These are a Few of My Favorite Things

The challenge this week at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is all about all-stars. What I created this week use many of  my all-stars and some of my favorite things in my stamping stash!  This month is Stamptember at Simon Says Stamp there are give-aways, inspiration and a month long stamp party!

I just kept pulling out all my favorites and piling them up on my craft desk and figured the best way to showcase them all was to mix them together in a tag book.

My project started from the Graphic 45 Kraftboard Tag Album which gave me a booklet to showcase all my favorites.  I painted the background with a coat of white acrylic paint.

Here is a close up of each tag: 

 The white acrylic paint used to soften the background, colors or provide a surface to paint on is one of my all stars.  The script in the background is one of my favorites and I used it to add texture or depth to my background.  Flowers and a beautiful sentiment are always top on my list to use on my projects and the Stampendous sentiment is one of my favorites as is the Fleurettes from Hero Arts.

Products: Stampendous Life is Art, Hero Arts - Fleurettes, Hero Arts - Old French Writing, Ranger Distress Ink - Picked Raspberries, Waterbursh, Ranger Archival Ink.

 This dragonfly is beautiful and striking. I love stamping it and coloring it!  The waterbrush and watercolor pencils are my all-star and easy for me to pull out and add a touch of color. 

Products: Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Tim Holtz - Idea-ology - Tissue Tape, Stampers Anonymous - Classics #1, STAEDTLER Watercolor Pencils, Studio Calico - HeyDey, May Arts - Rose Trim, Natural Twine,

The Outpost is one of my all time favorites. I grew up in the Midwest and the farms and fences are something I love to see when we go visiting my extended family. 

Products: Artistic Outpost - The Outpost, Hero Arts - Old French Writing, Ranger Archival Ink - Black, May Arts - Ruler Ribbon

Birds are one of my favorites and tend to show up quite a bit on my projects. I picked on of my favorites with a touch of music.

Products: Prima - Wood Button, Artistic Outpost - Quotes and Quotable, Stampendous - Song Bird, Stampers Anonymous Visual Artistry Life's Possibilities, Signo Uni-Ball White Gel Pen, Pearl, Tim HOltz - Lavish Trim

I couldn't have an all-stars and not use a butterfly.  I definitely use my butterflies more than anything and the jumbo cling butterflies from Stampendous has three beautiful butterflies that get pulled out and used quite a bit!

Products: Stampendous Jumbo Butterflies, Artistic Outpost - Quotes and Quotable, Hero Arts - Silhouette Fern, Clearsnap - Antique Moss,Tim Holtz Lavish Trim

Pick out your all-stars and ink them up and join us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for a chance to win a $50 Gift voucher for  Simon Says Stamp. 

A little bit of info about Stamptember and Simon Says Stamp:

Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 with an interest in exclusively selling rubber stamps. It didn’t take long until we realized we couldn’t stop there. During the past 11 years we celebrate rubber stamping in its full glory by giving access to people around the world to a one stop shop. Rubber stamps still remain the heart of our business and we are celebrating by hosting a STAMPtember® event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping. Part of the enticement of rubber stamping is that stamps can be used in creating or complementing ANYTHING! From stamping dates on bank documents and postage parcels in the early 18th century, rubber stamping has dramatically expanded to include card making, scrapbooking, mixed media, life documenting, art journaling, and many forms of altering and expressing art.

There is a fabulous line up of guest designers, tutorials and giveaways.  Don't forget to check back everyday on the Simon Says Stamp blog! 

Thanks for stopping by!


Suzz

Mixed Media Challenge

I decided to play along with my friend Mona's new Mixed Media Challenge #6 using the colors hot pink, light pink and gray. 

 I ended up with two different projects. The first one started from a piece of pattern paper sitting on my desktop. I had a piece of paper with gray woodgrain on the background.  I decided to stencil the damask pattern over the surface using PaperArtsy grunge paste.  While it was wet I sprinkled Stampendous Ultra-fine Micro Glitter over the surface.  after that dried I spied a leftover Eiffel tower die cut from a page in a book. I applied decoupage to attach it to the front.  I added smears of white paint around the edges.  My piece was a little too small for my cardbase so I applied Maya Road trim along the bottom.

Then I got stuck.  Walked away and came back thinking what if I add a bunch of flowers and trinkets?  So I laid them down and applied a coat of gesso. I sprayed over that with sprays (Black and Pink) The black turns gray with a light application.  I then decided I needed an image and found the lovely lady from Artistic Outposts Loverly London to use.  I stamped her on tissue paper and decoupaged her into the middle. I finished it with the french words along the top.

Along the way I played with a set of stamps from Hero Arts that I purchased because of Jacqueline and her inspiration using these new stamps.   If you haven't checked out Jacqueline's blog you should it is quite a treat to see what she has created.  This card is very much inspired by Jacqueline's style.

