BANKSY ATC's by Fran Chalmers

Hello again everyone!

Today I have made some ATC's featuring Banksy stamps (which I love).

 I had all the gelli plate backgrounds in my stash, so cut them to 3.5" x 2.5" size.

For the first ATC, I stamped the image and then cut out the zebra and the woman.  I stamped the image onto the card so I wouldn't have to cut out the stripes.

I added washi tape to add interest to the finished ATC.

For the second ATC, I edged the card with blue to frame it, then stamped the image in black.  I added washi tape to add interest.

With the third ATC, I edged it with purple and stamped the image onto the ATC, and then thick paper so the sign is left white.  I cut it out and added washi tape to finish it off.

I coloured in his Peace necklace with gold glitter pen to add a bit of interest too.

Hope you like them :) See you next time.

Stamps Used:

Banksy Zebra Washing 20297

Banksy Girl Watering TV Antennae 19603

Banksy Rat Protester 19489

Other Items Used:

Elements Inks in Blue Lagoon and Violet Chalk

Copic Pens

Assorted Washi tape

Gold glitter pen

Gossip Girls by Fran

Hello everyone!

I've made a quick and easy postcard for you this week :)

First of all I blended distress oxides in Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio, and then went round the edges with Mowed Lawn.

I stamped the main image and sentiment on some thick paper and coloured with Copic pens

To add interest to the background I added some background stamps and edging stamps

After fussy cutting the main image I stuck it on, with the sentiment too.

And that's all there is to it! Happy crafting!

Stamps Used:

Two ladies with tea 18398

Library return dates 20342

Sawtooth Stitching Lines 19643

Stitching 19575

He kept saying I didnt listen 1075

Other items Used:

Distress Oxides in Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Cracked Pistachio

Copic Pens

Memento Ink in Black

Versafine Clair ink in Warm Breeze

See you next time!

Art journal page by Elina

Hi!
Elina here with you today, sharing my latest art journal page for which I used the fun 'mirror stamping' technique:

My starting point was a page in my art journal that had got some paint from the project next to it. I did not want to try to cover the paint stains with gesso, but used a piece of craft cardstock instead. Before gluing the strip on the bottom of the page I inked the page with yellow and orange Distress inks.

I stamped the main image on white paper, and replicated it with mirror stamping: In mirror stamping you first stamp the image on a smooth surface like the back of a large stamp or a piece of ez-mount foam. Then you use that surface as your stamp, and it transfers the inked image onto your paper. This technique works best for outlined images, but as you see here, it can very well be used for more detailed images, too. My mistake was to use a bit dry ink pad, and I had to reinforce some of the lines of both images with a thin black marker. But the result looks quite nice!

For the bottom part of the page I added layers of stamped images. Some of the images I fuzzy cut and glued on the page, some I just stamped on the previous layers.

The top of the page I decorated with stamped dots and stamped and fuzzy cut circles.

Using various stamped images and creating collage art journal pages is so much fun. True art journaling pleasure!

For this page I used the following VLVS! stamps (click the links for more info):

Clown Face
Row of Distressed Lines
Writing Circles Background
Typeset Scallop
Tired Of Trying To Cram
Doodle Dots
Multi-Leaf Branch
Staple X

Wishing you a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Believe in magic

Hello everyone,

and welcome to my blogpost! I have an art journal to share today.

This AJ page started off with brayering yellow and orange paint in my journal. I then added some stamping in the background. Next I stamped the stars on the page; I wanted to have the writing around them too and this is impossible to cut out. 

Next I painted a piece of card stock with turquoise paint, stamped the stars on it again, added some white pen details and splatters and cut them out. 

I then adhered them to the ones on the page. 

The girl with wings was stamped separately on white card stock, coloured with Coopic Markers and cut out. I placed her on one of the stars. 

The sentiment is a Small Talk Sticker by Tim Holtz.

I have used the following stamps for this page :

19659 - Numbers set

19822 - Squiggly star collage

19827 - Doodle dots

19005 - Girl with wings

Mail Art Monday with Elina

Hi VLVS! Friend,
Elina with you today, sharing with you my latest project; an envelope for our Mail Art Monday!

Oh, how I love creating mail art envelopes! This time I wanted to play with colors, and to create an envelope that would for sure bring a smile to it's receiver's face. I think that the adorable Creepy Creatures by Leslie Wood were just the right choice for the project!

For decorating the envelope I used the easy masking stamping technique: In this technique you start with stamping first the images you want to appear on top. Then you continue working towards the back, masking the already stamped images before stamping the next layer. For creating the masks you can use special sticky masking paper, but simple fuzzy cut post it notes work very well, too.

For the layered leaf background I used green Memento ink. Black stamping ink would have made the background too busy, allowing the main images to disappear into it.

Before starting the coloring with my Promarkers, I placed a few sheets of scrap paper into the envelope which blocked the colors from messing up the back of the envelope.

Inspiration for the striped frame I got from the cute striped Creature's socks and shirt :)

For this mail art project I used the followint VLVS! stamps:
Creepy Striped Creature by Leslie Wood
Creepy Creature Sitting by Leslie Wood
Doodle Leaf
Doodle Frame

Other supplies:
White envelope
Promarkers for coloring
Black marker pen and a ruler for doodling the striped frame

Wishing you a wonderful week!
Thanks for stopping by!

