Out of This World

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Wellllllll I thought I had the video for today's card, but apparently my phone ate it. Sorry about that!

I'm back from my #notvacation and ready to get crafty again! I'm starting with this adorable and sweet space image. You know how I feel about space images! 

I colored this on a live with my class group. First, I stamped the image on Wheat cardstock, and then quickly filled in the sky with a Copic Marker. One of the things about coloring with colored pencil is that it tends to be more time-consuming than other mediums, so I shortcut with Copic often!

I was going to blend it all to remove streaks, but while I was coloring - I thought the streaks there from the first layer of marker looked atmospheric, so I liked it and left it - remember - perfection is for Serial killers!

The smaller stars in the image I colored over so some were dark, some light. Then I colored the rest of the image with Luminance pencils, starting as I always do with a layer of white under all the colors for that glowy look. I threw colored shadows on the surface of the moon as well. So easy and quick to color with I think 5 pencils? What adorable images. 

Other Worldly Greetings - Unity Stamp... [ UNT ] Luminance Colored Pencil Set -... [ BLIC ] Wheat Cardstock - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] New Original MISTI Laser Etched Stamp... [ MSP ] Artist's Choice 110lb White Card Stock [ GNK ] Coloring Glove - Anti-Smudge [ AMZUS ] Derwent Battery-Operated Eraser [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Ipoint Orbit Pencil Sharpener, Turquoise [ AMZUS | BLIC ] Global Art Classic Leather Pencil Cases [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Staedtler Mars Plastic Erasers [ BLIC | JGG | AMZUS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC | AMZUS ]

I hope you have a great week ahead! Loveyameanitbye.

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15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
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Better Together

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

My BFF when I was in preschool at Mrs. French's was a girl named Scarlet.

I wish I could find her now, because based on how much trouble we got into at age 4, I think she'd still be my tribe for sure.

Getting in trouble with Scarlet was the beginning of my storied career in D-Hall as I progressed through school.

I was always a great student grades-wise throughout school, and if there was a job where I could get paid to take classes full time, I'd be doing it to this day. Well I did get an F one time for telling a teacher she was insane if she thought I was dissecting a pregnant cat or a frog. My exact words were less than PG13, so I won't repeat them, and I'm not going to lie - my dad had a hard time suppressing a laugh when I told him what happened. He supported my decision to accept the consequence for something I was not willing to do, but he also was amused by my ferocity - he said it reminded him of some rebellious women in his family. While he was not exactly a rule follower, he was very easy going and not as prone to telling people to stuff it as I can be when someone crosses one of my red lines.

And guess what - that F hasn't hurt me yet! :)

But the public school mold wasn't made for my personality.

I like to talk, and I like to laugh and make other people laugh.

So I got in trouble a LOT.

Thankfully, it's hard to break my spirit, so I never cared that I got in trouble - still don't, if the offense is talking or laughing - but I think my mom did get tired of driving me there every Saturday - sorry mom! When I became a teacher later, I did have kids that I could see could easily have their little spirits broken by being in a situation where laughing and talking was bad, and I made sure I was never that type of teacher. I was teaching third grade at a private school, and I frequently referred parents to Montessori or other more appropriate schools when I could see my kids struggling as the square peg in a round hole.

I'm sort of hoping some changes come out of this weird time that get us back to the basics of being kind to people and recognizing that it's much more important to focus on simple joys we may have taken for granted.

I have found myself thinking about how little 4 year old me would have felt if suddenly I wasn't able to see Scarlet for weeks or months, and it makes my chest hurt - I would have been crushed. I wouldn't have understood. I would have been angry and sad. I probably would have been mad at my parents and her parents and anyone I knew.

So my heart goes out to all the kids who are struggling away from their friends. As hard as it is for all of us - my goodness my heart breaks for the littles.

So if anyone out there remembers my friend Scarlet from elementary school, or knows where she is now - I'd love to find her. Every year, I search Facebook for her, but no luck yet.

And when I saw this image, she's exactly who I thought of. This alone together stuff is for the birds. Actually I really like birds, so it's not even for the birds.

I colored the image with my Karin markers (Discount code below for anything they sell), and I added the sentiment from this adorable stamp set. All my hugs to my friends at Unity during this time. They are great people, and I need them to survive this, so please support them if you can!

Bunnies in a Balloon - Unity Stamp... [ UNT ] Feeling Off - Unity Stamp Company [ UNT ] Karin BRUSHMARKER MEGA BOX 60 Colors... [ SSS ] 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 ] 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 ]

Easter has such a strange feeling this year. I hope you can celebrate it in your own special, new 2020 way. I'm sure for that reason, it will be the most memorable Easter/Passover season of our lives, so we have to embrace that specialness. I encourage you all to journal right now. Let's pass these stories on.

I hope you are well.

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES
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10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10 Arkon stand link below!

Paperphilia - A Confession

I have always loved paper.

I remember like it was YESTERDAY how excited I would get at the beginning of the school year when I got a package of brand spanking new college-ruled notebook paper. (Wide-ruled paper - why is that even a thing? So gross.) Or when, as an adult, I realized I could buy as many Post-It™ notes as I wanted, and no-one could stop me.

So paperphilia is real, and I've had it for as long as I can remember.

It's really no wonder I ended up here.

For many years, I was a patterned paper hoarder. I used to hate cutting into that beautiful paper, which I'm completely over now. It doesn't do you any good sitting in a drawer. Use it! Send someone a card!

So when I found this stunning new paper from Unity, I had plenty of room for it in my life. The style of the warm-colored florals made my heart go pitter pat. I think this would be awesome for Thanksgiving table decorations.

You know what else makes my heart go pitter pat? Simple, quick cards where the paper is the star of the show. I added just this layering hugs die and some sequins. BOOM.

In addition to what I consider their warm style, there are also brights for my brights-loving heart in this other floral pack. I used this layering thanks die and sequins again to finish.

Did I say brights? Yes, yes I did. There's a fun pack with bright colors and images like this, as well as ice cream cones. Same die in the opposite color order.

And the only thing better than ice cream is COFFEE. The cool blue is the perfect contrast for this pretty foofy coffee drink image. The whole package is in this color scheme. I used this sentiment and the beans in Acorn ink, and then added some clear dimensional glaze to the beans. I remember ages ago when I had my first coffee set and added glaze to the bean images and thought surely nothing can be more fun than this. Shiny, raised beans still make me extremely happy.

Autumn Dream {Paper Pack} - Unity... [ UNT ] Birch Press Design BIG HUGS SUGAR... [ SSS ] Pink & Blue Watercolored {Paper Pack}... [ UNT ] Birch Press Design BIG THANKS SUGAR... [ SSS ] Rainbow Vibes {Paper Pack} - Unity... [ UNT ] Coffee Lovers {Paper Pack} - Unity... [ UNT ] Coffee Blend BUNDLE - Concord & 9th [ C&9 | SSS ] Tonic CRYSTAL GLAZE Nuvo 947N at... [ SSS ] Tsukineko VersaFine Clair ACORN Ink... [ SSS ] 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 ]

You'd have to work pretty hard to make all four of these cards take more than five minutes - I love it!

What are your plans for Thanksgiving if you're in the US? Do you decorate? What do you cook? Do you craft over that weekend? Nap? Watch football? Lay your traditions on me!

Loveyaasmuchaspapermeanitbye.