I had a huge backlog of things to Airtable and label and file, and that is what gives when something needs to give, so I powered through that this weekend. It's amazing how much more efficient that makes me at what I do, but like folding laundry, it's not glamorous or fun, and it's usually something I have to force myself to do.
But I had to do it or I couldn't have moved forward on everything I needed to do this week, for Dare to Get Dirty and for a few fun things here on my blog this week, like what I have today.
I ordered and received my Electro Pop inks last week and couldn't WAIT to use them. As a child of the 80s, I still crave all things neon, and these certainly fit that bill - they are GLORIOUS. It's hard to even capture how glowy they are through my camera. You can use them with alcohol markers, but also use them with water for painting, or paint directly with the reinkers or ink pads as I've done here. Magic.
For this INCREDIBLE, arty witch stamp set - with hilarious snarky sentiments - I wanted to have a colorful background, but one that appeared less crisp than my focal witch, and I came up with something I just love. There's just enough contrast - sort of like a macro lens look - between my sharp, crisp witch, and the more muted background tree stamp and these bats, that your eye is really drawn to this beautiful and spooky witch. I LOVE HER SO MUCH!
So what I did was to stamp the tree image in Morning Mist. This is a beautiful cool grey, but just a few shades lighter than black. Then I used the Life-Changing Blender Brushes to apply Loud Lime, Hello Yellow and Potent Purple Electro Pops to the background.
Then I stamped the witch in Nocturne, and used Fantastix to apply Loud Lime and Orange glow to the image, on her face, hands, legs and the pumpkin. The style of this art is so incredibly perfect.
I wanted the sentiment to be more prominent than the background too, and so I stamped that in Nocturne as well.
Stay spooky, my friends.
Even if I didn't love these witches to Oz and back, I'd still have to have this set for this one, hilarious sentiment! Oh my gosh it cracks me up.
So first, I used Pixie Spray on this beautiful, modern sunburst stencil and adhered it to my card panel. I applied Hello Yellow and Poppin' Pink inks with my LCBB. The orange is just where they overlap!
I stamped the witch image and the sentiment in Nocturne. I found a porous point white pen that goes on completely smoothly - I found mine here. You know how if you're trying to fill in an area with a white gel pen that already had some white on it? How it sort of removes the bottom layer and gets funky? This pen doesn't do that - it's smooth and thinner and beautiful. So after she was stamped, you could still see the colored pattern in the open areas of her dress - so I filled that all in with the pen. Isn't she lovely? And look - she's clearly a good witch, since she's in a white dress!
One of them is this dramatic tree die - you can see the actual die here - but when I saw it I had an idea to use it as coral, because I love the somewhat abstract and organic shape. And sure enough - if I hadn't told you it was a tree you'd have thought it was a coral die right? I used this background stamp, stamped in Blue Belle, and this sweet mermaid, very simply colored with Copics. Both the background and the coral are on watercolor paper and painted with Daniel Smith Watercolor - Quin. Coral and Aussie Red Gold. The sentiment is from this fun little card set that you cut thin sentiment strips out of. They have them with various themes. Perfect for me, as I tend to cover up my entire card with an image and then don't have room for a sentiment. I cut them up and I keep them in a stamp pocket by theme.
I have a very busy week this week, and I hardly ever eat meals outside my house, but yesterday demanded a quick food pickup and a hurried lunch. So I opened the back door and watched the birds for a few minutes. The baby cardinals are hopping around in my pepper plants, and a tiny wren and chickadee traded places at the feeder. I put seeds up on top of the fence posts for the squirrels, so he hangs out up there. Bluejays and doves hog the birdbath. It's really hot right now, so when I fill the birdbath every morning, it starts an epic bird party. There's no fighting either - they just co-exist around the food and hard-to-come-by water.
At night when we're watching TV, Splotchy sits on the window and makes his funny little chatter at the doves on what I call Cat TV out back. ONLY the doves, not any of the other birds. He would like very much to eat a dove. Apparently he can tell they are the most delicious. I'm sure it's ancient feline knowledge. Who am I to question that?
Anyway, all that to say - about 50% of my stamps are birds, because I just love them.
I did one of my signature moves, coloring just one brightly, and the rest are muted. The sentiment is from this stamp set. The pens are these amazing new waterbased fineliners - more on that soon!
So simple and quick, but so bright and happy. Fall colors are the best colors!
This hilarious little background stamp has these awesome ghosts. I thought about stamping them in white, but I realized I could pop a few if I didn't. So I stamped the whole thing in Nocturne first, and then colored three ghosts with the same white pen and outlined them with a Micron.
I die cut it with my circle infinity dies - OH - the background was one from my retreat - we painted a pale yellow watercolor on watercolor paper. Then we stuck drafting dots on there when it was dry, and painted other colors on top, to get glowing spots of bokeh color. Really fun.
The sentiment is from this set, and it's on a strip of the same background.
You know how I like to end on a funny note. This little trick or treater set is so sweet - but the spider - the spider gave me ideas. Since the coordinating die cuts his little legs out, I felt the need to make him this little cat girl's pet. The perfect sentiment was in this set in my stash. Also from my stash, this grass stencil, paired with the new cloud stencil and mask duo.
The inks are Electro Pop Loud Lime and Blaring Blue. The names are hysterical.
I only stamped this stamp on envelopes this week, but I wanted to share it. Nice to know when you get a piece of mail that it's something nice and not a bill. So stamp those envelopes, people!
You can find the rest of today's release here - and remember you get free US shipping over $25.
Here are all the supplies I used today - loveyameanitbye.
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All of your cards are amazing! I adore how light you made your trick or treater card! It made me chuckle with that sentiment and leash.
ReplyDeleteLydia, I think we could be BFF's (best funny friends)! I love the last 2 cards for the humor you inject into your creations. So, now I am going to expose myself with honesty here and say that at first glance the tiny ghosts didn't appear as ghosts to me, and my old nearsighted eyes that I have to wear reading glasses over contacts saw flaunt instead of haunt. So, I laughed and laughed until I realized the Halloween theme and then I laughed some more. Love the neon colors, too, and the flashy cards you created. Such a feast for the eyes!
ReplyDeleteLove the shading on the witch cards.
ReplyDeleteThe little girl in her costume is darling.
You mentioned having blue jays - they've
disappeared from my area years ago. I
think there was a disease that got them.
Haven't seen one in three or four years.
Miss them - they were pretty, even
though they were noisy.
thanks for sharing
txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com
Wow Lydia, seven gorgeous cards to look at & drool over!! I like the bird card, the Thanksgiving card & the last card, the cat girl with the spider pet, You've been very busy.
ReplyDeleteI love these witches! On another note, my previous dog went blind when she was 10 years old. It didn't seem to bother her... we were much more upset about it than she seemed to be. She lived another few years that way. And during that time, she managed to catch a dove and eat it whole... before I could get to her. Beak, talons and all. I felt so bad for that dove, but I figured if you're caught by a blind dog... it's your time to go. Anyway, that's my dove story.
ReplyDeleteI'm a sucker for bird stamps, too. Love your cards!
ReplyDeleteThe neon inks are amazing!! LOVE the blended background! So many fun cards!
ReplyDelete