Mail Art Monday; Banksy Mailart Inspiration by Cheetarah

Hi all, welcome to another Mail Art Monday here at Viva Las VegaStamps! inspiration blog. I'm excited to share this envelope I made for our February Mailart Group Swap over at our Facebook VLVS! Groupies hangout.

And here it is, a Frida centered piece of Mailart. It's very easy and fun to make with just a few stamps needed. Let me share the process with you.

So this month's swap theme is Banksy which means you have to use at least one of VLVS! Banksy inspired stamps. There are so many great images to choose from but I decided to go with Frida for these envelopes. Started off by stamping her on the envelopes with memento tuxedo black and masking her off together with an address space next to her.

When the masks were on the envelope, I stamped Wildflower silhouette in 3 different Staz-on colors Hydrangea blue, Azure and Midnight blue.  Start with the lightest and then the darkest one on top. I made a busy bush but it's going to be pushed to the background in a later step.

I put the masks back on and added some brighter colors with my distress tool and mustard seed and ripe persimmon distress inks. Now it's time to color the face.

My choice of alcohol markers are the old style Letraset Promarkers. They are now distributed by Windsor and Newton. I chose to trace over the memento black stamped image with a mauve black color to give more warmth and accentuate that stenciled Banksy look. I also doodled around the address section with a Fabert Castell Pitt Artist Pen. And now to make it pop from the back ground.

Before I used my white gel pen I stamped She was... and an artists stamps with colorbox midnight blue and embossed with WOW indigo. My fave white gel pen to use is the Uniball Signo Hybrid, it rolls smoothly, has a great stark white gel liquid that stays wet enough to use in other ways. Love to use it as a high lighter! I just trace along the edge of the image in parts then rub the liquid out while it's still wet. You can get a nice blurry white halo around your image that way. And it definitely pops the image to the foreground.

In the end I also spattered some Liquitex INKS! in white and gold for a sparkle effect (I put the masks back on when I did this) and created a vignette by rubbing some black metallic rubs around the edges of the envelope.

Hope you're inspired to create something for the swap and join the fun! If you do, please don't forget to upload your made envies to the swap events page before february 17th and then PM our awesome swap coordinator Michelle with your address. And who knows, we might get partnered up and you might be getting one of these from me in your mailbox soon!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Stamps used:

Banksy Frida Kahlo

Wildflower silhouette

She was...

an artists

Others:

Uniball signo hybrid white gel pen

alcoholmarkers

liquitex INKS!

faber castell artist pitt marker

Staz-On Hydrangea blue, Azure and Midnight blue

Memento Tuxedo Black

Distress tool round

Distress inks mustard seed and ripe persimmon

Black metallic pearl rub

Box through the looking glass {Inspiration by mellpellmell}

Hi))

It's me Maria Potapovich (mellpellmell) here today. 

This is my inspiration for the March Challenge.

Seeing in this challenge an excellent opportunity to make a "strange little box", I took up the stamps and cardboard.

This box is made ​​of cardboard and covered with scrapbooking paper.

The filling of bottles - seed beads, thread and colored  felting wool.

I've used the Flying Eye Insect , Window Fish, Whimsical Owl in Clothes and Through The Looking Glass stamps.

Of course, I added a bit of embossing powder, watercolor, gesso and acrylic ink.

Well, now it's your turn to show how you  "have read" our inspirational challenge!

...dream...

When you're 2, you always dream - about dragons and princesses,about fairies and unicorns, about candy and bike...

When you're 22, you dream about a new dress and new heels, about chic work and cool party, about the great future and tremendous opportunity...

When you're 92, you may not have anything to dream, but you still continue to do it!..

I've used: Leaves Blowing From Tree and Dancing Lady  stamps and some aquarelle.

If you want to wish good luck to someone, then wish him good dreams - without dreams life is dreary and unpromising ...

Dream every second!

Wanderlust

I have to admit I was never a wild child.  
I always envied those who were.

So I decided to celebrate the spirit of Wanderlust!

VLVS! Stamps used: 
Children Playing on Toy Car-19187 Plate 927
Wanderlust-19170 Plate 927

Sakura of America:
Cray-Pas® Expressionist® Oil Pastels-Red, Orange, Yellow, Pale Blue, Black, Yellow, Green
Gelly Roll® Stardust® Glitter Pens-Rose, Sky Blue, Gold, Red
Gelly Roll 1.0 Metallic: - Gold, Blue 

Other Supplies:

Heavy 5" x 5" Chipboard or Masonite tile

UmWow Studio Chipboard-Hexagon Background

Silk Tissue Paper (aka very thin rice paper/mulberry paper.  White tissue paper would also work, but would harder to color)
Faber-Castell Stampers Big Brush pen-Ivory 103, Light Flesh 132
Miracle Tape
StazOn Inkpad-Jet Black
Hair Spray
Golden Regular Gel Medium
Golden Acrylic Ground
Plastic Eraser
Stylus
E6000 adhesive
Scissors
Bone Folder

