Make a Scene

Are you familiar with Stampscapes stamps?

More years ago than I care to specify, my mother and I took a stamping class using Stampscapes stamps.

Those things are magical. They are designed so that the elements all work together to build scenes, and the finely detailed texture stamps for things like grass, rocks, sand, etc. seamlessly blend with each other to create highly realistic landscapes.

I remember all the EXCLAIMING we did as we learned to use them.

You know you're in a great stamp class when you do some EXCLAIMING. That's why I like to have my friend Dana Keith around at all times, because she's an EXCLAIMER. It makes life fun.

Anyway, when I was at OnStage in November, and they started demonstrating the High Tide set, I WAS EXCLAIMING.

The presenter (Carole Ann Patterson) was working with the lighthouse image in the set, and she was building the sand around the base of the image, and it was magical - all seamless and perfect like the Stampscapes scenes.

The one I had my eye on though was the water. I couldn't wait to play with the set and make the scene that was in my head, which is below.

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Those sweet little birds look like our killdeer, which I see in a park near my house - not just at the beach, which is six hours from here by car. 

I love how they run with their bodies perfectly still like they're in marching band, but their little legs just a blur. So cute. But I digress.

Here's a video on how I made the scene, just with masking and stencil brushes. (Pardon my voice - it's cedar season!)

I hope you'll try making a scene! And EXCLAIMING.

Don't forget to take advantage of the awesome Starter Bundle with two extra free stamp sets to get your Occasions Catalog goodies at the best price! And Sale-A-Bration is on, with a free set for every $50 purchase! The little taco truck set is my favorite, and those gold card tins that I showed you in this post.

Loveyameanitbye.

Thankful Life

As the end of the year drew nigh, I was saddened by some posts where people were wishing 2016 away for one reason or another.

Most disturbing was the people who were ready to write off an entire year of their lives because some celebrities whom they've never met had died.

I don't remember who said it to me when I was little, but I do remember one time when I said I wished I was older, that someone said "don't wish your life away."

It stuck with me, and later, after I'd experienced some of the things that made me understand what that meant, I really appreciated that advice.

Life is short. Make the most of it. Every minute counts, even if they aren't great. And no famous person really impacts those minutes. Yes, you liked their movies, yes, it's sad they're gone, but at the end of the day your sunrises and sunsets and highs and lows aren't affected, so try not to overestimate their shadow on your days on the planet - they are pretty inconsequential, all things considered.

I thought 2016, like every other year, was awesome, and I thought I'd share some of my favorite things from this year that made it memorable.

