Socially Distant Owls, Gratitude Week + a Sale or Two

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

It's gratitude week!!

I'm going to be listing all the things I think have been AMAZING about 2020. My Gen X, youngest child heart is quirky that way, so bear with me. 

The first one is - masks. I've worn masks on airplanes for years - and as soon as I started, I stopped getting sick after traveling, which used to be a constant. I have several immune compromised loved ones, so not being the only person wearing a mask in crowded situations is great! Everyone wins, and we will have a milder flu season as a bonus. My post from January on this topic now feels a bit eerie in hindsight. 

I never really enjoyed being in stores when people were closer to me than six feet anyway, so that's another win - #strangerdanger. Please see this blog post from 13 years ago if you don't believe me! 

Grocery delivery! I've been an Instacart member for SO many years, and I'm happy to see that they were ahead of their time and that other people are enjoying them now as well. I have never enjoyed any non-art related shopping except online, so what a godsend services like this have been for me. And I spend SO much less - impulse buys are real, y'all! I'd say Instacart has cut my grocery spending by a minimum of 40% - sort of frightening, looking back!

That's enough for today - I'll come back this week with more things 2020 has made great.

But now - I have some socially distant owls sticking to their safe pandemic pods for you today. This image is an adorable wood stamp from Hero Arts. I love tiny stamps for clean & simple cardmaking. So to make them perfectly aligned, I just taped down my Cut-Align, because it's thick enough to align a wood stamp with. Then I just stamped the owls with the bottom edge of the wood block snug to the Cut-Align. Then I used a Copic Multiliner to draw a wire/line for them to sit on. The sentiment is from this set, and I colored them with my alcohol fineliners - perfect for small stamps! Coupon code in the footer for those. Stay tuned below for sale info!

A6435 Three Wise Owls - Hero Arts [ HA ] Graphit — Marker Universe [ MRK ] Cut Align [ MSP ] Copic Multiliner SP Pen - Set of 10 |... [ BLIC ] 3D printed craft tools by... [ ETS ] OrganizeMore! Craft storage made easy! [ ORG ] Pre-Cut & Scored Cardstock [ CTC ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Sakura CLASSIC WHITE Fine Line 05... [ SSS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] 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 ] Picket Fence Studios - Stickers,... [ PFS ]

Click the graphics to go to the sale pages! First up - a super fun sale concept from Hero Arts - a build your own sale!

Then an amazing deal from my friends at Picket Fence!

And 15% off at Make it by Marko - no coupon needed and low free shipping threshhold. I love the shammy holder and all their glue rests and MISTI and brush holders - and they are very nice peeps!

Hope your gratitude week is off to a good start! 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
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
Phone stand for filming link below in the banner - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Non Traditional Folk Art Christmas Design

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

You guys know how much I love folk art designs and Scandinavian design. 

So I'm just telling you early - you are going to love tomorrow's Hero Arts kit! AND, right now they are having a first ever sale on classic kits here. 

But wait - there's more! We are celebrating five years of these kits, so you can vote for your favorite kit from the last five years and have a chance to win either the winning kit OR ONE YEAR OF KITS! Amazing. You need to go here to vote, and do so by October 13th! 

This is just a sneak peek, but I'll have lots more and a video tomorrow so stay tuned! I used all Hero Hues Reactive Inks for this - they stamp so beautifully. I went with a non-traditional color scheme because who can't use something bright and happy in their eyeholes right now? :) Non traditional color schemes for the holidays are my jam. 

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
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
Phone stand for filming link below in the banner - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Telling a Story With Color + World Cardmaking Day Sales

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

I'm celebrating today by having a class, and sharing a tip with you. I usually give technique tips, not design tips, so I'm changing that all up!

I have a little technique I use to design scenes on my cards I thought I'd share with you.

I like to make the images tell the story of the sentiment on a card, or reinforce it. The easiest way to do this is with color, which is what I'm doing today.

Remember this sweet little spot color card? I wanted to do the same thing with today's image from this stamp set - but doing it a way that told a story.

So I chose the "I" from the sentiment to be the center girl, and I made her blue and the other two grey, and gave her red wine and the other two girls white.

So when you read the sentiment and see the image that way - you assume that the center girl is the one with the bright idea involving a designated driver.

The image itself sort of leads you to the center girl as well - her hair is up, the other two are down. She is clearly the instigator, and spot coloring her brightly and the other two less so just ties it all together. I used Gina K's amalgam ink to stamp them and then colored them with Copics (BG05, C5, RV29, Y15). Spot color makes for such quick, CAS and impact heavy cards. I love this illustration style - it reminds me of some children's book illustrations, as does Sweet Dear Friend.

My Dancing Improves - Picket Fence... [ PFS ] Sweet Dear Friend - Picket Fence Studios [ PFS ] Copic Markers [ SSS | ELH ] Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100#... [ SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] GKD Amalgam Ink Pad- Jet Black [ GNK | SSS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | ART | BLIC | ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ] Sale — Altenew [ ALTN ] Save on Stamps, Die-namics Dies, &... [ MFT ] Clear Stamps, Inks, SVG Cut Files and... [ INK ] Plaid Patterns Merry & Bright Paper Pack [ MFT ] Floral Flurries Washi Tape — Altenew [ ALTN ] New at Ellen Hutson [ ELH ] Paper Sale - Hero Arts [ HA ] Concord & 9th - Newest Products [ C&9 ]

What are YOU doing for World Cardmaking day? Shopping for stamps? If you, you're in luck - I have some sale info for you.

These awesome Picket Fence Studios images along with the rest of the store - are 10% off today, with free shipping with code PFSdt10. - I'll be using their Christmas release today at my class!

Use code WCMD18 at My Sweet Petunia for 18% off your entire order through Monday at midnight central. Grab a Mini or a Memory at a steal.

Get up to 45% off through Sunday at Altenew on these products. If you haven't seen their big giant stunning floral washi tape - you need to. Also, they have a free gift with purchase special for WCMD. Click the photo for details.

MFT has a LOT of ink and other items at 75% off, while supplies last.

Inkon3 has 20% off through Monday - use code worldcard20. Throw some Fadeout ink in that cart with stamps - if you haven't bought it yet, now's the time.

There will be an Essentials by Ellen Release on Sunday - and you know I love those. And she's having a sale too!

Hero Arts has 30% off on all their paper through the 7th - no coupon needed - sale is here.

A Colorful Life Stencils has 15% off with this code - click here to shop the sale!

Technique Junkies has a heck of a sale for $10 or $10 off. Click here to shop the sale!

Impression Obsession has 20% off storewide until Midnight Pacific tonight - Coupon WCD20 

Concord & 9th has a freebie with orders - check out the details here. 

Loveyameanitbye.