A Hyperbolic Life

I have always been a linguaphile, from my earliest days on this planet.

(I am not implying I was ever on another planet, by the way.)

I love words and sentences, and rhymes, and puzzles and games.

I think the gift of language to humans is unlike any other. Think of how complicated our languages are, and how we are always making up new words. Each word we speak and how we speak it - yes, even, maybe especially, cuss words - has a thousand meanings and makes us unique among the beasts.

(Unless one of those beasts is Splotchy, who speaks many languages, passionately, usually at 4 AM. Little bugger must be Italian or something. )

But in all things linguistic, I love hyperbole the most. (I'll wait for you to get over your surprise at this revelation.)

Why say "it's hot" when you can say "OH MY GOD, IT'S EIGHT THOUSAND DEGREES OUTSIDE AND I'M MELTING LIKE I JUST OPENED THE ARK OF THE COVENANT!!!"? We all know which one wins.

I've always thought of hyperbole as a particularly Irish talent - maybe because of Yeats. I also remember loving this the first time I read it.

"“For last year's words belong to last year's language 

And next year's words await another voice.” 

― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Edward Lear's so-called nonsense always appealed to me, as did the Jabberwocky and the strange words in the Hobbit. Maybe that's why I ended up in linguistics in graduate school. None of it sounded like nonsense to me.

Hyperbole is often defined as exaggeration - but they really are different. I use hyperbole as expressiveness - not stretching the truth - just making it more interesting, as in the above example. Once you have the visual of the guy melting when he opened the Ark of the Covenant, you immediately know exactly how hot I feel. We are on the same page.

So imagine my delight a few weeks ago when I get a text from my friends Greg & Angie at Concord & 9th asking me if they can use something I texted them in a stamp set. I said, and I quote: "OMGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!! SQUEE!!! Yesssss!" More boring people might have said: "Why yes, you may."

So they sent me the stamp set as a thanks, and I could not love it more. I can't wait for you to see the whole thing.

The text message was the sentiment that's on my card - and honestly - it's true. They are awesome people, and I could not be more grateful for their friendship. I was cleaning out my phone's digital landfill yesterday, and I came across the pictures of us at CHA and got all verklempt. They are just good people, whose awesomeness rivals that of a unicorn - no exaggeration.

The set is called Unicorn Awesomeness and it will be in their July 9th release, this Sunday at 9 AM.

To make this card, I cut the clouds from the dies that match the set on my favorite watercolor paper (linked above). I painted those with Daniel Smith watercolor, and glued them together. That's 140 pound watercolor paper, so this is a pretty sturdy card! Then I stamped the sentiment (squee!) on the front cloud and stamped and die cut the unicorn. I colored her with three grey Copics. I'm sure people will make her look amazing with a rainbow mane and tail, but I had enough rainbow working in the background, that a stately silver is what I wanted. You know - because unicorns are stately.

What a fun thing to have happen. Thanks for that, my friends! :)

Because of their unicorn awesomeness - they are giving me TWO bundles to give to you guys - that's two stamp & die sets of Unicorn Awesomeness. All you have to do is leave me a comment between now and July 9th at noon central telling me about someone whose awesomeness rivals that of a unicorn in YOUR life. I will draw two winners on that day! Hop over to their blog today to see sneak peeks and see if I've exaggerated :)

Speaking of winners - here is my winner of the This Might Be Vodka stamp set from this post! Kris - email me your address and I'll get that in the mail!

PS - I love sun tea too!

Loveyameanitnotexaggeratingbye.

Driving Through the Wind Farms

I recently returned from our annual Santa Fe trip, and we chose a new route that we really ended up liking a lot.

Typically, we went out to Ft. Stockton, and then up into New Mexico on a long stretch of 285. However, in the last ten years, they've been fracking on either side of that road, and it's ruined the road in numerous ways - the heavy trucks have destroyed the road itself, and the number of trucks has ruined the traffic pattern - you're always stuck behind a truck, unable to pass for long periods of time, and so the trip has lengthened each year. When you're talking about lengthening an eleven hour drive, you develop some dark thoughts about the route.

So this year, we went up 183, through Sweetwater, through Brownwood and Lubbock. It was a much better, faster route, now that they've raised the speed limits through most of it - we used to go this way but it was 13 hours because they made you crawl through the numerous small towns, but now - not only did we have cell service most of the way, but it was faster and prettier and there were more places to get gas, and no fracking trucks.

