FranticStamper Precision Dies Blog Hop - Day 3

Here we are on the third and final day of a design team blog hop to help celebrate the launch of Frantic Stamper Precision Dies. You should have arrived here from Jennifer Willis' blog and will next head off to Sharon Jeffs' blog.

As I told you over the last two days, FranticStamper has developed a brand new concept in die cutting! The Precision Dies have been designed to work together easily to create all sorts of windows in cards and more! Die Sets #1 & #3 are based on 1" squares, and sets #2 and #4 are based on 1-1/4" squares. The squares and rectangles in the dies have 1/4" gaps between them. The dies also have 1/8" borders, so when you bump them up against each other, they create the same 1/4" gap between cuts, making it simple to create windows in nearly endless variety.

I had the pleasure of getting prototype and pre-release die sets to play with, and I have to say that they are a total BLAST to use. They not only cut through cardstock, craft foam, felt, and other materials like a hot knife cuts through butter, but they also align with each other to cut complex windows or frames in seconds. But don't forget that they also work great individually!

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The first card I want to share with you today is the first card I made with the dies.



I used the Series 2, 4-up square die (FRA-Die-02004), the Series 2, Double square die (FRA-Die-02002) and the Series 2, Triple square die (FRA-Die-02002) in combination to cut a 3x3 grid window out of white card stock. I mounted the grid onto a light blue card-stock panel using foam dots..

I then stamped (with Memento ink on white card-stock) and colored (with Copic Markers) the Frantic Stamper Cling-Mounted Rubber Stamp - Magnolia image. I then cut the image into 1.25" squares.

I glued the image squares through my grid window, onto the light blue card-stock background. Once finished, I mounted the light blue panel onto a darker blue card. I finished the card off with a little tag and with a white hand-made medallion.

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And lastly I wanted to share the quickest card I made. It is a Halloween card that literally took fewer than 3 minutes to make.



I started with a half-sheet of card-stock, cut the long way and then scored to form a top-opening standard sized card. 30 seconds down.

I then laid the Frantic Stamper Precision Die - Series #3 (1" base) - Triple Size Rectangle + 3 square (FRA-Die-03005) onto the front of the card and ran it through my die cutting machine. We are now at one minute.

I glued an orange panel to the inside of the card, and added glue dots to the backs of my chosen buttons. We are 2 minutes into the card.

I glued the buttons into the windows, wrapped my ribbon around the card, through the window and tied the bow, and then stamped a Trick or Treat greeting on the inside. Voila... The card is done in under three minutes. It took me longer to tell you about it than to MAKE it!

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I hope you enjoyed today's cards and the hop. Next you head to Sharon Jeffs' blog. But then don't forget that Fran at Frantic Stamper is offering Blog Candy for this hop; either Set #1 or Set #2 of the square dies, winner's choice! After visiting Sharon's blog be sure to click through to the Frantic Stamper blog and leave a comment about one of the items you have seen on the hop to enter the give-away. The winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entries on tomorrow morning, and will be notified via the blog sometime that day.

Also be sure to check out the wonderful dies at www.franticstamper.com! You will love them, I am sure!

FranticStamper Precision Dies Blog Hop - Day 2

Here we are on day 2 of a design team blog hop to help celebrate the launch of Frantic Stamper Precision Dies. You should have arrived here from Jennifer Willis' blog and will next head off to Sharon Jeffs' blog.

Frantic Stamper has developed a brand new concept in die cutting! The Precision Dies have been designed to work together easily to create all sorts of windows in cards and more! Die Series #1 & #3 are based on 1" squares, and Series #2 and #4 are based on 1-1/4" squares. The squares and rectangles in the dies have 1/4" gaps between them. The dies also have 1/8" borders, so when you bump them up against each other, they create the same 1/4" gap between cuts, making it simple to create windows in nearly endless variety.

