MASTER OF DISGUISE by Fran Chalmers

 Hello everyone!

Today I have made a tag using a couple of my favourite stamps.  I love the huge clockface and the Whimsical Rat Guy!

To make the background I used acrylic paint sprays in Periwinkle and Emerald Green, mixed with a bit of water.

I stamped the main images onto the tag, then used Versafine Clair ink in Monarch to stamp round the edge to add texture and interest.

I stamped the rat onto some thick paper then coloured and cut him out before sticking him to the tag.

I used pencils and a gold metallic pen to enhance colour on the clockface.

I added some fibres to the top of the tag and a sentiment (which I made look like it was hanging from the clock by freehand drawing).

Stamps Used:

Whimsical Rat Guy 20179

Writing and Scribbles Collage 20695

Sky of Stars background 19819

Clockface 19468

Master of Disguise 18769

Other items Used:

Versafine Clair ink in Monarch and Nocturn

Acrylic Sprays (Lavinia) in Periwinkle and Emerald Green

Watercolour pencils

Gold metallic pen

Kuretake watercolour pens

Fibres in shades of purple

For The Birds - September CHALLENGE

Hello HELLOOOOOO

Finally .. a month I can say WELCOME TO THE COOLER WEATHER :)

It's time for September's challenge, and it is a FUN one. If I do say so myself, anyways!

BRING ON THE BIRDS!

Everything bird related, crows, raves, pigeons, swallows... bring 'em on. Alfred and his bird freakiness, maybe a little Poe... whatever strikes your fancy BIRD wise. Also be inspired by oranges & yellows for the fall season, black & white as accents, and any cool vintage/fall imagery like clocks, invoices, handwriting, hay. You know :) the good stuff!

Don't forget the rules:

-Create a new project based on our inspiration board (it has to be posted this month, but you can certainly link up to other challenges as well!)

-Use at least one (but certainly more if you want) Viva Las VegaStamps! rubber stamps

(We are now allowing competitors stamps to be on your work, but please make VLVS! the focus of the project, thank you.)

-Post it to your blog with a link back to us

-Upload to our linky using your direct blog post link (You may also upload via facebook, flickr or other gallery)

You could win a Project Spotlight post on our blog + some new rubber of course.

And visit us back here for inspiration!

An InLinkz Link-up

Make it Manly...

Hello Everyone!

In light of fathers day coming up, I wanted to create something masculine. 

At first I thought I wanted to create a card, but then I decided something more fun would be an envelope for gift cards.

(You could of course use this base to create a card as well)

Stamps Used:

Clockface
Fabrique De Cravates Ad

Other Items Used:

Scrap book paper

Sizzix thinlet die- gift card bag (662687) 

Tim Holtz Layering stencil (THMS070)

Distress ink -gathered twigs

Archival Ink- tuxedo black

water pen
Tim Holtz Remnant rubs

I started by picking out the paper I wanted for my base.  I went with some Tim Holtz paper that had nice neutral colors and some general text.  (looks kind of like a vintage invoice).  Using my sizzix gift card holder die, and my big shot I cut my base out.

I used my distress ink around the edges before gluing everything together.  (you could probably skip this step. I ended up inking everything again at the end to deepen the color anyway). 

After my piece was folded and glued, I stamped "Fabrique De Cravates Ad" in black ink. Then, I used my distress ink to watercolor some shading on the suit. 

 When I was satisfied with that I used the same distress ink to stamp my clock randomly on the front and back. 

To finish this off I added some stenciling details. 

I added a remnant rub with "TIME" on it for added detail

I love how this came out, and it was so simple! 

(Now I need to decide what gift card I want to give him.... Tough decisions!)

Thank you for stopping by the blog today!

I hope this inspires you!

Learning To Love Purple

Hello VLVS! peeps, Fiona here with you today and I have a little video to share of an art journal page I created.

I'm learning to love purple because for some unknown reason my brain keeps making me use it in my art!!!

 I have never been a big fan of the colour but it just keeps creeping in to my creations. In all reality I think I am learning to like it.

