Word Up Weekend

Its that time again! Word Up Weekend! We recently had a new release at Stampotique and this Brolly was one of the newest stamps! It is so versatile and charming! And, of course, one of my favorite sentiments from Stampotique, "Just Keep On".

Of course, this brolly made me want to get out my blue and teal Dylusions to create a spring rainy  day. I also decided to pop out the front part of the umbrella to add more dimension to the umbrella. Its a sweet little ATC and I almost don't want to share it.

My second project, while it has no sentiment, it another image from our latest release. Her name is, Communitree. I love her organic feel. I feel like she really needed something warmer than brown so I went a bit crazy with the color, but not SO crazy. The feather came from my backyard and I felt that it was perfect for the subject of the image.

I hope I have enticed you to check out our new release. There are so many fun stamps to be had!! Happy weekend!

Ingredients:

Brolly: Stampotique
Communitree: Stampotique
Just Keep On: Stampotique
Hanging Hearts:Stampotique
Dylusions Ink Sprays
Ranger Archival Ink
Bakers Twine
Watercolor Pencils
Adhesive Gems
Feather
Doily, Paper Studio

SDC 264, Anything Goes! Happy 2017!!

Good morning, all! I am thrilled to be back for a second term with Stampotique! I so love their stamps and style, and I LOVE the ladies and gent I have gotten to know over the last 6 months.

Its has been such a CRAZY last 2 months thanks to the Holidays here in the states as well as my son's 10th birthday. (my aching heart!) It will be awesome to dive back into creating!

To start 2017, Stampotique is using the theme, "Anything Goes". The perfect theme to get our feet wet after the crazy of the holiday season!

I decided to just go crazy with color, and I wanted the card to reflect how I plan to tackle 2017. I used the Unicorn by Magda Polakow and the "Sometimes I Pretend" sentiment by Jo Capper-Sandon. I think they go perfectly together!

I used an Action Wobble on the Unicorn so that when you touch it, it wobbles! It makes it that much more fun!!

The colors, the unicorn, the sparkle and the snark....this is how I plan to spend 2017! Cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with! Happy 2017 to all!

Ingredients:

Unicorn (Stampotique)

Sometimes I Pretend (Stampotique)

Dylusions Sprays

Sequins

Action Wobble

Bakers Twine

Washi Tape

Ranger Archival Ink, Black

ATC! Approach With Caution!

OKay, I am back! With more ATCs! Seriously, I never realized how therapeutic creating an ATC could be. When you don't have a lot of time but really have the itch to create, these little cards are just about perfect. 

I love this cactus stamp from Stampotique and had a lot of fun envisioning a sunset, desert sky for the background.

The background orange and pinks were created with dylusions sprays. Love how the colors gradated. The sunburst is a Tim Holtz stencil (rays) that I just love and use quite a bit, with Dina Wakely heavy body acrylic paint and I love how the paint just sticks in place and shows all of the details of the stencil.

 I colored the cactus with my copic markers. I am having fun getting reacquainted with them. I have been using watercolor pencils quite a bit and have really started missing my copics. I mixed the copics with a Prima marker, which, surprisingly I love almost as much as my copic markers. They blend very well!

Annnnd, of course, when around cacti in the desert PLEASE approach with caution. ;) 

Ingredients:

Prickly Pear Cactus (Stampotique)
Approach With Caution (Stampotique)
Tim Holtz Rays Stencil
Dina Wakely Acrylic Paint
Copic Markers
Ranger Black Archival Ink

SDC #258 Favorite Quote

When I was younger, I had a Tigger (yes, tigger) notebook that I used to write down every inspirational quote that meant something to me. I must still have it somewhere. Anyway, I kind of wish I still knew where it was. This week we are continuing our theme at Stampotique, which is, "favorite quote". Luckily, Stampotique has a lot of fun and inspirational quote stamps.

This one, "Color Her Soul" really spoke to me. It needed to be a wall hanging. It is a larger stamp so that worked out well. Moth Fab seemed like the perfect girl to be paired with this sentiment. 

And, of course, Moth Fab got the watercolor pencil treatment as well as a white paint pen to make her pop. Love using mixed colors on her. 

Its no secret that I have really gotten into mixed media over the last couple of years, and this is no exception. For this wall hanging I used Dina Wakely heavy bodied acrylic paint as well as some other acrylic paint. For the texture on the background I used Diane Revealy's "large triangle" stencil and Ranger texture paste. 

Loved how all of these elements came together to tell a story and back up the sentiment. Went a little heavy on the accessories, but I think they work. Even stiffened some bakers twine to create a fun detail behind the flowers.

Be sure to check out all of the other beautiful projects (see the DT on the left bar of this page) and then enter our challenge!!! 

Ingredients:

Stamp: Color Her Soul

Stamp: Moth Fab

Dina Wakely Heavy Bodied Acrylic Paint

Prima Handmade Flowers

Ranger Texture Paste

Ranger Archival Ink

Watercolor Pencils

Bakers Twine

Sequins

Adhesive Pearls, Paper Studio

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Chalkboard

Various Washi Tape

ATC DIY Stamping!

Do you ever look at your mixed media projects and wish you had a different way to add pattern or texture? Or, are you on a budget like I am and don't want to spend money on a fancy background stamp? Yeah. Been there.

So....this is what I do....I create something using whatever I have lying around.

For this I used jute twine and bubble wrap. Both subtle, but exactly what I needed to create a fun pattern for my ATCs. I used Americana acrylic paint in lieu of ink.