I had the pleasure of getting prototype and pre-release die sets to play with, and I have to say that they are a total BLAST to use. They not only cut through cardstock, craft foam, felt, and other materials like a hot knife cuts through butter, but they also align with each other to make cutting complex windows or frames in seconds. But they also work great individually!

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The card I want to share with you today is a kinetic diorama Christmas card that opens itself as soon as it is removed from its envelope! The card itself is a large one, using a half-sheet of card-stock for each its back and its front. It requires an A9 sized envelope and extra postage to mail.

For this card I used the Series #2, Four-up square die (FRA-Die-02004) to cut my window pane, and Series #4, Quad sized square die (Fra-Die-04004) to cut the hole in the card front. As I said, the dies work great individually, as well as in combination, and individual cuts is what this card showcases!



This card uses a rubber band mechanism to open the card. You can see details of how to do that in this post, though this one required a larger rubber band.

The Santa with hood, a Frantic Stamper cling mounted stamp image, is on a floating acetate panel in the middle of the card, attached to a stiff tab, like the princess and the dragon in this post.


I hope you enjoyed today's card. I hope you will hop again tomorrow, when I will share two more cards I made using these wonderful dies.

Don't forget that Fran at Frantic Stamper is offering Blog Candy for this hop; either Series #1 or Series #2 of the square dies, winner's choice! After your last hop stop at Sharon Jeffs' blog, be sure to click through to the Frantic Stamper blog and leave a comment about one of the items you have seen on the hop to enter the give-away. The winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entries on Thursday morning, and will be notified via the blog sometime that day.

Then be sure to check out the wonderful dies at www.franticstamper.com! You will love them, I am sure!

FranticStamper Precision Dies Blog Hop - Day 1

Frantic Stamper has just introduced a brand new product! Frantic Stamper Precision Dies are designed to work together to create all sorts of windows in cards and more! As part of the design team, I had the pleasure of getting prototype and pre-release dies to play with, and I have to say that they are a total BLAST to use!

Today is the first day of a design team hop to help celebrate the launch of Frantic Stamper Precision Dies. You should have arrived here from Jennifer Willis' blog and will next head off to Sharon Jeffs' blog.

Fran at Frantic Stamper is offering Blog Candy for this hop; either Series #1 or Series #2 of the square dies, winner's choice! Since I am the last stop on the hop, just go to the Frantic Stamper blog and leave a comment about one of the items you see on the hop to enter the give-away. The winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entries on Thursday morning, and will be notified via the blog sometime that day.

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The first card I created with the dies is a changing image card. The dies made aligning the holes for this card child's play; the whole card took just minutes to make! I used the Series #2, Triple square die (FRA-Die-02003) to cut my windows. It took only a total of two passes through my die cut machine and a couple of minutes to assemble to create the card!



Here is a quick video of it opening and the images changing...


I will be sharing how to make a similar card on the FranticStamper blog tomorrow. Be sure to check back then if you want to learn how to make this card!

Next I created a scrapbook page to commemorate the fact that my little girl is all grown up and currently a continent and an ocean away...in France! I used a combination of dies from series #2 and #4 to create the "E" (for Elizabeth) for me to frame my photos. The frame and all the craft foam mats were cut with a single pass through my die cut machine!



This is how the dies were laid out to make the


(Dies used from Series #2: FRA-die-02001, FRA-die-02002, FRA-die-02003
 Dies used from Series #4: FRA-die-04001, FRA-die-04002)

Images from FranticStamper's own line of French-inspired cling-mounted stamps, some Stickles, and a butterfly sticker finished the page.

I hope you enjoyed today's post and that you will check back tomorrow! And be sure to check out the last stop on the hop at Sharon Jeffs' blog. You should also stop by and see these wonderful new Precision Dies at www.franticstamper.com.

Happy World Card Making Day!

I hope to make a card or two today in honor of World Card Making Day. It is still a little rough for me to craft since I had a second (much more invasive and serious) surgery on my right ankle 6 weeks ago, and I am just having a hard time if I don't keep it elevated. But I am going to try!

