Playing in Paradise Challenge 30

Well, just spent 2 beautiful weeks in BC! It was actually HOT, and we definitely aren't used to that, except for the odd day, in Calgary... We had beautiful beaches to swim in and great camping spots and amazing mountain scenery.  It was +35 there and today, back home, we are looking at a rainy, cool 8 degrees! Oh well, we had fun :)

I used Scrapbooker's Paradise sketch challenge this week to make a cute card for a friend.  I used the CC Designs stamp (that I picked up at Scrapbooker's Paradise!) and colored them in with my Prismacolor markers, and of course added some Stickles.  I used some great CTMH paper which I used on the card front and a CTMH sentiment.  After I popped up the apples on the side of the card I covered them with Glossy Accents.

Hope you are all enjoying the rest of your summer! Here's hoping for an awesome September :)

Moyie Lake, BC 

Cranbrook, BC

Driving through BC

Fairmont Hotsprings, BC

Prismacolor Markers!

I noticed yesterday that Michaels had Prismacolor Art Markers on sale this week for 50% off (and they had a coupon for 20% off your entire purchase, including sale items) so I thought I'd go online to check out these markers.  Turns out they are an alcohol based marker, with two tips, and are blendable! I even found several videos on You-tube showing coloring techniques, one even mentioning they had used Copics with these markers. I have thus far resisted the Copic trend, only because I cannot justify spending $7 on one marker, and it seems to me you need quite a few to be able to blend properly.  So, coupon in hand, I decided to go and check out these markers.

I ended up getting a set of 24 for 1/2 price, which turned out to be $65, but then I used my 20% off coupon and that brought it down to $52.  Still a lot to pay for markers, but I thought I'd give it a try. And, not a bad price for regularly being $130 a set!  This brought it down to $2/marker, which I can live with.  I also bought 3 individual markers, a light tan, a colorless blender, and a grey. 

I was very happy with the selection of colors in the set. I think the only ones I'd pick up individually would be a lighter purple and a lighter pink, and maybe a lighter skin tone color.

I colored the girl on the left with a sand color for her skin and a peach color for the one of the right.  I used the thin nib as I felt I could control it better.  The colorless blender was great for a few spots I colored outside the lines and I also highlighted in a few areas.  I also added a few highlights with the Prismacolor white colored pencil.  I used the black Memento ink pad, as you would with the Copics.

All in all I am very happy with these markers and would recommend them for sure! I felt they were very easy to blend and even though I'm sure my technique could use improvement, I was satisfied with the results.

Free Magazine Downloads

I recently found a site: http://downmagaz.com/ for free magazine downloads! I love magazines :) so I'm very excited, and it's always great to save some $$! They have a wide variety of magazines and it is very easy to use.

You click ‘read more’ under the magazine you want, then click one of the download links in the blue area under the magazine cover. I’ve used the oron.com site and downloaded 3 magazines. On the next page that comes up you scroll to the bottom and click ‘regular download’ for a free download (It just takes a few min’s longer) and follow the prompts. It comes up as as PDF.

Happy summer reading!