 And I paired it up with green and pink so it doesn't over power the piece. I tried something different this time in my journal too. I stamped first!

I mean I stamped in between too but I began the process with some background stamping. Anyway you can see it all in the video.

Here is a link 

VLV Stamps used:

Squiggle Heart

Typewriter Keys by Cat Kerr

Clockface

Sawtooth Stitching Lines

Stitching

I am totally enjoying exploring with different colours and different stamping techniques in my art journal. I feel i'm really starting to develop a style. I hope you feel inspired to get your VLV stamps out and have a little play in your journal too xx

Altered Folder

Hello all you awesome stampers out there. Shanna here today with an altered folder. I have some tracking sheets (water, meals, and habit tracker) I want to keep in one spot and not all over my office. So I recycled an old office folder to hold them.

So first off I covered it with gesso. 

Then I used some acrylic paint with a brayer and spread it across the folder. 

While the folder dried I used a mother color on some book paper then stamped with black in The Clockface stamp and cut it out. 

Next I stamped the Writing Chevron stamp with some acrylic paint as well. 

I used matte medium to adhere the clock face to the folder and gave a shadow outline to it with a  black gelato. 

I stamped out the gunny numbers on white paper with black in and then cut them out. 

I stamped more on the folder using these stamps and acrylic paint and then let it all dry. 

So what do you think. A fun way to add some color to your office storage? I love this folder and think I may have a couple more too make. I think I even may add some stitching to this one. 

Stamps Used:

19468 - Clockface

19824 - Writing Chevron

19827 - Doodle Dots

19193 - Bulls Eye Target Open

19452 - Grunge 1 

19459 - Grunge 8

19460 - Grunge 9

19457 - Grunge 6

Other Items:

Staz On Jet Black

Prima Impasto Acrylic Paints 

Matte Gel Medium

Black Gelato

Brayer

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

May Challenge Inspiration with Shanna

How are you all doing???? Have you had a chance to play along with us on the current challenge? If not check it out here!!

Isn't this some awesome inspiration???

So I starte with the Clockface stamp in a teal colored ink.

Added more stamping in Distress Ink with the stamp Color Wheel Lines.

Than I just got it all inky and blended in some Walnut Stain all over leaving the center lighter. 

I added more stamping and inking. 

Then of course I had to use the Double Coffee Rings (I think one of my favorite stamps EVER!) I did this with embossing powder though. 

Then added my sentiment, some black thread, and attached it all using my tiny attacher. 

We would love to see you play so make sure you top by. 

Viva Las VegaStamps Used:

19568 Double Coffee Rings

19468 Clockface

19338 Color Wheel Lines

20024 Typewriter Keys by Cat Kerr

19919 Everywhere She Went

Other Items Used:

Distress Ink - Linen, Walnut Stain, and Hickory Smoke

Versamark Watermark Ink

WOW Embossing Powder

Prima Color Philosophy - Sea Breeze

Thank you so much for stopping by! 

Mail Art Monday with Jenn Engle

It's MAIL ART MONDAY TIME!

For Mail Art Monday, I made a card/envelope duo.

To see exactly how I made the envelope, check out the video at the end of this post!

STAMPS USED (on card):

Fairy Girl

Doodle Dots

Clockface

Dreamers Only

STAMPS USED (on envelope):

Dreamers Only

Open Up Your Heart Bird

Wildflowers Silhouette

For the card, I used circle drywall tape for texture on my background and then several colors of Dina Wakley Media Acrylic. I added a little bit of a light blue ink for splatters then tried to accent some of the texture with Tim Holtz Distress Crayons in similar colors as the paint. I added the adorable Fairy Girl three times, painting the one that I wanted to stand out. I added stitching to finish the whole card off.

For the envelope, I followed mostly the same steps as the card. I started out stamping Widlflowers Silhouette in the background on this one before I added my drywall tape and paint colors. To finish the envelope off, I added Open up your Heart Bird to the lower right corner so I could leave room in the middle to write an address.

Thanks so much for looking!

~Jenn