If I DO get to make some cards, I will definitely be using my incredible new dies from FranticStamper! They just announced the dies yesterday, but I was lucky enough to get an early release, and I have to tell you these dies ROCK!


The dies work separately or in combinations to instantly create fabulous window cards! They cut square windows in either 1" or 1.25". The dies are designed for squares to be cut 1/4" apart, even when you are using more than one die in combination. Cutting a grid of square windows is trivial. BUT there is more! The dies also have rectangles that can be combined with the squares, and the rectangles take into account the 1/4" spacing, so they align perfectly with the squares! You have to see these things to get an idea of all the possibilities they open up!

So... off to craft. Wish me luck. If I do get some cards done, I will be sure to add them to this post later today.

In the meantime, Happy World Card Making Day! Go create!

UPDATE:

I only had time and energy for one card. I used two Frantic Stamper Precision Dies -- Single Squares from series #2 to cut diamonds on the front layer of the card. I then used the windows on that layer and two FranticStamper Precision Dies -- Single Squares from series #1 (the dies are the EXACT same size as the holes cut by series #2!) with a little tape to hold them in place and cut the second layer. This layer makes a perfect mat for the top layer's windows! I then used a 3/4" punch to punch my squares for my stamped images, added a ribbon and some Bronze Candi pieces, and had my finished card!

*TIP - I used the back side of my patterned paper for the mat layer...it is guaranteed to match the front!

Here is the card:

Die cuts with matching stamps...

This Christmas I want to make a lot of cards that use a little stamped Santa image from a rubber stamp I made several years ago (that's a story for another time) but my hands aren't up to cutting out a lot of images (and that is yet another story!) So I stamped my image once, scanned it, and used the software for my electronic die cut machine (the new Silhoutte Cameo...love it!) to create a cut file.

It cuts perfectly and I can cut a dozen of the Santas from a single 8 1/2" x 11" piece of card stock. SO I cut my Santas that I need for my cards, but then I had a problem of getting my stamped image onto the cut out die-cut correctly.

I came up with a solution that works so well that I wanted to share it; not only does it work great for my die-cut machine cut files, but will also work perfectly for those mechanical die/stamp combinations (and I have some of those, too!)

I created a special cut file for my machine that would cut a single Santa in the center of a quarter sheet of card stock. If using a traditional die I would simply have cut the die in the center of a quarter sheet of card stock. I then used the NEGATIVE of the die-cut (the rest of the quarter sheet AFTER my die was cut and removed from it) for my stamping tool, a simple template.

I used my stamp positioning tool and a piece of acrylic to finish my template.



I used the stamp positioner to stamp my Santa on the corner of the acrylic piece.



Next I aligned the image on the acrylic sheet, centered in the hole of the template, right where I would want to stamp the image.



I then used a pen and marked the template where the corner of the acrylic sheet was so I would know where to position my stamp positioning tool later.



When I want to stamp a Santa, I simply fit my cutout Santa into the hole in my template and position my stamp positioning tool on my marked position.



I then stamp the image as though I were stamping on a whole piece of paper.



When I remove the die cut, it is stamped perfectly every time!



It is as easy as can be to stamp a whole bunch. I will have plenty for my Christmas cards in no time!



I hope this is a trick you can use, too! Until the next time (whenever that may be!)

Smiles,
Kathy

Shimmery mist...

I have a little tip for you that I hope you will like.

I make my own shimmery mist for my projects with VERY inexpensive materials... I fill a mini spray bottle for mere pennies!

I use metallic or pearlescent acrylic paint. I just put a few drops of the paint in a mini-mister, with just a tiny bit of water, and then fill almost to the top with rubbing alcohol (need to leave enough room to be able to shake up the contents), and I have a wonderful spray mist that will dry quickly when sprayed onto my card and leaves me with just gorgeous shimmer or a beautiful pearlescent sheen!