The Tile-Using Cray-Pas® as Scratchboard (Sgraffito)

1. Seal the tile with two coats of regular gel medium and 1 coat of Acrylic ground, letting each layer dry in between.
2. Color the tile with the Cray-Pas®, adding each color at random applying the color heavily. DO NOT USE BLACK AT THIS TIME.
3. Blend the colors together with the plastic eraser.
4. Lay down a heavy coat of black, completely covering the other colors.  Don't worry--the other colors won't smudge.
5. Use the stylus to carve designs into the oil pastel, allowing the first layer of colors to show through. 
6. Spray with cheap hair spray and let set overnight to set color..
7. Seal with regular gel medium. Let dry.

(NOTE:  Julie Fei-Fan Balzer has a video showing this technique )

The Chipboard Hexagon

1. Seal the chipboard with two coats of regular gel medium and 1 coat of Acrylic ground, letting each layer dry in between.
2. Lay down stripes of yellow-green Cray-Pas®, alternating with sky blue stripes.
3. Spray with cheap hair spray and let set overnight to set color.
4. Seal with regular gel medium. Let dry.
5. Attach chipboard to tile with E6000.

The Stamped Images

1. Stamp the ''Children Playing on Toy Car' and the 'Wanderlust images onto the silk tissue paper with StazOn ink.
2. Cut around each image, leaving a generous border around each.
3. Flip over and add layers of Miracle tape onto the paper to stiffen it. Leave the backing on the tape for now.
4. Flip right side up, and color the children using the Gellyroll and Big Brush pens.
5. Trim the Wanderlust image so it has a white border all around,
6. Pull off backing and stick to the bottom corner of the tile.  Burnish with bone folder or spoon, taking care not to tear the tissue.
7. Fussy cut the Children's image so no border is left.
8. Pull off backing and stick to the bottom corner of the tile.  Burnish with bone folder or spoon, taking care not to tear the tissue.

Check out the VLVS! Store for all your stamping needs and the  VLVS! Blog for new projects. VLVS! FB - VLVS! Pinterest - VLVS! Twitter

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

One of These Is Not Like the Others

Have you ever played those games where you have to pick out the object that is different than the other objects?

VLVS! Stamps used: 
Sitting Elephant - 19157
Whimsical Elephant - 19219
Whimsical Sheep - 18979

Sakura of America: 

  Gelly Roll Standard  -White,  

  Gelly Roll 1.0 Metallic: - Gold, Silver, Blue, Emerald and Purple

  Galaxy Gelly Roll Stardust Pens - Rose, Sky Blue, Lime Green, Purple, Gold, Red

   Pigma Micron Pen .08

Strathmore Toned Tan Art Journal

StazOn Inkpad - Jet Black

Pencil

This journal page was fun! The toned paper of the Strathmore journal makes everything POP, and gellyrolls are one of my favorite ways to color Zentangle-Inspired Art.

The steps are few:

1. Stamp the elephants and sheep. I put the sheep in the middle...'cause its the 'Not Like the Other' one, if you hadn't guessed, lol!
2. Write out the wording in pencil, to get the placement you want.
3. Outline the words with the Micron pen.
4. Draw strings (lines to create sections on the page).
5. Fill the string sections with tangle patterns.
6. Use the Gellyroll pens to color, color, color!

Some tips with using Gellyrolls:

Draw on some scrap paper to get your pen flowing well if you haven't used it in a while.  You'll see ink forming on the tip.

Make sure you've done most of your Micron Linework before using the Gellyrolls, or else wait until the gellyroll ink is completely dry before using Micron over it.  Otherwise, you risk clogging your Micron.

The slower you draw, the more even coverage you'll get.

The color that beads up on the tip is a mixed blessing.  It means you'll get a lovely flow, and fantastic coverage.  But that bead will dry, and then prevent flow.  So when you stop using the pen, wipe the tip.  If your flow gets thin, wipe the tip.  If you want a thinner line, wipe the tip before drawing it.

If you want to add a second layer of color, let the first layer dry or you'll just move the ink around.

If you want to lighten the intensity of the color, scribble a line or two and smear it with your finger (yep.  You'll get your fingers smudged).  You can also let the color dry and add white gellyroll pen over top.  Different effects, but both lighten.

You can find tangle patterns online.  Some of my favorite sites are Zentangle.com, Tanglepatterns.com and you can search for Tangle Patterns at my Life Imitates Doodles blog.

Check out the VLVS! Store for all your stamping needs and the  VLVS! Blog for new projects. VLVS! FB - VLVS! Pinterest - VLVS! Twitter

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