Most of my friends don't live near me, precisely because my work is online, so I've met and traveled with people from all over the world, and bringing them home in my suitcase is frowned upon in certain circles.
So I see them at work events, my retreats, etc.
But it gives me a good excuse to send I Miss You cards, which means I have a good excuse to stamp, which almost makes up for not living near them. Almost.
Today I'm guesting with my friends at MFT and I had a serious giggle making today's card.
The stamp set with the giraffes is freaking adorable. So are the matching dies. And because I know that a lot of people look at solid images and think all you can do is ink them up and stamp them, but that's not true! You can add tons of details and make them your own, and one of my favorite ways is with pencils and pens.
I tried out my new Arteza pencils for this today, and I love them. They are buttery soft, sharpen perfectly, and no broken leads. I'll show them to you in the video, and I am pretty sure you will love the price. I also grabbed their fine point black pens - they come in a multi pack and I use teeny black pens on almost every card, so I can't have too many. You can get 10% off your Arteza purchase with the coupon code understandblue1 here.
So after I stamped the giraffe in Orange Zest up in the corner of my card front, I colored the whole thing with the Lemon pencil. Then I shaded him and his spots with Burnt Ochre, and finally did the darkest shading with Dark Chocolate. Then I used the awesome, triangular Fineliner Pens for his eyes nose, and a dash of darkness on his neck. The pencils are triangular too - which gave me a flashback. I forgot how comfortable triangular pens and pencils are to grip (important for me because I'm such a slow worker) - but when I pulled the pencils out when I got them, I had a Proust-style flashback to some teacher-mandated triangular pencil grips (like these) that had a strong, slightly sweet smell to them, that one of my teachers in elementary school had us use. THEN, remembering that smell, I remembered these monster finger puppets that had the exact same smell. At that point, I'd forgotten everything that I was thinking about and was just transported to Sul Ross elementary school. :)
So back to the card. After finishing the giraffe, I covered him with masking paper, and brushed on some Summer Splash Ink with my blender brushes. Then I stamped the HILARIOUS sentiment, which clearly describes all my friends in Nocturne.
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So do you have faraway friends you miss? Tell me about them in the comments for your chance to win a stash giveaway - I'm that person that accidentally buys multiples, so I'll surprise you :).
While you're thinking of your list, enjoy my video and a giveaway! To be eligible to win, all you have to do is be subscribed to both my channel and the My Favorite Things channel, and to leave a comment on my video - you will be entered to win a shopping spree at My Favorite Things!
If you want a ton more inspiration - stop by the MFT blog for cute projects with all their newest stuff.
Loveyameanitbye.
