Explore your inner Steampunk with VLVS

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my new post for VLVS blog.

This time I am back to what I adore with VLVS: their Steampunk stamps. I sure adore all VLVS stamps, but Steampunk they product is just the best of the best!

So I made this art piece over the thick cardstock with lots of VLVS stamps, lots of home die cuts, some chipboards, metal pieces and even made this clay owl to watch us while we explore this style and to offer us its wisdom.

First I painted this piece with Earth Safe Finishes paints, using a mix of Chalk Up  paints over the cardstock that was primed  with ESF gesso.

 Then I stamped. Lot of VLVS backgrounds and a few of my lovely Steampunk images. 

Then I added a few  touches of ESF Gel Medium with Stencilgirl stencils and as this is clear medium I painted over them with a mix of ESF Iridescents.

The chipboard frame was painted into gold  with a touch of blue patina and glued to frame the main stamped image. I added the chipboard heat embossed word " EXPLORE" and this mold made Makin's Clay own that was also painted over with the same blue paint.

I mix of die cuts made of dark red metal cardstock and some printed Kraft cardstock were glued over the piece with Gel Medium.

 I hope you like my Steampunk art board and VLVS stamps as much as I do.

VLVS stamps used:

Lion face door knocker Item 18428 Plate 1387

Steampunk woman's head Item 18365 Plate 1400 

Steampunk gear hair Item 18594 Plate 1405

Background  

Number strip Item 18924 Plate 1428

Pocket watch  Item 15975 Plate 1271

Washi grid background Item 19074 Plate 917

Dictionary page  Item 19015 Plate 890

You color my world : stamping on acrylic board tutorial

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my September tutorial made for VLVS blog.

This time I decided to be totally colorful and to use a lot of alcohol inks over my piece as they look gorgeous over acrylicfragments  and this altered deco is all  done from tons of acrylic fragments.

 But first lets see the stamping part of it.

So here we go!   

Step by step directions:

1. Take your Whimsical Jester stamp and stamp over the large (4*4'' ) acrylic fragment with black StazOn ink. Also this ink should be permanent over acrylic it takes some time  to dry, so I added a few blows of my heat gun.

2.Now add some butterflies using Butterfly Specimens stamp in the very same way. As you can see we have a perfect space for this butterflies strip.

3. Now for the fun part: add a mix of your favorite alcohol inks on the BACK of your stamped piece. 

4. Grab some smaller acrylic fragment and arrange them over the stamped piece using a few drops of Glossy Accents. You glue over the stamped surface and not over the colored one.Let the glaze dry for a few minutes.

5. Pick another acrylic piece and stamp this gorgeous " YOU COLOR MY WORLD" VLVS sentiment over it with white pigmented ink and white powder heat embossing.

Glue the sentiment as shown over the main piece. Add a few pearls over the piece. You stamped art deco is done! Enjoy!

And this is how it looks  on a stand!

 Another possible way to display this art piece hanging on the wall:

VLVS used to make this piece:

Whimsical Jester Item 19682 Plate 1457

Butterfly Specimens  Item 19415 Plate 1440

You color my world Item 19344 Plate 1435

Other  products:

Black StaOn ink- Tsukineko

Tim Holtz Acrylic fragments

Ranger Alcohol inks

Glossy Accents Ranger

Pearls

You can do it art board

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my first October VLVS post.

This art piece is a kind of " stamp first and then find the title" one and it's totally different from my usual kind of crafting.

It's a Mixed Media piece made over 8*6 chipboard with all possible mediums.

I made the background with stencils and texture paste, gel mediums and glass beads, mists, paints and two VLVS stamps that was stamped on tissue paper.

When you have a very textured piece of art the only way to stamp over it is to add your stamped over tissue image and to glue it with gel medium or Mod Podge. As I really wanted this single Man in flying machine image on my art piece I had to find the title that fits this image and the general " fly away" theme. 

I didn't want to make it general in this " Sky is a limit" style. So finally I found those very old leather letters and made this" YOU CAN DO IT" title. And it means that if you try hard- you can do everything.

Even to fly. Or even more than just to fly.

Here you can see how the image over tissue becomes the part of the art piece and you can't even see the tissue edges.

