A Carnival of Happy

It's Amy here today to share a blast from the past, the HERE stamp.
I had fun getting this funny Mardi Gras gal ready for a carnival atmosphere, on this layered ATC (I'm clearly big on those these days).

I used my gelli plate to make the background, using purple and green paints, and neon pink Hero Arts ink, spreading it with a brayer, over a stencil. I then added some drywall tape, cut down, for texture, and rolled the brayer over the top.

For the ATC card with the Mardi Gras Mask stamp on it, I stamped with IMAGINE Crafts Neon and Memento inks in Pink and Green shades, and colored it in with watercolor pencils. The background is shaded with purple watercolor pencil.

Finally, I added layers of embellishments, including the vintage plastic ballerina. I tried to keep everything light and fun, using some cupcake flags from Ruby Rock-it for little banners.







Thanks for having a look today, and I hope you enjoyed taking a trip back in time, to find a new stamp!
Loves,
Amy

Supplies:
Stamp: Mardi Gras Mask
Adhesive: Miracle Tape, E6000
Ink: IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko
Chipboard Frame/Hearts: Studio Calico/Pink Paislee-Heidi Swapp
Metal: Bead Landing/Tim Holtz
Ballerina/Laces: Vintage
Cupcake Flags: Ruby Rock-It
Rhinestone word: Unknown

She Who Wears The Bigger Crown {Inspiration by DeeDee}

Hi hi hi folks!!

DeeDee here today to INSPIRE you for the February Challenge.

I have a lot of fun putting together these boards to inspire you each month, and now I'm excited to create a project based on one, too. I've put together the following Tag: 

The pink circles in the background are from the brand new Solid Color Wheel stamped in Design Memory Craft's melon gelato. I've layered on top of them the Large Doily and the Medium Doily. Our Man and Woman Symbol make the perfect non specific couple, and she got HER crown, and he got HIS. ;)

All black ink is Archival Ink by Ranger. The checker pattern is from the UmWowStudio Checker Board Mask, and has been drawn in with Sakura of America Micron. I finished off the tag with a little dymo label maker, May Arts ribbon and vintage measuring tape.

Now that I've INSPIRED YOU >>> Head over and join in on the challenge yourself! Some rubber and a spotlight on our blog is up for grabs♥

February Challenge

Welcome to February 1st of 2014!

It's the month of love, and we're inspiring AND challenging you to create some looooove goodness.

Our mood board for this month :

 

Don't worry about stamping about ONLY love though --- you can take inspiration from anything! Crowns, Top Hats, bokeh, spots, doilies, tickets, paper clips, thread, coral, tan, pink, white, black, couples, potty people -- it's all on you!! Can't wait to see what you create for this month :)

Don't forget the rules:

-Create a new project based on our inspiration board

-Use at least one (but certainly more if you want) Viva Las VegaStamps! rubber stamps (please no competitor stamps on your entries)

-Post it to your blog with a link back to us

-Upload to our linky using your direct blog post link (You may also upload via facebook, flickr or other gallery)

You could win a Project Spotlight post on our blog + some new rubber of course!

And visit me back here tomorrow for my own inspirational piece! 

March Guest Designer : NAT KALBACH!

I have to start out by thanking each and every person who has ever used VLVS! -- each month I'm so ecstatic to introduce another guest designer. They always provide us with the most beautiful work using our stamps. I also thank each and every customer who uses our stamps. I especially love it when they share what they've created with us :) And our Creative Team is no exception. They provide beautiful inspiration day after day. 

I think I got a little mushy because we have such amazing artwork that is continually shared with us using our stamps. And today is no exception.. 

I introduce to you (as if she NEEDS an introduction) NAT KALBACH.

 

"Hi, my name is Nathalie Kalbach. I live with my husband Jim and our spoiled rotten cat in Hamburg, Germany.

I discovered Scrapbooking and Mixed Media in 2004. I was always drawn to the more messy and painty side of Mixed Media and I love to mix and match colors and paint products. I think everyone can be creative and that creativity just has to be freed. Just like it had to be freed in me, since my professional life was one of a paralegal …I just quit my job 2 years ago to be a full time Mixed Media Artist.

My layered work is an explosion of texture, dimension and jewel tone colors. In my workshops I share my secrets for using paint and ink to reveal texture, give tips for embedding found objects and show how to unlock your personal creativity.

I have worked and still work with many different manufacturers like Prima Marketing, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, Derwent and Liquitex. I am a Prima Educator since 200." 

 

I am so thrilled to be a guest designer for Viva Las Vegas Stamps. I used the Charred Wood Background Stamp to create my own background for a grungy layout. The layout is about the East Side Gallery - a tiny remaining bit of the Berlin Wall that was painted by different artists in 1990 and now unfortunately is supposed to be torn down to make room for some luxury flats. 

I love to create my own backgrounds using stamps to emphasize photos or the feelings and emotions that go along with photos. For this background I had stamped the background with the awesome Charred Wood Back Ground Stamp and embossing powder and then used Wow Bonding Powder and Foil on top. This created a kind of resist. So when I sprayed soem Dylusion spray inks over the stamp image and texture of it got fully revealed. 

 

 

Other Suppliess used:

White Cardstock

WOW Bonding Powder

WOW Foil

Versamark

Ranger's Dylusions Spray Inks

Liquitex Professional Spray Paints

Heidi Swapp Chipboard Letters

Rose Moka Journaling Cards

Posca Marker

Zig Journaling Pen

Huge hugs

nat

Sharing a canvas set...

Hi Stampers! DeeDee here, today! 

I wanted to take the spotlight off me for a little while and show you something an avid VLVS! fan made. If you remember I posted a couple months ago about doing an altered canvas set where we use stamps to help us create a background on our canvases!

Well after a few bumps and bruises we got through the first half of our class yesterday and here's what Michele created:

Now I only showed her how to do the canvases, she took it upon herself to use her knew knowledge and alter the tray that she mounted the beauties in!

We used stamps:
Six Hex Background

Harlequin Background
Writing Background

Chicken Wire

and Michele also used on her own:
Line of Chevrons

and Writing Arrow

All the stamps have been stamped in gesso and then colored with glimmer mist and distress stain.
Then the canvases were altered and layered in all types of mixed media goodness! Michele went even further by altering her tray and adding the canvases as their own complete layer.

You can see a close up of the six hex used here:

WELL DONE MICHELE!!!

Kickin' Up Both Heels Flamingo Cards

A really cute art card to use as a congratulations greeting. I live in Florida, so flamingos are a beautiful thing to see. I created this one digitally...

I used a combination of paint brushes and erasers to color the bird after I stamped it on a white piece of paper and scanned it into PhotoShop.

This is VLV stamp 5167...