one layer card with Jo's Flower cube.

This card was made for the one layer wednesday challenge which is a really, really easy sketch.

To make my card I used a square post it note over the centre of a square card and used a mask to ink the dots with victorian velvet ink. I then drew a black dot at each corner of the mask before removing it. I stamped flowers from Jo's Flower cube from Stampotique in black and victorian velvet. Before stamping the top one I masked off the frame, so that the flowers appear to tumble out of the frame.

to draw the lines, I joined up the dots with lines. I then alternately drew a dot inside and outside of the corners and joined these up with much more wiggly lines (avoiding drawing over the flowers). while I had the pen in my hand I took the plunge and hand-wrote the sentiment!! I NEVER do that!! lol

FABuLous

Have you checked out the new releases over at Stampotique?  I knew as soon as I saw them that I HAD to have this cute little dress from Janet Klein.

These colors came from the current Play Date Cafe challenge.

I laughed when watching Dancing with the Stars the other night with my friend Kristen, as one of the dancers (think it was Kendra Wilkinson) was wearing a gorgeous dress with these colors.

Hopefully you can see the sparkle on my card, I sprayed some of the Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Sparkle on my dress after I got done paper piecing it together with the different colors.

Card details:

Stamps: Pretty Party Dress 9216  and Fabulous 8990 by Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: My Favorite Blue Jeans, Purpilicious and A Blanc Check

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, copic markers, My Favorite Blue Jeans

Accessories: Sheer Shimmer Spritz-Sparkle

Quick and Easy Mother's Day (UK)

It's Mother's Day here in the UK on Sunday and I thought I'd go for a clean and simple card this year.

I've stamped ~{9165 Carol's Flower Large}~ onto some Basic Grey papers and embossed with black powder, then cut out.
Next, I've stamped 'Mum' using ~{9288 Random Acts Alphabet}~ and embossed in black, then carefully cut the letters out. They have been added to circles with silicone glue. It was fiddly, but I like the layered dimension.

Both stamps are by Janet Klein.

I've finished off with a computer generated greeting and a hefty dose of doodling.

Kaz xxx

Tags, tags and more tags!

Minky by Daniel Torrente

Large Bee by Jo Capper Sandon

Sentiment - Carols's Collection

I've been having a lot of fun with Minky girl - she's such fun! And she goes perfectly with bee-wings from Jo Capper Sandon's large bee don't you think?! I love her expression - she seems to have a lot of 'attitude' and I thought this sentiment suited her perfectly haha!

And look, here she is again! :

Minky by Daniel Torrente

Crown by Jo Capper Sandon

Sentiment: Carols' collection

I made this as a door hanging for my niece's 12th bithday. Of course as a 12 year old 'whatever' is her favourite expression!

Thanks for looking :-)  Kate

Yep...it's Toby and Minky girl again...tee hee!

"anythingbutplainjane" here with Toby and Minky girl!  Made this card for my teenage niece...gotta love these two!  Colored the happy couple with copics and embossed the BG dp and did a little sewing.  On the inside I stamped the sentiment "Snarky"...Hmmm..was wondering when I made this card if it resembles the "REAL Daniel Torrente" (artist) and his girlfriend ????....  just sayin.... :)  have a great weekend! 

The Happy King & Queen...

...Goodly Morning! Have you had chance to look at all the gorgeous new releases from Stampotique yet? Ooh, they are all wonderful and a couple of my favourites are Minkygirl and Toby... I just love the quirky people that Daniel Torrente brings to life.




I have made a tag using these two newbies; colouring the base of the tag with sprays and then overstamping using acrylic paint with the large Polka Dots background - I wanted a subtle dotty look to just add a little dimension to the background. Minkygirl and Toby were both stamped onto cardstock and then coloured in using Distress Inks and a waterbrush. I made them both a crown each by just sketching onto some more spritzed cardstock and cutting out. The Happy, Happy stamp has to be my favourite sentiment... and this time instead of keeping the words together, I snipped them apart and then layered them down the tag.



Finally, the top of the tag was looking a bit bare so I stamped the Crow Line and drew pennants around it and cut them out... so each pennant has a birdy in it... I highlighted them with white pen and then just drew some faux stitching around the edges. The stamps I used for this tag are as follows... oh and if you click on each one, it will take you right to them on the Stampotique website!

