It's Officially Official - The Landscapes of Summer

*Compensated affiliate links used where possible at zero cost to you. No posts are ever sponsored or paid.*

It should be no secret to you that summer is pretty much my favorite. I would happily live like a little lizard on a hot rock in the desert - never seeing another drop of rain or a cloud passing between me and the sun. So the solstice marks a transition into the most glorious days of the year for me. 

My own personal garden almanac last year led me to predict a cool, wet year this year, and that's what we got. So I'm hoping June, July and August are hot and dry so I get at least PART of a normal 2020. That's all I ask. 

When we went to Hawaii a billion years ago, we stayed not far from the beach where they filmed LOST. We stayed where the actors had stayed and it was such a beautiful spot on the North Shore of Oahu.

The first day we were there, we walked down to that little beach and I was shocked at the color of the water. Mind you - Texas beaches are for the most part, complete garbage compared to places like Florida and California. For most of my youth, I assumed all oceans were brown, and that you had to clean tar off your feet everywhere before returning to your car. Florida & California set me straight later on. 

But Hawaii has this ethereal water that's a magical color - a stunning green-blue that looked like colorful glass. When I saw it - I shrieked out OMG IT LOOKS LIKE  A COUGH DROP!

I cannot help the way my brain works, but those of you who are old enough will remember these hideous blue mint things that were a beautiful color, but tasted like the ACTUAL DEVIL. I don't know if they were supposed to be candy - it's too traumatic to do a deep dive into - but they had all the joy of a cough drop.

And that is what the water looks like there. An other-worldly bluish green that should never been seen in food, but is lovely in nature!

So I created my beachy scene with colors that are in my memory today. The way these layering beach stamps and their matching dies go together is amazing - it makes it look like there's so much motion! On kraft cardstock, it really looks like a beach. So pretty. The inks I used are: Pool Party, Aegean, Pumpkin Pie, Caramel. The sequins are these matching Ombres.

I have a few more cards below - all made with the super duper fun Hero Arts Summer Catalog! You might even see some of these cards in there :). You can see the catalog here or by clicking the catalog image. It's full of really fun stuff! The clean, bright cover makes me happy.

Sticking with kraft for the moment, I did a fun technique with this gorgeous Lavender stamp. I stamped each layer in Unicorn, dried it and then stamped it again on top Distress Oxides in Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilac and Peeled Paint. The layering is so fun and brightens up the colors on colored cardstock - the Unicorn serving as white cardstock would underneath any ink. The sentiment is from the same set. The matching dies are here.

The next one is sort of bittersweet for me, because it reminds me of my trip to Hero Arts and Sonoma. It was the first time I had been to California in a long time, and now it feels like I'll never get back there. This gorgeous Heroscape definitely brings Sonoma and Napa to mind, and again I used kraft cardstock to make the colors pop. The inks I used were Pool Party and Deep Ocean, with Thistle for the grapes. I did the rock 'n roll technique on the little barrel with Pumpkin Pie and Caramel ink. I added some Copic shadowing on the clouds I cut with the matching dies. 

Lastly, a variation on my previous ATC (you can see it here), turned into a card. This set has such joyful images! I used a credit card swiping panel with acrylic paint for the backdrop, and cut it with my circle infinity dies - both to create a sun-like opening and to shape the top of the colorful portion -  to make it more interesting and to leave room for the sentiment. I highlighted the pier with a white gel pen.

These are the products used today and all my current coupon codes are listed below - enjoy!

