VIDEO: Overlapping Foiled Elements

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Want a fun and easy foiling trick I've never seen anyone do? I have a new video for you today - caption only with music - with this beach themed kit and toner sheets. SO easy and as far as I know - a new way to use toner sheet die cuts. If it's not new - please spare my feelings :).

The weather here is absolutely perfect, so I thought a warm vibe would be great today.

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Here's the quick video.

New art journaling class coming soon!

Loveyameanitbye.

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VIDEO: Magic Embossing Reveal Technique - EOINA

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I've said this forever about embossing folders and stencils - they are the most economical and versatile supplies you own, and today's video will prove it!

All of these were created with the same embossing folder and the exact same process. The sentiment set and matching dies are what I used for all the sentiments. I tested OODLES of paper brands - almost ten - and some of them were awful. The ones I am using in the video today - the black and white and the colored ones - are great for this technique. But trust me on the bad ones LOL!

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Here's the video:

I am still watching the Murdaugh trial - UGH. Have you watched? My inner third grade teacher has PTSD over the toddler style lying. If you need to catch up there are lots of shows on this man and his criminal empire - there's a good one on Netflix. 

I need brain bleach every time he opens his mouth though! Lordy!

I made a fun art journaling video for a $5 class you'll see soon - it will be the principles I use every time I create a page, so I hope it will be helpful!

Did you have a good weekend? We are trying to clear out the freezer still for an upcoming beef purchase from a local farmer, so I haven't really done any cooking, other than refried beans and that kind of thing. I'm excited because I have bulgogi in the freezer so that should be coming into the rotation soon!

I wonder every time I eat that bulgogi if I'll ever find another food I like as much as that recipe. Life-changing recipes like that are few and far between. Since 2020 - I can count them on one hand - the Salisbury Steak recipe, the bulgogi, the cherry bread. 

Got any new recipes for me? Lay 'em on me, stringbean!

Loveyameanitbye.

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Two Stamps, Two Mediums

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I've been on a bit of a pencil kick lately and today I decided to combine two different kinds of pencils on this gorgeous, Kentucky feeling scene. This is actually two separate stamps - the horses are one image and the rest of the scene is a single image. 

I started by stamping the scenic part on cold press watercolor paper. I didn't stamp the horses yet - the scenic part is stamped in black hybrid ink.

Then I colored all over the image with my favorite watercolor pencils - these are the ONLY watercolor pencils I've ever used that dissolve completely and don't leave pencil marks. I used a wet paintbrush to activate all the color all over the scene.

I allowed that to dry, stamped the horses in Versafine Clair and then went to work with my colored pencils - adding shading to the barn, along with the dappling on the side of the barn where it's behind the trees, the shadows falling towards the left for the trees, the paddock and the horses.

I used the pencils to add grass around the horses as well - two greens and some white. I used the white pencil (which is about two inches long now from over use LOL) to add highlighting in the sky, on the right side of the trees and the right side of the horses. 

The scene before those final details was pretty, but kind of flat - it's amazing what just five or six minutes with a few details will do to even a scene where the stamp does 99% of the work for you like this beauty!!

Also, personally, I feel like cold press paper is extra fun with pencils - especially soft pencils like these - because of the texture you can get on the dappled shadows like I did here.

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There's a whole barn theme happening with this set - I can't wait to stamp the little cow!! So sweet. 

Anyway, that's my little mixed media exercise for today. It was fun.

Hope your upcoming weekend looks fun - I guess unless you're in that big snowstorm that's happening right now. BUT - if you are - it's a good excuse to stamp! Get those pencils out!

Loveyameanitbye.

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VIDEO: Just For Fun - A Colored Pencil Card for Peanut!

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I just have a quick video for you today - a sped up coloring video, but with captions with fun squirrel facts and reference materials throughout! I hope you enjoy it. I used this squirrel image, these pencils, this paper and this glove in the video. In the video description on YouTube are the squirrel sites I reference in the captions.

I made this card to send with nibble sticks to Peanut the Squirrel. His "dad" is starting a non-profit animal rescue in upstate New York - they are actually moving to the property this week! Peanut himself is a rescued squirrel of course. 

Here's the card I sent with some nibble sticks for Peanut.

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Here's the video!

Tomorrow I'm trying a new banana bread with an orange glaze. 

If it's marvelous, I'll share the recipe! If not - I was never here! :)

Loveyameanitbye.

