A Wise Woman Once Told Me...

Kim, the owner of MFT is a wise woman. Did you know that she was invited to be a speaker at a local TED Talk event in Florida? If you've spent any time around her, you know why. She comes out with quiet little profound statements a lot, and she said one to me last week that I have been thinking about a lot.

She said "ask for 100% of what you want 100% of the time, with the knowledge that no is always an option."

I think every kid in the world should hear that early and often. Sometimes just asking for things is hard - I don't know if that's a cultural thing that is somehow trained into us or what, but I think everyone fears "no" so desperately that they end up never asking for what they want. Which probably means most people don't get what they want and might be mad at someone else, when the simplest answer is just to ask in the first place.

Anyway, I thought that was both simple and wise, and so perfectly Kim that I had to share it with you. Along with these ridiculously cute birds.

I set these cute birds up on my MISTI - the outline portion - and stamped them in Nocturne. Then I took the inside of the red birds and all the background pieces and set them up my MISTI and stamped them in Red Hot. Last, I stamped the insides of the blue birds in Blue Raspberry. These cuties do have matching dies.

I cut the whole background apart and stamped the sentiment from this set in Nocturne. Maybe it's just me, but they look like they're up to something!

Die-namics Mod Birds [ MFT ] Mod Birds [ MFT ] Sassy Pants Best Friends (7447) [ MFT ] Gina K. Designs Red Hot Ink [ GNK ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad- Blue... [ GNK ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] Tsukineko VersaFine Clair NOCTURNE... [ SSS | ELH | CST ] 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 ]

Are you up to something this week? We're all just down here boiling water. The kitties are happy I'm home from my last trip of the year. I'm looking forward to the time to get organized a little before that rush of the end of the year happens.

Loveyameanitbye.

Groovy Christmas

Vintage VWs are fun. They were simple cars that were easy to work on for one, but quirky enough that you had to work on them. I think even when they were new, people knew what they had, which is why there are still so many on the road. Sort of how we all knew what we had with John Lennon and Green Apple Now & Laters.

Some things are magnificent in their own time. Some things, like VanGogh and a good Irish cheddar, take a little more time. 

This fun VW stamp reminded me of my childhood, so I had to do a little no-line watercolor. 

I made the background a fuzzy riot of colors with my Daniel Smith watercolor - to make it feel like things did at the time - a colorful, flower-filled hippie vibe cloud. :) I first stamped the van in Fadeout Ink, watercolored, and then stamped the sentiment in Nocturne.

Groovy Christmas, set of 2 -... [ TCH ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH | SSS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR | BLIC | INK ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] My Favorite Watercolor Sketchbook [ UTR ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | MFT ]

You can get a discount on this stamp with my coupon code if you think it's as groovy as I do. This one is in the Christmas stack now and will go out with my other cards. I'll have to pick someone of just the right age :).

Loveyameanitbye. 

An Ink Closeup for Inktober

Back when I was on Periscope, I loved Inktober. I met the most interesting artists there, and even bought some original art that was created live during Inktober by one of my favorite Periscopers - Punching Pandas.

I had to let Periscope go eventually in favor of some other things I needed to spend time on, but I will always be fond of Inktober and the talented people who participate.

Since I use ink daily, I was thrilled to be asked to do a little Inktober collaboration between Hedgehog Hollow and Inkon3.

I've made no secret of my love for Fadeout Ink for my no-line watercolor, and they asked me if I'd do a product closeup video on that ink to celebrate Inktober so of course I said yes.

Working with this new stamp set, and the companion stamp set here, I did a quick masking and watercoloring project - well, if you consider a half hour watercolor session "quick" - I do, because it normally takes me hours to paint things.

I stamped the poinsettia in Fadeout, masked it with this masking paper, stamped the leaves, masked them, and then finally stamped the cross over that. Then I removed all the masks and painted, which you'll see in the video below. I stamped the two separate sentiments (I cut the "a" off "wishing you a" to keep just wishing you) in Nocturne.

Poinsettia 3x4 Clear Stamp Set [ INK ] Poinsettia Coordinating Die Cuts [ INK ] Blessings 4x6 Clear Stamp Set [ INK ] Blessings Coordinating Die Cut [ INK ] Holiday Blessings Stamp Bundle Special [ INK ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH | SSS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR | BLIC | INK ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] Avery Self-Adhesive Removable Laser... [ AMZUS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] My Favorite Watercolor Sketchbook [ UTR ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | MFT | ART | BLIC | ELH ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] 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 ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ] Alcohol Marker Pens — Tonic Studios USA [ TNC ]

Isn't that fun how those two sets work together? Plus the cross is big enough to color. I'm hoping she comes out with other companion sets for this - like an Easter drape, or spring flowers, lilies, etc. So many possibilities. This fun bundle is available too.

Now the good folks at Tonic have a little Inktober sponsor gift for all of us - 20% off all their Tonic alcohol markers if you shop here with code MARKER20 at checkout.

So you ready for the video? Here you go! :)