"Is it Wine o'clock yet?" - by Fran Chalmers

Hi everyone!

Today I have made a card which reflects how I've been feeling this week, lol!

To make the background I smooshed Distress Oxide ink in Seedless Preserves and water onto some card.

Once it was dry, I inked the clockface in Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide, then spritzed it with water before stamping it onto the card to give a blurry image.  I dried it with a heat gun.

I stamped my main image on some thick paper with Versafine Clair in Nocturn, coloured it and fussy cut it out.

I stamped a few background stamps in Seedless Preserves to give some texture, then stamped my sentiments and cut them out.  I glued the sentiments and image onto the card, went round the edge with a black marker pen and mounted onto card.

 

Stamps Used:

Screaming Lady 18765

Bloody Hell 20466

Is it wine o'clock yet 18567

Writing and scribbles collage 20695

Rows of Numbers 20170

Other items used:

Distress Oxide ink in Seedless Preserves

Versafine Clair Nocturn

Colouring pens

Black marker pen

See you next time!

Is it time for Halloween yet? Spooky card with Josefine.

Halloween! My favorite time of the year for card making. While I'm waiting for the new Halloween stamps (from Plate 1504) to arrive at home, I wanted to get a head start with my Halloween crafts using some older Halloween stamps.

I started with a slightly different idea. I wanted to create a shining moon for the Bats over Moon stamp, so I started with ink blending a light color onto some watercolor paper.

But the moonlight ended up being a much larger area. I just rolled with it because I wanted to know where it takes me.

To add some initial texture, I sued some simple bubble wrap and stamped the same inks all over the background. Before stamping, I misted the bubble wrap with some water.

Then I added a variety of mark-making stamps to the background - again, using the same colors that I used for the initial ink blending.

Here you can see the finished background (waiting for the water to dry ;) ).

Now I stamped the bats.

I also stamped the Halloween labels onto a piece of cardstock and decorated it with some of the stamps that I used for the background. I then cut them out and distressed the edges.

I wanted to mount the card onto a separate piece of black cardstock to make it stand out a bit more. To give that background piece some texture, I stamped the Beware Of stamp using white ink. You don't see much of it at the end - mainly that awesome font.

After I adhered the pieces together, I added a bit of ribbon and a trinket - and voila, the first Halloween card of the year is done.

Wit a lot of fun texture :)

When my husband saw the card, he was reminded of the movie Suicide Squad... the colors match it pretty nicely.

Stamps used:

Plate 1504

Bats over Moon

Mercurial Ointment

Beware Of

Rows of Numbers

Carved Xs

Row of Distressed Lines

Thanks so much for stopping by :)

Clean and simple art journal pages with Josefine

Hi everyone! Can you believe it's the end of February already? So much to do and not enough time in the day. Does that happen to you? I'm in the middle of several projects at work, doing my MBA, life in general - sometimes there is just not enough time to craft. But crafting is what keeps us sane, right? That's why I wanted to share some "clean and simple" (CAS) art journal pages with you that can be done in a few minutes. Just some fun, crafting, mess - and at the end, happiness.

To do that, I found a small art journal, so it feels less daunting to start. A small page is easier to fill, at least that was the idea. I added just a bit of white paint as my first layer.

Next, I used my small, round Gel Press, added three little paint drops to it, and spread it out. Then I used the "Cross Marks" and "Row of Numbers" stamp to remove paint from the Gel Press. Because I didn't want to waste it, I stamped them onto the next page.

To incorporate the mono print a bit more into the background, I used my palette knife to scrape a bit more white paint on top of it.

I added a few additional marks using a white gel pen and then stamped "Witch with Scarf on Broom" on top of the page. 

For the sentiment, I stamped the "Black is the new Black" stamp onto a separate piece of paper, crumbled it up a bit, and then adhered it to the page.

And here is what I did with the second page. I also added a mono print with the same colors, but then stamped the "Scribbled Circle" on top in a slightly darker color.

For my focal image, I stamped "Death riding Pegasus" onto a piece of tissue paper and adhered it onto the page. Unfortunately, the tissue paper didn't disappear far enough into the background, so I had to get creative.

First, I added some white, watered-down, paint to simulate a cloud...

and then I added the "I'm not afraid" sentiment around it. Now it's barely noticeable.

Here are the two CAS art journal pages. I hope you enjoyed them and got some ideas for your quick projects when you have just a few minutes time.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps I used:

Death riding pegasus

Black is the new black

Witch with scarf on broom

Rows of Numbers

Scribble Circle

Cross marks

I'm not afraid

Zombies - Art Journal page by Elisa Ablett

Hi VLVStamp fans,

Hello from Australia ...'waving madly'🙋🙋

Elisa here from the design team with my latest inspiration for you. 