The houses are Stampotique, of course, and this time I broke out my Copic markers as well as my Prima markers. They blend well together, which is awesome! I love the whimsy of these houses and had a lot of fun imagining a color scheme for them. 

I added some doodled boarders and a couple of cute sentiment stickers to round off the whimsy. I am excited to swap these, but kind of sad to see them go as well. It is always hard to swap away something you like, but if you like it, then you know your partner will appreciate it as well. 

Did you know Stampotique also carries an ATC stamp for the back of all of your ATCs and it is delightful with its webs and skull spiders. Be sure to check it out! 

Ingredients:

Stitched Houses

Bubble Wrap

Jute Twine

Americana Acrylic Paint

Teresa Collins Sticker Sentiment

Copic Markers

Mail, Mail, Here Is The Mail

Congratulations! If you have ever watched Blue's Clues you now have an obnoxious preschool song stuck in your head....

ANNNND now you have a Jefferey Dallas song stuck in your head. Muahahaha. Did I mention I am kind of manic lately? Yeah. Lots of stuff going on, so now I am being dorky. Hope that's okay.

So, recently I reconnected with a dear friend of mine and, like myself, she loves to color and with the new "fad" that has finally caught up to the both of us I wanted to print some free coloring pages and send them to her.

Years ago now, probably at least 5 years? She sent me this amazing box with glitter, paint and washi tape ALL over it. I swear this is STILL glitter in my dining room from that box. I wanted to create something just as special for her that she could keep or hang (or toss, whatever) but make it also be meaningful and make her smile.

I started with a manila envelope (size, 10 x 13...YIKES) and laid down a generous layer of Gesso. I didn't want the colors to mute or get muddy. I also didn't want the watercolors seeping through the paper and creating a ripped up mess either. 

Once that dried, I used my favorite technique of watering down my Dylusions spray inks and creating a beautiful piece of art. I just love this technique and was SO happy with the outcome this time!! I used some stencils and paint to add some more pattern/interest and, of course, used my faber castell black pen and my posca pen (white) to doodle like mad. 

I tried something different too. I decided to stamp these girls on label paper, like, what you would get at staples? Colored them with colored pencil and cut them out with my fussy scissors. It was perfect! No way these gals are coming off in the mail! No worry about how to affix them or masking them off. It worked so well! 

I really can't wait to take this to the post office tomorrow and send it on its way. REALLY can't wait for the recipient to get it though! I hope she loves it! 

Ingredients:

Stampotique Stamps:

Marsha

Sargent

Hanging Hearts

Just Keep On 

Stencil Girl Circles 

Dylusions Circle Stencil

Dylusions Ink Sprays

Ranger Gesso

Posca White Pen

Faber Castell Black Pen

Ranger Archival Black Ink

Folk Art Acrylic Paints

Americana Acrylic Paints

Label Paper

Colored Pencils

Its ATC Time Again!

This month over at Stampotique our ATC swap theme is Stamped Background. The idea is to stamp a background and hi-light that stamp or another in the foreground. Of course I had to use my cute little monsters. Plushy and the Goat Monster. I went a little bit more simple in an effort to have the stamped background and monsters pop. I love how they turned out.

This first one is on a background that I created for my video on watercolor backgrounds.  It was exactly what I needed for this goat monster and his silly plushies.

 This card I used an extra panel I had from the party banner  that was created awhile back for my first DT slot. I cut it down to the appropriate size and stamped Plusy all over the back. I used watercolor pencils for Goat Monster and then used the "caution" part of the Approach With Caution stamp. I love how the expression on Goat Monster's face almost seems like he is in a daze, or in the twilight zone with Plushy behind him.

 I flipped the colors for the second card, using the blues and greens on the back with the warmer yellows and oranges for the goat. Finished up both cards with a gel pen to create a funky boarder.

Pretty much love the way these guys turned out. I am really enjoying learning to use different color schemes and not just my go-to colors.

So, be sure to hop over and join our ATC swap! There are so many amazing artist waiting to swap with you!

Ingredients:

Goat Monster (Stampotique)
Plushy (Stampotique)
Approach With Caution (Stampotique)
Ken Oliver Color Liquid Metals
Dylusions Sprays
Watercolor Pencils
Black Archival Ranger Ink

Stampotique ATC

I am participating in the ATC swap over at Stampotique this month.

This month, the theme is, "Frame It". I thought this would be a fun challenge. With ATCs your space is limited and it actually was a bit more challenging then I had at first anticipated. In the end, I decided that an "instax" type frame, or "Polaroid", if you prefer, would be the perfect solution.

I love this girl, "Moth Fab". She is so funky and just screams for like, "fab" colors and style. Of course, she is a little large for a 2.5 x 3.5 inch sized canvas so, the frame was the perfect fit. It kind of reminds me of a middle school picture for a yearbook when it is placed this way. I used watercolor pencils and water brush pens to color her.

Not sure what it is, but I can't just leave things simple anymore and I really do try. However, I just imagined that if "Moth Fab" was to give this photo away she was going to doodle on it and write all over it. Least, that's what I always did in school. This, after I used Dylusions Sprays and Faber Castel Gelatos to create a distressed, colored frame. 

To acheive this I used the "Just Keep On" sentiment as well as "Hanging Hearts" on the frame. A little washi tape and just a bit more doodling with my Poscca paint pen and it was, I think, complete. 

Ingedients:

Stamp: Moth Fab

Stamp: Hanging Hearts

Stamp: Just Keep On

Dylusions Spray

Heidi Swapp Color Shine

Faber Castell Gelato

Washi Tape

Poscca Pen

Watercolor Pencils