Products used:
VLVS
Flock of Geese Item 19465 Plate 1444  
Man in flying machine   Item 15967 Plate 1271
Other:
Inks- Ranger
Stencils- Tando Creative
Mists, paints- Tattered Angels
Other- texture paste, letters, tissue

Out of the Blue and Proud: altered cube

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my new tutorial made with delicious (even if those are a bit odd) VLVS stamps.

As you all know I always have a story to share about the " brainstorming"  of my art piece.

So this time it's not different and here is a story.

I ordered VLVS  new stamps set as I wanted to get some stamps that are totally different from my usual Mixed Media picks.

Then, when those stamps came, I was not sure about them. They are gorgeous, but so much not me.

At that moment I felt that I was " out of the blue" ordering them. But them it was like" let's make lemonade from the lemons": lets make " Out of the Blue" piece with blue shade and some new slogan.

So this is how my own " OUT OF THE BLUE AND PROUD" slogan was born. I think that it can be used in many different ways, just like this " Keep calm and..." one.

It can be "out of the blue and going " or" out of the blue and dreaming" or even " or of the blue and feeling great". But those will be used next time. Today I am totally proud with my " OUT OF THE BLUE" 3d foam cube.

So here is my step by step tutorial:

1. Paint the foam cube into a shade of blue color; pick the color that is not totally blue, but close to it.

I used Earth Safe Finishes Rock Candy Chalk it up paint and made just one single layer that covered the foam perfectly. 

2. Cut thick cardstock into 2 3/4'' size that fits the cube . Stamp 5 different focal images and add some backgrounds. You can see the full stamp list on the bottom of my post. I used blue Clearsnap ink and clear embossing powder over each stamped piece.

3. Color the stamped  images with distress markers and ink them over with distress inks. I tried to make them colorful, but to stay mostly in blues (remember the title? ).Add two more stamped images cut outs : those will hold the title panel.

4. Glue all 5 stamped piece over the painted cube. Leave the bottom  as is.

5. Make the title panel using a chipboard. chipboard and sticker letters and 2 stamped cut out images.

I painted the chipboard with inks and clear embossed it . The letters were colored two using different markers and inks. This is how the top panel is looking.

6. Glue the title panel over the cube and your project is done.

This is  one side look of it.

And from other side:

And from the back:

I also painted the back as this 3d project can be seen from all corners.

And from the top:

Now this " OUT OF THE BLUE" cube is on my craft table and I am totally proud of it!

Hope you like it too.

Stamps from VLVS used to make this project:

Cracked background  Item 16208 Plate 1287

Grunge circles Item 19563 Plate 1451

Whimsical rat Item 19531 Plate 1448

Whimsical Beaked Guy in crown  Item 19530 Plate 1448

Whimsical Jester lady Item 19521 Plate 1448

Whimsical Beetle man Item 19525 Plate 1448

Whimsical key man Item 19527 Plate 1448

Whimsical star hat lady Item 19526 Plate 1448

Whimsical Man face- Fish Item 19678 Plate 1457

Other products:

 Ranger distress markers and distress inks

American crafts Thickers

Chipboards from different companies

Let's get lost in unknown destination

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to first VLVS post in September.

Irit is here and this time I decided to make a journal page again (so what if it's not in my journal? I can always glue it into with a drop of a good glue, like a few strips of VLVS Miracle tape); it's just easier to make those art pages separately.

As you know any art journal page needs  it's title. So first thing I picked my titles from my VLVS stamps collection (not as big with sentiments as I want, but yet I can manage ). So my title as picked is Destination Unknown and as the extra words I added Let's get lost, Discover and Explore.

The next step was  to pick the color scheme and I decided on reds and blues with a bit of coppers.

The whole page was built around the couple- they can be a family, friends or just random people around who are moving somewhere, but yet not sure about the  destination.

Each image was stamped with clear embossing ink (I used VersaMark as that's what I have, but any clear ink is perfect); then I heat embossed each stamped image with coordinating embossing powder: red, blue, copper and black. The heat embossed background is misted and inked with distress inks. I usually begin with mists and if the coverage is not sufficient I add inks and more mists.

My favortie background stamps were used to make the background:

Cracked background,Solid color wheel, Color wheel lines, Torn paper and Postal background.

