Stitching on Paper + Floss Storage

Hey peeps! I have a sneak peek of tomorrow's video for you and it's sooooo much fun. It's all about cross stitching on paper. But first - I must RAGE about floss storage. 

When I started stitching in the late 1900s, the American made floss storage systems were top notch. Now they are absolute trash. I was stitching last month and got so angry at the absolute garbage that's out there, I asked on Facebook for suggestions, and my friend Dana came through for me, with this incredible company from the UK, which you will see in my video tomorrow - absolutely amazing. All of my problems have been solved. The bobbins are PRINTED with both the color and the number so they will never come up, each bobbin stands straight up with space around it and the print is HUGE. Easy to see, easy to grab, and incredibly satisfying to look at. My entire DMC collection is now in this system.

First I found this ADORBS grouping of Raccoon patterns and could not resist - they are perfectly sized for these stitching dies that come with a few different sizes of hoops and canvas and have the fabric die that goes underneath. So cute and easy to stitch on. 

But I had to include my other yard visitors as well, so I used this possum pattern with the same dies.

Then I have a third project which I'll save for my video so be sure you are subscribed! You'll see more about the floss organizer too.

Loveyameanitstayferalbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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OLO MARKER

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VIDEO: Watercoloring Complex Images + Crafty Destash Boxes

Hey peeps! I have an easy way for you to break down complex scenic stamps you want to paint today in a quick, no voiceover video. Just watch the upper right of the screen for tips on painting this gorgeous desert scene. 

I hear a lot from people about where to start on very detailed scenic stamps, so this was a great opportunity to share some tips on making it easy.

But first - I have more HUGE crafty de-stash boxes to offer. I'd estimate each medium flat rate box has $750-$1000 worth of stamps and dies in them. If paying by Venmo, the prices are below. If Paypal, you will need to cover the fees.

I have several that are mostly dies and those are a bit more:

1. Stamps/stamp and die combos $160 
2. Extremely die heavy boxes that are almost exclusively standalone dies $200 (these are easily $1K + of dies)

These include shipping. But if you'd like to partake, please sign up here - it will be first come, first served, so do not send payment until I notify you that you've claimed a box!

Second - there's a Christmas in July sale happening here - 20% off, no coupon needed.

Finally - everyone is asking me how to help people affected in the flooding - so I wanted to give you a trusted list. You can find that here. 

So without further ado, here is the video!

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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

Long Time No See - Upcoming Highland Cow Video

Hi friends! Sorry I've been away. Life happens, as you know. Hopefully you are following me on YouTube - I've been staying active there but haven't had time to do both, but I'm back!

I have a little furry Highland Cow for you today, with the video of this card coming on Tuesday at 9 AM so don't miss it. I'll have another video for you this weekend as well.

For the background I used this barbed wire embossing folder and some Tea Dye Oxide with direct to paper to highlight the wire. 

Then I painted each piece of the little Highland Cow with Daniel Smith watercolor and glued it together before putting it on the card. You'll see the full watercolor process on Tuesday.

Hope you've been doing well. Loveyameanit.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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 & Pattern + Giveaway - DIY Frame

I'm back with the video and the pattern!! Be sure and click through to YouTube and leave a comment to be entered to win. A few notes:

• This is the easiest 3D project I've ever tried and it was perfect the first time.
• Liquid glue is a necessity - strong tape would be a disaster. 
• Hold the frame once one side is completed to let the glue grab.
• If you are impatient, like me, you can add glue if you didn't do the previous step. 
• Please visit the original creator of this idea through the on-screen link I provide in my video - her channel and Instagram account are an absolute DELIGHT. 
• Here's where you can grab the PDF with measurements and instructions after you want the video.
• Here are the dog stamps, the sentiment and the matte, suede feel heavy black cardstock I used.
• Highly recommend a glue press for this. 

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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 Sneak: DIY Frame & Giveaway!

Hey friends! Life has been busy lately but I have a lot of fun things for you today, including something quite rare for me - a 3D project that is so easy and perfect the first time you won't believe it. But you'll have to wait a day because the video and giveaway go live tomorrow at 9 AM Central. If you want to bookmark it - the video is here.

I used this beautiful dog that reminds me so much of a friend's dog who recently passed - I'm going to send her this little desk frame. The black part - it's hard to see - is this incredible DIY frame that makes perfect mitered corners SO easily! When I come back with the video tomorrow I'll post the PDF pattern with instructions. I followed an Instagram reel to make it and I've truly never had a 3D project turn out this well the first time - it's not my forte - so that tells you how good the instructions are. 

The sentiment is here. 

But there are cats too and lots more critters to be had!! See them all here. 

