Stamp your way to funky photo and title highlights :)

So are you loving all the wonderful Inspiration from the design team this month using the fabulous JBS Stamps?!!! I know I am! :)

Today I would like to share with you a couple of layouts I created using the the current May JBS kits and 2 fabulous stamps; 1 acrylic and 1 foam.

For this layout I have used the very versatile Cabbage flower clear stamp with fountain pen ink. To give both my title and photo a little visual oomph, I first scrapped on some gesso to my background pattered card stock and then stamped over it once it was dry. To coordinate the whole clustered effect of my title, photo, stamping and embellishments, I have added a few splats of fountain pen paint. 

Another amazingly versatile stamp from the JBS range is this set of Whimsical foam stamps. Foam stamps appear to be very much a favourite of art journal creatives these days, but we shouldn't forget just how wonderful they can look on our layouts, cards, tags etc :)

To highlight my title for this particular layout I tore out the letter 'A' from a die-cut stencil sheet and stamped it with the spotty foam stamp using chilli powder paint. Once again I have added extra splats of the paint to help coordinate 'the look'!

Well I do hope you enjoyed my stamping fun, please do share with us your own creative JBS stamping fun!!!

Cheers Louise :) :) :)

Colorful Collage With Dina Wakley

This morning we have some amazing collage work from Dina Wakley to share!  These first two tags have the sweet Boy and Girl Silhouette Stamps (all our exclusive stamps from 2011 are now available a la carte at mercantile!) on our Peforated Stamps Paper.

She also used Lemon Drops Re-inker on the Alphabet Diecut Paper and Speckled Egg and Lavendar Sachet on the tags.  (all our Ranger colors can be found HERE).

Here is a journal page with more Lemon Drops on the background and the punched Bird in Flight and Speckled Egg on the Alphabet Diecut paper.

The title is stamped with the Clear Alphabet Stamps onto our Perforated Stamp Paper.

With this journal page, dina used the Diecut Alphabet Paper as a stencil and inked it with Weather Vane Re-inker.  You can also see more Speckled Egg in the background as well as some Cough Syrup on the Bank Receipt Paper and Lemon Drops on the Birds in Flight.

Here are the adorable little girl and boy stamps again as well as one of the Days of the Week Stamps on a bit of product packaging.

And one more page from Dina's Journal!  This one has the Whimsy Silhouette Stamp and Days of the Week Stamp in Fountain Pen.  There is more Speckled Egg, Cough Syrup, Weather Vane, and Lemon Drops here as well as the addiction of a bit of Seed Packet.

Thanks so much for all the inspiration Dina!

Check back this evening for our April Guest and gallery updates!  If you love the artistic collaged look it's a banner day for you!

Balance by Dina Wakley

On this layout I used one of my favorite older JBS products, and one of my favorite new products. The "old" product i used is the JBS Bookprint paper. I adore that paper! It is the perfect background, so versatile. Plus I have an affinity for text papers and words, so the paper is perfect. My favorite "new" product is the Speckled Egg JBS paint...swoon! I used it to color the tag and the cool new dotted chipboard letters. I used the Speckled Egg ink pad on the right side of the layout...I just pressed the pad onto the cardstock to get a rectangular outline in which to journal.

Thanks for the inspiration Dina!

Mixing Old & New

Do you have a secret stash of old patterned papers that have been overlooked because you're too busy scrapping with the latest and greatest products? I'm guilty of that too, but let's work on changing that today!  One of the best ways to make older papers look fresh and exciting is by mixing them with new papers.  And no one makes that easier than Jenni Bowlin!  Her new releases always mix seamlessly with older JBS products, and it makes the design process simple.

On this page, I've chosen some of the new papers - Jolly Jack and Starry Night from the Halloween line (even though my page is not about the holiday!) and mixed them with old favorites: Blue Die-Cut Label paper, Play Date papers, and a navy polka dot from the Trendy Paper Pack.  Because Jenni keeps her colors consistent through the releases, these papers blend perfectly (and it cuts the time it takes me to select papers in half!)

I used the new Classic Foam Stamps with Cough Syrup dye ink to matte my photos, and the Bunting Stamp to create a colorful border.

For my title,  I mixed the new Alterable Alphas (rubbed with Cough Syrup dye ink) with my all-time favorite JBS alpha stickers (colored in with yellow Sharpie).

And if you're looking for tips on combining patterned paper in your designs, be sure to join me at Ella Publishing's Boot Camp, where I'll be issuing design drills to get your scrap booty in shape!

Happy Scrapping!

Beautiful Butterflies by Jenni Bowlin

An oh so sweet layout from Jenni Bowlin featuring a flock of JBS butterflies. The row on the right was stamped with the new Butterfly Foam Stamp using Lavendar Sachet Paint then overlaid with the Butterfly Clear Stamp using Weather Vane Dye Ink. The butterfly on the right is a Silver Butterfly Rub-on Single cut out and inked with Lavendar Sachet Dye Ink. The new stuff will be shipping to a store near you in just two weeks!

CHA Summer 2011 Paint, Ink, Stamps, and a Giveaway!

