Topflight Stamps Design Team Debut!!!

I am so excited to be here with my 1st Topflight Design Team post. For those of you who are familiar with my work I love stamps & use them in almost everything I do. I thought I would begin with a project that I can add more stamping to as time goes on. What better way than Eileen Hull's Passport Book Die!! This is one of my favorite dies and will be a great way to showcase some stamps in an art journal way.   

Here is my Passport Book!! 

As this book is a WIP (work in progress) I am leaving binding the book until the end. For now using rubber bands to keep the signatures in is a great way to easily pull my pages in & out while working on the inside. The best part is you can play along with me & make a book too!!! 

 

Starting with corrugated cardboard was a happy recycle way to go. Simply cut out 2 covers & a spine. Next pull up some of the cover making sure to peel the layer that covers the rounded part of the board. You can easily see this by looking at the side of the board. Cover with gesso or whatever color of paint you want. I wanted a white surface so my stamping would show up. Use an old gift card or spatula & scrape the paint on leaving some of the card showing through.

Once the paint is dry stamp your focal image on the cover for placement. I knew I wanted a hummingbird- one of my favorite birds on the cover, conveniently Darkroom doors has a great set! I also knew I wanted to cover the entire cover in UTEE to protect it & create a cool slick surface. That meant whatever I used to stamp in, had to be permanent. I decided to go with Dylusions Paint as I also wanted bright colors. 

I put a bit of paint with a spatula on my craft mat and spread it kind of flat. Then dabbed my stamp into it to get good coverage. Use different colors & randomly stamp over project, drying paint in between colors. Use leftover paint with a baby wipe & paint some of the inside pages so not to waste paint. This gives some of your blank pages a bit of color to start. I am adding in different types of paper from card stock, watercolor, index cards etc.

The white background was too stark for me so I used a trick to cover the pages with UTEE. Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel is basically a thick clear embossing powder & perfect for this technique. When covering large areas I like to use a color spray for easy coverage, so much faster than an ink pad! Spritz covers with Squeezed Lemon Distress Spray & cover with UTEE. Shake off excess and heat set. 

The result is a water looking shine that helps protect the cover. Using a light color like yellow allows the painted images to show loud & clear. My hummingbird was heat embossed and cut out then adhered with a strong glue. 

The spine was painted with the Dylusions Paint and on the outside was stamped in copper paint. Once dry I added the UTEE the same way as the cover leaving the edges bare. This is where the Super Tape goes.  The spine can be adhered on the outside to look like a regular book or the inside which is what I did. That gives me more space on my cover to work with. 

Inside my spine was heat embossed with stamped images. Cover the inside of your book with paper before you adhere the spine. To finish my cover I added a jewelry latch & chain to help keep my book closed. 

I slipped the few pages I have from my leftover paint as above in. My book is ready to add more pages as I go! Thanks so much to Topflight for choosing me to be apart of their design team. Hop on over there & subscribe to the newsletter (left hand side of home page) to keep up to date on all the great sales & new releases.

Supplies:

Topflight Stamps:

-Darkroom Door: Hummingbirds, Grunge Marks

-katzelkraft: Background Clouds, Fireworks

Other Supplies:

Eileen Hull Passport Die by Sizzix

Emerald Creek Emboss- Oil Rubbed Bronze, Charred Gold, Hammered Metal.

Ranger- Dylusions Paint, UTEE, Distress Spray, Embossing Dabber

Thermo*O*Web- Super Tape