I hope you liked my art piece.
VLVS USED TO MAKE THIS PIECE:
Cracked background  Item 16208 Plate 1287
Solid color wheel-Item 19339 Plate 1435
Color wheel lines-Item 19338 Plate 1435
Let's get lost Item 19348 Plate 1435
Destination unknown Item 19019 Plate 890
Discover Item 19024 Plate 890
Explore Item 19022 Plate 890
 Writing Arrow Item 19078 Plate 917
Postal background Item 14596 Plate 1200 
Man and Woman symblom  Item 19080 Plate 917
Torn paper Item 19341 Plate 1435

Life is not a movie: August challenge inspiration

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my August challenge inspiration for our VLVS challenge.

First let  me show you our gorgeous August inspiration:

This inspiration is SO MUCH ME!! 

Even as a new DT member I already own most of the stamps on this inspirational photo and I love them.

So here is my art page made with this inspiration.

I made it in my usual Mixed Media style using lots of mediums, paints, stencils and ... stamps, sure.

Also this inspiration is in black and white, I thought that adding a bit of color on the corner can be interesting. So I used stencil to make the texture over stamped Dictionary page  (keeping the main image of Businessman  Silhouette on the corner). The Film strip that was on the inspirational piece gave me the words of my art piece: Life is not an old movie, but a new rainbow dream.

Totally my own quote, believe me... 

The quote was made with my very old letter stickers and as those became totally non adhesive, I added a thin line of glaze to keep them in the place.

And now for some close- ups too:

I used Sepia black ink and not the  real black one, so you see a bit of dark brown on the background stamping. The man image was outlined with white paint around to make it " standing out".

The word life is a die cut  that I glued on my piece.

And here is a full sentiment  (you sure can use it, but remember me if you do so)

And here is a list of stamps I used for this inspirational piece:

 Businessman Silhouette Item 19418 Plate 1440

Film strip Item 18921 Plate 1428

Dictionary page Item 19015 Plate 890

Other products:

Stencil- Tando Creative

Die- Cherry Lynn Designs

Letter stickers

Paints, mists, gesso : Ranger

So now it's your time to play with our inspirational challenge!

Who knows- you can even win!!!

Paint your dream with Banksy girls

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my new tutorial made for VLVS blog.
It becomes harder and harder to make tutorials as actually everything was already made and shown over the web.
 So if not the new techniques, maybe a new arrangement of pieces or just a way I think when I  make a big project that involves Mixed Media art and stamping.
 So this is a tutorial about all of those: my way of thinking when I make a new art piece/pieces; some of my favorite techniques and last, but not least- 4  canvases arrangement into one single art adventure.
I decided to make 4 canvases art piece with 3 Banksy stamps and to connect them all as a part of wall paint art. So  each stamp has it's own small (4*4'' ) canvas and the title canvas(7*7'') it the one that connect all small art pieces to one single " something".
Step by step tutorial:
1. Stamp background over each small canvas with some small background stamps. I picked small stamps and even with them I just stamped on the edges as the central part  intended to be for the main stamped image. I used pigmented black ink (Clearsnap) and clear embossing powder to heat emboss the backgrounds. 4 background were used here: Six Hexagons, Washi Grid, Think to thin round and Grunge circles.
I made the same stamping over the larger canvas using Brick background.

2. For the next step I used a few of my stencils (Memory box this time) and Gel medium. Yes, I didn't use texture paste but a very gentle gel medium that is almost translucent when it's dry. I covered the whole canvas with the stencil, but added gel medium randomly here and there. Let the wet medium dry. It takes time. You can do step 3 while your are waiting.

And the large canvas after stamping and adding gel medium texture:

3. Stamp all three main images with black permanent ink (Ranger) over tissue white paper. As our canvases are very textured, the only way to add good stamped image is to stamp over tissue, to tear the image and to adhere it with the very same gel medium.

4.Mist your 4 textured canvases with a mix of mists, according to the colors you want to see with each image. Wipe the mists a bit as we really want to see the gel medium stencilled texture and our primary background stamping.

5. Adhere the torn stamped over tissue images over  those three small canvases and let it dry.
6. Glue letters over the large canvas to make your title. I used simple stickers and Thickers to make my title. As always the sticky backs are not sticky, so I used my usual trick and it's to make a thin line or a few lines with some clear glaze to connect the letters and to adhere them to the background. The dry glaze looks divine (like water drops) and adds some interest to  your finished piece.

