Viva Las VegaStamps!: July 2013

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Say hello to my little friend....

I would like to introduce you to my little man Sam, isn't he adorable??? We adopted him from the humane society in 1998 and he is now 16 1/2 years old. Man I love this little dude.

I used 4 different stamps to make this layout and the first is of course the little dog dressed up in the Superman costume which you can find on Plate 1349

and my favorite Line of chevrons stamp

and the little writing arrow

and last but not least these adorable hearts

and here is my layout

and here is a closeup

I hope you enjoyed meeting Sam and here are the supplies I used to make this layout:

Dog in costume from Plate 1349
Line of chevrons
Writing arrow
Hearts
Miracle tape
Cardstock
Glimmer mists & ink sprays
Washi tape/gaffer tape
Stencils
Chipboard journal spot & letters
Die cut letters
Paint
Watercolor pencils
Epoxy sticker
Versafine ink

Monday, July 29, 2013

Viva Las VegaStamps! &Genuinely Jane Studio Day 4

Hi Everyone! Welcome to the Genuinely Jane Studio and Viva Las VegaStamps! hop!

Genuinely Jane Studios manufactures small and medium size wood mini-albums for mixed media, scrapbooking and altered art in many shapes and sizes. All of the albums are hand made right on site in their Central Missouri facility. In addition to their albums, they also carry other art supplies in their online store. Find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/genuinelyjanestudios and their website at https://www.genuinelyjanestudios.com.

And if you're new to VLVS! :
Viva Las VegaStamps is America’s largest rubber stamp manufacturer with over 19,000 different images in their line. We manufacture deeply etched, superbly detailed pink rubber stamps that are sarcastic, vintage, edgy and on trend. Perfect for cards, art journaling, mixed media and more! Find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/vlvstamps and visit our online store to see the vast array of images at http://www.vlvstamps.com/.

All through the weekend we'll be hopping through our designer's blogs to share some fabulous stamped wooden albums.Visit each day and show some appreciation to our artists for sharing their work with.. there's something in it for you! (Besides inspiration and eye candy of course!) Leave comments each day on each post and be entered to win!

Here's a sneak peek from Glenda

and one from Tasha:

And one from myself (DeeDee):

Now get on to hopping and seeing the goods! It's your last day, so be sure to leave all your comments and be entered to win!

Leave comments for the lovely ladies participating -- there are PRIZES to be won!! Genuinely Jane Studio is giving away a $20 gift certificate to purchase some of their GORGEOUS wooden albums, and we'll be sending one lucky commenter a POUND of unmounted rubber! That's a lot of goodness in one weekend!

The Hop:
VLVS! (http://vivalas.blogspot.com/)
Glenda (http://somewhereovertherainbowunicornsdream.blogspot.ca/)
Lori (http://www.lorishappyplace.blogspot.com/)
DeeDee (http://umwowstudio.blogspot.com/)
Natasha (http://ur-la-la.blogspot.com/)
GJS (http://www.genuinelyjanestudios.com/blog/)

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Viva Las VegaStamps! &Genuinely Jane Studio Day 3

Hi Everyone! Welcome to the final stop on the Genuinely Jane Studio and Viva Las VegaStamps! hop!

Sandra Strait's blog hop inspiration goes for a Wabi-Sabi feel with her wood tag from Genuinely Jane and VLVS! stamps. She uses acrylic paints, metallic leaf, microglaze and tea-bags to capture the soft, weathered look of old tile and tennis shoes.

and one from Karen:

Karen says : Here is a peek at my project. The Genuinely Jane Timber products are awesome, and the finish of the timber makes them perfect to stamp directly onto . I had so much fun with this. I have made a little sign to hang off rings above my creating space. Most of my creations find homes in other places, so this time it was nice to do a little something for me! I've used a base of distress crackle, and then stamped using VLVS! directly on to the Genuinely Jane timber arrow.

Did you see those projects before you arrived here today?? If not, you're in the wrong spot! Start at Genuinely Jane Studio and make your way through the hop, you should end up here!

