One last wish from Me to You

Hello everyone! leslierahye here for my last post with Viva Las VegaStamps! I've been with the team for two terms and wanted to take this opportunity to allow new blood to join the team and to explore some new projects for myself--there are only so many hours in the day! I love Viva Las VegaStamps! and will continue to enjoy their unique and varied brand of rubber! For my final project I wanted to create for you an ATC that not only followed my "one little word" personal journey this year, but also focused on one of my most favorite "blooms."
Dandelions have always been in my top 5 favorite flowers and this year I have found some MAMMOTH ones nearby. I took the opportunity to photograph them last month and got this fabulous shot of the seed head close up! That becomes one of the layers of my trading card.

For this project you will need

 .

Memento Ink

Brilliance Ink

rope trim/bakers twine

Specimen Bottle

Foam Tape
bling

photograph

fresh wishes

begin by procuring some fresh wishes.
Tie rope twin to neck of bottle.

trim out photograph for focal piece.
Stamp with dandelion stamp & Make a Wish
Edge the photograph

Add focal piece to an ATC sized cardboard
that has been stenciled. Attach with foam tape.
Poke holes through ATC to attach specimen
bottle full of wishes to ATC with Baker's Twine.

Dot your "i" with a piece of bling!

 Thank you for joining me over the last year or so! I've enjoyed creating stamped projects with you! I hope you continue to find inspiration with my returning teammates and the new artists joining the team. They have awesome ideas to share with you! Finally I leave you with one final wish...I wish you take time to create for yourself...it simply makes the world a more interesting place!Thank you Viva Las VegaStamps for this fantastic journey! à bientôt! ~leslierahye

Celebrate America!

Summer unofficially has started where I am...school is out, the temperature is getting H O T and it is the season of flags. From Memorial Day to Labor Day these next 3 months are full or red-white-blue flag-waving opportunities for my family and I love it! This is probably the time of the year that I am most emotional about the freedoms that have been afforded us by the lives and duties of others.

Viva Las VegaStamps has a plethora of stamps that could be used to celebrate America. I think my favorite are the photo stamps that look like vintage posters. They are simply gorgeous. For my tag today  I selected a stamp that has a collage of fireworks, the American flag, the statue of liberty and the rotunda of classic American architecture.

I've paired this beautiful stamp--which happens to be the perfect size for an ATC also--with upholstery remnants, May Arts ribbons and trim and some metal  embellishments. Miracle Tape adhered the paper to the fabric snuggly and Distress Ink colored the stamp to give that vintage feel! I hope you enjoy my tag! Thank you for stopping by!

If you love Viva Las VegaStamps and want to have over 19,000 images at your fingertips to express you passion, remember that the Design Team Call has been extended to Friday!! You can't make the team if you don't try out! Good Luck!

By Air...Happy National Transportation Month!

This is National Transportation Month!! Viva Las Vegastamps! has bunches of fabulous stamps to celebrate with . I love steampunk and have been working on a transportation-themed mini album for a special blog hop later this week. One of the pages in the album features several transportation-themed stamps from VLVS! This page in my mini album focuses on travel by air. In a steampunk world, there are several options for air travel and hot-air balloon is probably my most favorite.

In this page I stamped the balloon images on drawing paper with brown pigment ink. I colored over the paper with alcohol ink to "age" it. I mod-podged the images onto my patterned paper background and spot-stamped the definition on top of the background and images with black pigment ink.
For an added embellishment, I added a sprocket chipboard piece covered in paper and stamped with the dictionary page as well. Hot Off the Press Steampunk Dazzles completed my page. I hope you enjoyed my project. Be sure to check my blog on Wednesday to see the completed book and links to several steampunk artists as they celebrate National Transportation Month with me Steampunk Style!

for this project you will need:

Antique Mod Podge

Brown and Black pigment ink

Leaky Shed Studios Chipboard Album and Sprockets

Hot Off The Press Dazzles

Prima Craftsman Collection

Drawing Paper

Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Pens

My Favorite Things

New markers on card stock

Paris Trunk Inked script stamp

Mary Vogel Losinak's new Whimsical Cock

and a technique done with masking stamps

These are a few of my favorite things!

Morning Stampo Addicts! Leslierahye here! It is no secret that Mary Vogel Losinak is one of my favorite contemporary artists and I love her tangled images. This new Whimiscal Rooster is perhaps one of my favorites as it not only incorporates her fantastic doodles but also my Chinese Astrological Sign! And of course you all know of my love affair with all things script. Stamping this Script background with the yummy Paris Trunk Ink just adds to the richness of the image. But perhaps my most favorite thing about this card is how wonderfully the Spectrum Noir markers color over the Paris Trunk Ink and just bring to life this fabulous Whimsical Rooster! I hope you enjoy my favorite things! Thanks for looking

For this project I used: 

Bazzill Basics Card Stock

Black Paris Trunk Ink

Whimsical Rooster by Mary Vogel Losinak

Writing Background 4×4

Spectrum Noir Markers

coloring detail

A mask was cut out of paper to cover my colored image and allow the script to flow around the rooster. A low tack taperunner held the mask into place while I stamped the script image.

