Happy 300th SDC!

If you have been following the SDC blog and entering our challenges, you must have noticed the HUGE celebration that has been going on in the past weeks. The Stampotique Designer Challenge is celebrating the 300th challenge! Can you believe it, already 300 challenges?! It's amazing! And we all of the DT have made a special project to share with you and today it is my turn to show you the project I have made :) 

I have made this card with my fave stamp from Stampotique Originals (and believe me it was hard to choose the one fave because there are so many wonderful ones!) which is the Unicorn by Magda. It is such a beautiful fun and whimsical design and really feels like she can make magic happen! On this card I also emphasized the whimsy as I have her "farting hearts",  LOL! These are Daniel's hearts which I have colored and cut out individually. The many Heads on the background are all the SDC friends celebrating with us, wishing the Stampotique family a happy 300th celebration. 

By the way, a little about the technique: the background is embossed with pear violet interference and water colored over it with Purple Pazzazz Diamine Shimmertastic inks. The unicorn is water colored on a separate piece of paper using Daniel Smith and Designs by Rachel watercolors. the number 300 is stenciled in using Stencil1 stencils from his book. And lastly Terri's Alphabet is used to form the sentiment. 

So head on over to the blog and make sure to comment on all the posts to be entered in the prizes that are being given away. Make sure to stay with us until the 20th when we will draw 2 people from the comments at random for the 30.00 gift certificates!!

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

Little ray of pitch black (Stampotique Originals new release)

A quickie today to show you a little card made with one of the new releases by Daniel Torrente this month over at Stampotique Originals. She is stamped on a watercolor card on which I stamped off excess ink from Kassa's flower frenzy stamps and colored her with watercolors and enhanced with colored pencil. The phrases by Terri always make me laugh and I just thought this one would go well on the card. 

Over at our Challenge blog you will find a very special post about the 300th challenge at SDC!! That is right, there have been 300SDC posts so far and there will be 2 weeks of celebrations going! Each of the DT members will have their own day on the blog to post their project and there will be prizes given away too! So head on over to the challenge blog today to find out more on how you can enter!

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Angel Hugs (Stampotique Originals new release)

It's the first of the month so that means Stampotique Originals has new stamps up today! I'm showcasing a card made with 2 new releases, the birdie branch by Tini Lubberink and the Angels by Terri Richardson.  I've used watercolor paper and my Tombow markes for this card, added some shadows with Distress Crayons and matted onto black before adhering to the card base. The hugs sentiment is die cut from Technique Tuesday. Oh and of course to add more texture I almost always use Kate Crane's Texture cube :) 

Check out more new release stamps from the other DT members in our Facebook group. 

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

SDC298 - Black and White with a pop of colour

Today at Stampotique Originals DC blog is the second week of a fun challenge: a pop of color with the black and white. This is what I made. I just LOVE that poodle stamp and yeah I did a lot of masking for this! LOL! I really love how this one turned out and hope you will join our challenge this week. Stamps I used are all from Terri Richardson and I used Poodle Doodle, Ewe and the sentiment I made from various words from the Valentine's Day sentiments. 

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Art Journal: Floral Queen Bee

Continuing with playing in my art journal with the new release from Stampotique Originals and this time it's Flower Frenzy designed by Kassa Hayselden. I just absolutely LOVE the flower designs she does and this is no exception! The image is embossed on watercolor paper and colored in with Jane davenport Mermaid markers. Love how the white part which is embossed resists all the color.  Bees are by Jo Capper Sandon and I've cut parts of the sentiment of Be your Own Queen to make Queen Bee. The beauty of text stamps really, is you can just rearrange stuff to your liking to form phrases you want ;)

Sharing this art journal page to the following challenges:

Art Journal Journey - Flora and Fauna

Moo Mania - Flowers 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Animal Magic 

