Wednesday, February 29, 2012

HAPPY LEAP DAY!!! Spending it playing with Viva Las Vegastamps!

Hi everybody! It's Susan bringing you my end of the month post. I am so excited for getting today as  my project day because it's LEAP DAY!!! So of course, I had to create something extra special for the occasion...complete with lots of leaping frogs! This project has been in my head for months, too. I have been collecting stamps through a couple orders of pounds of rubber grab bags from Viva Las Vegastamps! These are so fun and you never know what you are going to get for your creating pleasure...PLUS it's a whole pound of RUBBER STAMPS {it's a whole lot}!!!

In these I got these two awesome stamps...





I used three Viva Las Vegastamps!: Frog Bottom #1546Frog Background #6025bbi; and Celebrate #12390. I started off with a gloss piece of cardstock that I stamped in Stewart Superior Palette Hybrid "Giverny Green" a very bright and springy green. This ink is all-purpose and can be used with embossing powders.  So I created a large background paper by stamping frog background four times and embossed using VLVS Ultra High Gloss embossing powder. Then I applied three different green Distress Inks with a blending tool to make a soft modeled background. I have this stash of letter stickers - where I rummaged through and came across this package of "Sticky Face™" double sided letter stickers. PERFECT!! I have this jar of glittery green felted stuff I picked up on my trip to the stamp store to get my "Rubber Stamp Madeness" magazine. So I applied the letters, burnished them down and exposed the adhesive. I dumped on the felted powder and gently patted in and tapped off excess. This is a messy yet fun way to add texture. On another piece of gloss cardstock, I used the blending tool to apply three colors of green Distress Inks and spritzed with water to add texture. I heat set this then stamped "Celebrate" and the Frog in "Madonna Blue" Stewart Superior Memories Pigment ink and embossed with VLVS Ultra High Gloss embossing powder. I fussy cut these out and applied 3-D pop dots. Finished assembled piece is mounted on a navy blue card stock.

Detail showing embossing and texture of glittered felting on letters.
Today is the last day to submit your creations for the VLVS Theme Challenge for February! Submit your "LOVE" theme creations using Viva Las Vegastamps! for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate at the VLVS online store. CLICK HERE for info on submissions. Don't forget to check out the Viva Las Vegastamps! store.

Thanks so much for visiting & if you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. I hope you enjoy your EXTRA Day STAMPING!!!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Happily Divorced!



Hello everyone! While travelling last year, I saw this funny sentiment on something at a souvenir shop. Since Viva Las Vegastamps! has hundreds of stamps featuring women’s faces and funny expressions, I really wanted to use it for one of my blog posts. I asked Wayne, the owner of Viva Las Vegastamps! to put these words on a stamp, and he did! So here it is, with one of my favorite face stamps. You can find the sentiment by clicking here, and you can find the Lady with Pearls by clicking here.



To make this card, I stamped the Lady With Pearls stamp on smooth white cardstock and colored with Copic markers. The stamp does show her with a pearl necklace, but I added some small sticky pearls from Want To Scrap to bling it up a little. I cut her out and adhered her to a piece of background paper, and stamped the sentiment directly on the background paper below her.



Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to return often to see what’s new, and feel free to leave a comment because we love to hear from you and find your words encouraging. If you want to see more of my Viva Las Vegastamps! projects, visit my blog by clicking here.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Here's a Funny One!

Hello my fine feathered friends!

How are you this fine Friday?
Me, I'm in bed trying to get over a lovely combination of the flu and strep.
Oh boy!

The tag I whipped up for you today makes me laugh.
For some reason this lady reminds me of Mrs. Garret- remember, from The Facts of Life in the 80's?



This tag uses a few of my favorite Ranger goodies,
 and a stamp that is the PERFECT sentiment for us stamp-a-holics!

Ready?

On with the show!

