Visible Image Journal Booklet for Topflight Stamps

 Hello My Stampy Friends! Welcome to my last post for Topflight Stamps. After 2 1/2 years with this awesome team it is time for me to move on. Life has gotten super busy & just does not leave me time to continue. This has been a wonderful experience. The gals on this team are super supportive & friendly. It has been a pleasure to play with so many, wonderful, stamp company products & get inky on my Mixed Media Mondays. A special thanks to Donna Bowman for creating this creative space for us to play in. Lisa Hoel thanks for hanging in with me when things went pear shaped! You are a wonderful DT Lead. 

Now on to my project! This week the team is focusing on the UK company Visible Image. I made a Full Size Journal a while back & decided I wanted to add a signature for some arty play in January. I will show the journal & link to it below. I love how this booklet turned out. It some of my favorite elements. Texture, a metallic shine, cool quotes. Hum I may have to add some metal LOL.

This booklet started with a 12 x 8 1/4 sheet of scrapbook paper from a Tim Holtz paper pad. Pulling out a few stencils, some Grit Paste (bricks) & crackle paste Daisy)  was added. Then the page was set aside to dry.  

Next up: Pulled out my Gel Press to use as a palette. This is a great way to not waste paint & if you want to brayer your background. At the end of your session you can pull a print so the left over paint is used up. 

Here is the brayer painted background, with my main title "Escape From Real Life". I know many of us are feeling this now more then ever, art is such a great escape & good for our mental health. Colors used are London Bus & Truffle. Looking at my Infusions swatch was the next step. This helps to figure out what colors the project options are. 

Once the pastes were good & dry it was time for color. Adding Infusions in Lemoncello & Golden Sands with some water gave my Daisy a dynamic yellow, golden brown look. 

For the brick area powders, In the Navy & Sleigh Blue were used. Lovely & grungy. It is crazy how realistic this brick will look when finished.

I had this idea & wasn't sure if it would work but that is sometimes the best way to discover new techniques. The idea was to have some of the art quotes embedded in the background using clear &/or white embossing. I made a couple of samples to see which I like better. Below is the same technique I used for the left hand side sample. 

Also realized there was more success in seeing the quote if the starting background was light with a darker color on top. This creates more of a contrast making it easier to see the quote. This has a watered down Sleigh Blue underneath, then clear embossing powder & Royal Blue on top.  Once the Infusions are dry, clean off the embossed area well with a baby wipe. If you use a heat gun to dry, the emboss heats up again and you may lose your image. I didn't end up using this & learned this technique works better with a crisp, well defined image like the Art is in my DNA. 

 

I had to show this luscious piece of mixed media paper that is covered in the various Infusion colors. Just so nummy! 

In the process of that I realized the torn quotes made me happier. Totally different look then I envisioned but really like it. This is the fun part of art, changing your decisions as you go. This quote background is from a piece of the paper in the last photo, above. The quote was stamped in Roasted Coffee ink & embossed with Lime which is a translucent embossing powder.

Do you ever have a product or technique that you can't stop using at the moment? I feel that way about adding Sizzix Luster Wax. It just creates such a rich, dynamic, aspect especially to embossed images. Hit the high points of the stenciled images using the wax & a piece of hard (Phat)  foam. So hard to see how dynamic the metallic shine is in a photo! 

Here is a close up of the bricks. How realistic & random the color is! Keep in mind there is also that silver metallic which make it just so delicious. 

I also wanted to show what the left side of the paper looks like without all those layers. Amazing where this page started from! 

Almost there. To make the cover more sturdy & cover up any ink bleed through, a heavier weight card stock was cut, sewn around & adhered down to the inside cover. 

Time to build the book. Simple to grab random papers, tags, envelopes to make a signature. Keep the pages around 12" long by 8 1/4" tall. I made some smaller just to add interest & of course the tags will do that as well. Fold the pages & insert them into each other. Bam done. 

Last step is to slip the booklet into my already completed Full Size Journal. I love this size & Eileen Hull's diecut makes these books easy to create. You can find the full tutorial to the cover of the Journal here. I am going to change my date to 22, just waiting on the stencil number to arrive. The booklets slide in & out through elastic which makes working in them a breeze.

