Steampunk ATCs

Wayne (the owner of VLVS!) and I recently go the pleasure to participate in an ATC swap for steampunk ATCs! Lyneen was our fearless leader via the forum and today I'll show you what we turned in!

First up.. Stamping by STAMPO himself!

Wayne used Copic markers, distress ink and a gorgeous rainbow pad to get all the beautiful colors on his ATC. He also Stampo's Steampunk Sprockets which were glued down
with Crystal Lacquer.
Stamps used include:
When Pigs Fly!
Steampunk Piggy
Gear 1x1

Square Edge Gear

I used a foil sheet adhered with Miracle Tape to white cardstock and alcohol ink to get the effect for my background. My Umbrella Man stamp was stamped in Memento Black ink and embossed with Ultra Thick Embossing Powder. I embellished with a little dabbling in the Stampo's Steampunk Sprockets as well. 

What do you think?? 

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Serene Sepia

Pretty simple card for today. 

Stamped the image with brown ink and loved the look of it.

So, I didn't want to muddy it up and color it. 

I kept the rest of the card monochromatic. 

Scrap corrugated paper torn from an old box.

Used a punch to make the composition book style edge from SU!

Added some miracle tape along the bottom of and attached seam binding. 

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and

 then embossed with a linen color 

powder.

Very serene looking card.....can be used for anything.

This beautiful image you can get here @ Viva Las Vegastamps!!

Pick up the entire plate that is loaded with gorgeous flowers and sentiments....HERE

Individual stamps:

Anthora A. Flano
Flowers are love's truest language.

I wasn't sure what this particular flower represented. 

I googled it and this is what I found.

Its a type of Wolfsbane.

You can check it out below.

http://www.redorbit.com/education/reference_library/plant_kingdom/magnoliopsida/2582268/anthora/

Until later, Serene seekers..........Gotta split.........TFL!!!!

Paddling Down the River

Supplies:
1 oz Creative Paperclay's Delight
Terri Sproul Mixer-Tanzanite Pearl (Blue Pearl)
Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer

Black Matte board 6x7 in.
Letraset Promarkers
Brilliance Stamp pad ink-Starlight Silver
Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint-Antique White
Black cardstock
Colorbök Scrapbook paper
Paint Brush
Scissors

PVA Glue
3D foam dots
Black sharpie marker


Viva Las Vegastamps! used:
Tree Background
Steampunk Swan Ship
Life is Beautiful

I stamped my Steampunk Swan Ship image onto a piece of Delight clay that was left over from another project.  It was about 1/8 of an inch thick and already dried.  I cut the image out with a pair of scissors and colored it with my Promarkers.

I stamped the Trees background onto the black cardstock with Brilliance Starlight Silver and cut it out.   I cut out small areas for the background to show through.  (Sorry for the blurred image-that's my camera, not the stamped image!).

Turning to the matte board, I covered about 2/3 of it with a piece of Scrapbook paper.

Then I glued the trees over the background.

After mixing the Terri Sproul Mixer with the 3D lacquer, I painted the remaining portion of the matte board with a thin layer.  It dries almost instantly, so then I picked up a very small amount of Antique White acrylic paint and dabbed online the bottom of the trees.   Using a bit more paint, I spread it across the board to simulate icy water, leaving a darker area to imply depths.  

I applied 3D foam dots to the Swan ship and stuck it onto the matte board.  

I discovered something in this process.  Originally, I stamped 'Life is Beautiful' with the Silver Starlight ink over the Terri Sproul Mixer.  To my surprise,  I got a holographic effect.  If you held the matte board one way, you would see the text, but if you moved it even slightly, the text disappeared.  It was rather cool!

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the text to scan or get it with my camera, so I stamped the text onto some left over Delight and painted over the holographic text.  One of these days though, I'm going to play with that technique.

Viva Las Vegastamps! has a wide variety of rubber stamps--just about anything you might want for any occasion.  New projects are posted every day at the VLVS! blog and you can find the entire product range at VLVS! online store.

more Mary Volgel Lozinak ATC fun!

As i said before I am having a blast playing with the Mary Vogel Lozinak I got from Viva Las Vegastamps! I made these ATC's with them.

I got this idea from when I was watching someone open their Secret Sister box swap and one of the ATC's that the person made for her "sister" had all kind of ribbon running across it. I thought it was cool and wanted to try it myself.