Supplies:
Tag
scrap of patterned paper
scrap of manilla paper
black ink (I used Archival)
watercolor pencils
scissors
Miracle Tape
water
heat gun
Distress Re-inker (Mustard Seed)
Perfect Pearls (Sunflower Sparkle)
mister bottle (I use Mini Misters)


In a mister bottle, combine one dropper full of Distress Ink, some Perfect Pearls, and water.
Shake well, and spray all over the tag.
Dry with heat tool.
Now, spray some water in your hand, and flick the water onto the tag.
The water will react with the ink and leave drops.
Cool!


Stamp a little bit of a background stamp if desired.
Add a strip of patterned paper using Miracle Tape.


 Stamp Lady Pointing on scrap of paper.

Color with watercolor pencils and cut out.

Stamp sentiment with black ink at an angle.

Add woman to tag using Miracle Tape. 


 Here's your wiener!
Daisy Dog channeling her inner Jedi .

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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 3/4 x 1 1/4 - $5.00


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

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Absolut-ly Fabulous Card - Shaped Like A Bottle of Absolut!

Absolut-ly Fabulous Card - Absolut Bottle ShapeFrom the first time I saw the TV show Absolutely Fabulous, I fell in love with it! If you aren't familiar with it, Absolutely Fabulous, also known as Ab Fab, is a British sitcom created by Jennifer Saunders, based on an original idea by her and Dawn French, and written by Saunders, who plays the leading character.

According to Wikipedia, the series features Saunders as Edina Monsoon, a heavy-drinking, drug-abusing PR agent who spends her time chasing bizarre fads in a desperate attempt to stay young and "hip." Edina is joined in her quest by magazine editor Patsy Stone, her best friend and enabler, whose drug abuse, alcohol consumption, and promiscuity far eclipse Edina's comparatively mild self-destructive behaviour.


Party Girls 2 1/2 x 3 #183 from Viva Las Vegastamps!The stamp, Party Girls 2 1/2 x 3 #183, from Viva Las Vegastamps!, immediately reminded me of Patsy and Edina. I decided to use this stamp, along with a bit of a play on words and a card shaped like a bottle of Absolut Vokda, to create a card that's perfect to tell someone you think their fab-u-lous!


I started by creating the card base using the Zing electronic cutting machine. Using Make The Cut!, I traced the silhouette of a bottle of Absolut, copied it, and then welded the two shapes together along the side, to create a bottle shaped card, sized to fit in a #10 envelope.  I cut out a single bottle shape in vellum to use as an overlay on the front of the card (to resemble the frosted glass of the bottle). I cut the cap out of paper covered in aluminum tape.  The lettering is the font Futura Extra Black Condensed BT, which is pretty close to Absolut's lettering style.

I stamped Party Girls 2 1/2 x 3 #183 on white paper, colored them with Copic markers and fussy cut them out.

To make it look like the bottle contained liquid, I masked off the top of the bottle and used distress ink to shade from the neck down.

To assemble the card, attach the aluminum cap and letters to the vellum. I ran the pieces through my Xyron to turn them in to stickers. The attach the vellum to the front of the card using Miracle Tape. Only use the tape behind the letters and cap so it doesn't show through the vellum.

Lastly, apply the party girls to the front of the card with Miracle Tape. Your done! The card is shown here resting on a red background so you can really see the shape.

You can see more of my projects on my blog on Create & Craft.
Happy Crafting!
Joe

GOT MILK? MOOOOO... COW SWAP

Lyneen here with a surprise post! A few months back I participated in a swap... it was a special one.  We had to make 8 sets of ATCs, Moos and Inchies.


ATC = 3 1/2" x 2 1/2"
Moo = 3 1/2" x 1"
Inchie = 1" x 1" 

I had fun with these, all stamps are from Viva Las VegastampsI stayed with red, black and white! For a bit of whimsy added copies of a couple of vintage things from my collection of ephemera.  The tag is from an old local creamery. HOW OLD? The phone number listed is Main 360!!!  Then the milk cap has a 5 digit phone number!!!  How long ago did they use 5 digit phone numbers.

I used Crystal Lacquer to give the bottle the look of glass and VLVS! High Gloss Embossing Powder on all the images... if you haven't noticed I LOVE!!! VLVS! Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder!