WWC168 Feminine - Anything goes challenge  

Everybody art - 424 - Flower 

Mix it up CB #13 - Anything goes + emboss resist  

Sunny Day Crafting# 18 - Butterflies & Other Garden Critters 

HLS - Watercolor May 2018

Thanks so much for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Art Journal: So Knotty About You (New Release Stampotique Originals)

So this post should have gone up yesterday, but things didn't work out that way... but I am here now to show an art journal page made with some NEWLY released stamps from Stampotique Originals this month. Starring on this page is Mr. And Mrs. Knotty whom are So Knotty about each other. They are designed by Arwen McCullen. Aren't they just fun?  The back is made with a brick stencil, modeling paste, black gesso and deco arts metallic luster. The figures are colored with alcohol markers. 

Go check out more of the new release project on your Facebook page from my fellow DT mates and I'll be showing some more later this week. 

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

SDC297 - only Purple

It's already time for a new challenge over at Stampotique Designer's challenge. And this fortnight the challenge is to use 'only purple' and I've made the above postcard for some inspiration. I did have a bit of a difficult time as purple is not exactly my color, but the PC did turn OK in the end. 

The base is a piece of gelli printed paper on which I stamped Sara with Staz-On jet black.  The acrylic paint acted as a bit of a resist in her dress so I made that a part of the design. In the background I stamped Kate's Texture Cube and France's Mash Up for some texture and added the quote from quote stamp block 2 I added some highlights with a white gel pen and  a lighter color purple in the back ground and around the quote. 

Hope you got inspired to play along with us. Add your projects to the Inlinks page or to the album in the facebook group. Do read all the rules before linking your project. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Art Journal: Groovy Richard Pelvis (Stampotique Originals New Releases April 2018)

Meet Richard Pelvis, a newly released stamp from Stampotique Originals designed by Daniel Torrente. Isn't he just Groovy? I definitely think so. He's placed on the second half of the gelli printed paper from Sunday's post -  that StencilGirl mask is just so gorgeous to work with! 

A short but sweet little blogpost from me today. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

SDC295 - Little Monsters

Hi all it's wednesday and it's time for some challenge inspiration for this weeks Stampotique Originals Designer's challenge. It's the second week of "little monsters" and I made this card using the following stamps: 

Whookie with little whookie 

Saying from EWE cube 

Donald which I flipped so it looks like he is picking up the little whookies. 

I also used some gelli printed paper and the back ground is made with fountain pen ink and a brick stencil to emulate a wall. 

Hope this will inspire you to play along with us this week. You can link up your projects for this theme HERE or on our facebook page in the designated album. 

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

Art Journal: Oh Jackie (Stampotique Originals New Release April 2018)

Hi all, it's the first of the month and we're sharing some new releases by Stampotique Originals today! I created a page with a gelli print made with Liquitex paints and StencilGirl Deconstructed Chrysanthemum Mask and Stencil by Traci  Bautista. The wonderful new face stamp by Daniel Torrente is called Oh, Jackie. Isn't she just wonderful? Absolutely love that hair, there is so much potential! I've also used the quote from Terri Richardson's Phrase cube 2 which I thought was fitting and added some texture with Kate's Texture Cube.

Check out our facebook group for more new release makes from my other lovely DT members and I'll be sharing a few more in the course of this month. Do check back later this week for some inspiration for our current challenge at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Easter Holiday!

Art Journal: There is a universe inside you

It's been a little quiet on my blog, due to some things happening on the personal front. My dad has been in the hospital for a week and the fact is he's not going to recover, this time, from the heart attack he had. He's getting palliative nursing care at his home so he's being well taken care of until that moment arises that he is no longer with us. Acceptance is the only way to move forward, things are settling down and there is some peace and calm again, within and around me.

So last weekend I finally sat down in my art room and started to create again. It felt SOOOO GOOD! What a relief it was for me to pour it all out on blank pages. Creation is definitely good for the soul. There is like this whole universe inside you that wants to be seen and heard and can be awakened if you let yourself be immersed in it. I finished the journal pages over the last few days.