I first took a half of black cardstock and half a sheet of Miracle sheet tape. Its the same Miracle tape that is on a roll but in a 8 1/2 by 11 sheet. perfect for this sort of thing. I took one protective layer of the Miracle sheet off. I put the black cardstock on it. The flipped it over and took the other later off. I have a bunch of ribbons and trims that I got in at a thrift store and given to me in a RAK. I just put them on dianglelly on the half sheet. then trimmed them. The cut them down to atc size. That kinda wrecked some of the cotton trim and probably my blade.lol  I kinda saved some of them, but not all. I then took out another piece of black cardstock and trimmed that piece to atc sizes. Then put those on another piece of the Miracle sheet tape and cut those out by and and peeled the other backing and pit more trim on those. I then cut off the access trims.

I then picked out a few images from plates 1383 and 1398. Stamped the words right onto the atc base. I stamped the other images on white cardstock on Memento black ink pad. Pained them with Pearlesent watercolors. cut them out and they were a little too white and didn't want to trim them up so I took Black soot Distress ink pad and stamped on the craft sheet and wet it and used it as a water color on where the white was. I did a couple layers on that. Attached them to the ATC with glossy accents. It needed something else so Added 3 dew drops on each atc.

Products used:

• black cardstock
• trims
• Black Memento ink pad
• Miracle sheets
• dew drops
• white cardstock
• Pearlesent watercolors
• Glossy accents
• Black Soot Distress ink

Stamps used:

• Unicycle lady
• Unicycle Lady Skipping Rope
• Flamingo
• Sitting Bird
• Wheeled Man
• Plate 1398
• Plate 1383
• Quirky
• Add a little Whimsy
• I can do a wheelie
• Got Unicycle?
• Wheeling for you
• Birds of a feather
• Imagine

Patriotic Viva Las Vegastamps!

The 4th of July is fast approaching... 

We will all be celebrating with family gatherings, company picnics and awesome fireworks shows! Here is a great card to use as an invitation to your gathering!

The image on the card is Statue of Everything # 4525

Using the Scor-pal create a rosette for the card. This one is made from a one inch x 12 inch strip of paper.

Stamp Statue of Everything # 4525 and fussy cut the image, then color with Tim Holtz Distress Markers. Tim Holtz Set of 37 Distress Markers are on sale for $89.60!

A $30.00 savings!

To give the image a heavy glossy look, I used the Viva Las Vegastamps Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder. There are three layers of VLVS! High Gloss Embossing Powder on the image of Statue of Everything # 4525. Be sure to let the powder cool a minute before applying the next.

Here you can see the Viva Las Vegastamps Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder. The layers of embossing powder makes the piece sturdy.

Use Viva Las Vegastamps Miracle Tape to adhere the pattern paper card stock and rosette to the base card. Attach the Statue of Everything # 4525 with foam tape under the lower half of the image.

My first Art Journal Page

I've been working on lots of "new" things lately.. trying new techniques in both scrapbooking and stamping. One of them being scene stamping (which I'll share later) and the other being art journaling!! I'm absolutely falling for the free form open endedness that journaling really DOES have. The page doesn't have to say something to anyone else.. just me. 

Here is my first page (which I'm totally in love with):

I used a Clairefontaine journal which you'll get to see more of later. As well as Distress Stain in Broken China, Distress Ink in Mustard Seed, Broken china, Pine Needles, Vintage Photo and Tumbled Glass. 

First I splattered some of my favorite distress colors on the page. Then I cut a Spellbinders floral silhouette die out of corrugated cardboard and inked it up with vintage photo. After I had it glued down I decided I needed a bit more color, so I created a mask out of white cardstock and dabbed on the same colors of distress I had already used. 

I stamped the 

 Bird In Flight

1.75x1.75 - 7.50 

on Kromecote with Memento ink and fussy cut him out. Then I sponged a little vintage photo on his outside and glued him down. I added some twine and floral beads to finish off this page!! 

I'm back and forth on adding a title.. but basically I'd call it "Inspiration" - as it's something new I'm trying inspired by all those that do do it. 

Tips From a Stamp Hoarder: VLVS Stamp Storage...and Some other Tricks I've Picked Up Along the Way!