• I discovered this quirky chef's videos. He has a strange, sing-song way of talking, but he is HYSTERICAL, and quietly gets in some really dry, funny statements while presenting great recipes. This one is so funny and one of my favorites. 
• We started Crafty Chat at Online Card Classes. Two incredible women I admire so much made time in their busy lives to let you get to know some people in our industry a little better. 
• My sister and I re-arranged her art room so that we could have crafty days there - no rules, just work on whatever. Having a sister is a great gift - having a sister who shares your love of art is priceless. 
• I got this recipe from a woman who attended a social media class I taught. It's amazing. 
• I got this recipe from my friend Bev - it's now a staple in my house.
• I tried this recipe at New Year's to honor my friend Leslie who passed away last Christmas. It's divine. She love jalapeno poppers like I love the sun. I don't love them, but I love this, and so it's a compromise. She loved compromise and peace. 
• I saw the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix - put this one on your list. 
• I had two retreats with amazing friends - I treasured these weekends. 
• I started my online classes. 
• I got better at watercolor. 
• I listened to these books, among others: Born With Teeth, Five Days at Memorial, Dead Wake, Going Clear, Troublemaker, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Ghettoside, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, A Man Called Ove, A Great Reckoning.      
• I discovered some amazing art products: These brushes, these watercolors, these watercolors, these watercolor powders, these brushes, this glimmery paste, this masking paper. 
• The mini MISTI and Memory MISTI were introduced. 
• I went to CHA.
• I went to OnStage in Phoenix. 
• I earned a trip to the Mediterranean and Thailand through Stampin' Up!
• I was published several places, including Modern Woman and USA Today. 
• I found the Cuttlelola Dots Pen
• Shannon West launched the #imbringingbirthdaysback campaign. 
• I planted a Coral Bell. It's one of my favorite plants in my garden. During an unseasonable cold snap in December, it froze. I did not consider this to be a sign that the entire year was horrid. Instead, I'm waiting to see if it will be okay. I would like everyone to do the same with everything. Everything might be okay if we stop freaking out and just see what happens.
• We had a great crop of tomatoes and peppers in our tiny yard. Every time I grow something I can eat it brings me great joy and gives me a lot of control that maybe the rest of life doesn't offer.
• It was a rainy year - which I don't love even a little, actually - I hate it - but it cost us a lot less in water and air conditioning and there were fewer bugs. I still hate it, but it didn't ruin my year.
• I found LulaRoe leggings. Don't pretend like this isn't the best thing to happen to work at home people ever or I'll have to pinch you. 
• I started a "bless my house" routine where at different intervals I tackled drawers, cabinets or closets that needed attention. I ended the year much more organized than I started. I can't think in an environment that is closing in on me. I will never say I'm officially an organized person, but I will say that I can conquer clutter, because clutter freaks my beak. I love the short term clutter of art, but that has to end and be beaten back so I can start again.
• Speaking of blessing your house - at one retreat I got to visit Magnolia Market, which was awesome. It's beautiful and peaceful and has pretty things. Oddly enough I bought some washi tape there that says "bless your home" which I didn't put together with the previous bullet until just now. 
• Pokemon Go came into the world. It's such a fun, social activity - and I've seen tons more people in our parks and lots more kids outside as a result - that makes the world better for sure. 
• I started brushing up on Spanish with this great lesson series - I wish I'd had this in college. I love languages (well, except for French and German) and I enjoy learning them on my walks.
• I bought the single most useful kitchen tool ever. 
• I started meal planning and freezing food - saved me so much time. 
• It was actually 2015 when I found Instacart, but it has changed my life, and is the single biggest contributor to my ability to blog and create. I hope you have it in your area. I haven't been in a grocery store in more than two years, and I can't tell you how much money and time that has saved me.

I could go on and on, honestly - but it was a wonderful year, and no amount of politics or celebrities could tarnish it. 

I hope 2017 is twice as awesome. 

Today marks the beginning of the Occasions Mini Catalog AND the Sale-a-Bration catalog! They are both full of awesome, and we have an awesome starter bundle special too - add any two stamp sets - ANY PRICE - to the bundle for free. You have no obligation to "sell" anything and can join my awesome team Facebook group if you purchase it, so click here to get a heck of a deal. If you need the new catalogs, let me know.

I've been working on some new online classes out of the new catalog over the holiday, and two of them are already up on my class page, featuring the Easter Message stamp set - I have both a religious class and a non-religious class available now. I think you will love them both! They feature some fun new coloring techniques. 

But then I needed to work on some birthday cards for the new year, so I sat down and just played. I love the Thankful Life host set - the images are so crisp and layer perfectly. I decided to challenge myself and see if I could get all four images on the MISTI for making multiples - and I won the challenge! So first, here's the card I made, with the vase of flowers peeking in from the side. I used Birthday Blast for the sentiment and went with all grey to really make the flowers pop. 

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Just to show you how I pulled this off, I made you a video. It's a really quick card - you just have to take a few minutes to figure out how to set your MISTI up.

Strangely enough the stamp set name lined up with what I wanted to day today.

Funny how that works.

Loveyameanitbye.

One Last Gift

Happy New Year!!!

As has been my New Year's Tradition, I'm part of the Seasons Givings blog hop tonight to ring in the new year. This is just a gathering of kind-hearted and generous bloggers and crafty companies who want to thank their readers with a gift.

Blogging has become one of my great joys in life and I've met so many wonderful people through their visits here - many of whom are now my closest friends.

So in the course of the year, your visits, your comments, your cards, your time spent on my YouTube Channel and Instagram bring me so much joy, and I'm very grateful to all of you that you choose to spend even one minute of your life here on my blog, so my small gifts today are really just the teeniest tiniest thank you ever.

Speaking of gift-giving, I think it's our duty as card makers not to let the non-cardmakers in our lives purchase cards under the soul-killing glare of fluorescent lights in their grocery store or Target. It's just not right.

So as part of our handmade only Christmas this year, I made card sets for the ladies.

I used these GORGEOUS tins (available for free with a $50 purchase during Sale-a-Bration, which begins January 4th) for the packaging. The lid is gold. These are so classy and elegant.

I stamped the included tabs with the Tin of Cards set.

