Sometime early in the year, when I was remodeling my studio, I started converting all my photopolymer stamps to the envelope storage system, which has saved me a ton of space. You can read about it here. So someone told me that I could use Duralar to stick my cling stamps to inside these pockets. So, like a good little shopper, I bought tons of Duralar to get started.
But I bought the wrong kind.
I bought the opaque kind, which NOTHING sticks to. So now I had a ton of Duralar and no use for it. So for the past few weeks I've been obsessed with finding fun techniques for it.
Just to keep it real - a LOT of Duralar has gone in the trash.
But I did find two really fun things to do with it recently. One we are trying at my retreat.
The other was pretty simple - play with Adirondack alcohol inks on it.
Each color has a mind of its own and does unique things.
The side with the inks on it is somewhat sticky and textured where the inks got on top of each other. But when you flip it over and put it against white cardstock it looks pretty cool. So that's what I did.
This is for today's Challenge Chicks challenge by Kelli. It's a 3-2-1 challenge - we had to use three layers, two embellishments and one sentiment - no images. It's also for an upcoming Hope You Can Cling To Challenge that I can't reveal yet.
And speaking of unrevealed, the sentiment is also something that will be revealed on November 1, and it's something I really think will change the world.
I had my class Saturday morning which was a hoot. We had some fall-like weather blow in and I had just happened to design fall & wintery cards, so it was a fun, holidayish meeting of some of my favorite people on earth. We had lunch together, and then I was off to finish prep for my GIANT crafty garage sale. I was pricing things and organizing right up until the time the doors opened to greet my waiting guests. Here's a little taste of how the sale went (here's a link if you can't see the video below):
A video posted by Lydia Fiedler (@understand_blue) on
We had so much fun. I had champagne, gourmet tarts from Mandola's, sweet treats and of course, Halloween candy for them to enjoy while they shopped. Most things were priced at a dollar, so people were walking out with bags and bags and bags of things for $20, $30 etc. Great deals to be had! In two hours, more than 1,000 items went out my front door!
For some reason - possibly a result of temporal shift induced mental illness - I decided that I then - at 10 PM - needed to harvest some peppers and herbs from my back yard for a marinade, marinate chicken, wash dishes and do various other things that basically made me require a lot of Advil before bed.
When I finally did go to bed, I slept like a zombie. I actually didn't wake up until 10:30, which hasn't happened since 1989!
Now when I woke up, the rest of the world was chattering about how they'd had an EXTRA hour of sleep because of the time change.
I hate to break it to you people, but just because you're calling 10:30 9:30 now, you still slept for the same number of hours. It's just that you lied to yourself about some numbers when you got up. You still have the same number of hours in a day - there are only 24 regardless of your lying. I got SEVERAL extra hours of sleep because I slept longer. That's the only way you can get more sleep.
Now there are consequences of your lying - such as, it will now - post-lying - get dark closer to the time you get off work, but that's only because of your lies. Not because the universe expanded by one hour.
(People seem to lie less often in Arizona, and it seems like a nice place to live.)
I don't mind illusions of any sort - I am an artist, after all - but I do require that they be recognized as illusions. I might wake up tomorrow and decide that the NEW 10:30 (the old 11:30) is now 9:30 (the old 10:30 and the OLDER 11:30) and I could get off work two hours early!!
That would just make me a BIGGER liar and possibly fired. However, it does open up a lot of possibilities. I think habitual liars probably have all sorts of creative possibilities (in their minds) that regular people don't have.
I just want us all to be on the same page.
Now, despite my "extra" fake hour today, I am late posting my card for the Challenge Chicks November Challenge which is reminiscent of the old Girl Scouts' song - Make New Friends - the challenge is to use silver, gold or silver & gold.
