New DT announcements for 2019!

Hi all, hope you have had a great start into the new year already. I'm excited to share a few announcements today regarding my Design Team work. 

First off I'm happy to say that I've been selected as one of the guest designers for Viva Las VegaStamps! in the first half of 2019. I'm honored and excited to be part of this amazing team with talented ladies and happy to represent this wonderful stamp company again. 

See the announcement on their blog HERE and be sure to check out the links to social media from the other team members as well as the monthly challenges which you can play along with.

The second announcement is that I'll continue working with Craft Stamper blog as part of their Take it Make it inspiration design team. I am excited to stay on for another year to provide some inspiration for the monthly challenges, which are open to everyone who uses rubber stamps in their work.

 

The new challenge for January is on the blog today and we hope you'll join in the fun and link up projects for a blog/magazine feature possibility. Also you could be winning the following prizes this month:

And of course my work for the awesome StencilGirl® products will continue on this year - stay tuned for another post of mine on StencilGirl Talk this coming week. 

That's definitely a wonderful start for the new year on my part. 

I would like to thank you for your continued support here and on my other social media hang outs. 

Thank you for stopping by today and have an awesome weekend. 

Art Journal: Autumn Memories - CSTIMI

The weather is getting colder and my fave season has almost ended. When I went for a walk on a beautiful bright autumn day a few weeks ago, I found a gorgeous leaf in beautiful vibrant colors which I decided to take home. I wanted to incorporate it in an art journal page as an ode to my fave season. The leaf is portraying so many fall colors which reminded me of my favorite Lindy’s Magicals set Autumn Leaves.

It became the starting point of this art journal page. I also wanted to use a couple of my favorite StencilGirl® Products stencils and Viva Las VegaStamp! mixed media stamps. You'll find a list of products used at the end of the post 

While I was making this page I also had the camera running so you can watch the video tutorial of it here 

Below are a few close up pictures

TIP: when you dry the modeling paste to the touch you can stamp in there to create some fun textures in the paste. Just make sure your stamp is wet (just spray on some water) so the paste doesn’t stick too much on your stamp.

Products used: 

Mediums: white gesso, white crackle paste and black modeling paste from DecoART media

Stencils from StencilGirl® Products : S288: Pretty as a peacock, S242 Diamond Dance, S433: Amsterdam

Stamps from Viva Las VegaStamps! : Row of scribble circles, rows of numbers, numbers set, punchinella / sequin waste border, Writing circles

Pigment powders & color sprays from Lindy's Gang: Lindy’s Magicals set Autumn Leaves. Moon shadow mists: Bluebeard blue violet, Buccaneer Bay blue and Smoky Sapphire And from the Industrial chic set : Shabby Turbine teal and Steampunk sepia. 

Others: Stamping ink from Staz-On, Distress crayon in chipped sapphire, skelleton leafs, hemp twine, Tim Holtz word stickers, Dina Wakley rosy paint, miniature foam roller. 

This is was an ode to my favorite season and I hope it inspired you to play along with our last Craft Stamper challenge of the year. All you have to do is link up a new project in which you have incorporated stamping. You are then in the running for fab prizes and you could even have your work featured in the magazine :) Also check out the current Art Call where reader submissions are requested for certain themed projects for the magazine. 

I'm also entering this art journal page to Art Journal Journey with the theme of My favorite season. Fantastic theme as always and I've been really enjoying playing along with the challenges this year! Looking forward to see what next year themes will be :) 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Little man on the moon - CSTIMI

Hey all, it's the beginning of a new month and that means the new challenge over at Craft Stamper Take it Make it blog has started. I made this cute card with The Greeting Farm stamp of the astronaut, Viva Las VegaStamps! moon and mixed media stamps and the stencil is from Stamplorations. 

The movie "First man" is out and it's inspired by it. I have yet to see the movie though - but the story is legendary. Have you seen it? Let me know what you thought of it. 

You can win a prize and possibly get your work in print too, so link up your stamped project to the blog post above to be in it to win it!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Art Journal: Diary of events

The days are getting shorter and the weather colder - what comforts me in these times besides hot drinks and snuggling on the couch with Meesha, are big bright bold colors! While cleaning up bits of my art room recently, I found a few boxes of oil pastels and decided to use them in my art journal pages. This one is another collage with vintage and modern magazine clippings and gelli prints backgrounds.

I've oil pastels marks in the same colors as the back ground and just made big bold marks with them around the collage images. I've then stamped a script stamp (Paper Artsy), row of numbers (VLVS!) and a fence stamp (Stampotique Originals) for texture.

The sentiment "diary of events" is from Tim Holtz sticker books. The juxtaposition between the black and white & grey against the bold colored background really pleases me. It reminds me that even though the day to day can be B/W & Grey - there are bold colors inside me and I can let them out any time I choose, bursting through the fences we often place ourselves behind. 

"I no longer want to fit in, I choose to be me, with bold and beautiful colors."

Hope this inspires you to play along with this month's Craft Stamper TIMI challenge. You can win a lovely prize and you'll have the chance to have your work featured in a magazine! See the full terms on the site & hope to see your entries there. 