Minkygirl #6125
Toby #6126
Happy, Happy #9007
Crow Line #9210
Polka Dots Background #8951

Thanks for looking...TTFN! Hels

SDC27: Triptych Card

We want to thank Gini Owen for being our guest designer for March, it has been fabulous having her share her awesome creations with us.  Here is her triptych card and her wonderful story of it.

Spanky does The Birth of Venus.

The Stampotique Challenge for the next fortnight is to make a Triptych card using Stampotique only stamps.

There is a random draw to win $30 to spend in the Stampotique store, which you need to win because have you seen the new stamps released this month? Jo Capper Sanderson has some new stamps including two wonderful owls and Daniel Torrente has done 3 mermaids and other fabulous animals. There goes my crafting budget for this month. Life is always sunny in the Land of Shiny.

But this is my last project for Stampotique as guest designer, aaaw.

So what did Spanky make huh?

She had a ball with this one and whizzed back in time to 1484 and is the Official Queen of Ginger this fine spring morning.

Click on any image to make it bigger.

Mirror, Mirror on the tree,

Who's as pretty as can be?

 

Kolossal 6070

Tree 6112

Puss Puss 6105

 

 

Stitch 6052

Large Lace Background 5177

Now just in case you don't immediately recognise (as if!) Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, here is the centre of the painting.

Now everything that could possibly go wrong whilst making this; did go wrong and a few more previously undiscovered errors to boot.

It's just as well that the "Spanky does.." are my favourite makes.

The triptych template I used is this free one from Mirkwood Designs.

 They also have a paypal button for donations to support their endeavours.

The background paper is by Basic Grey from the Urban Prairie range.

If I had to choose a Basic Grey range I had to marry it would be this one.

I used Versamark and Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder in Copper Bronze Lustre for the Large Lace background stamp.  Isn't it gorgeous like this?

The one and only Stitch has embroidery floss hair glued onto card using Golden Gel medium. Anything is possible using gel medium as a glue. 

If I had to choose a glue I had to marry it would be this one.

I had to go a bit lower with her hair than is esthetically pleasing but I needed to cover up her claws and then rearrange her arms.

The colouring is with Derwent coloursoft pencils. You really can't go wrong with any Derwent pencils.

If I had to choose a pencil I had to marry it would be a Derwent one.

Now the tiny gold stars are new (to me) and I didn't do a test glue with them, so I ran a line of Glossy accents around the edge and wow did a lot more of them stick than I had planned.

The beads at the bottom are Suze Weinberg's Beadazzles in Electric slide (also new to me) and oh my, don't they go everywhere, they just followed the little stars...absolutely everywhere.

The mirror is made out of mirror card with silver stickles around it.

Whichever Daniel Torrente lady character stamp I am working with becomes my favourite stamp.

If I had to choose a stamp company I had to marry it would be Stampotique :-)

Smushallaum

Smushallaum. that's what this beautiful mermaid is called. Don't you love them these stamps from the Stampotique march 2011 release? Please go to the Stampotique website to see them all.

To make this background I applied different colors of Adirondack paintdaubers to a craftsheet. I sprayed them with a little water and perfect pearls. Then I put my cardstock in the paint, turned it a 180 degrees and dried it with my heattool. You can repeat this process as often as you want until you're satisfied with your background (prevent colors to get muddy don't use the same paint too often and dry in between layers of paint).

For this card I used these stamps:
Smushallaum
Fabulous
Daisy daisy
World all her own

Have fun stamping!
Nellie

The Chicks Round House Home

Our wonderfully creative guest designer, Gini Owen, has concocted her "round house" where the 4 chicks live.  I know I'd be on chick who would love to live in his cool house!  Here is what she has to say about her round house:

In The Land of Shiny live the circus performing Chicks, and they have built for themselves a cheerful, shiny Round House.

They roost by perching on a chair at night.

Triangular chick doesn't like to sleep on her own so she doubles up with either of the round chicks. 

Unfortunately square chick makes for an angular and therefore uncomfortable bedfellow.

This started out life as a Pringles tube container.

Click on any picture to make it bigger.

 

The chicks are  Chick shapes (4 sided cube) 9111 and I have paper pieced their bodies.

 

The bling on the roof is glued on with Golden Gel Medium in the Heavy gel (matte). 

The flowers are Heart Flowers 9107.
I used versafine black ink heat embossed with clear powder. Coloured the flowers with Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paint and used foam pads as the adhesive.