 This started from me stamping the flower with pink and gray onto a scrap piece of cardstock. Along the way it got misted when I was misting my other project.  I decided to keep going with it and added an Eiffel tower and some other images onto the card. This is a small card made from leftovers. I was pleased with the effect after it was done so decided to add it into my post.  Sets used: Hero Arts, Artistic Outpost - Paris Exposition, Loverly London, Stampers Anonymous Attic Treasures

The inspiration photo from Mona's mixed media challenge:

 Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Chalkboard Fun

Welcome to the Artistic Outpost August Release!  The design team is sharing projects using the new Chalk It Up plate and Chalkboard Wisdom plate being released today from Artistic Outpost.

I decided to put together a vintage canvas.

 This is a mix of several mists and layering of doilies, lace and buttons. I mixed in images of the girls from the Artistic Outpost - Paperboy plate with the new sentiments and frames from the Chalkboard Wisdom and Chalk it Up plates.  I added a few banners from Cowgirl Strength and draped them across the canvas.

My second card was inspired by this fabulous card by Linda.

Linda  used this image from the Loverly London plate  previously for her suffragette card and I  thought is would be fun to pair the image inside one of the new frames with the perfect words from the Chalkboard Wisdom plate.   I used the script over the background with a few water rings along with the pencils from the Secretary Pool Plate. 

Hop along to see all the other fabulous inspiration by the DT.

Gerrie *  Lisa * Suzanne * Tracy * Linda * Alison * Terry * Kate

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

The Other Side

I am back to share the other side of my new art journal.  I have been carrying my new book around jotting down ideas, sketches and doodles. 

 The background started with the same damask stencil and DecoArt Embossing Paste.  I added a layer of damask texture and waited for it to dry.  I then used gold glimmer mist to add a hint of color and followed that with brown glimmer mist in areas. 

I smeared the white paint over the surface to catch the damask edges and lighten the colors. The rest was stamping the images using Ranger Archival Ink.

The images are:  Darkroom Door - Fancy Flourish, Darkroom Door - Beauty, Darkroom Door - Butterfly Garden,     Darkroom Door - Arch, Darkroom Door - Home

I finished the edges with the same tissue tape.  I was thinking of stamping something in the Arch, but wanted to think about it. I may have to add something later when inspiration arises. Plus there is a lot of open space on the background. :) 


Have a lovely Tuesday!

Suzz

Dotty

This week at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge we are going dotty!  From polka dots to spotted papers, stamps to dots made with a pen, or even embossed dot cardstock, we invite you to get dotty with us this week at the  Monday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp

I was inspired by the thoughts of dots and pulled out this fun pattern paper using the dots.

When I thought of the dots in the paper it reminded me of the circus and I decided to pull out the Stampendous circus stamps and create a card using Circus images. I used plenty of contrasts of black and red and white and cream. 

My second project is a tag using the same papers and Stampendous Circus Stamps:

I had the left over paper from the previous project where i had punched out the circles with the stars and thought it would be fun to use it on the corners.  I also had a few scraps of black cardstock with the stars punched out.  I cut them into banners and added a few of the punched out stars in a circle to put in the center of the stars. I dressed my little joker in a coordinating outfit. I stamped him twice once on white cardstock and the second time on the pattern paper to cut his outfit and hat out.

I made the ring from bronze wire and attached leftover stars around the circle. A fun circus card!

Products: Carta Bella - Well Travelled, Stampendous Circus Poster,  Stampendous - Carousel Circus Stamps,  Stampendous - Lil Joker, Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black, Vermillion, Crop-a-dile Punch, Stars Die

Come join in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for a chance to win a $50 Gift voucher for Simon Says Stamp. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Creativity

I love the new quotes from Darkroom Door.  I used the new Quote - Creativity to inspire a cover to a new art journal. 

I like this quote. I think that in creating some times I am too worried about all the details and lose the fun in just playing with something new.  This reminds me to try things out and enjoy the process of discovering the art and not so much the design of the end product. 

I started with a journal bought for a few  dollars.    I actually bought a few of these and created my first journal quite awhile ago.  The previous  journal has lots of sketches, notes, ideas scribbled in it and I am about ready for a new one.

I started with white cardstock which I covered in white acrylic paint.  I laid a new damask stencil over the surface and used DecoArt Dimension Effects to add a layer of texture.  I then had to wait for that to dry. :)  When if finished drying I started mixing in Americana multi-surface Satin Paint in a lovely shade of lavender fields. 

I then stamped the Darkroom Door Butterfly stamp using black archival ink onto tissue paper multiple times. I repeated the process using the Bold Blossoms  I cut the tissue paper and used the Americana Decoupage sealer glue to apply the butterflies and flowers to the front of the journal.  I added the touches of the Americana Satin Poppy paint around the edges of the images. Then added touches to butterflies. I added a touch of white paint after that dried to soften the edges.  I rubbed Soft Plum dye ink over the raised surfaces and touches of white paint to highlight the damask.


I will share the other side of the journal in a future post!  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  We are experiencing our first major change with our kiddos.  Our oldest is heading off to college this weekend.  I am going to be a little teary eyed this weekend.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Happiness is....

PaperArtsy is celebrating their 10th Birthday! I was happy to create a project to celebrate their birthday!

Head over to the blog for all the details!  I used the following products to create my project: PaperArtsy Fresco Finish - Mermaid, Limelight, Hot Pick 1009.

Head over for all the details on the PaperArtsy blog!

Suzz