Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Tips n Tricks Tuesday # 4 - Copic Markers, Prismacolor Pencils, & Goo Gone

Oh, how I love my collection of coloring tools! I will often sit and stare at this container full of color because I think it is so beautiful. You know how much I love color!

Last week Lisa wanted to know how I store my Copics and if I take them all with me on the go. I store my Copics and Prismacolor Pencils (grouped by type and then color) in a Pampered Chef spinning thingee that I think was originally for kitchen utensils. As usual, my cheap self reclaimed this from a friend who had tired of it. I also store my purple pencil sharpener in with the purple pencils (bottom of pic). In the center circle, I store my paper snips scissors, my sand paper for my blending stumps (oh, yeah, the stumps are here too - outter ring, middle of Prismas side), and a fine black marker. This is how I keep my coloring tools on my stamp table and they are ready to go as well - no switching them from one container to another. This entire thing fits in a cloth totebag I have. I just add my folder of images to color and a clip board.


Sandy wanted to know what is up with me and the Goo Gone. I used to use Baby Oil to blend my Prismacolor pencils. I liked that it was relatively easy to obtain and relatively safe around the kiddos. I did get tired of waiting for that oily spot to dry. Ug. I didn't want to go to oderless mineral spirits as this product was not easily accessible to me and I was concerned about health warnings when my kiddos use this to. So, I switched to Goo Gone for blending my pencils and I love it!

When I used to blend my Prismas with baby oil gel, it was really easy to throw the tube in my bag and go. Now that I've switched to Goo Gone, I had to think of a new solution. We buy Goo Gone very economically in a giant container. I only needed a small easily accessible container for my coloring. So, I decided to use one of those small disposable storage containers. Just the right size but really light weight. I'm pretty clumsy so I KNEW that was an accident waiting to happen (I would definately knock it over!). I had some plaster of paris mix leftover from a Girl Scout project so I grabbed a disposable storage container one size larger, mixed up some plaster of paris in there, and put the smaller container inside. I had to do some weighting down (canned good) and proping up (popcicle sticks) to get this just the right height for it to dry at. NOTE: If I transport this, I carry it outside my tote bag so I can keep an eye on it. Don't want anything spilling out of here!

Hope that answers your questions and gets ya thinking. More questions are welcome of course!

So, do you want to know what I'm going to post next week or shall each Tuesday be a surprise?

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
“Queen of the Scene”

2 comments:

Lisa Foster said...

Very Cool! I love that your whole spin thingee fits right into a tote bag...I always have to pack mine into a tote bag...not fun. I see that you have your Copics stored upright...so that solves the mystery of whether or not they have to be horizontal...hmmm...I'm thinkin' now...this opens lots of doors :) I do want to find something that I can just grab and take like you! Thanks for the tips! Oh and, I LOVE suprises...so that's my vote!

Sandy said...

What a great system for your coloring tools!! Thanks for sharing the tip. And I love the folder you have with your images so you can create anytime, anywhere ... well almost.