But one part really unsettled me, and that was the section through Sweetwater and its bizarre wind farms. There were THOUSANDS of wind turbines, and because it's somewhat hilly there, as we were driving through - you'd see just blades turning while you were driving - sticking up over a hill and turning quickly at an odd angle to the road, everywhere you looked. The hills make it so they are at all different heights, and honestly - I don't get motion sick, but I felt queasy. It seemed like the road and the ground were spinning from just the inescapable spinning all around us. I couldn't wait to get it out of my field of vision and see just the earth again.

I was going to do a watercolor sketch of it when I got to Santa Fe, and just document how disturbing the experience was, but I couldn't capture it in a drawing. On the way home, going back through there, I thought about how sad it was that this supposedly "clean" energy has RUINED what used to be a beautiful part of Texas - a pretty, empty, hilly stretch where you could see forever - a huge expanse of blue sky and rolling land is now a mechanized, ugly nightmare. They create deserts and harm wildlife too. The law of unintended consequences is brutal. It made me sad, and not very many things make me sad.

I lived my life outside as a kid, and have always loved just being alone with the plants and the bugs and the animals, and it's still my favorite place to be, although I don't drink boiling hot water out of the garden hose anymore, thankfully :). Not sure how we survived that, Jell-O, Super Elastic Bubble Plastic and cars without seatbelts, but we did.

One of the things I love most about Santa Fe is that once we park the car, we don't get back in it, and I spend hours and hours every day walking. This year - we went at a different time - and the flowers were spectacular. Hollyhocks that were seven feet tall lined the streets, and sprung up out of little cracks in the pavement. There were pansies, and cherries and apples on the trees, cottonwood fluff floating down like snow - it was magical.

Inside, I painted. I sketched and I played with the new My Monthly Hero Kit and watercolor. I wanted to experiment with perspective and masking and materials like glass and metal, which are terrifying in watercolor. Or I thought they were. Turns out, they are just colors after all.

The kit is beautiful - here's what comes in it. Yes - that's a full sized Distress Oxide ink pad.

I wanted to challenge myself, so I didn't use the dies.

For my first project, I arranged the bucket and watering can behind the jar from the kit. To do this, I stamped and masked the bucket first, and then stamped the watering can and the jar - all stamping except the sentiment was done in Distress Weathered Wood - stamped off once so it was very light. The flowers are from the add-on set Little Florals (add-ons are not limited time, by the way), and those I just stamped without masking because they would appear "through" the glass. Then with my trusty Silver Brush, I very carefully painted the images with Daniel Smith watercolor. The outline of the jar was done with Fuchsite, and the water with Manganese Blue Hue. I wanted the watering can and the bucket to seem like they were made of different types of metal, so I painted one with Payne's Blue-Grey, and the Other with Neutral Tint. To make the flowers look like they were inside and behind the glass, I just watered down the colors I used there in those areas and used less water for the parts not behind glass. But my FAVORITE part of this card is the wood. I took a somewhat dry 1/4" flat Silver Brush and just dragged it across the card in various colors, after using this masking tape to give myself a straight horizontal. By the way - don't go on vacation without grid paper. Straight lines are impossible without it. Ask me how I know. After I got a woodgrain texture I liked, I painted a thin, dark line halfway up to make it look like a gap between two boards. Then I went back with neutral tint to create shadows. I really ended up loving this card. The sentiment is from an add-on set - Summer Garden.

Then, I wanted to keep going with the masking. By the way, the most inexpensive and easy to use masking paper is this one - it's all I use outside the tape.

I could not resist the snail image in the Summer Garden stamp set, and despite my attempts at realism for the flowers, I had to paint the snail from my childhood, in completely unrealistic colors. To set this up - I stamped the snail first - this time in India Ink - I didn't do no-line on this card - and then stamped him on masking paper and masked him. THEN, I stamped that vine of flowers from Summer Garden and masked those too. Then and only then did I stamp the watering can in black on top of those images. Then I masked the top of the can and stamped the other flowers and the foliage, removed all the masks and painted them. The sentiment is from the Daisy & Bugs bundle. I just hinted at ground underneath the image. By this time I was full-on in love with that Neutral Tint watercolor - wow.

Finally - I went back to glass. I love the delicate flowers in the stamp set from the kit, and I thought they were perfect for those little soda bottle images - sort of wispy and relaxed. So no masking this time, but I did repeat the woodgrain because it was ridiculously fun. All images here are from the kit.

This was so fun and relaxing - so perfect for a peaceful vacation. I can't wait to go back - re-entry is hard!

If you want to win one of these kits, there's a blog hop, but remember, if you REALLY want one - they are gone when they are gone (unless you're a subscriber) so you can get yours here. The products are worth $74, so it's a steal and a half. LITERALLY. And, if you buy the kit and you win the drawing, they will credit you back, so you're safe either way - how cool is that?

