That Time I Went Crazy Without a Car

I have had to have two repairs done on my car recently. It's a Toyota, so it's amazingly low maintenance, but it also has 200K miles on it, so things do wear out.

Anyway, even though I work from home and don't leave my office during the day much at all, just something about knowing I don't have a car makes me unhinged.

I've always been a car person - I enjoy driving, and when I travel I almost always rent a car so that I can have freedom and independence. Freedom is the word I associate the most with having a car.

So despite not having to be anywhere the day my car was in the shop, I still felt sort of trapped, so I channeled that into a mixed media card.

It started as a no-line watercolor. I stamped it in Fadeout Ink, and used Split E & F colors of Daniel Smith (from my split group) to paint it with. But then I though - I want to add a little colored pencil shading. So I put some dark brown accents with a Luminance Pencil on the petals. Then I added some lighter reddish brown with my Blick Studio Pencils (these are great pencils and very affordable) for finer detail - the lead in these is a little harder than the Luminance.

Then, because I had clearly lost my mind, I used a colorless blender pencil over all that detail to blend and soften it.

Then, deranged, I went back with Perylene Maroon watercolor for a few deep darks - that's the same color I used in the flower centers too. I just dotted it on and left white space for highlights.

Even after all that, my car still wasn't done - but hey - I had a beautiful sunflower card to show for it.

This gorgeous sunflower stamp starts shipping today, and is part of the Greenhouse Society program, which I love. Super affordable stamps for people who love plants!

Sunny Flowers | Clear Stamps to Color... [ TCH ] Greenhouse Society Flower Stamps &... [ TCH ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Caran d'Ache Luminance Colored... [ BLIC ] 22063-0369 - Blick Studio Artists'... [ BLIC ] Prismacolor Colored Pencil COLORLESS... [ SSS ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK | SSS ] Tsukineko VersaFine Clair NOCTURNE... [ SSS | ELH ] Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. Cold Press... [ AMZUS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- Sea Glass [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | SBC ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART | SBC ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] My Favorite Watercolor Sketchbook [ UTR ] Coloring Glove - Anti-Smudge [ AMZUS ] Ipoint Orbit Pencil Sharpener, Turquoise [ AMZUS | BLIC ] Derwent Battery-Operated Eraser [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Global Art Classic Leather Pencil Cases [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | ART | BLIC | ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ] Sizzix BIG SHOT EXPRESS Gray and... [ SSS | ELH ]

Sunflowers have become the unofficial emblem of my retreat, so I had to have this beautiful image, and I adore the little ladybug in the set, which I intended to put on one of the leaves, but again, I was unhinged, so I forgot.

I mounted the watercolor paper on Sea Glass cardstock, and stamped the sentiment in Nocturne with the MISTI.

This is what I recommend for anyone who finds themselves without their car. It's a great way to spend a few hours and use different mediums together for a super unique look.

PS - my winner from the Altenew blog hop is Katya @ Archie & Ink! Katya please contact me via my sidebar for instructions on claiming your prize!

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Loveyameanitbye.

Life Changing Brushes Make Happy Little Clouds.

Where are my Bob Ross fans?

It's Friday after all - you could totally have a Bob Ross marathon on Netflix this weekend.

He'd love today's video, because it's all about making happy little clouds with the new Life Changing Brushes.

I love these things - they are so much easier to hold than anything else I've tried, and they are so soft and smooth. You'll see me petting them in the video like they are housecats. True story.

I used them with three colors of ink: Sea Glass, Blue Raspberry and Wild Lilac.

To get the cloud shapes, I stamped On a Cloud of Dreams onto masking paper, and cut the clouds out and stuck them on white cardstock. Then I ink blended, as you'll see in the video - first around the clouds, and then inside them with Slate ink. Then I used this border stamp for the grass, and the sentiment from this set. Is that not a sweet scene? The sky makes me think of the Truman Show.

On A Cloud Of Dreams - Picket Fence... [ PFS ] Grass - Picket Fence Studios [ PFS ] Flying By To Say Hi. - Picket Fence... [ PFS ] "Life Changing" Blender Brush Set -... [ PFS ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad- Sea Glass [ GNK | SSS ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad- Blue... [ GNK | SSS ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad- Wild Lilac [ GNK | SSS ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad- Slate [ GNK | SSS ] Avery Self-Adhesive Removable Laser... [ AMZUS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | ART | BLIC | ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ]

Today I'm super excited about the Picket Fence Design Team debut - this is a bunch of ladies I put together for my friends at Picket Fence, and they are going to do amazing things.

So I hope you have a fun weekend lined up. I need to play catchup before I leave for my next road trip with Kathy Racoosin - if you're going to the event in Salt Lake - I'll see you there!

Enjoy the video of these amazing brushes - the video is remarkably Maddie-free. :)

Loveyameanitbye.