Clearsnap & VLVS! Day FOUR!

Welcome back everyone!!! 

If you've been following along this week you'll know we've been swapping blogs with Clearnsap. They've got fabulous beautiful inks of all types to go with our amazing range of stamps and together we've got a match made in heaven! 

Today I'm sharing three projects with you! 

First up is Kersten with this lovely Goddess Tree Card:

Kersten says : "I made a Goddess Tree card using two stamps from VLVS:  Japanese Tree and Be Your Own Goddess.  I used ColorBox Archival Ink:  Glacier Lake and Wicked Black by Clearsnap to not only sponge pad directly to paper for a green-hued background, but Wicked Ink for the tree and expression.  I used Smooches Pearlized Top Coat to highlight the blossoms on the branches and Ocean Soul to highlight the black borders.  Fun combination of greens and blues!"

Second is Sheri with this whimsical journal page:

Sheri says : "I used : Smooch in Sassy pink, Silver fox, Gold Lame, moonlight, pool, taffy, grape soda, and snickerdoodle. Smooch spritz -galaxy gold. Ink pads: Mix'd Media inx-Jasmine; colorBox Archival Dye-Pinkolicious; and Colorbox Stephanie Barnard Premium Dye Licorice all by Clearsnap.

As well as : Kromecote, Straphmore Visual Journal in the Mix media papers, Miracle Tape, Black cardstock, Ultra high Gloss Embossing powder and stamps from the December Daily plate, and some of the stamps from plate 910.

I basically used everything I was given on this fun little journal page. Made a marble background, and colored with the smooches, Stamped with all three ink pads I was given either on Kromecote, black cardstock, or on the journal page itself. I even edged the page with the Smooch Spritz."

And last today but certainly never least is leslierahye:

From LR: "Create background on book paper with gesso and smooch spritz. Stencil with Mix'd Media Inx and punchnella. Stamp grid background with Mix'd Media Inx. On another piece of Book Paper, stamp March Hare in black archival and watercolor. Fussy cut and adhere to your background. Attach art piece to EcoArtBoard. Trim out board pieces. Sand edges. Ink with Truffle Mix'd Media Inx. Coat entire image with Mod Podge. Glue image back together with E6000. Adhere 3D pieces with E6000. 

VLVS! Stamps:

March Hare

Washi Grid Background

EcoArtBoard

Clearsnap Supplies:

Mix'd Media Inx School House

Mix'd Media Inx Truffle

Smooch Spritz Vanilla Shimmer

Smooch Spirtz Navy Twinkle
Wicked Archival Ink

Others:

Book Paper, Watercolor, trinkets, Mod podge, Punchnella, E6000, gesso"
Get more details on LR's blog!

Now head over to the Clearsnap blog to see what they've cooked up :)

(P.S. don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win the plate o' rubber of your choice!)

It's Time to Be Kind

The inspiration for my tag today came from the Be Adorable stamp. I had purchased this stamp along with a plate and never had really read it. It didn't dawn on me for several weeks that it had wisdom in the form of simple commands from a to z : Be adorable, be brilliant, be crazy, be daring be excellent, be FUN....be kind... . Upon realizing the true extent of this stamp I felt that it embodied things I believe and have tried to instill in my children. It embodied feelings I have recently expressed about current events in the world. I needed to incorporate this stamp and remind people that NOW is the time-- the time to be caring, to be thankful to be wise to be kind and among others, to be NICE. I hope you enjoy my project!

The base of the tag is painted with acrylic paints and then distressed. The Adorable stamp and the grid stamp were stamped  and then the whole base was misted with Copper Maya Mist. 

The pieces of the Worn Clock Face and the Watch Movement were created on misted Kromecoat with embossed stamping.

All layers were adhered to the tag and metal embellishments were added to represent hardware in the gears of the clock faces and on the dry embossed piece. Trim and Misted May Arts Ribbon were added to the top and bottom of the tag to complete the look!
I hope you enjoyed my tag! ~leslierahye

For this project you will need:

shipping tag

brads, trims, metal embellishments, gold paper scrap

May Arts Ribbon

acrylic paint, Maya Road Mists, Smooch Spritz

Ranger EP and Mix'd Media Inx

Girls Weekend | Art Journaling & Dr. Who

This weekend I had a great opportunity to sit with my favorite arty girl and art journal while we had a marathon Dr. Who showing--love Netflix. My Fancy Pants is very much a SciFi fan and Dr. Who is among her favorites. She and I both were thrilled with the January release of stamps which included a T.A.R.D.I.S. [AKA Police Box]. I knew this would be perfect for lots of applications in my life including scrapbooking, cardmaking and journal pages. 

