Tuesday, September 8, 2020

MUAHAHAHAH Happy Halloween! + Giveaway

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

Ahhhh my favorite season has arrived - the season of SPOOKY. And after the year we've had - really? What can scare us? 

I listen to a great podcast called LORE. And recently they've turned it into a show - an Amazon original. The intro graphics are so beautiful, and I love that the show is narrated by the podcast host - Aaron Mahnke. I prefer podcasts to shows, but I have to say this is a very well done version of the podcast.

Anyway, my spooky loving Irish heart is revealed early on in a show about my crazy ancestors, so do give it a watch. 

I love all things spooky - EXCEPT crazy German fairy tales - those people are a bit too dark for even me. What the heck. 

While I 100% agree that you have to scare sense into kids sometimes, those weirdos took it too far. I prefer benign spooky like Dr. Seuss' creepy pants out in the woods, and oh? What is this? A SCARY BLUE PUMPKIN PATCH????

Welcome to this month's Hero Arts kit of my dreams.It's a Heroscape (love) it's pumpkins (love) it can be spooky (love)AND I MADE IT ALL BLUE. Cornflower and Indigo to be precise.

I have a video of this card below with a tip on how to make the ground look moonlit by sort of reversing the idea of layering stamp colors. It would have been a perfectly benign scene had I not chosen to add the SUPER SCARY JACK-O-LANTERN FACE YOU ARE WELCOME. Heh. 


Here's what the full kit looks like, and based on the samples I've seen, it's going to go fast, so you've been warned.
Now the other day, I brought you a sneak peek with this card - same kit images, but more 2020 appropriate. I used Wet Cement ink for ink blending and stamping, and fingerpainted the clouds. You can see the details of this card here


This is intermission - where I give you a non spooky card before going back to my natural spooky state. This amazing background stamp is new this month. I colored the negative space with my alcohol fineliners to get in the tiny spaces - coupon code in the footer of this post - and just left the rest - such a pretty stamp.  The monthly word dies are great for birthday cards too - The September one fits perfectly across a card, so I cut it out of blue glitter paper and put it on some Duralar, attaching that to my card with invisible vellum adhesive



Okay back to spooky! I loved the orange and grey combo above, so I mimicked it here with Wet Cement and Graphit markers and this amazing Graveyard Heroscape. I masked the sky and ink blended and stamped the clouds from this set (I have a video coming with this set), and the tree from this awesome Halloween set. I forsee a lot of zombie cards in my future. Everything is stamped in Wet Cement except the zombie, the greeting and the hand - muahahaha.



I know scarecrows are supposed to be scary, but dang they are scary. They are one notch under clowns! So I enhanced the spookiness of the scarecrow from this cute fall set. He's not cute anymore - HE IS GOING TO EAT YOU! I masked to create the glowing corner he's sitting in, just waiting for his victim.

The sentiment is from this set.



Okay - back to zombies for my favorite card of the release! As my friend Pam said, it's so very Thriller! I used the same zombie stamp from this set, but made one of them coming up out of the grave. This one is done with the same colors from the first card - cornflower and Indigo, and the sentiment is from this set. There is a stamp that fills in the flowers, and I thought about doing them red, but I love the spooky all blue mood.



So here's my video with the inking trick on the first card.



The add-ons are GOLD this month - so many spooky possibilities! You can get all of them in a bundle for a discount here. If you can resist that zombie set, you are a stronger person than I am!

Here are all the supplies I used today. Don't forget to leave me a comment for a chance to win a $50 zombie gift certificate - comment by 9/13 and the winner will be announced HERE the following week! Then see some more amazing inspiration below.

Hero Arts September 2020 My Monthly...
[ HA ]
Get Them All Add-Ons
[ HA ]
Graveyard Heroscape
[ HA ]
Graveyard Heroscape Frame Cuts
[ HA ]
Wheelbarrow Friends
[ HA ]
Wheelbarrow Friends Frame Cuts
[ HA ]
Crows and Autumn Leaves Bold Prints
[ HA ]
CM479 Color Layering Moonlit Night
[ HA ]
September Word Fancy Die
[ HA ]
AF235 Cornflower Mid-Tone Shadow Ink
[ HA ]
AF341 Indigo Bold Ink
[ HA ]
AF213 Wet Cement Mid-Tone Shadow Ink...
[ HA ]
My Sweet Petunia
[ MSP ]
Plus Vellum Adhesive Glue Tape
[ SSS ]
Sakura CLASSIC WHITE Fine Line 05...
[ SSS ]
Pre-Cut & Scored Cardstock
[ CTC ]
Duralar Matte - Yupo Substitute
[ BLIC ]
Peacock Blue Glitter 12x12 Glitter...
[ ACH ]
Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473
[ SSS ]
MISTI Stamping Tool
[ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ]
Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -...
[ BLIC ]
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 ]
Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies
[ ART ]
Hero Arts Blog
[ HA ]





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

Phone stand for filming link below in the banner - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

79 comments:

  1. Oh, you've done it again. I love this release and LOVE what you've done with it! Hubby may divorce me---the shopping today has been off the chain, as they say.

