Friday, September 27, 2013

be an ADVENTURER - GDT Post by Chrissy Colon

We welcome back Chrissy Colon as our September Guest Designer! Check out her 1st post here. She's brought us a beautiful striking card today.
 
Chrissy says: I wanted to play around with my alcohol inks and this wonderful tree stamps.  I figured a sunset would provide a perfect backdrop for a stamping "adventure".

I simply applied my inks in an ombre fashion starting with the red then working toward the yellow.  They are super easy to blend.
I added some fabulous UmWowStudio chipboard chevrons for my finishing touch.
Stamps Used:
Be An Adventurer (http://www.vlvstamps.com/latest-releases-summer-2013/be-an-adventurer-3-4-x-2-1-4.html)
Leaves Blowing From Tree  (http://www.vlvstamps.com/latest-releases-summer-2013/leaves-blowing-from-tree-4-1-4-x-3-1-2.html)
Whimsical Cloud (http://www.vlvstamps.com/whimsical-cloud-1-x-2-1-2.html)

Thanks so much Chrissy!! You card is striking and we've really enjoyed having you as a guest designer this month! You're welcome back any time!!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Hunter

Hello, Nataliya is here :)
Sometimes, walking through the rainforest, you can meet a hunter. Or a couple, like these:


So who wins?
I don't know....

But I want to show you, how I did this work :)
1. Mask+texture paste+medium = background


 2. This is my background after the drying, you can see, that medium is clear:


3. I add some gesso on the edge:


4. And I paint it:

5. Now I stamping whith StazOn (Washi Reverse Grid Background 1 1/4 x 5 1/2 & Washi Grid Background 1 1/4 x 5 1/2):


6. Little bit of TextureZ:

7. I cute foliage & flowers and doodling their whith Sakura pen:


I wish you good hunting, arrrr!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Think outside the box

Hi, Hermine here again. I love collecting things and always want to make the storage boxes look great. So I altered an old sigare box and turned it into a colourful one.
 



 
 
step 1: Slice a few millimeters from different colours of the Sakura of America Cray-Pas Expressionist Oil Pastels and put them in a row on the box. Then carefully let them melt using the heattool. Don;t keep the heattool to close at first because you will blow away the pieces of crayon. Starting at the back of the box working yoyur way to the front, I love to show the Original box so I didn;t cover up the front. Take the black crayon and heat with the heattool so it starts to drip, do the same with the white one.
step 2: take a piece of Kromecote and cut them the size of the side panels. Stamp Worn Clockface 19093 with Stazon Black. Mask this and stamp on the left and richt hand side the small wasp 19011, the Large Bee 19013 and the large wasp 19014. Sp;onge the sides with Aidorndack, remove the mask and color the worn clockface with Adirondack and a water brush. Make some white accents with sharpie pen and glue the panels on both sides.
step 3: take some black and white striped fabrix tape and put it on both sides of the lid.
 
 
Used materials:
 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Scrappy time!

Hi there, Glenda here with a layout I did using a few fabulous Viva Las VegaStamps!
I used one of my all time favorites which is the spotty background
and the Dream big
and the fabulous set of 2 hands pointing (I used only the one hand)
and my all time fave adhesive Miracle tape
I can't tell you how much I loooveee this stuff!!! My old adhesive (not naming any names...) used to want to come undone after a while, especially when sticking patterned paper to more textured cardstock, but not this stuff. This stuff is like glue and I don't use anything else anymore. I use it on my ATC's, journal pages, scrapbook layouts, everything!! If you haven't tried it before you owe it to yourself to give it a try, your projects will thank you!!


Monday, September 23, 2013

The Winning Costume Gets the PRIZE... and a CORN-u-Copia of Halloween Goodness!!!



Welcome to Viva Las Vegastamps! Susan here today to bring you some Halloween Treats and inky goodness. I set out to make a fun treat holder with handmade fringe, distress stained acetate, and a handmade acetate prize ribbon... with my Miracle Tape, assembly is quick and easy! Acetate is always fun to work with and it's the current challenge at Craft Stamper's Take It Make It Challenge.


Also - I've made my own crepe paper fringe with Miracle Tape! It's super easy and adds just the right amount of seasonal color and festive texture. First I layered an orange section of crepe paper {about 3 feet long}; then ran a stripe of 1/4" Miracle Tape down the center for the entire length. Then I repeated with black; then tape and repeated 4 more times alternating colors until I had six layers.

