Happy Holly Greetings... 12 Tags of 2013 for December Viva Las VegaStamps! Style!

Welcome to Viva Las Vegastamps! Susan here today to with my take on T!m Holtz' December installment of the 12 tags of 2013. YES - I did complete the tag for November... you can click here to sneek a peek. OK - I'll start out by saying I took liberties with creating this month's tag. I created my own dimensional plastic using stuff I have in my crafty stash. I had a bit of fun with this and the result is STUNNING!

Using a section of a recycled #6 take out container, a scrap of vellum cardstock and a section of miracle sheet - I fashioned my own faux frosted plastic by adhering the two together. If you have made your own DIY shrink plastic using a recycled #6 plastic container - you know that the plastic will warp and bend when heated. If you heat it a lot - it will shrivel up into a shrinky dink.

I stamped Holly Large #18930 repeatedly onto the vellum cardstock side using Timber Brown StazOn and then fussy cut out all of my pieces.

I started out this month's tag painting the base tag background by dragging tag through smattering of Old Paper, Antique Linen, Antique Bronze and Picket Fence Distress Stains. I distressed the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. 

Then I began adding my stamped images (Holly Small #18929; Holly Leaf 3760; Leafy Border #6292; and Ornate Corner Left #18928) creating a border using Timber Brown StazOn Ink. I wanted to keep with the vintage feel so the dark brown ink really compliments the background and will make my colorful holly "POP". I added pattern to the background using an ink blending tool with the Harlequin Mask from UmWowStudio; first using Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. Then I shifted stencil over to hit reverse areas with Iced Spruce Distress Ink. It was a little bright now, so I toned the background down by brayering on a layer of Picket Fence Distress Stain. I finished off with some splatter dots of Picket Fence Distress Stain - the splatter is subtle, yet gives the snowy effect.

Now it's time to color my holly leafs. They all got a quick douse of color with Peeled Paint, Brick Red and Vintage Photo Distress Stains. When dry, I added more detail and color with various Distress Inks and an ink blending tool.

I know it's hard to see here in the photo - but these are my heated and curled dimensional holly leaves. Holding with heatsafe tweezers, I gently heated and shaped each leaf to my liking. In a couple areas I heated the leaves a little too much and the plastic began to shrink a little, but it just added to the charm of the shaped leaves. It's clear and on the backside - so it's not really noticeable.

Now for final assembly! I added some Diamond Glaze to add some "POP" to the holly berries and to accent details on holly leaves (here and there). I layered the sections of holly to my liking and added a piece of black 3-D pop dots to anchor leaves down as they lay. I finished off with adding some pink sticky back crystals and pearls for berries that I colored red with a permanent marker (and they match perfectly). 

Happy Holly Greetings!

This tag is complete... all tied off with a shimmery gold/red satin ribbon. I may go back and add the white splatter for snow overall - but for now I'm pretty happy the way that it is.

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Viva Las VegaStamps used: "Holly Greetings" #6043; Holly Large #18930; Holly Small #18929; Holly Leaf 3760; Leafy Border #6292; and Ornate Corner Left #18928. Supplies used: Vellum Cardstock; Recycled #6 plastic take out container; Timber Brown Staz-On Ink; various Ranger Distress Distress Stains; various Ranger Distress Inks; Versafine Black Ink; Miracle Sheets, Harlequin Mask from UmWowStudio; Diamond Glaze Dimensional adhesive; Red permanent marker; sticky back pearls and gems; black 3-D pop dots; and ribbon from stash.

Thanks so much for dropping by. Have you entered the monthly challenge??? Its a brand new month with a new inspiration board. Just make a creation using the inspiration and your stash of VLVS! stamps... you could win more RUBBER! CLICK HERE for challenge details. Also, you definitely want to subscribe to the blog feed and to the Viva Las VegaStamps! newsletter to be IN THE KNOW of everything going on at the Viva Las Vegastamps! store. 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

Welcome to the MIDWAY!!! Taking a Little Field Trip to the Carnival...

Welcome to Viva Las Vegastamps! Susan here today to bring you take you on a trip to the Carnival. I've spent the last couple weeks taking some workshops in my free time and learning some new things and replenishing my inspiration before heading into the busy holiday crafting season. Today's project uses a couple of fun techniques I picked up at the Creative Chemistry 102 classes last week. I'm totally stuck in all things Halloween - but the current "CARNIVAL" challenge #145 at Drunken Stampers Challenges had me running for the bright bold colors and my new plate #949 of carnival stamps.

Firstly - I took an A2 piece of Kromecote Glossy Cardstock and painted with an assortment of Ranger Alcohol inks and Silver Metallic Mixative using Monoprinting technique. Dripping the metallic along with several colors of ink on the craft mat, then add a little blending solution - then swipe the paper into the colors until it's covered as desired. 

It makes a stunning marbled background. I have a very natural colored variation

also from the ink cleanup... no waste of precious ink here!

The final step is to stamp in the scene using Ranger Black Archival Ink and heatset.

I finished the edges with some Seedless Preserves and Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

For this background paper - I applied the stamping resist technique using Antique Linen Distress Paint. I daubed gently the paint across the stamp, then applied to the patterned paper, then set aside to dry.

Then using an ink blending tool, I blended in several colors of Ranger Distress Inks -

including my hands-down favorite... Seedless Preserves!!!

Lastly, using a damp papertowel - I gently swiped the color off of the painted stamp pattern.

Miracle Tape made this card assemble a snap to showcase these awesome results!

Welcome to the MIDWAY!!!

The finishing touch was to add some Diamond Glaze Dimensional adhesive to the Shoes Hanging from Wire #19194 to make them "POP". I overstamped the Circus Strongman #19189; filling in the missing section of barbell using ink blending tool and seedless preserves ink through a matching sized circle on my circle stencil.

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Viva Las Vegastamps! used: Stamps from plate 949 - "The Midway" #19201, Zoltar Machine #19191, Bulls Eye Target Open # 19193, Spinning Swing Ride #19203, Circus Strongman #19189, Shoes Hanging from Wire #19194, Bulls Eye Target Solid #19196; also Triangle Banner #19043; Chevron Banner #19042; and Harlequin Diamond Background #18920. Supplies used: Kromecote cardstock; various Ranger Alcohol inks and silver metallic mixative; various Ranger Distress Inks; Ranger Black Archival Ink; Antique Linen Ranger Distress Paint; Miracle Tape, Diamond Glaze Dimensional adhesive; Circle Stencil and Patterned Cardstock Scraps for card base.

Thanks so much for dropping by. I invite you to play along with the monthly challenge - make a creation using the inspiration and your stash of VLVS! stamps... you could win! CLICK HERE for challenge details. Also, you definitely want to subscribe to the blog feed and to the Viva Las VegaStamps! newsletter to be IN THE KNOW of everything going on at the Viva Las Vegastamps! store. 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