This is the end result of the art journal pages and creating this page really was very soothing and freeing. I used some of my fave products from my fave companies:

Liquitex gesso, paints and gel medium  specimen stencil from TCW, Succulents stencil from StencilGirl, Alice (by Janet Klein) stamp from Stampotique Originals, The large rose stamp from Octopode Factory and several mixed media stamps from VLVS! as well as "dreamer's only" and "there is a universe inside you" stamps by Cat Kerr. I also used paint over pens, wink of luna metallic brushes, distress crayons and pearl rubs. 

Let us all find that universe inside us and pour it out on blank pages. 

Sharing the above desk shot with WOYWW #460 at Julia's wonderful blog. Sorry I've been a bit out of touch, now you know why, but hope to connect with you all again this week. 

I also would like to add this journal page to the following challenges: 

Try it on Tuesday: Call for Spring

The mood board was wonderful and I am absolutely longing for spring to arrive. 

The sky blue, magenta/pink colors and flowers inspired me with this page.

Spring theme at Art Journal Journey 

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #46

I used a couple of stencils, liquitex paints, gesso and gel medium as well as alcohol markers, staz on ink, paint over markers, distress crayons and more. 

Ans lastly Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with "Inside the box" theme.

I interpreted this as I myself being the "box" in which there is a whole other universe inside to discover. As we all do, I believe :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Mail Art Monday - Thinking of you (SCD293 Mail Art)

It's been a while, but finally felt some inspiration again to make some mail art to share with you on this monday. Created a little set of mail art envie and notecard to share with you and they are all made with Stampotqiue Original Stamps. I used Spongul, the Filmstrip as an address section and Happy Mail from Terri's Salutations 2. Colored with Tombow markers and splatter effect with Distress Oxides. Also stamped the Texture Stamp from Kate for more more interest in the background.

I have made this notecard to match the envie, using the same stamps and color scheme. The background was done with stencils and DecoArtMedia spray paint in Cyan and Lindy's shimmer sprays. 

We have a new challenge running this fortnight, which is the theme of Mail Art! Next week I'll have more inspiration posted for that as well. Come and join us with the challenge and link up your mail art related posts either on the blog or on our facebook page in the designated album. We pick our top 3 fave every week and you'll also be in the running to win a 30$ gift certificate which goes to 2 people every month! So we'll hope you'll join the fun :) 

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

Art Journal: I Heart You Cindy (Stampotique Originals March new release)

Hi all! Today I have another art journal page to share with you. It's made with a few Stampotique Originals  new stamp releases! We have a new seahorse to add to the family, which is Cindy Seahorse by Kassa Hayselden. She has been super popular ever since Kassa posted the drawing at our facebook page and we are all super delighted that she is in stamp form now. YAY! I paired her up with cute Rudy and used some words from the When your heart speaks quote stamp. Added a few hearts cut out from Daniel's Hearts background stamp for accents. Also in the background is parts of Doodle Mania and is it's such a gorgeous journal stamp and versatile to use for texture in the back gound like this. By the way the back ground is make with Liquitex modeling paste over a stencil, I added Lindy's magical shakers and sprayed to get a fun color blend, then added some metallic sheen with Deco Art media Lusters. Border with distress crayons and then adhered the pieces (colored with alcohol markers on sticker paper) on top of it.

And check out Kassa's Facebook as she is graciously holding a giveaway of her designed stamps this weekend.

To see more of the new releases this month, click HERE and there are 7 stamps instead of the usual 6 :) Also there is a new designer on the team, Tini Rubberink, so definitely take a look at her fun and quirky designs!

We also have a new challenge running this fortnight, which is the theme of Mail Art! Coming week I'll have some inspiration posted for that as well. 

