Saturday, March 30, 2013

Little Girl - Bodacious Background

This is the beginning of an accordion book that will mix VLVS images and collage.  Also, Gelly Roll Pens accent various parts to accent the images.

VLVS images:

Doilies: Medium, Small - 18846, 18845
Dots from December Daily Sheet - 1430
Writing Arrow - 19078
Word, Discover -  19024

Miracle Tape

1.  Protect your surface with paper, and paper inside the accordion book so only the front cover will be colored.
2.  Use your favortie spray paints and spray randomingly on cover, overlapping colors slightly.  Pat with scrunched paper towel to add texture and remove excess color puddles.
3.   Doilies stamp all but largest right on the book with coordinating color.  Stamp large doily on blue paper, cut, and adhere. 
4.  Cut and collage girl.   Stamp and cut out arrow and adhere.  Stamp, cut and adhere word discover.
5.  Accent various areas with Gelly Roll Pens (Sakura of America).   Adds lots of texture and dimension.

Mix color themes, use complimentary colors (colors that are across from each other on the color wheel).  Have fun playing with accents using the gel pens.  Mix collage images with rubber stamps.

Cre8tiveLea Yours - Lea

Wedding card

Hi, Hermine here, still playing around with the gorgeous stuff from Clearsnap. Now I made a weddingcard with this gorgeous ink and Smooch Glitz.



Step 1: take a sheet of watercolor paper and fold in half, draw a heart shape but remember to do that against the fold on the left hand side, so you will have a double card.
step 2: fold the card open and wet the right side of the card with water, let dry for a bit untill it feels damp. Then apply two colours ink, I used Colorbox Crafter's Aruba and Limon. then apply little dots and circles with Smooch Glitz Lime Twist. Heatset it. When completely dry apply little dots in each dot or circles with Smooch Glitz Gold Rush. Heatset again.
step 3: Stamp with Crafter's Aruba the brick background on the lower half of the heart, do this on both sides. Stamp with Crafter's Limon the washi grid background.
step 4: Stamp with Versamark the man and woman symbol and embos with black glossy embossing powder. Stamp with Versafine Black the writing arrow on the left as well as the right hand side of the symbol. Give the arrows a little color with the Crafter's ink and a brush. Put the card aside for a while.
step 5: cut out some gear (Tim Holtz) and sponge with Crafter's Limon andsponge some  Aruba on the edges. Heatset it. Then apply Smooch Glitz Lime Twist on the gears, let dry.
step 6: colour some little strips of paper and stamp the text adventure awaits on it with Stazon. Cut the words out and matt on black paper.
step 7: Glue the words and the gear on the card.



Stamps used:
brick background 19077
Washi grid background 19074
man and woman symbol 19080
writing arrow 19078 (all the above stamps can be found also on plate 917)
adventure awaits 19009 (also on plate 893)


Friday, March 29, 2013

Guest Designer Post!!

It's time for our SECOND post from Guest Designer Nat Kalbach!

To round off this fabulous week of inspiration I thought we could finish with our 2nd post from the GDT of the month!


Nat has brought us another beautiful Mixed Media piece today! 


Nat has used  
and  


She says: "So fun to be back! I totally fell in love with the Map Background stamp and when I created a transfer of a photo of Yosemite I thought that the Map Background would fit perfectly to the theme and that the roads itself would make perfect connections with the branches that transfered. I used the Bird Head to make connections and also because it had the same visual pattern for me. 
I stamped with black Ranger Distress Paint which generated a nice resist to the Watercolor and the Derwent Artbars and Inktense Blocks I used over it. "
 

Other Supplies Used:
Liquitex Gel Medium
Liquitex Acrylic Ink
Deli Paper
Ranger Distress Paint
Derwent Artbars
Derwent Inktense Blocks
Schmincke Watercolors
Graphite Marker
Prima Canvas Letters
Markers


Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful work with us Nat! We're honored to show your work on the blog and hope you had a good time using our goods :)

Everyone leave her some love!

