St Valentine's Day - by Fran

Happy St Valentine's Day everyone!

I don't know if you celebrate it where you are, but we do here in the UK so I thought I would do a Valentine themed card today.

To make the card, first of all I smooshed some pink Distress Inks onto a piece of card.  I dried between layers.

I stamped out the main image, then coloured with pencils and fussy cut it out.

I then stamped two hearts onto the card and painted red with Distress Ink. I stamped two more hearts onto spare card, painted them and cut out the middle of each one. I stuck them onto the hearts on the card with some sticky pads to lift them.

I stuck the main image onto some heart washy tape, then went round the edge of the card with a red pen, then stuck the matt onto the main card.

Finally, when the card was all put together, I painted the raised part of the hearts with glossy accents.

Stamps Used:

Squiggle heart 19644

Young couple kissing 18502

Other items used:

Distress Inks in Candied Apple, Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry

Washy Tape

Glossy Accents

Polychromos pencils

Red edging pen

Two Valentine's cards in one with Josefine

Hello everyone! This is Josefine and today I wanted to share an idea for quick Valentine's cards (since it is close to the 14th and such).

I started by creating two card bases. In my case these are 7"x3.5" (folded), but any size would have been fine. I then stamped the Squiggly Heart with a light grey ink. For this technique, I used my Misti stamping tool, because I will stamp that heart a couple more times onto the same spot, and the Misti allows me to do that.

Next, I needed a bit color - pink shades, of course - and instead of just applying it, I used my smallest Gel Press and mono printed the paint on top of the grey heart. My goal was to add only small spots, so I didn't press the paper entirely onto the Gel Press but dabbed it onto small areas instead.

Nest, I lined up the card base in my Misti again and stamped the heart in a dark black.

Now I fuzzy cut the inside of the heart.

I'm not using the cut out for this project, but I kept it. You never know.

Then I used the card base with the cut out heart as a stencil. I put another card base (in the same size) underneath the original one and blended some more ink shades on top.

This way, I now had a wonky heart on the second card base and just had to stamp the heart one more time. Again, easily done because I just had to align it on my stamping tool.

And here are the two cards I made. One is a see through card (I'm thinking about adding a picture in the middle here). The other is a one-layer card with a sentiment on top. And both together make two quick and simple Valentine's card - two in one ;)

Stamps used:

Squiggle Heart SKU 19644

Happy Sweetest Day SKU 20405

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you liked my two quick cards and now have a good idea for some quick cards - in case you still need some.

Have a great week.

Josefine

"Love.Repeat" Art Journal Page | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

Sue Plumb here with my latest design team project for you. Today I have a mixed media art journal page to share that I created using a variety of stamps, inks, and assorted collage materials. This piece was inspired by a gorgeous art journal page shared last month by Jenn Engle. (You can see Jenn's page HERE) I really loved the balance between colour and white space on Jenn's page and wanted to create something similar - but with my own twist, of course.

I was working in my 9x6" Jane Davenport journal for this one (it has watercolour paper pages and takes wet media fairly well with no bleed through). I started by putting down multiple layers of Colour Blast Colour Artist Ink; drying between each one with a heat gun to get the "hard" water lines.

Once I had the colour down, I began adding some structure. I started with the Punchinella/Sequin Waste Border; which I stamped vertically using black Staz On ink.

Next, I used the Double Coffee Rings stamp with 'Mowed Lawn' Distress Oxide; stamping it several times over the top. 

I then used the Cross Marks Background with black Staz On to add some marks around the edges of the colour.

Now it was time to add some texture to my page. I used small torn pieces of washi tape and some snippets of punchinella.

I also added a piece of paper doily, some plasterer's tape, and some frayed gauze - all layered in the central focal point of the page.

I then stamped out the focal image for my page using the Squiggle Heart stamp and Staz On ink onto some white cardstock and fussy cut around it. I used a shimmery watercolour paint to colour the heart before sticking it down onto the page.

To finish off, I stamped the sentiment Love.Repeat a few times and then splattered a little bit of blue ink around the edges.

I was really happy with how this page came out - thank you Jenn for the inspiration!

That's all from me today, thanks for stopping by. I hope I have inspired you to get inky too!

