Crafty Friends: Pandemic Edition

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

Do you miss simple joys?

Me too.

One of the things that is so different is that mail is sort of threatening. We let our packages sit a bit, wipe them down, let them sit in the garage for a few days. It's weird.

It's also weird not to be able to get groceries.

I'm a whole foods person (I mean I eat whole foods, not processed foods) and those are very hard to get. No fresh veggies, etc.

Luckily I always have lots of beans, rice, etc., but it's still alarming not to be able to get basic things.

I miss just normal things, like going to get a coffee, and opening a big pile of mail without treating it like nuclear waste.

But I feel very blessed that I have a million all-consuming passions.

My sister and I have always agreed that we will never live long enough to do all the things we want to do.

I feel worried for people who have woken up to this oddness without a hobby that consumes them!

I hope you are finding something that you never had time to do before that you can focus on. I have waived all the fees for my classes and moved them online. If you have a Facebook account, you can attend those live classes here. If you are hearing impaired, I'm working on getting a transcriber.

I made an AWESOME soup today, which you can find here. It took me nearly ten days to find a sweet potato  - I had probably 20 cancelled orders before someone could find one so I think I loved it even more because of that.

So I thought today's image was especially appropriate for our current situation. It's an adorable stamp set, which can be used for Christmas or all year, and it has such a sweet illustration style. I have a discount coupon code for them too below if you want to stimulate the economy.

I tried to recreate Splotchy with a few Copic markers, and Gina K's Key Lime envelopes, which are my favorites.

Crafty Friends is not about the latest, greatest, newest stamps, so this stamp is actually retired, but I'll never let it go. But you can still enjoy a discount on anything they sell here.

Cute right? Click this banner and use the coupon code to get a discount!

Pinkfresh Studio [ PNK ] Envelopes 10 pack- Key Lime - Gina K... [ 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 ]

Want to see more inspiration? 

See my other crafty friends below! 

And most of all, stay safe, healthy and sane. 

Loveyameanitbye.

Sandi
Sue
Sara
Lydia
Jill
Amy
Jenny
Tanya
Ilina
Maria
Becky

CURRENT COUPON CODES
15% off the Art Toolkit at Expeditionary Art through March 31 - WCSPLIT.
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!

You Were Assigned This Mountain

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

Howdy friends! I'm back with a simple, sentiment-based card today and a few thoughts on the corona virus, based on what I've seen online.

People are anxious, understandably. This makes people cranky. Alternatively, crankiness could be a symptom of the corona virus - it's too early to tell. I'm sure the CDC will let us know.

But as usual, it's the American way to line up on one side or another of any big topic like star-bellied Sneetches against Sneetches with no stars.

I would caution you that that's a terrible idea in a time of crisis. I would also caution you that it's a terrible idea when there's not a crisis. It's a bad habit, and one we should break for the sake of our culture.

Let's be neighborly. And let's remember - as someone said on Twitter - our grandparents were asked to go to war. We are being asked to sit on our sofas for a bit. We can do this, and desperately need to do this for the sake of vulnerable people everywhere.

AND, there's always an opportunity when you are suddenly forced to endure something terrible, that you can help other people later in your life with the knowledge and experience you gain while you're in the throes of it. Ask me how I know.

So this beautiful sentiment set spoke to me this week. It's just perfect.

I took the new, dreamy Daniel Smith blue - and I'll show you below how I got the color differences - this is all one pigment - and started at the top with the lightest mountain (I painted it all the way to the bottom) and then added the next one, etc., until I got to a shade that was the darkest without interfering with the readability of the sentiment. The reason I went all the way down with each mountain is that because this is a transparent color, I was afraid I'd see the line where I stopped under each successive layer. I stamped the sentiment in Nocturne a few times in the MISTI since the watercolor paper is cold press.

(And to the "unknown" commenter who asked about the Daniel Smith Split group, the link is here. Put in a join request - and most importantly, answer all three questions so you can be approved - on a mobile device, it can make it look like there's only one question.)

Isn't that a lovely perspective? Hard to feel that way when you're squashed under the mountain, but you'll get there.

To achieve the gradation in the color - and by the way, this was the hardest art concept for me to learn - that foregrounds are darker than backgrounds in nature to the human eye - you just need a fairly big mixing surface. I was using this gorgeous leaf palette from Etsy - photo from shop listing. I love this woman's work.

