Halfway There..

Can you believe tomorrow is JUNE??? Dang. Where did it go? Am I the only one for whom time is zipping by? Must be the stamping!!

I'm in a bit of a birdy mood these past few days. I don't know why. I get in crafty moods. White mood, pencil mood, painty mood, birdy mood, monster mood.

Do you think if they extricated my DNA they could isolate the little birdy mood protein? I sure as heck would have paid more attention in science classes if somebody had told me we'd be finding the blue gene or the glitter sequence. Instead, I was drawing birdies on my chemistry book and giving myself the giggles over molarity.

This is a silly card. Get it? You complete me? Tee hee...

It was inspired on my walk. I walked my bum off this weekend, but today I took a nice little sitdown in the middle of my walk and it was divine, and then this popped into my head when I started moving again.

The bird is the On Board So Tweet, and I covered him with crossword puzzle. I hand drew the notes and used the 1/4" square punch to make the greeting, which I hand wrote. My writing is awful, but he's just a birdie. He can't read, so he doesn't care.

While making him, I look out the window and see that my Heavenly Blue morning glories have bloomed. All my flowers are blooming late this year.

Anyway, does this not look like there's light coming out of the center of the flower?? They just glow. I love them. I love glowy things. :)
I hope you had a nice Sunday.

Oh - PS - sometimes I want to email you about comments you leave, but if you don't add your email to your blogger profile, I can't contact you - when I hit reply it's blank. :(

You may want to update your profiles, especially in case you win stuff! :) But mostly because sometimes Kydia wants to say hey! :)


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The Gumdrop Test

I, apparently have a flavor that is whatever the equivalent of bacon is to the following beasts: mosquitos, cats, dogs.

Splotchy woke me up this morning, as he does most mornings - sleeping peacefully on my left shoulder, paws stretched across my chest (I have to hold his feet in my right hand or he squeaks in my ear) with one exception....

HE BIT MY NOSE AND THEN STARTED CHEWING ON MY FINGERS LIKE THEY WERE SLIM JIMS. The bite was not a "hey, let's wake this broad up and get some food" - it was a slow reach, rub his cheek on my face and then, "mmm - face bacon - CHOMP".

What the heck?? Afraid that I have a pack of cat zombies thirsting for human flesh, I hastily left for my walk. I tried the coyote trails today. Everything was great until a pair of Rhodesian Ridgebacks tried to eat me. The owner was trying to hold them back with her scrawny self and saying "the big one's really friendly, but the smaller one isn't". Really? I couldn't tell from the foam and fangs, lady. And oh - by the way - you need a biscuit.

Anyway, that's why, despite the fact that I love all creatures great and small, patted a cheetah once, hugged a koala, befriended an asp - I will never have an animal in my house that can fit anything larger than a gumdrop in its mouth. Nibble away Splotchy - that's all the bacon you're getting!

Anyway - did you think I'd leave you alone on Caturday???? You've got to be out of your minds!!!

Afraid that I've been playing favorites, many of you have demanded equal video time for Maddie, so here she is, in all her athletic glory. I apologize for the size of the video. (I don't have an actual video camera, just a digital camera with video, so it's teeny. Click over if you don't see it or click here.)

And finally, I've had so much fun connecting with other artists on Twitter the last few weeks. Amazing people. Fun people. Beautiful art. It makes me happy every time it happens.

Then, I got up this morning and read this. It stopped time for just a bit.

It does so many things. Speaks first to how timeless what he says is. When he describes an artist as one who "hands on to others feelings he has lived through" you think about the fact that whether the medium was a hand written manuscript by Leo Tolstoy or a painting by Monet that during his lifetime maybe 100 people saw, or a gorgeous bracelet or card or little collage instantly sent to tens of thousands on Twitter, nothing has really changed.

Art jumps from one soul to another in 2009 the same way it did for Tolstoy in 1896.

Think about that for a second.

Then make something pretty and share it.

I made this for you today. It's with that adorable Animal Crackers set and some crossword puzzles. My walk was hot today so the penguin spoke to me this afternoon, as well as the cool blue. The little silvery disco dots on the left are some $1 bin stickies from Joann's.
Hope you have a great Caturday!