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The Earth Has Turned + $50 Giveaway

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One of the best pieces of advice my dad gave me was "live east of where you work." Whenever there's an advice thread on FB, I add this, and I inevitably get questions from directionally challenged people who, for whatever reason, know nothing about the compass. Texas is mostly VERY flat, and so if you don't know how to navigate via the position of the sun, you are up the proverbial creek. 

I started to notice in the 90s that people no longer understood this. I noticed it the most when I called 911. I'd call and say "Hi - I need the police to come check out the 18 wheeler full of tyrannosaurs that flipped over." "Where is the emergency?" I'd say "It's on the north side of westbound 290, just east of the Lamar exit." (stunned silence) "Um, WHERE?".

It's really a problem in a landscape with no natural landmarks if you can't orient yourself on a compass. Unless you're okay with dying of exposure, that is.

Anyway, I think that's why my dad's advice is puzzling for people who only know where they are in relation to their favorite Target location or Starbucks. But it's really important advice unless you want to be blinded by the sun twice a day on your commute. Unfortunately, I didn't take that advice in my current house. My street runs STRAIGHT east and west, with east end containing all of Austin's civilization.

So if I have an early appointment, like today's allergy shot, I'm blinded driving down our street and I hear him saying that. However, it's worse at certain times of year, as the earth's position in relation to the sun changes a bit, and this morning, I noticed that it had changed a LOT from last month's shot, and so I survived my trek without getting in a head-on. One of the many miracles of spring!

I can finally show you, speaking of spring, the cards I made for Hero's spring catalog. I did these during cold, grey November, and they brought me a lot of joy in the dark months. It's fun to reveal them now that it's sunny and warm again - WE MADE IT. 

My favorite card of them is the simplest one. I masked and blended a Hero Hues rainbow stripe and stamped this gorgeous wildflower silhouette over it. Masked sections like this were one of my early stamping technique go-to styles in the late 1900s. It's easy but it wows people and if you wanted to do any duplicated - this right here is your friend. The sentiment is this Friendly Messages set - and it has dies!

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There's a fun layering daffodil die too. I colored this one with OLO markers, and used the honeycomb foiling die to deboss the background - I love using foiling dies like this because they have such a deep impression. The sentiment is Friendly Messages and dies.

 The columbine stencil is breathtaking. I did soft pinks just to be contrary! The sentiment set matches the sentiment strips die if you have that. 

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BUT THE BEE AND FLOWER STENCIL! Same sentiment set as above.

If you thought I was going to forget about the set with the squirrel, you'd have been wrong!

They are doing a $50 giveaway for the catalog today - so leave me a comment with YOUR best piece of general advice! I can't wait to hear it. 

For more inspiration from this catalog - start HERE for the hop and LOADS more cards! 

Loveyameanithappyspringbye.

Busy Bee Monday + Allergy-friendly candy find

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The brush trucks have started coming! I'm so relieved. The giant piles of brush were starting to attract birds, and I was worried they were making nests in there. So just one more pile and we can get back to normal. They used a big claw on a truck and unfortunately that is not a precise machine and gouged big holes in our lawn! But it is what it is.

Since spring is busy springing, I have some bees for you today! I saw this bee stencil before it was released, and I was so excited - it's so graphic and fun - it's a three part layering stencil that's super easy to line up. If you are a bee keeper how cute would this BEE on labels for honey jars? Or on little tags?

I used the sentiment from this older bee-themed Clarence set on a little strip to finish it off. PS - all my squirrels are fine after the storm - kind of a miracle that none of them fell when all the branches broke. Squirrels are tough little things. OH and speaking of - if you have squirrels, get some of these antler pieces! The guy that makes these is the nicest guy - he's in Hawaii. He buys shed antler from the US - from ranchers, etc. and cuts them into these nibble sticks for squirrels and other wild animals. They provide much needed calcium for squirrels and help grind their teeth down. I put a few on the porch every day and they are gone before the pecans! I'm sending some to Peanut the Squirrel today as a matter of fact - they have just started an animal rescue in upstate New York.

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There are more cute bees out there, like this little guy! I colored him simply with OLO markers and cut him out with the matching dies for the bee and sentiment. 

The background - well - you'll have to wait for the video on that. I'm mean, I know - but it will be worth it - it's a fun trick.

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I hope you have a great week!

If you have allergies, I found this AMAZING allergy friendly candy in my allergy group. It is also vegan - there are few things I hate more than gelatin, and most candy containing it tastes like plastic to me. This is just tart, yummy fruit and I love it. Nice to have candy that's not grossly sweet.

