It's Time to Cut the CAKE and your Stamps!!!

Hello everyone! Susan here with a tutorial using Viva Las VegaStamps! and some birthday cardmaking fun! There is a great challenge over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers "C is for Cake" and I just couldn't "resist" playing along - LOL!

I've had this "Chicken Crying" stamp for a while now and I've been dying to use him. Today is the day!!! I inked him up with some Versafine black in and embossed him with VLVS! Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder. Then while the stamp was still wet, I stamped and cut a quick post-it note mask.

With my quickie mask in place, I repeat the process with the "Cake with Candle" stamp. I also make a quick mask of the cake so I can do something with this plain white background. I don't want to cut out and paste these onto something else... I'm going to work around my grouping and it's pretty easy.

On my craft sheet I smooshed out a few colors of Distress Paint spritzed with a bit of water, then blended with my brayer. With my post-it masks in place, I rolled the color over my images. I picked up more color and reapplied until it was to my liking.

Now to add some music to my background! Using some blue dye ink I stamp the "Sheet Music Background" #19557 over my layers.

Before removing masks, I added one more stamp to ground my scene - the "Smear/Smudge" #19573. Now it's Reveal time!! A little paint got under my mask and I'm perfectly fine with that.

Now it's time for some color with Ranger Distress Markers and a little glittery shimmer!

  

I need to make a quick sentiment and I don't want to cut and paste words together in this case... so I give you a TIP – I'm cutting my stamp, "Happy Birthday from One Old Buzzard to Another!". I gently cut "birthday" and "another" apart from the phrase and lined them up on my block. Don't be afraid this is very liberating!!

I stamped onto the edge of my creation so it matches and give it a kiss of embossing powder for some POP! I made the ... by tapping the back end of a paintbrush into the ink using as a stamp.

I trimmed everything, layered with mats and Miracle Tape and I have a fun birthday card ready to go! This is so going to my sister who's birthday is next week... she's cracking the big 4-0.

"It's My Party and I wanna Cry"

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From Viva Las VegaStamps:

"Chicken Crying" #9464

"Cake with Candle" #5161

"Sheet Music Background" #19557

"Smear/Smudge" #19573

VLVS! Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder

1/4" Miracle Tape

Other Supplies: white, teal and blue cardstocks; Ranger Distress Paint, Ranger Distress Markers; Sakura of America Gelly Roll® Stardust® Pen, paper trimmer; sticky back gems; and May Arts trim.

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Thanks so much for dropping by! It's a holiday weekend and that brings a SALE at the VLVS! store... CLICK HERE for details. Also are you a fellow rubber addict?  Here's your chance to join the design team {CLICK HERE for details} and stamp til your hearts content!

If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. Hope you have a fabulous day!!  Sb

I'm Late... I'm LATE for March Madness!

Welcome to Viva Las Vegastamps! Susan here today to share a fun ATC that is perfect for the month of March... in Easter pastel colors complete with a racing rabbit!

I needed to make some ATCs for an Alice in Wonderland themed swap "Down the Rabbit Hole" and {of course), I had the perfect stamps in my VLVS! stash for them. It all started with a sheet of painted paper using a handful of Ranger Distress Paint: Antique Linen, Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Evergreen Bough and Picked Raspberry. I modified this T!m Holtz' marbeling technique in painting my background – I added all the colors in a splotchy fashion, and sprayed a lot of water onto the craft sheet to give a more subtle watercolor effect when paper is dragged.

When dry, I cut this down to make my ATC card blanks {3 1/2" x 2 1/2"}, then added a torn strip of  fun harlequin washi tape along the bottom of each and set to work on the stamping and layering of elements. It was interesting doing a horizontal card for a change. I saved a section of the background for stamping the sentiments.

One special stamping trick – combine stamp images by layering two stamps on top of each other. I did this with the girl and a keyhole - placing the keyhole over one of her eyes; then I fussy cut each keyhole out. This gives the perfect eye peering though the keyhole for this Alice in Wonderland themed ATC. 

The sentiment I've had for ages and I thought it went perfectly for the quirky white rabbit whose always proclaiming, "I'm Late!" Everything is edged with coordinating chalk inks for an extra "POP" of color and adhered with miracle tape. These came together really quickly and they were fun to make!