You want a big space because you'll be adding a LOT of water to each iteration of the paint. I put a dot of the pure paint at one end. Then I moved to the other end and created a HUGE puddle of water plus the tiniest bit of paint and mixed it all up for the first mountain. Using the same puddle for the second one, I added water and just a bit more paint, and so on until I was done.

All the supplies I used are listed below. Loveyameanitstayhealthybye.

Gina K Designs HAVE FAITH Clear... [ SSS ] Ceramic Palette for Painting Palm... [ ETS ] Phthalo Blue Turquoise Daniel Smith... [ BLIC ] Zots™ Singles • Medium | Therm O Web... [ THR ] The Ultimate Mixing Palette: a World... [ BLR ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH | SSS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR | BLIC | INK ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] 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 ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

CURRENT COUPON CODE
S 15% off the Art Toolkit at Expeditionary Art through March 31 - WCSPLIT.
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!

The Topic No One Wants to Talk About!

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

I have a very uncomfortable situation to talk to you about today - it's really almost taboo. So I'll introduce it gently and mostly by avoidance - I will first distract you with some pretty things!

IT IS SPRING, Y'ALL!

I 100% understand if you mock those of us here in God's country for our intolerance of our 3.5 days of "winter", but look - everything is relative.

MUCH more important to my mental state than temperature is sun, and it's been a bit scarce here this year. So being able to sit out back at the end of the work day the last few days has been a small mercy that I appreciate.

I'm a plant loving freak. I think gardening is really better when you are older and more patient and willing to accept unexpected things.

When I was in college in upstate NY, spring was SPECTACULAR. Especially the tulips and lilacs. Tulips like I'd never seen - white ones, black ones, every color you could imagine. It really was your reward for just surviving the HELLISH winters there. So they have a very special place in my gardening heart and I can resist no tulip stamp.

This big, splashy tulip is no exception. It's really a background on its own, but half the set is sentiments, too.

I wanted to recreate what was in my head from my college days - the tulips that were white but streaked with color, so I pulled a Kathy Racoosin trick out of my hat. I underpainted the tulips with pink Copic markers, and then added all the details with Polychromos pencils. Such a fun image to color!

The rest of my cards today are ocean themed! This gorgeous angelfish set of masks spoke to me. I put two of them down, facing opposite directions (sprayed with Pixie Spray to keep them in place), and brushed on Oxide inks. Then, with them still in place, I put down the Mermaid Scales Stencil, and used my wet stamp shammy to lift ink out for a subtle background pattern behind them. The sentiment is from this set.

Then I went all mixed media. I took some Ocean Poppy and Succulent Green Paper Glaze and created a background on a card front with an old credit card. After that dried - patience mode engaged - I put down the beautiful, zen Current of Fish stencil and used the same credit card to apply Golden Rose Paper Glaze through that for the fishies. On a separate piece of paper I had applied Golden Rose Paper Glaze to, I die cut that with the I Miss You die, and glued that in the center. IT'S SO SHIMMERY IN REAL LIFE.

And finally, the card that brings up the uncomfortable topic. And that topic is DIE HAIRS. We all know about this but we just don't want to talk about it. Those little fragments of paper that hang on when we die cut something - it happens more with some cardstock than others. It also happens if the die or plates shift a bit while going through the machine. But they are unsightly and embarrassing. And I've tried everything - an exacto, little sanding sticks, etc. I finally found something that works, and I have a video quick tip for you below, featuring this STUNNING whale cover plate die - WOW.

And my apologies - YouTube caption editing is not working this week, so I do not have captions on this video :(  - I have a support ticket in with them. It should be pretty obvious what I'm doing even without captions, but please email me if you are hearing impaired and need further instructions!

Here are all the supplies I used today.

Whale of a Tail Cover Die [ PFS ] Every Good and Perfect Gift [ PFS ] Early Tulip Bouquet [ PFS ] I Miss You Word Die [ PFS ] Mermaid Scales Stencil [ PFS ] Tropical Angelfish Stencil [ PFS ] Current of Fish Stencil [ PFS ] Paper Glaze - Succulent Green [ PFS ] Paper Glaze - Ocean Poppy [ PFS ] Paper Glaze - Golden Rose [ PFS ] Therm O Web PIXIE SPRAY iCraft... [ SSS | ELH | THR ] Copic 12 Bold BASIC SKETCH MARKER SET... [ SSS ] Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils and... [ BLIC | AMZUS | SSS ] 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 ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] 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 ]

Loveyameanithaveagreatweekendbye.

ACTIVE COUPON CODES

15% off the Art Toolkit at Expeditionary Art through March 31 - WCSPLIT. 

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

10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10