Happy EARLY Thanksgiving!

Today has been one of THOSE kind of days! Emery (the littlest one) was up all night fighting yet another respiratory infection. "Lucky" for me... he always wants Mom when he's sick --- so I didn't get much sleep either. I finally go him peeled off of me for a few minutes this afternoon and I ran to my craft room for a little stress therapy. Seriously, this craft is my saving grace. I spent about 25 minutes making this little card and I feel SO much better! Ahhh....

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For those of you who visit my blog regularly, I know you've probably seen a lot of these Wordsworth stick people... but I never get tired of them. There is just something about them. How can so much personality show up in something so simple?

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I stamped the image and colored her in with Copics, paper-piercing her apron. I LOVE antique aprons! I have several hanging in my kitchen that belonged to my husband and my great-grandmothers. They just reminds me of simpler times. I wanted to mimic this in my card base. I added stitching to the sides and a scalloped eyelet edging to the bottom. I searched for some pumpkin colored ribbon to add to the top of my "apron"... but of course I didn't have anything that really matched. So, I took some wide white grosgrain ribbon and colored it with my Copic marker! Voila! A perfect match! Can I just tell you how much I love Copics?

*** if you look closely, you can see the tiny piercings I made to create "steam" coming from the top of the pie!

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Ok. I just discovered something FABULOUS! Well, I know other people have already discovered it, but I finally found some Georgia Pacific cardstock at my local Wal-Mart and tried it out with my Copics. I had to try it myself before I was a believer. Now, it's not as "heavy" as Papertrey's White CS (which is my first love)... but it takes the color just as beautifully --- only CHEAPER! I've been going through about a pack of Papertrey CS a month, so this is going to really help me out. I still vow to use the Papertrey CS for my card base. It's just sturdier. But when I stamp & color with Copics and then layer it onto other CS, I think the Georgia Pacific brand will work just fine!

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I don't know if you've heard, but Paper Pretties is starting a Copic Club and I've been given the daunting task of heading it up! LOL! No, actually I'm really excited about it. I've really worked hard to try to pick essential colors for people who want to see what this Copic craze is all about. Basically, every month (for 6 months) you will receive 6 Copic Sketch markers. I will be demonstrating techniques and projects for the Club Members on the Member's Only site. Also, by signing up to be a club member, you automatically receive all of the other Paper Pretties member's benefits. I also hand select a group of items that coordinate and work well with the Copic markers each month. All of these items are available to club members for 20% off! Each month, the colors that you receive "build upon" previous markers. It's really going to be easier for those who sign up in October so that they will have all of the essentials -- and they won't have to backtrack and pick up colors on their own. Please drop me a line if you have any questions and I would be happy to give you more information.

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Stamps: Stick People by Wordsworth/Rubber Soul; Sentiment by SU

Paper: Chocolate Chip & Pumpkin Pie CS; Basic Grey Mellow printed paper

Accessories: Copics, White Grosgrain, Large Oval punch (SU), Fiskars small scalloped scissors, Martha Stewart eyelet punch, sewing machine, Marvy Mega Scalloped Square punch (stamp 2 and adhere together to create a rectangle!)