   

I added a stripe of Miracle Tape to the back of the first layer; then pressed everything flat to get good adhesion in the layers and folded the whole thing in half. The final stem is trimming small cuts at about 1/4" intervals to make the fringe.


I waited until after I adhered it to my piece to fluff it out.


Now for painting the acetate. I spread some Peeled Paint and Seedless Grape Ranger Distress Stains onto a craft sheet and rolled over with my brayer. This will make a nice drippy background.


I dragged the acetate through the puddles of distress stain, rolled a little with my brayer and repeated until I got the effect I desired. This particular acetate I'm using takes ink very well because it is recycled film from my imagesetter at work {please test inks on your inkjet or overhead projector acetate before trying with your final project}. I let it sit and dry for about a 1/2 an hour and while I waited, I mopped up the rest of this inky goodness with some blank tags and cardstock for use later. Before forming my cone, I stamped the creepy tree with Staz-On Black ink and accented the eerie eyes in the bat, pumpkin and stump with Sakura of America Souffle® 3-D Opaque yellow pen to make them glow.

  

I added strips of Miracle Tape to the length along the bottom edge and also along the short edge where the seam will meet. I formed it into a cylinder shape, exposed the tape and sealed my tube. This is a good time to secure with a couple staples for good measure.


Now a bit about the ribbon rosette... if you are going to attempt this in acetate - you need a hot glue gun and several hands {though I managed to do it with just two}. I reserved a section of stained acetate that was mainly purple and cut three strips using my Fiskars deckle edge scissors. I stamped the winner stamp on a scrap of green/purple stained cardstock and punched out with a tag punch. I gave it a shimmery touch with my Sakura of America Gelly Roll® Stardust® Glitter Pen. The Stardust is my most used of all pens - it's sheer and gives a twinkle to everything. 

Two of the strips I accented with ribbon for the tails. The third section I scored at 1/4" intervals on my Scor-Pal® and accordion folded. Now for the tricky part. Form the accordion into a loop and secure the ends together with Miracle Tape, then lay it flat and form it into a circle. I had another punched tag ready with Miracle Tape to secure the back, but it popped off as soon as I let go. So I put loads of hot glue in the center and sandwiched the top stamped tag on top to hold it tight. I put a glass on top to keep it flat until the glue completely cooled {about 10 minutes}. When cooled I added a small dab to hold the tails on and it's all complete.


I added the fringe and fluffed it pretty; punched holes and laced some coordinating ribbon and filled my cone with candy corn - topped off with some green and purple paper fringe that makes the Prize Ribbon "POP".


This prize is ready to be awarded... or I've earned my sweet reward - LOL!

•••••••••••
Supplies used: STAMPS - "Costume Contest Winner" #19211 and "Halloween Tree Silhouette" #19205. Other supplies: white cardstock; Staz-On Black ink; Miracle Tape; Sakura of America Gelly Roll® Stardust® Glitter Pens; Sakura of America Souffle® 3-D Opaque Pens; Ranger Distress Stains - Peeled Paint and Seedless Grape; Scor-Pal®; hot glue gun; Fiskars deckle edge scissors; recycled acetate; decorative paper shred, candy corn; and ribbon.
•••••••••••


Thanks so much for dropping by. I invite you to play along with the monthly challenge - there's still a week left - make a creation using the inspiration and your stash of VLVS! stamps... you could win! CLICK HERE for challenge details. Also, did you receive the latest Viva Las VegaStamps! newsletter??? If not - you may have missed the FIVE NEW PLATES on pre-order for 20% off. Make sure you SUBSCRIBE to be IN THE KNOW of everything going on at the Viva Las Vegastamps!. There's so much amazing inky inspiration to see!

If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. I'll be back soon with another stamping adventure! Sb

Friday, September 20, 2013

Animal Farm Housing

Did you ever wonder about the housing in Animal Farm?  No? Me, neither.

But for some reason, when I saw this strip of farm animal stamps from Viva Las VegaStamps! I thought of Animal Farm, and how their houses might look as designed and lived in by animals.  I know--my brain is a wild and woolly place, lol!

