Monday, November 16, 2015

The Love Bug

I grew up in the 70s and 80s - spent my formative years in both those decades. This explains my general awesomeness - any child who lived through both disco and Journey can't help but have a great outlook on life.

I remember the following about these decades.

We had the best music. Don't even pretend we didn't. Seriously - I'll shun you. And maybe call the men in white coats. I'll even reach back into the 60s - that's allowable - since my siblings were older I benefited from their tunes as well. My brother and sister used to use me as a party trick because I knew all the words to all Beatles songs and could sing them endlessly on command. (I use the word "sing" loosely - not really one of my gifts.)

Our TV shows and movies were clean and sweet, and many of them were outrageously sweet and optimistic or had pure, classy justice at their core, with no depravity (not that I minded a little depravity in Breaking Bad, mind you), nice clothing and PG language:
  • The Love Bug
  • Xanadu
  • The Love Boat
  • Fantasy Island
  • The Brady Bunch
  • The Partridge Family
  • Perry Mason
  • Laverne & Shirley
  • Magnum PI
  • Cheers
  • Happy Days
  • Charlie's Angels
Even the names are happy. Love, Fantasy, Happy, Cheers, Angels.

Just for fun, I have a list of popular shows now-ish.

  • Blacklist
  • Scandal
  • Breaking Bad
  • Walking Dead 
  • Six Feet Under
  • Mr. Robot
  • Sons of Anarchy
  • Dexter
  • LOST
  • Bones
  • Criminal Minds
Now this is an unscientific comparison of course, but I can feel the change, not just read it, as a person who has lived in both times and I think the names are the best way to illustrate the cultural difference.

Interesting, isn't it?

I haven't really moved on from Xanadu and the Love Bug, personally. Even Disney is a bit dark for me. (Why you gotta kill all the animals, Disney?)

So when we received our bags at OnStage, with the Beautiful Ride stamp set in it (sneak peek of the upcoming Occasions catalog - email me if you want a copy when it comes out), I was instantly transported back to my childhood and the days of Super Elastic Bubble Plastic. I knew exactly what I was going to do with this stamp set when I got home.

And as pooped as I was after coming back from Dallas - I did it :).



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It turned out just how I wanted it to. :) I masked off the Bug with Winsor Newton Masking fluid, sprayed it with water from my mister, and then just touched a paintbrush with reinkers (Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise) on it to the water and let it do what it wanted. I painted the wheels and the dog from the set with my Koi watercolors, and made the chrome with FineTec metallic silver watercolor - in real life they really shine and look like chrome.


I made a quick video for you on how I did the tie dye - please enjoy!





Hope your preparations for Thanksgiving are going well. Be sure and watch our favorite Thanksgiving movie - Planes, Trains and Automobiles. That's the warm up movie for our serious holiday movie blitz - Home Alone, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, The Grinch, Charlie Brown Christmas, Christmas Story, Elf and Christmas Vacation.

This is how we survive the dark months of the time change, people!

Who else is tired of it getting dark at 4 PM? Turning the lights on and crafting is the only remedy.

Do it.

Loveyameanitbye.

27 comments:

  1. Your card brought smiles today! With 5 kids, their dad restored old VW beetles because that is all we were willing to let them drive. To this day, those cars still hold fond memories. Even my 40 year old daughter just bought an old one. It takes a lot of McGyver to keep them on the road but what fun. LOVE the tie dyed car!

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  2. Very cute! I too am a child of the 70's & 80's and my first car was a bug...your post has made me smile with memories! Love what you did with this stamp :)

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  3. The lists of TV shows is pretty scary. Wow. And that bug is awesome. Now I want to water color.

    Your post took me back to HS (early 70s) when a friend of mine picked me up in his VW Beetle. He said, "My dear, we have been blessed with a manifold heater. The car will be warm when we get there."

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  4. Sick to death of 4PM darkness. Why do we need to change the clocks, anyway? Love the flash back card...tie die. Amazing, wasn't it the surprised of untying the garment and all that glorious color. Glad you used it on the VW...had one myself...in the ugliest green, EVER, but it ran like sewing machine and got me where I was going. Miss that silly little bug. Anyway, all this reminiscing to tell you that this card is AWESOME!

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  5. Thank you for taking me back to my childhood with you. It was indeed a great ride!

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  6. Gosh you are soooo right about all of it, and growing up in the same time frame as you I sure do miss them. I'm headed "home" to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving and where I grew up, and I intend to try and re-live some of those crazy times even tho I know I won't bounce back like I used to :) I drive a Beetle now, and I'd love to know when this stamp is available because of course I NEED it. Your tie dye technique is AWESOME! Thanks for the smile, and for a little trip down memory lane too.