The stems are bugle beads glued onto the house with Anita's 3D clear gloss finish (substitute with Glossy Accents if you don't have this.) Anita's is thinner and therefore easier to use as this kind of glue. It also gives a stronger bond than Glossy Accents.

 

The chairs are 3 chairs 9179

The walls and roof of the house are watercolours on very thick finest quality white card. Whether you use card or thick watercolour paper it mustn't stretch and buckle (go wavy and unflat) because you can't wallpaper with buckled card as it looks dreadful.

Or you could stamp onto designer paper like Basic Grey plain coloured 12" card if you can't get an unbuckled finish. Alternatively you could try brayering using ink which isn't so wet.

All wallpaper glued on with extra strong doubled sided tape (red backed).

The background stamp is the brilliant Large Lace Background 5177 and I used worn lipstick distress ink. Loads of things you can do with this versatile stamp.

If you would like to have a go at a round house I give more instructions here.

Be warned though, in case you don't like fiddly things, as they are fiddly to do especially if you wallpaper them.  It is easier to do if you cover the round container with lots of tissue paper (glue with gel medium or mod podge or my least favourite for this job - white PVA) and then paint it.

Happy creating!
Gini
xx

Going Grey with Scrap-Creations: Anything Goes

Stampotique is sponsoring a challenge over at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations beginning today and the theme is Anything Goes.

Come join us over there for yet another chance to win a $30 Gift Certificate to the Stampotique store.  (We still have our current challenge here for another chance to win)

And while you are perusing the Stampotique store making out your wish list, check out the new images being released today.  You can check out some of the new creations over at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog.

Here are some creations from the design team for the Going Grey with Scrap-Creations Anything Goes Challenge:

Jen:
Joanne:
Lisa:
Vicki:
Jo:
Willy:

Kim:

Valerie:

To bee, or not to bee

For the latest Stampotique challenge, Animals, insects and birds, I couldn't make up my mind which to use.Bee, Butterfly, Bee....hmmmm

Here's the Bee tag that I put together. This started off as a plain cream coloured tag. Much inking, stenciling and embossing later it looks like this...



I used Big Bee (which was my first ever stamp design :0) ) and the really useful Daisy Daisy.

I hope you manage to grab a moment over the weekend to hopefully join in with us for the challenge. As always there is a $30 gift certificate up for grabs so why not have a go!! Its an 'any stamp' challenge as its the first one of the month- I bet you have an animal, bird or insect image somewhere in your stash.
I also made a butterfly card...that ones over on my blog.

Have a good one!

Jo C-S x

Gift.. card..

Just recently I have enjoyed making Atc/pocket size gift cards for family & friends to keep in their purse or wallet with a hand written message on the other side! Here is one of my favourite sentiments..

 I started with a piece of white cardstock and stamped the Lovebirds using Versamark ink and clear embossing powder.

When the image had been heat embossed and left to cool I used an iron to remove the embossing powders.. it left a lovely watermark image..

 I coloured the edges of the Atc with Distress Inks and stamped the Abstract Foilage around the edges..

Then I stamped and embossed with black embossing powder Today is a gift... always a wonderful sentiment to remember..

Thank you for calling. Wishing everyone a lovely weekend. Gez.xx

Puzzled

I love to transform these giant floorpuzzles into "cards" that I can surprise people with.
Prepare the puzzle pieces on the image side with a least two thin layers of gesso and they are ready to colour with whatever inks you like. If you're not using instant dry inks such as Stazon, best is to dry the ink with your heattool. I coloured this one with 3 different colours of distressink.

On this one I used the following Stampotique stamps:
7148 Journey collage
6115 Weasel
3000 Medium bee
3006 Hexagon
6096 Kitty
7065 Dream definition

Have fun stamping!
Nellie

SDC26: Animal, Insect or Birds

Thank you to those that braved the technique during the last challenge and to the Technique Junkies Newsletter Design Team for playing along with us.

Today Kaz is our hostess with the mostess and this is what her challenge to us was:

This challenge ties in brilliantly with my youngest niece's birthday which is this Friday. She will be 12 and, as well as being my crafting buddy, (or should that read stealer of my stash?) she is a huge animal lover. So I would like you to make something using an animal stamp.

I'm going to be very generous and say that the animal can include birds, bees, butterflies or other insects too.

I shall look forward to seeing your creations over the next 2 weeks.  Today is also an any stamps challenge, so feel free to join us with any animal, birds, bees, butterflies or other insects.

Here is a creation from our March Guest Designer, Gini Owen.  Join us over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge to see some other fabulous creations.