What's really nice is the bag is full of small individual packets so you can share. I LOVE the mixed berry - haven't tried the strawberry yet - they were all at the bottom of the bag.

If you aren't part of a food allergy group on Facebook I recommend it!

LoveyameanitBEEHAPPYbye.

VIDEO: Watercolor Flat Shaker

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I have a fox that visits my porch every night - batting cleanup for the squirrels - hoovering up any leftover pecans that might be there. The other night I forgot to put out late afternoon pecans and I watched the fox look like he was going to knock on the door!

He's a beautiful little animal, with a bold black stripe down his tail. One morning, I came out just as it was barely getting light and caught him in the yard, a few feet from me. Being me, I started talking to him - and he walked towards me like a dog! When he got within a few feet, he turned and trotted off through my neighbor's yard.

I feel like he's probably the descendant of a multi-generational fox family that used to return to a neighbor's backyard every year and have babies under the deck, and that's why he's almost friendly. 

I love that we still have a little wildlife left, despite the City of Austin's best efforts to get rid of it all. 

I thought I'd make a fox card after viewing his latest shenanigans, so I used this little interactive critter set - all the animals have paws they can hold things with - so very adorable. I watercolored him with Daniel Smith - and by the way - the five new colors are now available in my split group - and pieced him together. 

The shaker portion was made with these shaker frames, a small stamp package (I love re-using these for shakers) and this gingham paper and iridescent sequins. The sentiment is this one and the matching dies are here. 

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Here's the video:

Do you have any critters that come to visit on a regular basis? And, more importantly - HAVE YOU NAMED THEM? My fox is named Stripe, for his distinctive stripey tail.

We started watching a few things you might like. Happy Valley - a British police drama - is great. Very suspenseful and well acted. 

We are re-watching Newhart - such a great show.

I've also been art journaling a ton - especially in my mini journal. Those small canvases are so fun. I'm working on a new journaling class for you that will be ready soon!

I have a new coupon code for you for journaling/planner supplies too! I LOVE their stickers! Just use code UNDERSTANDBLUE here for 10% off. I'll add it to my list below too!

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Clean, Retro Sentiment Cards

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I love a good clean and simple sentiment card, and today I have some super fun RETRO feeling sentiment die cut cards. All of these dies are from this collection, and I have a surprise ingredient - the black and white tape and hot pink tape!

This first die has a positive and negative cut as well as a layer, so you'll see the letters I popped out later. But the pink is tape, and I put the checkered tape across the card base. So 50s!

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This uses the leftover letters as well as this new texture dotty stamp, which is the perfect size - I just stamped it once. You can see that the tape is shiny on all my cards - little reflections.

LOVVVEEEEEE this new layering stencil! It has a 70s feel and looks so very 3D! I numbered the colors on the packaging and then numbered the stencils so I always know which element is which.

This card uses the checkered tape for this fun layering hello die. SO simple!

This die also gives you two pieces and has a retro flare. I put the pink tape on cardstock before die cutting - you'll see the letters on the next card, and I just added these black enamel hearts. I think all these cards took ten minutes! Photographing them took way longer than making them!

This card uses a fun layering stencil - just pick all your green inks and add the pink leftovers from the Thanks die cut used above. This was one of my fave color combos from when I started stamping! Memories!

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There's more with this fun retro theme here. 

I NEVER regret making clean and simple cards. Now - to mail them!

Loveyameanitbye.

If You Give a Mouse a Coffee...

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A few years ago when I started my retreats, I discovered the joys of cold brew. Cold brew is NOT the same as the coffee pot your parents or some poorly raised co-worker let go cold and disgusting. It's a different way of making coffee, with a different grind and cold filtered water that makes for a delightful beverage in a cold climate. It's expensive if you buy it already made though, so I was very excited to receive a really nice stainless filter made for Mason Jars for Christmas, and have been making it ever since for about 1/20th the price of the cans of it I used to buy from local coffee companies. 

So I'm celebrating that with these adorable coffee drinking mice today - their drink of choice is French press coffee, obviously. I colored them with my favorite watercolor pencils - you'll see how amazing they are in the video, and actually glued the mice down onto my background before changing my mind and using the matching die to cut a shadow from grey cardstock. This little tool is the only one I trust to remove stuck down things when I need a do-over. It's magical. You'll see in the video that the little mice are totally glued onto the card. Miraculous. 