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  2. I enjoyed all of your cards, but loved that you used the blues.... Really enjoy the effect!

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  3. I love the monochromatic blue cards! Just stunning! Thank you for making me think outside of my box!

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  4. I love all of your cards, but my favorite is the all blue one!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

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  5. Truly Amazing collection of cards! I can see by your hop share that Halloween season, like mine, is your favorite! Very inspiring!

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  6. Can’t wait for my mail to arrive with my monthly kit!

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  7. Your blue card is awesome, not the typical Halloween colors! I was about to buy this kit but held back since I've already spent a lot of money so far this month on crafting supplies. I'll just have to shop my stash for similar products 😞

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  8. Absolutely love your cards! I especially like the one with the blue scarecrow background. Thanks for sharing your always inspired work!

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  9. Enjoyed the video - some great cards!

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  10. I enjoyed watching your creation of the blue card-such interesting choice of color. Nothing I would've thought of, but now I'm going to try it. All of your cards are fun! I can't wait for delivery of this kit.

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  11. Lydia!!! You have made my day with this one!!! I ADORE your unexpected take on these stamps!!! You did an amazing job on all your projects!!! Love them all!!! Muuaaahhhhahahahaha!!!

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  12. So fun! Who wouldn't love to receive one of these beautiful, spooky cards! Now I have to order it!

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  13. All of your cards are fabulous! I especially love the one you finger painted the clouds, so realistic! Great job!

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  14. I love how you changed up the coloring of the layered stamps. I never even thought about that! I can't wait to try it.

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  15. OMG! I LOVE the blue scenes you made! These are all incredible!

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  16. Such a great kit! I love your blue version of the scene! I can’t wait for mine to arrive!

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  17. These are some very creative cards! I love the blue pumpkin patch and the if you dare scarecrow! So much fun!

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  18. Scary good cards - love them and thanks for the ideas!

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  19. Oh so so fun!!! Love all your cards but especially the ones with the blues-so pretty!

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  20. Enjoy watching and listening to you create. Thank you.

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  21. Reading your blog is one of the absolute highlights of my day. So much joy in so few words.

    Here's a diabolical thought I had. You could have made the flowers red so they looked like the eyes of zombies waiting for their turn to come up out of the ground. Baaahaaahaaa.

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  22. Love that blue blended background. Blue is my favorite color. And also love your fingerpainted clouds.

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  23. I would love every single one of these sets! Omygoodness, your spooky pumpkin patch is beyond cool! Thanks for sharing.

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  24. Amazing cards love how you choose to do the first card in all in blue or indigo I really like it it's different than what I would normally see other people do

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  25. Fabulous! Love the crows, and the zombies!

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  26. My favorite is the blue crows card & rough patch pumpkins card.
    Awesome As Always.

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  27. My favorite is the blue crows card & the rough patch pumpkins card.
    Awesome As Always

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  28. Amazing cards!!! A lot of great inspiration and ideas...thanks for sharing!

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  29. Hello from Malta, NY. I love your cards, as always you have talent

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  30. I LOVE your creepy cards! Especially the blue pumpkin patch- so cool! And I’m with you, this month’s kit is sooo good!

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  31. Love each and every card! The monochromatic cards really stand out for me.

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  32. i love all the different looks you created with this awesome stamp set. Thanks for sharing your video explaining how you got the spooky look.

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  33. Lydia Lydia yes yes yes! I zero'd in on Jack right away and definately dare! I do so enjoy looking at things through your eyes. mwahhahhhhha and thanks!

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  34. I'm loving the Blues & Greys on the cards really cute ideas!!

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  35. Hey Lydia,
    You spooky girl! I love Halloween too - So much fun in this release! But the reverse blue pumpkin patch! I’m signing up for that!🙋‍♀️
    Thanks for your great inspiration!👏🏻

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  36. I'm really enjoying all your spooky cards. I can't wait to play around with the blues. Looking forward to your video.

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  37. Great cards! I love the one with the crow pattern!

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  38. Awesome cards--I especially love your moonlight fall scene!

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  39. I love your use of alternate colors for your scenes! Beautiful cards! Can’t wait to get this kit and addins

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  40. I absolutely ADORE the scarecrow card - quite a zombie look alike! TFS- your creations always inspire in an out of the box way!

