Dig If You Will The Picture

Prince fans, anyone?

I'm a child of the 80s. I love me some Prince.

However, the reason I picked that title is because not only are doves crying today, but I am. I might actually be crying doves. Or doves might be crying about me.

I filmed a half hour long video on the no-line watercolor for my card today, complete with lots of discussion of colors and techniques and how I deal with my watercolor paper, etc. We laughed, we cried, we traveled the world together, you and I.

And then my phone ate the video.

Yep - that's right. POOF. GONE. :(

I guess the bright side is I don't have hours of editing and voiceover to do. So there's that.

So I'm sorry you don't get a video today. I do have a no-line watercolor video coming up in a week or so though - and that one is safe on YouTube already.

So just dig, if you will, the picture... of a beautiful Concord & 9th set I turned into a painting. It was so fun to paint - I love those red berries. I used my ultimate mixing palette I talked about here, Daniel Smith watercolor and my favorite watercolor paper. It's mounted on Whisper White thick, and the sentiment is stamped with Versafine. Did you know that Versafine comes like this? It's my favorite with the MISTI. The image was stamped first in Daffodil Delight before I painted it.

Beautiful Branches BUNDLE [ C&9 | ELH | SSS ] VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black [ ELH | SSS ] Tsukineko VersaFine SMALL ONYX BLACK... [ SSS ] Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad... [ SUP ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW ] Escoda 1548 Versatil Travel Brush Set... [ AMZUS ] Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. Cold Press... [ AMZUS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] MISTI Stamping Tool - The Most... [ SBC ] MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping Tool... [ SSS ] Whisper White Cardstock - Thick [ SUP ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ]

Loveyameanitbye.

Into the UFO Pile

If you saw this photo on my Instagram feed, you know that my UFO pile has grown to the size where it needed to be dealt with. UFO = UnFinished Objects - a term I borrowed from my late friend Leslie.

I think I make more UFOs than I make cards, but there's a good reason for this. Well, a few good reasons.

The first reason is that I practice a lot. The UFO turned card you'll see today is from a practice session. I was just playing with a new set of watercolors at a retreat. Here's where I posted about that on Instagram when it was in progress in April. As I said on that photo - it took me 11 hours to paint that thing because I was talking, laughing, looking at what everyone else was doing. Then it came home with me and sat in the UFO pile for 8 months. But a few weeks ago I decided to organize the UFO pile into the following sub-piles: Finished cardfronts that just needed to go onto cards, elements, like die cuts, Gel Press pieces, etc, and things that needed a sentiment or other finishing to become a card. Oh and garbage, "why did I save this", which went right in the trash.

The second reason I have a lot of UFOs is I experiment a lot - test different mediums or techniques before attempting to make a full card or a video. I'll never blog anything that isn't repeatable, so I do a lot of this.

Finally - I teach a lot of classes and so I have a lot of partially finished things that were kitted for classes. Staring at me from the pile right now are some cute fussy cut pumpkins that are a wee bit late for fall.

Since this one was on top - it's today's card! Might be a bright and happy break for those of you suffering from that terrible condition known as "winter" outside of Central Texas.

Simon Says Stamp Suzy's IN FULL BLOOM... [ SSS ] Mijello Mission Gold Watercolors [ BLIC ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | SBC | ELH | SSS ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Whisper White Cardstock - Thick [ SUP ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] 05816-1008 - Da Vinci Cosmotop Spin... [ BLIC ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Bone Folder by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ]

I just can't get enough of Suzy's watercolor cards even if it does take me 8 months to turn it into a card. I love that the images are big enough that they don't need a sentiment once they're painted.

I just look at this and remember practicing, surrounded by happy crafters. The UFO pile is also full of happy memories.

To all of you who commented about your favorite flower for my Altenew giveaway - I loved reading those! Thank you! Here is my winner - Stef Perry! Please email me using the contact form on the right side of my blog and I'll tell you how to redeem your prize.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Just a reminder to you to stop by my blog on New Year's Eve - I will be doing the Seasons Givings giveaway again with lots of other bloggers as a thank you to all of you who visit my blog - I appreciate you! But come by before then too :).

