To my out of this world friends: card tutorial

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my VLVS monthly tutorial.

This time I made a card, but then it's a very Mixed Media card after all and it even looks more like an art piece.

So here we go!

Step by step instructions:

1. Cover the card sized white cardstock piece with a few layer of double sided Miracle tape  as shown. I used 1/2'' tape, but it can be done with thinner or thicker one too.

2.Use  square punches or just hand cut a few squares and rectangles to cover the entire piece and then glue them into the grid over the double sided tape. Do not try to cover all gaps as we really want to see them later.

3. Sprinkle blue glitter over the glued squares and see how it fills the gaps left over the glue.

3. Pick your VLVS stamps and stamp over the entire piece with white pigmented ink and heat emboss with black fine detail embossing powder. You can see all four stamps I used to make this card. They all totally fit the sentiment I had in my mind for this card.

4. Color the stamped images with distress markers as shown.

5. Ink the whole surface with a mix of distress inks over the and around the images.

Add your sentiment made of small stickers. 

I made my sentiment as " To my out of this world crazy soul mates" and I mean my craft friends!

Hope you liked my small tutorial!

VLVS products used :

Miracle tape 1/2''

Whimsical Moon Face Item 19519 Plate 1448

Alien circle  Item 7138 Plate 648 Page 378

Alien space scene left 2*2   Item 19372 Plate 1439

Alien space scene right 2 1/4*2 1/4 Item 19369 Plate 1439

This Is Not A Photo Opportunity.

Hello, Mary here.

Today, I have a project to share featuring one of my all time favorite ways to use rubber stamps!  It's well known that I LOVE fabric.  The only thing I love more that fabric, is creating my own printed fabric.

To create the covers for this book, I grabbed some of my favorite unbleached cotton fabric along with my StazOn ink pad and stamped myself a one of a kind pattern with the Flying Saucer Diagram and Field Of Stars rubber stamp images.

To embellish the cover, I stamped a small section of white cotton with the Banksy This Is/Photo Op image, and stitched it on (I thought it was a funny nod to the cliche of a UFO enthusiast's desire to catch one on film!  HA!!). I then layered together several panels of cotton, felt and chipboard and sewed them together to create a soft, quilted book cover.

I love the vintage look of this book!  And the versatility of stamping your own fabric is endless.  How sweet would it be using nursery rhyme images for a baby book?  We're talking Humpty Dumpty, The Cow Jumped Over The Moon, and The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon stuff here.

Oh, yeah...

Well, that's it for me today---thanks so much for joining me.  Now, go grab some rubber and get crafty!!!

xx Mary

Aliens and Organizers.

Hello :-)  It's Mary joining you today to share a little VLVS 'stampin' love' in the form of a brand new organizer---ready to help me stay on track this year!!

 

It all started with an old book cover...

 

 

The aged look of this cover was far too pretty to cover completely, so I chose to use only a single focal embellishment.

 

I created a freeform heart from paper clay and stamped into it with my all-time favorite stamp lately, Cross Stitch.  White paint and some Lindy's Stamp Gang spray mist gave some fabulously bright color,  while a bit of black paint brought out the amazing texture the stamp left in the clay.

 

The inside cover was rockin' some amazing handwriting from the original owner, so I opted to keep it simple with more misting and a single image. 

 

How amazing is the Alien Circle stamp??  I think it adds a bit of mystery a la Area 51!

 

 

The divider pages were collaged with ephemera from Gauche Alchemy and some patterned paper from the 'ol scrap bin with a thin coat of white paint to unify everything.  I've repeated the Alien Circle and Cross Stitch stamps using Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder and Staze-On black ink.  A bit more spray misting and she was finished!!

 

I absolutely adore mixing stamped stitching with the real deal! 

 

 

 I gotta say, I'm super happy with how it came out.  All that 'stampin'-stitchin'-painty' goodness is the perfect combo of function meets fab!

 

Ok guys, that's it for me.  Thanks so much for joining me today, and I'll see ya soon!!

 

xx Mary

 

 

Take a PEEK... and Don't Forget the SUNSCREEN!!!

Welcome to Viva Las Vegastamps! It's finally the weekend... which means time to get creative. Susan here today for some weekend stamping fun. I have to admit... I HAVE TOO MANY STAMPS!!! So many that I can't make up my mind what I want to use. Does this ever happen to you? 

I have so many ideas... yet too many stamps – and they just keep coming! So where to begin. I grab a pile of rubber and a handful of sketches and I just get to it and let the creative juices flow. But I'm not really in the mood to make cards today. As some already know, I am the head counselor over at Anything But a Card Challenges – and the current challenge has been "make an A.T.C.". You know A.T.C.'s {a.k.a. artist trading cards}. Well I love making mini masterpieces so today I'm sharing a fun A.T.C. If you would like to play along today is the last day of the challenge - CLICK HERE to check it out {there's a couple familiar faces on the team over there also}.

I live in South Florida and one of the iconic images here is this old Coppertone signage. Upon doing some research I found out the "Coppertone Girl" sign was recently relocated to a new location at 7300 Biscayne Blvd in Miami.

Well I happen to have this stamp in my stash - "Dog Pulling Alien Bathing Suit" #2531. This will be a fun twist on the iconic theme and perfect for a brand new A.T.C. {especially since sunbathing these days might leave you looking like an ALIEN - LOL!}.

I'm going to pair this up with this "Train to Florida" #18199 and only use the sunburst and type and lover part of the right hand side. To do this I am going to color directly on my stamp using my Ranger Distress Markers.

I started with some section of book pages that I have leftover from an altered book I cut a niche out of. This particular paper is about three pages were glued together from some other crafty experimenting. I liked how it looks like stacked pages. These are the perfect size and base for an A.T.C. I primed the book page with a gesso wash, then applied Ranger Distress Stains in Picket Fence and Antique Linen. After heat setting, I'm ready to stamp. I stamped the alien with black StazOn ink, so it would be waterproof against the hand-coloring and blending with the distress markers.

**TIP FOR THE DAY** If you only want a section of your image, apply ink to stamp with a marker for detailed application. This gives you precise placement of ink when a traditional masking technique will not work. This also is a great way to add different colors to one image in a single application. Before stamping, just remember to give a "Huff" of air onto the stamp to re-moisten the ink. This opens up a whole world of versatility to your stamp stash.

To soften the edge and have the image fade out, I removed some of the ink with a paper towel before stamping onto my A.T.C. base.

Who knew aliens are really PURPLE???

My completed A.T.C. – all hand-colored with a vintage beach feel. I finished off the top with a photo corner. So much fun and only using two stamps and my markers. Now I'm ready to hit the beach!!!

•••••••••••

Supplies used: STAMPS - "Train to Florida" #18199 and "Dog Pulling Alien Bathing Suit" #2531. Other supplies: sections of book pages; Staz-On Black ink; Miracle Tape; photo corner; Ranger Distress Markers; Ranger Distress Stains - Picket Fence and Antique Linen; Gelly Stardust Pen and a water brush.

Thanks so much for dropping by. Have you seen what the Viva Las Vegastamps! Design Team has been creating or dropped by the Viva Las Vegastamps! store lately? There's so much amazing inky inspiration to see!  If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. I'll be back soon with another stamping adventure... Sb

Get all the details HERE -- hop to it, the deadline to apply is May 30th at midnight pacific standard time. You know you want to be a part of this team... go ahead - give it a try!