I also would love to share this art journal page over at Art Journal Journey with the theme of Creature Comfort this month. What a great theme again and I love seeing everyone's creations!

Thank you for stopping by and hope you'll have a fantastic weekend!

Art Journal: Yes my darling, write your hopeful, beautiful and sentimental chronicles, always

Today I am sharing some inspiration for the September Take it Make it, challenge over at Craft Stamper. I've made a piece with my vintage ladies and pens clippings and started a new size journal, in my traveler's notebook. It says

"Yes my darling, write your hopeful, beautiful and sentimental chronicles, always."

and it has such a beautiful, fun whimsical feel to it. I made this page during my 30 days mini journaling project to fulfill my need for collaging. And it was good to have a bit of a break and do some journaling on a larger scale too :) Below you'll see a a few steps on how I created this spread.

Started off with collaging neutral and "old style vintage" colored papers of which I have plenty of.

Then added gesso to knock back some color, adhered my focal images with gel medium and created shadows with faber castell pitt marker in grey.

I added some darker accents with distress crayons & created a border.

Some stamping for texture. Used a few of my favorites by Viva Las VegaStamps! and Staz-On inks.

And before I added the sentiment I added some splatters to bring it all together. 

Hope this inspired you to play along with the CS TIMI challenge for this month :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome weekend!

Art Journal: Kindness - Craft Stamper Challenge August 2018

It's the first friday of the month and that means the challenge over at Craft Stamper Take it Make it blog is live. This month you can win some fun Alcohol Lift products and a winners profile post. So share your creations by linking up your projects made with a rubber stamped element. 

I'm sharing this art journal page as inspiration. I made it with StencilGirl® Diamond dance stencil, paper artsy paints, carabelle studio & indigo blue stamps and vintage magazine images. A reminder to live everyday with kindness. 

Also sharing this with my art journaling friends over at Art Journal Journey, with the theme "count your blessings" and every day is a blessing therefore living with kindness and gratitude is so very important to me. Thanks for another inspiring monthly theme Elizabeth (bluebeard) and Susi! xo

Thanks for stopping by! Have an awesome weekend!

Craft Stamper TIMI - July Challenge (believe your best state of mind)

The title says it, today I am sharing some challenge inspiration for this month's challenge over at the Craft Stamper blog. I've made a mixed media card with lots of mediums, paints and layers. The stamps I used are from AALL and Create. In this piece I made the lines chaotic and blurry, but with bright and hopeful colors. And there is a story behind the sentiment too.

The sentiment was inspired by a story one of our CSTIMI DT members shared about her depression and how difficult it can be to get out of it. And it's something I personally am also familiar with as in the past I also had depressions and in the thick of it, it's really hard to imagine that there are going to be better days. But somehow I broke through it and it's not easy, but what helps is having a different mind set and be more loving and kind towards yourself. For me personally things turned around when I started my mindfulness practice nearly 12 years ago. There are so many stages to break through, to accept, to embrace and to let go. Super hard stuff to go through, but once you start believing in your best state of mind, the voices that tell you all the these stories that make you feel less than yourself, will eventually loose their power over you. I thank our DT member for sharing her story and for reaching out. This is really important to do, so you know you are not alone and can create a supportive network. And with this I hope to give some comfort and support to those whom are struggling with depression as well. Always believe your best state of mind.

I hope this inspired you to create along with us this month at Craft Stamper and be sure to link up your projects to be in it to win some great prizes and the winner gets a feature on the magazine and blog. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have an amazing weekend!

Craft Stamper TIMI - June Challenge Inspiration

Hi everyone, today I am sharing some inspiration with your for the challenge over at Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It challenge for June. I've made some summer tags with beach colors and fantastic mermaid images by Brian Kessinger from Viva Las VegaStamps! I usually don't make tags, so this is a departure for me but really loved making these. A few close up shots of the tags:

Discover your treasure

Be different, love yourself

The sentiments are chit chat stickers from Tim Holtz. The back ground is made with distress oxide and splatters of picket fence and a bunch of mixed media stamps. The main images are colored with alcohol markers on sticker paper and then adhered to the tags after fussy cutting. 

Come and join the challenge at the Craft Stamper TIMI blog where you can be in the running for fabulous prizes from this month's sponsor and have a chance to get your work featured in the magazine! But you must be it it to win it, so link up your projects HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Craft Stamper TIMI - May Challenge Inspiration

Today I wanted to share some inspiration with you for the Craft Stamper Take It Make It May Challenge. I've created this page in my junk mail art journal and the idea of this journal is to use up my trims and excess craft waste and turn it into something new. On this page I glued down a lot of excess die cut waste in a nature and flower theme. Then used some black gesso over it and got to work with DecoArt Media metallic Lustre to highlight and shine some aria's. I also used a white posca pen to accentuate some inner lines. Stamped it up with some lush mixed media stamps from VLVS! and Stamplorations. The face stamp is a boxed lady from Dina Wakley which I colored with promarkers and paired with words from the Boxed Sentiments stamp set from Stamplorations. Lastly some white spatters to bring it all together. 