Loveyameanitbye.

The Birth of Comic Sans

I joked the other day on Facebook that I almost printed the labels for my Christmas card in Comic Sans just to punk everyone, and it ignited a font war, as expected. Some people came out of the Comic Sans closet, despite the inherent danger in exposing their derangement.

But I thought about it for a while afterwards and I think I have figured out how and why Comic Sans entered our culture.

It was born out of the office microwave.

If there is one thing that provokes MORE hatred and loathing than Comic Sans - it's an office microwave.

Now that I work from home, #thankthelord, I no longer am subjected to all of the darkness and evil that spawns in an office microwave.

The programmers who just put an uncovered bowl of chili in those things, set it on high and walk away - no longer part of my life. The deranged manager that loves to microwave salmon that has been in his desk drawer all morning - gone. The dieting accountant who burns popcorn - poof! But I know in my heart that every day, across America, emails are sent to grown adults about the vile things they are doing in microwaves and they contain threats which never acted upon. Should someone actually go to death row for what they've done in and around a microwave, America might change. Short of that - people's dark sides will continue to manifest under the hum of the magical zapper.

BUT - what really comes out of a disgusting, abused and vile office microwave is not Lean Cuisine, burned popcorn or reheated fish. No - what comes out of that thing is...

A SIGN INFORMING EVERYONE, IN COMIC SANS IN NO LESS THAN TWO HUNDRED WORDS, THAT THE RECEPTIONIST IS NOT YOUR MOTHER.

THAT is how we got Comic Sans creep, my friends. An angry, middle-aged woman, thankfully unarmed, stomping back from the encrusted wasteland of a microwave in the break room and typing out her feelings in the worst font ever made, unwittingly toning down her apocalyptic rage with that juvenile, irregular excuse for a font known as Comic Sans.

I have a busy week this week - trying to work on samples for Creativation that have to be mailed, trying to get ready for the holidays, work - normal December craziness. Since my Christmas crafting is pretty much done, I've moved on to all things spring - I am ready! So I did a quick and simple 4 Bar card with a really beautiful stamp set from Simon. It's one of those that I can stamp out and color while I'm getting my oil changed or waiting for my allergy shots. I find it frustrating to just sit - and I don't want to look at my phone, so I love having easy coloring projects I can take with me. You will always find markers and a travel watercolor set in my purse. I like this set because it can be used for Valentine's Day, but it's really an all year set. All the words have these stained glass type designs to them and I love the little hearts. I used this die to cut the smaller hearts from glimmer paper to add a little sparkle. This is a 4 Bar card, from the Notecards & Envelopes so it's a smaller card, and I used the Petal Palette paper, which will be out in January.

Simon Says Clear Stamps STAINED GLASS... [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp HEART SPRINKLE... [ SSS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | SSS | ELH | SBC ] Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes... [ SUP ] Whisper White Cardstock - Thick [ SUP ] Silver Glimmer Paper by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Big Shot by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Copic Sketch Marker RV29 CRIMSON Red... [ SSS ] Copic Marker REFILL YG23 NEW LEAF... [ SSS ] Copic Sketch Marker Y35 MAIZE Bright... [ SSS ] Copic Sketch Marker BG07 PETROLEUM BLUE [ SSS ] Copic Sketch Marker YR68 ORANGE... [ SSS ] Copic Sketch MARKER b79 IRIS [ SSS ] Copic Sale [ SSS ]

By the way - Simon Says Stamp is having a Copic sale right now - 25% off. Might be time to finally finish my hex chart. The sale info is here.

So I hope your holidays aren't too crazy, and I hope you don't have to use an office microwave any time soon. But I REALLY hope you aren't subjected to Comic Sans, my friends.

Loveyameanitbye.