Unsentimental deer

I'm sure you know some sentimental deer, but this definitely isn't one of them! He's dry, reserved, and he would never hug you or cry - even during Bambi!

This is because I made him for Joan's Hope You Can Cling To "unsentimental" challenge (yes, that was in October, however, he is Christmasy, if not sentimental, so I saved him - stop yelling at me!).

I think that holiday cards are perfect for this type of challenge because of the simple iconic imagery that doesn't need a word to tell a story.

stamps: Stamper's Anonymous Reindeer Flight Ink: Versamark, Basic Black
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Newsprint DSP
Accessories: Clear embossing powder, Heat Gun, MFT scallop Die-namics, SU Lace and tinsel trim,
glitter brads, Green Galore and Real Red markers, Viva Decor paint, SU glass glitter.

I just spotlighted this little fella, colored him and used the sassy glass glitter for an accent. I love this glitter!! It's my go to glitter now. I need billions more jars of it.

I'm trying desperately this weekend to design my Christmas card. I'm close, but it's not quite right. Have you designed yours yet? What style are you doing? I think I'm going with vintage this year. We'll see how I feel about it tomorrow after I've slept on the initial design.

I hope your Thanksgiving was fantastic (if you are in the states :)) and that you have tons of leftover pie! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

xo,
Lydia



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Hey Little Turkeys!!

(All supplies Stampin' Up!)

Happy Thanksgiving my little bloggy turkeys!! I hope you have a day filled with yummy dishes to stir on the stove, and enough whipped cream to bury your pie.

I'm very, very thankful for every one of you that take time out of your day to stop by here to see me.

If I could have made a little peppermint patty turkey for each one of you, I happily would have!!

I CASE'd this design from the lovely and talented LeAnne Pugliese, and made a few mods.

My tail is inked with More Mustard, and then I colored parts with a Chocolate Chip and Only Orange Marker. His little noggin is More Mustard (1") as well, with a Cajun Craze topknot - I just cut a little strip into fringe and scrunched it. I gave him two different sized googlie eyes to make him look sort of crazy and desperate, since, well, it's not a good day for turkeys.

His beak is Pumpkin Pie (get it - Pumpkin Pie??), and his body is made of two 1 3/4" circles with the bottoms cut off. A Pearson Peppermint Patty is sandwiched in between them, and then you stick his tail on the back. I dotted his body with a white gel pen.

Then I brought him to Starbucks to give to sweet Holly at the window who handed me my Thanksgiving beverage. She squealed. :)

Thank you for reading this and for keeping my little turkey company.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Loveyameanitbye.

French Foliage, Fun, Felt, Frozen, Frolicking

I just got done with a weekend filled with tons of fun and art and general busy goodness. Saturday morning, I taught my Felted Cardstock class at Scrapology with old and new friends. It was a blast and I think everyone probably had a nap afterwards, because I wore them out! Scrapology is a spectacular store, and the owner is such a sweet lady. If you live in Austin, you really need to pop by. I'll be teaching there again on December 18th - we will be making thank you cards for all those Christmas presents you're going to get!

Then after the class, we raced to San Antonio for a wedding, which was tons of fun. An amazingly talented young lady in the family made cupcakes for the reception, and the pumpkin one with cinnamon frosting that I had was a complete religious experience. You would totally marry that cupcake!

This morning, my sister and I hit the Etsy Austin Craft Riot where we saw some awe-inspiring crafty creations. One girl made these gorgeous Tsumami Kanzashi flowers that we just loved. There were some really talented illustrators there too with fantastic cards and prints.

Then we hit East Austin for the East Austin Studio Tour, which has been redonkulously supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. There are so many world-class artists in Austin, and we got to see their homes, studios, work in progress, pets - everything. There were hundreds of studios on the tour and we did as many as we could on the two days that we went. Next year, we are putting on the Everest backpacks, getting a sherpa, and we are going to do every one, by golly!

One of my favorites today was Rob Rough. Here's one of my faves, with a giant bunneh.Look at this painting. Then look at it after knowing that those "paintings" were made with bleach on black denim! The pic doesn't do the detail and the technique justice. The range of light and dark he gets with this technique just made us gasp. He was a really nice guy, too.

So after all that amazing art, I feel funny bringing you a lowly card, but it's what I have - pa-rum-pa-pum-pum :)
I made this with emboss resist on the Newsprint DSP with the French Foliage set. I rubbed it with Pear Pizazz, and then Early Espresso. Of course, I then had to spray that whole thing with Gold Smooch Spritz. Then I stamped the leaves again on Pear Pizazz with Early Espresso and cut them out for the bottom. The circle I made with my circle die. Very easy Thanksgiving card. (All supplies Stampin' Up!)

Now I'm really in the mood for Thanksgiving themed crafts now that I have like five seconds between now and the actual holiday. Got any cute little turkey favor type things you feel like sharing with me? Leave me a link! :)

Mac and Geez!

