COPICS, Creatives, And Other Things To Make You Cry

Joyful Monday, cafe friends! I hope all of the Moms at the cafe had a blessed day yesterday. My day was quiet...one son working, one son vacationing out of town, and one son attending church with me. Quiet, but not in a terrible way. I spent the day immersed in a good book, and that's one of the best gifts for me.

I have a funny Mom story to share with you in honor of Mother's Day.

I've been slowly adding COPIC markers to my collection over the past year. I still love my Prismas, in all their forms, but COPIC has a lovely spectrum of colors that makes shading a no-brainer. And apparently I'm not the only one adding to their collection, because the manufacturer is having a hard time keeping up with the demand and they seem to sell out of colors everywhere!

Don't they look pretty? Yes, I'm the girl that oohed and aahed over the giant box of Crayolas.

My marker storage was purchased from the office supply section of Target. It's meant to stand upright, to be used as a desk caddy. But lay it down and it's perfect for keeping markers nice and juicy.

I started with these trios of Sketch markers, ordering from Dick Blick last year. One rainy day last weekend, my husband and I decided to get in the car and drive to nearby Naperville. Seriously, it's not even thirty minutes from our house, but we never seem to get out of the tri-city Fox River Valley. I wanted to spend some time perusing in a Lifeway store. And as luck would have it, there was also a Dick Blick store right down the street. Hooray! I purchased some new markers to add to my collection.

When I got home, I told my youngest son "Sam, you really need to go with us next time. There's a Dick Blick art store that's really cool, and you would really like it."

And then I took my markers out of the bag and laid them on the table.

Sam froze.

"Wait. Are those COPIC markers?!" he asked, incredulously.

Uh, yeah. I didn't even know the kid knew about COPIC markers.

"Oh my gosh! My friends and I have been wanting these forever, and we've been trying to think of ways that we could afford to buy them and share them!" he said. And he instantly took out his cell phone, took a picture, and sent it in a group text.

"Sam, I have more COPICS down in the basement in my craft studio."

"You do? Show me!"

And I showed him. And he fawned over the Prismas, too.

He looked at his phone.

"All my friends want to know if my mom is rich," he laughed.

No. Just tell them I skip manicures and pedicures and salon highlights so that I can buy craft supplies instead. ;)

Don't you just love creative types? They get it. And Sam has been a creative type from day one. He attends anime club at school, enjoys Manga art, draws, plays trumpet in band, plays piano at home, and sings beautifully. Creative. And also very scientific. He turned his cell phone into a hologram machine one day. Yesterday, using a magnifying glass and a shoe box, he turned his phone into a movie projector.

Here's one of his recent projects. He wanted to make a dragon to represent China for a school social studies project. When he described it to me, it seemed pretty ambitious. But he did it!

Yep, that's my creative type with the sideways haircut, writing on his hands and arms, wearing a sweater that the dog chewed. A proud mom moment. :)

Yesterday, he gave me the sweetest poem that he wrote for me in English class. He told me it made his teacher cry. Yeah, it made me cry, too! Especially where he wrote:

You are the dreams to my nightmare,
The protector of my days,
With a prayer you send me off
To face another day.
Mother, you are my everything. You are my white tulip from God.

sniff! sniff! He even included a reference from one of our favorite science nerdy television shows, Fringe. He knows me, and he knew I'd get it. And I did. And I answered him with another reference from the show "Sam, you are my favorite thing!"

I'm guessing that my new markers will get double the use this summer. And who knows? Maybe we can have Sam's friends over for a creative workshop.

Blessings, cafe friends!