Thursday, November 29, 2012

Ornament By Jenn Cochran

Hello Stampotique Followers and Friends!!!  
With December starting in just a few days, I thought it was appropriate to share an ornament or package tag with all of you.

My Ornament features the adorable "I'm Cold" by the very talented Jill Penny and Daniel Torrente.  Also features "Jingle Bells"


The template is from The Cutting Cafe.



Created for Stampotique Originals by Jenn Cochran




Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Gift Giving






It is the gift giving season & to celebrate that we are wrapping! I made this wrap out of plain packing paper and color sprays, with touches of gold acrylic paint. Such a great way to make your own wrapping paper-and recycle too! 


A fun contrast is adding Daniel Torrente's Christmas Ornaments with white embossing. Just be sure your paper is very dry before you emboss. You could also re-recycle this paper after the gift is opened by using it as an art journal background paper or die cut shapes out of it and use it for embellishments.


For the tag I embossed in gold and colored Mr. Tangled Enthusiasm with pens. After inking the tag with distress inks I used Stickles for the lights to add some bling. The Christmas saying is a wonderful stamp by Maryse Carrier. Coloring it in a contrasting color helps it pop. 

A big thanks to Stampotique for letting me design for them this month! Have a happy holidays!  (Karen:  Stampotique thanks you for being a part of our team this month and showing off your gorgeous creations!)

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Christmas Fairy


Just a quick post from me today to show this little Christmas Fairy wall hanging that I've created for this weeks challenge over at Stampotique which is to use paint on your creation.


The fairy is of course the beautiful Stella wearing Big Bee's wings!

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Wish upon a star..

Here's a quick and simple card using a scrap of left over background paper! I've fallen hook, line & sinker for Kira's Line Up of cats. It's their expressions! They make me laugh out loud!

Here I've used just the smallest kitty and here he is wishing upon a star!

Thank you for calling and leaving a comment if you get the chance. I hope you like my card. You can find lots more of Kira's fantastic characters HERE. Have a great weekend. Happy stamping, Gez oxox

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Bee Box


I love the way the bee and the hexagon stamps work so well on this shaped box.
I used the Jo Capper-Sandon stamps
Hexagon , Medium/Small Bee and the Word " Wish"

Thank you for looking, Carol x

Friday, November 16, 2012

Rainy day again!?

We've had lots and lots of rainy days here in the UK and sometimes it leave you feeling fed up.. I decided to make a card for a dear friend to cheer her up!

 Stamps used: 
and for the background

A great simple card with an inky background, great fun to make on a rainy day!
 Happy creating, Gez oxox

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Keep Calm..

I've made a bookmark for the new challenge this week over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog. Our hostess Nellie has chosen the theme nature. I made this bookmark for a poorly lady, I hope she likes it!

  Stamps used:
Hung Out To Dry, Giant Shroom, Dangling Stars, Floral Flutter, Keep Calm

Also, included on the bookmark is a gorgeous star by Jo Capper-Sandon
that appeared on the front of a UK magazine.. got to LOVE Jo's designs.
I hope you like.. thank you for calling. Happy creating, Gez


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Nature Journal Page



Here is Karen Bearse's art journal page for the nature challenge over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge which starts today. 

"When I saw this cute monster hugging the owl (my little hoo hoo by Kira Nichols) I had to have it! Of course I also had to have her owl tree. I started this page in my re-purposed book so the background is book print. This art journal is home to my favorite quotes. For the page acrylic paint is used as the background. The leaves at the top of the page are stenciled with archival. When stamping on acrylic it is best to use archival ink, the paint makes a slippery surface causing other inks to smear easily. I randomly stamped the mushrooms at the bottom of the page.  Tissue paper was stamped with more mushrooms (black ink) which were then cut out & carefully adhered with decoupage glue. This helped to create depth on the page. After stamping the cute monster and coloring him in he was pop-doted on the page adding even more depth. I put the saying that comes with him on an inked tag. The owl branch stamp and quote finished the page off. What I like about this page is the depth created. The monster cutie looks like he is standing in a field of mushrooms. Good luck with the challenge this week! To see more of my Stampotique creations check out my blog karenbearse.blogspot.com aka Scrapowl!"