Just imagine all the different effects I can have with all those different colors of metallic and pearlescent paints! And I can even layer them; blue and silver, red and gold... the possibilities are mind boggling! Lay down a cut shape mask and spray with one color, then use the negative of the mask and spray with another.

I would love to share a project that uses it, but it is really hard to get a good photo of. I will keep trying (before and after shots, perhaps) and if I have success I will update this post with some photos!

Until then,

Smiles!
Kathy

Eat, Drink, and Be Scary

Eat, Drink, and Be Scary

Materials

• Paper and Cardstock
• Bazzill Singles, Smooth Texture
• Lime Crush    ( BAZ-5-5127   $0.59)
• Breaker Bay    ( BAZ-7-7136   $0.59)
• Black     ( BAZ-10-1075   $0.59)
• Orange Slice     ( BAZ-3-383   $0.59)
• Kraft     ( BAZ-10-1075   $0.59)
• Cherry Splash     ( BAZ-2-235   $0.59)
• Stamps
• Penny Black Clear Stamp Set, Spooky!     ( PNY-CS-30041   $14.99)
• Inks and Embossing Powders
• Versafine, Onyx Black     ( TSU-VFP-Blk   $8.99)
• Tools
• Martha Stewart Crafts Punches
• 3-in-1 Hydrangea     ( MSC-PU-283031   $10.59)
• Heart     (Not currently available)
• EK Success Nesting Circle Punches
• 5/16" circle     ( EK-PSP-01   $4.59)
• 1/2" circle     ( EK-PSP-02   $4.59)
• Fiskars Hand Punches
• 1/4" circle     ( FIK-hnd-1/4   $6.95)
• 1/8" circle     ( FIK-hnd-1/8   $6.95)
• We-R-Memory Keepers Corner Chompers
• Rounder     ( WRM-CAD-CRNR1   $24.99)
• Angle     ( WRM-CAD-CRNR4   $24.99)
• 3" Round Yellow Hydra Sponge     Hydra Sponge   $0.55)
• Reverse Action Bent Tip Tweezers     ( TWEEZ-reverse   $3.99)
• Adhesives
• Aleene's Tacky Glue     ( ALE-glue-quick   $3.99)
• Miscellaneous
• toothpick
• Ultimate Gel Pen, White Pastel     ( AMC-ULT-wht   $1.59)
• Ultimate Gel Pen, Black     ( AMC-ULT-blk   $1.59)
• Tombow Dual-tip marker, Sap Green     ( TOM-245   $2.59)

