Copic Creations Animals Challenge

Within my arsenal of tools that are oh-so-handy for using with Copic markers is a nasty rag.  My nasty rag started out as a 4" square piece of a thick, white, terry washcloth that had nice, long fibers.  It didn't get really nasty-looking until I used it several times with various dark colored Copics.  I haven't cleaned or replaced it and it continues to do its job well.  I wrap that little piece of rag around my fingertip, swipe the marker across the fiber ends, and begin dabbing the texture onto my project.  The Nasty Rag Technique provides animal images with the hairy, furry and fuzzy texture needed for a more realistic look.  I can dab and twist for some swirly, curly fur or drag it slightly for some longer fur.  I can also dab more in places to create darker, more shaded areas.  (Find out more about the Nasty Rag Technique at Marianne Walker's blog here.)

The latest Copic Creations Challenge:  Copic coloring of animals (find the challenge here) lured me in with another chance to use one of my favorite techniques for creating furry texture.  Hambo Stamps is the sponsor of this challenge.  They have some funny animal images and sayings to add some humor to your papercrafting projects.  I chose to use a funny image and saying from Stamps by Judith that I already had in my stamp collection.

I had alot of fun creating this easel card to submit for this challenge.  I really wanted the focus to be on the trash can bear so I tried to keep the rest of the card very neutral and soft.

I cut out the complete trash can bear image, colored all areas and added texture to the bear's fur using the Nasty Rag technique.  From a second image, I cut out a trash can and both smaller cans then colored them.  I adhered the cans to the full image with pop-dots.  When I applied a coating of glossy accents to add some great solid shine to the cans, I was very happy to find that the glossy accents did not react with the Copic color to change it in any way.

I scored and folded a 4 1/2" x 8" piece of cardstock, then placing the fold near but not over the edge of the scalloped rectangle die, I cut a card (to be the base and easel).  I scored and folded the top half of that card (to be my easel) and adhered a separate, single die cut scalloped rectangle to the top half only of that folded card area (to be my front panel).  I used pop-dots to adhere the saying to the base of the card so it'll block the card front from sliding forward.  I adhered a little vintage patterned paper and tied a hemp cord to the card front.  Finally I adhered the completed trash can bear image directly to the card front.

This completed easel card is just 4" wide x 3 1/2" tall and there's plenty of room inside for a gift card or additional sentiment.  With the built-in easel, it's perfect for displaying cool, handmade cards.

Supplies Used:
Lg. Trash Can Bear and Looking Everywhere, Stamps by Judith
Spellbinders scalloped rectangle dies
Hemp cord
Bear:  E31, E35, E47 (nasty rag)
Trash Can:  C3, C5, C7
Small Cans:  C3 faded with C00
Labels:  G19 faded with G00; E19 faded with E02