I'm so excited to have these ladies on the first DT here at the Color Me Creative Classroom. They each bring in their own unique set of Copic Skills and you will see them LOTS around the classroom chatting, sharing and helping out. I have chosen DT gals that are at different levels with their Copic Skills because I want you all to see how they learn, improve & progress over the next few months as well. This way you can see what you can accomplish with dedication and lots of practice!

Please visit these ladies blogs and say "HI" and welcome them if you can! You can join the CMC Challenge Group and join in on the fun with us HERE (click Groups tab and click on CMC Challenge Group)---everyone is welcome to join!

Design Team Members Bio/Pics:

Marie Gamber -- Senior DT

I have always loved to create crafts and make projects to give as gifts. I started making cards with the Cricut machine two years ago. I just fell in love with making cards. I started using stamps approximately one year ago. I wasn’t impressed with just stamping cards. I saw a card by Suzanne Dean while surfing the web. I checked out her web site and discovered she not only made and colored gorgeous cards but offered online Copic classes. She actually colored the stamped images. Now that was new to me! This really changed my life. I signed up for her classes and have never looked back. I became totally addicted to the wonderful world of Copic markers. I cannot get enough of them. You may wonder what I do the rest of the time. I work as a Registered Nurse in an Emergency Department as a Patient Care Coordinator for Kaiser Permanente. I live in the beautiful Sierra Foothills. I love to read mystery books, work with the art of paper quilling and listen to music. I have two fur babies and 3 feather babies and love spending time with my wonderful supportive family and friends.

Melanie LaBelle -- Senior DT

I am a SAHM of 8 year old twins, one girl Jordan and one boy Ryan. They are the light of my life. I am married to a wonderful husband of almost 20 years (this June) and he supports me in my obsession of Copics and all crafts. I stared out scrapbooking 8 years ago and switched over to cards almost 5 years ago. We also have 2 puppies that I call my other set of twins, brother and sister puppies named Scout and Sunny. In my spare time, I love play with my children, read and watch TV.

Ruby McGuire - Senior DT

I live in the UK with my gorgeous man Ian, my 11 year old princess Natasha and a tiny dog called Lulu. I’m a wannabe SAHM, but for now I work at a small part time job, more to keep my expensive addiction (hobby) funded!! I’ve been card making for many years now, but it’s only since starting my blog a couple of years ago that it became my true passion. I’ve recently started to use my Copic pens (been collecting for well over a year!) and have now found another addiction to add to my ever depleting bank account!! I’m really excited to be joining Suzanne’s first DT. I am only a bambino in the Copic colouring arena, but I hope that I can encourage you to pick up your pens and just play as I have done since starting on Suzanne’s colouring course. They say it’s all about practice, practice, practice and I’m starting to think they’re right!!

Brook Guinn -- Senior DT

Eleven years ago, while pregnant with my second child, I went to a Stampin' Up! party and bought my first set of stamps (plus a bunch of other stuff I felt was "necessary" at the time). I made the birth announcements once my "little guy" was born then packed my stamps away. Fast forward 10 years...I get laid off from work and rediscover stamping. I've been back at it for just over a year and I'm totally addicted. Now I have a small room full of “necessary” items for my crafting. I recently started adding Copic markers to my stash of craft supplies. I am gradually learning the DOs and DON’Ts of coloring with Copics but plan to learn more. I live in South Carolina with my hubby and 2 boys. The only other female in the house is our 100 lb. chocolate lab and I believe she now gets more lovin' than me, but that's ok because I'm busy in my craft room.

Anary Baumgarth --Senior DT

My name is Anary , designer for Gilli Stamps and mom to Twiggy, the dog – a rescued MinPin & Betty Davis the cat (she adopted me). I consider Arts and Crafts to be part of my DNA. Artisanship is a family tradition. If I am not dealing with real life, you will find me playing with my craft tools, brushes, needles, hooks, markers, cake decor, you name it!). In essence, to me there is no such a thing as a boring day as long as I create something! I started doing paper crafts a long time ago, but just recently I found a new world of possibilities and a ton of new friends. In my world nothing says more than a handmade item.

