CASE Me a Christmas Card

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Hi friends! 

I'm here today as part of my friend Michelle's CASE me a Christmas card series this year and it's such an honor to be asked! I'm CASEing a card of hers, and she's CASEing one of mine! I used a super fun Diecember die based on the card that inspired me, which you can see here. 

I LOVE the clean style of this card, and as I was making notes to turn it into a Christmas card I thought to myself - why don't we ever see yellow Christmas cards? It's in the heart of the "dark months" as we used to call them, and who wouldn't want some cheery yellow up in their holiday eyeholes?

So I decided to make a VERY non-traditional, clean, yellow Christmas card with just a holiday season theme.

If you search "bee" on Michelle's Blog you will find a LOT of beautiful bee cards! And she has such a way with color!

So to make this card, I first covered two different colored yellow cardstocks with packing tape and cut them with this super modern set of dies - I left the dies tabbed together to create these three openings in a line, but you can cut them apart to use them separately. 

Then I pieced the shiny yellow pieces back into the openings cut with the dies. The shiny tape makes them look like honey! Then I added the bee from this stamp set and coordinating dies, a white snowflake from these dies, and the sentiment from this set. I used this snowflake die to add a white snowflake and these embellishments in the center!

Simon Says Stamp HEXAGON TILE Wafer... [ SSS ] Picket Fence Studios I BEE FIERCE... [ SSS ] Picket Fence Studios I BEE FIERCE... [ SSS ] *Honey Bee Holiday Traditions Gem... [ SSS ] Honey Bee OH CHRISTMAS BEE Clear... [ SSS ] Picket Fence Studios WINTER... [ SSS ]

No reason to stay inside the box for our Christmas cards in this wacky year, right? Bees it is!

Thanks for having me Michelle! I couldn't bee more honored!

Loveyameanitbye.

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Faux Wedgewood & 1 Embossing Folder 3 Ways

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Howdy friends. I'm back today with three embossing techniques - the most notable of which is what I call faux Wedgewood. I am obsessed with Wedgewood and love recreating it in a card format.

So to start with you'll need a good 3D embossing folder. I chose this pretty peony one from Simon.

Emboss your cardstock, and if you want to do something other than the Wedgewood look, spend exactly three seconds lightly brushing Gina K's Wild Dandelion, Key Lime and Bubblegum Pink ink on with Life Changing Blender Brushes.

But I wanted Wedgewood. With a Twist. So I inked up this amazing embossing folder in Medieval Blue Versafine Clair Ink before embossing it and got this beauty! Sorry you can't see the dimension here! Now you will be able to see the difference between this ink and regular dye ink below.

Finally I used dye ink - Blue Denim - to ink up the folder and you can see this fun texture it creates by beading up a bit on the embossing folder - this one has a little distressed look to it that I love. I cut it out with my circle infinity dies. The sentiment is from this set.

Happy Friday for real.

Loveyameanitbye.

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Adventure Awaits... In Your Craft Room

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Okay well it's 2020, so no REAL adventure awaits, but we can have a paper adventure! That's what I am doing for my Friday. 

When I received my Leaf Stencil, it instantly screamed mountains to me - the open spaces in the stencil looked like the pieces of rock sticking out from underneath the snow of Mt. Everest. So I wanted to try making a landscape with it. 

Now speaking of snow - I have an amazing book recommendation for you after my video. And a terrible story about how long I waited for this book. 

This is just simple ink blending - my colors are listed below - and it forms the backdrop for my cute little camper girl, which is part of today's Stamptember collaboration with my friend Tifany! I'm so excited for her! 

I colored her with my alcohol fineliners (coupon in the footer), and cut her out to put in front of my mountains, which could also pass for trees. 

There is a little boy in the set, and the sentiments are fun - great for campers, scouts, etc. UBER short video on the card base below.

Here's the full stamp set - isn't this cute? And it's bundled with dies here. 

The video is below - if you don't see it or want to watch in HD on YouTube, click HERE.

Ink Blot Shop LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE... [ SSS ] Picket Fence Studios LEAF Slim Line... [ SSS ] *Gina K Designs Red Hot Ink Cube [ SSS ] Gina K Designs Tangerine Twist Ink [ SSS ] Gina K Designs WILD DANDELION PREMIUM... [ SSS ] Gina K Designs KEY LIME Premium Dye... [ SSS ] *Gina K Designs Blue Raspberry Ink Cube [ SSS ] Gina K Designs LOVELY LAVENDER... [ SSS ] Graphit — Marker Universe [ MRK ] Pre-Cut & Scored Cardstock [ CTC ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping Tool... [ SSS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Simon Says Stamp SMALL TEFLON BONE... [ SSS ] Crafter's Companion GEMINI... [ SSS ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | CST ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

Okay, so it's been a crazy three years for me. So in that time, I had to let some things go, and one of them was the absolutely horrid public library interface for borrowing audiobooks. 