I created an Art Journal page featuring loads of Viva Stamps in a crazy collage.

I have included a few close ups showing the fun I had stamping and colouring each layering of the collage and including some mulberry coloured craft wire and stitching.

Love this Creepy Bald guy stamp, so versatile, I can definitely see myself using him again and again.

And I find myself using the Rows of Numbers and X Circle stamp over and over in my backgrounds. 

Make sure you head to the website to check out the new plates of stamps and also I have included a list with direct links to the stamps I used to create my journal page.

I used the following Viva Stamps:-

Warning - If Zombies..

Creepy Bald Guy

Rows of Numbers

Chevrons 

x circle stamp

Sawtooth Stitching Lines

Other products used: 

Archival Ink

Blue Fern Chipboard

Colour Blast Watercolour Ink

Black Thread

Versafine Ink Black

Dina Wakely Scribble Sticks

Gesso

Scraps of Patterned paper

Thanks for stopping by !

Elisa x

Your Jealousy is Showing | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

It's Sue Plumb here today to share my latest design team project with you. Today I am sharing a mixed media scrapbook layout that I created whilst I was away at a craft retreat last weekend. It was actually created for a challenge that was on offer, which was to be inspired by a canvas created by my fellow Aussie VLVS teammate (and friend) Fiona Paltridge. I decided to design a scrapbook layout so I could document these fun photos of my brother and I as we shared a giant margarita.

To create my page, I began with a sheet of Bazzill Marshmallow cardstock. This is my preferred cardstock to use when I create mixed media pages, as with its heavy weight (240gsm) it takes a variety of media well with minimal warping. 

I started by applying some Micador watercolour paints randomly to my background, drawing on the colours from Fiona's piece for inspiration. Once the watercolours had dried, I then added some contrast colours using Dina Wakley acrylic paints which I applied with my fingertips.

To add texture to my page, I also added some torn strips of old book and music paper, and some pieces of tissue paper before adding yet more acrylic paint to help blend the papers in a bit.

Once the colour and texture was down on the page, it was time to add some stamping to help give the page some structure. (Unfortunately, as I had flown to retreat and was weight restricted for my luggage, I only had a small selection of my favourite stamps with me.)

The first stamp I reached for was the Typeset Scallop, which I stamped twice horizontally over the paint on my background using black StazOn ink. This gave my page a horizontal line that I could then anchor my photos to.

Next, I wanted to add some vertical structure to my page, so I used the Rows of Numbers stamp and stamped it near the top and bottom of my painted section. I also added a few scribbles with my Stabilo All pencil to further enhance the horizontal and vertical lines I had created.

Once I had the structural stamping in place it was time to add some layers of texture. I used a variety of materials for my layers - striped tissue paper; punchinella; paper doily and frayed gauze before adding my photos on top.

Once the photos were in place I also added some pieces of twisted coloured wire and some staples; as well as some small snarky phrase stickers.

At this point I thought the background needed some extra black detail, so I used the Waybill/Invoice Background stamp to add a little random text and lines around the edges of the focal area.

To finish off my page, I used the Cross Marks Background stamp to add three small patches of crosses to form a "visual triangle" around my photos. I further enhanced the crosses by using some yellow embroidery thread to hand stitch over a few of them. 

Then it was a few tiny watercolour splatters and I was done!

That's all from me today, I hope I have inspired you to pull out some of your favourite stamps and get inky too!

Stamps used:

- Typeset Scallop

- Rows of Numbers

- Waybill/Invoice Background

- Cross Marks Background

Other materials:

- Bazzill Marshmallow cardstock

- Micador watercolour paints

- Dina Wakley acrylic paints

- Tsukineko StazOn ink

- Book, music and tissue paper

- Paper doily, punchinella, gauze

- Small phrase stickers

- Coloured wire, staples

- Embroidery thread

- Stabilo All pencil

Nothing means business like...

Hello Crafty friends!!

Happy Early New Year!

Today I have a super fun card and envelope set... I'm on a bit of a sarcastic/snarky kick using the Tim Holtz snarky stickers. 

Stamps used:

Dictionary page

Cross marks background

Color wheel lines

Doodle frame

Boys playing with shopping cart

Rows of Numbers

I started by stamping the kids with the cart on the A2 card and envelope.  Setting the card aside, I traced the playing card to create an address block.  I also added a "mask" of the kids with the cart. 

At the top of the envelope I stamped the scallops banner (aka doodle frame) and makes it off.

With everything masked off, I used weathered wood distress ink to create my base background layer.

Next I randomly stamped my background details: dictionary page, color wheel, x, row of numbers

To finish everything I removed my masks, and used blick alcohol markers to color everything.

I also used white gel pen to add final details.

Thanks for visiting.