One For The Birds

Once upon a time, a very nice lady let me play with an unreleased stamp set at a retreat. This lady's name is Gina, and her beautiful daughter Alicia - my fellow black cat enthusiast - designed this incredible stamp set that makes for GORGEOUS watercolored cards. It's like classic nature illustrations and contains the scientific names of the birds, so it would make such a great gift set of cards for a bird lover. As a matter of fact, as I was painting this first little birdie at the retreat, after stamping it in Fadeout Ink, my friend Kat asked if she could have it for her mother, who is an avid birder. So when I was done painting it, I left it without a sentiment so she could send it to her mom.

I was using the "Lydia split" of Daniel Smith watercolor - basically I've curated a collection of my favorite Daniel Smith colors into a split that will be for sale later this month in my group. I've worked with it for two trips now and it's pretty perfect. I've painted a variety of subject matter with it and I never find myself looking for a color I don't have. So behold - Alicia's beautiful bird #1. This set also comes in a bundle with matching dies.

Snow Birds [ GNK ] Snow Birds Bundle [ GNK ] Fruit of the Season StampTV Kit [ GNK ] *What's New - Gina K. Designs, LLC [ GNK ] 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 ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] 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 [ ART | BLIC | ELH | SSS | MFT ] 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 ]

I stamped the other two birds too and I love them so much! I googled this one to get accurate colors, but the shape of each of these birds could be used for a wide variety of types of birds, just with a little different paint. Instead of just the blue glow I love and used above, I gave this little guy more of a hint of a sky and thought this would make a fun Christmas card with this STUNNING kit sentiment stamped in Nocturne.

And last - why should the male cardinals get all the glory? I made mine a female - I love seeing the little females in the yard, with their soft suede coloring and hints of red. I used this sentiment again from the beautiful kit for another Christmas card.

Are those not incredible images? I am so grateful to Gina & Alicia for these inspiring stamps, and for getting to play with them a bit early. Nice ladies, those.

She has some other AMAZING stamps out tonight - so check those out here. My wallet is endangered! :)

Loveyameanitbye.

Just Another Brick In The Wall

Now that you all have the Wall soundtrack stuck in your heads - you're welcome - let's talk about BRICKS. Specifically watercolored bricks.

My sweet friend Tifany is having a release today and I am pretty sure I screamed when she pulled her new background stamp out of her bag at retreat, because I love nothing more than granulating watercolor + brick images. These bricks are in a herringbone pattern which makes them different from any brick stamps I own (she is really good at coming up with super unique images and sentiments) and they are big enough to paint! I am in love! I used a single color of watercolor - my beloved Hematite Burnt Scarlet, but you can see how much variation you get with the granulation. I love this color the most. I stamped the background first in Fadeout Ink.

The bricks just screamed school to me, so I paired it with her adorable little science teacher image from this set, and I cut a strip out of the background and stamped the sentiment from this set onto the card base. It's almost time to get those teacher gifts ready - and actually - you should give teachers gifts all the time - it's such an important job - so I thought this would inspire you to make a card for a teacher!

Ink Blot Shop Clear Stamp Set... [ SSS ] Ink Blot Shop Clear Stamp Set SMARTIE... [ SSS ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH | SSS ] Daniel Smith HEMATITE BURNT SCARLET... [ SSS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR | BLIC | INK ] 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 ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] 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 ] Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue [ ART | BLIC | ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ]

My friend Jana was playing with this next background stamp set at retreat and we both were losing our minds over it. It has SUCH a delicate, detailed cable knit pattern on it - and she was embossing it and watercoloring - it was beautiful. I hope she posts today! I decided to stamp the pattern in white ink on blue cardstock, after thinking for a while about what is lighter on a cable knit sweater - the pattern or the lower part, and I figured it was the pattern. I stamped it twice in my MISTI to make it lighter, and then I used my infinity dies to cut both a neckline and a collar to go over it. I added some Copic marker to make a neck on a white insert, and glued a gift card to it. Then I put a strip of navy down the front of the gift card holder and added gold glitter paper buttons, also cut with infinity dies, and then glued the collar on after hand cutting a little V into it. The gift card holder is just an 8.5" x 3" piece of navy cardstock, scored at 4.25", and then I used skinny Scor-Tape on each side to hold it closed.

Ink Blot Shop Clear Stamp Set CABLE... [ SSS ] Hero Arts Nesting CIRCLE DIES DI199... [ SSS | HA | ELH | CST ] Concord & 9th NEUTRALS GLITTER 6x6... [ SSS | C&9 ] Hero Arts Pigment Ink Pad UNICORN... [ SSS ] E11 - Barely Beige Sketch Marker (4489) [ MFT | SSS ] Scor-Tape 1/8 Inch Crafting Tape [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# SOFT... [ SSS ] 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 ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | MFT ] 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 ] Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue [ ART | BLIC | ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ]

I thought these two would really make a fun, easy appreciation gift for a teacher! Everyone loves gift cards - and I think we're all starting to realize that the world has enough coffee mugs.

Tifany is literally one of the nicest, smartest and funniest people I've ever known, and I love that I can support her by shopping! Here's a picture of her posing with a three day old salad in my hotel room. That's Jen from Reverse Confetti pretending to take a bite. Don't ask. It's complicated.

Stamp company owners are awesome people bringing us joy and making the things we love. They are also moms, friends, and real people just trying to do all the same things we're all trying to do. Feel great about every dollar you spend with these people - you are doing a good thing for truly good people.

Loveyameanitbye.