This is my first skin colour swatch for my new Copic Colour Journal. Now fair warning my colour journal is going to be a little bit eclectic, as I unbound my new X-Press It Blending Journal and combined it with my existing journal - I'm in Copic heaven (will show you his later)! For this page I'm using one of the free Copic Oz templates which are perfect for recording your favourite colour combos! I've chosen to break my skin colours into groups eg: Pale skin (eg: Caucasian), Darker skin (African, African American, American Indian etc) and Medium Tones (eg: Asian and tanned/fake tanned), so I can easily compare the combos. The page below is my simple pale skin colour combinations, these are beginner friendly Copic skin colour combinations, all of which are simple combos and have colours which blend easily for guaranteed results. The only tricky one in the... Continue reading

We hope you enjoyed our Birthday inspired hop and sale! We had so much fun creating and using our fabulous Lindy's Stamp Gang products. We hope that we've inspired you to use your Lindy's Stamp Gang products in creative ways. There were so many wonderful comments. Thank you to everyone who participated. Now it's time to announce the winners. Beauty School Dropout Flat Fabio set goes to Totally Twisted Cards Jamaican Jungle Color shot set goes to Luvnrich40 Moon Shadow Label Yellow set goes to Tracy McNicoll May Day Meadows Starburst set goes to Laraeh Congratulations to all the winners. Please email Lindysgang@yahoo.com with your mailing address to claim your prize. Thank you to all who participated. Sparkly hugs, Kate Continue reading

Never let fear, stop you from doing something amazing! It might surprise you to find out I'm not a particularly confident person, really I'm a scaredy cat! I worry that my art is not worthy of sharing, that my ideas and techniques aren't interesting enough for any one to bother reading or watching, I worry about not being original enough and honestly putting myself out there - being open to ridicule, resentment, criticism and abuse is not an easy thing for me (or anyone really). When you see me at craft shows or classes I'm usually happy bubbly and zinging, what you all don't see is the massive bout of panic that hits about an hour before going 'live' which results in a manic frenzy of activity, getting hot, flushed cheeks and double checking everything!. Now I don't have a problem talking to an audience, I have a problem with... Continue reading

Drum roll please - announcing the winners of the Copic Oz Blog Hop Candy....... ta dah! The following 5 lucky ladies are the winners of the Copic Prize Pack which includes Copic Markers, a NEW X-Press It Blending Journal and a Bundle of Fabscraps Goodies! Copic Oz - Julie T Kathy's Blog - Loulou Edna's Blog - Adriana Morales Kate's Blog - Alshandra Facebook - June Johnston Alshandra you are the lucky winner chosen from the people who left a comment on my blog post - woohoo!!! Please email (info@copicmarker.com.au) with your name and postal details, so they can send your prize pack out. BUT THERE IS STILL A CHANCE TO WIN! For a chance to win over $750 worth of Copic prizes enter your own “Get well themed card” into the Copic Card Competition. Entries due by Monday June 3, 2013. Multiple entries allowed. Participants simply need to enter... Continue reading

As promised here is a real time clip for Copic beginners, showing you a no stress approach to colouring a basic pretty face using only 3 Copic Markers - E00, E11 and R20. To follow along with this clip you will need: Copic Markers (Sketch or Ciao) R20, E00 & E11 X-Press It Blending Card La-La Land Kimono Marci stamp Memento stamp pad in Tuxedo Black May your day sparkle, Continue reading

Welcome to the Copic Blog Hop – you are @ Sparkle Tart's page, the next stop is Copic Australia on Facebook We are SO happy to be part of this exciting blog hop as there are is awesome BLOG CANDY to be won (A Copic Prize Pack which includes Copic Markers, a NEW X-Press It Blending Journal and a Bundle of Bonus Fabscraps Goodies) but it is also in support of a great cause (Koala Kids) to support Kids with Cancer. To participate in the hop simply leave a comment on my blog or on any of the other participating blogs and Copic Australia on Facebook (5 chances to win), the hop finishes at Midnight (AEST) on Monday, May 6, 2013. Sorry, open to Australian and New Zealand residents only. Blog Hop Route: Start at Copicoz.blogspot.com Kathy: Inspired to Stamp Edna: Stamps, Paper, Happiness Kate: Sparkle Tart - You are... Continue reading