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

Art Journal: Brave (Stampotique Originals March new release)

It is the 1st of the month and that means that Stampotique Originals brought out some new stamp releases! I'll be showcasing a few makes with the new lush stamps over the coming days and I wanted to start off this this art journal page I made in my pocket art journal. The large stamp is called Doodle Mania and is designed by Kassa Hayselden. It's such a gorgeous journal stamp and versatile to use. 

Recently I saw interviews of Rose McGowan at the Daily Show and the Late show and she talked about her book Brave, which I think she really is. The art journal page is a tribute to her. I used the highly juicy mermaid markers from Jane Davenport for the colors. And doodled over it with a sakura gelly roll. The alphabet by Terri Richardson really fits well with the style I was going for, 

To see more of the new releases this month, click HERE and there are 7 stamps instead of the usual 6 :) Also there is a new designer on the team, Tini Rubberink, so definitely take a look at her fun and quirky designs!

We also have a new challenge running this fortnight, which is the theme of Mail Art! Next week I'll have some inspiration posted for that as well. 

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

SDC292 - Bookmarks

It's Stampotique challenge time again and it's the second week of Bookmarks. I've created this fun bookmark with Queenie, parts of a quote from Quotes 2 and the wonderful textures cube from Kate Crane. We would love it if you would join the fun and link your project on the Blog HERE OR on Facebook HERE. Every week we choose our top 3 and at the end of the month 2 from the top picks are chosen as winners of a gift certificate to the Stampotique online store. Make sure you do read all the rules before entering, one of them is that you enter no more than 4 other challenges (5 including Stampotique) and sadly this rule is often overlooked. So do keep that in mind when linking up :)
ETA: you can use ANY stamp to participate in the challenge, it doesn't have to be from Stampotique Originals exclusively :) 

On the topic of bookmarks I do have a question for you: are you a paper book reader or e-reader kind of person? I'm more of an hybrid reader myself as I love both. I have an e-reader as it's so handy to take with you on travels abroad, but I just love the feel of a "real" book in my hands and leaf through the pages. I prefer to have hard back bound copies of my fave books from my fave writers, esp. from Haruki Murakami and books on mindfulness and compassion (which this book is about). I often leave the book on my desk and read a few pages with my morning cuppa coffee. 

Sharing this desk shot with all the lovely desker's at Julia's WOYWW#455 and I thank everyone for their visit last week! I'm sorry I wasn't able to return a few visits later in the week. It was a bit hectic as the father of a dear friend of mine passed away suddenly. The service was on friday which was beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. I'm proud of my friend that she was able to stand up and recite the beautiful eulogy she had written. And I'm grateful I was able to support her when she needed me. Anyhow, I will do my best to catch up with you all this week. 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope everyone and all your loved ones are doing well. 

Art Journal: Be Mine Valentine

It is the second week of the HEARTS challenge at Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog this week and I've made this little art journal page to share with you for inspiration. You can still join the challenge until next week Tuesday, so don't forget to link up your heart related projects HERE :) 

I started off on a piece of scrapbook paper on which I rolled on some muted pink and black paint from liquitex, stamped Daniel's hearts and clear embossed them before dry brushing some black paint over it. Created the border with black distress marker and spatters with liquitex INKS in white. 

Queenie and "Be Mine" from the valentine quote stamp cube were colored with promarkers, highlighted with a white gel pen then fussy cut and adhered to the page. The hearts radiating from Queenie is from a die cut and I used a little shimmery water colored piece for this. 

Entering this piece in the following challenges: 

Fab 'n Funky #380 - Valentines Say it with words 

Modsquad Have a Heart challenge 

Moo Mania - Love/Valentines 

Simon says Stamp Wednesday challenge - it must be love 

WCW156 Feminine Anything Goes 

Try it on Tuesdays - Love is in the air 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Love is in the Air 

Stamplorations February challenge - Paint it Red 

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

The magic of writing (+ Process Video)

Hey everyone, I've got a fun mixed media art journal tip in page to share with you. This Mixed Media piece shows my love for art journaling and writing. It's INCOWRIMO (international Correspondence Month) and it absolutely fits with that theme.  