"Down the Rabbit Hole" ATC

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From Viva Las VegaStamps:

"Pensive Girl" #16033

"Keyhole Shading" #9498

"Wheely Rabbit" #18377

"I Try Not to Limit..." #15414

Miracle Tape 1/8"

StazOn Jet Black Ink

Other Supplies: white cardstock and metallic purple stationary for keyholes; variety of colors of Ranger Distress Paints; brayer; water misting bottle; StazOn Royal Purple Ink; harlequin washi tape from Dollar Tree; and detail scissors.

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Thanks so much for dropping by! What are you stamping with your stash of VLVS!? Join us and play along with the March inspiration challenge {CLICK HERE for details}. Just make a creation using the inspiration above and your stash of VLVS! stamps... you could win more RUBBER! Take some time to browse around the blog here and the amazing creations from the entire VLVS! Team... there's so much amazing inky inspiration to see!

If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. Hope you have a fabulous day!!  Sb

Flight of the Painted Butterfly... March #12tags2015 Viva Las VegaStamps! Style

Welcome to Viva Las Vegastamps! Susan here today to share with you some inky, painted stamped goodness... inspiration courtesy of T!m's 12 Tags of 2015 for March. I've created my version of this month's tag using loads of Viva Las VegaStamps! images to set my butterfly aflight in a rainbow painted sky.

This wouldn't be entirely VLVS! style if I used my store-bought tissue tape... so I've made my own with some of my fav VLVS! stamps – it's so quick and easy! Grab a sheet of recycled tissue paper and stamp repeatedly with a variety of stamps using Jet Black StazOn Ink, filling up sheet {see below for links to all stamps used}.

Turn tissue over, line with strips of 3/4" Miracle Tape across sheet and burnish down.

Then gently tear strips apart to give a nice distressed edge. Easy-peasy!

Here's my homemade VLVS! tissue tape – it looks just as pretty as the readymade, right!

Next I applied torn sections of my various tapes to my blank tag.

Now time for the marbelized painted background using Ranger Distress Paint.

I substituted a few colors for the colors I have in my stash.

Dried background after heat setting ready for stamping!

Using Versafine Pigment Ink, I stamped the "Butterfly Striped Large" #9506, then embossed with VLVS! Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder – which when heat set, really made the black butterfly POP off the painted tag. If I hadn't embossed it, the black stamped image would have looked dull and melted into the background. I repeated process adding the "Small Bee" #19012. I stamped each off onto removable stickyback paper to make masks and fussy cut to prepare for the gilding to come.

Since I wanted to use stamps for the gilded parts, I skipped the steps using stencil with dimensional paste. I have a secret weapon to get a real dense embossing with embossing powder that looks pretty amazing. I apply Globecraft & Piccolo Embossing Powder Adhesive {comes in a dauber top bottle} which is a nice, thick fluid that grabs a lot of embossing powder. I stamped the "Cracked Background" #16208 and "Chicken Wire" #5757 over the masked images and applied gold embossing powder... then heatset to reveal the beautiful gold gilded goodness, careful not to overheat and melt the embossed butterfly and bee. Just gorgeous!!!

Now for the finishing touches... some sari ribbon and fibers to tie off the top and a Tim Holtz Idea-ology metal word band phrase rubbed with metallic distress paints; a pen nib for the butterfly's body {seemed out of place floating in the background}; and a punched distressed painted metal foil paper butterfly using a Sizzix movers and shapers die accented with bronze gems for the body. 

"Flight of the Painted Butterfly"

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From Viva Las VegaStamps:

"Butterfly Striped Large" #9506

"Small Bee" #19012

"Cracked Background" #16208

"Chicken Wire" #5757

"Pretty Lady Stamp/Cancellation" #17538

"Paris Address" #17539

"Grunge 1787 Writing Background" #17545

"Dictionary Page" #19015

"Patent" #1687

3/4" Miracle Tape

Jet Black StazOn Ink

Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder

Other Supplies: handmade cardstock #12 size tag; scrap of distressed aluminum tape paper; rainbow and metallic colors of Ranger Distress Paints; Globecraft & Piccolo Embossing Powder Adhesive; Clearsnap Gold Embossing Powder; Versafine Black Pigment Ink; Sizzix Movers and Shapers Mini Butterflies; Tim Holtz Idea-ology metal word band; bronze adhesive backed gems; pen nib; sari ribbon and decorative fiber.