Stamps used:
- Punchinella/Sequin Waste Border
- Double Coffee Rings
- Cross Marks Background
- Squiggle Heart
- Love.Repeat

Other materials:
- Jane Davenport art journal
- Colour Blast Colour Artist Inks
- Tsukineko Staz On ink
- Ranger Distress Oxide
- Colour Blast Colour Shimmer Cube
- Assorted collage materials (as listed in post above)

Learning To Love Purple

Hello VLVS! peeps, Fiona here with you today and I have a little video to share of an art journal page I created.

I'm learning to love purple because for some unknown reason my brain keeps making me use it in my art!!!

 I have never been a big fan of the colour but it just keeps creeping in to my creations. In all reality I think I am learning to like it.

 And I paired it up with green and pink so it doesn't over power the piece. I tried something different this time in my journal too. I stamped first!

I mean I stamped in between too but I began the process with some background stamping. Anyway you can see it all in the video.

Here is a link 

VLV Stamps used:

Squiggle Heart

Typewriter Keys by Cat Kerr

Clockface

Sawtooth Stitching Lines

Stitching

I am totally enjoying exploring with different colours and different stamping techniques in my art journal. I feel i'm really starting to develop a style. I hope you feel inspired to get your VLV stamps out and have a little play in your journal too xx

Mail Art Monday!!

Hello Again....
and welcome back for another fabulous
Mail Art Monday!!!

Today I want to share a fun envelope that I made using my new distress oxide inks, distress layering stencils and some of my favorite Stamps from VLVS! 

(you know I love these art journal style stamps... 

so when trying any medium they are usually what I grab for 1st!  Especially the numbers!) 

Stamps Used:

Numbers Set

Double Coffee Rings

Squiggle Heart

Six Staples

Distress oxide inks:

Broken China

Wilted Violet

Cracked Pistachio

To start I used stencils to add some detail to my blank A2 envelope. when I felt I had enough pattern, I added some ink to me craft mat so that I could "smoosh" my envelope in to get a more distressed blotchy effect.  to finish the background I used my ink blending tools to edge around the envelope. 

(below you can see my envelope before I added any stamps or detail)

Next I stamped the Squiggle heart off of the left of the envelope. 

(remember to leave room for an address)

To add even more visual interest to the background I decided to stamp my numbers set randomly... 

(It tends to be one of my go to stamps for backgrounds.)

The next steps I forgot to photograph ... (Sorry, but I'll explain what I did)

I used a black pen and scribbled around the area that I wanted to be my address box. It still looked a tad plain, so I then stamped my staples around that. (which was exactly what it needed)

I also decided to stamp the coffee ring stains... 

(Love these... yes I know I used these a ton too!) 

The final steps to make everything pop, I used Pan pastels in Ultra soft course glitter black to edge my card (the glitter doesn't show in the scan, its very subtle)... I also used it to shadow my address space and heart.  To help the staples to pop I used a white gel pen to add highlights. 

Well, there you have it! Nice and easy and super fun to mail anyone!

(Also some of you may notice I went WAY outside my comfort zone here... I used PURPLE!!!! I know, i'm shocked too!!! 

I couldn't believe I was buying purple ink... let alone reaching for it for an envelope... )

"Beauty in Simplicity" Layout by Fiona Paltridge

Hello VLVS peeps! Fiona here with you to share a layout I have created using some of the gorgeous rubber from Viva Las Vegastamps.

"Beauty in Simplicity"

I sued a water color stamping technique to create the background along with some sponging through one of my favourite stencils at the moment.

I stamped and fussy cut out the Squiggle Heart and Dressform and then colored them in with a coordinating paint color.

Some black splats and the Butterfly Specimen stamp with black ink finished it all off.

Viva Las Vegastamps used include:

Squiggle Heart

Butterfly Specimens

Freud Handwriting background

Dressform

I hope you've liked my little piece of art. Until next time xx

She Was A Dreamer Tag by Fiona Paltridge

Hello VLVS peeps! Fiona here with you today to share a little tag I created using some of the super dooper rubber stamps from Viva Las Vegastamps.

"She Was A Dreamer"

My tag making skills are still developing but I'm happy with the end result for this one. It's just that it takes me sooooo long to make even just one of them as I agonize over every step!

I really don't like fussy cutting but some how I always manage to end up doing some!!

I have to say my most favourite stamp at the moment is the stitching ones. They are so real!

Viva Las Vegastamps I used include:

Two Whimsical Ladies Under Umbrella

Squiggle Heart

She was a dreamer

Stitching

Sawtooth Stitching lines

Until next time xx