I love how colorful and textured this piece turned out!

I've also filmed the process so you can see exactly how I made the texture and added color in the background here:

A few close up shots:

Materials Used:

Stamps from Stampotique Originals Miss Snottie and Texture Cube; PaperArtsy Script Stamp, Share that spark quote stamp from Magenta, Distress paints, DecoArt Media interference and gold paint, Liquitex flexible Modeling paste, Artplorations Stencil,  Derwent graphix black writer, Spray ink, distress crayons, Liquitex INK, PenWorld cut outs, Modge Podge shimmer gold sealer glue.

Hope you enjoyed the process video. Please let me know what you think and if you would like to stay updated on my YT tutorials, please subscribe to my channel HERE.

Entering this piece in the following challenges:
Creative Artiste Mixed Media #35 
More Mixed Media challenge February
Stamps and Stencils: Off to collage

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

New releases Stampotique Originals - February 2018

It's the beginning of the new month and Stampotique has a few amazing new stamps releases! I've made a few cards with them and today I would like to show you a couple. First off is this birthday card. The Giant Birthday Cake by Terri Richarson is a new release this month. I've used an inky mop up page as background which I gessoed lightly and stamped some texture on it. The sentiment are word die cuts from Tim Hotz handwritten sentiments. Blackeyed is from last year's releases.

A very sweet new release this month is that really cute EWE (sheep) and the EWE sentiments cube by Terri. Super cute card for valentines day, don't you think? I cut a few hearts from Daniel's hearts collage stamp to use for different projects and added a few here too. 

Be sure to check back on monday for more new release project from me. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

SDC291 - Hearts!

It's Wednesday and time for a new challenge over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog. February is around the corner and we would like to inspire your Valentine's Day Crafts with this fortnight's theme of HEARTS. I took a little departure from my usual makes which are usually non 3D and inspired by Finnabair's mixed media products and YT channel I made these decorative heart hangers. It's the first time I actually used 3D metal embellishments in this way and I definitely did enjoy the process (though it did take quite some time to make!)

A friend of mine sent me these wooden heart hangers for Christmas, for in the tree, but we never have a tree then, so I decided to repaint them for this challenge. I sanded and gessoed the wooden hearts to start off. Then I created the grooves in the heart by scraping some flexible modeling paste over it and then stamp the texture from the texture cube in them and let it dry thoroughly. Then painted it with Liquitex Paints in deep red colors as a base coat. For the top coat I used Finnabair Metallique red which gives it a nice shine and shimmer. I dry brushed matte black paint over the raised parts to show the texture more and highlighted them with Finnabair Dragon's Eye which is a high golden spark acrylic paint which you only need a little bit of to create some amazing highlights. When that was off to dry I picked out some embellishments and colored some vintage lace with Lindy's Sprays and ripped them to add to the texture.

While I was gluing everything down with 3D gel from Finnabair, which holds strong when dried but is flexible when wet, I added some glitter elements over a few glued aria's for some extra interest.

All these metal embellishments I received from a friend in a swap and I recently found them in a box I kept all these interesting brads and findings in. It felt good to actually use them in this project! Now I wonder if I can find those mini Dragonfly brads for sale somewhere as they are so gorgeous!

These heart hangers are now ready to be hung on the wall as art!

Items used: 

Stampotique stamps: Kate's Texture cube (in the modeling paste over the heart) and When your heart speaks quote stamp Finnabair mixed media: Metallique red,  Sparks Dragon's Eye, 3D Matte gel Liquitex: White Gesso, flexible molding paste, primary red, muted pink, matte black paints; Lindy's sprays, vintage lace, 3d metal embellishments, hemp twine and wooden beads

Hope this inspires you to get your valentines day crafts on and make projects with hearts in them. Please read the rules on the blog HERE and you'll find the linky page to link your project to. 

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