The background was created with three Oxide greens, my MISTI and this pretty background stamp I bought a while ago but haven't had a chance to use until now. I splattered that with water and added gold embossing powder - I love how random that looks.

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Here's the video!

Speaking of coffee, I couldn't access my cold brew while the power was out, because I couldn't open the fridge. So I was cold, in the dark and uncaffeinated!

I decided to use all those facts as the inspiration for an art journal page, with artwork from the coffee place I get my cold brew from. It's a local roaster that will roast, grind and deliver your coffee the day you order it, and it's the most delicious cold brew blend I've ever had! They have such a cute logo and package - I love the little grackle. The sentiment strips are from this fun snarky pack, (this also comes in black with white print) and the little clouds are from this one. The background was from a speed journaling session - I'll be putting up my speed journaling class soon! 

I hope you have a great rest of your week!

Loveyameanitbye.

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Something Fluttery This Way Comes + Subscriber exclusives!

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Every muscle in my body hurts today, and I'm three days short of sleep, so forgive any typos! Dragging fallen limbs around the yard is not for the faint of heart. If you don't know about our disastrous week - no power, horrific ice storm that destroyed the entire town's trees and more - check out my Facebook photos. We are a very tired city today! 

So I'm very glad I was already done having tons of fun with this month's Hero Arts kit and we have a SURPRISE for you this month - there is a premium kit option. So the regular kit will stay the same, and then if you choose the premium kit, you get extras. This month, you get these STUNNING butterfly rub-ons and matching dies that texture them as your premium kit option. You will see more from me with these very soon. 

My first card uses the premium kit beauties!! I created a mixed media card with the gorgeous new background stamps that I think will just be stored with my art journal - they are so perfect! Do you see the texture on that butterfly rub-on? The matching die does that as well as cutting out the shape! The rest is liquid watercolor, Hero paste, an older stencil and gold metallic ink. If you are a member on Patreon or YouTube, you get a free project sheet for this card this month with the photos of the step by step on top of your normal member benefits. This card could easily become a journal page. 

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Speaking of mixed media, what I love about this month, is this kit can go either way - sweet, clean, cute and colorful, or mixed media! So here's the regular kit's stencil and matching dies - LOOK AT THIS. I know that when I use these window dies, I tend to opt for black, but that's because it's so pretty! The little rainbow layered stencil and black is just heaven. And the add-on has sentiments for the dies, which I basically can't live without now. It just makes cards prettier.

So back to mixed media we go! I used both of the add-on background stamps together and embossed them first, before adding melted wax as a backdrop for my focal butterfly - I felt like that beautifully separated him from the background, which is busy-ish. I used Root Beer and Purple Galaxy Hero Hues for the background and splattered it with water. HOLD UP - he's not a butterfly - he's a moth!

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You can read all about how I did yesterday's sneak peek card here! I love this card - it has a dreamy, other-worldly feel.

You can get oodles more inspiration in today's blog hop, which starts HERE. As usual, leaving comments for me and others enters you into a drawing for a $50 gift card, which will be posted on February 12th here. 

Loveyameanitbye.

Putting It In Reverse

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I have emerged from the disaster that is Austin, TX and now have power! It's the little things, right? It's too soon and I'm too tired to tell the tale here, so I'll just sneak peek you today to Monday's new kit! This month has an exciting upgrade too - a premium option with extra goodies, so read about all those details here, and then join me for a live with Aaron later this week for the inside scoop!

My friend Alison is the inspiration for today - she had posted a card with her zero drawing technique and then remembered that I had asked about it and linked me to her video on it - she's a peach! (PS I called it zero coloring in my demonstration of the technique here, so forgive me.)

It's pretty simple and really cool. I added a twist today with the gorgeous new butterfly themed kit - embossing! 

To do the base technique, I rubbed this graphite powder over an ink blended background to give that dark, smoky look. Then I used my electric eraser to remove the graphite through the layering stencil that comes with the new kit - I used the wing details layer. When that was done, I added embossing ink through the bold layer for the butterfly bodies on top of the erased layer and clear embossed it, so they are raised and shiny! I added some accents with Hero Pearls.

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And this is just the tip of the iceberg with this kit. Wait until you see the beautiful butterfly rub-ons that come with the new premium kit! My project today just uses the standard kit - but you'll see both in my post on Monday!

I'll be back Monday with my other kit cards - see you then! Hope the lights stay on!

Loveyameanitbye.

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