Friday, November 9, 2012

Happy Birthday Card by Jenn Cochran

Happy Friday!  Hope everyone had a great week!  
This week I have a Birthday card for you.  It is featuring an image by R. Maria Sabina: Zara's Cupcake.  I Love this image....looks like the little bunny is on a sugar overload!


I colored the image with Copics.  Finished off the color scheme with a stack of buttons.


Hope you all have a great weekend!

Created for Stampotique by Jenn Cochran




Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Christmas Canvas

Our wonderful guest design for November, Karen Bearse created this awesome Christmas canvas to share with you today.  

For my first project I made this fun holiday canvas. I love Daniel Torrente's style especially his awesome Charlie Brown tree. It was fun working with his images! 
I started by layering torn paper on a canvas & than covering it with a wash of gesso. I love this technique, you can use some of your stash papers & tone them down making a nice start to your background. 


Next came stencils & sprays to add some interest. Once dry stamping with random background stamps helped grunge up the page. The stars were made with stencils, & modeling paste. Once the paste is dry, the colors tend to bleed through so using a sharpie poster marker helps whiten them up. I find that Carrot's (Jill Penney) hair looks like mistletoe perfect for the top of the canvas. 


It is tough to stamp on canvas so the the images were stamped, embossed, colored on paper and cut out. To help my tree & words pop- I smudged oil pastel to highlight. 


Christmas is sparkly so this canvas has lots of that going on. Stickles are your sparkle friends and are great to use on top of modeling paste, as berries, and on my mistletoe leaves. Last step is a bit of paint on a foundation sponge with a star stencil- helps blend the images into the canvas. 






Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012


I've been making a few Christmas cards recently. Only a few though, as I have developed a Bah Humbug attitude to them over the last couple of years. I don't mind making some, but it's the writing of them. And I  know I'm not alone.
Anyway, I thought I'd transfer my grumpiness onto a card:


The image is coloured with Copics and I've added Viva Decor Glitter Pen for the lights as this is lovely and dimensional.

I've added a chipboard jinglebell to go with the sentiment.
Kaz xxx

Thursday, November 1, 2012

November Guest Designer: Karen Bearse

We bid our October guest designer, Belinda Spencer, ado and welcome our November guest designer, Karen Bearse.



My name is Karen Bearse & I have been crafty my whole life. Knitting, quilting, cross stitch, painting... I dabbled in all kinds of things including scrap booking. In the last 12 years scrapping has become my passion, favorite pastime and job. The last 4 years I have moved into art journal, mixed media and canvas work. My husband & 3 feisty children are very supportive which makes it easier as I now teach in 2 stores in the D. C./ Baltimore area. ScrapbooksPlus in Chantilly,VA & The Queens Ink in Savage, MD.

The best thing is, recording my family's life is a guilt free hobby. My kids love looking through our histories with all the stories & photos that includes. They are well trained and even my teenage boys walk in the door & the first thing they do is hand me ephemera from where ever they were, give me a few quotes & email me their phone pics. Gotta love that!My style is eclectic & changes with my mood. I lean toward grungy, inky, and I am a technique junkie. I love, love learning & teaching technique. It can be hard having so many ideas that don't want to really leave my head!! I don't know about you but my brain is on overtime and my hands can't keep up. My favorites are tags, 12x12 layouts, art journal pages & canvas-although I will try just about anything. I love working with metal, gelatos, pan pastel, beeswax, stamps and stamps, did I mention stamps?! I have a serious stamp addiction and was so happy to find the amazing range of stamp styles with Stampotique! I am thrilled to be their November guest designer. For more inspiration my blog is karenbearse.blogspot.com. Look for Scrapowl. My photo was taken by Susie Bentz. I scramble to email this as the wind & rain of Hurricane Sandy hit our area. Good luck to all of you who are in her path-may you & your family stay safe & dry.