We have an extra special post today . . . a gorgeous layout designed by Jenni Bowlin! And we have some MUCH anticipated news to share . . . THREE NEW Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Paint and Ink Colors! These are Weather Vane (the medium grey paint shown here), Speckled Egg (a soft aqua), and Lavender Sachet (lavender, of course). Check out the Ranger Blog today for more details.

We also have another new JBS Summer CHA 2011 product to share today . . . Foam Stamps! Perfect for working with our paint dabbers. Jenni has used one from the labels set and one from the borders set. You can see the three sets below.

And now for the giveaway . . . and it's a big one today . . . leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a set of the three new paint dabbers and ink pads PLUS all three new sets of foam stamps! Plus head over to the Ranger Blog for another chance to win!

Foam Stamps:

Heating Up May #1

This week we continue "Putting Our Stamp on May" by "Heating Up May" with a little heat embossing action. Today's post is from Dina Wakley who writes, "I love Jenni's stamping inks (made by the awesome Ranger company). They're juicy and vibrant. When I first got them, I wondered if you could emboss with them. I know, I know, they're dye-based inks. But Rangers makes various dye inks that stay open (i.e. wet) long enough to emboss with.

So, I tried it. I took the JBS Ribbon Stamp and stamped it with Chili Powder and Seed Packet inks onto kraft cardstock. I ran my finger over the ink & thought, "It feels dry...it probably won't work." Then I dumped on some clear embossing powder and shook off the excess. And guess what...the powder stuck to the ink perfectly! I applied heat with my heat tool and voila...I had embossed successfully with Jenni's dye-based inks.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but I embossed all the ribbons in the layout by using Jenni's inks and clear powder. I cut them out and they made a fun & easy embellishment for the page. Try it!"


P.S. We'll be continuing another Four Post Monday this afternoon with our NSD Challenge Winners and a brand new challenge!

Vintage Storage Ideas for Stamping Supplies

Today we bring you a peek at how three of our design team members store their stamping supplies. These are some really fun ideas! We'll be back next "Flea Market Friday" to share a few more.

From Lisa Dickinson . . . "Here's my stamp "cupboard" - it's actually an old orange crate that someone built drawers for. I found it at a flea market and painted it distressed red. The four drawers hold inks, acrylic stamps, wooden stamps, and stamping supplies. :)"

From Stephanie Howell . . . a vintage 3-tiered wire basket with acrylic blocks on top, inks in the middle, and wooden stamps on the bottom.

From Betsy Sammarco . . . "This is an old cabinet top I found at a warehouse. I appeared to be altered to it could be free standing. I got it because I just loved the knots and color in the wood."

"I loved the shelves inside and store my wooden stamps and ink pads here."

"I was so inspired by a Flea Market Friday post from Doris using an old drawer for storage that when I saw these, I just had to get them! I use them for my paints, mists, ink pads, and acrylic stamps!"

Jumbo Toilet Paper Roll Misting

Doris here. While I was doing a little more creating with the May Kits in preparation for gallery updates tomorrow, I thought to take a few in progress shots so you all could see how this background came together.

Some of you may remember my toilet paper roll misting layout from last month. Well, I had so much fun with that one that I thought to get some of the industrial sized toilet paper rolls from school (I'm a high school teacher by day) and give it another whirl. I think it was even more fun the second time around.

This time I aligned four rolls down the side and first swirled a bit of gesso inside each roll with a foam brush. This made a nice loose white circle.

Then I alternated misting colors into each barrel. This first round I used chewing gum, lemon drops, and stick candy. I misted a lot trying to get the color dark enough on the kraft cardstock. Since I had so much liquid on there I thought it would be fun to let the ink run down the page, so I tilted the cardstock to vertical and blew on my droplets to get them to run faster. I guess I was in a hurry. I then decided the chewing gum and lemon drops were still too faint, so i remisted with half and half stick candy/lemon drops on two of the circles and half and half chewing gum/cough syrup on the pink circles. I was more satisfied with these results.

I then misted some spice tin behind where I intended for my photos to go and blew on the droplets to make them run down the page once again.

And finally, while the gesso was still wet, I sprinkled on a little yellow glitter. This is really such fun! It's total playtime. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! We truly hope yours is a blessed one. Here is a Mother's Day card from Danielle Flanders with a beautiful hand stamped background featuring Lemon Drops, Chewing Gum, and Cough Syrup inks with some leftover bits from past kits. I just love this color combination and how vividly the inks pop from the white background. Thanks for the inspiration Danielle!

We'll be continuing stamping month this week with "Stamps + Scissors." And maybe you can work in a challenge or two? There's a $25 gift card for each winner! Oh! and if you haven't seen our newest line of stamps and patterned paper release, "Haven," you can check them out HERE.

Background Challenge and JBS Giveaway!

So, with all the Spring Training last week, I seem to have pulled a muscle in my right index finger that needed a bit of rest and recuperation. I'm back in the zone today and just in time as it's our day to sponsor the workout! Here are a few background sessions from Lisa Dickinson and me (Doris) to help get you inspired! Be sure to swing by Ella to get challenged and be a winner!

More with Masks by Lisa Dickinson

Dabber Plaid by Lisa Dickinson

Ink on Core'dinations by Lisa Dickinson

Stamping with Recycled Product Packaging by Doris Sander

Gesso and Ink by Doris Sander

Toilet Paper Roll Misting by Doris Sander