Art journaling with Whimsical Leaf Lady

Hi!
Elina here with you today, sharing my latest mixed media page I made in my Moleskine art journal book:

I had so much fun playing with the Whimsical Leaf Lady stamp! To start with, I stamped the image twice on white paper, and colored both faces, using two different color sets of my alcohol markers. The lady with red hair and purple leaves was a nicer match to my black/yellow/white page background, so that's the one I chose for this project. The other green color themed lady will be used later for another project.

Black paint marks I pressed on the page background with my gelli plate. To mute down the dark color I brayered some white acrylic paint on top, and added hints of yellow paint here and there. Before gluing down the main image I decorated the background with stamping.

I placed the lady on the bottom of my page, but then realized that to my taste there was too much open space on the top of the page. I decided to make a bit larger collage of the leaves in her hair: I re-stamped the larger set of leaves on white paper, colored them with alcohol markers, cut out, and layered on the page. I do love the image as it is, but I think that this version is also quite cool!

Hope this page inspires you to take a fresh look at your VLVS! stamps; they can be used in so many various ways!

For this art journal page I used the following VLVS! stamps:

Whimsical Leaf Lady Face
Cross Marks Background
Carved Xs
Rows of Numbers

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Art journal page: Adventures

Hi and Happy Tuesday!
Elina here with you today, sharing my latest art journal page:

Oh how I love those images by Brian Kesinger! They contain lots of interesting details making the images wonderful for coloring. The stamps are very versatile and can easily be used both for cards and for art journal pages.


This time I made a double-page layout in my Moleskine book: I started with gluing down some old book pages...

... and once dry I white washed the texts with gesso. A thin layer of white gesso makes miracles to a busy textured background, calming it down and enabling the main images to pop!



While the gesso was drying I inked a few book pages with brown Distress ink. I stamped patterns on top with black ink, cut the images out, and glued on the page. I had some brown ink left on my ink blender, so I inked parts of the background with the same color, connecting the scalloped elements with the white background.



My old book had some empty pages, and I used one of them for decorating the background. Using the same brown Distress ink I stamped large X circles on the paper, cut them out, and glued on the page.

Even if there were several different patterns on the background, they all had the same common brown color which linked the elements together.



 

Also the background remained light enough, highlighting the main images.

I really like how this page turned out! Hope it inspired you, too :)

For this page I used the following VLVS! stamps:
Not in Kansas Anymore Otto by Brian Kesinger
Book Signing by Brian Kesinger
 X Circle
Typeset Scallop


Other supplies:
Stamping inks (Memento 'Tuxedo Black'; Distress Ink 'Brushed Corduroy')
Promarker alcohol markers for coloring
White gesso
Matte acrylic adhesive for gluing
Old book pages





Wishing you a great adventurous day!

Silently Correcting Your Grammar - by Cheetarah

Hi all, it's Cheetarah here at the VLVS! blog today and I am sharing this postcard I made. You might have noticed, I like to take the "tongue in cheek" approach to conventional celebrations (and really almost everything else in life ;) . With Halloween coming up, I thought about the most horrifying thing to "dress up as", and that would be a "belittling know it all" - far more annoyingly terrifying than any monster in my book! ;) 

VLVS! has these AMAZING text stamps and the "I am silently correcting your grammar" is one of my favorites. As always full list of stamps is at the end of the post.



I started off by making a background with sticking left over bits and pieces to a card. And then roll over some distress paints in orange, smoke and yellow. Stamped over some wonderful mixed media stamps and spatters some liquitex while ink over it. I stamped the cute Whimsical Horned Boy on a coffee stained paper and colored it in with alcohol markers.



I stamped the sentiment also on the coffee stained paper and adhered the focal images to the card. Added some washi tape for more texture and to ground the image.



Lastly I added some gold spatters and a border with distress crayon in black soot.

Stamps used:
Whimsical Boy with Horns
Carved X's 
Rows of numbers
Pile of bones and skulls
I am Silently Correcting your grammar

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Her Sparkly Star Shaped Self - August Challenge Inspiration

Hi all, it's Cheetarah here and I've made a little something for you to inspire you for our August Challenge. I have made an index sized art card inspired by the colors and imagery from our mood board below

Isn't it gorgeous and don't you just long for a summer sunset at the beach? 

It has inspired me to make the following

I am just absolutely in love with that Fancy Mermaid, the large moon and all the mixed media journaling stamps from the latest release. I've mixed a few oldies too, like the sentiment which is is a part of Tired of trying to cram stamp, which I LOVE! A full list of stamps and materials used is below. 

I also have a filmed the process which you can watch here:

Hope you enjoyed that and inspired you to play along with our monthly challenge :)

List of stamps used:

Fancy Mermaid 

The Moon 

Typeset Scallop 

Rows of numbers 

Row of distressed lines 

Stars 

Tired of trying to cram 

Other materials:

Gelli printed papers of which you can see the process HERE 

alcohol markers 

Staz-On inks store grey, midnight blue, azure

distress crayons 

liquitex titanium white INKS

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!