My love bug from scraps

Hi there, Tasha here, i just wanted to share a little card i made usign up some of my scraps!

All the paper used (even the white i stamped onto) i found in my scraps and wanted to use up!

I used Curls (8513) for this card and some fab letter stickers to adda sentiment. Throw in a little glitter and some ribbon and VOILA a cute little card for someone you love!

Thanks for stopping by

love tasha xx

upcoming class using stampotique images!

Stampotique Cards with a Bleach Technique & Luminarte Twinkling H2o's

Design team member, Jenn Shurkus also teaches all kinds of papercrafting classes at independant retailers in new england and all over. She has created this fun class and will be teaching it at two stores. More details on this below.

March 23 10a-12p OR 6:30-8:30p at ink about it in westford, ma

March 31 6-8p at colorful creations in hyannis, ma

you can contact either store if you are interested in signing up, or keep an eye on jenn's blog {creative chick} to see her upcoming classes, and where she will be teaching!

SDC25 with Jasmin

Tasha's computer was on the fritz last week during our challenge so she was unable to share her creation, but wasn't it worth the wait?  Look how cute Jasmin is in pinks!!!

You still have a few more days to play with us at the SDC25: Faux Barnwood Technique, come join us!

STAMPOTIQUE stamps used:
 
3027 - Text Stars with tiny star on side
9176 - Rainbow
3007 - Jasmin

8872 - Tiny checkerboard

 

Book Mark It...

... Do you love a good book? And are you like me and always being naughty and folding over the corner of the page to keep your place? Well, I decided to make myself a bookmark that will fit in both paperbacks and larger hardback books and put my Stampotique stamps to good use.

Side one of the bookmark features the following stamps:
Queen Of Life - #6074
Daisy, Daisy - #3002
Hanging Hearts - #6119
Happy, Happy - #9007




I started by cutting a piece of mountboard to measure 2 1/2" by 7" and then covered this with an old book page that hasn't got any writing on it - I love the extra texture on this paper! I used tan paint to wash over the surface and added some drippy bits to the top. I then stamped Queen of Life and coloured her using paint and a waterbrush. I stamped her crown onto cardstock and cut it out and coloured it with gold paint, layering it over the top to add a bit of dimension. I stamped Hanging Hearts and Happy, Happy and then added some watercolouring using Distress Inks to lightly colour the hearts and the skintones on the main image. Finally, I masked the Queen and stamped a few Daisy, Daisy images, colouring these with more paint and a waterbrush.


Side two of the bookmark features the following stamps:
Tree - #6112
Birds & Bugs Cube - #6117
Hallowe'en Cube - #6099
Spider Girl - #6044
Happy, Happy - #9007




The same techniques applied for this side of the bookmark, I just used slightly different colours. Tree is stamped directly onto the surface and coloured with green paint and a waterbrush. Spider Girl, Bat and Birdy are stamped onto more bookpaged cardstock and cut and layered onto the surface. I added a bit of extra green under Spider Girl to ground her and the made her a crown using cardstock and gold paint.

Thanks for looking!! TTFN

Hels Sheridan

2011 CD Calendar - March

Here is the next page for my 2011 Stampotique CD Calendar!
There are more details on my blog.
Happy March!
Val :)

All stamps by Stampotique:
Tree, Global Warming?

Welcome our March Guest Designer

We want to thank Gerrie Johnnic for spending February with us, we enjoyed having her participate in the challenges and see her other creations with the Stampotique stamps.

We would like to introducing our March Guest Designer, Gini Owen.  For the followers we had a contest for this guest spot and Gini was our lucky winner.  We will be doing this again this year, so keep your eyes open and take a minute to read more about Gini and see the out of this world creation she has made for her debut.

 

I'm a mum, wife, work part time and love to make things out of Shiny, paper, paint and glue and more recently stamps and ink.  I started paper crafting a couple of years ago and started blogging so I could participate in craft challenges and meet like minded souls.
I would describe my style as being story based and humorous.

My favourite things to make are 3 dimensional paper projects and altered art and recently I have being trying to get to grips with flat card layouts.

I love the diverse style of quality stamps on offer at Stampotique and all the marvelous inspiration and ideas that come from their very talented design team.

I'm so pleased to be given the opportunity to share some projects with you.
You can find me at A little bit of Shiny blog (giniowen.blogspot.com) hope you find time to drop by and look forward to meeting you.