Greeting cards - Why fit in?

 Hello everyone,

I wouldn't say that I'm making cards often, but from time to time you just need a few greeting cards, right? So today is actually the first time I'm sharing a card design on the blog. 

My cards are standard A2 sized cards (4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch). I die cutted some pieces of watercolor paper to go on top of them.

The focal point I chose is the elephant on bike stamp which is quite large. It is also available in a smaller size that would perfectly fit onto an ATC. I'll link you both of them below, just in case you like the image as much as I do. ;-)
I stamped it on both my cards and colored it with some ZIG watercolor markers which was a really enjoyable process. 

Next I stamped the image on some masking paper, cut that out and masked my colored and dried images. Now I added some background stamping with circles on the one card and squares on the other. I used Oxide ink (speckled egg) for this.

I also stamped the quote on some watercolor paper, trimmed it and inked the edges. But I didn't like it a lot, it was just looking lost. So I cut two rectangles that were a little larger than my quote and inked it up with some of the same Oxide ink I used for my background stamping.

I glued everything together and voilà!

Stamps used:
Elephant On Bike (2027)
not used, just a smaller version of the elephant: Teeny Tiny On Bike (9636)
Overlapping Squares by Corrie Herriman (19996)
Overlapping Circles by Corrie Herriman (19995)
Why Fit In (20082)


Other material:
- card bases (regular 300 gsm cardstock cut and folded)
- Canson watercolor paper 300 gsm
- MFT die (Stitched mod rectangle stax)
- masking paper
- Versaclair ink (nocturne)
- Distress oxide ink (speckled Egg)
- ZIG real brush watercolor pens

Hope you enjoyed my cards. See you soon!

 

Pencil Case Makeover

Hello VLV STAMP lovers! Fiona here with you today to share a little pictorial tutorial on how I gave my pencil case a makeover using the gorgeous new stamps by the very talented  Corrie Herriman and Tera Callihan.

I bought this little gem at K-Mart. It is made from canvas that has been dipped in a matt rubber covering on the bottom. It is very cool and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to give it a makeover!

I began by giving it a light coat of gesso and once that was dry I started to collage some old book pages, music sheets, stamps and other ephemera onto the gesso with some matt gel medium. While I waited for the first layer of gel medium to dry, I stamped out some of the girls new designs onto some old book paper and coloured them using some water soluble pastels. You could use anything you liked to give them some colour. Then I cut out and layered the stamped images on top of the layer of ephemera and gave it another coat of matt gel medium.

Next I added some white contrast with ultra white gesso. I scraped it over with a palette knife, then with my finger I added just a touch of black contrast using some black acrylic paint then finally I added my colour element. I only choose three colours to add because there was already a lot of colour going on with the stamped images.

Speaking of stamped images ..... I wanted a feature piece so I chose the Whimsical Lettered Man and stamped him in a place where there wasn't as much going on with some black Archival ink. 

Tip: Place a hard cover book inside the pencil case to press onto when you stamp. It gives you a nice firm surface to work with.

Lastly .... and this is the best bit ... I added some white paint pen marks over the top of the black areas, I scribbled randomly and with my non dominant hand all over the front with a led pencil, I then outlined roughly any areas I wanted to enhance using a black biro (ball point pen) and then finally I added a little bit more black stamping with the little star and heart and some acrylic SPLASH! Ink.

Here is a list of the Viva Las Vegastamps I used:

Overlapping Squares by Corrie Herriman

Overlapping Circles by Corrie Herriman

Heart by Tera Callihan

Heart Pattern Circle by Tera Callihan

Star by Tera Callihan

Circle Pattern Circle by Tera Callihan

Plate 1480

Whimsical Lettered Man

I think you'll agree it looks much funkier now!!

Thanks for popping in to take a look and I'll see you all again soon xx