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. 

CURRENT COUPON CODES
20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.

10% off anything at OLO MARKER
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off at Sweet Sentiment with code UNDERSTANDBLUE
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
Arkon Mounts - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

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.