I used a combination of Niji Pearlescent Watercolors and Derwent Inktense pencils to create my base  on Kraft Cardstock--this will be "tipped in" to my art journal at a latter date. While the base was drying, on a scrap of Black Cardstock I painted a coat of blue pearlescent paint. I then coated my stamp with the opal colored pearlescent paint and stamped on top of my cardstock scrap. This was set aside to dry and then trimmed. I love the look of dimension that is achieved with these paints and this stamp.

Miracle Tape was used to create my Chevron Tissue Tape and my antique paper sentiment. I hand-journaled about our girls weekend to finish off the page.

For this project :

Black and Kraft Cardstock

Tissue Paper and Book Paper remnants

Black Paris Trunk Ink

Niji Watercolors & Derwent Inktense

Thank you for looking! ~leslierahye

Steamy Valentine with Chamomile Tea and May Arts

Hi everyone! I'm sharing with you a fun ATC that I've made with the charming steampunk stamp Chamomile Tea. I love Brian Kensinger's drawings as they lend themselves to several coloring options...today I chose to watercolor her on a piece of antique book paper. 

For this project you will need : 

corrugated cardboard ATC Blank--painted and inked and embossed.

Punchinella from Guache Alchemy

Handmade Washi Tape using VLVS!, Miracle Tape and tissue paper

May Arts Ribbon

Distress Stain, Paris Trunk Ink

Book Paper, foil metal trinkets, feather and bling

I stamped Chamomile Tea onto the book paper with the Paris Trunk Ink in Black and embossed her with the Ultra High Gloss Emboss Enamel. This helps to keep most of the watercolor where it needs to be. I layered her onto of a prepared ATC base with some additional layers of homemade Washi tape and punchinella. I finished her off with a hand stamped ribbon from May Arts, trinkets, bling and a feather. Thank you for looking!

The May Arts Ribbon used in this project was originally white. I colored it quickly with Distress Stain and dried it lightly. Take care with the heat tool because this man-made fiber will crinkle--a process that I used once it was stamped. I then used my Black Paris Trunk Ink to stamp gears onto the ribbon. I set it aside to dry but if you are in a rush, again heat set gently. Once the ribbon was tied onto the ATC, I zapped it closer with the heat tool to get the ribbon to crinkle as seen in the final ATC.
I hope you enjoy my ATC! ~leslierahye

Dreaming Big in the New Year

 Happy Wednesday!! Leslie-Rahye here with my first post in the new year. I hope everyone is having a fantastic New Year. I have adopted the word B L O O M as my focus word for the new year and so far it is manifesting itself in ways I never dreamed possible. In just a short week and a half so many fantastic opportunities have presented themselves making me want to DREAM BIG! I celebrated my happiness with this 4×4" art tile using stamps from the latest stamp release! I hope you enjoy my tile...see below for how I created this fun cracked background.

For this project you will need :
card stock
Chip Board Blank
Watercolor Crayons Distress Markers/Ink
Maya Mist Pearl
Glitter

I began the layers of this background with watercolor crayons which I loosely colored and then misted and blended to get a base color. Next I stamped with Black archival the written stamp and the banner stamp. I misted with Maya Mist in Pearl and quickly dusted the wet surface with High Gloss Emboss Powder. I melted the dry powder and built up layers of molten emboss powder on the surface until I achieved a thickness. I let it cool completely and then bent the surface to make  cracks. I rubbed Ranger Archival into the cracks to accentuate them! This fun technique gives a broken glass look to the embossed surface. I hope you enjoyed my technique and my tile! Happy New Year!
~leslierahye

Contemplating on a swift year...

The year 2012 is rapidly coming to a close and it is this time of the year that makes me think more than anything about new goals for the new year. I am reminded of last year's goals. I always like to see how I did at completing the tasks at hand and then I move forward with a shiny brand new set of goals and tasks to attempt for the new year. Since I always begin by looking back, I am reminded of how swiftly this year went. Viva Las VegaStamps has many stamps to help convey that! Today I share with you an art journal page I made as I meditated on last year's accomplishments and brevity. Mists and reinker were layered and dried with a heat tool. Images were stamped with Archival ink and then markers were used to highlight the balloon stamp and to edge the journal page.