Each week just gets crazier and crazier. This week we have the announcement that we will have hologram TV soon (I, of course, am picturing the squirrel from Christmas vacation running through my living room), we get free pelvic exams from the TSA every time we fly, and some guy gets drunk and almost eats all the remaining members of an entire newly discovered species of lizard.

How in the world anyone could possibly ever feel bored in this country is beyond me. It only takes five seconds to find a completely crazy story.

I wanted to share some things with you this week since we are getting close to the holidays, and we are all about to lose our collective minds for a month or two.

First, a recipe for macaroni and cheese, which I consider one of my specialties, as you know if you've made what I call Crack & Cheese, recipe here.

However, I was intrigued by a recipe shared by Lee during our Hope You Can Cling To chatter for crockpot mac & cheese. Yes, I said crockpot.

I went and bought a crockpot to try this, and it was worth EVERY penny - this mac & cheese is DIVINE!!! Never in a million years would I have guessed that this would do well in a crockpot. I suggest you run out and buy everything necessary for this right this second, and then come back here and thank me.

Lee's Crack & Cheese (with a few mods)

* 1 package (16 ounces) elbow macaroni
* 1 stick butter, melted
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
* 1/2 c. half n half
* 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cheddar cheese soup, Campbell's, undiluted
* 1 cup whole milk
* 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided into 2 C & 1 C
* 1.5 cups shredded asiago cheese
* 2 tsp salt

Directions

Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain. Place in a 5-qt. slow cooker; add butter. In a bowl, combine the eggs, evaporated milk, soup, milk, salt and 3.5 cups cheese (mix the 2 C cheddar with the asiago). Pour over macaroni mixture; stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for~ 3 hours. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Cook 15 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Whisper my name. :)

Next, in the animal department.... When Maddie gets crazy brain, she runs into my office, jumps and slides on my desk, and knocks everything on it down behind my desk, including her little furry thing she sits on. When I was at HEB the other day I saw these and thought I'd give them a try since they say they won't hurt furniture. Well dang it if it didn't stick the little furry thingie down on my desk and make me IMMUNE to crazy brain!! Highly recommend for those with animals with crazy brain. Or other people who need sticky stuff.

I saw this link on Splitcoast to Wal-Mart's Black Friday sale and wow - look at the price on that Canon Rebel! I also read that they were doing free shipping for online orders for the holidays, and I know everyone can use a break right now, so I thought I'd share.

This past weekend was Virtual Stamp Night - actually - you have until 10 PM tonight to upload your cards if you played - and it was amazing!! I didn't get to do all the challenges, but I sure had fun with the ones I did. The first one I did was a non-traditional Christmas challenge - no green or red. So I chose blue & orange, of course. I was inspired by the colors in the Travel Journal DSP, which is my background. The card base is Tangerine Tango. The ornament is the Heirloom Ornament Nestabilities shape, embossed in my Wizard, and sponged with Bashful Blue. I have seam binding and a Jolee's Angel sticker on top with some silver cord. The greeting is from Welcome Christmas.

I love that big bold JOY.

It's how I feel when I conquer crazy brain or have some really, really great Crack & Cheese. :)

Hope you have a JOYful Monday.

Easily Amused...

I'm easily amused. I could apologize for that, but why, when there are LOLcats and Zooborns and the Daily Squee should I apologize??

And besides, it's FRIDAY!

This is the first weekend in a long time that I don't have 80 squillion things to do, so I'm hoping for napping and crafting.

I thought I'd kick it off with some friends, because it's Friends with Flair Friday!

Here's my card for the blog hop, using some of my absolute FAVORITE things.

stamps: August Kit of the Month {All You Need} - Unity
Paper: Baja Breeze, October Afternoon Seaside, Very Vanilla, October Afternoon Wild Cards Road Trip
Ink: Baja Breeze, Real Red, India Ink, Red and Blue Twine, Corner Chomper

I hope you have a super fabby weekend lined up! :) I'm teaching a class at Scrapology on the 20th if you want to check it out!

An Owlurkey of Thanks!

I made this little guy for Veteran's Day, because we are all so grateful for our brave ones.

I remember vividly when I studied Russian history and literature in college the horror of discovering for the first time what totalitarian states do to artists. It was shocking to read as a young, free girl how some of the most brilliant minds in that country were sent off to horrific labor camps in Siberia for just expressing themselves in their own unique, creative way. I also filed away for later how powerful, and if you're a bad guy, threatening, great art can be.

We aren't running around frolicking in our ink and paper and stamps because we are just lucky that way - we're doing it because of the sacrifice of real people.

And those real people deserve more than a grateful Owlurkey, but it's what I have to give today :).

Stamps: Grateful Greetings, Pick a Petal
Ink: Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Early Espresso, Travel Journal DSP
Accessories: Owl Punch, Tasteful Trim Die, Googlie Eyes

I'd like to say a special thank you to just a few of my stampy friends who have either served or have family who have. Lisa, Beate, Marie, Dana, Sue, and many more. God bless you guys & thanks.