GJS (http://www.genuinelyjanestudios.com/blog/)
Amy (http://heartnsoul-amy.blogspot.com/)
Sandra (http://lifeimitatesdoodles.blogspot.com/)
Irit (http://iritshalom.blogspot.co.il/)
Karen (http://altered-ink.blogspot.com.au/)
VLVS! (http://vivalas.blogspot.com/)

Leave comments for the lovely ladies participating -- there are PRIZES to be won!! Genuinely Jane Studio is giving away a $20 gift certificate to purchase some of their GORGEOUS wooden albums, and we'll be sending one lucky commenter a POUND of unmounted rubber! That's a lot of goodness in one weekend!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Viva Las VegaStamps! &Genuinely Jane Studio Day 2

It's day 2 of our inspiration weekend with GJS and we have even more goods to share today!

and one from Susan:

Susan has created a spectacular haunted accordion book using two sections of the Genuinely Jane Studios Wood Book - Square With Star Cut Out - G102 Size: 4 x 4" for the covers of this Spooky Stamped Mini Book. The wood pages are covered using misted brown paper mounted using our own MIRACLE SHEETS; then overstamped with layers of barbed wire background #5793... just to start! The inside accordion pages are a plethora of inky stamped goodness using loads of VLVS! stamps and a SURPRISE awaits on the back cover.

Leave comments for the lovely ladies participating -- there are PRIZES to be won!! Genuinely Jane Studio is giving away a $20 gift certificate to purchase some of their GORGEOUS wooden albums, and we'll be sending one lucky commenter a POUND of unmounted rubber! That's a lot of goodness in one weekend!

Now get onto hopping!
VLVS! (http://vivalas.blogspot.com/)
Susan (http://sbartist.blogspot.com/)
Ildiko (http://www.thecraftinmama.blogspot.com/)
Hermine (http://herminesplace.wordpress.com/)
GJS (http://www.genuinelyjanestudios.com/blog/)

Friday, July 26, 2013

Viva Las VegaStamps! &Genuinely Jane Studio Day 1

Hi Everyone! Welcome to our stop on the Genuinely Jane Studio and Viva Las VegaStamps! hop!

Here's a sneak peek from Lea:

Lea has done three separate panels for us; one inspired by Brian Kesinger, one Halloween, and one road trip bit!

and here's an inspiration sneak peek from Amy:

Did you see those projects on your hop today?? If not you better start from the beginning and get to hopping!!

Leave comments for the lovely ladies participating -- there are PRIZES to be won!! Genuinely Jane Studio is giving away a $20 gift certificate to purchase some of their GORGEOUS wooden albums, and we'll be sending one lucky commenter a POUND of unmounted rubber! That's a lot of goodness in one weekend!

The hop for today :

GJS (http://www.genuinelyjanestudios.com/blog/)

Lea (http://www.leacioci.blogspot.com/)

Kimberly (http://www.scrapitgirl.net/)

Amy (http://sparklinggnome.com/)

Emily(http://www.emilyhammann.com/

VLVS! (http://vivalas.blogspot.com/)

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Awake!

Hello all, Nataliya is here :)
I'm glad to meet you!
Today I'll tell you why I love stamps.
Stamps - this is the perfect tool for creating unique backgrounds :)
Yes, yes, I love to create backgrounds with stamps. You will receive a new result every time, even if you use the same stamps. It's amazing, isn't it?
Today I'll show you a small card, which I made using VLVS!

I used these stamps:

Washi Grid Background 1 1/4 x 5 1/2

Washi Chevron Background 1 1/4 x 5 1/2

Number Strip 1 1/4 x 3 1/4

It is also necessary for me:

- Watercolor paper for background

- Distress ink for stamping

- Spray to create blots

- Acrylic paint for drawing

- Pigma Micron (Sakura of America) for doodling

- fragments of book pages

To create the background in this card I used the same stamps :)

Let's stamp together!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Dream It & Be It

Hello, it's Amy here today,and I'm happy to share a layout I made using a selfie my daughter took. I'm always inspired the pops of color and interesting composition of her photos...they are super fun to scrap. For this project I used many of the stamps from plate 928. This plate is perfect for the edginess of this photo (and all of your edgy, grungy projects!)