Here is another more realistic look at the bricks. Hard to see but there is silver in with the white highlights. They turned out so great! Love that Grit Paste. Well that is it for me. I hope you subscribe to my blog, You Tube, Facebook & Instagram. I post different projects on these platforms. Lots more content coming your way, including working in this book. Have a great day & hope you have a chance to get inky! For photos of Topflight Stamp products you can go here.

Supplies:

• Visible Image Stencil - Daisy, Daisy 
• "          "  Stamp- The World Needs Art
  
• Carabelle Studio Stencil Stone Wall
• PaperArtsy Infusions
•  "         " Fresco Finish paint
• Seth Apter Emboss in Lime
• Wow Emboss in White
  
• Prism Ink in Roasted Coffee 
• Phat Foam (to use with wax)
  
• Gel Press
• Brayer
• Eileen Hull Full Size Journal Book by Sizzix.
  
• Sizzix Luster Wax in Rose Gold & Silver
• Tim Holtz Grit Paste, & Crackle Paste by Ranger
  
• Tim Holtz Paper
  

Done By December Daily Album

 Do you participate in December Daily? This week the Topflight Stamps Design (TF) Team is all about Winter or Christmas!! I am just starting to work on #donebydecember the idea being, finish your last years album before you start on the new year. For me I have many started December Daily books but only 1 that is finished. This is the perfect project as I was determined to get my last one finished!*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!

My albums are created a year behind while I simply document the current year. I decided to create a page for my 2019 book using a few different supplies. Did you know that TF also carries paper? There are some awesome Stamperia paper bundles & one of them has the beautiful Winter Tales paper pad. Perfect to make a mini album page.

 

Starting with a piece of paper that was cut from an ECD die seemed like a good idea. Did you know that these dies fit the Ali Edwards albums? I use the 6x8 album size which is the same size as the paper pad. The back of the page simply has a tag pocket with another pocket made from more of the paper. Inside pop a card from the kit, there is space to journal on the backside of this card. All my edge distressing was done in French Navy.

 Same page just with more light! Using the script part of the stamp with Cinnamon Swirl ink, some embossing in Weathered Gold was added & the quote stamped, distressed & adhered. My double pocket is ready for tags, photos or whatever that day needs to be documented.
 

This paper is double sided which gives the page a good start. The other side of the paper has a simple pattern. This is ripe for some inky fun. I am going to use this page as a title, with the date on it. 

My quote was stamped with French Navy ink & embossed in Blue Moon distress powder. 

The stars were stamped from the Jofy70 set. How fun are they? The inside details were colored with a gold, gel ink pen. The images cut out & adhered to my page.

Stamperia products have some amazing images. Included in the bundle are some chip board die cuts. The bird & I'm Dreaming of... were adhered with glue. They were a great way to add some magic to this page. 

 

All I needed was the date. This is also an ECD die cut and was the perfect place for the wee birdie to perch. I hope you enjoyed my December Daily pages, thanks for joining me. As always you can go to the Topflight Stamps blog to see the product images. Have a wonderful, crafty day!

Supplies:

• Stamperia Bundle Winter Tales Collection
  
• Sara Naumann ESN40 by PaperArtsy (quotes)
• "            "        ESN41 "        "     (script)
  
• Seth Apter emboss trio- Cosmic & Metalz
  
• Elizabeth Craft Designs (ECD) - Tag- 1805
• "                         "      - page 1803
• Prism Ink- French Navy, Cinnamon Swirl.
  

Gel Press Notepad for Topflight Stamps

Hello my Inky Friends, today I am going to show you the cover to my Gel Press Notepad for Topflight Stamps. I will do a run through of how to build the inside in a few weeks & some videos so stay tuned for that. Of course the best way to be sure you don't miss out, is subscribe to my blog & YouTube channel, yay.*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!

My project is a Notepad mini journal made with Eileen Hull's newest Sizzix die cut. This can be used as an art journal, photo journal or hybrid scrap book. The Notepad cover measures 4 1/4 x 3 5/8" & can be used horizontally or vertically. As usual my supply list is down below.

One of my favorite arting pastimes is to work with a Gel Plate. It has been far too long since I have played with mine so pulling it out for this weeks post was definitely a good idea! This weeks theme for the team is stencils & Topflight Stamps has a lot of fabulous ones available. Gel Press & stencils go together like PB & Jam. 

Paint is one of the easiest products to play with so some Fresco Finish were grabbed in all sorts of colors. You will want a large variety on hand. This process is wonderfully addicting & once you start you won't want to stop! You will also need a brayer & some wipe off paper to clean in between pulls. I sometimes just grab a stack of the kids old homework or an empty journal for this. 

Paper of all varieties can be used. For example here is a sample of finished prints that I made while playing. Kraft, black & white card stock, copy paper, deli paper are just some of the papers you can use. Also use up that scrap book paper you don't like anymore- perfect!

 

I also pulled out some canvas because I knew I wanted that for my spine. If you have sticky back canvas or tape that works really well. The adhesive is nice and strong which makes it ready to use. 

 

My covers were cut out of mat board & then papers cut from my Gel Plate play. 

Love this! Such a unique background. This was with a PaperArtsy Stencil & layers of paint. 

Use the Gel Plate & stencil to quickly & easily add crisp paint images to the cover. 

For the spine I went with canvas tape sprayed with Mica Stain. This gives my tape a nice shimmer. You can see here how the stencil image is transferred to the tape. Looks awesome! Some of the circles were doodled using Posca Pens or paint pens.

Next step for the cover was to add some imagery. Mail Art stamp set is on the front, just pieces of the stamps were used. Once that was dry, a stencil with some Metallix Gel was scraped through. This adds a copper shine & some dimension. The stencil is the PSO90 by Sara Naumann using the diamond shape. Set aside to cure.  

On the back some of the images from the Foliage set were added.

To adhere the canvas piece, the easiest way I know, (which was taught to me my Dina Wakley) is to put the canvas piece adhesive side up on your craft mat. Center your spine in the middle lining up top & bottom and press down. Then simply bring your book down to the left side onto the table which will nicely adhere that side. Then to the right. Wohoo looking good!

Then it was just time to finish the cover. The wonderful Butterfly Post set was used for this. Stamped with archival ink & distressed with Vintage Photo. The squares were adhered in varying foam so they are at different levels. For example the 1st square was simply adhered with Supertape. The 2nd with Foam Adhesive & the 3rd with Foam Squares. Love this look!!! Lastly a Clipper Sticker was adhered on mat board, distressed & adhered. Hummm reminds me of the opening of Star Wars for some reason. Alright that is it for this week! I hope you have a really great creative week.

*for photos of Topflight Stamp products go here. 

Supplies:

• Stencils- all of them LOL you want lots of stencils or simply repeat the images using different color paint if you don't have many. 
• Fresco Finish paint by PaperArtsy 
• Gel Press Plate- 6x6 is a great size. 
  
• Stamps- AALL & Create- Mail Art, Foliage
• Darkroom Door- Butterfly Post 
• Eileen Hull Notepad by Sizzix 
• Mat Board                "     "
  
• Therm*O*Web- Supertape, Foam Adhesive, Foam Squares.
  
• "       " Metallix in Copper
•  Ranger Ink - Archival Ink
  
• "      " - Dina Wakley Canvas Tape
• "       "  -Mica Stain in Empty Tomb & Crooked Broomstick

Autumn Card For Topflight Stamps

Hello Stamping Fans, this is my bi-weekly post for Topflight Stamps. Mixed Media Monday I will start off the week with our new theme- Fall/Autumn. I have some recycled fun for you. How many packaging tags have you saved? I have a lot!

Here is my Autumn tag. It is shimmery from the mica spray (hard to see on camera) & has lots of nummy texture. 

With fall right around the corner I HAD to get the newest Mica Sprays from Tim Holtz. They are sold in sets of 3 & have great packaging so that is the base to my card. 

I also had to swatch these shimmery babies out. They look so good! Love that mica spray look. Hard to see from the photo but just nummy shimmery goodness.

Let's get inky. Using the packaging, cover the words using some gesso just in case I missed a spot. You could also use a tag or make a card. Next up was a layer of crackle paste through a stencil. So many choices but a spider web would be a good one. The stencil at Topflight Stamps is a bit different but would work great. As always the links for the products are below. 

Set that aside to dry & stamp the mushrooms from EKC36 with Archival ink & cut them out. Color them with your favorite inks or pencils. Same goes with the quote, which you can also stamp onto patterned paper for extra fun. 

Now for some color, use the sprays randomly, keeping the color in the same spots so you don't make the colors muddy. Although the Flickering Candle & the Crooked Broomstick make a lovely brown. Add some back ground stamping once the background is dry. The edges were also distressed in French Navy. I also stamped my journal while I was at it... 2 birds...

All that is left is to assemble. For added interest the quote was distressed in Roasted Coffee & the edges curled to make it look like a parchment sign. I also popped a butterfly on at the last minute! Thanks for joining me today! Remember to hop over to the Topflight Blog for photos of the products & links, the links are also below.

Supply List:

• Spider Stencil
• Autumn Nights by Indigo Blu (quote)
• PaperArtsy EKC36 by Kay Carley (mushrooms)
•  "           "   ESN43 by Sara Naumann (background)
  
• Prism Ink in French Navy & Roasted Coffee
  
• Tim Holtz Distress Mica Sprays by Ranger Set 1, Set 2
  
• Black Soot Archival Ink 
• Crackle Paste
  

Art Card with Seth Apter Products

 Hello, fans of all things inky! I am here working with some of Seth Apter's latest release for Topflight Stamps. This release is with one of my favorite companies, PaperArtsy & includes 3 new stamp sets & 4 new paints. *If the products are sold out on Topflight, simply click on the "email when available" button on the left side of the Topflight Stamps site to be notified when they are back in stock.

Decided to continue my journey into art card/pockets. This time I pulled out an art tag that was made a bit ago & created a companion pocket. It will go in my latest junk journal & made me very happy to create a home for this funky cool tag. If you want to check out the tag tutorial you can find it here. There is also a video so you can play along!

*** I have also changed my email subscription to Follow It. This is just general housekeeping but you should now receive my blog notification from them. If you didn't get this post in your in box be sure to check your spam folder & add "Follow It" as a contact. Also if you don't want to miss a post just add your email to the box on the right of my blog to receive them in your inbox! 

 

Here is a video for you!! Play along with me as I go through step by step to creating this mixed media card or pocket! This would also be great as a cover of a journal. Right let's get to inking!! I made 2 backgrounds & you can see them in the video.

Step 1: using the new colors (Fuzzy Cactus, Aquave, & Desert Bush) of Fresco Finish paint & a brayer, simply roll some paint onto card stock. 

White & black card were used to give me an option. In the end I went with the black card stock piece so the photos may be a bit different but the technique is the same.

Step 2: Add some stencil work. This was done using Mud Splat & Double Denim with a cosmetic sponge. Use a deli paper as your palette, then reuse it in your journals. You will see that is how I added my title below.  

Step 3: Embossed images add that fabulous pop of dimension & shine. I pull out my swatch book to help decide what colors to use. So handy. 

These images were added with stamps, wow embossing pad & 3 colors of powder. Crusty Copper (circle), Blue Moon & Sea of Tranquility. Great names for powder too, plus very accurate as far as a description goes. 

Step 4: Using a piece of junk deli paper from my stash, the quote was stamped in archival ink. The ink needs to dry for a minute then the piece was torn out & decoupaged to my card. Love that pop of color.

Finishing up. The edges were sew with my machine in sort of a sloppy, mixed stitches kinda way.  

Lastly the stencil images were inked & smudged to help add some dimension. White ink pen was also added to the embossed images. Just helps them pop. Thanks so much for joining me today!! I hope you check out my YouTube video, subscribe & play along. Have a great inky day!

Supplies:

• Seth Apter Stamp Set ESA24, ESA13
  
•  Fresco Finish Paint
• Seth's Trio embossing in Metalz,  & Cosmic
  
• Stencils by PaperArtsy PS090,  PS249
  
• Brayer
• Wow embossing pad
  
• VBall pen by Pilot
• Black Archival Ink 
• White Posca Pen