Anyway, I'm as excited as you are to see what everyone else has done with it - so let's check it out, shall we?

The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Wanda Guess
May Park
Yana Smakula
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Kathy Racoosin
Lydia Fiedler
Amy Tsuruta
Michelle Short
Libby Hickson

Thanks for stopping by today - leave me a comment about your favorite place to vacation to be entered in the kit drawing, and have an A1 day! :)

Loveyameanitbye.

Bear Hugs

It's Thursday - and if you're out of the vodka from yesterday's post - you might need a hug!

I brought you not only a bear with a hug, but a watercolored, die cut inlay bear with shiny eyes, a shiny nose and a HUG.

He's so cute, his name is Picture Book Bear, and he's part of the new Simon Says Stamp One of a Kind collection that is being released today, and he just makes my eyes happy. I need to go back for his cute buddy, the fox. You can see the rest of the new stuff on their blog today.

To make him, I just die cut him twice from two pieces of watercolor paper, being sure to save his little ears, eyes, nose, snout and belly. On the second time, I taped him down to be sure he was straight on the one that would become the negative space. Then, I glued the negative space piece to a piece of Pool Party cardstock, that I had adhered a Sizzix adhesive sheet to, so the open space was sticky.

I watercolored the bear with Daniel Smith Watercolors, dried him with my heat gun, adhered him into the opening with the adhesive, and then added shine to his nose and eyes with an Irresistible Pico Embellisher in black.

After that was all dry, I put that all onto a card base, and popped it into the MISTI to add the sentiment from Concord & 9th Cuddles & Hugs, and then added the die cut from that same bundle on top.

That cute bear and his hug should allow us all to at least survive to the weekend! :)

Loveyameanitbye.

From Coffee to Vodka and Everything In Between

We all have those categories of stamps we can't resist. I have many - florals, cute animals, birds and one of the most important - coffee and tea.

I remember one of the very first Stampin' Up! sets I bought (still have it) in 2001 - I probably made 100 cards with that set - and it was coffee themed, and had the most beautiful coffee bean border stamp. It was called What's Brewin', circa 1999.

If you don't like coffee - you're in my prayers. But if you DO like coffee, you know the strange, overwhelming joy even the word can set off in your lizard brain. It's as much a ritual as it is an amazing, life-giving beverage.

I actually feel equally strongly about tea. I've been drinking hot and cold tea since I was a wee tot. Cold tea - gallons of it - unsweetened, of course, you weirdos - is an actual necessity in our hot climate - and you rarely see a Texan without 32 ounces of iced tea clutched in their paw. But from a very early age, I loved black hot tea with milk, and still do. For some reason, in the summer, hot tea is not as "hot" or heavy as coffee. On my death row meal request list is definitely a London Fog - steamed milk, Earl Grey tea (probably my favorite black tea - this is my favorite brand), vanilla extract and a tiny bit of demerara sugar. I had one this morning, as a matter of fact, and walked through the park before the sun started to beat the will to live out of me. It's a divine drink, and one of the many reasons you should love Captain Picard. But I digress.

So all that to say - if someone makes a coffee or tea stamp - I'm buying it.

One of my favorite things to do with these beverage stamps is just to color the cups abstractly.

The newest Stampin' Up! coffee suite is divine, and I got to finally play with it a bit - just with some no-line watercolor. (I have been listening to the Book Thief this week while I paint.)

On this one, I wanted some twisted complementary colors, so I used Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors - Rose of Ultramarine, which gets some cool granulation between magenta and blue, Amazonite Genuine (in honor of my two favorite companies getting married this week), Quinacridone Gold and Neutral Tint. I put a little of each color in the shadow. I just made a card base of watercolor paper to stamp the image in Antique Linen on, and so there's no layering. Then I popped it in the MISTI to stamp the sentiment from the same suite.

But let's say it's Monday - or in this case Tuesday, which is my craziest day at work each week. And you've got software issues, cranky people or just a task list longer than a list of elected officials who have been jailed at some point in their careers....

That might call for something stronger than coffee, my friends!

My sweet friend Alma - the genius behind The Cat's Pajamas stamps, has a solution for you. It still involves a mug, but....

Hopefully those two cards take care of ANY beverage situation you might have working today. :)

If you need something to go with either beverage, I recommend my peanut butter banana bread, which won all my personal awards this week.

Please be sure and leave me a beverage themed comment for your chance to win the This Might Be Vodka stamp set - I liked it so much I ordered two so I could give one away! Leave me a comment with your favorite beverage or beverages, and I'll draw a winner on June 30th!

