Hello Topflight Stamps fans, it is Thursday so it is time for my blog post! Today I am playing with My Favorite Book & I have made a Halloween page.
Halloween circa 2006
This is a photo from 11 years ago! How time really flies. We always love going out Trick or Treating & dress up as a family. I wanted to put a larger photo on this page so I cut it to fit across 2 pages. I left a slight gap in the middle so the pages will close properly. This photo was edited using the Rhonna Designs app on my phone.
My memory journal page started as a wipe up page in my book so it was almost ready to go. All I had to do was add some stencil with paste to create the perfect background. The Katzelkraft stamp set has the just the right amount of spooky! You can find it here.
Pumpkin Head
I love being able to recycle & I thought the Tim Holtz packaging was pretty cool with the spider web & distressed look. It made for a great tag. All I had to do was add washi to cover up the words, Distress Oxide some paper & heat emboss it. The spider charm was just painted with copper so it would show up more.
It's French!
Love this title! As a French Canadian this is the perfect title for my page. These stamps are really crisp & detailed. I used Memento in Tuxedo Black, really love this font. This year I am going as Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas- even though my kids are older we still dress up. I hope you have a spooky fun Halloween with lots of nummy candy & most importantly some wonderful memories! Until next time...BOO!
Hello Eileen Hull fans, I have a spooky basket tutorial for you today! My 2nd favorite holiday is Halloween & even though I am still working on my costume I can always add to my decoration stash.
Let's Get Tricksy!
Here is my finished basket ready to house my favorite treats so they are within easy reach! This basket is really easy to assemble & the die makes for infinite possibility.
Time to Make the Basket!
Start out by cutting all your pieces out of mat board. All the directions, including where to add the glue are on the inside of the die packaging. Once my pieces were cut it was time to add some mix media.
Step 2: Using the alterations embossing folders, add a cool fence design to the flaps or sides of the basket, be mindful of the direction so your fence is right side up!
Step 3. Originally I was simply going to emboss the rest of the basket using folders as well so this is another easier option if you like. However I like the skull images better, so I had to proceed using a stencil. Scrape heavy gesso to the side pieces, & let dry. Next using a stencil, add molding paste and set aside to dry.
Heat Emboss for the Win
Step 4. While your basket pieces are drying paint the bottom side of the handles using black acrylic paint. Heat emboss the top side with Emerald Creek Hammered Metal. This makes the handles actually look like a very cool metal finish.
Add Some Dark & Stormy...
Step 5. I wanted my basket to have a cool metallic, very mix media look. I added some acrylic glaze to metallic paint, 50-50 mix and covered the whole piece. After about a minute wipe back the paint with a baby wipe, moving the wipe as it gets dirty to keep removing the paint. You can experiment with how much you wipe off. Do this step 2x. I used Raven Black first & then repeated with Black Berry.
Add Halloween Die Cuts
Step 6. While that is drying cut out a Halloween shape using corrugated card board & a steel rule die. I like this material as it is easy to cut but creates a thick piece, also re-purposing is always a good thing! I choose the raven and then coated it with crackle paste. Once the raven was nice & dry it was time for some paint.I painted it with a Raven Black Sparkle and let that dry. Then hit the high points & the branch with copper paint or wax.
Fire Burn & Cauldron Bubble...
Step 7. All that was left was assembly. This box was easy to put together. I used Supertape to assemble the basket. Adding some embellishments like the word stick with ribbon, and brads to hold the handles. Now my box is ready for some treats!
Thanks for joining me today. If you get a chance head over to Eileen Hull's Blog to see what the rest of the Inspiration Team has come up with. I hope you have some time to make yourself a spooky basket! Happy Halloween to all.
I am entering this in the Words & Paintery Challenge which you can find here.
Hi Blog land, welcome to how to create an art tag in 30 minutes! It is Thursday & my Topflight Stamps blog post is up. If you are like a lot of people, time is filled with busyness so how do we fit in that precious De-stressing art time? How about a little short cut tip?
First up here is my art tag, this week the dteam are playing with butterflies. Using a preexisting tag all I had to do was stamp & emboss my image onto the tag. This was a great place to start.
The stamp used is designed by Crafty Individuals, a company from England. The detail in these stamps is wonderful and allows for a lot of creativity. Look closely at the image, gears, postage stamps, clocks, writing... what is not to love!
What made this tag so easy to make was my tin that sits beside me. It is filled with tags that are started with paint, ink or sprays leftover from other projects. When I want inspiration or I have a few minutes just to play I grab a tag. It is a wonderful starting point.
All I needed to do was to stamp with black embossing ink and add some of the individual stamped images painted with watercolor. A little washi tape, flowers and quote was all it took to finish it up. I hope you take 30 minutes to play today!
Welcome to a sneak peak of my new watercolor art cards class, currently in the making. It is also Thursday so it must be time for my Topflight Stamps blog post! This class will be offered in the VA, & MD areas to start so keep an eye on my blog for more info. Following me on Instagram (click on the button right side) also gets you more info on classes & much more art.
How fun are these? I totally love how they turned out. They are 3x4" of wow. The thing I love about making art cards is the instant gratification. Quick & done! My plan for the class is to house them in a really cool box, which I am also working on.
Now for the stamps! This week I played with Carabelle Studios sets. First up is "Loving Thoughts".
The next set are these cool sketchy stamps called "Les Geometriks". Check out the links which will take you directly to the sets. Shop Topflight Stamps which has a wonderful selection, check out the daily deal.
I am also entering these cards in the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge because the colors are too perfect! I hope you have a chance to get inky today! See you next time.
