you still give me the fever by Tracy Blackwolf

Hello everyone!

This week I made an art tag- enjoy!

For the background I sprayed saltwater taffy and mahogany and stamped the hearts with red chalk ink.

I stamped my images and fussy cut them out and then painted them in.

I glued little holographic hearts on the thermometer after it was painted. I then took my time painting the old couple .Added the details from steam for the drink to age spots on the couple. added foam tape to the back of images and completed tag.

and that is it~ until next week!

Stamps used:

Grunge thermometer....20691

Happy old couple.....18360

Hearts....19093

Other Supplies:

Chalk ink pad- red

Holographic hearts

Glossy accents

Distress spray stains

Foam tape

St Valentine's Day - by Fran

Happy St Valentine's Day everyone!

I don't know if you celebrate it where you are, but we do here in the UK so I thought I would do a Valentine themed card today.

To make the card, first of all I smooshed some pink Distress Inks onto a piece of card.  I dried between layers.

I stamped out the main image, then coloured with pencils and fussy cut it out.

I then stamped two hearts onto the card and painted red with Distress Ink. I stamped two more hearts onto spare card, painted them and cut out the middle of each one. I stuck them onto the hearts on the card with some sticky pads to lift them.

I stuck the main image onto some heart washy tape, then went round the edge of the card with a red pen, then stuck the matt onto the main card.

Finally, when the card was all put together, I painted the raised part of the hearts with glossy accents.

Stamps Used:

Squiggle heart 19644

Young couple kissing 18502

Other items used:

Distress Inks in Candied Apple, Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry

Washy Tape

Glossy Accents

Polychromos pencils

Red edging pen

Love is a work of (he)art

Hello everyone,
Valentine's day is near and although that's not a typical occasion for me to craft for, I did a small art journal page that I want to show you.

I am working in various journals at the same time so I can always choose between different sizes and substrates. This one here is a small disc bound journal. The panel has the size of a standard card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2"), so if you'd like you could easily turn this design into a mixed media card.

Recently, I did a project where I needed some hearts that I cut with a Bigz die and so I had this piece with negative hearts left. And as I'm trying to waste as less as possible, our challenge team came to my mind.
I cut the paper to size as well as a watercolor paper to create the rear background. I did this by using a text stencil and some modeling paste, just wanted something subtle.

In the next step, I added some Lindy's Gang sprays to both layers: Creme Brulee Cream to the paper with the modeling paste, Cowabunga Copper and Cocklebells Coral to the layer with the hearts.

Also, I inked up the edges of the hearts with black Archival Ink and a finger dauber. This created a nice little contrast.

Now the fun part: some stamping! I stamped the "Girl in Princess Costume" with Versafine ink and the sentiment "Love is a work of heart" with red Archival Ink. Also, I added a few "Hearts By Cat Kerr" to my panel.

I colored the little girl with watercolor and did some fussy cutting. Whenever I cut out an image directly and without leaving a little white border, I use a black pen to get rid of the white edges so the image blends in better.

I also cut the sentiment to pieces, inked up the edges in the same color I used for stamping and matted them onto some black card stock so they don't get lost in front of the background.

To complete my page, I adhered the two panels to each other using matte gel. I added the girl (underlaid with some black thread) and the sentiment pieces with foam tape. As a last step, I glued the page into my black journal which gives some extra bite. And here are some more photos of the completed project:

I used the following stamps:

Girl in Princess Costume (19536)
Hearts By Cat Kerr (19978)
Love Is A Work (14691)

Other materials:
- Paper (Sheena cardstock, watercolor paper, black cardstock)
- Stencil "Aria song" from 13@rts
- Modeling paste
- Sizzix Bigz Die Tim Holtz - Heartfelt
- Lindy's Gang Starburst Sprays (Creme Brulee Cream, Cowabunga Copper, Cocklebells Coral)
- Archival Ink (Jet Black, Vermillion)
- Versafine Ink Onyx Black
- Watercolor
- Black thread

See you soon & happy stamping!

Singin' in the Rain

The husband and I grew up on opposite sides of the country. He’s from California and I am from New Jersey. I enjoy cool weather, whereas he wants the heat on when it’s 73 in the house. I would sleep with the windows open every day and night while he wears sweats 365 days a year. There is however one type of weather that we both love – rain. We agree there is nothing nicer than staying in when the weather is damp and gloomy. A log in the fireplace, hot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches – the husband makes the best grilled cheese ever – and we are exactly where we want to be.

One of the things I love about being on the design team of VLVS is looking through their incredible variety of stamps. I went in search for stamps to make a card for the husband. I didn’t want it too cute, and it had to be meaningful for the two of us. When I saw these stamps -Vintage Man With Umbrella and You make even the rainy days special. I knew I had found what I was looking for.

This has to be one of the easiest cards I have ever made.
Got it completed in less than 10 minutes.
Who said the longer something takes the better it is? Not this gal.

Supplies

White Cardstock
Kraft Paper
Patterned Paper
MS Heart Punch and a scrap of red paper
Miracle Tape
Vintage Man With Umbrella VLVS
You make even the rainy days special. VLVS

Directions
I took a 5 1/2" x 8" piece of cardstock, folded it in half and set aside. For the cover I cut a 2 1/2" x 3 1/4" piece of Kraft paper and stamped the Vintage Man With Umbrella. I layered this with a 2 3/4" x 3 1/2" piece of red paper on top of a and 3" x 3 1/2" piece of patterned paper. I adhered to the cardstock using Miracle Tape. I then stamped the You make even the rainy days special.sentiment on the bottom of the card. For the inside I layered with Kraft paper and white cardstock. I topped the cover off by gluing on a handful of mini red hearts.

The husband has my heart. Who has yours?

TH Inspired Tag using VLVS! Swirls

Hey Everybody!! DeeDee here!! Have you seen the 12 tags of 2012 TH is now doing?? 

well I wanted to participate.. but As a design team member for VLVS! it is our duty to promote as much VLVS! as possible, and it's QUITE easy when you love a company as much as I do VLVS! The images that Wayne and CO produce are just ... the best. so I took on TH's tag challenge.. but with a VLVS! twist.. 

First.. Pick a background! 

I chose a combination of three stamps:

  Swirl 2 1/2 x 3 1/4 - $10.25

Swirl 3/4 x 1 1/4 - $5.00

  Swirl 3/4 x 1 - $4.50

Then.. grab your tag and stamp them in WHITE ACRYLIC PAINT. I stamped them sort of haphazard all over.. and I wasn't careful about covering the entire stamp in paint either.. it sort of made this.. fun swirly collage with an almost foliage resemblance! 

Give the paint ample time to dry and then ink your tag. I used Spun Sugar Distress Stain.. and sponged some Festive Berries and Brushed Corduroy ink over it. spritz with water.. and wipe the ink off of the painted parts!! Background CHECK!

(here's a closeup of the background)

I then embellished with a 3D heart made from punched hearts that I folded in half and glued sides together. There's a bit of old pattern wrinkled up underneath the heart.. and I used some vintage lace and snug hug for my trim embellishes! 

The Cupid was hand cut, inked and crackled! What do you think?? Aren't the VLVS! Stamps just SUPERB! they do the same thing as tim's giant stamp, but only BETTER!! 

Let me know what you thiiiiiiiiink!! -DeeDee