Clearsnap + VLVS! Final Day!!

WOW! What a week jam packed with BEAUTIFUL inspiration!!

Here's a GIANT thank you to Clearsnap for partnering up with us :) Both design teams have presented some beautiful work using their inks and our stamps!


It's a sweet sadness that I get to share with you today.. the final day of our collaboration! At least it's one more chance to revel in beauty.

So one more time... I'm sharing THREE projects with you today!!

The first by Sandra Strait!



Supplies:
VLVS! Stamps

Art Is The Last 1 1/2 x 1 1/2

Charred Wood BackGround 4 1/2 x 5 3/4

Clearsnap Colorbox Inkpads
Archival dye-Gooseberry, Coral, Key Lime Pie
Fluid Chalk-Peach Pastel,,Aquamarine, Alabaster
Clearsnap Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink-Molasses, Green Apple
Other
5x7 Vellum Bristol paper, Golden Clear Granular gel medium, Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder,

White gel pen, 3D foam dots, Palette knife, Ink blending tools--bullet and brush tips.
 To create this beauty she says "Recently I've been painting landscapes using inkpads for color.  When I was allowed to choose some products from Clearsnap for this blog hop, I went hunting through the catalog for just the right colors to match a photo that I had.


I blocked in all the colors by pouncing the inkpads where needed.  I dotted part of the Charred Wood stamp and embossed it to create ripples in the water (whichh doesn't show well in the scans). Then I loaded up a brush tip ink blending tool with Gooseberry and Aquamarine to draw the trees. I added more colors with the ink blending tools and when satisfied, I slathered on the granular gel medium.  When it was dry, I colored it with the molasses smooch, and added some Green Apple smooch for the leaves.  When you hold it up to the light the smooch glimmers as though the sun is shining through.  The last step was to stamp the 'Art is the last form of magic that exists' on a seperate piece of paper and adhere it with 3D foam dots.  Including drying time for the gel medium to dry, this took about 45 minutes to do."
Second we have Lyneen:


  Lyneen says "Spray Smooch Spritz on Kromcote Cardstock 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 for base background.  Use star shaped puncinella and ColorBox Raspberry Ink with finger dauber. Cut in half to make two cards.  Stamped images with ColorBox Chocolate Ink and hear embossed with VLVS! Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder.  Highlight images with Smooch. Trim with May Arts fibers. "

She's used the following supplies:

Kromcote Cardstock
Miracle Tape
Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder
Chevron Banner
Walkies for Otto
Large Flying Bird
Men in Balloon Basket



Clearsnap Products:
Smooch Spritz - Pink Sprinkles
Smooch - Mocha
Smooch - Silver Fox
Smooch - Gold Lame
ColorBox Chocolate Ink
ColorBox Raspberry Ink

And we're rounding off the week with Pinky!

 Pinky says these cards are easy peasy and that's great because they're sarcastic, witty, snarky, and so perfect for SO many of our closest friends! Whip a couple up and pop 'em in the mail!
Products Used:
Clearsnap Colorbox Inks
VLVS Plate 1404
Clear Scraps acrylic
Bazzill Cardstock
Miracle Tape 1/4"

1. Trim Acrylic to 4X6.
2. Trim Bazzill to 4X7.
3. Punch Bazzill edge.
4. Use bone folder to fold card at 6" mark.
5. Adhere to acrylic using Miracle Tape.
6. Using Colorbox ink pads, VLVS images and white cardstock. Graduate color on stamp and stamp onto white card stock.
Repeat with second word image.
7. Adhere stamped phrase to front of card.

Here's a great big THANK YOU to everyone who's participated this week and everyone who's shown up to be inspired.

Don't forget both Clearnsap and VLVS! are having giveaways.. comment all week long for a chance to win your choice of a plate o' rubber.. and enter Clearsna's rafflecopter giveaway for some of their favorite inks!!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

butterfly princess




Butterfly Princess



                                                                     Butterfly Princess



                                                 
 Supplies:  Viva las Vegastamps!