I'll be back tomorrow with the video! Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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

Non-Traditional Valentine

Sometimes it's fun to get back to your roots, right? I enjoy doing things that don't result in a "perfect" card, as you know, and sometimes I forget that I don't have to die cut EVERYTHING, even though I'm a die fiend, and that hand cutting adds some whimsy and charm to a card. 

So I have a video coming on this card tomorrow, with some tips and tricks for you, but in the meantime, just enjoy a retro valentine with this sweet, sort of mid-century gal, and I'll be back tomorrow!

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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: Spotlighting Background Stamps

Howdy! I'm back after a nice long holiday break and ready to give you some crafty goodness! I have a new video for you today with a fun and easy spotlighting technique using background stamps. The sentiment is from this set. 

I decided to use grey ink to really highlight the contrast between the spotlight piece and the background, and it ended up looking stormy, which is very fun.

I have some great tips for you on how to align these pieces and tips for stamping to make that easier too. 

Here's the video - Happy New Year!

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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: Little Blue Car & Part 2 of Texture Video

I had every good intention of doing Christmas cards this past weekend and I couldn't get to it. I worked for part of the weekend, and then the rest got away from me. Not sure it will get done this year, even though I have a stack of cute ones like I'm going to show you today!

My last video was part one of two, so today you get part two. The process is similar, but I'm starting with patterned paper, which makes a huge difference - it just does a lot of the work for you.

I started with this wood plank embossing folder, which is a 3D folder with lots of detail that's perfect for this easy technique. Also - mixing the paints makes a HUGE difference in visual interest as does adding a complementary color. 

The focal point is this little car that has matching stencils - the little flames and checkers are so cute. I colored it just with ink blending.

Before I put it down onto my background, I masked a little triangle and ink blended white ink to make the headlight glow. The sentiment is from this set.

Here's the video:

Have a great week!

Loveyameanitbye

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE15.

OLO MARKER

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

Arkon Mounts -  - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Springy Thoughts + Giveaway

One cold snap and I'm already done with winter - how about you? I saw that some areas of the country are having a colder than normal start to winter. Always no to that!

So it was fun to do some springy things this month and look ahead a tiny bit, even though I'm supposed to be putting up the Christmas tree. 

First up - this month's studio release - it's so bright and happy. I am starting with these gorgeous, modular butterfly dies that cut into a card panel but stay attached so you can lift the wing. I cut one wing, and then I cut the body of the butterfly which also stays attached, but I snipped it out and drew antennaes on. The scripty hello is from the main kit. I taped off the area around the wings and ink blended them. The black card base shows through the area under the wing. Fun interactive card!

Next up - a fine art mashup. A little Monet background with acrylic paint over a masked Matisse style ballerina in a Degas pose!!

After you mask the ballerina, if you are using paint, especially - leave the stamp in your MISTI so you can overstamp the image again in case any paint gets past the masking paper. Works like a charm! This image is from the main card kit.

I used the actual die as a stencil to create the shadow. I have a whole class on creating shadows and reflections HERE.

This is a beautiful release! Get in a spring mindset by visiting the hoppers today - leave comments for your chance to win a $50 gift card and go shopping!

Hero Arts

Hero Arts Creative Team:

Channin Pelletier

Charlene Madrid

Ilina Crouse

Jeannie Lieu

Jennifer Kotas

Kailash Naidoo

Karen Brown

💙💙💙Lydia Fiedler 💙💙💙

Michelle Short

Natasha Polite

Natasha Vacca

Rachel Kleinman

Rosie Lopez

Seeka

Special Guests:

Mindy Eggen

Nichol Spohr

Kelly Taylor

Loveyameanitbye!

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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

Critter Chaos Christmas + Giveaway

It's critter chaos Christmas! It's also kit release day so I'm going to show you two of my faves. 

First - this adorable fox tag! This little guy is the perfect size for the tag stamps in the kit so I put him on a circle die cut that I ink blended with Key Lime. I blended the back side as well. I colored the fox with OLO markers and added some twine!

I actually did partial die cutting on it so the back of the tag is one piece but I forgot to take a picture.

I LOVE this next card! I feel so proud of myself hahah. 

I created a "room" by using my classic floor/corner technique, and then I took a really sticky piece of tape on top of it to lift the top layer of the cardstock, so I could peel it down like it was wallpaper for my chaotic kitty!

Isn't that a hoot?

Join the hop to enter the giveaway!