LOVEYAMEANITBYE.

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This Love is Difficult, but It's Real...

My girl Angela reminded me that Romeo and Juliet is playing at Zilker now. So, before I start, a little music for you to read by. If this video (click over if you don't see it) doesnt stir your soul a little this Friday, you may need to go back to bed..


The two original songs they blended are here...


and here


And I love them both.


Now, I got such a wonderful gift today I can hardly believe it!

My girl Marie, who does the amazing job of military wife & mom, is the creative genius you know at From Combat Boots to Rubber Stamps.

This kind & talented lady sent me these delights this week and if you think you her work is flawless from looking at her blog YOU SHOULD SEE IT UP CLOSE.

Here's a BULLETIN BOARD.
This next one is a card-a-lope. I don't know - that's what I call em. You seal an envelope and cut the top off. Crimp the bottom part and that makes it small enough for the top part to slip over it as a lid. Then you put a card inside. This is absolutely the prettiest one I've ever seen. How sweet is she that everything is blue??Finally - look at this. OMG. Okay - I've never seen anyone put the rhinestone brads in those flower buttons - BRILLIANT!!! Glitter, rhinestones??? This is the card you get when you get to heaven, I'm fairly certain.Absolutely amazing. And she does this in the small hours she has as a temporarily single mom while her DH keeps it the home of the free and the brave.

I'm floored Marie. Thank you so much for sharing your talent and your friendship with me. This is what art does!

I'm convinced stampers are the key to world peace. Stay with me. :)

Now, since it's almost Caturday, I had to share Maddie's "halp" last night when I was trying to box up Sassy Maddie cards.

Yes - by all means, Maddie - eat them.



Hope you're having a great Friday. Thanks for all the votes in the Martha Stewart contest. When the poll closed, I was leading by a few hundred votes, so if that's how they pick - I'm a winner.

But we will see. Thanks for taking the time to vote for me! It means a lot!

XO

Me.




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Small Magic

It's the small magic.

Right?

You know what I mean...

The person in front of you that pays for your drive through order (do that today if you've never done it..) the person that holds a door for you, the moment all by yourself where you add glitter to something and it makes you grin like you're street rat crazy? (<-- Click for a hilarious ad) You DO know what I mean. I know you people.

I ordered a stamp. Two, actually. I'll give you a minute to catch your breath. It's true. I like stamps. Lots of them. But something caught my eye on a blog that I am so glad I took a chance on.

I don't like self inking stamps. I've never had a good one. But something about a blog post about Cambria Cove stamps was... magical. So I ordered one. Low expectations. But it got here today, and it was magic.

I opened the box, and I saw this.

A large vellum envelope with a card in it that is printed on paper I can't even describe. Incredibly heavyweight, beautiful surface, clearly expensive.

"Why do this?" - my operations nazi side asks.. "Why spend the money?"

"Why do they love me?" my heart asks, as my paw handles the card.

Then I read what it says.

I won't recreate it here, but here are two sentences... "A place of unexpected delights. A place where we strike that delicate balance between taking care of others and taking care of ourselves." (Theresa - surely, they're talking to you)

Then, the stamps, wrapped in this lovely toile tissue paper and sealed with a label with my stamp design on it. Amazing. Time consuming. Expensive.

Small magic.

Why do it?

Why not?

You made my day, Cambria Cove.

LOVEYAMEANITBYE.


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The End of the Day

I am at war with technology.

My blackberry track ball stopped working. No problem - I use it a lot.

I order a new one. The newer curve. 1 hour into a 4.5 hour walk, it completely implodes and will not turn back on. Not a good feeling a few hours from home.

I will not tell you what happened at the faceless monopoly when I went to get a replacement today, because 1) they're reading this and will cancel my internet service and 2) the cussing would probably shock even the sailors among you.

My computer at home is so loud I can't hear myself think.

My laptop battery is dead.

Twitter deleted my picture.

Martha Stewart's website stopped working when people were trying to vote for me. I guess you can vote in a comment now - not sure. I'm #2 if it starts working again! :)

Hmph.

