VIDEO: Change the "Season" of Your Seasonal Products with Color!

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Happy Friday! I have a super relaxing watercolor video for you today - and the real point of the video is that you don't have to put your fall-themed products away when spring comes! All you have to do is approach them with different colors. 

I challenged myself to take this wondrous fall-themed cover plate I got this summer and take a look forward to spring and summer with it, just by using seasonal colors! It worked - it doesn't look fall-ish at all! In the video I list the Daniel Smith watercolor I used for each element. 

I will say - my friend iamvics on Splitcoast helped me out with this card! Without even knowing it! She mentioned in a thread that there was a universal die cutting bundle you could use with any machine, and since I had been struggling with the right sandwiches for a few products, I decided to buy it for myself for Christmas and HOLY COW. It's solved all my problems, one of which is getting great cuts on my cold press watercolor paper with intricate dies like these. Every single element of the bundle is clearly labeled with what to use with what. For watercolor paper, use the normal die cutting sandwich but add a shim and it cuts that 140 lb. watercolor paper like a hot knife through butter! This was some of the best crafty money I've spent all year, so thank you so much my friend!

I fully intended to put this on white or black cardstock, but I grabbed a piece of this beautiful blue and felt like it looked like a springy sky, so that's my card base.

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Don't put those seasonal products out to pasture at the end of the season - just get outside the color box!

I'm really hoping to take a few days away from the computer this week - I don't think I've had a day off all year - so I'm not sure I'll be back before 12/30, but if not - I hope you have an amazing holiday, whatever that looks like to you!

And if the holidays are stressful or bring unpleasant events to mind, I get it. Take some time to do something that brings you peace, and don't worry about what you are "supposed" to do. My dad died in December, and that was five days after a significantly stressful event, and that sort of trauma lasts a long time, so be kind to yourself. If you feel like doing nothing, do nothing. If you feel like doing something, do something. Life is short. 

Here's the video - I hope you find it relaxing - I try to end every year with a relaxing video you can just enjoy without thinking too much about. 

Loveyameanitbye.

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VIDEO: Crafty Rewind - Faux Quilting with Reactive Ink + New $5 Class

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I'm SO loving the Cook's Illustrated mushroom bourguignon! Oh my gosh - I've been eating leftovers for a few days and it's so, so good. I cannot cook from a video though - I usually read a recipe a few times before making it to figure out timing, mise en place, etc. Stopping and starting a video is not ideal. So I transcribed it for you in case your brain works like mine, and you can see that here.

I made it with the NYT creamy vegan polenta - it's just veggie broth and polenta and nutritional yeast if desired. When I first became dairy allergic, I tried a lot of vegan recipes to learn to cook differently, and a LOT of recipes called for this for a "cheesy" flavor. However, to me, it just tasted like mold! I hated it! But in one of my cooking groups, someone who had the same experience shared this brand with me and OH MY WORD does that make a difference! It's so different from the other brands. I use it all the time now. Highly recommend.

Anyway, I have a new video for you today using reactive inks to create a faux quilted look. It's really fun. I have several cards in the video, and all the supplies for the extra cards are listed in the video description. (One is retired, but you might have it since this is a rewind - showing you how to use older supplies instead of buying something new.)

For this card, I wanted to use this darling little girl for a valentine. I used these heart dies for the shape, and this little ink stack. So sweet and easy - even if you are making multiples for your kids - just create a whole sheet of the inked piece and die cut it. 

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I also have a new $5 class! Check out all my online classes here.

Here's my video!

I hope your Christmas week looks great! Ours is going to be COLD.

Loveyameanitbye.

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Why not PINK champagne?

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I've had song lyrics in my head this week. Yesterday, I was singing "why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near?" and for the FIRST time in my life I THOUGHT about them and how truly bizarre they are! 

What if birds showed up every time you saw someone? I'd think they were a witch! LOL! It would definitely be freaky. I don't think it's a good quality in a person to always be showing up with a flock of birds.

Anyway, the other one I thought about while I was making today's card was Hotel California. "pink champagne on ice" - when I was little, I thought that meant they were drinking it with ice cubes, and even six year old me knew that was completely uncouth!