Hero Arts

Hero Arts Creative Team:

Channin Pelletier

Charlene Madrid

Ilina Crouse

Jeannie Lieu

Jennifer Kotas

Kailash Naidoo

Karen Brown

Lydia Fiedler

Michelle Short

Natasha Polite

Natasha Vacca

Pocono Pam

Rachel Kleinman

Rosie Lopez

Seeka

Special Guests:
Mindy Eggen

Kelly Taylor

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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: Realistic Brick & Wood Textures + Giveaway

Hello friends! I don't know if you're aware of this, but cats don't know anything about time changes, so I'm yawning while typing this. I think it's harder for those of us that already get up insanely early - I'm just conditioned to wake up between 4 & 5, so backing that up an hour by a confused cat or two is rough. 

You know how much I love mixed media embossing, so today I have part 1 of 2 of a texture video where I'll show you the pieces below with a 3D brick and 3D wood embossing folder. 

I am THRILLED that there's a Feliz Navidad die! Great news for us Texans - it's one of many holiday sentiments in the die set. 

I took part of the red brick piece above and some glitter paper and made a little chimney. The paper in the background really looks like brocade, with shiny, embroidered stars. 

The turquoise piece was so fun and so pretty - wait till you see how I made it!! I didn't want to cover too much up so I used glitter paper and this Merry & Bright die.

The last piece today before part 1 of the video has this freaking adorable vintage reindeer die. So adorable and very simple to assemble. The sentiment is from this set.

Here's the video - and be sure and click "More" on the description under the video to enter the giveaway!

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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

Realistic Brick & Wood Textures - Video Sneak Peek!

Hey peeps! 

I'm coming to you with a video sneak peek tonight of a quick and easy mixed media technique that will help you create realistic wood and brick textures with these two beautiful 3D embossing folders - wood grain and small, distressed brick. This is a sneak peek, so you can see it all at 8 PM Central today 10/28 here! 

The video I will break into two parts, but the techniques are similar for all!

I wanted to show you the full sheets before cutting one down into this adorable chimney. Sorry you can't see it but the snow and layers on the sentiment are glitter paper. 

Look closely at the background paper - it looks like embroidered stars! So pretty. 

The bricks actually have a rough texture like brick! So fun!

You will be able to see the video a week from today and there will be prizes! 

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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: CASE Me a Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton

Howdy friends!

I'm coming to you today with one of my absolute favorite types of holiday posts - the CASE Me a Christmas Card series with Michelle Lupton. 

If you haven't seen this before, what she does is invite a series of guests to do a mutual CASE - I pick a card of hers, and she picks a card of mine and we use those as our inspiration. 

I always prepare for my CASE by scrolling through Michelle's Instagram account - it's beautiful. 

This year, something caught my eye as a theme in her account - and that is that she is a master of using analogous color. As I tend to gravitate towards complementary color combos, this intrigued me - because her cards have this really beautiful harmony!

So I selected one of her combos that she uses frequently for holiday cards - and that's blue and green - an analogous color combo I don't use that often - so that's a fun challenge for me!

I chose the fun two piece tree tag die and ink blended them separately with reactive inks - blue, purple, green and a blue green. I lengthened the tag as well with a die cutting trick you will see in my video. I used glitter paper and an alcohol marker to finish the scene. 

When you look at this with a little collage I made of the inspiration pieces - I think you'll see how skilled she is in this part of the color wheel in every conceivable medium.

Here is a list of her inspiration cards included in the collage:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxYBfDigqy3/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrOKbsDH-Qg/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcaZFkmAhkZ/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIDvHUZASr2/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHxp9zwALOu/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BF3MAUBkvOY/

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6PMEJQJLgr/

You can click here to see Michelle's CASE - we will be seeing this together! You can watch my video here at 3 PM Central!:

Enjoy - loveyameanitbye!

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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

Shine Bright + Giveaway

Happy kit day friends!! Even though I'm in my spooky season, the crafting world has some holidaying to do, so this month's kit is all about Christmas!

I wanted to do a bright and happy card to start today off with - whatever the opposite of two hurricanes is - I want that.

So I grabbed this fun Mondrian style Christmas stencil and just three colors of ink, and I taped off stripes and ink blended - letting the overlapping areas create the rainbow effect.

The sentiment is this month's clear set - and it has matching dies - but I didn't use the die here - I wanted a clean one layer creation.

Here's what the full kit looks like - and LOOK at that die cut washi! That's what was in my sneak peek Saturday - it's so beautiful and looks so pretty on kraft cardstock.

Speaking of kraft cardstock - I wanted to use the background cling from the kit in a tone on tone here for the tag images from the kit - and I used primary colors in the background of these as well.

Here's that stunning washi card again. I just love these images.

To be entered in the giveaway today - leave me a comment, and then head over to the full inspiration hop here!

Stay tuned tomorrow when I will have a video using the kit for my collab with Michelle Lupton on her CASE Me a Christmas Card Series. You can sign up for the video premiere here: 

You can also see the full release there! Enjoy!!!

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES

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

15% 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