The Thirteenth and Seventeenth Wonders of the World

The Eighth Wonder of the World is so passe. Everyone uses that one. So I picked a few that haven't been discussed yet.

And by "Wonder of the World," I'm sure you know I mean - things Lydia wonders about on her walk. Such as:

• Why aren't there peanut butter pop tarts? It seems so obvious.
• If we felines of the species are burdened with all this extra fat supposedly so we can survive the Donner Party better and be around to raise the babies, then why are we so dang cold all the time? That's not fair.
• What marketing genius came up with the name MSG for monosodium glutamate? No wonder no one likes it. You wouldn't find the phrase "sodium chloride of the earth" nearly as charming as "salt of the earth."
• If grocery bags and Starbucks cups were made out of designer patterned paper I'd do a lot more recycling.

So there you go. This morning's wonders.

Guess what else was this morning?

My tutorial for a little paper doll on Splitcoast! Yay! It includes a video, during which I will show you how to do some completely unprofessional but cute origami!

Here are two of the dolls I made for cards, but they would make ADORABLE bookmarks, which I show you in the tutorial. So head over there and peek!

LOVE-ly Letterpress

Everyone loves letterpress. I might love it the most :). When I was thinking about this post tonight I was thinking about that word - it's kind of an odd one if you think about it too much. It really means taking letters and smooshing them against paper in a press. It's not actually nearly as glamorous as the end result.

Someday if I win the lottery, I will have a big smooshy for real letterpress that I can make pretty things on.

But luckily, I do have a small scale letterpress - the Big Shot - and some uber fun letterpress plates.

So here's my late review of these plates in the Big Shot, in case you haven't decided if you'd like to buy them yet or not.

The first thing you need to know, is that they recommend that you use craft (pigment) ink with these plates, and this is why. Here is an experiment with dye ink. A blotchy, somewhat frightening experiment :)

Next, I tried a lovely pigment ink from Technique Tuesday. Better, eh?Next, I tried white craft ink on Crumb Cake cardstock. I LOVE this! My only complaint with using regular cardstock is that the impression is not as deep as I like it. Also, with a light ink on darker paper, the ink does get sort of pooled at the edges of each image - on the leftmost "O" you can see this in my photo - there's a brighter white outline.


My favorite is using these plates on actual lettepress paper. I bought a ton of this from Crane when I got my Epic 6, and MAN does it make a difference. Look how deep the impression is, and how smooth it is at the edges of the designs. Truly perfection. And I have to say - the white on white is still my fave.
So I took the Crumb Cake piece and cut it up for a card front and I love it.

I adore these plates. So easy to use and pretty. I hope they come out with some more designs, because this technique and look is in my top three!
Stamps: Punch Potpourri Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Basic Black
Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Apricot Appeal Ribbon, Pearls, Crumb Cake Marker, sponge, Big Shot, Lots of Love Letterpress Plate

It's the weekend! Hope that wasn't a newsflash for you! Hope it's a crafty one!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

BRRRR!!! This morning in the wee, wee hours I went for my normal walk with a few modifications. It was so cold, and slightly misty, but that was survivable. However, Austin drivers went into their characteristically suicidal rainy day driving pattern, and I saw an SUV run a red light in front of me at about 90 miles an hour.

Because my fellow citizens lose their little furry minds this way when it rains, I had to be extra cautious on my dark cold walk and couldn't walk in the walk/bike lanes (which are much easier on your feet and joints when you walk 9 miles) and had to walk on the sidewalk.

At the most heavily traveled part of my walk, despite the fact that it was raining, the sprinklers were on, shooting straight across the sidewalk from both sides. I had no choice but to walk through thirty yards of freezing cold water. Add some 20 mph winds, and you can imagine how fun and cold the rest of my walk was.

I'm STILL cold! Brr...

So a winter creation for you today! I just got to play with some of the Holiday Nestabilities for a Product Focus at Splitcoast and I'm HOOKED!

I made so many fun things with these ornament dies it's just crazy!

For starters, I made a card for a Hope You Can Cling To challenge to use only sentiments as the stamped image. I don't have any of those big collage stamps, so I thought I'd make my own. I used Soft Sky and some of the greetings from Star Studded Season (retired) to build my background. And yes, I used my Stamp a Ma Jig :)

Then, I just cut out multiples of the ornament, by nesting the dies, to get the 3D center, and I cut one large one for the main part of the ornament. For the center part, I just folded each one in half and stuck them together. The paper is that gorgeous Candy Cane Christmas with the fun glittered stripe on one side.

The ribbon on top is May Arts silk ribbon. I finished it off with rhinestones. What's cool is it will fold flat to mail!
Hope you are warm and toasty today! Don't forget - there's still time to play in the Hope You Can Cling to Challenges and win some AMAZING prizes, including a $250 Etsy shopping spree! Details here.

Loveyameanitbye