It's Sunday at Viva Las Vegastamps!!! Susan here to share some tips on storing my stash of Viva Las Vegastamps! and a few other tips I have picked up along my travels. And as a special treat...I am coming to you via the magic of Ustream!!! Please grab your morning coffee and watch... I hope you enjoy!

Some of the things I am discussing: labeling and storing unmounted Viva Las Vegastamps! rubber; cleaning stamps, stamping on my secret weapon or mousepad; cheap and easy watercolor, making a mist using Sakura 3d Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers;

 

and how do I mount my VLVS stamps?

 

The top portion of this card is hand-misted black cardstock using a mist made of Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer and Bronze Terri Sproul Mixers!

  

Thanks so much for dropping by today! If you haven't subscribed to the VLVS Blog - you want to because Viva Las Vegastamps! now has creative posts every day!!! Don't forget to check out the Viva Las Vegastamps! store - new stamp releases have just been added. If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. I'll be back with another stamping adventure on July 2nd. Have an inky Sunday! Sb

Facebook Fan Shares!

Today I'm sharing a couple of great pieces of work, not from our design team, but from FANS of VLVS!

Give them a big round of applause!

First up:

By Cathy Peper:

She used one of our brand new plates o' rubber : Plate 1403 and the final outcome is stunning!

and second:

By Lindsay Weirich:

She opted for a super fun father's day card using our Dog Golfer stamp.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share these with us, ladies!! We love when people share their work on our facebook!! Don't be afraid to flaunt what you've been working on using our images.

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Thinking of You

Here is a quick card I made using scraps from a project I was doing.

Kraft cardstock base. I took 2 scraps of scrapbook paper from the Retro Collage by Recollections and layered them over each other using Miracle tape. I stamped the Hippocrates hippo in black versafine ink pad. I colored him with Prisma's colored pencils. I popped him with foam tape. The letters I gotten in a big bag of alphas of all shapes and sizes at a thrift store. I think they are by Making Memories or K & Co. I spelled out "thinking of you" it still needed something so I added 6 pink bling 3 on each side. 

Itemes used:

Kraft cardstock

Retro Collage by Recollection 

Bling by Recollection

alpha letters by Making Memories

Hippocrates Hippo

Miracle Tape

leslierahye's Red-White-Blue Summer Steampunk Celebration Blog Hop

Viva Las Vegastamps! is participating in leslierahye's Red-White-Blue Summer Steampunk Celebration Blog Hop  [leslierahye, that's me!] I have collected an amazing group of artists that create beautiful steampunk creations and we like to show them off from time to time! Today we are celebrating the change of the season from Spring to Summer! Today is the longest day of the entire year and it deserves a little blog hop party! I hope you enjoy my summer tag made with fantastic red rubber stamps from Viva Las Vegastamps! I am a bit partial being on the design team and all but the company has a HUGE variety of Steampunk stamps and it adds hundreds of images every month! I hope you enjoy my card made with these beautiful stamps!

Rubbed Mica Distress with Sandra Strait's Tangles and Kromecote

Today I created a notecard with my teammate Sandra Strait's new tangled background stamp. This Rubbed Mica Distress technique that I created using Kromecote paper and Terri Sproul Mixers is super easy and makes an interesting aged appearance to the image. 

For this project you will need:

Black Archival Ink

Versamark Distress Ink

Soft Bristle Brush

Soft Cloth

Card Stock

You begin by covering the Kromecote with Versamark Watermark Ink...note the rectangle shape of the pad as I pressed and lifted repeatedly to cover the paper. Next with my soft brush I pounced on mica powder to cover the ink. Once covered I dusted lightly with the brush to remove the excess.

I then inked my background stamp with Archival ink and pressed into the mica covered Kromecote. I love how it look like it stamps under the mica powder.

Next I buffed the Kromecote with a soft cloth to remove the top layer. The mica powders dye the Kromecote and Archival Ink settles nicely into the paper leaving a distressed but shiny look. Finally I inked up the pen stamp and the drawing sentiment with the Archival Ink and stamped on top of my Rubbed Mica Distress to create the top image for my note card.

\

I edged the trimmed Kromecote with Archival Ink and mounted it onto a piece of brown card stock with Miracle Tape. Thank you for looking! I hope you enjoyed my technique and project.

