more grass with the copic .3 mulitliner. I need to go back to the book and revisit the lesson on coloring ground and grass; mine looks like it needs some lawn maintenance. I used one of the new face combinations, but I'm not real fond of the the darkest color (YR21); back to the color chart. I don't know how I am going to finish them yet; they are calling for a 6" square card because they already measure 4 1/4" with the frame, but those squares need special mailing. Hmmmm. I guess I will have to wait for some inspiration to strike. Following is the index for the colors that I used as well as a close up of two of the pictures. The last close- up shows how the wings glitter. I added a layer of sparkle over the copic colors using a Sakura stardust pen and an aqua pen. I also added a Swarovski flat-back crystal to her wand.