BUT. Yesterday morning, on the way to work, I saw the most beautiful sight. The sky was all dramatic - purple and orange and pink and streaky. And the buildings downtown were lit up on one side with this nice warm light that I can't describe. But I did think about it yesterday when I gave up fighting the machines. And I did give up.

I love that sunrise/sunset light that comes in from the side. Makes everything gold. If you don't get up early you'll miss half of these, you know :).

This card is for the little deer I saw this weekend on my walk. If you don't live here, you may not get the sight of deer at the beginning and the end of the day, but it's cool. I saw my deer this weekend at, well, the end of the day. She was a girl, but I only have a boy deer stamp, so she is the Splotchy of the deer world - confused.I stamped the Nature's Silhouette's deer and grass in Close to Cocoa. I filled him in a bit with a brown pencil.

Then all I did was scribble with a gold Pentel rollerball. On him/her and on the grass. The Pentels are very precise. Just a few minutes.
But it really feels like the end of the day with a little deer. Didn't really need any words.

This is the card I will send to last week's Make me Laugh Monday winner!! This was a really tough one because Kim and Cassie had me rolling - so because I like to laugh, I'll be sending each of them a card! Addresses please!!

Now - many have been clamoring for kitty vids.

So here's a little ditty Splotchy put together for you guys called "That's how I roll."

If you don't see a video player below, click over to my blog, or click here to view.



Have a great Wednesday!

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WHHHEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM IN THE FINALS FOR THE DESIGN OF THE MARTHA STEWART CRAFTS BLOG HEADER!!!

I HAVE BEEN SITTING ON THIS BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO JINX MYSELF, BUT I'M IN THE TOP 5!!

CHECK OUT MY DESIGN, WHICH FEATURES PROJECTS FROM THE CRAFTS BLOG WEBSITE ITSELF AND IF YOU LIKE IT CAST A VOTE!

I AM DESIGN #2

WHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!!

WWWWWHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!


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Irrepressible Play

ir⋅re⋅press⋅i⋅ble

adjective: incapable of being repressed or restrained; uncontrollable: irrepressible laughter.

Even in the most stressful of circumstances, people have to play.

We - you and I - play with stamps. All of our best attempts to describe it as art, to call our playpens studios, to use the finest of art tools and show it in the most prestigious of art venues, do NOT, my furry friends, disguise for a second the fact that when we are up to our elbows in ink, and paper, and often, a huge mess, that we are PLAYING. ;)

I apologize if I have outed you to your friends and families, or God forbid - your pets. :)

But we need it. And we will make a space for it however we can, and wherever we can.

Let me give you an example from yesterday, which was a great day. An incredible walk. Really. Then a fabby Memorial Day lunch. Then lazy chatting, tweeting, facebooking, Google Readering and photoshopping things for friends and for one contest of sorts. It was awesome.

Then duty called. I really needed to pay some bills. I HATE paying bills.

So I open the first one. Discover. Ugh. Then I see the inside of the envelope. Cool paper. Saw a Hero Arts post about security envelopes as background paper. Drop bill on counter. Wander off. While wandering, notice the pre-printed postmark. Ooh. me likey.

Once safely in the studio, notice that THIS clear button exactly fits on the postmark.

Now we're cooking people. Grab my 3/4" circle punch. PURRRFECT.

Get Maddie off the 9' bookcase.

I decided to try out some Yupo watercolor paper for this. It was a funny smooth surface that's not like traditional watercolor paper at all. I used Aquapainters and the Just Beachy set with my Tempting Turquoise reinker to create a scene. A little letter from summer to me.I drew a box and wrote summer - a la Kristina Werner - around the scene. I'm not as neat as she is. It's okay - I'm playing.

At the bottom, I used a product I tried at CHA. It's this amazing new DMC product - beautiful, wired thread called Color Infusions. You can bend it into shapes and it maintains this satiny gorgeous sheen that you know DMC to have. I just wrapped the ends around the back of my card and taped them down. The colors are gorgeous. When you cut it it doesn't fray - amazing.

Anyway... I really have no idea where that bill is now, but I sure had fun this afternoon.

Be sure and PLAY today. Keep play in your art. Don't be too serious.

If you're posting your art on SCS or a blog - don't worry about your photography or if the card is "good enough" to post.. Did you play? Did you enjoy it? I guarantee you someone else will. Even if they don't, and you play - who cares?