For my silver, I used glimmer paper in a die cut inlay. The base panel for that is one of my brayer cleaning sheets from a Gelli Plate printing session. I LOVE these papers - they are often as pretty or prettier than my prints! No way could you get this effect on purpose, which is what I love. This particular scrap looked like the northern lights to me, so I thought I'd do a starry night. I used the die cut inlay technique to embed the silver glimmer paper into the brayered scrap. I have a GREAT tip on how to keep all the intricate pieces you need for the inlay with a common household item here - you will LOVE this.
After I did the inlay, it needed a little contrast, so I used a Pitt Pastel Pencil to add shading around the die cuts, and blended them out with a tortillon.
I love the soft, impressionistic colors in the background with the crispy, sparkly silver.
Super festive for the holidays. Which, by the way, is a terrible time to take up compulsive lying and whatnot. Santa is watching your every move, time travelers.
Friday night I hosted the Austin #uniteexcite event for Stampin' Up! and it was a BLAST!
3 hours of fun, tips, prizes, swaps, displays and great people sharing their stamping awesomeness.
I also gave away 16 stamp sets to a group of 72 people so everyone's odds were darn good. Everyone also got the Everyday Occasions card kit.
When I got to the two Good Greetings sets to give away, I decided to be super evil, and make two people battle it out in a Cutthroat Stamp Room game show, based on Cutthroat Kitchen. We had a coin toss, and the winner of the toss got to decide which sabotage the other contestant got. Then, they had one minute to stamp a card, and the rules were - one image, one greeting and one embellishment. Each stamped item had to be in a different color. And the ink pads were Stampin' Spots. Heh.
Here's a video of what happened. Apparently Melissa, who won the coin toss and chose the foam hand, didn't realize she could ONLY use that hand. Had she, I think she MIGHT have picked the Spiderman boxing gloves. Muahahaha!
Then we had two judges come into the room and judge the cards from these two experienced demonstrators. They both had medical training so they asked the contestants if they'd had recent head injuries - heheh. You ready to see these masterpieces?? Feel free to CASE them!!!
BWAHAHA!! Good job ladies!!!
Oh my gosh it was so much fun. We also had a 3x4 technique swap and the beautiful samples are now in my Project Life 6x8 pocket pages and together in my PL album as a technique reference and I have 30+ technique classes ready to schedule! WINNING! Thanks to all the swappers - your swaps are AWESOME.
Speaking of techniques, I did a fun one for my class this morning by creating a fake shadow with a negative die cut. First, we stamped the image from Four Feathers and the greeting from Kinda Eclectic on the card base. Then we stamped the Dotty Angles image a few times to get a bokeh effect (examples here and here). Then we die cut the feather out of the card front, mounted a quarter sheet of Basic Black cardstock on the inside of the card so the black showed through the opening, and mounted the feather just a wee bit offset and up on dimensionals to give the illusion of a shadow. I LOVED this one. I designed it for this month's Challenge Chicks challenge to use feathers. Gee, I wonder why our Crazy Chicken Lady Jeanne picked that theme??? :) She seriously has the most adorable chickens on EARTH.
Big thanks to all my awesome helpers at Unite & Excite and to my victims in Cutthroat Stamp Room. I hope we get to do another one of these events soon! Enjoy a few pics! :)
It's my turn to host this month's Challenge Chicks challenge and I decided it would be based on another blast from my past - catching fireflies.
I remember magical twilights catching fireflies in a jar with my Aunt Julia (a redhead, lucky woman - where did THOSE genes go?) in Maryland.
Fireflies are one of those natural wonders that make you think anything is possible when you are little. If a bug can fly around with a light on its hiney, why CAN'T you dig a hole in your yard that goes to China? And why do you get in huge trouble when you try? (Ask me how I know).
They really are magical.
Sadly, thanks to Scott's Weed & Feed and other commonly used landscape poisons, fireflies are mostly gone from Central Texas. If you get far enough away from Home Depot infested lawns, you can still see them in the country, but gone are the days where our yards light up in the evening with these enchanting creatures. If I could find a way (other than blogging about it) to shut down Scott's, I most certainly would. These products also kill birds, fish, and I'm quite sure, us. (End of rant.)