Copic journals - where do I begin?? When people talk about Copic Journals they are often discussing different things without even knowing it, from now on I will be calling mine by the following names: Copic Art Journal - a visual art journal or diary in which Copic Markers are used, and Copic Colour Journal - which records colour combinations, ideas on colouring, techniques and often a printed chart with purchased marker colours. Now these could be combined into the one book but many people (myself included) have a separate book or journal for each of these purposes, mainly because my Copic Art Journal is a tiny bit messy - just a little bit you understand :O) If you are new to the whole Copic Journaling thing, here are a few important tips...... Beginning a Copic Journal To start your own Copic Journal (either a Colour journal or an Art... Continue reading

Welcome, welcome to Lindy's Birthday Blog Hop! Today's hop, is in honor of Lindy Plakinger, who founded Lindy's Stamp Gang along with her husband and her family. While the amazing lady herself may no longer be here with us to celebrate, we love to get together once a year to celebrate her birthday, honor her daughter Tracey (who kept the business going after her mum passed away) and make sparkly creations, as tribute to the uniquly fabulous products she created. Plus we love to give away little birthday gifts to a few lucky blog readers as well (chosen at random by random.org)! BLOG HOP DETAILS Lindy's Stamp Gang Birthday Blog Hop Starts: Saturday April 27th 2013 @ 6:00 am pst Ends: Saturday May 4th 2013 midnight Birthday presents will be hidden in DT blogs, and winners randomly drawn from among all blog comments. Leave a comment on each blog to... Continue reading

This month is the 4 Year Anniversary, for Sweet Pea Stamps to help promote this we have 40% off on 105 pages of rubber stamps! (over 1,000 images) PLUS Buy $30 worth of DIGI stamps get a $6 gift voucher for your next order ($30 after any previous gift voucher entered) Sale ends April 15th! Continue reading

Ok so I saw some keyboard stickers on Pinterest, and thought I'd try something similar with my Copic markers. What do you guys think of my keyboard??? May your day sparkle, Continue reading

This is the third flower technique in my Copic Coloured Flowers series, Flower #1 used 2 colours of Copic markers, Flower #2 used 3 colours from differing families and added in a little bling. This technique ramps up the sparkle power and when combined with some creative Copic combinations produces stunning results. Depending on your flower choice (flat or dimensional) will decide how many colours you can use to create the copic colour of your flower. For smaller flowers fewer colours are best, on larger flowers you can use 3 or more colours. For these flowers you will need: Mulberry Paper Flower 2 or 3 Copic Markers Colorless Blender Various Ink Refill X-Press It Clear Gel Glue Heat Gun /Embossing Gun Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray (I used Creme Brulee Cream) or Glitz Spritz (I used Royal Amethyst Fire) you could also use the Perfect Pearls Mist from Ranger Gala... Continue reading

This is the second flower in my Copic Coloured Flowers series, Flower #1 used 2 colours of Copic markers, this flower uses 3 colours from differing families and adds in a little bling to create a stunning fantasy flower. This technique really works well on flatter flowers like the gardenia I used here, and though I have used a mulberry paper flower you can use this same technique on fabric flowers also - it looks amazing on satin, though your colours will turn out much lighter! For this flower you will need: Mulberry Paper Flower - I like using gardenias for this 3 Copic Markers from across colour families (I used: V09, RV09 & YR09) Colorless Blender Various Ink Refill Stickles Glitter Glue - I used Diamond Heat Gun /Embossing Gun Instructions: Begin with a white or light coloured paper flower (I like gardenias because they are easy to colour).... Continue reading