How I store my stamps

I thought I would also share with you how I tend to my Viva Las Vegastamps! When I get my new plates of rubber, I trim out around the stamps I want to use on the plates [most of the time it's EVERY stamp]. I place them on a piece of mounting foam that is adhesive on one side and cling film on the other. After I trim out my stamps I can store them on cardboard sheets that will hold the cling film stamps. I have a 12×12 box that holds my cardboard sheets and my acrylic stamping blocks.

~leslierahye

Rubberstamping Jewelry from Viva Las Vegas stamps

It's always fun to combine two art forms you love!  I love
stamping andI love making jewelry, how much better
 can it get?

 "Victorian Lady"

necklace and ear rings

constructed using Viva Las Vegastamps!:
"Lady Sitting Regally"
no. 14076 (plate No. 876)

                                                             

This set was made from stamping on watercolor paper with
 Momento tuxedoblack ink(also from vivalasvegastamps.com.
Then it was colored with Copic pens.
To get the textured look of the rose color I used the
 blender over the color in different areas. I used memory box frames and
 glass and added a piece of Jewelry from a pair of vintage ear rings.

No matter your style there is always a stamp that suits you.  I love the
"Mad Hatter"

 and decided to do a second piece with him as my focus.

                                                               

 Mad hatter stamp no. 14315 plate no. 1149

This necklace was made on EcoArt board and stamped with black Stazon

 ink andcolored in with Tim Holtz distressed inks.  The EcoArt board was 

then coated with Versa Mark.  On top you add  a thick layer of Fluxe, 

a clear enameling resin (by Judi Kins) evenly over the the design.  

You can tap the sides of the piece with your finger 

and this helps with the leveling of the powder. Place 

your pieces on a piece of chipboard covered with tin foil. 

Then put your piece in a toaster oven at approx. 250 degrees

 for about 10 minutes and watch closely when it appears glazed you

 can use pot holders to take them out to dry completely.  (do not use a toaster 

oven that you use for your own cooking, find a used one at a garage sale

 or thrift store.)  The background can also be colored using adorondac 

ink or Tim Holtz distressed ink.  I must admit this process takes practice 

and I am still learning the ropes.

I added a looped backing to the top and a fun clip to hold the tea bag and chain.  

At the bottom I glued  two bezels on with E6000 glue. 

 The charms are from my collection.

                                                       

Tropical Toucans with a "Tangled" Resist Background

Hello and Happy MONDAY at Viva Las Vegastamps!!! Susan here to share a resist technique using the new "TANGLED" stamps by artist Sandra Strait from Plate #1427.

For my card I am also using Two Toucans on a Branch #8829 stamp. 

I stamped this twice on a piece of Kromecote, a Glossy Cardstock also available at Viva Las Vegastamps! This glossy paper really makes your image pop! 

I needed to use this glossy coated stock to use with the Ranger Resist Ink Pad. I tried the resist ink with the woven and the bamboo tangles from Plate #1427 and the results are completely different.

Start by mounting rubber and inking up with the resist ink.

After stamping onto Kromecote cardstock, heat set until completely dry.

**A NOTE** Be careful when handling Kromecoat.

Your fingerprints will act as a resist ink for this technique.

I applied ink using a brayer and the magic happens.

After fully covering with ink, gently rub with a paper towel and high gloss shine will return. If you would like deeper coloring, you can apply a second layer by repeating process.

This is a detail view of the resist area which remains white. This resembles a scratchboard etching with the hand-drawn detail of the stamp. LOVE IT!!!

Here is the bamboo tangle also done using same technique using a blue to green rainbow ink pad. The positive and negative space of this stamp is high contrast and gives this an entirely different effect. This background I am using to create my "Tropical Tangled Toucan" Card.

I hand-colored the birds and branches with my Ranger Distress Markers and fussy cut them out. 

On one of the stamped birds I overstamped with the resist ink and brayered on the same blue to green ink. I mounted this onto blue cardstock and colored leafs and branches green. I adhered the colored birds on top of the uncolored birds on this piece. I layered this over the center of the other two sections of large blue resist bamboo tangle, and mounted onto a green A2 card base.

Presenting "Tropical Tangled Toucans"

Thanks so much for dropping by today! Viva Las Vegastamps! now has creative posts every day! If you haven't subscribed to the VLVS Blog - you want to!!! Don't forget to check out the Viva Las Vegastamps! store - new stamp releases have just been added. If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. I'll be back with another stamping adventure on June 24th. Have an inky day! Sb