Thursday, February 16, 2012

Cupid's Game



Valentine's Day may be over, but Cupid's work is not done.  He's is such a stinker!  He's not an angel or a devil, maybe a bit of both!!  He likes to play games, sometimes his arrows miss and hits the wrong person. 

Alter a tag, color areas to accentuate the game theme, add VLVS images and viola' you create some fun art!  Search and collect sayings and images - mix and match them in weird ways!

VLVS Images:



Enjoy all the wonderful ideas by the design team and stay warm!

-Lea













Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Viva Las Vegastamps! and Mary Vogel Lozinak

Comes out with AWESOME NEW stamps every month...
 this month I would like to 
present the NEWEST arrivals!

AND I AM IN LOVE WITH THESE STAMPS!!!
 Mary Vogel Lozinak's  Plate 1451

  Mary Vogel Lozinak's  Plate 1450

 Stamping images on tissue and 
heat embossing with 
VLVS! Ultra Thick Embossing Powder!
 Playing with colors!


 Playing with colors!


I love the whimsy!
So much detail!

Fun sentiments!
So Much FUN!


These arrived in the mail LATE YESTERDAY.... 
I was having so much fun with my new stamps 
I almost forgot to stop and post my cards!!!!
Have a great week... 
Lyneen
See more of my work HERE!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

You're no longer the man I met on the internet!


Hello again! Since Valentine’s Day is almost here, I thought I would make a fun card for all the people who are not looking forward to it. I am sure that most people can relate or know someone in the situation where their dream date turned out to be a dud in person, or not so great once you really got to know them. Anyway, because so many people are finding love on the internet by chatting on social networking websites like Facebook or sites like Match.com, I thought that this stamp was especially funny, and I just had to use it in a project this month!

Click here to see this stamp in the Viva Las Vegastamps! online store.

I made this card using a black A2 sized card. For the background, I chose a pattern that made me think of a comic book. I thought this pattern looked like the colored pixels you see when you look very closely at a picture in a magazine or newspaper. I colored my stamped image with Copic markers and then I assembled the card as you see in the photo. I put the matted stamped image on pop dots to be sure that it would stand out against the busy, but appropriate, background paper.

Be sure to keep coming back to the Viva Las Vegastamps! blog for more great ideas for their fun stamps. If you want to see my other Viva Las Vegastamps! projects, feel free to visit my blog at Create & Craft. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Who Loves Ya, Baby!

Valentine's Day is almost here!

I LOVE Valentine's Day. It's all about love, chocolate, and spoiling someone.
So what's not to love! 

I cook a special dinner and give everyone a little giftie and a card every year.
Usually it's chocolate.
This year it's the Russel Stover hearts with chocolates in them.
And I'll bake a heart shaped cake.

So I'm doing tags for each of the kids rather than cards this year.
Cause I know they'll hang them in their bedrooms.

The one I did tonight is for my daughter.
I know she'll get a kick out of the piggie.

Ready?
On with the show!


Supplies:

Tag
Sterart Superior Sprays- Iridescent & Strawberry Daiquiri 
Crafter's Workshop template
Black Ink (I used Stewart Superior Memories Black)
Scrap of white card stock
Scrap of red card stock
Trimmer
Markers
Miracle Tape
Heat tool
Corner rounder
Distress Stain (Spun Sugar)
STAMPS!!


Coat the tag with Distress Stain. Don't worry if it's even or not.
Personally, I prefer it to NOT be even!
Dry with heat tool.
Lay template over tag and spray with Strawberry Daiquiri mist.
Remove template and dry with heat tool.

 Looks cool, huh!
 Stamp your piggy on white card stock.
 Color her with markers, trim down, and round the opposite corners.
Spritz with mist.
Dry with heat tool.
 Spritz tag with mist, also.
Dry with heat tool.
 Mount piggy on red card stock, trim, adhere together with Miracle Tape.
Add to tag with Miracle Tape.
 Give a couple of spritz's of Iridescent mist.
 Stamp Who Loves Ya, Baby! along the bottom of the tag.
 There ya go- fast, simple, but cute as can be!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Here's your wiener.
My cute Sammy, trying to take a nap.