To create this project, I started by creating a mixed media background on a neutral 12x12 paper from Tim Holtz's French Market collection. I layered splats of teal, Caribbean blue, and pink. Next, I wet metallic Gelatos in blue and pink, and tapped the very damp brush with my pointer finger, leaving dimensional dots of color behind. My next step was to stencil the chevrons using a damp sponge and black Ranger Archival Ink. When that layer dried, I stamped the crackled background . On top of that, I added a layer of stenciled stars and circles, using punchinella. The painted edges are just using the last bits of paint that remained.
cracked stamping, dreamitbeit

When all of my background had dried, I placed my photo (which I cut into two parts) on the page, to determine where I would eventually adhere it. Next, I layered up my papers and washi tape, moving from the left middle top, to the bottom.

Be True.

Hi Everyone.. Karen here with you again. Thank you so much for all your kind words and welcome on my first post. I have another tag to share with you again today.. I do most of my creating on tags, I think like the challenge of working in such a small space.

I had an idea floating around in my head.. and this was the end result.

I've used three stamps this time,

Winged Pig - small

Italian Sonnet Background

Be True - Off new plate 949

I've stamped the Italian sonnet background all over the tag, then used distress ink around the edges as well as a bit of machine stitching. ( another thing you'll see I love to do!) The different elements in this one stamp make it a perfect background stamp.

Stamped and coloured the little winged pig, added some Distress Stickles to his wings and a little crown. - he just makes me smile!

To finish off I've added in a bit more of my idea-ology embellishment stash, some flowers, a few bits from my sewing box and used my labeller to add in some strips of random numbers. I've also used a bit of Miracle Tape on the back of my label maker strips, to help hold them down.

Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting the blog today. Hope to see you all again very soon..

Happy Stamping - Karen

Monday, July 22, 2013

Mystery Box Challenge! (and some inspiration)

Hello stampers :)

It's CHA week and I've signed up to participate in the Mystery Box challenge via Charity Wings on Wednesday. The line up:

Basically we're given a box of random supplies and have 15 minutes to create a project! So tune in and see what I make.. maybe you'll be lucky enough to WIN my creation! oh goodness! You also win all the stuff IN the box and we're throwing in a stamp or two and some UmWowStudio goodies as part of the prize :). (times are pacific)

As a little inspiration I'm including a set of tags I created recently!

Along with a slew of other supplies I used the Until Further Notice, Be True, Be an Adventurer and Dancing Lady stamps. I also used Gauche Alchemy punchinella, May Arts ribbons, BasicaGrey paper, UmWowStudio chipboard, Tattered Angels Glimmer MIst, Prima flowers, Distress ink, Distress markers, Archival ink, Miracle Tape, and some miscellaneous brads n bits from my stash.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Here and There {Guest Designer Michele}

We are lucky enough to be joined once again by the brand new art journaler (and July Guest Designer) Michele Kosciolek!!

You can read her first post here where she shares her very first art journal cover and page with us, plus get to know her!

I'll let Michele take over: "I am back again ;) and wanted to share my second page in my art journal...I call it 'here and there' and it represents the two places my heart calls home. For this page I used my new Cameo to cut the United States on sheet music and then got busy with my fabulous VLVS! images!!

I used dancing lady, pointed placemarker, hands pointing, line of chevrons, writing background and writing arrow.

I also used UmWowStudio star and arrow confetti, Piccolo enamels, Gauche Alchemy punchinella, modeling paste, Distress ink, Glimmer mist, May Arts jute, Distress paint, button, sequin, seed beads and Distress markers.

I had so much fun creating these pages!! Thanks for visiting and a special thanks to VLVS! for having me as their guest this month!!"

No way Michele.. thank YOU! Thank you for sharing your wonderful art journal with us :) Here's to creating lots more!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Impressionistic Dream

Combining several stamp images using a Cray-Pas Rubbing Technique, I was able to capture my feelings for an impressionistic look. A little Cray-Pas painting was done as well.

VLVS Images:
10683 - Group of 5 Horses (cut mine so there is 3 in this image)
19193 - Bulls Eye Target Open
979 - Design Solid Circle
2559 - A Patch o' Grass

Miracle Tape Sheet

VLVS Partners:
UmWow Studios Polaroid Chipboard
Sakura of America Cray-Pas, Expressionist Oil Pastels
Helmar 450 Quick Drying Adhesive

Fabric that has been tea-dyed is wrapped around a solid surface (acrylic stamp block was used). One at a time, starting with the horses (focal point), Cray-Pas was rubbed over the surface of a stamp - face up. Remove cloth, add another stamp and repeat process. Do until layout is to your pleasing.