Luckily, I live in a neighborhood where most people understand these products are a terrible idea. And the other day - out in the hill country, Texas Parks & Wildlife reported a firefly sighting! I hope I'll see them again someday.
So today's card is an homage to my lovely red-headed aunt and those magical little beasts, in the abstract. I'm using some sneaky peekies from the catalog, which goes live tomorrow - SQUEE! :) I'm so excited about that that MY butt might light up!! :)
Most of you have animals, so I know you'll understand what I'm about to say.
I can't live without a furry creature in close proximity to me. I was born this way. It's completely out of my control.
But even though it's my 100% normal state to see something dark streak by out of the corner of my eye, have a purring kitty stretched out next to my mousepad while I work or have furry legweights all night every night, every now and then I get a little jolt.
Sometimes I just suddenly realize how ODD it is to have little beasts that don't talk in our homes. It's just strange - we just take wild beasts and bring them inside to serve no purpose other than create joy for both beast and us. I wonder if it's odd for them? I wonder if they think "what the heck am I doing here in this box that has no birds in it, with these giant, stupid hairless things that can't feed themselves? Why do they steal my poop? Why do they hang out on the ground all the time?"
It HAS to seem odd to them too. Until the next time they get to eat Greek yogurt, at which point they probably kitty shrug it off and decide to just quit questioning things.
Anyway, today is the May Challenge Chicks challenge - can you BELIEVE it's May? MAYDAY!
The challenge this month is a summer scene. So I used yesterday's Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoast as my starting point - the inspiration site is World Market - one of my favorite stores. There was this beautiful Pumpkin Poppies wall art that I really loved. Everything in my yard is blooming because it's full on summer here - it will be 91 today - so I had a great excuse to use my new Bloom With Hope stamp set from the upcoming catalog and my SQUEE Blendabilities alcohol marker.
I wasn't actually going to turn this into a card - it was just a color test for me - I wanted to cross a few color families and just get a feel for them - but I ended up really liking it.
I stamped the middle flower and then masked it and stamped the other two with Memento. Then I colored them very quickly with Blendabilities as a luminance test. Hard to see here, but the centers are glittered. The greeting is from Perfect Pennants.
Do you not love that flower??? I could look at it all day. Seriously.
The rest of the set is lovely too - can't wait until you can see it!
If you're in Austin at the end of the month come to my catalog premiere!
In the meantime, try to figure out why we live with beasts in our midst. And why it's so awesome. :)
I saw something on Splitcoast the other day that has been rolling around in my head (the rock tumbler, as I call it.)
A friend posted that one time she had spent a lot of time on a beautiful handmade gift for someone, given it to them, and their response to this gift was the dreaded phrase all of us arty types have heard at least once:
"Some people have too much time on their hands."
Everyone who has ever said this deserves a smack, in my opinion. A firm, well placed smack. Perhaps an eye poke as well.
It really hurt her feelings, which makes me sad. My response to her was this, after observing this behavior for many decades.
What people are REALLY saying when they say this is actually:
"I feel an immense
amount of envy that you manage to do all the fun things you do in
addition work/home/kids/yard etc. - I'm not as organized as you are and/or I
don't have a fulfilling hobby that I look forward to immersing myself
in every spare moment I have, and I should probably go to church now
because envy is a sin."
And in reality, it's a lie. People who spend every spare moment in hobbies they love are the ones with NO time on their hands. The people with time on their hands are the ones not making/doing/seeing things in every waking moment.
We all have the same amount of time. And we all decide what to do with it. And if any portion of that time is spent being envious of other people's choices, then hopefully a smack or a visit to church will set that person on the right track. Perhaps there's a church somewhere that smacks people, which would really bring it all together. Maybe I'll start the Holy Order of the Smack. Or Our Lady of the Eye Poke. Now accepting applications for smackers and pokers.
So instead of folding laundry or doing any number of other things I
COULD be doing on this rainy Sunday, I chose to make a card for the Challenge Chicks April
challenge which is an I miss you card.