    Jeannie T.
    Dragonfly Journeys

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    1. Hi Jeanne - it will be available January 5th! I love Thanksgiving - safe travels home!

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  7. Love this!!!!! Who makes the stamp!? Fab love bug!!

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    1. It's Stampin' Up! - it will be released in January!

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  8. This is the cutest little VW Bug with its sweet little puppy ridding along!

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  9. We got a different set in Tampa. Happy Home for us.

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  10. For several reasons I've always been pretty much a loner and a homebody, so watching TV has always been an important passtime for me. I feel the same way you do about what even the titles of now days shows tells us... let alone their content. I often think how it was for me growing up... the whole family could sit down and watch TV together pretty much throughout primetime. Now, the trash starts even before kids are in bed. So VERY sad what our society has become.

    I'm so glad that in our area, new networks that are available via antenna have popped up that show a lot of the old TV series to go along with the two or three networks on satellite that I enjoy a lot of the time. Oh, yeah, among our favorite shows are a couple you mentioned... Blacklist and Criminal Minds among others, but I'm so glad I grew up during the best days of TV and as you said also the best decades for music. When it comes to my music, I ONLY listen to my oldies!!! LOL!!

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  11. Love the watercolor beetle and thank you for the trip down memory lane.

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  12. Oh, my! This is tooooo cute! I have a mostly love relationship but sometimes hate relationship with bugs! We had MANY and they left us stranded in snowbanks, (I thought we were going to die out in the wilderness---I was 5), stranded overnight at filling stations (remember when filling stations actually had mechanics??) and had many sleeps in rest areas in bugs and VW vans. I truly was a kid of the 70's!!! My brother was even born in one!!! I love how you colored this bug. I think I need this set to help exercise any remaining demons, don't you? :)

    "We had the best music. Don't even pretend we didn't." I agree...... my husband and I have differing opinions! Sigh on the TV/movies. Good days. :)

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  13. Love your post today. The comparison of TV show titles is great and everyone over 40 should read it!,

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  14. Wow love this look on the beetle. Have to try this with my Combi Van. So cool, makes a brilliant card.

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  15. So cute .. many memories . I learned to drive in a Beetle .

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  16. Lydia, I LOVE your Bug! Can't wait to get that set (nope, I didn't go to On Stage, so I have to wait). As far as the best music, I TOTALLY don't know the music of the 80's because I was into popular music from the mid-60's to the mid-70's. Like I had all the words memorized, etc. Hubby and I often say we need a Sirius XM station that plays mid-60's to mid-70's b/c we switch from the 60's station when it's music from early 60's and we switch from the 70's station when it gets to late 70's (first baby arrived in '79 and that was the end of listening to popular music, pretty much, though I'm not sure why). I love Three Dog Night, Time of the Season (was that by them?), any and all music by The Moody Blues (though now looking back, their rather odd and out-there lyrics didn't really represent me - I loved them anyway and sang along (rather badly). And my college years brought Carole King and Carly Simon - Carly was singing the songs of my love life!

    And about the TV shows - I haven't seen a single show on your current list! I grew up watching Leave it to Beaver, Dennis the Menace, Green Acres, Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, and other wholesome fare. Early adulthood brought St Elsewhere, possibly the best medical show EVER! And then ER.... And Seventh Heaven! And Full House!!

    Lots of great memories, Lydia, thanks for them tonight!

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  17. Mine might have had a slightly different shape, being a VW Fastback, but GO BUGS!!! And hope ABBA makes it into the music!

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  18. Fantastic card! I was unaware of masking fluid until reading this post. What type of cardstock or paper did you use with this technique? My "Beautiful Ride" stamp set should arrive any day now and I am ready to try this technique right away. Thank you for shareing.

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    1. Hi Peggy - my fave is this hot press watercolor paper - it's smooth so you can stamp on it cleanly http://amzn.to/1LXnTMP

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  19. Love this card! My dad had a 73 super beetle & I always loved it. I am not familiar with the masking fluid technique. Is there anyway you could explain how to use it? Do you cover the whole image or just the parts you want colored? Also, you mentioned taking it off? How do you do that? Thanks in advance for any helpful hints.

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    1. Hi Tonya! Masking is for the parts you DON'T want colored - so I masked around the bug - if you watch the video you'll see how to remove the fluid when you are done painting!

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  20. What a happy card! I hadn't done the analysis that you have done about names of TV shows - very interesting!

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