Welcome to World Card Making Day 2017!! I hope you join us on Topflight Stamps for our contest! There are many prizes to be won. There is also a sale going on- 20% off your entire order until Monday the code is WCMD20.
This is my card made using one of my favorite sets of stamps by Darkroom Door. I am not a card maker so I am kind of happy with this. Plus I love coffee! Here are the details for our shenanigans.
World Card making Day Contest
On
Saturday, October 7 we will post a link on our blog and we encourage all
our customers to post cards that they have created with stamps from our
store. You can link as many cards as you would like. The link up will
be open Saturday, October 7 through Friday, October 13 at midnight EST.
Our winners will be announced on the blog Sunday, October 15.
PRIZES
1 - Tim Holtz Stamp Platform
4 - Mystery Bags Full of Stamps - retail value at least $30
5 - $10 gift certificates to the Topflight Stamps Store
Hello Arty Fans, I am back today with an update in my ArtiFacts book. I was really happy to take a few hours to play in this book. Seth Apter has this year long collaboration over on his blog. He has just posted the latest pages including this one, thanks Seth! You can find the August pages here & July's here.
Whoa Big Painterly Layout
Here is my full spread. It measures almost 21" across!! So many fun things going on! I will have some close ups of the eye candy below. Here is the link for how I made my book.
Playing With New Paints!
I felt as it is a Seth Apter collab & I love his products I will use them this month. I also decided to play with his paint line from PaperArtsy for the first time. I found them to be very unique yet true to their name "chalk acrylics". They have a brighter finish then traditional chalk paints. One of the things I loved about them is that they have very good coverage on the kraft color paper-bonus. You can see I used them on the tags & with the stencils.
Let's Make Some Tags!
What a good way to start. Putting some paint on tags. I have to admit one of the challenges I have had on this project is that my book is so big & I am not used to working on this size. I figured using tags was an easy way to break up the page into a more manageable size.
Working on the Layout...
As for how I did the layering, it is best that Seth shows you himself. Here is a YouTube video he did that shows the process.
I have many stashes of random bits & pieces so I dug into my folder & pulled out a few. This made the project so much easier & kind of made me realize I need to have more die cuts at the ready for future use. Having them organized by designer really helps. Here is a pic of me starting to design the page. Taking photos along the way is a great way to remember what your layout was in case you want to go back.
I had printed out my February arting photos & made a journal card using the Project Life app on my phone. By moving the photos around my layout changed quite a bit. I knew I also wanted to add in some stencil work so I needed some gaps between my pics.
It's All In The Details
Now that I had my layout down & glued it was time to add some details. I have taken a few of Seth's classes (which I highly recommend) so I put some of that teaching to good use. Adding mark making and some stenciling was also very relaxing & fun. You can see here how well the paint shows up on the kraft paper when used with a stencil. The die cut (inside of the pocket watch die) was kraft paper, painted with Smoked Paprika & once dry stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink.
Here is a die from my stash that I had stenciled with gesso. Love this look! You can see another painted circle die peaking. Lot's of mark making & a subtle touch of stamping.
Here I used another of those stash dies & stamped in the middle with a perfect fitted stamp. Seth is well known for his products fitting together. I used Distress Oxide Ink which has some chalk property & shows up beautifully on kraft paper also.
Used Seth's Alpha Drip stencil with Archival Ink for my month. Love how the shadowing makes the letters pop like wow. Yes I am crazy behind but I am giving myself permission to not be stressed about this. This project is about reflecting back on my art & is allowing myself to be creative & a bit crazy with the pages. Just to play & have fun. Embrace the chaos!!! Thanks for joining me on my tour. Let me know what you like about this page in the comments!! Thanks so much for taking the time, I hope I can inspire you to play outside the box.
Other links: I am entering this in the most recent Frilly & Funky Challenge Blog. Lots of great inspiration over there!
Happy Thursday, I am here today making a card for Topflight Stamps. This Saturday the 7th is National Card Making Day & there are different specials everyday to celebrate. I hope you join us on Oct. 7, 2017 for a celebration! You can win prizes!!! More info at the end of my post.
First here is the card I made using a Studio Light background stamp. It came together pretty quickly which is great if you want to make a set to have on hand or to give as a gift.
1. The card background was made with Distress Oxide & water on a craft mat, dragging the card through. Here I used Black Soot, Twisted Citron & Broken China. Dry well with a heat gun.
2. Next layer add different colors to mat, spritz with water and dab the card into them. Worn Lipstick & Cracked Pistachio were used. I just love this technique!
3. Next up adding the background using embossing powder. I used Emerald Creek's Oil Rubbed Bronze. I didn't do a perfect job but that is OK as you see. Just cover up the mistakes with the images.
4. Time to add the quote and images from Birgit Koopsen's set by Carabelle Studio. Using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink on white card stock, cut out & glued on. I also added some washi tape under my quote and pop dots, so it will show up better. Outline card using a fountain pen & pink ink. Thanks for joining me today, I will have another card to see on Saturday. I hope to see you there.
World Cardmaking Day Contest
On
Saturday, October 7 we will post a link on our Topflight Stamps blog and we encourage
all our customers to post cards that they have created with stamps from
our store. You can link as many cards as you would like. The link up
will be open Saturday, October 7 through Friday, October 13 at midnight
EST. Our winners will be announced on the blog Sunday, October 15.
PRIZES
1 - Tim Holtz Stamp Platform
4 - Mystery Bags Full of Stamps - retail value at least $30
5 - $10 gift certificates to the Topflight Stamps Store