Use the side edge of the Cray-Pas to add colors. Dip a pointed watercolor brush into Odorless Mineral Spirits and tap lightly onto a rag. Begin to blend out some of the colors in various places, smoothing as well as blending.

Cut and rip fabric with decorative edge sisscors and add a little decorative paper on back if like using Miracle Tape Sheet. Use the quick dry adhesive to adhere frame to finished art.

Cre8tivelea Yours - Lea

TIME

Hi, Hermine here again. I love clocks, and even more so to alter them. So that's what I did for today.

Step 1: take the clock apart, be careful because the hands are fragile. Put the parts aside. On this clock the clockface was glue on the plastic back and the paper was a little flimsy, so i decided to cut out a circle out of sturdier paper the same size as the orignal clockface. I colored the whole circle with different colours oil pastels (Cray-Pas expresionist) from Sakura of America, then blend the colours with you fingers, this way you get gorgoeus muted colours. Use some perfect Pearls and brush over it, I used golden, this makes it much easier to stamp on theis type of background.

step 2: Stamp with Stazon Jet Black the coffee stain ring 19230, do this four times in a horizontal line in the middle. Stamp the bulls eye target solid 19196 and the Bulls eye target open 19193 radomly around the coffee stains. Stampe the pulse rate 19186 on the right hand side below the middle line and on the left hand side above the middle line. Do the same with the washi grid background 19074.

Step 3: Stamp the dancing lady 19183 on a piece of Kromecote. And give it some colours with distress inks and a water brush. Cut out.

step 4: because I made a new circle I didn;lt have the numbers, so I scanned the clock face and printd it on transparant sheet.

step 5: I sprayed the outer ring with marble spray white and then black.

step 6: Assemble the clock. I spray glued the Clock face and glued into the back, then I spray glued the transparant clock face and glued this on top. Then put back the hands, the glass and put the outer ring back on it.

Because the glass shimmers its a bit hard to make decant photo's without reflections.

Hope you like this project!

Used materials:
Coffee Stain ring 19230
Bulls eye target solid 19196
Bulls eye target solid 19193
Pulse rate 19186
Washi grid background 19074
Dancing Lady 19183
Kromecote
Stazon Jet Back ink

Oil Pastel from Sakura of America.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Wanderlust

I have to admit I was never a wild child.
I always envied those who were.

So I decided to celebrate the spirit of Wanderlust!

VLVS! Stamps used:
Children Playing on Toy Car-19187 Plate 927
Wanderlust-19170 Plate 927

Sakura of America:
Cray-Pas® Expressionist® Oil Pastels-Red, Orange, Yellow, Pale Blue, Black, Yellow, Green
Gelly Roll® Stardust® Glitter Pens-Rose, Sky Blue, Gold, Red
Gelly Roll 1.0 Metallic: - Gold, Blue

Other Supplies:

Heavy 5" x 5" Chipboard or Masonite tile

UmWow Studio Chipboard-Hexagon Background

Silk Tissue Paper (aka very thin rice paper/mulberry paper. White tissue paper would also work, but would harder to color)
Faber-Castell Stampers Big Brush pen-Ivory 103, Light Flesh 132
Miracle Tape
StazOn Inkpad-Jet Black
Hair Spray
Golden Regular Gel Medium
Golden Acrylic Ground
Plastic Eraser
Stylus
E6000 adhesive
Scissors
Bone Folder

The Tile-Using Cray-Pas® as Scratchboard (Sgraffito)

Seal the tile with two coats of regular gel medium and 1 coat of Acrylic ground, letting each layer dry in between.
Color the tile with the Cray-Pas®, adding each color at random applying the color heavily. DO NOT USE BLACK AT THIS TIME.
Blend the colors together with the plastic eraser.
Lay down a heavy coat of black, completely covering the other colors. Don't worry--the other colors won't smudge.
Use the stylus to carve designs into the oil pastel, allowing the first layer of colors to show through.
Spray with cheap hair spray and let set overnight to set color..
Seal with regular gel medium. Let dry.