Thanks to Lisa Page - check her out in her Cbox performances to the right - she's hysterical - I have a video to share with you. If you don't see a video, click over or click here.

Even in the most stressful of circumstances, people have to PLAY.

Oh yeah - and this is pretty much the best song ever. :)





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Memorial Day 2009

Today, we remember.

I made a very simple little Memorial Day card with just my favorite color combination in the world, and not just today. I love red, white and blue. My white is actually silver glitter.
Three Memorial Day gifts for you, my beloved readers.. one for each of the colors

The first two are sight and sound.

Nothing like photography and music to silence the background noise of life in general and focus you on the meaning of the day, so first, click play on the song widget below to hear a Memorial Day song that is incredibly special to me for many reasons I won't list here.

Battle Hymn Of The Republic by SHeDAISY

Then,
click here to see a Memorial Day tribute that is beautifully done. (Thanks to Daven Nolta for pointing me to this beautiful place)

And third, when you're done, click here to read the most amazing and timeless comment on bravery and sacrifice I think I've ever read. Some things never change. Thank God for that.

Then enjoy your freedom today.

LOVEYAMEANITBYE.

Oh yeah - and God Bless America. :)


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Where Have all the Flowers Gone?

Welcome to this stop on the Cards for Heroes Blog Hop! If you are new here, welcome, friend. If you've been here before, well, hello friend.

**This post will remain at the top of my blog until Monday - scroll down for newer posts**

Here are your instructions for this stop! Hit Play on the song widget below and then start reading...



If for some reason you can't see the song player, click here to start the song and then come back here to keep reading...

Hard to express the depth of gratitude that we all have to our brave defenders, past present and future. I will ask you to do one thing and then I will give you something and show you some art.

I ask you to remember this weekend that each one of your rights is simply a derivative of our right to freedom. This most sacred treasure is in the hands of the beloved, the missed, the brave defenders in whose veins runs unimaginable courage and a passionate devotion to your right to do whatever you're doing this weekend. And every other weekend.

I give you flowers, in song and ink. Poppies, which normally mark Armistice Day (Our Veteran's Day, and also Remembrance Day) are symbolic around the world of the fallen heroes immortalized in this poem - In Flander's Fields - which I cannot read, even for the thousandth time, without completely losing it.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

So for my first card, I give you poppies.
This card is made with the Stampin' Up! Botanicals set and colored with reinkers.

Next, I give you red white and blue daisies from Inspired by Nature. I stamped them in bleach on black and then colored them with pencils, ink and a white gel pen. I'll put a tutorial underneath this post later today so that you can get on about the hop! But come on back for a step by step.

Speaking of the hop - I am AMAZED at the new talent I've discovered in this group. The next blog belongs to an amazing mom - Windy Robinson - of two teenies - a four year old and a one year old - about whom there are great stories on her blog. My fave is the one about the coin toss, so be sure and check out the rest of her blog while you're there. Her crisp and modern, clean style will WOW you.

I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to say thank you to our brave men and women in uniform by being a part of this incredible event this weekend. The website behind all this patriotic and artistic magic is here - please be sure and visit after the hop. These women are doing amazing things. I hope you have a safe and happy weekend.

To go to the next blog - Card and Page by the amazing Windy - click here

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A Caturday Colored Pencil Tutorial

Happy Caturday!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, little one, Caturday! Of a three day weekend! People were practically skipping on my walk this morning - yelling hello from across the street, grinning. Amazing what an extra day does. Are you listening America? How about a standard four day work week? Shouldn't we be this happy every week?

Now speaking of my walk, something came to me today, as, from a long way off, I heard the tags of a dog jingling behind me. I listened as the dog got closer, and the jingling louder. He sounded like a janitor. His pace was fast, and judging by the jingling, I knew he was big, which made me a little nervous. When he got right behind me, I turned a little to see him. He was a stunning greyhound. Beautiful animal. He jingled loudly past me and it hit me how mean that jingling is. It was bothering me from a long way away - what was it like for his sensitive little ears, hanging around his neck? Why don't they cover the leash fittings and tags with neoprene or something? That loud rhythmic noise has to drive them nuts, poor creatures. Just a thought for your Caturday. I'd appreciate one of you fixing that problem.