Instructions

• Make The Frankenstein's Monster:
• Cut a rectangle of green card stock about 1 1/4" x 1 1/2". Holding the rectangle in portait orientation, use the Angle corner chompers to trim the bottom corners, forming a tag. Sponge black ink around all of the edges. Cut a rectangle of black card stock about 1 1/4" x 1/2". Cut one edge to form hair for the monster. Glue to the base of the monster face. Cut a small rectangle of green card stock to serve as a neck. Punch the hydrangea out of green card stock. Punch three 1/4" circles out of green. Punch two 1/4" circles out of white. Punch two 1/8" circles out of black. Cut one of the petals off the large hydranea for a nose. Cut one of the green 1/4" circles in half to form eyelids. Sponge black ink around the edges of each of the pieces. Glue a black circle to each of the white circles to make eyes. Add a small mark with a white gel pen to each of the black circles. Glue a green half-circle to the top of each of the eyes to form eyelids. Glue the head onto the neck of the monster. Glue each of the small hydrangeas into place on the underside of the neck, forming the neck bolts. Glue the nose into place. Glue the eyes into place. Glue the remaining two green circles to the underside of the head to make ears. Draw a crooked smile and a couple of little scar lines, using a black gel pen.
• Make the vampire:
• Cut a rectangle of blue cardstock, about 1 1/4" x 1 1/2". Cut a rectangle of black paper about 1/2" x 1 1/4". Use the heart punch to punch the hairline in the black rectangle. Glue the hair to the blue rectangle. Corner round all of the corners of the rectangle using the 1/4" side of the rounder chomper. Punch two 5/16" red circles. Punch two 1/4" white circles. Punch two 1/8" black circles. Punch four 5/16" blue circles. Cut one of the blue circles in half. Sponge black ink around the edges of all of the pieces. Glue the white circles to the red circles. Glue the black circles to the white circles. Add a little dot of white gel pen to the black circles. Glue the half circles to the eyes to form eyelids. Glue the eyes in place. Glue a blue circle below the eyes to form a nose. Glue the other two blue circles to the underside of the face to form ears. Draw a smile using the black gel pen. Draw white fangs with the white gel pen. Cut a rectangle of black cardstock about 1/2" x 1 1/2". Wrap it around the bottom of the face to form a cape. Glue it into place.
• Make the Mommy Mummy:
• Cut a rectangle of white cardstock, about 1 7/8" x 2 3/4". Tear 9 strips of white cardstock about 1/4" wide and about 2 1/4" long. Sponge the edges of the strips with black card stock. Adhere 8 of the strips to the white cardstock, going off the edges, horizontally crisscrossing the rectangle. Trim the strips so they are even with the edges of the rectangle. Corner round all 4 corners using the 1/4" side of the rounder corner chompers. Sponge black ink lightly all over the mummy's body. Punch two 1/2" circles out of green cardstock. Punch two 5/16" circles out of black. Punch one 5/16" circle out of white. Sponge black ink around each of the pieces. Adhere the black circles to the green. Add white dots to the black circles. Adhere the eyes to the mummy. Adhere the white circle to the mummy, just below the eyes. Tie a knot in the remaining strip, and glue into place.
• Make the Baby Mummy:
• Cut a rectangle of white cardstock about 1" x 1 1/2". Tear 5 strips of white cardstock, about 1/8" wide, and about 1 1/4" long. Sponge black ink along the edges of each strip. Adhere all of the strips to the white cardstock, going off the edges, horizontally crisscrossing the rectangle. Trim the strips so they are even with the edges of the rectangle. Corner round all 4 corners using the 1/4" side of the rounder corner chompers. Sponge black ink lightly all over the baby mummy's body. Punch two 5/16" circles out of green. Punch two 1/4" circles out of white. Punch two 1/8" circles out of black. Punch one 1/8 circle out of white. Ahdere the 1/4" white circles to the green circles. Adhere the black circles to the white circles. Glue the eyes into place. Glue the 1/8" white circle below the eyes to form the nose. Glue the baby mummy onto the mommy mummy.
• Make the grave stone:
• Cut a piece of craft cardstock to 3"x 2 1/4". With the piece in landscape orientation, corner round the top two corners using the 1/2" side of the corner chompers. Stamp the spider and web in the top right corner. Stamp the saying centered. Sponge black ink all over the grave stone.
• Make the grass and pumpkins:
• Cut a rectangle of green cardstock 5 1/2" x 1 3/4". Cut grass blades as desired. Draw lines in in the grass with the fine point side of the green marker. Stamp the pumpkins onto orange cardstock. Cut them out carefully. Adhere to the grass, just above the bottom edge.
• Make the card:
• Cut a piece of black cardstock to 5 1/2" x 11". Fold in half to form a square card.
• Assemble the card:
• Glue the monster and vampire in place first. Adhere the gravestone in place, covering the very bottom edges of the monster and vampire. Glue the mummies in place. Glue the grass in place.

Get Better...

My mom, who lives three thousand miles from me, was hospitalized this past weekend. She had to have surgery to install a stent just below her kidney to deal with a blockage caused by a very large kidney stone. The stone has not yet fully resolved so she is still in some discomfort, but she is being medicated and was sent home yesterday.