Tina Gilliland -DT Coordinator

I have always been a craft person... creating lots of scrapbooks, stamping, ceramics, crocheting, even some canvas/paint work. I started scrapbooking 13 years ago with Creative Memories and then went on to become a demonstrator for them. I demonstrated for StampinUp as well until three years ago when the "internet crafting community" grabbed me and now I'm a stampin, Copic coloring fool!! I live in Des Moines, IA with my hubby, two kids, two dogs and a cat... all of which give me a reason to lose myself in crafts. :-)

Michele Spera-- Junior DT

Hi My name is Michele, I am 48, have lived on Long Island my whole life, will be married to my best friend Paul 30 years this year. We have 3 sons, 27, 22 and 12. We love to go to Disney World when we can! I have been involved in one form of Art or another since I was very young, I worked at a scrapbook/Rubber stamp store for a year until it closed, which was a wonderful experience! I learned so much that year. My passion since then has been card making and coloring with my Copic Markers! I'm obsessed with paper crafting and Art supplies and have my very own shed in the yard for my overflow items:-)

Jenn Cochran - Junior DT

My name is Jenn Cochran. I am a Colorado girl living on the Western Slope of the state. I am a long time crafter and card maker. I started off scrap booking and then found card making. I feel like a card is not complete until it has some dimension. I love using brads. flowers and there has to be ribbon or twine on every creation. I am a single sahm to my little guy Bean (4 almost 5yrs). I work for a huge local bank...running the fraud department (from home...its all computer work.). I end up with a lot of free time, so I can devote this time to creating. I pride myself on organization and TEAMWORK. My specialty is stamping on "shaped cards". I am also a Copic LOVER. I currently own a very large and still growing selection of Copic sketch markers. I also love airbrushing with my Copics. I am so excited to be part of CMC design team.

Patricia (Pat) St. Martin - Senior DT

I have been creating and designing cards for a long time but I started with copic markers in November 2009, started with about 15 markers of all the colors I liked and started to color with then and hated then but I put then away and after a some time I saw many colored with copic and that bothered me because my coloring did not look like their so I went on a mission to learn everything I could about copic and boy did I buy wrong. So I started buying my markers the right way and I pretty much self tough myself until Suzanne offered her classes and I could not wait tell they started. I'm a copic junkie!!! My copics go where I go. My friends call me The Embellishment Queen and I even have an assistant Kym Weber who have become out of my best students. Our newest challenge is creating our own flowers with punch bunch punches so far we have mastered Sweet Peas, Daisy, Queen Ann Lace, Azalea and we want to master more creation. So we find that Embellishment are unlimited. I have been married for 43 years to Richard. Have 3 wonderful sons David is 41 and not married, Kurt is 38 married with 2 children and Robert not married and 1 child. Three of the best grand children in the world. Aiden age 9, Emma is 5 and Isaiah is 12. We have lived in Kenosha Wisconsin for 39 years.

Sandie Dunne - Junior DT

"My name is Sandie and I live in Ireland with my hubby. I am a SAHM to our 4 kidlets who range in age between 5 and 19. I have been crafting for over 5yrs, starting out with scrapbooking, and was then lured over to the world of stamping and card making by all the talent in blogland. I enjoy all types of papercrafting from mini books to templates. My favourite colouring mediums are Copic markers and distress inks but I mostly use Copics. I am very honoured to be a CMC Design Team member."

Dana Joy-- Junior DT

Hi my name is Dana Joy. I've been a stamper/crafter for over 12 years and I am totally hooked on this little addiction of mine. I am a proud military spouse to a wonderful man that I saw in the third grade and claimed as my future husband. I'm also a mom to two amazing children, Jazmin 21 and Kier 16. They are my everything. I have been using Copic markers now for over two years and have become a hoarder of these precious little jewels. I am Copic certified and can not imagine my life without my markers. I have been on several design teams and am honored to be able to share the limelight with these amazing women. Hope you enjoy my little pieces of artwork shared amongst friends in blog land. Now let's get this party started.