Close up shot of the page. I really enjoy this technique, it's fun and simple to do!

I've made a little video on it how you can achieve the back ground look with the DecoArt Metallic Lustre which you can view here:

Hope you found that little technique video useful. Let me know by hitting that like button :)

Thank you kindly for sending me these Metallic Lustre products to play around with
DecoArt Media crew!

Hope this also inspired you to join the challenge at the Craft Stamper blog where you can be in the running for fabulous prizes from this month's sponsor and have a chance to get your work featured in the magazine! But you must be it it to win it, so link up your projects here :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Craft Stamper TIMI - April Challenge Inspiration

Over at Craft Stamper Take it Make it Challenge blog, the April challenge is still under way for a few more days and I am sharing this challenge inspiration piece with you. The base is a book page on which I rolled out some Paper Artsy Fresco paints in blue greens. And I used various stamps by Carabelle Studio, Designs by Rynn and VLVS! The sentiment is a beauty by Cat Kerr and something to remind yourself of when you're stepping out of your comfort zone. By the way, I stamped the umbrella girl on tissue paper, and adhered it with decoarts napkin decoupage glue. Over it I used Dina Wakley scribble sticks to blend the image with the back ground. 

You have to be in it to win it, so play along to be in the running for fab prizes and the chance to be featured on the blog and in the magazine with your art work. Do read the rules before entering. Oh and the theme is ALWAYS anything goes, just as long you have a hand stamped image on your project. Can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Craft Stamper TIMI - March Challenge Inspiration

Today I am sharing some challenge inspiration for this month's Craft Stamper Take it Make it March Challenge. As always the theme is anything goes as long as there is stamping on it and if you share your project you are in the running for a fabulous prize. This month it is sponsored by That's Crafty (stamps designed by Donna Gray). I have made the above card to inspire you and it's made with wonderful layers of water color paints, stamps and die cut embellishments.

The cup of roses stamps are from Stamplorations which I stamped and embossed with white embossing powder. The Thanks die cut is from Create A Smile and wanted it ever since I saw it at the Favorites of 2017 on Jennifer McGuire's YT channel. I just love how beautiful & elegant this layered die cut is. The card is water colored with Cloves and Honey Watercolors and all the border accents are made with washi tape. I am exploring ways how to incorporate washi tape more into my work and thought this worked well in the over all design. 

Hopefully this inspired you to participate in the current challenge at Craft Stamper blog. Do link up your projects HERE 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Craft Stamper TIMI - February Challenge Inspiration

Today I am sharing some challenge inspiration for this month's Craft Stamper Take it Make it February Challenge. As always the theme is anything goes as long as there is stamping on it and if you share your project you are in the running for a fabulous prize. This month it is sponsored by darkroomdoor. I have made the above card to inspire you and it's made with wonderful layers of paints, stamps and die cut embellishments.

I started off on layering paints on the back of packaging I had saved. With beautiful greens and blues from Decoart Media fluid acrylics. Then stamped the girl on tissue paper and applied it with Decoart napkin decoupage glue. Rolled on some more paint and stencilled some blue and magenta metallique paints from Finnabair on it. Some more stamping with background stamps from Lost Coast Designs.

I  die cut some dragonflies (by Stamplorations) from excess gelli printed paper and some parchment paper because they went to well with the quote stamp from Viva las VegaStamps. I also used a bit of Finnabair Dragon's eye sparks to give the card a bit of extra shimmer.

This is how the card looks when you shine a little spotlight over it. I definitely love how it turned out. 

Don't forget to link up your projects HERE to be in it to win it :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Craft Stamper TIMI - January Challenge Inspiration

Hi everyone, super excited to share my first project as DT member for Craft Stamper's TIMI Challenge Blog  :)  The challenges are always anything goes and the only rule is that you have to incorporate stamping in your project somehow. Super easy and fun, right? I've made the above art journal page in my pocket journal. Let me share with you how I made it.

I took a piece of scrap book paper on which I already had applied some texture paste through a stencil. Then applied some color to it with iridescent shimmer paints which I home made with Glazing medium and Finnabair Mica in pink and blue. When that was dry I poured over some black acrylic paint and glaze and wiped it off with a baby wipe to create the shadow effect.

Then stamped various stamps in the background for more texture. The stamps used are from paper Artsy and Stamplorations.

How the background looks with the stamping on it.

Decided on the focal point being the middle gibson girl (from Lost Coast Designs) and the sentiment you are beautiful (from Viva Las VegaStamps!) The right I colored in with alcohol markers and cut out the middle face. The left is stamped on tissue paper and adhered with soft matte gel.

When this dried I cut the page to size for my pocket journal and adhered the colored face.

I added more stamping over the tissue paper and a bit more paint to blend the composition together. I love how she emerges from the misty crowd. 

Hope this inspired you to play along with this month's challenge. You can win some fabulous prizes from Visible Image this month and a winners' profile feature on the Craft Stamper blog and magazine! Read the details and find the linky page HERE.   

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!