Crafty Friends - July Edition

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

Hey peeps!

Happy Monday! This is my vacation week, but sadly, no vacation, because - 2020. So I will be staycationing, and trying to get some projects done. 

This weekend, in addition to replacing my desk with a standing desk, I got a little watercoloring in. 

I took this gorgeous hydrangea and stamped it in Fadeout on extra white watercolor paper. Then I cut it with the matching dies and I thought a strip of black would really make it pop! I finished it with the sentiment from this set and these sequins.

Then I colored it with just four Karin Markers - scribbling them on my craft mat and applying them with a waterbrush. (My coupon code for 15% off these amazing watercolor markers is in the footer of my post. Also my Arteza coupon code is good for 11 more days.)

It was such a fun break from crawling around on the floor labeling and zip tying computer cords after we got my desk set up. Man does that make every muscle you have sore!

Anyway - you can get 20% off this beautiful floral stamp and everything else Ellen Hutson sells here, with coupon  CRAFTYFRIENDS.

Two days to enjoy sweet Ellen's beautiful store at a discount! 

Here are all the supplies I used today!

Mondo Hydrangea by Julie Ebersole,... [ ELH ] Mondo Hydrangea by Julie Ebersole,... [ ELH ] Leading Ladies - Crafty Lady by... [ ELH ] Leading Ladies - Crafty Lady by... [ ELH ] Karin Brushmarker Pro Mega Box 60... [ MRK ] Gin & Tonic Sequin Mix – Picket Fence... [ PFS ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH ] Water Brush Pens - Set of 6 | ARTEZA [ ARTZ ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | ELH ] Stamp Shammy, Lawn Fawn [ ELH ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | MFT ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

Here's some more inspiration for you from my crafty friends!

Jill Hilliard 

Jen Timko

Amy Kolling 

Tanya Boser

Ilina Crouse 

Maria Willis

Becky Roberts

Sandi MacIver 

Sue Plote 

Sara Sherlock

Lydia Fiedler

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
10% off sitewide at Arteza here with code Understandblue6 through 7.31.2020
Phone stand for filming link below in the banner - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

Inked Paper Flowers - Feature Friday

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

Happy Friday, all! I hope you have a fun weekend planned. I have some office rearranging to do - so a combo of drudgery and something new. The weather has been phenomenal, so that makes me happy. 

I'm still trying to attract crows to my yard, so stay tuned for progress there. :)

I did a Facebook live after I got the new Concord & 9th inks last week, and I have the video of that for you today - a new way to see the unique color combos you can get with these fun new colors. 

This die set can make several different shapes of flowers, depending on how you put the pieces together, so I have two different looking flowers side by side below, where I just arranged the inked petals differently. I used a hole punch and silver glitter paper for a little flower center on both. The ink colors are Aqua Sky, Buttercup and Honeysuckle.

So here you can see the difference in the shape of the two flowers I made - and there are lots more configurations, depending on how many times you die cut it and how you choose to layer it. Very fun. 

So here's the very quick video with supplies below - enjoy - and have a great weekend!

Fresh Cut Florals Dies Edition 3 -... [ C&9 ] Aqua Sky Ink Pad [ C&9 ] Buttercup Ink Pad - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] Honeysuckle Ink Pad - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Pre-Cut & Scored Cardstock [ CTC ] 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 ] 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 ]

Loveyameanitbye.

CURRENT COUPON CODES
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
10% off sitewide at Arteza here with code Understandblue6 through 7.31.2020
Phone stand for filming link below in the banner - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

The Missing Year

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

I feel like this year is a missing year. I look at the calendar, and think there's no way it can be July, because while time has gone by, nothing else has. No events, none of the normal things that help me mark time have taken place. 

This past week, I attended a funeral and my brother's birthday party online. So strange. 

I'm in a great routine, but there are no big annual milestones - just the routine. 

It feels strange to see big dates come and go when it seems sort of like time is standing still around me. So seasonal cardmaking helps it feel like time is linear again - I'm very happy to be able to see Halloween and Christmas images - things from a normal year.