(NOTE: Julie Fei-Fan Balzer has a video showing this technique )

The Chipboard Hexagon

Seal the chipboard with two coats of regular gel medium and 1 coat of Acrylic ground, letting each layer dry in between.
Lay down stripes of yellow-green Cray-Pas®, alternating with sky blue stripes.
Spray with cheap hair spray and let set overnight to set color.
Seal with regular gel medium. Let dry.
Attach chipboard to tile with E6000.

The Stamped Images

Stamp the ''Children Playing on Toy Car' and the 'Wanderlust images onto the silk tissue paper with StazOn ink.
Cut around each image, leaving a generous border around each.
Flip over and add layers of Miracle tape onto the paper to stiffen it. Leave the backing on the tape for now.
Flip right side up, and color the children using the Gellyroll and Big Brush pens.
Trim the Wanderlust image so it has a white border all around,
Pull off backing and stick to the bottom corner of the tile. Burnish with bone folder or spoon, taking care not to tear the tissue.
Fussy cut the Children's image so no border is left.
Pull off backing and stick to the bottom corner of the tile. Burnish with bone folder or spoon, taking care not to tear the tissue.

Check out the VLVS! Store for all your stamping needs and the VLVS! Blog for new projects. VLVS! FB - VLVS! Pinterest - VLVS! Twitter

For more of my work with Viva Las VegaStamps!, Amazing Mold Putty, zentangle-inspired art, and daily links to tangles, tutorials, and giveaways please visit my "Life Imitates Doodles" blog. ~ Sandra Strait

Monday, July 15, 2013

Freedom

Hi everyone Glenda here and it's that time again! Time for a new prompt over at the A Year in the Life of an Art Journal:

PROMPT: Freedom
SHOOTERS: Shoot your mug with some red white and blue
BOOKERS: Journal about what freedom means to you, and use STARS on your page!

It's funny because when I look at this art journal page that I did all I can think about is the USA, and I'm Canadian! haha I think it's because of the scrapbook paper I used that had the stars on it and the colors were the red, white and blue. Anyways, I had fun journaling about what freedom means to me and while I am grateful to live in a country (Canada!) where I have my freedom I do wish for freedom from other things such as worry, work, etc.. so that I could do things that I enjoy.

I used 4 different stamps on this journal page such as the lady with the cake and the lady with the washing machine which are on Plate 1415

and the Row of stars

and last but not least the Admit ticket

to make this journal page

and here is a close up of the lady with the cake (doesn't she look happy? Maybe she has the freedom to not work and can bake all day??) haha!

Here are the supplies I used to make this project:

2 ladies from Plate 1415
Row of stars
Admit ticket
Miracle tape
Scrapbook paper
Washi & clear tapes
Paints & glimmer mists
Watercolor pencils
Versafine ink
Foam arrows & letters
Tags
Epoxy stickers
Butterfly sticker
Letter stickers
Fabric flower
Gaffer tape

Friday, July 12, 2013

July Guest Designer {Michele Kosciolek}

I'd like everyone to give a big warm welcome to Michele Kosciolek, our July Guest Designer!

HI!! Michele here today and I am sharing my very first art journal, yes I finally took the plunge. ;) I am SUPER excited (and a little nervous) to be a guest here on the VLVS! blog...but first a little about me. I live in the mid-west now, where I was born, but I lived in Los Angeles for over 15 years. I love to craft, travel and spend as much time as I can with my nieces....that is really about it. My Blog :

http://stuffbybelle.blogspot.com

Now on to my art journal.

For the cover I used a bunch of my favorite supplies, my favorite stamp and my favorite color. I think it represents me, at least right now, pretty well.
I used the following VLVS! products;

Leaves Blowing From Tree

Wanderlust

Chicken Wire

Butterfly Spotted Wing Small

Butterfly Spotted

Miracle Tape

Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder

Other items:

May Arts ribbon and jute, Archival Ink, Momento Ink, Doodlebug washi tape, MME Miss Caroline cardstock and brad, Distress Paint, Tattered Angeles Glimmer Mist, Gelatos

I also did my first page...hey when you have an idea you have to go with it right away or you might loose it. I decided to leave some white space on my page so I can do some actual journaling along with my creation.

I used the following VLVS! Products:

Be an Adventurer

Children Playing on toy car