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Thanks so much for dropping by! Ready for Spring??! I hope you will join us and play along with the March inspiration challenge {CLICK HERE for details}. Just make a creation using the inspiration above and your stash of VLVS! stamps... you could win more RUBBER! Take some time to browse around the blog here and the amazing creations from the entire VLVS! Team... there's so much amazing inky inspiration to see!

If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. Hope you have a fabulous day!!  Sb

"We'll Always Have Paris..."

Welcome to Viva Las Vegastamps! Susan here today to share a page in my Christmas Holiday Travelogue that I started last year {CLICK HERE to see the post}. A lot of new challenges have popped up that peaked my interest: one being the "Place: Paris" Challenge 154 at Drunken Stampers and also an "Ombré" Challenge #6 at Craft Stamper's Take It Make It Challenge. Many years back my hubs and I travelled to Europe and visited Paris in April. That year I photoshopped a wreath and some festive hats and I had some Christmas postcards printed. One of these has been posted on the side of my fridge so I snagged it and gave it a permanent home with stamped goodness!

I prepared my AMAZING No-Gelatin Printing Plate made from Amazing Mold Rubber and applied three colors of Ranger Distress Paint; Antique Linen, Weathered Wood and Stormy Sky.

 

With a brayer, I gently rolled to blend the colors to create an "ombré" effect. Pretty simple, right?

The great thing about this AMAZING No-Gelatin Printing Plate, is I made it to a size of my preference {this one is approx. 6" x 7"} perfect for art journaling and altered book pages. I have several other sizes AND SHAPES as well. I aligned it to my recycled day planner, now Christmas Holiday Travelogue; with darkest color at top and pressed directly to page.

I flipped it over and rubbed it down, then gently peeled back revealing the beautiful perfect gradation from dusky blue to creme. Now to make another ombré to fill the bottom half of the page.

I prepared my AMAZING No-Gelatin Printing Plate again with Ranger Distress Paint; this time Antique Linen, Bundled Sage and Forest Moss. I repeated the steps as before with brayer and applied with darkest green at the bottom of page.

Completed ombré on page. There is some texture to my green on the base because one of my paints gushed out all over the place when I went to add a little more of the mid range color. So between pix - I made up some additional monoprints with all the overspilled paint.

  

I stamped with Stone Grey StazOn on vellum cardstock, then painted Ranger Snow Cap Adirondack Acrylic paint to the backside to make the paper more opaque.

No stamping project is complete without some good old fashioned "fussy cutting".

After trimming out the polaroid centers, I brushed the edges with a few chalk inks. Then I layered the frames and mounted to my postcard using Miracle Tape. Once affixed - the frames get one final trim out to leave me two faux layered polaroids containing one continuous photo.

Using the Stone Grey StazOn I stamped a variety of Parisienne themed images and some script {all listed below} to form a collage; and added a few strips of my DIY Miracle Tissue Tape {CLICK HERE for details} as a base to ground my photos upon. It only took 13+ years - but now this trip is properly documented with a perfect painted sky to tie it all together :)

"We'll Always Have Paris..."

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Viva Las VegaStamps used: "Paris Address" #17539; "We'll Always Have Paris" #17529; "Bonjour" #17525; Holly Leaf 3760; "Parisien #17541; Polaroid Print Standard Size #17543; Polaroid Print Small #17544; Grunge 1787 Writing Background #17545; Pretty Lady Stamp/Cancellation #17538; Jingle Bells Sheet Music #10686; Washi Reverse Grid Background #19075; "Paris Skyline" #10995; Dotted line from the December Daily Plate #1430; and Checkerboard Border #7952. Supplies used: Vellum Cardstock; Recycled planner calendar; Stone Grey Staz-On Ink; 1/4" Miracle Tape; various colors of Ranger Distress Paints; Snow Cap Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint; and various Cat's Eye Chalk Inks.

Thanks so much for dropping by. Have you visited the VLVS! Online Store lately... it's PRE-ORDER time!!! Also there is the December inspiration challenge. Just make a creation using the inspiration above and your stash of VLVS! stamps... you could win more RUBBER! CLICK HERE for challenge details. Also, you definitely want to subscribe to the blog feed and to the Viva Las VegaStamps! newsletter to be IN THE KNOW of everything going on at the Viva Las Vegastamps! store. There's so much amazing inky inspiration to see!

If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. I wish all of you a very Happy Holidays and a very Merry New Year in 2014!!  Sb