7. Add some drops of color to each canvas and arrange them to your favorite group arrangement.

VLVS STAMPS USED TO MAKE THIS PIECE:
6 Hexagon background Item 19076 Plate 917
Washi Grid Background Item 19074 Plate 917
Thick to thin Round Item 900 Plate 272 Page 279
Brick backround- Item 19077 Plate 917
Grunge cricles Item 19563 Plate 1451
Banksy Rain Under Umbrella girl  Item 19486 Plate 1447
Banksy Swing girl Item 19425 Plate 1443
Banksy Girl Floating with Balloons Item 19421 Plate 1443

Other products:
Canvases
Stencils- Memory Box
Mists: Tattered Angels
Inks: Ranger, Clearsnap
Gel medium
Letter stickers- AC,Pebbles

Her wings- my art: art page tutorial

Hello my dear crafty friends!

Irit is here and this time I made an art  journal page tutorial.

I know that making art page tutorial is almost mission impossible. There is no right or wrong way to make the art page and there is no workshop that can teach you " copy writing" of those book pages.

So it's just to show you my way to use products and to cluster techniques on one single page  with just  bit of real dimension.

Step by step instructions:

1. Gather your favorite VLVS backgrounds and make  a full letter size stamped piece with them.  I wanted those stamps to stay a background ones, so I used VersaMark ink and white embossing powder only.

Most of the stamps are not even masked, but just stamped one near another.

2. Grab you three primary Staz-On inks (Blazing Red, Azure and Mustard) and ink the stamped page with a mix of them. As you can see those 3 primary colors give us the full rainbow effect. I need to say that this works much better over the glossy paper, but I was short of the glossy one and used the regular Mixed Media thick white paper.

3. Now we need to add some dimension and the best way to do it on Mixed Media piece is with stencils and some paste. The paste I used is our Israeli Sand Texture one, but it's just similar to any non smooth texture paste on the market. I used a couple of Tando Creative stencils around the page and left the central part clean as we are going to add the focal point there anyway. Let the paste dry. 

4. While waiting for the texture paste to dry, I stamped my big focal image using  Whimsical Lettered Man stamp. I know it's a man; so what? It looks like a strong courageous woman to me, kind of an Amazon.

I decided to use pigmented ink and clear embossing powder for this main image: glossy one and durable too as it goes to the front.

5. As I was still waiting for the texture paste to dry I heat embossed a pair of bare chipboard wings with a mix of colorful embossing powders and added a bit of clear glitter too.

6. From this point and on it was just to arrange all pieces over the background and to add whatever you want to add.

So I added a bit of stamped blue images using Solid  circles  stamp and  Butterflies row stamp.

I arranged the hand cut head and the wings over the page. Then I stamped two sentiments with the same Crafter's ink over the sticky canvas (this is a perfect ink  for  fabric stamping and all you need to do is to heat it/iron it to make it permanent). Some splashes of mists were added and my art page was done.

Here are a couple of close- ups to this page:

As you can see this time I decided to make a page according to sentiments. If it says" bold and bright"-  it will be bold and bright, even if those are not my usual art colors.

Thanks for reading my tutorial and see you soon again!

Product list:

VLVS

Whimsical Lettered Man Item 19679 Plate 1457

She lived Item 19673 Plate 1457

Her wings were made Item 19672 Plate 1457

Six hexagon background Item 19076 Plate 917

Dictionary page Item 19015 Plate 890

Butterfly specimens Item 19415 Plate 1440

Washi grid background Item 19074 Plate 917

Large Doily Item 18847 Plate 1427

Thick to thin/Round Item 900 Plate 272 Page 279

Cracked background  Item 16208 Plate 1287

Sheet music background Item 19557 Plate 1451

Design solid circles Item 979 Plate 215 Page 174

Other products:

Chipboard  wings- Creative Embellishments

Stencils- Tando Creative

Cardstock, fabric- Ranger

Inks- Tsukineko, Clearsnap

Mists- Tattered Angels

 Embossing powders- WOW! Embossing Powders

Other- texture paste