Here is a little more info on how I did the latest colored pencil creation for the Card for Heroes Blog Hop (above) card. Many of you have asked for a tutorial on my pencil techniques, so I'll try to do that.

First, you must know, I'm less than precise when I color. I like to work quickly with pencils and get layers and layers of color. So the first layer is often just a sketch, and subsequent layers finish the look.

For this card I first stamped the daisies from Inspired by Nature in bleach on black. I hate waiting for that to dry - I'm so impatient. But that was my canvas for color.

Then you can see I just did a very very rough sketch with the base colors. With the exception of white, I used two or more colored pencils on each flower to get depth & the shade I wanted. For the red I used a very orange red and a more rosy one. For the blue, a ballet blue shade and then a very light and a very deep turquoise.

After the flowers were colored, they had no detail. I remedied this with my black Sakura micron pen and a white gel pen. Again - very quick, imprecise strokes, as you can see in the closeups.

The ticket with using pencils like this is to keep working!! Believe me, this card was UGLY at various stages of it's development. But pencils are very forgiving, and if you add other implements, you will like what you see. Just be patient, and let go of precision. To me, adding the ink and white gel pen here made them look like paintings.

It's different every time.

This tutorial was sponsored by one of my favorite blog readers - Webster - who owns Jayne - or possibly vice versa. He was nice enough to get Jayne to send me these pics of him checking out Maddie's shirt, which he apparently approves of, (see him kissing Maddie???)and also, relaxing with his pet/nap pad - Jayne - in a somewhat indelicate pose that indicates his satisfaction with life in general!!What a gorgeous beast he is!

Thanks Webster & Jayne - Happy Caturday!!

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Memorial Day Blog Hop!!

Happy Friday everyone!!

This weekend, I will be part of the Memorial Day Cards for Heroes bloghop!It's not just a long weekend after all - it's a time to reflect on the value of the sacrifices that have been made for every American by our brave heroes in uniform.

I hope you'll come back on Saturday, starting at 2 PM central time for the beginning of an inspiring journey through blogland. I've already found some new incredible artists whose work I hadn't seen before, so I think you'll like exploring some undiscovered art country!

And come back tonight for some of my usual craziness! :)


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First Maddie Shirt Sighting!

Lydia B. Fiedler
lbfiedler@gmail.com

Wanna See What the Maddie Stamp is for?

Then watch this video and get ready for some serious heartwarming. If you don't see a video here, click over to the blog or click this link. Yes, the beagle has been nursing the kittens. She is a rescue also. If you want to purchase one (or all) of the stamps, 100% of the proceeds go to the construction of Bernie's cat shelter at A Place to Bark. (In Texas, we don't say "cat house" - tee hee....)

Love you Bernie!!!





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Little Black Cats

Are totally good luck, I promise. Especially if you get a glittery shamrock to go with them!!
Maddie is the first black kitty I've ever had - I always wanted one. I love the panthery super bad@$$ look they have.

I made today's ditty with my Maddie Stamp, which I stamped in Black on Certainly Celery cardstock. Now you know how when you stamp on colored cardstock it's all grainy? I saw that and I thought I would make little white stripes on her. But when I started coloring with my white gel pen, I got all crazy and made her a split personality instead!! Then I laughed to myself like a crazy person, which happens pretty much every day.

I added white paw prints from that great retired Stampin' Up! set with the little mouse. That's Splotchy's favorite stamp to carry around in his mouth BTW.

I added dots with my white gel pen and a Stampin' Up! rubon for the greeting.

And then I thought you guys should get a picture of the stamp model. Now how could you not want a stamp with this adorable creature on it? Get one today and help a homeless kitty!!

This is her very gently taking a teeny pom pom from me. She's got pom pom flu. I had to put the bag of them in the microwave yesterday because she was crawling around inside my bookcases trying to get them. I'm going to post a video this weekend of the Pom Pom buffet I let her have sometimes when she's especially charming.

