VIDEO: Extra Long Wildflower Season (Watercolor)

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You'll never catch me complaining about a long spring, and this year, we've had a long spring! Cool weather, lots of rain - decidedly un-Texasy weather, which has resulted in an absolutely spectacular wildflower year. A welcome change for sure. 

One little known fact about bluebonnets is that not only are they perennial, but they are also bi-annual bloomers - we often see them back at Thanksgiving, which is a real treat. 

Anyway they are a rarity in the stamp world, so I was super excited to see this stamp, which I used to create our most ubiquitous wildflowers - bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes.

The background paper is white brick, and the sentiment is from this set.

Here's the sped up video.

Loveyameanitbye.

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VIDEO: Collage Style Backgrounds over Masking

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Did you survive tax day? As usual I'm just madder than a wet hen, so I thought I'd bring you a fun chicken video today.

This technique is all about making your foreground really pop by neutralizing the background. The focal image here is this hilarious boa wearing chicken. I masked it, and then got to work on the background with ink, stamps, rub-ons and ephemera - it tones down the white card panel and makes the foreground colors more vibrant in contrast. The sentiment is from this label set.

Here's the video! The order that everything is done in will make sense when you watch. 

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

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Mixed Media in COLOR

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Ready for a BIG pop of color for very little work? I've got you covered today with a simple DIY trick - it's super easy and fun. 

Card 1 brings all the drama on black cardstock. This was an experiment, because I really wasn't sure the technique would keep the color vibrant on black. I sure am glad I tried!

I used this stencil and this sentiment. 

Same stencil, same colors, same stamp set but on white - wowza. It's so bright and happy!

I have the step by step all laid out for you here, so head over and check it out. 

Here are my supplies: 

Colorizing Hero Paste [ HA ] Hero Paste [ HA ] Pink Ink [ HA ] Yellow Ink [ HA ] Blue ink [ HA ] palette knife [ HA ] Stencil [ HA ] Folk Animals [ HA ]

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

Modified Blackout Embossing

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I played around with my blackout embossing technique and got a different look that I REALLY like!

Basically, you don't completely black the background out by varying pressure and stopping before it's totally covered. It ends up looking sort of distressed and is really cool in black!

I used this 3D embossing folder and this little stitching themed set. 

If you've watched my live, you've seen me use the negative space of a die cut to create a shadow, and that's what I did with this monstera die. 

The lower portion of the card is also blackout embossing - in orange - with a non-3D sort of art deco embossing folder.

I just can't stop using that technique! It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Have a great week! 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

Failed Experiments make Beautiful Cards

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Never give up on your experiments - I'll prove why today. 

I was doing a live and doing a technique I love - nature printing. If you are on Patreon, you can access the replay here. 

I did it two ways - with colored acrylic ink on watercolor paper, and the second way was with this stunning light gold ink on this black velvety cardstock. Normally, I don't recommend things that I consider to be very expensive if something similar works, but never in my life have I used cardstock this luxurious, so I'm sharing it. It's the blackest of black, it's water friendly and it literally feels like velvet - it's an incredible surface. So, since it's so special, I decided I would do a nature print with the gold ink on black. I didn't thin it out like I did the other inks, and so it didn't capture the level of detail I wanted - but even as abstract shapes on that silky paper - it was STUNNING. So I cut it into cardfronts and saved it for a rainy day, which arrived in the form of this beautiful koi image. 

I stamped it in white ink, and colored just one of the fish with my favorite colored pencils. I did sort of a yin yang thing, leaving the other one white. The gold ink moves in and out of both images, which is kind of fun. The die for the koi lets you cut them out separately, but I like the way the image looks with both of them. Such a zen feel and so elegant. 

If you like zen but more whimsical - then these yoga sheep are for you! I couldn't decide which sheep was my favorite, so I used them all - outlining each one with an OLO marker. 

How cute are their little legs??

PS I accidentally sneak peeked last month with this stencil - OOPS. It's available now and it's one of the most fun, mod layering stencils. Go look at the colorful samples on the website to see how the layers work together - I had fun doing it in several greys.

Hope you had a great long weekend - it was nice to have Friday off! Because I had a little extra time, I'll be back tomorrow!

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