Friday, September 4, 2015

The Borrowers

I'm realizing how much all the books I read when I was little influence my daily thoughts.

Today, I spent a lot of time chasing my tail.

In my newly organized studio, all like things are together.

All my watercolor mediums are together

All my photopolymer sets are together.

All my acrylic paints are together.

And all my camera equipment is together.

The camera that I photograph my cards with has a REALLY long battery life. Like MANY months - and I use it a lot.

A few months ago I needed to charge it and I couldn't find the charger. Thankfully, I had another Canon charger so I used that, but it's been bugging me.

So today my battery died while I was photographing my card for today's Mix-Ability challenge. I went through my camera box again - and I couldn't find it. I knew what it looked like - it has those collapsible prongs for the outlet and was very compact.

I suspected The Borrowers. Did you read that book? It was one of my faves - I read it many times. I loved the idea of being tiny and running around in little tiny spaces. Maybe that's why I liked Stuart Little. And Alice in Wonderland. But I digress.

I do not, however, like the idea of The Borrowers stealing my camera charger.

After another search, I googled my camera and its charger - and I, with horror, realized it WAS in my camera box. It just looked nothing like what I had in my head so I kept ignoring it and pawing through the box.

That will teach me to get a camera that only needs charging twice a year. I need to spend more time getting to know my charger.

However, I do think this is how great stories like the Borrowers are born.

Creative people who can't find their chargers just make something up. Like a whole children's book.

Today is the Mix-Ability challenge on Splitcoast. Anna is our host and the challenge is whitewashing. We could leave a lot of white space, or add white with gesso, etc.

I decided to use my Luminance pencils - I always start my images with white and also blend with white, so it was perfect for this challenge.
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How fun is that?

I love those beautiful little cups from the July My Paper Pumpkin.

Remember that all you need to do to transform a simple line image is fill it with color! I'll have three cups of color please - thank you!

I did a quick video of the coloring process for you. PS - here's the Smudge Guard Glove info I left out in the video :).




I have three pending registrations for the retreat at which point I believe the house beds will be filled. I will update the retreat page for those needing hotel accommodations, but there's not much time left.

Enjoy the long Labor Day weekend if you are in the US. I plan on doing a whole lot of nothing after my class on Saturday.

Loveyameanitbye.


PS - I'll be back with my class winner this weekend!

28 comments:

  1. Wow! This is stunning!! I'm in awes of your colored pencils coloring! I just had to laugh at your story. I had forgotten all about that book and will be looking for it at the library book fair next week because I know my kids would love it now!

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  2. This card is gorgeous......I didn't even recognize the cup from PP!

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  3. The BORROWERS was one of my FAVORITE BOOKS EVER! I, too, still blame the Borrowers when I can't find something (every day) But the whole concept of the Borrowers totally freaked my kids out. I wasn't there when they were born, I would suspect they were adopted.
    Your card is gorgeous.

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  4. Lydia- I so love this card! Thanks for the video it really is wonderful to watch you work!! I'm off to find some of those great Luminance penciles. And, this is the best re-use of the cup from Paper Pumpkin I have seen. I am so glad I finally found your blog. Such talent! And you always have a great story. I know The Borrowers have "borrowed" our charger for the emergency radio!!!

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  5. The card is stunning! Did you check the places where your furry friends hide things? I love the Borrowers, too! Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

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  6. Such a wonderful video! Loved watching you color! Your blending is just gorgeous. Now as for this smudge glove thingie - how does that keep you from smudging?

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  7. Love The Borrowers and love those cups.

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  8. Love your card! Love how you colored the cups! I agree best use of cup from PP I've seen yet. Great job!

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  9. Awesome video and so fun to watch you color and shadow.

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  10. I love this card, I had to come over from SCS and check out your video. Thanks so much for sharing with us.

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  11. Oh, that cup....so full of potential and now color!! Gorgeous work!

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  12. Love those colorful shadows you've added. Watching you color is very relaxing and seeing it come to fruition is wonderful.

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  13. that is so beautifully done 3 cups of color and I am laughing because, I have never owned a camera that had a charging cord. ( the batteries remove and get recharged) :)

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  14. Love your card and the video absolutely sold me on those pencils. Still pondering the glove. Thank you for being such a good teacher.

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  15. so cute, love the whitewashed cups and especially your story of the missing camera battery, I have a similar issue but in my case, the plug in that I put the battery in to charge is missing and I could have sworn that I left it plugged into the wall in my stamp room! So I've been using my phone and sometimes my DH's camera to take photos but it's still annoying as all get out when things "hide" from me!

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  16. Love this technique Lydia. A beautiful job on your card it looks awesome!

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  17. Brilliant video, loved the captions. Thank you. Those pencils are wonderful, cant believe how beautiful those cups look. Brilliant card.

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  18. It was fascinating to watch you bring those cups to life! And The Borrowers is one of my favorite set of books! In fact, I just re-read them all a couple of months ago!

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  19. What a beautiful card! It really is luminescent!

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  20. Your coloring skills are amazing.
    I love the sentiment. What set is it from?

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  21. SOOOOOOOO marvelous, SOOOOOOO simple! you made me believe i could recreate that.

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  22. I love the card and loved the tutorial! Fascinating to see the cup colors come to life. Absolutely beautiful technique! Thanks so much.

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  23. Cute card! If you love the Borrowers and you haven't seen The Secret World of Arrietty, you should rent it (or buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-World-Arrietty-Bridgit-Mendler/dp/B005LAIGX2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441657246&sr=8-1&keywords=secret+world+of+arrietty) It's a really cute animated movie based on the Borrowers. It's by my Hubby's and my favorite Japanese animation studio called Studio Ghibli and dubbed in English by Disney. They also made the movie called My Neighbor Totoro which is super cute and also worth seeing. :)

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  24. I actually duplicated this card but love it so much I can't give it away! Sigh....the struggle is real. Thanks for the cool technique! I used my old SU Pure Color Pencils. I would love pencils in all SU colors! Swoon!

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  25. beautiful card, Love the way you work it out.

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  26. Awesome coloring, Lydia!!! Loved watching the cups "come to life," so to speak. I had to giggle at your "missing" charger story. When I was a kid, I was really fascinated in ghosts and the like. I read a story (supposedly true) about a house that had a poltergeist (German for "noisy ghost") that would steal the family's items. Usually, it would return them, though not always. So, ever since then, whenever we are missing something like that, we just say "our" poltergeist took it! Thankfully, we are not really burdened with such an entity! LOL But it does make for a good story. Thanks for sharing your project, Lydia, and the video! :) ~ Andrea

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