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Sometimes, when you are making something, it has a phase where you're not wild about it. It's the wrong color, it doesn't have contrast, it's just - missing something.
This is where mixed media really shines, because it's that layering process that brings certain things out, or tones down other things - todays video will show you both those effects for these stunning fall dies.
For the background, I used this burlap embossing folder and brayered white paint over it. I love that it looks like some sort of digital signal.
Be sure and click over to YouTube to watch this, because there's a giveaway!
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10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE
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Kraft + colored pencils are magic together, so I decided to focus on those for really almost a month. It takes me a long time to color, and so I started working on these in July and wanted to present a whole fall/winter tour using the same warm foundation with pencils to show you how much I love this combo. You can get 10% off everything I use by shopping with this link and using code UNDERSTANDBLUE.
I took another panel of the same kraft, and I partially stamped this brick background stamp in Warm Cocoa for a distressed brick background. Then I masked off the bottom part and ink blended it for little sidewalk I could put my kitty on. I used the die to create the shadow in the background and highlighted the bricks with a white pencil.
Then I skipped ahead to Christmas with this poinsettia stamp on the same kraft cardstock. See how no matter what colors you are using they glow on kraft? That's because I always start with a white layer.
I skipped back to fall and school starting with this kraft colored card, but the pencil coloring this time was done on a chalkboard green cardstock so I could stamp this little owl in white and have it look super realistic.
As a former teacher, I endorse this message. It's really true. I used this paper for the background and used the same pencils for the sweet owl.
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With all these back to school photos getting posted, I feel like quails' special moments are getting lost in the shuffle so I decided to build a little quail family portrait.
These quail dies are not only adorable, but they are such a nice size - about half a card front, which made putting their family portrait together easy!
First, I ink blended all the pieces, just following the colors shown on the layering guide here. I thought that was such a pleasing color palette - their purple was a bit more plummy, but I realized I didn't have a plummy ink! I love the contrast here between the lavender and yellow though. This is all Distress Oxides.
I glued them all together with my Precision Glue Press - so great for the little details like the white on the male - and the way they made these dies is genius because the layering legs work for both birds - so just cut two.
Next I used this gorgeous layering frame die - I only used on layer but you can see all the layers here - it's so pretty - and I cut black cardstock and then brayered gold paint onto it for a distressed, vintage frame look for their oh so serious family portrait.
All of that sits on a card base that I ran through my die cutter with the piercing plate. Just as an experiment, I ran the WHOLE folded card through on a light 80 lb card base - it's so cute to have the inside pierced! So that's a fun option.
Quail are such beautiful little birds. But I have to say, in my GenX head, the whole time I was making this I was cracking up because it looks like I made a little Partridge Family! Just the way my brain works - I don't make the rules.
I have more coming with all this goodness, but in the meantime, you can check it out here.
Video soon! Loveyameanitbye.
CURRENT COUPON CODES
10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE
*Compensated affiliate links may be used at no additional cost to you. No posts here are sponsored or paid.*
Thou shalt not have Christmas before Halloween! At least, in my world. We have 68 days until Halloween, and I'm cooking up a door decoration that if it works, I will film :)
I made today's projects in MAY if you can believe it - I'm also psyched about Halloween in May. But we were working on the holiday catalog, so we can finally reveal it.
There is a series of these cute peeking dies, one of WITCH is a WITCH, so I am starting with that. I ink blended a lime gree background, with grey ink on top for a spooky, Wicked-inspired feel. I blended those same inks on the edge of the witch die cut like the fog was creeping across her face. I accented her with white gel pen and added bats and this awesome number series you can use for any holiday.
But my favorite might be this sort of wistful New Year's card with this tree. I chose pinks because that's just always such a sweet and unexpected winter holiday color. I also used brown instead of black for a softer look. That little bunny is so sweet.
Whenever I see a little silhouette kitty though I think of my travel-averse little furry soulmate - Maddie though.
So today's card is 100% aspirational. I used Maddie from the set as the focal point, but also as color inspiration. I thought that the sentiment was perfect for a card with a black cloud on it - and it looks so sharp in black!
The only pop of color comes from actually a circle image, but I hid it behind the black cloud and colored it rainbow with Graphit.
I am sort of surprised that I haven't thought of this sort of design before with silhouette stamps - I really like it!
PS - I've updated my tutorial database because filters are messing with people's views - so re-click the link on Patreon to see the new view.
We finally got like four raindrops today and I'm thrilled. Doesn't take much to make me happy!
Loveyeameanitbye.
CURRENT COUPON CODES
10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE
Now I have a SUPER exciting new tool I've been working on for a LONG time. A database that will let you sort ALL the Splitcoast tutorials - a thousand of them going back 17 years! The site only lets you search by keyword - which means you have to know what you're searching for - and I don't always remember. But this new database let's you search by type - like fancy folds, gift card holders, boxes, etc. You can search by tutorial author, whether or not they have videos, and if they are regular tutorials or Holiday Blitz tutorials - it's SO useful!!
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I've literally waited a year to tell you about this. The absolute BANE of my existence is my inability to put a cap on my glue, the glue clogging, and me trying to unclog it.
About a year ago, I got the prototype of the Precision Glue Press, and I have not capped my glue since! It has been SO hard to hide this in my videos and daily lives, let me tell you!
It's a super ergonomic, easy to hold and squeeze pressure tool for glue - any glue you want - that makes SUPER fine lines of glue, and it sits in a stand that keeps the glue from clogging WITHOUT A CAP. NO PIN. NOTHING - just pop the little press in the stand - there's a little silicone pillow that the tip rests on that keeps it from drying!
I'm so glad it's finally arrived and I can stop keeping it out of my videos LOL.
This thing is great if you have a hard time squeezing tubes or bottles of glue. I'll put a video demo below, but this has become as essential to my craft process as the MISTI.
I have a new video on an old technique today - this is the final video in my three part series on using patterned paper creatively - it's the Herringbone technique.
This video will actually have a second part where I show you how to color the little cottage, but today's video is just about the background. It's such a striking way to build a background, all I added was this Thanksgiving sentiment - I colored the little - what are those - excitement marks? - to match, but super simple. This is the patterned paper pack I used - and I talk about the different types of patterns you can use in the video. I punched out little circles of glitter paper as DIY embellishments.
Here's the video:
Now a few tips and the video on the glue press. It comes with one full bottle of glue and one empty bottle for whatever glue you like. The cap sits permanently on that front part of the stand. You get a regular nozzle and a fine tip nozzle - I just use the fine tip one because I love it for teeny word die cuts, but if you use a very viscous glue you might want to try the larger tip. Pop the glue bottle in from the back - all the way until it clicks. This is what ensures it sits on the little pillow that keeps it from clogging - see how the end of the bottle is flush with the back of the press?
Then that's it! Pick it up whenever you want and give it a gentle squeeze! Pop it back in the stand and it's ready to go for next time! Whatever glue is in the nozzle when you put it back on the stand will collect on the pillow and sometimes around the tip - just pull that off.
You are going to wonder what you did without this thing. I'll tell you what I did - I threw away a lot of glue! OH and the other thing is - it's very efficient - with the fine tip and the ability to control how much glue comes out by the way you squeeze the handle - I'm still using the same bottle of glue that came with mine a YEAR ago, and I use it several times a day. A bottle of glue has never lasted this long.
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I took my digital thermometer outside yesterday. Air temp was 114 at 6 PM, the water in my birdbath was 98 and the side of the birdbath was 107.
To say Texans are weary of it this year - which I rarely am, is an understatement.
So - unable to weed or garden, I made some fall fan art this weekend. I have been trying other techniques lately and neglecting my watercolor! I've had these mushroom/fall dies for a few months and not used them, so they were the perfect simple painting session. I thought it would be fun to make an envelope shaped card for a lady in my Buy Nothing group so I used the envelope die for the card base - I like that you can cut the pieces separately so the inside can be a separate color.