Let me start this post by saying I take no responsibility for anyone ending up with a Copic flower colouring addiction. I'm warning you all these are fun, soooo easy and give fabulous results every time! This is flower #1 in my Copic Coloured Flower series there are 2 more gorgeous copic coloured flower techniques for you to try coming up next. Please note each technique builds on the one preceding it, so there is some repetition of instructions. Flower #1 - Using 2 Copic Markers for a Realistic Coloured Flower This technique creates a fabulous flower that looks quite realistic, I love using roses for this as you can really see the colour blends on the underside of the petals. For this flower you will need: Mulberry Paper Flower (I'm using a mulberry paper rose from I Am Roses) 2 Copic Markers from a natural blending family, this flower... Continue reading

Welcome to Fan Friday, today's inspiration is from Liesbeth's Arts and Crafts Blog - created by Liesbeth Fidder. Liesbeth is an amazing artist living in the Netherlands, if it weren't for the Craft Stamper Magazine and the internet, I may never have seen her work. Happily part of the beauty of our currently shrinking world, is that technology allows us to 'get to know' artists living half a world away and Liesbeth is worth getting to know! Currently designing for Darkroom Door, Craft Stamper and Art Journey she brings her signature use of colour and layering to every project she touches, you can see a few examples of what I mean below... Click image for details Click image for details Click image for details Isn't the way Liesbeth works with colour amazing, I love her backgrounds, subtle, bold, bright and gorgeous, plus the way she layers stamped images - to... Continue reading

I wish I had taken a before and after photo of this face, it was a heartbeat away from being covered in gesso when I picked up a watercolour pencil (sepia) and started to 'play' with the original - I erased the short bob hair, made the eyes larger and the rest is basically the same. I have to thank my Mum for this one, she liked the original face and it's the only reason I didn't start over - I hope she likes this version as much :O) So far all I have done is add some background colour - ready to work on it more with pencils. I need to even up the eyes, pupils and lips - but I think I'm almost happy with it. You can also see I need serious practise using wet on wet watercolours - the lips bled into the surrounding paper badly... Continue reading

Welcome to Fan Friday, today's inspiration is a book! What you didn't think every Fan Friday would be a web site did you, and trust me this one is really worth mentioning :O) So before I begin, I must confess that I think Dina Wakley is amazing, I see Dina's work and find myself loving the play of bold colour, I use her stamps have fun, and she also teaches online classes (they are on my 'to-do-list') and I completely admire her approach to art, creativity and life! I also have to say a big thank you to Dina for allowing me to re-post some of her art in this post (with her permission). I first came across Dina while watching clips from 2012 CHA, I've saw a video of Dina where she was talking about colour and composition - I had one of those Ah-Ha moments while listening to... Continue reading

Today I thought I'd share a page from my Copic Art Journal. YES this did take a while to finish, but as you may know, I was recently 'out-of-action' for a total of 3 months and not able to do much except lay in in reclining chair (it was a looooong 3 months) - so I had time to spare and not much else to do :O) This page kept me happily busy for a while between the doodling and the colouring. It was created all in copics and I had so much fun creating this, even with my hubby checking my colouring progress saying - 'is that all you've done' on a semi-regular basis. I think he was interested in seeing the finished page to find out where I was going with the colours :O) Copic Colours used on 'K' art journal page: N3, N5, N9, Black 100, YR15,... Continue reading

Some things are just meant to challenge us aren't they. I found out last weekend that my beloved Google Reader is being discontinued, then yesterday I read that Feedburner (which I currently use to provide all of you with the option to receive my posts via email or RSS feed ( ie: you receive my blog updates in your email or via a reader - Google Reader, Live reader etc) looks likely to be next on the chopping block!!! Now I really appreciate all the amazing people who have chosen to subscribe to my site and I would hate to lose you (or for you to lose me! especially due to a cancellation none of us chose), I value you all too much! In an effort to make sure I can still provide you all with an email or RSS delivery service I decided to jump ship and swap my... Continue reading