At work, we use
heat maps to look at what people are clicking on on the website so that
we can make the content more relevant and make the site easier to use.
The heat maps are beautiful little informational rainbows and I love them. Here's what one looks like - the red or "hot" areas are the ones people click the most:
So, so pretty.
So I thought I'd turn that into a card. A bright, happy card to combat the grey outside.
Step one was to use washi tape to mask off all the vases from Vivid Vases except the middle one.
Then I inked that one up in black and carefully removed the tape and stamped it.
Hard to see here, but the colored vases are actually cut out and glued onto the card. I inked the edges of them with a black marker after cutting them out so that no white showed.
Then I used a marker to ink up the greeting from Just Sayin so that I didn't get the talk bubble around it and I stamped that under the vases, which are colored very quickly with dry Derwent Inktense pencils.
Love all that color.
So now I'm off to use my time however the heck I want to. I hope you are too.
I do not have the millions of dollars it takes to buy a 30 second super bowl ad spot, which is a shame, because I think everyone watching the puppy and kitten bowls today would find it hilarious.
I'm not really sure what product to pitch - probably toilet paper.
I came up with this idea the other night when I observed a mysterious daily occurrence that anyone with a pet will find extremely amusing - the poop crazies.
Maybe a scientist out there can tell me why after a cat or a dog visits the facilities, they immediately RUN at 90 miles an hour with a speed and intensity that seems to communicate "OMG I'M SO HAPPY I POOPED NOW I AM RUNNING LIKE THE WIND AWAY FROM THE SCENE OF THE CRIME I'M FREEEEEEEEEEEE!!"
What could the possible reason for this be? And why don't people do this? Which leads me of course to think how completely hilarious it would be if people DID do this. What if immediately after you heard a flush, a crazed adult that you know just went into an insane sprint around the house, knocking things off surfaces as they went until finally settling down and grooming themselves like nothing weird just happened?
You'd laugh. Really, really hard. And it would be a really funny commercial for something like toilet paper.
These are just some of the things I think about.
Today is the monthly Challenge Chicks challenge - which is not unrelated - because the challenge is "My Furry Valentine" - to make an animal valentine. EASY - I've been coloring bunnies all week! Do bunnies get the poop crazies? Please weigh in on this important question if you have a bunny.
I just stamped him and colored him, used the heart framelits to cut him out, and used Inka Gold on the edges of the heart.
Maybe what I should start doing is after I make a card just run down the street like a crazed post-poop animal - that has to entertain the neighbors don't you think?
Hope you enjoy the Super Bowl, even if it's lacking my awesome toilet paper commercial.
Here are the other Challenge Chicks projects for our challenge for your enjoyment.
Diane (our hostess this month) Anna (she included a video!) Jeanne (hers is a purse) Kelli (she is asking what the fox says?) Kelly (SQUEE - heffalumps!)
So when you walk as much as I do, you find things.
I've found baseballs, handbags, car keys, bike parts, toys, candy, even bullets.
Oh and snakes. Lots and lots of snakes.
But this summer I found two things I'd really like to return to their owners and I was wondering if the world of social media could help me.
The first thing is so valuable that I will not post a picture of it. But I will tell you this. It's a photo of a person I assume to be the owner with a very, very famous person that everyone in America loves and reveres. It is signed by this famous person. The photo has something very unique about it that the owner will be able to describe to me. I'm sure whoever owns it is very sad that they accidentally left it somewhere where I found it and I'd love to return it. So if you live or work in 78749 and you are missing something quite precious, let me know.
The second one is handmade and so fun. It's a handwritten and illustrated story by a child that probably attends Nan Clayton Elementary, so I'm hoping my friend Connie might know whose it is.
Here's what the story says. It says "King Derwin." on one side and "Bartholomew Cubbins" on the other. (Typed as is.)