Vineyard Heroscape [ HA ] Vineyard Heroscape Frame Cuts [ HA ] CM447 Beach HeroScape - Hero Arts [ HA ] DI754 Beach HeroScape Frame Cuts (C)... [ HA ] CM410 Lavender Field HeroScape - Hero... [ HA ] DI736 Lavender Field HeroScape Frame... [ HA ] CM424 Color Layering Pier at the Lake... [ HA ] DI199 Nesting Circle Infinity Dies... [ HA ] CH300 Ombré Ocean Sequins - Hero Arts [ HA ] AF426 Pool Party Reactive Ink - Hero... [ HA ] AF387 Aegean Bold Ink - Hero Arts [ HA ] AF255 Pumpkin Pie Mid-Tone Shadow Ink... [ HA ] AF332 Caramel Bold Ink - Hero Arts [ HA ] AF249 Unicorn Pigment Ink Pad - Hero... [ HA ] Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad... [ SSS | ELH ] Shaded Lilac, Ranger Distress Oxide... [ ELH | SSS ] Peeled Paint, Ranger Distress Oxide... [ ELH | SSS ] AF340 Deep Ocean Bold Ink - Hero Arts [ HA ] AF431 Thistle Reactive Ink - Hero Arts [ HA ] 2020 Summer Catalog - Hero Arts [ HA ] Pre-Cut & Scored Cardstock [ CTC ] Sakura CLASSIC WHITE Fine Line 05... [ SSS ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Crafter's Companion GEMINI... [ SSS ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Die Storage - Clear Storage Pockets... [ CHC ] XL Stamp Storage Pockets [ ELH ] Mermaid tidy towel case and glue... [ ETS ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | CST ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

Are YOU enjoying summer? I hope so - even though it's a weird one. The good news is, you can have a chance to win a $50 shopping spree just for leaving me a comment today! Enter by July 5th, and the winner will be announced HERE the following week.

Get ready for more inspiration!

Hero Arts
Channin Pelletier
Daniel West
Debi Adams
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jennifer McGuire
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Michelle Short

 Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
10% off sitewide at Arteza here with code Understandblue6 through 7.31.2020
Phone stand for filming link below in the banner - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Rainbows for Days & a Two For One Die Cut Bonus

*Compensated affiliate links used where possible at zero cost to you. No posts are ever sponsored or paid.*

I needed some bright, happy cards this week, and I'm on a big two-for-one and rainbow kick, so I put those two things together this week for some cheery, colorful and QUICK cards. 

I did a very simple background using stencil shifting with this stencil and Life Changing Blender Brushes - the big open shapes made it easy to figure out where to overlap the colors - just three of them - my Holy Trinity - yellow, magenta and turquoise. Love the kelly green and fiery orange and purple that result, as well as the green-ish neutral where all three overlap.

I was careful to leave a bit of white space to both tie in to the butterflies - cut with this die - but also to offset the saturation of the ink blended portions. I used this Celebrate die to finish the front.

But when I die cut a sentiment, I always am careful to cut it straight and in a good position on a card front so that I get a second card out of the deal. No need to waste the negative! I was careful to keep the pieces in the looped letters when I cut the white one so I could piece them back in to this second card. 

Keeping with my rainbow theme, I used this amazingly versatile rainbow paper pad and the matching enamel dots. Such an easy way to turn a scrap into a card. This paper was designed to match these fun dies, and these and these and these - and I feel sort of dumb for not understanding that when I first saw the paper - it's genius.

Here are all the supplies I used for these - and all my current discount codes are below!

CZ Design Stencil CHUNKY FLOWER MASK... [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp FLICKERING... [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp CELEBRATE Wafer Die... [ SSS ] Waffle Flower JJ'S RAINBOW SAMPLER... [ SSS ] Waffle Flower JJ'S RAINBOW Enamel... [ SSS ] Waffle Flower FRESH RAINBOW Panel Die... [ SSS ] Waffle Flower HEARTS PANEL Dies... [ SSS ] Waffle Flower GRADUATION PANEL Die... [ SSS ] Waffle Flower STARS PANEL Die 310401... [ SSS ] Life Changing Blender Brushes: 4-Pack... [ PFS ] Pre-Cut & Scored Cardstock [ CTC ] Sakura CLASSIC WHITE Fine Line 05... [ SSS ] *Gina K Designs Wild Dandelion Ink Cube [ SSS ] Gina K Designs PASSIONATE PINK... [ SSS ] *Gina K Designs Blue Lagoon Ink Cube [ SSS ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Crafter's Companion GEMINI... [ SSS ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Die Storage - Clear Storage Pockets... [ CHC ] XL Stamp Storage Pockets [ ELH ] Mermaid tidy towel case and glue... [ ETS ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | CST ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

CURRENT COUPON CODES
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
10% off sitewide at Arteza here with code Understandblue6 through 7.31.2020
Phone stand for filming link below in the banner - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE