Impressionist Iris - A Coloring Hack!

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Y'all. My white irises are STILL blooming! And my rosebush is going insane - it also changed color - but nothing surprises me anymore.

However, oddly - this is the first year in 21 years that my amaryllis haven't bloomed - unless they are just going to have very strange timing this year. 

Anyway, with all the floral inspiration, I thought I'd try something different for this stunning iris die - and I ended up loving it! So I will keep the deets a secret, but I'll give you a bookmark for the video that will be posted next Wednesday with a step by step!

The die is just lovely and just a few pieces to put together - I think you will love it. The sentiment is from this set. I'll be back in a live this week with the - you guessed it - BLUEBONNET. 💙

I thought it was dramatic enough I'd just put it on black and let it shine. 

I hope you're having a good week. Work has been crazy, Splotchy has some hives, and it's been stormy and cold here, so I'm ready for a weekend with no obligations and some sleep!

My mom found a Leo Lionni book I had never seen!! I can't wait to read it!

Speaking of reading - does anyone know how to make the sleep timer on Audible work? I set it for 30 minutes, but it just keeps playing and then I wake up in the morning and it's still playing 34 chapters later. 🙈 I'm on iOS. 

Hope you have a good weekend!

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE

20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.

OLO MARKER

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Arkon Mounts -  - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

VIDEO: No-Line Stenciling

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Hi friends! We've emerged from a stormy St. Patrick's Day weekend! I hope you had fun. I doodled around on the internet all weekend since I couldn't weed my flowerbeds, and I found some fun things. I found a video for a super high tech, pretty coffee machine I'm intrigued by. My espresso machine is from the late 1900s - it's been a workhorse, but it's HUGE. We pulled out this hideous built in microwave that came with the house recently and that's when I noticed how much bigger older appliances are than newer ones. We actually have the same issue with our ovens - we have double ovens, and when they died and we had them replaced just prior to 2020 - it left about a 4" tall gap at the top of the opening which I have yet to creatively deal with. But I also - through a DEEP FB rabbit hole, found a website that has historical aerial images. It's a little too pricey a subscription for me, but if you're looking for something specific, it would be incredibly helpful. I do use Google Earth Pro, but it's got wonky images sometimes. All the other sources of aerials were designed by something other than humans and are so hard to use. This site is pretty slick, so I'm tucking that away for the future. 

I also saw this hilarious turtle video and this adorable red panda fact.

Anyhoo, I have a new video for you today with a no-line layering stencil for teacher cards. Just a note, this does have a matching stamp set and dies that I used to no-line watercolor this same image in this video. 

What I did in this video though is flip the intention of the highlight portion of the stencil, which is a fun way to get a different look from layering stencils. 

It's the time of year to start thinking about teacher appreciation, so don't wait too long! Here's the card! After completing the process in the video, I used some grid tape to stencil a blue background for grounding. The sentiment is from the matching stamp set. The ink colors are listed in the video description.

So enough chit chat - here's the video!

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE

20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.

OLO MARKER

10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10

Arkon Mounts -  - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Bookish Cards

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Trigger warning - I have used an old book in this blog post 😂. I know that that, and painting wood furniture upsets a lot of people so I'm giving you fair warning!

I love all things book, despite my controversial use of mass market used books in my art! So I love pairing that sort of ephemera with book-themed products, and that's what I have for you today!.

I had the MOST fun coloring the book that this cute little literary gnome is reading - I chose dark colors to make it look older, like he's sitting in the stacks of my college library. 

And you might not recognize it, because my video with the technique was so dramatic and bold, but I actually used my Blackout Embossing technique on this card, just with a dictionary page and a Sea Glass ink pad to give that fun sort of upholstery look in the background. 

If you are an avid reader, and want to see some AMAZING things, check out this hashtag on Instagram - it's one of my favorites.

I used some retired fall paper for this cute little owl and if you look at the gold strip - the embossing folder looks like an open book! I just cut one row of the pattern. I used my go to word die for a simple finish. 

I asked this on Facebook the other day and got some great responses, so I'll ask here - what are you reading? I'm looking for a new series that's as good as Louise Penny's Gamache series is. Got any suggestions?

Hope you are doing well.

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE

20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.

OLO MARKER

10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10

Arkon Mounts -  - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

VIDEO: Easy Origami Owl With Homemade Origami Paper + Giveaway

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Happy Monday and happy Hero Arts Kit Day! 

We had a glorious weather week this week, and so lots of garden things are springing back to life. I'm anxiously waiting to see if my very first poppy experiment worked - the seeds are from my neighbors GLORIOUS poppy crop, and the way you "plant" them seems crazy - just flinging them on the ground in November, so I will be thrilled if it works. The neighbor I got them from is a Master Gardener, so I know I need to just trust the process, but even as a pretty patient person, it's hard with new-to-me plants! Meanwhile, the four little spiderworts I planted last year have gone absolutely insane over winter, spreading out like six feet in both directions. I'm not sure if I'm happy about that because they tend to look a little ratty at the end of our hottest stretch. We will see. 

I also made bulgogi, ssamjang and sushi rice Friday which was a delight as always - it's the homemade ssamjang that puts it over the top! You can find all three recipes on Patreon. My little curated cookbook over there has 25 of my MOST fave recipes already!

This month's kit is INSANELY beautiful. It reminds me of the beautiful Asian themed stamps that dominated the industry in the 90s and all the incredible things people made with them. It makes me happy. 

The stamp set in the kit is both layering and modular - so it brings a lot of possibilities. I'm telling y'all right now - if you don't all vote for this as the kit that comes back onto the website, I'm going to stop speaking to you! It clearly needs to win. 

I started this by stamping the water and the mountains in Blueprint Sketch and then spraying it - being very careful not to get water in the space where the crane is. I dried that, and then re-stamped the first layer of the mountains and the water in Indigo. I stamped the second layer, the crane, and the ducks in Nautical, and added white highlights - these new gel pens are pretty awesome - they come in white and in colors.

On the left, I used the stunning transfers in the kit - man I love these. The sentiment and die are from the kit - and the fonts are beautiful and delicate.

Believe it or not - this sneaky peeky card below also uses a die from the kit - look at all you get!

How could this not win the voting? JUST SAYING.

So for a TOTALLY different look, I used the other stamp set and this gorgeous circular screen die over gold foil paper. I colored the flowers with just a bit of grey OLO Marker and then added earth safe gold glitter in the centers.

Next - I took the Origami background stamp at its word and I made myself some origami paper with it! I stamped it on my fancy copy paper, which is the perfect weight and it's great for stamping because it's so smooth. I only stamped it on one side, and I ink blended the other side, but it turns out that was unnecessary, because you never see the back side of the paper in my little owl pattern I used. 

I've tried to master origami for decades, but I'm just not good enough at it to do the really complicated patterns, so I was THRILLED to find this book shortly after we moved into this house, because even I can do these patterns. You'll see how simple it is in the video - and it's easy to customize - I just made slight tweaks to get the two different owls. And the pattern allows them to stand up. So cute. 

Here's the video:

Here are all the addons. 

CURRENT COUPON CODES

10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE

20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.

OLO MARKER

10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10

Arkon Mounts -  - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Here's the rest of the inspiration hop!

Hero Arts

Hero Arts Creative Team:

Natasha Vacca

Dana Joy

Michelle Short

Jennifer Kotas

Rosie Lopez

Heather Ruwe

Mindy Eggen

Natasha Polite

Channin Pelletier

Rachel Kleinman

Jeannie Lieu

Seeka

Karen Brown

Charlene Madrid

Pocono Pam

Kailash Naidoo

💙💙💙 Lydia Fiedler 💙💙💙

Special Guests:

Nichol Spohr

Emily Midgett

Kelly Taylor  

You Can't Have a Bad Day in Polka Dots!

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I have two blog posts today, and both of them really remind me of the early days in my stamping career, in terms of themes. The first one one is because - ladybugs! Ladybugs used to be everywhere and I was sad when they left the market because that's one of those images, like butterflies, that I just can't see enough of! 

So I'm happy they are back today in a very sweet, cute form I haven't seen before - in this set. It almost has a kawaii feel to it and it's so fun to color. I created the background with a single ink pad and this six layer mod flower stencil. I just varied the amount of ink for each layer. Then I colored and die cut the cute little bug. I love the Bill Blass quote in the set. It would be good for Valentine's Day or National Wear Red day.

Look at her little leafbrella! I can't wait to see the first one in my garden.

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE

20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.

OLO MARKER

10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10

Arkon Mounts -  - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Serenity! Sneak peek.

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It’s sneak peek time!!! You will love this month’s Hero Arts kit - it’s so serene!! My sneak peek card is super bold, but wait until Monday - you’ll see what I mean. 🙃

If you like that beautiful Asian scenery like a LOT of stamps from when I first started stamping, you will love this one. 

And the layering images - well, wait until you see them! I've probably said too much - but if you want to see more - check out the Hero Blog today and through the weekend for more peeks!

CURRENT COUPON CODES

10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE

20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.

OLO MARKER

10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10

Arkon Mounts -  - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

VIDEO: Basic No-Line Watercolor Tips

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Well - I shouldn't say "basic." There's nothing basic looking about no-line watercolor - I think it always looks great.

But I think people think it's hard, and it's not, so I feel like I always need to sell the idea that anyone can do it - because anyone can!

So I chose a small image for my "basics" video - and a simple one - which is what I'd recommend - flowers are great - but keep it simple - complex shapes like roses or hydrangea might be a longer, slower process. These morning glories were perfect - not too many details to add in at the end. 

Remember, too, that watercolor requires layers - I pretty much do the same thing every time - wet on wet to get the color down and blended. Wet on dry for shading and fine details. 

And that's really it! PS - after years of begging, my brushes are finally being carried at Blick!!

xxx

CURRENT COUPON CODES

10% off stamps, stencils and dies at TRHD here with UNDERSTANDBLUE

20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.

OLO MARKER

10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10

Arkon Mounts -  - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Here's the video:

I hope you try this for yourself!!!

Loveyameanitbye.