I made four each of thank you, birthday and sympathy cards. When I make card sets, I want them to be simple (because I'm making a lot of them), clean and striking. So my favorite thing do do is use the Clarity Stamp stencil brushes for pretty background for a bold sentiment. On the thank you cards I used the Seasonal Decorative Masks, some masking tape and Crushed Olive Distress ink to make an angled background. The font is stunning, and comes from another Sale-A-Bration goodie, the stamp set So Very Much.

For the birthday cards, I wanted them a little more festive, so using a different stencil from the same set, I ink blended Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Mustard seed distress inks. I love to have my stencil images fade out towards the bottom, and the stencil brushes are dreamy for that. To add the look of foil without all the work, I added some 1/8" foil Rainbow Tape to dress it up just a bit. The sentiment is from Birthday Blast.

For the sympathy card - I made each set of four a different color, using the TCW Mini Branches stencil and various inks. The sentiment is from Rose Wonder.

Now I have to tell you about my FAVORITE new thing - the Colorbox Cleaning Pad. I showed my team members this on my last live video and they loved it too. If you want to really remove ink before it stains your clear or cling stamps, this little guy is the way to go. It looks just like a firm foam inkpad, but it does not smell, is not greasy, and the cleaner in it is miraculous. Iliana told me about it - and it's as amazing as she said it was. She loves it so much she started selling it in her store - you can buy them here.

I'd say for favorite new crafty items, that cleaning pad and the stencil brushes are near the top of the 2016 list!  All the supplies I used are listed below.

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Speaking of cleaning, everyone always asks me how I clean my stencil brushes. The honest answer is, I really don't. Here are a few of my brushes and I just designate one per "family" - I use my blue brush for all my blue inks, and just swipe the brush on my grid mat until it gets most of the ink off. I have other brushes for greens, purples, grey/black  and brown. If you want to rinse them off you can, but they'll need to dry completely before you use them again, which requires patience, which is why I don't do it.

So don't let your friends buy cards! With a MISTI and these brushes, a really nice gift can come together quickly.

So let's talk about gifts! I have lots of fun thank you gifts for you!

I will be giving away the following to one lucky reader!

Original MISTI Tool

Clarity Stamp Stencil Brushes

Christmas Pines Stamp Set

Pretty Pines Thinlits dies

1/4" handheld circle punch

All you have to do to be eligible to win this awesome prize package, is leave me a comment telling me your favorite thing that happened in 2016 so we can end the year with sweetness. 

And for my customers - anyone using the host code 2RDM4HTC by January 4th at noon central will be entered into a drawing for a set of stencil brushes as well. Stencil brushes for everyone!

Now go visit my awesome friends who are giving away billions of thank you gifts as well. I'm sandwiched between two dear friends - Lori and Jenn!

Lawn Fawn

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Reverse Confetti

Taylored Expressions

Paper Smooches

Neat & Tangled

Technique Tuesday

Clear & Simple Stamps

Richard Garay

My Sweet Petunia

JustNick

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Sunny Studio Stamps

Inchie Arts llc

Scrapbook Update

Buttons Galore

 Latisha Yoast

Julia Stainton

ChariMoss

Cristina Nunez

Wanda Guess

Vera Yates

Amy Tsuruta

Mary-Ann Maldonado

Lori Craig

 You are here >>Lydia Fiedler<< You are here

Jenn Shurkus

Lisa Henke

Dina Kowal

Libby Hickson

Emily Leiphart

Cindy Lawrence

Kelly Klapstein

Erica Houtghton

Elise Constable

Julee Tillman

Lee Murphy

Lisa Arana

Giovana Smith

Karen Baker

Lindsay Amrhein

Dana Joy

Marcie Sharp

Megan Hoeppner

Alicia Thelin

Asia King

Debbie Seyer

Yvonne Van De Grijp

Tenia Nelson

Michelle Woerner

Christina Griffiths

Lori McAree

Barbara Anders

Jill Hawkins

Veronica Zalis

Leigh Penner

Margie Higuchi

Amy Coose

Melody Rupple

Karen Letchworth

Heidi Ramsey Blankenship

Jennie Harper

Jodi Collins

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Gracie Chavez

Stephanie Klauck

Savannah O’Gwynn

Terre Fry

Neva Cole

Maria Levine

Misti Oblander

Ceal Pritchett

 Thank you again for spending time with me - I really appreciate you! Happy New Year!