Critter Crowd + Hope for Insomnia

*Compensated affiliate links used where possible at zero cost to you. No posts are ever sponsored or paid.*

Happy Friday! And for whoever needs to hear this - IT IS FRIDAY! 

I have some fun things for you today, starting with some critter stories.

There's a constant struggle in my yard between songbirds and squirrels. I want to feed the birds, but the squirrels are such piglets they take over the feeders - yes, even the squirrel "proof" feeders.

I did find a halfway solution with Bark Butter. It comes in a paste or nuggets. I put the nuggets with a tiny amount of seed in the feeder and spread the paste on the bark of my oak tree. I use the hot pepper version - it has capsaicin in it, so the squirrels won't touch it - my songbirds love it. But the tiny amount of seed (some of the smaller birds will only eat seed, not the butter) leads to squirrel shenanigans. Yesterday two young squirrels - clearly siblings - sat in the tiny dish eating the seed while pushing each other with all their strength with their little faces. It was hilarious. 

I love all the critters, so the squirrels don't bother me. So I'm bringing you an all the critters slimline card today. I do my slimline cards so they are 9.25" x 3.75" when closed, so that's the format of today's card.

I took this background stamp - which is only 4x4, but seamlessly and endlessly repeats in all four directions - so you can make it any size you want - I chose a vertical repeat - and stamped it twice to get the long panel. Then I selectively colored a few of them with Copics - SQUEE - IT HAS A HORNY TOAD IN IT - and coated the colored ones with clear glaze - so the white spots you see are the reflections from the light in my photo tent. 

SO CUTE. Imagine repeating it horizontally for a landscape slimline card, or stamping it all over a gift bag! It's super easy to line up as you'll see in the video below. The sentiment is from this set.

But before the video, a few exciting things.

Remember this video and these prints?

I turned them into large zipper bags to keep new stamps in that I haven't worked with yet. I have a million zipper bags, but none with my own prints on them! I'm SO excited about this! I ordered a sample and the quality is amazing. The color is just as vibrant as the original prints - I love seeing it on my desk. If you want to see the other three I have up there now, you can do so here. I love that they capture a moment in time in my yard, especially in this crazy year. 

Okay - speaking of this crazy year - a lot of people are having trouble sleeping. I have a unique sleep issue - I can fall asleep easily - as a matter of fact, it's why I listen to audiobooks - if I stop moving long enough to read a book, I'll fall asleep and break my face with a falling book. But once I hit five hours of sleep at 3 AM - if I wake up, I cannot go back to sleep to save my life. So from 3 to six I just sit there and worry about all the things I forgot to do, or some imaginary ridiculous scenario like murder hornets. 

My sister found this magnesium powder that she said made her sleep like a rock. I had long heard that magnesium helped people with RLS and other things, so I though what the heck - I'll try it. She said to take 1/8 tsp in a glass of water at bedtime, so I did. AND I SLEPT TILL 7 AM. And I have not woken up in the middle of the night since I started using it. Just that teeny tiny amount. Amazing. We use the unflavored one - but there are flavored ones as well.  

I got my order of pre-cut card bases, fronts and stamp pocket liners last week, so I've been filling up stamp pockets while we watch TV. We are doing a trial of BritBox and have found a few new good British shows, like Scott & Bailey and A Confession. We also love Happy Valley and The Missing. And if you haven't seen The Detectorists, please do. So good.

What are you up to this weekend? I'm hoping to get some things mailed out and start thinking about a virtual retreat, since it doesn't look like anything will be normal any time soon.

Here's the video for today's card and all the supplies - enjoy!

Say Cheese – Picket Fence Studios [ PFS ] Crafty Mail Stamp Set – Picket Fence... [ PFS ] Tonic Crystal Glaze [ SSS | TNC | HNB ] Understand Blue | Teespring [ LNK ] Amazon.com: Natural Vitality Calm #1... [ AMZUS ] Pre-Cut & Scored Cardstock [ CTC ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Crafter's Companion GEMINI... [ SSS ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Die Storage - Clear Storage Pockets... [ CHC ] XL Stamp Storage Pockets [ ELH ] Mermaid tidy towel case and glue... [ ETS ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | CST ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
Phone stand for filming link below in the banner - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Cat People Are the Best People + Discount Codes + Happy Video

*Compensated affiliate links used where possible at zero cost to you. No posts are ever sponsored or paid.*

How are we doing out there? Have everything you need? I hope you are safe and not too stir-crazy. I have a fun video below if you're feeling stressed.

Since we are in isolation with two kitties, I thought I'd post some pet cards today with some fun stencil techniques.

I used this amazing combo of stencil + mask for the cat in a few different ways. (PS - there's a link and a discount code for all this at the end of this post.) For this first card, I put down the stencil, so that the only open space was in the shape of the cat - the rest of the card was covered. Then I inked this fabby background stamp in black and stamped it into that opening  with the MISTI - pressing close to the edges of the stencil to try to get all of the cat shape stamped. Then I removed the stencil, and placed the cat shaped mask over the stamped kitty and used my Life Changing Blender Brushes to create a Key Lime glow around the kitty. The card base is Key lime too. The sentiment is from this pretty kitty stamp set - this stamp & die bundle is very inexpensive and is on sale right now.

Now while the background stamp was still inked and in my MISTI, I picked up that ink with another card front, creating a monoprint that seemed perfect for a pet sympathy card. The sentiment is from this set.

Finally, I put the mask portion of the set onto another card front, and used this cute background stencil for all the kitties in the background. After removing that stencil, I also ink blended close to the mask to be sure the shape was preserved cleanly. All that bright green and kitties makes my eyes happy.

Modern Cats Stamp & Die Bundle – Altenew [ ALTN ] Cat - A Colorful Life Designs [ CLD ] Cat Back - A Colorful Life Designs [ CLD ] CG757 Ocean Waves Bold Prints - Hero... [ HA ] Life Changing Blender Brush: 2-Pack –... [ PFS ] Gina K Designs - Cardstock - Key Lime [ SCR ] Gina K Designs Key Lime Ink [ GNK ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Crafter's Companion GEMINI... [ SSS ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Die Storage - Clear Storage Pockets... [ CHC ] XL Stamp Storage Pockets [ ELH ] Mermaid tidy towel case and glue... [ ETS ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | CST ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

I hope you are safe & well this week. Here's a video that made me happy this week. Discount code for all active discounts, including these stencils below.

CURRENT COUPON CODES
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10 Arkon stand link below!