Design Team CHAAAANGES

Hiya folks! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Let's jump right into the beautiful new 2019 with our new team... we are making some really big changes & it is REALLY exciting. We will have more people on our blog this year than ever... we are going to be SHOVING inspiration down your throat... haha. ok. maybe not THAT bad, but we will have LOADS of great stuff to share. We are starting off with our CORE team who will be sharing twice monthly. They are followed up by our rock star GUEST team who will be sharing twice in the next 6 months.

The Core Team : 

Corrie | DeeDee | Fiona | Jenn

Karen | Michele | Sue | Tera

The Guest Team : 

Cheetarah | Elisa | Julia | Leanne

Lisa | Majo | Mercy | Preeti

be sure to follow each of them.. they're all amazing and we're very excited for a fun, rubber stamp filled 2019!

They'll be posting here on our blog, in our Facebook Group, on youtube AND our instagram channel. Inspiration EVERYWHERE :)

Art Journal Page: Once Upon A Time

Hi VLVS! Friends,
Elina here with you today, sharing my latest art jounal page I created in my Moleskine book:

Inspiration for this page was the amazing 'Vornii The Bookish' stamp image by Brian Kesinger. I'm a big fan of his style and truly armire his talent; his gorgeous, detailed dragon images take my mind directly to childhood story books. I've always been quite a bookworm, and I loved creating this reading themed art journal page, using the reading dragon as my main image.

I started with stamping the image on white paper, using heavy semi-glossy laser printing paper and black Memento ink.  For coloring i used my Promarker pens.
Once the coloring was finished, I fuzzy cut the image with scissors.

There are quite many layers on this page: I started with gluing down paper strips that I had cut out of an old book. The book page pattern looked quite busy on my art journal page, so I calmed it down by a adding a thin layer of white gesso on top. For spreading the gesso I used an old bonus card; I think it's the best tool when you don't want to cover the page completely but rather to add just a hint of white here and there.

Once the gesso was dry I glued leftover pieces of light beige cardstock and strips of burlap paper on the page background. That was just fun random collaging without too much thinking. For gluing I used liquid collage glue (matte acrylic adhesive); the same media I also used for adhering and sealing the fuzzy cut dragon image.

Creating this page made me smile; I hope you have a chance to do something you like, too!

For this page I used the following VLVS! stamps:

Vornii The Bookish by Brian Kesinger
Row of Scribble Squares

Other supplies:
Stamping inks (Memento 'Tuxedo Black'; Stazon 'Saddle Brown')
Promarker alcohol markers for coloring
White gesso, old bonus card
Collage glue stick; matte acrylic adhesive
Old book pages
Leftover strips of cardstock and burlap paper

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Fairy Girls on Art Journal Page

Hi VLVS! Friends,
Elina here today, sharing with you my latest art journal page:

Mirroring a stamped image is not difficult. For this you need a smooth, non-porous surface that is a bit larger than your image to be mirrored; the backside of a large pattern stamp or a piece of EZ mount foam work well. 

I stamped the image on a piece of EZ mount foam, pressed the stamped foam on the paper, and the EZ mount foam transferred the a mirrored version of the stamped image on the paper. Easy!



I wanted to color the images with alcohol markers, and therefore I chose a water soluable ink for stamping. A pigment ink may have created a bit more crispy mirrored image, but also the water soluable ink worked fine. Some of the lighter lines I reinforced with a black marker before fuzzy cutting the images.





For the page background I used a piece of a watercolored page I had painted a while back. I glued the paper with some bookpage pieces on the page and added acrylic paints in white and grey on top. Simple and fun!

For this art journal page used the following VLVS! stamps:

Girl With Wings

Punchinella/Sequin Waste Border

Row of Scribble Squares

Have a nice day!

Mail Art Monday On Craft Envelope

Hello VLVS! Friends,
It's Mail Art Monday! Elina here, sharing with you my very first mail art project!

For some reason I had only admired gorgeous mail art projects here in our blog and in Pinterest, but had never before tried it out myself. I love the idea of not just sending something beautiful and handmade to a friend inside an envelope, but also creating art on the envelope itself!
Decorating this craft envelope was so much fun that I'm convinced it will not be my last mail art project. Quite the opposite; my head is already spinning with new ideas!