Steph Lee - Junior DT

Hello everyone! My name is Stephanie Lee and I am very honored and thrilled to be part of the CMC classroom design team and be surrounded by all the talented artists. I am blessed to be married for almost 14 years to a man who is wonderfully tolerant of me and my paper and ink passion. We have two great kids – Shawn who is 5 and enjoys spending most of his time with me; and Emma who is 1 and enjoys spending most of her time with everyone else. They are the love of my life. I am also originally from Singapore, emigrated to Australia with family in my teens and now to USA for work in Corporate America. My husband and I have been in the US for over 15 years. I discovered scrapbooking and card making 5 years ago when my son was born. He inspired me to start creating. For me, there is something liberating about experimenting with different materials to see what new and special things I can come up with. Since then, I have had some wonderful opportunities to earn a living papercrafting – selling my greeting cards through my own company, Arty Carty Handmade Cards. I am also a Copic Certified Designer and a Copic addict, thanks to Suzanne and the CMC classroom team ;) I strongly encourage anyone who enjoys coloring with Copic markers to learn as much as you can and practice, practice, practice.

Shelby Goolsby - Junior DT

My name is Shelby Goolsby and I live in South Texas where you can find me chasing my sweet, crafty and energetic kids ages three, five and seven. I have a wonderful husband who supports, and I "think" gets my stamping obsession. I have been crafting seriously for almost two years now when I got my first batch of Copics. Little did I know there was a big learning curve to them and that is when I found Suzanne's tutorials and later the CMC classes. I can't begin to tell you how much I have learned and continue to learn from her so it is such an honor to be on the CMC Design Team. I look forward to sharing, learning and having fun with this wonderful group of people.

Andi Murdock - Junior DT

Hi, I am so excited to be joining the CMC DT! I am a passionate copic user and because of that obsession..I mean passion (lol) I even teach copic classes at my LSS. I tried to resist getting into copics but once I used them properly and saw the magic that they did on my paper I was hooked!!! Colouring with copics truly makes me feel like an artist and makes my creative soul sing. I love to share pictures of my first coloured images compared to now to show that anyone can learn how to use them and that we all need to practice..practice..practice to improve our ability. I can't wait to share my coloured creations with the CMC group!

Renkata Pacheva - Junior DT

I am Reni Pacheva ( Renkata from Scrap and Stamp with Friends -
http://scrapandstampwithfriends-renkata.blogspot.com/). I live in The Netherlands in a small town. I love painting, colouring, making cards all crafty things I do love to try. That's how I start colouring with Copics looking around in the amazing blogland and found one blog which have given me the inspiration to start my blog , buy few Copics and start colouring.I am sure you know what I am talking about, lol. Ohh I was so happy. I love deep rich colours and simple layouts. My moto is "Just Be Yourself", colour with your heart and enjoy yourself.

Suzanne Foard - Junior DT

My name is Suzanne, I have been interested in craft from an early age, starting my own company at 22 called Suzy Q Crafts, selling and teaching every aspect of craft. I have demonstrated for various companies in the past, also teaching in hobby craft and various shows. I love toppers and watercolour pencils and copics are my favourite to work with.

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Design Team Entry Information for next term (starting October 2011)

REQUIREMENTS:

-you must have an active blog that you post on regularly

-you must be active on the CMC Challenge Group during your term

-any level can apply, I want everyone to see all kinds of projects at every level so do NOT be intimidated

-you must post your challenge project on at least ONE other site (Splitcoast Stampers, Paper Craft Planet, etc.)

-do the CMC Challenges (any 2 a month) each month

-3 projects a month are due (2 can be for the CMC Challenges each month, but 1 must be something else)

-You may use any company's image/stamp UNLESS the requirement calls for something specific which I will supply you with

-Get people excited about the group, challenges & using their copics

-Possible Blog Hop 1 time during the 3 month term to kick off each new team

-Copics MUST be used on each project (you may combine them with pencils and distress inks but main focus is copic techniques/coloring)

-term is for 4 months

What You Will Receive:

-a pack of Cryogen paper

-$20 Gift Certificate to spend on Copics/Refills/Spicas

-at least 4-6 digi images to use if you'd like

-1 Free Class here at CMC of your choosing

-you will get a blinkie to post on your blogs

How to Apply:

DEADLINE IS Sept 10th for the 3rd Term Junior DT

-Email me two projects that show off your style and technique the best to sjdean0574@yahoo.com (not projects that have been used for other CMC challenges though) with subject line "CMC DT"

-You can make cards, scrapbook pages, anything that has a copic colored image on it

-I want to see individuality and copic use---your copic level is not important to me

-include your blog address

-2 sentences why you'd LOVE to be on the team :)

Next Term will start Oct 1, 2011!

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