Greeting cards with a little surprise by Josefine Fouarge

Hi everyone, there is a snarky theme over in the Viva Las VegaStamps! Facebook group and I couldn't resist. So, I made a few greeting cards with a twist - and I'll show you that at the end of the blog ;)

I recently had a surgery (no worries, nothing major) that kept me tied to the bed and I didn't have much energy for a couple of days. But I still wanted to craft and get a bit messy. So, I thought about a few techniques that require breaks in between anyway, to spread the energy over a couple of days.

I started by heat embossing my focal point onto a piece of watercolor paper using clear embossing powder.

Then I added just a bit of spray paint on top and let that sit over night. The next day, I also added a few extra splatters that also had to dry for a bit.

All together, I stamped three different images, heat embossed all three of them and then added a variety of sprays.

For the fourth card, I played with the clear embossing a bit by adding different colors of embossing powder on top. I kept the clear embossing powder all heated up and then sprinkled the other colors on top, melting them into the clear powder.

I then cut out the shape, stamped the Scribble Circle onto a new piece of card stock and adhered the woman on top.

At the end, I picked a few pieces of colored card stock and adhered all of it together. The main piece is 4x4 1/4; the colored card stock is 4 1/8 x 5 3/8 and the card base 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.

For the inside of the cards, I picked a variety of sentiments that hopefully create a smile on the recipients face.

Check out all the cards in close up:

All the stamps I used:

Scribble Circle

Ethos Woman

Ethos Owl

Ethos Sunrise

Art is Anything

I am a Ray

Tired of Trying

She was a Dreamer

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my greeting cards with a little surprise inside :)

See you soon!

Her Sparkly Star Shaped Self - August Challenge Inspiration

Hi all, it's Cheetarah here and I've made a little something for you to inspire you for our August Challenge. I have made an index sized art card inspired by the colors and imagery from our mood board below

Isn't it gorgeous and don't you just long for a summer sunset at the beach? 

It has inspired me to make the following

I am just absolutely in love with that Fancy Mermaid, the large moon and all the mixed media journaling stamps from the latest release. I've mixed a few oldies too, like the sentiment which is is a part of Tired of trying to cram stamp, which I LOVE! A full list of stamps and materials used is below. 

I also have a filmed the process which you can watch here:

Hope you enjoyed that and inspired you to play along with our monthly challenge :)

List of stamps used:

Fancy Mermaid 

The Moon 

Typeset Scallop 

Rows of numbers 

Row of distressed lines 

Stars 

Tired of trying to cram 

Other materials:

Gelli printed papers of which you can see the process HERE 

alcohol markers 

Staz-On inks store grey, midnight blue, azure

distress crayons 

liquitex titanium white INKS

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Art Journal Page Tutorial by Susanne

Hi there!

Susanne here today and I'm sharing a step by step art journal project. This one is made in my homemade traveler's journal. I used gelli printed papers as my base pages.

Use gel medium and adhere the mixed media die cuts to the page. Cover it with a layer of gesso. Stamp the main image and the sentiment on tissue paper, cut it out and adhere it to the page.

Now it's time to add colour with Brusho powders. I sprinkle the pigments onto my page and spread them arround with a wet brush. I am adding colour until I am happy with the result.
While I am drying the colours with a heat tool I am spritzing water droplets with the Distress Sprayer onto the page to create some more texture.

I make the Dancing Lady pop out more by adding a shadow around her. I'm using an Inktense pencil.

Finally I add some stamping:

Here are some close-ups:

Thank you for stopping by today!
xx Susanne.

Supplies:
Viva Las VegaStamps!
Tired of Trying to Cram 1
Dancing Lady
There is a Universe
You are Beautiful
Howling Coyote Silhouette
Straggly Pine Trees 
Others:
Brushos
Archival Ink
Sizzix Tim Holtz Mixed Media Dies
Distress Sprayer
Gel Medium
Gesso
Tissue Paper

Altered Paper Houses by Susanne

Hi my dear crafty friends.

I'm sharing two altered paper houses today. I cut the pieces with my Silhouette Cameo from Kraft cardstock.

Here are the step by step instructions:

Add some pieces of old book paper before you cover every piece with gesso. Use acrylic paint together with a baby wipe to add some color. I used DecoArt Fluid Acrylics.

Add some details with different stamps and waterproof ink. I used Archival Ink Jet Black.

Use Crackle Paste with a stencil to add some texture.

After the paste is dry, cover the texture with DecoArt Antiquing Cream Carbon Black. Let it dry and wipe it away with wet baby wipes. Wipe away the color just in one direction to get a deep shadow on one side of the stenciled image.

I added the Pair of Butterfly Wings, stamped on tissue paper, onto the roofs. And some dimensional Flowers and sentiments to the front of the houses.

The flowers are from the Sizzix Susan's Garden Collection and colored with PanPastels. I glued the pieces together with Miracle Tape.

 

Thank you for stopping by today!
xx Susanne.

Supplies:
Viva Las VegaStamps!
Miracle Tape
Doodle Flower Garden 3
Tired of Trying to Cram 1
Pair of Butterfly Wings
Flowers are Love's
Where Flowers Bloom
Butterfly Specimens
Writing Circles Background
Sizzix Susan's Garden Flowers
DecoArt Fluid Acrylics (Carbon Black, Green Gold, Cadmium Orange Hue, Quinacridone Burnt Orange)
DecoArt Crackle Paste
DecoArt Gel Medium
Americana Stencil Doily
PanPastels

Art Journal Page by Jenn Engle

Hey everyone! Today I have a double page spread in my mini art journal.

STAMPS USED:

Tired of Trying to Cram

Fed-Up Vintage Lady

Mesh Texture

I started out with spraying Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray in Tibetan Poppy Teal all over my pages. When that was dry, I used a small circle stencil and texture paste randomly around the edge.

While that was drying, I stamp my Fed-Up Lady and colored her with Copic Markers. I also stamped Tired of Trying to Cram and took the time to cut out each line as well as the words in black. 

I added some background stamping with the Mesh Texture stamp. This one one of my fave stamps to add a little subtle sumthin' sumthin' to the background.

Finally, I adhered everything down. The lady is sitting on some washi tape and a strip of painted deli paper. And that's it. Super simple, but super fun to make!

Thanks for looking!

~Jenn

Mail Art Monday - FlipBook - by Jenn Engle (and GIVEAWAY!!!)

Hey everyone! For today's Mail Art Monday I made a Flip Book. A Flip Book is basically a little handmade book stuffed with goodies that you mail out to your friends.

A lot of work went into this little book. So rather than tell you how I made it, you can watch how I made it. The process video will be up at the end of this post.

Stamps Used:

Squiggly Star Collage

Doodle Circles

Doodle Flower Garden

Doodle Leaf

You are Beautiful

Tired of Trying to Cram

Doodle Frame

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite kind of mail art is and you'll be entered to win this Flip Book! (Be sure to check out the video to see the goodies that went in here!) 
Giveaway will close at Midnight EST August 1st. 

For an extra entry: "Like" us over at our Facebook page. Leave a comment below saying you did this for another entry. https://www.facebook.com/vlvstamps/

Thanks for looking!

~Jenn