Of course it's also a fully functional envelope too, but that felt too boring this weekend LOL. The sentiment is this letterpress die for the Better Press - I LOVE THAT THING. FINALLY someone figured this out - I had one years ago that was awful. And you know what's funny - when I bought it, I also bought this HUGE thing of Crane letterpress paper that has been in the back of my car for more than ten years and IT PAID OFF! It works beautifully!!! I will do a video soon, but it's so well designed and fun to use and no stinky, sticky inks with a brayer! Look how delicate the letterpress can be. Plus matching dies to cut them out. Genius.
But Halloween calls me as always, so I did a little stash building with my kitty die. The background is actually an abstract Christmas patterned paper, but it's a perfect spooky green for Halloween. I like how the pumpkin's expression is sort of "meh". The sentiment is a two part die that has a lot of Christmas greetings, but also general things like this. I have some other cards coming up with this set - it's super useful.
I went back to a paper stack from this summer - remember my art journal class? - for another green background - what is up with me and green?? And you would never guess where I got these little pink trees! I had every intention to put this big, pretty snowflake die cut on here, but I got to looking at the legs and thought they looked like little folk art trees, so I cut them apart and voila! The sentiment is from the same set I used above.
Cross your fingers for cooler weather next week. And keep our friends in Hawaii in your hearts. I hope that beautiful banyan tree has deep, deep roots.
Yesterday I took the temperatures of various surfaces outside. The hottest was the outside of my rain barrel at 175 degrees.
I also weighed a cup of water and put it outside for the day. It lost a little over two ounces. Crazy.
So I was inspired to create a few crafty responses to this! First - a heatmap style card with ink blending - the perfect backdrop for these silhouette dies that are so striking.
If you look closely, I very lightly shaded the various pieces with a white pencil for highlights. I love the boatneck shirt and her hair. The balloon string is a stamp.
You can also make little brides out of her with a veil, change her arm and hair up - it's really cute.
But the best way to fight with the heat is to think about fall! I took this stitched cover plate and did sort of a faux solar print technique - you know - that paper you put a leaf on in the sun and get a blue and white print out of? Then I stamped the little pumpkin in yellow and left it in my MISTI, and ink blended orange directly onto the stamp at the top and bottom. The sentiment and die are from the same set.
How are YOU beating the heat? If you live somewhere it's not hot, don't tell us Texans.
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When I went to the Hero Arts anniversary event in 2019, I got to reconnect with a friend of my brother's - a guy who we all spent a ton of time with in my childhood - a sweet, sweet man named Dave. He lives in Oakland and was nice enough to hop over to Richmond to see me after decades. He was just the same. It was a highlight of the trip.
Recently, his son, who is almost a carbon copy of Dave, set out to walk the Pacific Crest Trail - a daunting 2650 mile trip on foot, mostly alone.
I've been following his trip on Dave's Facebook trip and it's incredible. I've long admired Appalachian Trail hikers from afar, but this trail was new to me. Along his route, there are these trail angels who feed the through hikers, let them shower and sleep in their homes and it's just been restoring my faith in humanity. The sights are beautiful, of course, and his observations are sweet and profound.
When I got my box with today's Hero Arts Kit, my jaw hit the floor. It was like the entire release was a recreation of Adam's journey. I fell HARD for this stunning die, and I used my Daniel Smith watercolor to paint in the trail. After painting it I splattered the black card base with white ink, and layered the die cut onto it. The sentiment is from the kit, and it's such an important message. We need more people to understand and appreciate our relationship with our environment before it's too late.
Here's a pic of me & Dave at Hero Arts.
Here's a link to his most recent post of Adam's journey - just go back on his timeline for the rest of his trip. Here's a photo I loved from his walk. He's been walking for 74 days - and almost 1500 miles.
There's a new bold print that has a lot of possibilities.I used tape to mask off the trees and ink blend them - the rest is so bold, I thought it looked great in black & white.
I love that the kit features California poppies. That's what I used for my night themed sneak peek card. I stamped the poppy from the kit andn then colored around it with a black OLO marker. I masked it (the easiest it to just use the die and a post-it, and then splattered the black area.
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