Halloween is pretty much my favorite, as you know, so I'll start there with this adorable repeating Jack-o-Lanterns background. It's a 4x4, so very inexpensive, but it repeats in all four directions, so you can build backgrounds of any size!

I colored them with Karin Markers (coupon code at the end of the post) on watercolor paper while listening to this new BBC podcast - it's pretty riveting. Then I die cut the image with infinity dies, and used a Christmas sentiment from this amazing large classic Santa face set because fall and Halloween ARE the most wonderful time of the year! :) I added just a few Gin & Tonic sequins.

Speaking of repeating backgrounds, I stamped this one to repeat vertically to fill my card front, and then just added a blue Copic background to these gorgeous fall images. When I was in New York - and I'm sure there's some meteorological phenomenon to explain this - the skies were much bluer in the fall. It was a magical time of year there. 

But I didn't leave Christmas out of my weekend plans! This is a shaker card, so it's impossible to photograph - sorry for the terrible job there! The stamp that my chonky little Santa comes from actually has two other little chonky Santas on it - so cute - but I just wanted one for my scene. First, I used an infinity die to cut a circle into card front sized piece of white, self adhesive fun foam - this saves me a step! I adhered acetate to that (I use these precut pieces for ease of use) and filled it with these sparkly flakes. The flakes come in lots of fun colors - I chose blue.  Then I put another piece of acetate over that to close the shaker, and attached the shaker part to a card front I had brushed ink onto using a torn piece of paper to create inky snowdrifts. Finally, I cut a circle in a white card front with the same die and glued that on top of the shaker scene, before adding my chonky Santa and the sentiment from this set - a full set of sentiments designed for the inside of your Christmas cards. So sweet. The Santa is colored with Karin Markers. 

There's a fun, new, layering tree out today. The first time I stamped it I used traditional tree colors, and I decided that wasn't fun enough, so I did some really cool, retro style color combos for two trees and they ARE fun enough.

The first combo is Innocent Pink + Passionate pink. I used a hole punch and silver glitter paper for the ornaments. The sentiment is from this set.

Grab your sunglasses! This is a fall/winter mashup combo, with Wild Dandelion + Red Hot, with aqua ornaments that match the card base. This one is my favorite. The sentiment is from this set.

Jack-o-lanterns [ PFS ] Autumn Harvest [ PFS ] Baby It's Cold Outside [ PFS ] Most Wonderful Time of the Year [ PFS ] Inside Quotes Christmas [ PFS ] Reindeer Games [ PFS ] Wrapped Candy [ PFS ] Ho Ho Ho [ PFS ] Believe in the Magic [ PFS ] Brocade Stencil [ PFS ] Field of Snowy Trees Stencil [ PFS ] Shading Flower Stencil [ PFS ] Candlelight Stencil [ PFS ] Flower of Life Stencil [ PFS ] Gin & Tonic Sequin Mix – Picket Fence... [ PFS ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad-... [ GNK ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad-... [ GNK ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad- Wild... [ GNK ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad- Red Hot... [ GNK ] Creativity Street Wonderfoam Peel &... [ BLIC ] DI199 Nesting Circle Infinity Dies... [ HA ] Shimmer Flake - Blue — Brutus|Monroe [ BMR ] Karin Brushmarker Pro Mega Box 60... [ MRK ] Fabriano Artistico Extra White... [ BLIC | SSS ] Hero Arts Acetate Sheets [ HA ] Pre-Cut & Scored Cardstock [ CTC ] 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 ] 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 ] RETIREMENT - SALE – Page 5 – Picket... [ PFS ]

So fun to see holidays on the horizon, yes?

If you want to see the rest of this fabulous release, including a beautiful large floral stencil, a snowy trees stencil, a cute reindeer repeating background, a wrapped candy background and more - you can do so here! Their retirement sale is still going strong if you want a bargain or seven!

Loveyameanitbye. 

CURRENT COUPON CODES
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
5% off at LBC here with code LYDIA5
10% off sitewide at Arteza here with code Understandblue6 through 7.31.2020
Phone stand for filming link below in the banner - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE