Happy 3rd Birthday Topflight Stamps Blog Hop!

It's Topflight Stamps 3rd birthday and to celebrate, I’ve teamed up with some great designers
to showcase birthday cards using the unique products available at Topflight Stamps. Please hop
along with us and see all the beautiful talent from this group of amazing designers! You should 
have arrived here from Jennie Colacicco's blog. If not, no worries, catch the details below.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

*CONGRATS TO #16 Shell B* this giveaway is closed...

 

*Affiliate- some of these companies have given me product to use, play & experiment with. The ideas are my own but I tend to work with companies whose products I like, so enjoy the inspiration.
**some of these links are affiliate, I receive a small percentage from the company at no cost to you. This helps me deliver free content!

I love when companies bring you products that build on their existing products, giving you more ways to use them. Darkroom Door is one such company & I have been buying their stamps since way back in the day when they came in tins! I have had this quote stamp for a couple of years & now it has the most brilliant matching frame.

There is also a video that has start to finish making this card. I cut out all the extra goof ups along the way or the video would have been 2 days long!!! I hope you get a chance to follow along & make your own card. 

I am not a card maker so this was a challenge for me & I made lots of alternative plans along the way so I will add in some other options for you.

Let's get started! All of the products used today can be found on the Topflight Stamps site, & there is a supply list below. Step 1: Putting paint on the stamp with a dabber & moving fairly quickly, apply paint to the stamp & then heat emboss with a clear embossing powder. I wanted a chunkier one so I chose Eileen Hull's Glistening Glass. This made the colors pop & creates a resist if more color is added which was my idea to start with. If any spots are missed go back in with a fine paint brush & Wow Mixed Media embossing then re-emboss. Makes fixing mistakes easy.

Step 2: I added some paint to my background, adding water to create a water color look. Originally I was going to just pop this on top of the frame background so I cut it out. Not happy with the way it looked made me change. I decided to make my card all on one piece of card stock. The paint colors are Mermaid & Sargasso. Use a baby wipe over the words to get any residual paint off and help the words shine.

Step 3: Not sure of the how the frame would look so many test runs were done. This does give options and also was a great way to experiment to come up with different ideas. Most of these frames just did not create enough contrast. I wanted to showcase the frame as it is so cool. Option 1: Stamped with multiple colors of Prism inks & then embossed with the Glistening Dimensions. I loved this one but the colors were too much like my background. 

Option 2: Painted the frame with a dabber & Pea Coat paint, added the clear emboss. Really love this just didn't get enough emboss on it & wanted a more dynamic frame color.

Option 3: Using an embossing ink to try & get a better coated image then the paint which is drying too fast. Used Etched Pewter & Crusty Copper. Lost some of the image which is OK I can do it again but it was too pale. Love the copper though & in the end went with that. 

Option 4: Took the frame idea from option 3 & added some infusions powder to it. Love the look but it was too dark for this card. I see this being turned into a grungy art journal mini. 

Step 4: In the end I went with the Crusty Copper & made the bold decision to adhere it straight to the background. 1st the middle of the stamp was cut out to make positioning easier. 

After carefully marking my position & with all my supplies at the ready, embossed with the copper & it worked!!! I think making all my practice runs definitely helped me get it right in one go.

Step 5: The background mat is a piece of scrapbook paper with stamped edges to create more interest. I used a few stamps from different Darkroom Door sets, along with Prism Ink. 

Step 6: Decided to add a triple mat and a piece of webbed material. The material came from a gear sports bag. To turn this into a birthday card all that was needed was the sentiment. 

Step 7: Topflight Stamps has lots of Happy Birthday words to chose from, however I did not have any on hand so mine was printed out on the computer, distressed with Cinnamon Swirl, then adhered to muslin. The final touch was to add some white & black pen work. I love how my inky, messy card turned out.

Here is another option, this was just done with ink & a stamp platform- easy peasy & still looks cool.

Paint was added as well to the background, there is not as much wow factor as the emboss but this was fast & simple! You could also cover this with the clear emboss after. The yellow bottle missing is Ochre.

 

 I hope you had fun today & continue on the hop... so much great inspiration to be had now go get inky!!!

Follow along here and if you get lost you can always start at the Topflight Stamp Blog. 

•  Topflight Stamps
  Lisa Hoel
  Jennie Atkinson 
  Cornelia Wenokor
  Jenny Colacicco  
  Karen Bearse** you are Here 
  Dina Kowal
  Kathi Rerek 
  Connie Mercer
  Toni Maddox 
  Lindsay Weirich
  Ericka Strange 
  Jenny Marples
  Autumn Clark 
  Rachel Greig

Supplies:

Darkroom Door Stamps: 

-I Am Creative quote- DDQS029

-Frame- Splattered-DDFR034 

-Grunge Marks (circle stamp)- DDRS174

-Seashells (starfish, coral)- DDRS055

-Hummingbirds- DDRS171

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paint- Sargasso, Mermaid, Cerise, Cherry Red, Ochre 

Prism Inks in Thundercloud, Peacock Green, Ocean Spray & Cinnamon Swirl

Eileen Hull Emboss by Emerald Creek in Glistening Glass

Seth Apter Emboss by Wow in Crusty Copper.

 "         " Mixed Media Embossing Brush  

Zots & Redline Tape by Therm O Web

Let's Make Art Mix Media Monday!!

Hello Inky Friends, today we are just going to play! As most of the world should be in stay at home mode how about we just art the worries away? I am going to be playing with PaperArtsy Stamps & Fresco Finish paint.*Affiliate- some of these companies have given me product to use, play & experiment with. The ideas are my own but I tend to work with companies whose products I like so enjoy the inspiration.**some of these links are affiliate, I receive a small percentage from the company at no cost to you. This helps me deliver free content!

I was in the mood to make something simple, that I could duplicate easily & just get some pages done. I think when the world has gone crazy maybe the art just needs to be simple & fun. I am working on my #the100daysproject again. There is a supply list below with links. Also if you put karenbearse in the coupon code you will save 12% *some restrictions may apply

The idea was to just do some stenciling or stamping with paint, stamp some background, add a focal image.  My pages are 3 x 4 3/4" size.

AJ #1: Stamp set used is ESN 43 by Sara Naumann. 

Simply dabbed paint on with a cosmetic foam & stamp. Colors used- Snowflake, Smoked Paprika. 

Then added some Cherry Pie- ummm pie...

I stamped on card stock & fussy cut out the feather & left in the cool post marks. Some twine & a charm. Simple but love it!

AJ#2: This one i changed up just a bit & started with a scrapbook paper for my background. The stamp set was ESN 41. Same formula though... stamp back ground with paint. Create a focal point. The leaf & post mark were stamped & fussy cut. 

I liked the look of the charm from the 1st one so I added one with some twine & a brad.I also discovered a super easy way to clean the stamps that have paint on them. Immediately after stamping spritz with water, getting the stamp pretty wet & scrub off with a rough surface face towel. The paint just comes right off!

While I had my stamp sets out I also decided to make some ephemera for Junk Journals. This was easy, just stamp on tags or paper & rough cut out. This way they are almost ready to go. I also like making a stamp sheet while I am doing this & usually use a stamp platform for this. These stamp sheets are great for arting on the go!

That is it for today! I hope you are spending time arting & letting the troubles of the world pass on by. Great de-stress-er! Stay healthy.  

Supply List:

PaperArtsy Stamp sets by Sara Naumann

- ESN 41, ESN 43

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paint- South Pacific, Sargasso, Teresa Green,

Smoked Paprika, Cherry Red, Snow Flake.

Eileen Hull's Gift Box Paired with the Whimsy of Dylusions

Hello Inky Friends, this tutorial is a great way to create packaging using Eileen Hull's Gift Box with Scallop Edges. While this looks incredibly inky it is in fact made using Dyan Reaveley's pre-printed papers from her Creative Dyary Journal. I love working with Dyan's whimsical, quirky, fun images.

The Inspiration Team is hard at work creating beautiful spring samples for the month of March so I hope you get to check them out! This box was one of my samples for Creativation 2020 and it would make a wonderful birthday gift box, storage box or decorative organizer box. 

Let's get started! The base for this box as I said was paper from the Creative Dyary which comes in a few different sizes & styles. You could also use the Jumpstart Journal which is printed on one side & blank on the other. Which ever you choose the backgrounds are done for you courtesy of Dyan! 

I started by choosing papers & cutting them into squares just as little smaller then 3.75". Then added some of the delicious Dylusions washi tape along the edge or edges. Next was some stencil work in black acrylic paint. You will want to let the paint dry at least 4 hours or you risk ruining your pen. The doodle work was done with a white paint pen. 

Time for more doodles & stamps. As the backgrounds are very colorful most of the images were stamped on white card stock & fussy cut out. It was so fun & easy to use this formula- washi, stencil, doodle, stamp & quote. This quote which is quite perfect for me is a Dylusions Bigger Back Chat sticker.

How many of you can relate to these great quotes? The images make them even more fun.

This square was changed up a bit. Instead of washi tape the edges were stamped or doodled & the leaves painted. Same with the word sparkle. 

 Love this one with the combination of washi, & doodle plus such a great quote!

This square totally cracks me up! It really makes me want to know what did happen. Ok once the blocks are all done- which may take awhile because it is so much fun! Time to build the pieces.

You will want to cut out 2 Gift Boxes using mat board. Fold at the scor lines using the edge of a table to get a clear fold. Practice making the box so you have an idea of what I am talking about. One of the pieces goes around horizontally & one vertically.

Distress the edges of the mat board using ink or paint. I used Color Blends in Bay. Adhere the squares keeping in mind how the box will be assembled so the images are the right way up. Basically on Piece #1: adhere the squares side by side in the same direction. These will be 3 out of the 4 sides.

The other side  of Piece #1 will be inside the box so I just added different paper & no images.  

Piece #2  will be the top (owl), middle & bottom of the box.  So 2 squares on the inside can be just paper but the flap of the box has the owl image & is oriented in the same line as the other 2 squares. This will be on the inside but when the lid is open you will want the image to be right side up! This whole piece ends up vertically, when you put the box together. The outside of Piece #2 is a bit more complicated. The bottom can be blank the middle square will be the final side and the end square will be the top of the box. 

Here is the view of how you will assemble the box. The flap that goes in the front of the box has the dangle charms. This box can be assembled without glue if you want to use it as a block & actually stays together really well as the mat board is strong. However as I want this to be a box with a lid that opens, adhere Redline tape on the inside flaps that will adhere to the walls of the box. I added washi to the other side of the flaps as they will show on the inside of the box.

This is how the box looks from the back side. Here you can see the Redline on the flaps of the box.  

 Love how the washi tape eyes on the edge work so well with the charms etc! 

Here is a quick video to show you how the whole box looks when finished. There are so many possibilities for this!!

Supplies:
Eileen Hull Gift Box by Sizzix 
Dylusions Creative Journal, Stamps, Stencils, Black Acrylic Paint & Bigger Back Chat available from Ranger Ink.  
Mat Board
Redline Tape

Fun & Funky Embossed Tag for Topflight Stamps

Hello Stamping Fans! Do you ever sit down with a plan for what you are going to do & then get distracted by something shiny? That is what happened today for my Topflight Stamps blog post on this Mix Media Monday. I had a good idea of what my project was going to be, I try & check to make sure we have the product in the store before creating. What I saw immediately was the new embossing powders from Emerald Creek have arrived! So erkkkkkkk left turn to a whole new idea!

*Affiliate- some of these companies have given me product to use, play & experiment with. The ideas are my own but I tend to work with companies whose products I love so enjoy the inspiration.
**some of these links are affiliate, I receive a small percentage from the company at no cost to you. This may help me continue to bring you techniques & more inspiration.

I was also feeling tagish so here is my colorful multiple embossed tag. It came together fairly quickly so I hope you take the time to have a try. 

  

Here are some of the products I pulled out to make this tag with my morning coffee! 

Step 1: Using Fresco Finish paints scrape colors randomly on the tag. 

Step 2: One of the great traits of this paint is it dries quickly. There are also some colors that are translucent & some are opaque. Can you see the difference here? Once the paint is dry randomly stamp on the white areas especially with a background stamp. I love this text stamp by Seth it is one of my all time go to stamps. 

Step 3: Time to emboss!! Using an embossing ink and stamp, heat emboss the powders. If you have not done this before simply ink the stamp up, stamp, pour emboss powder on top, tap off the extra onto a folded piece of paper so it can go back in the jar. ***The powders are being transitioned from jars to eco-friendly packaging. So during this transition you may still receive jars. I advise keeping the jars & re-filling from the packages. Although the packages take up less space! If you are using the eco packages, simply pour the powder out from the package into a small cup, then onto your image. Tap the excess powder onto a piece of paper, transfer back to the small cup (I used a plastic medicine 2oz cup. Then bend the cup a bit to create a spout & pour back in the package. it has a zip closure. Super simple way to help our environment & save $$ on shipping as the packages are light!

It is always a good idea to preheat your embossing heat gun for 15 sec or so to get it warmed up. As these powders of Eileen's & Seth's tend to be chunky, if possible start heating from underneath the tag. Once the powders heat up & start melting you can heat from the top. You can see in this pic the powder is crystal like where it is not yet set. Heat until the powder is melted & shiny. NUMMY!! 

I used 2 of Seth's newest stamps which I just LOVE!!! That and Eileen's new embossing powder in Sun Shower & Seashell Ivory. The yellow has specks of white in it and darker yellow as well,  so much fun! Sun Shower was used with Seth's stamp EM54 & the Ivory is EM50. 

Step 4: Add a focal point. I tore a random piece of book paper out of a pilot manual book that I got at a yard sale. I happened upon the title "Displaced Thresholds". It may be one of my new favorite terms! Another great Stamp EM52 was embossed with Seth's Deep Sea. And the stamp EM39 was used in black with the word Seek cut out. Everything was adhered to the tag with pop dots. 

Step 5: Wrap twine around the tag toward the bottom & add a charm. Add ribbons & voila!! I just love this tag. I will find a home in a my junk journal for this treasure! I hope you get the chance to get inky today!!! PS: When shopping at Topflight remember to code in my discount karenbearse to save 12%- check shop for exclusions.

Supplies:

*you can pop over to Topflight to see pics of all the stamps...

Paint by PaperArtsy- Amethyst, Cerise, South Pacific, Mermaid.
Eileen Hull Emboss- Seashell Ivory, Sun Shower
Seth Apter Emboss- Deep Sea
Prism Inks- Roasted Coffee, Ocean Spray
Seth Apter Stamps by PaperArtsy- ESAo4, EM39 , EM50, EM52, EM54.