Hope you guys have a fabby Wednesday. Oh yeah - don't forget to vote for me in the MindBites screencast contest. You can vote every week, so if you've already voted - vote again. You'll get to watch my lesson on Google Alerts for free till June 1! Click here!

LOVEYAMEANITBYE.

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What's it Worth to Ya?

So...

At our customer event this weekend, during a break from the presentations, one of our customers came up and showed us this.

It's real. It's a one hundred trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe. Click here for a story on CNN about their devalued currency if you have doubts.

It makes your head spin. Can you imagine getting one hundred trillion of anything together in once place? What do the banks do? What do the people do?

At the point that you need one hundred trillion of something to purchase another thing, it becomes worthless, I think. It's meaningless. I keep making the point to people, and no one is listening, that before long we will be trading shiny beads for spices again. Because a bead has worth, and a spice has worth. Very real worth in a way that a hundred trillion dollar bill does not.

In contrast, take a very eventful moment this past week.

Sockington, a hilarious cat who Twitters from Massachusetts, reached 500,000 followers on Twitter. Click here to read his updates - he's incredibly funny.

This made national news, and it really stuck with me. When I saw the currency, I knew why.

Many people would quickly dismiss the worth of 500,000 Twitter followers reading updates from a cat - I mean - you can't pay the bills with it, right? Many people dismiss Twitter entirely.

Mmm - not so fast...

At what other time in history has anyone, especially a sassy cat, been able to reach 500,000 people for no cost in less than a second?

Never. Evangelists would kill for that reach. As would early (or recent) marketers spending billions on magazines, newspapers, or, God forbid - direct mail.

Think about it.

The world changes every millisecond. What is it worth to you?

This was the video I used in my presentation. If you don't see a video player here, click over to the blog. You won't be sorry.

Happy Tuesday. Back with cards L8R.

Oh - and click here to follow me on Twitter! ;)


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What Day is It?

No idea. Very strange, as a creature of habit, to have one's schedule disrupted this way. However, it has led to some fun things for me to share with you.

The first is a continuation of the friendship theme. You guys were so sweet in your comments, and the original quote about friendship and laughter that inspired me was so cool, that I had to continue, so I did, with this card.
This one was fraught with errors. I stamped the image in Close to Cocoa. I knew I wanted this verdigris look, so I thought that would be a neutral base on the kraft cardstock. But it was a tad too warm, so I ended up covering it with grey. All the color is with colored pencils. I'm a colored pencil fanatic, and the ones I've been using lately are these. They are crazy smooth. And their tag line is "For what is more important than helping people describe their world in colour?" Nothing, my Swiss friends - nothing.

For example, if you color with them on regular cardstock, you can blend them with a paper blender WITHOUT gamsol, which is what I did around the main flower for a shadow.

But it's okay to make mistakes. You can fix them. I think I did - it actually made the grey very warm and antique-y. I outlined the flower with my sakura black pen, and then got to work recoloring them, including some white, which I really like.So maybe I'll rewrite this whole tutorial and pretend I meant to do that! :)

Second, I do know what day it is...

It's Make Me Laugh Monday!! I am so excited that at least one of you that I know of has actually saved a story for today, which I can't wait to hear!I'm actually already laughing because I'm watching the Tivo'd version of SNL, and Will Farrell was the host, and I forgot how much I loved that Billy Joel song about Vietnam.

Have a great Monday!


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Inspired by..

Well, not Nature. Even though the stamp set is Inspired by Nature.

I was inspired by this.

Rarity and kinship.

Hope it shows in the cards.After I was done with them, I got kind of piney for those old Audubon style illustrations of things. They had such vivid color and nice detail.

What a cool job Audubon had.

I stamped these in Sahara Sand on white cardstock and then all I did was shade them with a grey pencil. For the two friends, I used colored pencils. Very easy. Not quick, but easy. And nice and relaxing to just spend a little time coloring while the rain falls outside all day.

I was going to add a sentiment, but I thought I'd leave it unspoken.

Off to work. Have a great Saturday!


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TGI.. NEXT Friday?

Yeah, well, I have to work this weekend. And teach next week. So I don't get a weekend. And while I'm happy for all of you, I'm, well... missing my weekend already! So here's looking forward to next weekend!!!