Here's how I made it:

I used a ready made craft envelope, and before starting I gently opened completely using a kitchen knife. I started with stamping a few images on the envelope front, letting the images continue on the backside, too.

Using a piece of white paper as mask, I continued decorating the back lid. Masking was not absolutely necessary, but I wanted to leave a blank border around the lid.

The address shall be written inside a thought bubble. I sketched the bubble with a pencil, and drew over the sketch lines with a black marker.

I colored the main images with color pencils, and added some hightlights to the thought bubble and patterns, too. Light tints look great on dark craft background!

 

Here's the finished project:

Backside looks like this:

For my mail art project I used the following VLVS! stamps:

Whimsical Kids in Futuristic Hats
Punchinella/Sequin Waste Border
Typeset Scallop
Rows of Numbers
Carved Xs

Other supplies used:
Craft envelope
Coloring pencils (white, yellow, orange, light and dark green)
Pencil
Thin black marker pen

Happy stamping!

Mark Maker ATC's

Hi VLVS! Friends!
Elina here with you today, sharing my first projects as a brand-new member in this amazing VLVS! design team. I’m so excited to start this journey with you!

In just a few months’ time I’ll be travelling to Netherlands to attend a great stamping event, ARTSpecially. I’ve been to a few workshops in Netherlands before but this specific one will be a new experience for me. But I’m sure it will be a lot of fun!

My crafty friend who has participated in this event before suggested that I should bring a pile of ATC cards with me. Event participants will swap them during the weekend, and for being able to join the fun I’d better be prepared. I love ATC’s and do have quite many ready in my stash, but I thought it was a good idea to make a few more:

Many of my projects are very colorful, but I also like to play with contrasts between bright colors and grey tones. Like on this ATC set: To highlight the cool stamped main images I colored them with grey markers, and placed them on a grungy orange-yellow-brown inked background.

The patterns on the bottom of the background were made with a stencil: I first inked the background with Distress inks, placed a stencil on top, and lifted some of the ink by misting the stencil with water. Once dry I decorated the background with VLVS! pattern stamps.

I hope these ATC’s will get new owners in April!

Supplies used:

VLVS! stamps:
20162 Carved Xs
20165 Cross Marks Background
20161 Punchinella/Sequin Waste
20168 Mark Maker
19359 Whimsical Boy in Hat
7605 Sandwich Board/Large
6727 Clown Face
7658 Clown

Other Supplies:
Stamping inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; VersaFine - Onyx Black; Archival Inks – Saffron; Plum
Distress Inks -  Rusty Hinge; Walnut Stain; Ripe Persimmon; Mustard Seed
Stencil: Crafter's Workshop - Corncob Etching
Water mister
Cardstock in white and black


Thank you for stopping by!
xx Elina

Easy ATCs with Jenn Engle

Hey everyone! Today I have some super easy Artist Trading Cards to share with you. All you need is some patterned paper and some of your favorite VLVS stamps!

STAMPS USED:

Mesh Texture

Butterfly Specimens

Cross Marks Background

Row of Numbers

Dreamers Only by Car Kerr

First, I started by cutting some 7 Dots Studio patterned paper into 6 pieces of 2.5" by 3.5 " (the size of an artist trading card). Then, I took some of my favorite Viva Las VegaStamps stamp and randomly stamped around my cards with Staz-On ink in Timber Brown.

Next, I figured out where I wanted each of my Tim Holtz Paper Dolls to sit on each card. I took Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks in "Night" for one set and "Umber" for the other and drew an area for my paper dolls to stand on. I also dissolved some of the pigment from the scribble sticks to use for splatters on my cards. I also used the "Umber" Scribble Stick to outline my cards.

Finally, I glued the Paper Dolls down and stamped "Dreamer" or "Dreamers" from the Dreamers Only Stamp by Car Kerr.

And that is all there is to it! A super quick and easy way to make a bunch of ATCs at a time.

STAMPS USED:

Mesh Texture

Butterfly Specimens

Cross Marks Background

Row of Numbers

Dreamers Only by Car Kerr

Other Products Used:

Patterned Paper - 7 Dots Studio

Staz-On - Timber Brown

Dina Wakley Media Scribble Sticks - Umber & Night

Tim Holtz Paper Dolls

Thanks for looking!