I wanted to make her a somewhat special card to let her know I was thinking about her. I wished I could be there to do things for her, but that just isn't possible right now, so I decided to send her some soup from here. Well, not real soup, but some virtual soup. Here, you can see what I mean...



The soup can is one of my favorite pop-up mechanisms, the cylindrical pop-up. Here is a view that shows how much it pops off the page. It really made a wonderful soup can, don't you think?



I am not going to tell you how I made the whole card, but I did think you might like to know how I made the soup can. I didn't take pictures as I made this card, and I didn't actually measure my mechanism as I made it, so I have made a second soup can to show you how I did it.

For this new can I started with a piece of card-stock 4 1/2" x 8 1/2". With it in the landscape orientation, I scored it at 3/4" and at 3 3/4". I then cut it according to the following template:



The most important parts of this template is that the little cutout parts on the left edge align perfectly with the long tabs on the right edge, and that the cutout parts go right to the score line at 3/4".

Once I had cut out my mechanism, I decorated it. I simply hand-sketched my can and colored it with COPIC markers. I used a scrap of card stock from which I punched a circle to help me make the gold medallion at the center of the can. Everything else is just free-hand.



Next, I trimmed a little wedge off the sides of the small tabs on the left of the mechanism, just to allow the mechanism to glide a little better. I put strong adhesive on the tabs (on the right side), folded on the score line, and affixed it to the right side of my card (this is a piece of cardstock, 8 1/4" x 5 1/4", scored at 4 1/8" in landscape orientation to form a card. It will be glued into a standard sized dark red card.) The mechanism piece now sat near (but not quite at) the bottom of the card, about 3/4" from the fold, with the right tabs extending past the edge of the card, but the score-line on the right of the card was about a 1/4" from the right edge.



Next, I folded back the score line on the right side so that the tabs extend under the mechanism, toward the left. I passed them through the slots formed by the gaps cut between the left tabs, and across the fold.



I pulled on the ends of the tabs until the can started to pop up. When it was rounded enough to look like a can, I made sure the tabs were even, and then with a pencil, marked on the left side of the card where the tabs extend. I marked around the whole end of the tab so I knew where I could place my adhesive.



I placed a generous amount of strong adhesive in the areas marked, peeled off the liner, and attached the ends of the tabs.




Lastly, I carefully closed the card. This allowed the mechanism to return to the flat position, and for the tabs to fold where they need to fold to allow that to happen. Once flat, I carefully went over the card's fold with a bone folder, and over the folds in the tabs from the outside of the card, just to reinforce the folds. If you look carefully at this picture of the card re-opened, you can see the folds in the tabs about a quarter of an inch to the left of the center fold of the card. Those were NOT pre-scored. The mechanism determined where they needed to lie and caused them to be formed.



Once the mechanism is complete, all that was left to do was insert it into my standard card and then decorate the front and inside left. I added a decorative panel to the inside left of the card, being careful that it didn't extend beyond the folds in my tabs, but right up to them, and then added a layer with a saying on top of that.

On the front, I prepared a panel of the same decorative paper with my little moose image (just LOVE Riley!!) layered onto a piece of white card stock whose bottom edge I had punched with a lace border punch. I added three square brads, and a black organdy bow before affixing it to my main card.

I hope you have enjoyed my little "get better" project and will give the cylinder pop-up a try sometime. I hope to be back with a little variation on this mechanism soon... but it does kind of depend on how much I can stand to sit.

Smiles,
Kathy

A Moving Princess Card

WOW! A post two days in a row! Don't fall over! I am starting to be able to be vertical for longer periods of time now, so I am not having to save all that time for household chores and can actually sneak in a little bit of stamping. I hope to be able to post here a little more regularly, but don't count on it...life does seem to have its way of getting in the way. lol.

Here is today's card.


I saw a version of this card on a YouTube video a long time ago and have wanted to make one ever since. It is very similar to my auto-pop birthday card that I shared with you as the second project in this post.