If we dug up Lenin and all the dead Soviets and had them invent the world's most inefficient and unfriendly, bureaucratic and hideous book borrowing service they could conceive of, it still wouldn't hold a candle to the Austin Public Library. 

George Orwell probably spins in his grave every time someone tries to check out an e-book or audiobook.

So I just walked away. But I walked away with several requests for audiobooks active. 

And get this. I get an email this week telling me TWO books I requested - wait for it - 

in November of 2017

were finally available!

That's right - THREE YEARS TO CHECK OUT AN AUDIOBOOK. Bravo, APL. Bravo. 

Well anyway the first book is quite good. It's interesting to me how politics infects everything. In this case, meteorology, among other things. The scientific explanation of this horrific storm is fascinating. And the discussion of early meteorology in the US and how it became politicized is quite something. 

I haven't listened to the other one yet, so I'll report back.

Hope you have a good weekend lined up! 

Loveyameanitbye.

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Senor Tequila Stole My Phone

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Happy Labor Day! Did you have some cocktails today? If so, you'll want to head immediately over to Simon Says Stamp for the just released collaboration with Picket Fence Studios - it's a winner, and will probably sell out fast! I masked the main image with masking magic and then stamped the Checkerboard stamp set in Poppy on top and then masked the dividing line with post it tape and used the Sunburst Stencil and Life Changing Blender Brushes to create the rays with Wild Dandelion ink. ALL your favorite drinks are here - it's so cute. The sentiments are HILARIOUS. One of the things I love about Picket Fence is the sassy sentiments.

I used my alcohol fineliners - these are SO amazing for coloring detailed images that I'm having a coloring  renaissance. A brush tip just can't do what these do! I have a coupon code for them in the footer of this post.

These exclusive releases tend to sell out in hours, not days, so go check it out here.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new video for you - it's spooky and fun! A simple ink technique for moody scenes.

Picket Fence Studios Stamptember 2020... [ SSS ] Altenew CHECKERBOARD Clear Stamps... [ SSS ] Picket Fence Studios SUNBURST Stencil... [ SSS ] Picket Fence Studios LIFE CHANGING... [ SSS ] 3M 2 INCH WIDE POST-IT TAPE 36 Yards... [ SSS ] Therm O Web Gina K Masking Magic... [ SSS ] Gina K Designs WILD DANDELION PREMIUM... [ SSS ] Concord & 9th POPPY Ink Pad 10840 [ SSS ] Graphit — Marker Universe [ MRK ]

Loveyameanitbye.

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Simple Repeatable Holiday Cards + Gina K Stamptember Exclusive!

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

I have had such a shocking realization today.

I was talking to a neighbor on Facebook today - she owns chickens and ducks and geese, so it was bird talk - and I was telling her about the goose named Jack that lived at my preschool. Now he was a goose, so he bit us a lot, but the upside was we got to learn about birds. 

And we got eggs.

And as soon as I told her that, I realized my entire life was a lie.

Why did "Jack" lay eggs??? WHO WAS JACK?

My parents never questioned it either! We all just enjoyed Jack's eggs with not a care in the world!

This is not the right year to be receiving such shocking realizations. We have enough going on.

So I'm just going to fast forward to the holidays and we aren't going to speak of this again.

I send out a LOT of holiday cards - hundreds! So I love repeatable designs that hold up well in the mail, and lucky for me - clean and simple is my style anyway.

So I have clean, easy and repeatable holiday cards for you today with this beautiful collaboration set between Simon Says Stamp and Gina K.

For the first card, I used red and green - which you know I never do for holiday cards, but I bridged the gap for a partial rainbow and ended up loving it! I just incremented the distance in my MISTI for precise spacing. So fun. Inks used are below!

I LOVE that this set has Christmas and Hanukkah sentiments - I feel like Hanukkah doesn't get enough stampy love! I chose Distress Oxides for the swirly snowflake stamp - in Tumbled Glass and Blueprint Sketch. I swiped the Tumbled Glass across my card base for a distressed look under the card panel. I added these sequins for a little sparkle. 

Gina K Designs Stamptember 2020... [ SSS ] MISTI PRECISION STAMPER VERSION 2.0... [ SSS ] Gina K Designs RED HOT PREMIUM DYE... [ SSS ] Gina K Designs Tangerine Twist Ink [ SSS ] Gina K Designs WILD DANDELION PREMIUM... [ SSS ] Gina K Designs KEY LIME Premium Dye... [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad... [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad... [ SSS ] Studio Katia CRYSTAL CLEAR Fusion... [ SSS ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

The images are so perfect for just general winter (for those of you who experience that :) ) cards or for holiday cards, and the bold, clean style is so very perfectly Gina.

I love that Stamptember is like a crafty advent calendar - each day we open a little door to a fun surprise. If you have a moment, please wish my friend Heidi a happy birthday - it is today, and I love this woman - she is such a little ball of energy and joy and I miss her. If you want to mail her a card, you can do so here:

Heidi Crowl

C/O Simon Says Stamp

44 Lazelle Road

Columbus, OH 43235

Loveyameanitbye.

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