Anyway I enjoyed this. I used the champagne dies from this adorable collection to make this. I used the round dies in the set to punch out bubbles from this pink glitter paper. I glued them onto black cardstock before die cutting the bottle shape. The glass has that little die that cuts out the champagne and I punched some smaller bubbles to float up out of the glass. The sentiment and the mod flowers in the background are from the same collection. You've seen me do this before, but to create the background, I just took the flower dies while they were still all attached together and ran them through to make a textured card front, using double sided adhesive sheets to hold them together and secure them to the card base. When I saw these dies and the champagne it looked like fireworks in the background!

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As you can tell, I haven't cooked much lately! No new recipes to share. I have eaten pizza bagels for a few days, just like the 50 cent ones I survived on in college. If you are in Texas, try the fROSEN's bagels. I get them at Farmhouse here. These are bake at home, so you can bake one at a time and have hot, perfectly chewy bagels - they are amazing. 

No shame in the pizza bagel game - they are so good! I like the Sacla marinara with cherry tomatoes in it and I use Miyoko's vegan liquid mozzarella - the ONLY melting vegan cheese I endorse! 

It's been so grey and gloomy I just don't feel like being creative in the kitchen. Saving that for my cards!

I hope you have a great week! Loveyameanitbye.

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Kitty Pop-Up Building Card + Weathered Paint Effect

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I'm very concerned about the weather the next few months, based solely on how much my little kittiots are eating! They are eating an insane amount of food - are your pets? The heavy acorn crop combined with this is scary.

I have the CUTEST pop up card for you today! I had so much fun building this and adding the little architectural details from these pop up dies. You can combine a bunch of different scenes - a book store, a bakery, just a house - it's so adorable!

I decided to use a brick Gel Press print I made for the main portion of the die that forms the building. The die includes the little strip above that white molding that covers the rest of the card base, so I just cut that from the same brick print. That little extra space at the top of the card base is what allows the whole card to fold flat for mailing - you'll see that in the second photo. It's a really simple popup assembly - just two score lines top and bottom form the 3-D building. It's the architectural details that make it amazing - the molding detail you can assemble a few different ways - same with the door which I did a fun old-paint technique on - and the paned windows are so cute. I built a little brick flower box for in front of the windows.

BUT, in the bookstore set of dies, there's a CAT, so I could not resist using the little lamp die to shine a spotlight on the deserving little kitty in her townhouse! It's hard to see here, but there is acetate inside for the windows.

I put the lamp down on the cardbase where I wanted it to be, and marked the bottom of the lightbulb with a pencil and then removed it and masked the light beam. I ink blended that with yellow, and then masked that and blended everything around that with gray ink to make it look dark inside.

This view lets you see the box shape at the bottom.

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This straight on view lets you see the flat top of the card base at the top that the whole card folds flat against.

On the door, I wanted it to look like there were layers and layers of old paint on it, so after I glued the three door pieces together, I did a two step process. First I covered it all with clear embossing powder, and after that, I glopped on some gloss medium, making it thick and uneven in some spots. After that was dry, I added the mail slot and door plate, cut from gold foil.

Here you can see the acetate, and the dimension of the card and box shape bottom right.

I love the way the door looks - it looks like an old door on a London rowhouse when they just keep painting over old paint - like this.

How fun is that? Check out the other combos here - lots of fun little scenes you can make - it's just adorable.

Hope you have a great weekend. Ironically - I have some cabinet painting to do!

Loveyameanitbye.

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Deep Space Dreams + Giveaway

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As you saw Saturday, I'm psyched about space themed cards. So now I get to show you the new Hero Arts space themed kit. It's funny to me that we ALL want to go to space - an inhospitable place you would instantly die! But we all want it. The curiosity is just too much! I really think the most memorable shows and movies are the ones with space themes: Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien, The Martian, Armageddon, The Right Stuff, Apollo 13 are just a few.

Maybe it's because there aren't any other people up there? LOL. 

Okay I had an accidental discovery on this card! And that is how very fun it is to combine a dye ink with a reactive ink. I didn't think about when I was doing it but I love the look. 