For this you will need:
mists/sprays--I used Tattered Angels
Distressed Reinker
Archival Ink--Black
Distressed Markers

Thank you for looking! I hope you enjoyed my project! ~leslierahye

Embossed Greetings for the Holiday

Happy Tuesday stampers! Before I was a "stamper" I always loved the look of embossing on a card...especially a holiday card. With Viva Las VegaStamps High Gloss Emboss Enamel you can achieve the embossed look on you own cards. For this card I chose to use a collage image from Altered Pages but you could also use images from old holiday cards to stamp and emboss upon with this fantastic Ornament Ball Stamp!!
For my card I centered the ball stamp over the top of my collage image and stamped with Versamark Watermark Ink and sprinkled the ultrafine High Gloss Emboss Enamel. I dusted the very top of the ornament with Bronze Mixers to give the look of metal to the top. I attached a May Arts raffia ribbon through the hole of the ornament to finish it off. I mounted my ornament on top of an embossed piece of coredinations card stock which I had sanded to reveal the green for the leaves. I clear embossed snowflakes on the background piece. I clear embossed Season's Greetings in the bottom and then dusted it with Bronze Mixers. I zapped the top of the ornament and the sentiment one more time to melt the mixers into the emboss enamel.

For this project you will need:
Coredinations Card Stock
Emboss Folder and Sanding paper

Thank you for looking! I hope you enjoyed my project! ~leslierahye

DD Inspiration Day #6

Hello!! Welcome to our week full of inspiration using Plate1430! Stay tuned all week for some amazing works in which the Viva Las VegaStamps! Design Team has utilized our "December Daily" plate.

 

Today I bring you work by HERMINE, and this countdown just screams GLORIOUS.

Besides the December Daily plate, Hermine used:

Harlequin Diamond Background nr. 18920: http://www.vlvstamps.com/harlequin-diamond-background-4-1-2-x-5-3-4.html

Spotty Background nr. 1461: http://www.vlvstamps.com/spotty-background-2-1-2-x-2-1-2.html

Whimsical Peacock  18362 : http://www.vlvstamps.com/mary-vogel-lozinak/whimsical-peacock-3-3-4-x-2-3-4.html

Mircale tape: http://www.vlvstamps.com/miracle-tape-1-4-inch-x-55-yds.html

Stazon Black: http://www.vlvstamps.com/stazon-jet-black-ink-pad.html

May Arts ribbons and lace

Hermine has wonderful steps all typed out for each piece, but I have it in PDF form, if you'd like it, just leave a message with your email and I'll shoot it over to you!! Here are the final steps after each "smaller project" is complete : Start this project with the focal point, in this case its the number 25 because that is Christmas day.  Then decorate some of the larger hearts. Don’t over decorate all the hearts but keep at least half of them clean and simple to avoid an overkill. The hardest part is to assemble 31 little projects into one big one.  Start the tie your focal point in the middle and work from there.  Tie the strings with a single knot so you will be able to pull up or lower down the hearts if needed. When you are happy with the layout of all the hearts you tie a double knot in each and everyone. Another advice is to hang your project already at the spot you want the finished project to hang so you see how the layout works out best. 

And a daily mini full of wonders by leslierahye:

For This Project:

Miscellaneous Trims & Ribbons, May Arts Trim, Dollar Tree reindeer ornaments, Dollar Tree Christmas Quiz Card Game, Chipboard, Cardboard, Cardstock, Sheet Protectors, Transparency Sheets and Media, Envelopes, book paper, crepe paper and Memorabalia, Artists Spackle, acryllic paint, Prima roses, Tattered, Angels Mists in Apple and Lobster Red and Glam in Camel, Barn Red, Walnut Stain Distressed Inks, Rangers Black Archival Ink, Assorted circle punches & Word Window Punch, Sizzix and Spellbinders Die Cuts, Bind It All and coils, lined note paper, office supply clips and rings, foam tape, Tombow liquid glue and Sakura Crystal Lacquer

Leave a comment, show them some much deserved love!

Altered Halloween File Folder Part II

Happy Wednesday everyone! leslierahye here with part two of my altered folder project that I began two weeks ago. Today I am finishing up the labels on the pockets making the base tags for my recipe cards. To catch up on the beginning of this project start here.

For this project :

[list for the 1st part of the post is here]

The base of the tags was formed in the same manner as the base of the file folder--black was "dry-brushed" around the edges. Images were stamped to mimic the images on the folder. Space was left on the middle of the tag to label your recipe and the entire back side was made available for the recipe. May Arts ribbons and trimmed were colored with ink to match.

using the alphabet from the December Daily plate and a ¼" square punch I created letters for my words from a piece of water colored paper. I kept my alpha intact for this express purpose. I love how the words on my pocket turned out with this stamped alphabet!

I hope you enjoy my project! Thank you for looking~leslierahye