Friday, February 3, 2017

You will be feeling "Lighthearted" when you see this!

Hello,
I hope this finds you all having a great February.  I'm still trying to figure out where January went! 

Freebie!

I just wanted to let you know that I've added my "Lighthearted" image to the Freebies Page.  Or you can click HERE to download it.  As with all of my free stamps, it is the same quality and format you can expect from my stamps for sale.  This one even includes an extra silhouette image!  Have fun!

Coupon Code

I would also like to remind you of the 20% off coupon code ( LUVYA2017 ) that is good through Valentine's Day.  This is a great time of year to stock up and get a head start on all the cards and gifts you will need in the coming year!

What I've been doing

I have finally gotten my craft room mostly unpacked and I have a card for you today!  I printed my Our Nest is Best image on craft cardstock and colored it with colored pencils.   If you enjoy using colored pencils, I would encourage you to experiment with other colors of paper. It's really fun!  Plus, you get to use the white pencil for a change!  The background was embossed with a basket weave pattern and inked.  I also did a hand written sentiment, which I have never tried before and I kind of like it.  It makes it seem a lot more personal. I might do this more often, especially since I often mess up the one I printed out.  LOL


I thought this could make either a great Valentine's Day card or Anniversary card for your sweetie!  Or in my case, eye candy for my cat.
 


The other thing I wanted to share with you today is a fantastic website I discovered!  I don't really do New Year's resolutions but January is a month that I often take stock of what's working for me and what isn't.  This year I realized that, creatively speaking, I have been running on empty.  As much as I enjoy making digital stamps, doing one thing, one way, all the time, is a really good way to suck the joy right out of the thing that I love! 

So I was flipping through YouTube  looking for something to get me out of my rut and I came across a channel called The Art of Aaron Blaise.  I watched a few videos and his teaching style and obvious interest in his subject matter just really clicked with me!   I don't have all the super cool equipment he uses and my version of Photoshop is older than dirt but after just a few videos I had learned so much.  So I pulled out my  Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and started playing around in my favorite Android app,  LayerPaint HD.  I wanted to see if I could recreate some of the same techniques that I learned in the videos.  My results are below.

 (Image is "So Blessed")



I wish I would have drawn something a little more realistic instead of just grabbing the first drawing I had handy but I was anxious to start painting.  Even though I could probably point out a dozen things I did wrong, I felt like I had improved more in a day than I have in  years.  I was pretty excited and can't wait to see what I can do when I put a little more thought into the final product.

So I went to  creatureartteacher.com , which is Aaron Blaise's website, and got a paid subscription that gives me access to everything on the website. (Thanks to Christmas money from Mom and Dad!) You can also buy courses individually. He works in traditional media as well as digital, so much of the information is applicable to whatever kind of artwork you are doing.  I've  jumped around like a kid in a candy store and sampled just about every course on the site and it is all 100% fantastic.

For the record, I don't receive any compensation for recommending this so highly.  I'm just really excited about it and I know I have some very talented subscribers who love to draw and/or color with digital media.  So check it out!  That's The Art of Aaron Blaise on YouTube and the website for the more in depth lessons (and other cool stuff) is creatureartteacher.com.  Enjoy!

Lest you think I am giving up on digital stamps, I'm not.  I will be devoting a lot more time to learning some new things but you can bet the best of my doodles will end up here and in my store.  I think challenging myself a little more is going to make things better all around!

Thanks so much for reading and have a great day!







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