Feeling Blue?

Well you know I am!!

Two cards tonight. My friends Yvonne and Vee have been doing AMAZING Zindorf inspired work lately!!! So here's my attempt at a blue Zindorf creation. This has a lot of layers and steps. I stamped the trees in Basic Black, and then custom cut the "hills", masked and sponged them. Then I used the Rock & Roll technique with Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie to stamp the "sun" with Simply Circles. Then I used the stamp positioner to overstamp the trees and sun with versamark and embossed them. Then I stamped the stars in versamark and embossed them. Then I re-masked the hills, smooshed versmark on them and embossed. Then I used the corner of Real Red, Creamy Caramel and Ballet Blue stampin spots to make the little marks in the sky. Then I sponged Ballet Blue over the whole sky and mounted it! Fun. She is a genius.

The second card is also Zindorf Inspired. I just LOVE these vases made with the oval punch. Amazing. I added some flowers from Embrace Life and I have another product update. I read on someone else's blog that you could use Adirondack Pitch Black with copics because it dries quickly and does not smear. Welll...... I didn't use it with Copics, but it sure as heck smears with a Blender Pen! I'm disappointed. Maybe the "quickly" part was a fib, or you need to heat set it, or it works ONLY with copics and not with other watercoloring - if you know any of this, please leave a comment. For me - back to Brilliance Graphite Black!! Anyway, I carefully used Cool Caribbean and a blender pen to color the flowers. Then I went back with a Sakura glitter pen for the centers. I think it's cool - you? This is for a coworker that broke her wrist this weekend, poor lady. Hey - FYI - Crocs + water - not a good combination. She slipped and fell and caught herself on her left wrist. Ouch.

Finally, a personal note. My new job is far from my house. :( But they let me work 6-3 so I don't sit in traffic for three hours a day! :) But, I drive a Yukon :( So I was spending $150 a week on gas!!! YIKES. So I decided to scale down the old truck and try for something with better gas mileage. I ended up with a used BMW and it was an incredible deal. Did you know that certified pre-owned BMW's come with a 6 year, 100,000 mile warranty? I cannot believe it! I absolutely STOLE that car, and it was an incredible buying and dealership experience. There were two door dings in it and otherwise it look like no one else had ever even sat in it. The dealership said they would repair the dings so that the car was perfect. So I drove it for a week and then took it in. Their service department is like a clean, beautiful little German beehive!! They have lanes of loaners just waiting for customers, so the second I was done I came out and hopped in a car that was waiting for me. It was clean, had Starbucks coffee, and my service advisor has been emailing me every day with updates. I am completely blown away, and if I weren't a good Southern girl and didn't have manners, I'd tell you what I paid for it and then you'd REALLY freak out that I was getting this royal treatment. If you want a used car - get one of these!!! My loaner is the X-5, which I'm not a fan of, but it's a very nice car. I might just have to be a customer for life! Oh yeah, and 20 city/30 hwy mpg doesn't hurt either!! So tonight, BMW goes on the Blue List.

Also joining the blue list, a website I found accidentally while looking for some internet marketing tips at work. It's by a guy who is a marketing genius - it's called the Daily Monster, and every day, this Graphic Design artist - Stefan Bucher, creates a new monster on video with pen and ink. I fell in love hard with this site, the designer and his monsters. I think you will too. I think I'll have to buy his book for everybody for Christmas.

Happy Thursday! (It was Happy Wednesday but Blogger freaked out last night and I couldn't finish)

L.