And stay tuned for two new online classes coming in the next few weeks!

Loveyameanitbye.

A Moment With Van Gogh

I didn't expedite my new catalog order because I was still involved in shenanigans with my out-of-town retreat guests on the days an expedited order would have arrived, so I think that's the first time in my 16 years as a demonstrator that I didn't get my new goodies next-day air.

However, after everyone left, I had a day or two to prepare my shelves and make stamp pockets for my new stamps, print labels for all the stamps and dies and be - wait for it - ORGANIZED when the order got here.

So now all the things are labeled, and happily in alphabetical order in their spots, and that's when I feel most creative is when I'm organized and can put my hands on what I need.

One of the shenanigans we did was so fun - it was the Austin Panic Room - I think this will have to become a post-retreat tradition. If you have one of these near you - what are you waiting for? I did one in Cincinnati too that was so much fun.

So after my friends left - sniff - and I got organized, I finally had time to play - and I decided to go big (literally) or go home. Except I was already at home, so that part doesn't really compute, but whatever - stop overthinking my blog post!

My friend Iliana (My Sweet Petunia) did a product swap with my OTHER friend Sally Lynn MacDonald who works with Gel Press, and was nice enough to send me the new Gel Press Impressables, because she knows I'm a gel monoprint FIEND. A FIEND, I tell you! What is super duper extra cool about both the Impressables and their regular gel presses is that you can use them just like stamps in your MISTI.

So the go BIG part was that I decided to use them in my Memory MISTI so that I could have multiple plates working at one time - in various sizes. The thing about gel monoprinting is that you need a decent sized surface area. You need a spot near your dominant hand for rolling paint onto your brayer, you need a place in front of you for your Gel Press, and you need other spots for smaller plates, Impressibles, and your clean paper, and then you need space for drying prints (I use the floor for this.)

BUT - if you have a Memory MISTI - you get two bonus workspaces - the lid of the MISTI, which the presses stick to - the base of the MISTI for another press, AND if you use a Gel Press for your paint plate, you get not only a paint plate, BUT a bonus printing plate! At one point, I had SIX plates working just between the Memory MISTI and the side paint plate - three of the Petites, two Impressibles, and the 5x7 plate. This will make more sense when you see the video - but anyone who has gel printed before will immediately understand this is a HUGE space saver AND multiplies the number of prints you get with a single application of paint. I feel like a smartypants, I'm not gonna lie.

The hugest hit of my retreat was a technique we did that served as a backdrop for the sweet girl from the Birthday Delivery stamp set. My friend Yoorah and my friend Pam did such adorable cards with her throughout the weekend, and my favorites were where she was looking at a piece of art. I decided to make that the focus of my Gel Press cards, so here's what I came up with. After a weekend with these lovely ladies, the sentiment was perfect.

LinkDeli.com

If you don't love this sweet, wistful image from this set, you are a danger to yourself and others. Please turn yourself in somewhere. She just squeezes my heart.

To make the frame - I cut the pieces from gold foil sheets, and rolled them around a pencil to make them rounded. Then I put a dimensional + a mini dimensional (stacked) on the back to attach it to the card without it getting flattened. (The mini dimensionals in the new catalog are one of my favorite products!) The gold strips are embossed with the Garden Trellis Embossing Folder.

So I have a video on the whole process for you - I can't tell you how much fun this is. You'll just have to see for yourselves!

Now before I go, I have to share a few fun things I've come across in the last few weeks. I was supposed to go to Diana Gibbs' retreat, but couldn't go because I had to work. So she boxed up all the gifts and projects and instructions and sent them to me, like the sweet girl she is, and she included what has become an OBSESSION for me - my new favorite pen! I LOVE this pen so freaking much I went and bought it in ALL THE COLORS. I am a complete pen snob, and these are amazing. RUN, don't walk, to get these. The turquoise is my favorite.

I bought everyone the new planner from Stampin' Up! for my team retreat gift. It's SOOOOO pretty! And if you want to add custom pages to it - you need this ingenious plastic punch - I like to add graph paper to mine for lists and zentangling.

And finally, I think I'm the last person to read (listen to) this book, which I loved. For some reason, I had it in my head that it was some sappy story (I'm not into sappy) - but it's not at all. It's wonderful. And speaking of Van Gogh - I'm also listening to this, which is fascinating! So incredible to hear all his frank thoughts he spelled out in his many letters.

I hope you have a colorful week! I'd love to hear any favorite books or recipes you're trying right now. I have a few months at home before my next trip so I'll be devouring audiobooks.

Loveyameanitbye.