St. Patrick's Day Birthday Card I

My sweet, amazing father-in-law turns 87 this week. He is a proud Irishman and we are celebrating his birthday on St. Patrick's Day! We, hs extended family, have rented out a community hall to accomodate his 5 children, their 5 spouses, his 19 grandchildren, 14 grandchildren-in-love, 10 great grandchildren and 2 more on the way! Phew! And yep, the math took me a minute.

This totals 55 plus the man himself!

I made two fun cards, one will be from my husband (the youngest and best of the children) and myself, the second will be from our two youngest children (grandchidren 18 and 19!)

I will feature the first card on this blog post!

I used "Simply Charmed" and cut the leprechaun at 3.5". The shamrocks are from "Spring Holiday Cards" and are cut at 1.5", 2" and 2.5".

I cut the "coil" from a flower from "Art Philosophy" since I am eagerly anticipating my Papertrey Ink die to arrive...

The card is a clear card from CTMH. I printed the leprechaun hair and face on white aper on my Imagine, and pribted his other layers using my stock colours. I then used my AMAZING Spectrum Noir pens to colour his skin and hair.

Sadly his eyebrows were lost in cutting. Poor fella.

NOW YOU DO IT!

Copic vs. Spectrum Noir Markers

I finally got my new Spectrum Noir Markers! Now, let's be clear - I have over 120 Copic Markers, a mix of both Ciao and Sketch. I never allowed myself the luxury of purchasing Copic Originals due to the cost. However, I really, really REALLY wanted them because I wanted that nib! That fine, fine nib. I did a lot of work developing my skills with the finer brush tip of the Ciao and Sketch, but it is still difficult to get some of the smaller areas on a fine stamped image. The brush sometimes 'brushes' out of the desired area...I'm NOT talking about bleeding, I'm talking about colouring outside the lines when you don't want to. 

I use the finest paper by Gina K. and also some 'specially made for Copics' paper I found online. 

Sooooooooo....when the Spectrum Noir came to my attention with its magnificent square barrel and gorgeous fine tip, I couldn't resist...and the price tag is AWESOME compared to a Copic! (Ciao, Sketch or Original! Yay)

In conclusion, I LOVE the new Spectrum Noir. It colours slightly differently than a Copic, but in a way that is a fun and pleasurable experience. Here are the pros and cons of each:


Spectrum Noir Pros:
Great blending
Fantastic Nib
PRICE!! Super price


Spectrum Noir Cons:
Limited colour choice - I'm sure this will change
**Lid colour does NOT match ink colour - test FIRST!


Copic Pros:
Exquisite blending
 Endless colour choice, also due to exquisite blending


Copic Cons:
Fine Nib not available for Ciao or Sketch
Prohibitive Cost

Thanks for watching.