The basic assembly is very much the same as for that card, even though the size is a little different since that card was done in portrait orientation, and this will be in landscape. Also, instead of putting a rubber band on the tabs, I put a dragon and a princess. Additionally, my window is bigger (3" scalloped square), and I used a transparency sheet to make my tabs which are a single layer instead of a doubled. I started with two 7 1/2" x 4 1/4" rectangles of sturdy (pink!) card-stock. I scored each of them at 1", 1 1/2", 6", and 6 1/2".



Next, I die cut the hole in my card front, just centering the die in the center of the piece.

Next, I folded the card back so that the folds at 1" and 6 1/2" were mountain folds, and the ones at 1 1/2" and 6" were valley folds.
I folded the card front so that the folds at 1" and 6 1/2" were valley folds, and the ones at 1 1/2" and 6" were mountain folds.



I stamped and colored (and glittered) my dragon and princess images, and then cut them out. I attached each of them to a piece of acetate sheet 1" x 3.5" (dragon on the right end of one and the princess on the left end of the other.

I also stamped and colored my castle background on a scrap of white card-stock cut to 4 1/2" x 4 1/4". I glued the background to the back panel so that it would be visible through the card front's hole.

I added my strong tape to the 1" edge panels of the my card back and peeled off the liner. I then placed my clear tabs onto the card back so that the dragon and princess met in the middle. I made sure they were well adhered to the card back, then added a little strong tape to the front of the tabs so that I could adhere the tabs to the card front, too.

I peeled off the liner on the tape, then carefully attached the card front to the card back. I trimmed the excess of the two tabs.

The last thing I did was decorate the card front and the pull tab panels with dimensional stickers and punched paper lace.

This card is meant to be viewed in the stand-up position, but also in the fully opened position, where the whole sentiment and castle are revealed.

My Copic Marker Solution

I finally got the complete collection of Copic Ciao markers!

I bought them as 5 different sets of 36 markers, and the sets each came in a crystal box. At first I thought those cases would be great store the markers, but I soon found that I really struggled to use them. I couldn't see any of the numbers on markers that weren't on the edges of the box, and when I was stuck in bed while recovering from my surgeries the boxes would tip over pretty easily and dump all the pens out. They just didn't meet my needs.

So I started looking for another solution. In my search I saw a lot of different shelf units with dividers But I didn't like having the fact that the markers wouldn't be a lot more visible since they wouldn't all be at eye level. And I was worried that the markers wouldn't be secure in the horizontal shelves (I have a very curious cat who just loves anything cylindrical and who loves to watch things drop to the floor; I was concerned that he would be able too easily to knock markers out of the horizontal cubbies and run off with them.)

Then I went to lunch at a cafeteria, and my solution popped out at me! I realized that what I needed was a cafeteria silverware server! I found a 6-cup one at a restaurant supply store, and I have to say it is PERFECT! Each cup snugly holds 30 Copic markers, meaning that the entire set of 180 markers fits just right! I sorted the markers by color family, then split them into groups of 30 and placed them into the cups.



But then the trouble of finding just the marker I wanted recurred. It is impossible to see the numbers on the side of the marker, so it is hard to find the right pen.

I solved THAT problem by labeling my Ciao caps. I saw several different solutions for doing that on-line, and I combined my favorite ideas into my solution. I created a file with all the colors in numerical order by color family, complete with little circles around the numbers. I printed two copies of the file (I did both ends of my markers.) You can get the file here.

I then colored each of the circles with the matching color and then cut the paper into strips by color family.



I punched each circle with a 1/4" circle punch, and affixed them to the caps with mini glue dots.



Though it was a tedious and time-consuming job, it was totally worth the effort since I can now find the right color with little effort. I just choose the color I need using my color chart and then go to the right cup and grab the right pen pretty quickly. I really love my new solution!



How do you store your Copic markers so they are easy to use?

Til next time, and hopefully sooner rather than later!

Smiles,
Kathy