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  41. Love all the cards but am particularly impressed by how you created a corner for your zombie!

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  42. Just keep coming back to this post...I really do love your spooky cards. And I really wish I'd bought MORE of the add-ons for this month! Thanks so much for the fiendish inspiration

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  43. I am LOVING that blue night patch!! And the one pumpkin with a face! On it's own normally it is not a scary face, but being the only one in the patch makes him scary!

    That monthly kit is very enticing! I hope I win so I can get it!
    Margot

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  44. I love your use of the white pigment ink and blue inks. As soon as I saw the Crows and Autumn Leaves background stamp I thought of you and Magnon, haha

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  45. I'm a Hero Arts monthly kit subscriber and wasn't too thrilled about this set until I saw your blue cards. OMG they are the best I've seen so far. I am so in love with your blue cards. I'm going to try to replicate your awesome spookiness. Great job!

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  46. Love Halloween. Used to do a big production
    with decorations and food for all my friends
    and family (and the trick/treaters).
    Unfortunately age put a stop to a lot of
    that. Really miss doing it. The
    walking dead is great. thanks for
    sharing. txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  47. Understand Blue, that was such a beautiful blue card with the spooky pumpkin patch. You had some great ideas with this new kit. I am always impressed with all your work.

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  48. This is the most awesome set of cards ever. I love every single one of them but the scarecrow card is the best. Thanks for the video too.

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  49. Awesome Cards--Love the Colors!

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  50. I don't even like zombies but your zombie card makes me want to get the set. There is a perfect person who would adore it.

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  51. Wonderful cards. I specially love the first one -- those blues are so striking.

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  52. Awesome cards!
    Thanks so much for sharing...

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  53. Your card does remind me of that movie! Love your cards and those zombies.

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  54. I grew up with those german fairy tales but maybe because my dad had a wonderful stepmother they could not scare me as much as they are supposed to. But your blue field... Seriously, your cards are great. I love the zombie cards. The only really scary one is the one with the scaregrow, because I found it rather cute just looking on the stamp set and you go it near to pennywise ��. Great job!

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  55. Simply gorgeous! What a wonderful release!

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  56. These designs are so cute! I love them! :D

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  57. I absolutely love those blue pumpkins. I did not know those actually grow in southern Missouri. I live in Missouri!! Thank you for all the wonderful inspiration. :) :)

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  58. Great cards! I love your spooky blue pumpkin patch. And your commentary on German fairy tales - lol!

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  59. i just adore the blue it turned out amazing as well as every card in the post! Thanks so much for the inspiration!

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  60. Love all the blue color in your cards...thanks for sharing your talents with us!!!

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  61. Your cards are awesome! I love the blue one!

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  62. Hi Lydia :) Your cards are magical!!! Spoooooooky! Thanks for inspiring me :)

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  63. Fantastic cards! Is love to see how you made the corner that the scarecrow is sitting in. I've never done anything like that before and I really like the looks of it.

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  64. These are absolutely spooktacular cards! I just watched your video and I love the monochromatic card, but the zombie ones are cute and make me want to re-watch The Walking Dead. Thank you for sharing and giving some incredible ideas, I can't wait to get my kit!

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  65. My first words were OH WOW! I would have never thought to use blue for Fall but your cards are AMAZING! Love them all!! So creative! Thanks for inspiration!

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  66. Great variety and choice of colors on your cards.

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  67. Love, love your cards and all the added 'scary' elements! The pumpkins with the moonlight look are amazing and thanks for a great video showing how to do it!

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  68. Such interesting colors on your cards! That blue pumpkin patch is really cool! I also really like the gray and orange.

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  69. Hi, I am just getting caught up reading blogs. Unfortunitly, I was put in the hospital on 9-11 for a chronic illness, Creepy the date, COVID, and what's up in the world.
    How unbelievable that at the hospital they didn't have wi-fi! (it would be upsetting the Dr.'s said!), yet I had 300+ channels of TV. I live in the boonies, I don't watch TV.

    Anyway when I was sprung 5 days later, there in my in box was Understand Blue, Splitcoasters, and a bunch of other blogs! Nothing upsetting here!

    I love Halloween too! Never had a trick or treater, but as I said I'm in the boonies! I can be spooky though.
    I really wish I got in on the Monthly Kit, from Hero Arts1 But, I have A HOARD according to my love, that I can make something very spooky.
    Hope to get more fabulous Ideas here in my friend Blues Blog!

    I'm back, is the world ready?

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  70. Definitely love the blue spooky cards the most. Thanks for creating and sharing them with us.

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