The sweet little chick astronaut whizzing through space on her star is from the main kit. To create the background, I first blended Hero Hues inks - purple blue and pink. Over that, I used the new layering galaxy stencil - first with Soft Granite dye ink which reacted with the background in SUCH a cool way! I was expecting dark streaks through it but they reacted with the base layer and gave sort of a lift look that I love! The next layer I used unicorn ink. This is a very cool stencil. For the moon, I just used my Circle Infinity dies and markers to create craters, and then used the sentiment from the kit. 

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Here's what comes in the kit:

This beautiful moon phase die is one I wish my dad could see! It's STUNNING. All I did was run it through with black and holographic cardstock, and then piece the holographic pieces back in. It's so beautiful in real life and SO quick and easy to make.

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Yesterday's card features a new Peter Max style space background cling that comes in the kit. I thought it would be fun to do something that was very popular back in the late 1900s with the sun from the main kit, and that was to stamp the outline in a complementary color, rather than black and then just color it carefully. The little cloud dies are from the kit too.

Here are the add-ons!

Of course there's a giveaway as always and tons more inspiration for you! Leave me a comment to be entered! Start at the Hero Blog for the rest!

Hero Arts

Hero Arts Creative Team:

Channin Pelletier
Dana Joy
Daniel West
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Kelly Taylor
💙💙💙 Lydia Fiedler 💙💙💙
Maria Willis
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Seeka

Special Guests: 

Jennifer Kotas
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

Loveyameanitbye.

You're a Star - REALLY

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Happy Caturday! I learned this week that cats can SMELL your central nervous system! I'm sure dogs can too. But little changes in your hormones and nervous system - they can smell them! It explains a big mystery I've always wondered about. My kitties FREAK OUT and paw my face when I have a laughing fit! They think I'm crying. Which tells me the hormonal changes in laughing and crying must be the same. Fascinating. Makes it hard to watch funny shows though. They literally jump on me and meow and paw my face and are so stressed out. I wonder if it's the smell of tears, because I cry when I laugh. 

My Nobel prize awaits, I'm sure. 

Anyway, I used to tell my dad all my kitties' quirks - he loved those stories. And so I thought about him when I was making the cards I'll show you on Monday from the Hero Arts kit, because they are all space-themed, and no one knew more about celestial things than my dad. 

Here's a little peek. Somehow I made this card extremely hard to photograph. So I have another view you can see below with the cloud detail a little better.

The other thing that made me think of my dad is this Peter Max style background - it's so fun and has a coloring book style that I love and is sort of retro.

I used a foil background, because - you know - SPACE. 

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Here's the better view of the cut/emboss cloud dies.

I'm running around doing all sorts of things this weekend, including painting some cabinets.

Prayers appreciated LOL.

Have a great weekend. I'll see you Monday. 

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VIDEO: Mixed Media Double Shimmer Technique - Splitcoaststampers

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The first tutorial for Falliday Fest was phenomenal! I'm normally busy working on moving the challenge cards, working on the challenge forum, etc. so I don't always have time to do the tutorials DURING the challenge - I usually try them afterwards in the catch-up period, but this one - I had to try it! Also, as you'll hear in the video, it justified me hanging onto some of my very oldest craft supplies! Wait until you hear how old!

The original tutorial is here and it's STUNNING. I looked around to see what I could use aside from trees because I didn't feel like I could approach how beautiful hers was, so I decided - 'tis the season - why not a poinsettia? I used this poinsettia die, and I cut it from Parsley and Ballet Slipper cardstocks. The items you will see in the video are pigment powders and gilding flakes and two-way glue, as well as a little scrubby finishing tool. The background I made with a snowflake cover die and gold gem stickers, and the sentiment is from this set.

If you want to make a bunch of these, I recommend adding the glue to multiples all at once - as you will see in the video - it dries really fast, but I think assembling multiples would be so much easier if they were all coated with glue at the same time. 

Man, I had fun doing this. If you want to try it, it's the inspiration for the MIX-Ability challenge this week too! Just use keyword MIX514 in the gallery or on social media.

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Here's the video:

Did you see the amazing cookie recipe Jen Timko shared with me? If not, you MUST try it. It's SO delicious! Note her instructions!

Here is the recipe.

Loveyameanitbye.

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