Design Team Update ♥

After our Design Team call ended last month we had a hard time choosing who would work with us through the first half of 2016. Today we have five talented artists to share with you! We'll introduce three more shortly.

Corrie Herriman has such a fabulous style. 

It's full of whimsy and color and we're glad she's continuing on with us!

Fiona Paltridge is brand new to our team, but she's sure to inspire you! 

Her work is best categorized as mixed media and full of LAYERS. 

Hermine Koster is another "old timer" for the VLVS! team and we couldn't be happier! 

She has a very unique and innovative style that never lets us down.

Michele Kosciolek is also returning! 

She's always inspiring with delicious layers of grunge and fibers. 

And last for today but certainly not least is Tera Callihan.
You may know her as our resident Mail Art Maven -- and we love it! 

Leave our girls some love would ya??? 

Pumpkin Flavored Inspiration.

Hello, Mary here, with a bit of inspiration for this month's challenge.  If you haven't seen the inspiration board, hop on over and CHECK IT OUT!

It seems the whole word goes pumpkin crazy this time of year---and I'm no exception!  I've been jonesin' for pumpkin flavored treats of all kinds.  Well, today, I bring you a little something sweet and pumpkin that won't add to your waistline...

The challenge this month has inspired a new tradition for me.  With the creation of this pumpkin, I now want to grow a nice handmade pumpkin patch of my own to spruce up my fall home decor.

I began by cutting out circles in three sizes from a lovely, smooth cotton fabric.  I then stamped stars onto the circles with the Field Of Stars and the Stars images.

I then stitched them to a length of cream colored corduroy with some messy machine stitching with black thread.  I simply sewed the side of the fabric together to make a tube, and gathered each end with a running stitch and stuffed it with filling to create my basic pumpkin shape.

I added a few lengths of May Arts twine to give it a more pumpkin-like shape, and embellished with buttons, beads and sequins along with adding a few leaves and an old spool for a stem.

All in all, I'm in love with my new pumpkin!  And I think with words like---fall oranges, cream, pumpkin orange, black, heritage, home, polka dots, Harvest, farm and pumpkin patch, you can say I was completely inspired by this month's challenge.

Now, go grab your favorite VLVS! rubber, and get your craft on!!

xx Mary

This Is Not A Photo Opportunity.

Hello, Mary here.

Today, I have a project to share featuring one of my all time favorite ways to use rubber stamps!  It's well known that I LOVE fabric.  The only thing I love more that fabric, is creating my own printed fabric.

To create the covers for this book, I grabbed some of my favorite unbleached cotton fabric along with my StazOn ink pad and stamped myself a one of a kind pattern with the Flying Saucer Diagram and Field Of Stars rubber stamp images.

To embellish the cover, I stamped a small section of white cotton with the Banksy This Is/Photo Op image, and stitched it on (I thought it was a funny nod to the cliche of a UFO enthusiast's desire to catch one on film!  HA!!). I then layered together several panels of cotton, felt and chipboard and sewed them together to create a soft, quilted book cover.

I love the vintage look of this book!  And the versatility of stamping your own fabric is endless.  How sweet would it be using nursery rhyme images for a baby book?  We're talking Humpty Dumpty, The Cow Jumped Over The Moon, and The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon stuff here.

Oh, yeah...

Well, that's it for me today---thanks so much for joining me.  Now, go grab some rubber and get crafty!!!

xx Mary

Shrink.

Hello!  Mary here with a fun and wearable stamping project for you.

First, I grabbed my all time favorite stamp Butterfly Gossamer/Large, my StazOn ink pad and a sheet of clear shrink plastic.

After I stamped my image onto the rough side of the plastic, I then cut it out to and preheated my oven to 350 degrees.  

And if you plan to use this embellie as a charm, don't forget to punch your holes!!

I baked it for about 2 minutes, rough side up.  When done, it had shrunk to roughly one fourth of its original size.  I then  painted the back with a couple coats of acrylic paint.

After adding some chain and a closure, I was ready to rock my new necklace!

In fact, I loved my new accessory so much, I decided to make a few more in a variety of colors.  Maybe I'll share with a friend or two??  Or not.

I hope I've given you a little inspiration today.  Now, go grab your favorite stamp and get crafty!!

xx Mary