King Derwin is a not as kind as Bartholomew and he is also confident to make Bartholomew take off his hat. Bartholomew is kind and respectfull to King Derwin. He daring and confident, forward to the King. He is also hardworking almost. 1) King Derwin thought that Bartholomew was being rude because he didn't take off his hat and this was against the law. 2)Bartholomew got arested because he didn't take of his hate (he tried to) so he was took to the castle of King Derwin. 3) The King brought is his servants to take off Bartholomem's hat but none of them could because another hat grew on his head each time. 4) No one could explain why or what was happening to Bartholomew's hat(s). 5) They decided to make the Duke push him off the highest towar and make him fall. 6) Right when they get to the top of the towar Bartholomew's hats turned into the most beautiful hat in the world so he sold it for the King for 500 pieces of gold.
Now it says "Andor" on it, and then in red pen (RUDE - right on the artwork) it says "Andor - 100 summary, 80 neatness.) Now, this teacher obviously knows nothing about art or neatness as you can see. Also, she gets a 30 in neatness for writing on his little illustrated book!
I'm guessing his dad is in the military or just a good American, since this child obviously knows that leaving your hat on is disrespectful!
Does anyone know little Andor? Surely his mom wants this adorable, scrapbookable work of art!
Now speaking of art, I didn't forget. :) This "no line piercing" technique is stolen from Dina Kowal and I just love it! What I did was stamp the large flower from Peaceful Petals on the back of the cardstock in Baked Brown Sugar. (Pro tip from Dina - don't use black because it makes it harder to see your holes.) Then, from the back, I just pierced holes all along the outline of the flower with my piercing tool and extra large piercing mat. Then on the front, I used a sponge dauber just to shade outside the flower with So Saffron to make it pop. The greeting is from Perfect Pennants. See Dina's original work of art here.
Since that white on white gives it an Edelweiss/wintery feel, this is my card for today's Challenge Chicks' challenge by Anna - Winter Wonderland. Mine is more of a Texas winter - with sunshine and blue skies, of course. :)
Don't forget - I'll be doing live coverage from Leadership in Houston next week, so be sure and camp out here starting Tuesday for all the shenanigans!
In my one woman crusade against being rushed, I am now pronouncing that you can OFFICIALLY begin to think about Christmas with my full blessing.
The last few pieces of pumpkin pie are lingering in the refrigerator, and the turkey is being transformed into pot pie and tetrazzini, so now, and only now, is it appropriate to look forward to Christmas.
So it is said, and so it shall be written. Here endeth the lesson.
Yesterday was Small Business Saturday and I did it up right. We went to Renegade Craft Fair and bought Christmas presents from local artists. And perhaps a few things for ourselves. Then on to Blue Genie - which is also a craft fair, but the artists are not at the booths - it's set up more like a store - very relaxed, fun, no-pressure event. Sometimes it can be uncomfortable to walk past an artist without buying anything, so this event takes that discomfort out of the equation.
Then we had lunch at Salt and Time, a local restaurant, the owner of which we met at a Renegade Craft fair a few years ago while he was trying to build up his business. Now he has a beautiful brick and mortar butcher shop and deli and it was really incredible. Highly recommend if you are in Austin any time soon.
Last stop of the day was at Austin's completely amazeballs independent bookstore - Book People.
I have a present for nearly everyone, and nearly all of them are handmade, so I'm pretty excited about that.
Now for the enabler alerts.
My favorite find of yesterday was this STUNNING laser cut felt peacock purse from Keeper Goods.
The challenge is to shed those winter layers and make a one layer card.
I got all tricksy and used the INSIDE of my card too, thanks to my oval framelits. Heh. Booya!
I used the Northern Lights technique AND the glowing lights technique on a masked portion of the inside of my card. Then I stamped the little deer from The Cat's Pajamas in black. Hard to see here, but I sprayed the masked "snow" portion with glitter spray so it's all sparkly.
I cut the oval in the card front with my oval framelits. Then I stamped the greeting from O Holy Night in black on the front. Simple!
This is our last challenge for 2013 - come play along - use keyword CHXDEC13 on Splitcoast!
And with that official pronouncement behind us, feel free to begin your merrymaking.