Supplies:

Sakura of America Pigma Micron pen

1 sheet 180 g Garza Papel engraving paper
StazOn Jet Black Inkpad
Strathmore Vellum Envelope Scrap
Gelli Plate
Acrylic Paint-yellow, pink, white
Golden Light Modeling Paste
Miracle Tape
stylus

A while back I used a gelli plate to print on some Strathmore Vellum Envelopes. I wanted to try a parchment effect with the vellum, so I had printed on them with white acrylic, and splashed a bit of yellow and pink here and there for a very light mottled effect.

Although, there are four images here, they all come on one rubber strip, which I stamped on a scrap of the envelope.  I know from past experience that StazOn Jet Black, blends well with the black ink from a Pigma Micron pen, so that is what I used.





I cut each image out, turned it over, and used a stylus to dry emboss each animal into relief.  This particular vellum isn't the best for a parchment effect.  It doesn't turn white, or hold the relief very well, but it did well enough.  




After embossing, I filled the back of the relief images with light modeling paste so they wouldn't totally flatten out.  I used the light paste so that I wouldn't add a lot of weight to the drawing.


With a .03 tipped, Pigma Micron pen, I traced the outline of each image, where I wanted it to fall on the finished piece, and then started drawing.  I had a rough image in my head, and drew on my tangling experience to add detail.  This might look complex, but actually took only about 1/2 hour to do, and with Zentangle® patterns to rely on for detail, the houses almost drew themselves.  The engraving paper is soft with some tooth, so I could build up the values and gets lots of grayscale shading.


When the drawing was finished, and the modeling paste was dry, I attached the stamped images with Miracle tape.

The scan at the top doesn't show the 3D relief, and I had to take a photograph with lots of shadow to pick it up.  I didn't quite get the parchment look I was shooting for, but I'm am pleased with the result.  I love when that happens!  

  

For more of my work with Viva Las VegaStamps!, Amazing Mold Putty, zentangle-inspired art, and daily links to tangles, tutorials, and giveaways please visit my "Life Imitates Doodles" blog.   ~ Sandra Strait

Helpful Links: VLVS! Store for all your stamping needs; the  VLVS! Blog for new projects; VLVS! on  FaceBook,  PinterestInstagram. and Twitter.  Be sure to check out the Challenges posted each month.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Five new plates!

Check it out friends... we have FIVE brand new plates of rubber ready for presale!

See the newsletter here : http://ymlp.com/z8MW13







 


A Note to a Falling Feather



Layer it, color it, stamp it!  An illustrative piece affirmation to give or put up to look at.

VLVS Images:
19126 - Feather Silhouette
19024 - Discover 
19072 - Washi Chevron Background
6038 - Butterfly

VLVS Partners:
Sakura of America - Micron Pen, Gelly Roll Pens
Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Feather is stamped using DTR - Direct To Rubber technique.  The feather image is beautiful and mostly solid and so this works well.  Turn, stamp image face up and use dye based inks starting with a pink hue, then blue/periwinkle, then green.  I did press a tiny bit of the blue into the pink for contrast and green into blue on the edges as well.

Huff on stamp (moisture) and stamp image.  You will see (as above) the colors meld together.




Simple swirls drawn with Micron pens, other images colored with Gelly Roll Pens.

"A-R-T" letters drawn on circles with Gelly Roll pens.

The washi chevron image is cut into a flag and the bright color makes the feather pop!


Color your life!  Discover Art.


Cre8tivelea Yours - Lea



Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Time Flies

Hi guys- Karen here with you again today..
I thought I'd try for something a little different today.. nope it's still a tag..
 
Just a little different with he colour.. well sort off.. I've gone for a brighter than my normal background, but still sort of me if that makes any sense.. So without to much more babbling...
 

 I started off inking my background with several different red/ orange shades of distress ink, Then using the bullseye stamp from plate 949   I stamped using water as my medium onto the background then heated it with my heat gun.
 
 
I then added in a little machine stitching and another layer to my background by randomly stamping the Grunge writing 1787.


 
My next step was to stamp, colour and fussy cut some other images. then lastly layer them all onto my tag. I also added in some gears that I had die cut previously for another project but hadn't used.
 
And as always a couple of close ups..  I love the colour in the background, it's a little different for me..  But I think it turned out ok.


 
 
Stamps Used:
 
Set of Pointing Hands ( I used the hand pointing towards the right) 
 
I hope you found a little inspiration  and want to say thanks for dropping by today,
 hope to see you again soon..
 
Happy Stamping - Karen xxx