What if next weekend is your birthday??? Then do I have a card for you!

This was PURE, unadulterated fun from start to finish!! Here are the steps:

1) Avoid all of the things you have to do that would occupy about 29 waking hours, knowing that you only have about 10 waking hours to do them them in.
2) Play with the cats
3) Dink around on Facebook and Twitter
4) Notice the piece of black textured cardstock from Taste of Textiles that is randomly on your desk underneath the entire week's worth of stamping frenzies.
5) Notice the colored pencils underneath the paper
6) Lose yourself in art for a bit as you discover how FREAKING COOL the texture looks when you color over it - WOW.
7) Realize that if you had created nature, roses would be all these crazy colors. Add a rubon from SU - Loop to Loop.
8) Have some queso. MMM.
9) Photoshop
10) And here we are.... Nice to see you. How have you been?

Now, some practical internet advice for my fellow artists who may sell their products.

You know I love the Google. It's beyond love, really. *sigh*

And, I just received a large box of Sassy Maddie cards I had printed... what???? Yes - Maddie is now a fancy greeting card!!And people will need to get their paws on them.

So I was going to pop over and put them on Etsy out of habit, and then I became all curious. Could I pay less? What do I mean pay? Well check it out.

This is what I found.

Etsy charges you 3.5% of each transaction plus a 20 cent listing fee, that is charged to you each month that you have the item listed.

You are paid through PayPal. PayPal charges you when you receive money - 2.9% + 30 cents. So, for example, when I charge $5 for my Google Reader Webinar, you pay $5 - but I only receive $4.55.

So for an Etsy transaction, you are paying 6.4% + 30 cents one time and 20 cents ongoing.

Why in the world should I pay that?

I turned to Google.

I found out that a feature called Google Base allows you to list products on Google and use Google Checkout to receive payment.

The fee is 2.9%, plus a 30 cent transaction fee. That means you only pay the 30 cent fee if you sell something. Listing it is free.

So let's look at Maddie.

I'm selling the cards 10 for $8.50 + 1.50 shipping - total transaction - $10.

For a single month, let's say, I'd pay Etsy $1.14 to sell those cards. On Google - I'll pay 59 cents - and only if I sell them. I could rack up another $1 in costs on Etsy whether I sold them or not in 5 months.

I report. You decide. :) Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean you have to.

I'm selling them on Google. :)

Hope you have a great weekend!

Have you signed up for the UBlue Cyber Club? Attended one of my Webinars?? Come on - get your geek on! :)

Want to see my other blog?

Shhhhh....

Wanna know a secret?

Click here.




Have you signed up for the UBlue Cyber Club? Attended one of my Webinars?? Come on - get your geek on! :)

Want to see my other blog?

I LOST my Shirt in a Webinar!

Good thing they're audio only, eh?

Not really. I just have three things to tell you. I want to post a card today, but tonight is the finale ofSo I have to walk, make a card, drink like 10 espressos so I can stay up for it - there's a lot to do!! But I have an idea for one I hope I can post after work.

But I wanted to have something exciting for you to look at, so check THIS out!!! I have Sassy Maddie Shirts!!!Shirts, aprons, bags, all sorts of fun stuff is in my shop.

She looks super cute on a shirt.

Don't forget to order her stamp to benefit Bernie Berlin's cat shelter either. Not only will the first 20 that send me their order get some hand stamped Maddie cards from me, but I may do a drawing of ALL the orders that are sent to me for a cute Maddie Shirt.

Finally - don't forget - my Google Reader Webinar is tomorrow at 6 PM Central time. If you haven't registered yet, please do so in my sidebar. You will get an email tomorrow with login instructions. This will last abou 45 minutes and teach you how to organize all the blogs you read, retrieve their content by keyword and REDUCE the time you spend surfing the net!


Don't forget to watch my Smack Talking Momma video (see sidebar) which is a free class on Mindbites until June 1 - and then vote for me in the contest if you like it! Feel free to make fun of my accent while you're at it! I had no idea I had one!

Losties - EEK! :) Can't wait to see what happens!!


Have you signed up for the UBlue Cyber Club? Attended one of my Webinars?? Come on - get your geek on! :)

Want to see my other blog?