Look out Copics, here I come!

Look out Copics, here I come! Not only am I your classic "Late Adopter" (marketing term for someone who is always the last to catch on to any trend), I am now a Certified Copic Instructor!

Last weekend I took an amazing class with Sally Lynn MacDonald and had a great time. Her class was fantastic, despite a few set backs like having all her markers stuck in customs! Anyway, we got the scoop on the Copics (that's a long "o" folks) and am now qualified to teach these babies. To be honest, I wasn't all that wowed at first. Us Late Adopters are deeply suspicious of new things when our old things like Twinklings and Tombows are wonderful and we love them. We don't see any need to change when things are just fine the way they are. We wonder how anything new could possibly be better. (And when it comes to monitors, this may well be true!)

Well, Copics aren't better, but they are different, and they are fun. I found the paper at the certification class a bit hard to blend on, but I've been playing at home on Heather's special 130 lb cardstock and it is practically self-blending. It is super easy to use. We got a little case of markers included in our registration and this card is made with those, supplemented with 2 greens and a yellow. This will be an upcoming class at Heather's, so I'm not going to give away the details here, other than to say this is the second card I made with Copics and I am HOOKED! They are fun, fun, fun.

ESR,JALB (eventually stamp-related, just a little bit):

Last weekend was a dream weekend. DH whisked me off to Kingston for a get-away after work on Friday. We stayed at Green Woods Inn, which I would recommend to anyone who wants a wonderful stay in an amazing B&B in the total lap of luxury. We went out for dinner at Domenicos and it was fabulous. We walked around a bit and enjoyed the sights and atmosphere. I love Kingston - so historic and interesting and you are never more than about 3 steps from a historical plaque. (I am a sucker for historical plaques and will always badger DH to stop and read them if I see any. He often resists since we are usually trying to get somewhere and he is not as captivated by the "Historical Plaque 63 km at next left" signs as I am.) Anyway, Kingston is practically paved with historical plaques, written by the most earnest date-o-phile in Ontario. I digress. The rooms at Green Woods are beautiful, full of antiques and very, very comfortable. The owners are very hospitable and professional, and even remembered where we dined the last time we stayed there (about five years ago). The breakfast was heavenly (yogurt parfait with granola, bananas and strawberries to start, Green Woods Benedict - perfectly poached eggs on Pan Chancho olive focaccia, with sauteed mushrooms and balsamic tomatoes on the side, with fresh croissants and homemade preserves, including the most flavourful pear, pineapple and carrot jam, with an interesting note that I think was cloves, but maybe nutmeg - will have to try to replicate this summer during jamming season - are you tired of this sentence yet??? - could try to extend with further ~punctuation~ of sorts....I would try but I am out of typing breath!). We had a great afternoon browsing around the shops of downtown Kingston. We poked around a couple of used book stores as I was trying to work up to buying an old dictionary for the purposes of diecutting the pages in manner of Tim Holtz. Ed sternly disapproved of these barbaric intentions and to be honest I just couldn't do it. I just couldn't face those book store owners and buy a dictionary for the purposes of wanton destruction. These bookstore owners clearly felt that all these books were somehow extensions of themselves, somehow family members stacked up and piled around for the purposes of maintaining society's knowledge of all sorts of topics, from how to make dolls from plastic canvas to important knots of the 1920s. How could anyone dream of defiling these treasures? I was able to bring myself to buy a couple of old plays and a book of French poetry for purposes of applying these mots d'art to paper projects, but couldn't quite get a dictionary. It was a wonderful get-away and so nice to spend some time with my Dear DH. He also let me go to Marchant's for an hour, a stamp store in Kingston, which was fun. They have a wonderful selection of scrapbooking supplies and I got some interesting Opaline Ink and a Hampton Arts diva stamp, and another interesting Penny Black stamp that caught my eye. I'm looking forward to trying those out. They had a fun little make-and-take with Savvy Stamps too - very cute! Lucky Kingstonians to have all that ink and rubber goodness nearby.

Well, time to hit post and then the hay! So much for an early night but if I dash, I just might make it before midnight. T minus two minutes and counting. Hey - speaking of Two Minutes to Midnight, Iron Maiden is opening Blues Fest! I talked DH into going with me to recapture my youth. Rock on Garth!!!! Blue Rodeo, Johnny Cash, and Van Morrison may be more my thing nowadays, but if Bruce, Steve, Dave and the boys can turn up and play, the least I can do is go and see them.

Stamp credits: flower - Sunshine Designs (The Stamp Barn), plaid - Cornish Heritage Farms scrapblock.