Copic storage

Hi friends!

We recently had a request asking if the CMC gals would share each of our Copic storage systems and Carisa, Rachel, and myself were all more than happy to show you what works for us. It turned out to be a fun way to see that there are probably as many different ways to store them as there are Sketch markers, LOL! :)

First up is Carisa:
Carisa has a series of small stacked shelves that house her markers and sit on her desk. The shelf in the middle was a blog win. Then that company stopped making them before she could buy more so her handy hubby made the other two to match.

This is a pic of the fun Carisa is having in decorating her Copic shelves and further beautifying her crafty space.
Next up is Rachel:
Rachel uses the desktop marker rack that holds 112 Sketch markers, which she purchased from carpediemstore.com. They are available in a few different sizes and she thinks that you can even have them engraved/personalized on the front. Rachel likes this system because she can easily store and see all of her markers in a very organized way.

Finally we have my (Amy's) system:
Because I already had a pegboard situated on the wall in front of my crafty desk I wanted a way to suspend my markers from it. That way they would be right in front of me while I worked but still up and out of the way a bit.
My solution came in the form of small, cheap plastic crates that I found at Walmart.
I think they were about $2.99 each and they are the perfect depth for holding my markers.
Because I didn't want my markers sliding through the holes in the back, I simply cut a sheet of cardstock to size and placed it within before adding the Copics.
I did leave the top row of holes free so that I could slide each crate onto the longest pegs that I had for my pegboard. And as you can see from my first pic, this also creates a little shelf that I inevitably stack bits of this and that on top of too. ;)
My refill bottles took over a Making Memories Slice desktop shelf thing that I already had. They fit nicely and I keep my extra nibs, tweezers, and cloth scraps that I use with the colorless blender solution in that little drawer.
Now we were also asked to share how we travel with our markers but come to find out, none of us really do a lot traveling with our Copics. On the rare occasions that I've taken mine anywhere I simply pulled the ones I would need for the image I planned on coloring and took them in a large Ziploc plastic bag. Which has worked fine so far.
Though I did look into this a bit and came across this Copic carrying case that holds 380 Sketch markers. I love those individual little bags inside that keep them all organized! I think that if I ever find myself in the situation of needing to travel with my markers for a coloring weekend or what not, this is definitely the way I will go. :)

I hope that you found this helpful and informative and if you happen to have a Copic storage and/or traveling system that you are proud of and would like to share here on the CMC blog, then just send a photo or two with a brief write-up to ColorMeCopic@gmail.com and we will post it! :)

Coloring on a Sunday Afternoon

Hiya!
I was coloring today and thought I might as well film it. This first video is the skin and hair on Rosie from Sugar Nellie stamps.



In the second, I color Rosie's dress in a variegated/ombre style.



Then since I had a request from awhile ago to show how I put together a card, I went ahead and filmed this third part using Rosie on a Valentine card. Sorry it cuts off so suddenly at the end, I thought I had went over my time limit. LOL! The finished card stayed the same as when I ended it there, you just missed me debating on adding more embellishments and then talking myself out of them anyway! ;-)



The card with complete supply list will be on my blog tomorrow, January 23.

P.S.
In case you are wondering, this really is a finished card for me as I don't decorate the insides of my cards. ☺

Comparing the Copic Grey markers

Even though I've done videos using each of the grey families to achieve the color black, I was still getting questions about how they compare to each other. So I thought it would be helpful to create a side by side chart, by coloring The Greeting Farm's Creeper Madden's hair in all four grey color families. I think you can really get a sense of the different qualities of each one.



As you can see the Cool Greys have a much more metallic and shiny finish compared to the Warm Greys on the opposite end, which almost look brown.

Down to There Hair

I had a request for coloring the Tiddly Inks girls with their long, straight hair. I chose Poppy as my subject, I hope she was what you had in mind Tina. ☺



The finished card can be seen here.