Sad Baby 1 3/4 x 2 1/2     Sad baby item no. 18630  
      
 Flowered Corner Joint 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 Flowered corner joints item no. 10617

 Butterfly Wing Set (2) Each 1 1/2 x 2 1/4Butterfly Wings set item no. 2406


                                                                 
Clear Snap supplies:

Smooch inks:                             Clear snap ink pads:

Pearlized accent inks                 Raspberry (premium dye inkpad)
Taffy                                     Chestnut Roan (chalk ink)
Banana                                        Sprits: Vanilla
Luscious lime
mocha
                                                                                        
other supplies:

White Paper doily        
Silver foil doily
Double stick foam tape
Water
Small crown                
Small paint brushes
Scrapbook papers for background
dry adhesive                          

 I used several different watercolor techniques for this card.
     Play with them and have a Great time...I sure did
!

Clearsnap & VLVS! Day FOUR!

Welcome back everyone!!! 


If you've been following along this week you'll know we've been swapping blogs with Clearnsap. They've got fabulous beautiful inks of all types to go with our amazing range of stamps and together we've got a match made in heaven! 


Today I'm sharing three projects with you! 

First up is Kersten with this lovely Goddess Tree Card:

Kersten says : "I made a Goddess Tree card using two stamps from VLVS:  Japanese Tree and Be Your Own Goddess.  I used ColorBox Archival Ink:  Glacier Lake and Wicked Black by Clearsnap to not only sponge pad directly to paper for a green-hued background, but Wicked Ink for the tree and expression.  I used Smooches Pearlized Top Coat to highlight the blossoms on the branches and Ocean Soul to highlight the black borders.  Fun combination of greens and blues!"

Second is Sheri with this whimsical journal page:
Sheri says : "I used : Smooch in Sassy pink, Silver fox, Gold Lame, moonlight, pool, taffy, grape soda, and snickerdoodle. Smooch spritz -galaxy gold. Ink pads: Mix'd Media inx-Jasmine; colorBox Archival Dye-Pinkolicious; and Colorbox Stephanie Barnard Premium Dye Licorice all by Clearsnap.
As well as : Kromecote, Straphmore Visual Journal in the Mix media papers, Miracle Tape, Black cardstock, Ultra high Gloss Embossing powder and stamps from the December Daily plate, and some of the stamps from plate 910.

I basically used everything I was given on this fun little journal page. Made a marble background, and colored with the smooches, Stamped with all three ink pads I was given either on Kromecote, black cardstock, or on the journal page itself. I even edged the page with the Smooch Spritz."

And last today but certainly never least is leslierahye:
From LR: "Create background on book paper with gesso and smooch spritz. Stencil with Mix'd Media Inx and punchnella. Stamp grid background with Mix'd Media Inx. On another piece of Book Paper, stamp March Hare in black archival and watercolor. Fussy cut and adhere to your background. Attach art piece to EcoArtBoard. Trim out board pieces. Sand edges. Ink with Truffle Mix'd Media Inx. Coat entire image with Mod Podge. Glue image back together with E6000. Adhere 3D pieces with E6000. 
VLVS! Stamps:
Mix'd Media Inx School House
Mix'd Media Inx Truffle
Smooch Spritz Vanilla Shimmer
Smooch Spirtz Navy Twinkle
Wicked Archival Ink
Others:
Book Paper, Watercolor, trinkets, Mod podge, Punchnella, E6000, gesso"
Get more details on LR's blog!


Now head over to the Clearsnap blog to see what they've cooked up :)

(P.S. don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win the plate o' rubber of your choice!)

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

VLVS! + Clearsnap Day THREE!




It's the middle of our inspiration week and I've got some good ones to share today!!


All week we're hopping back and forth between the VLVS! Blog and the Clearnsap Blog to bring you inspiration using their beautiful inks and our beautiful stamps.

Clearsnap has a rafflecopter giveaway going for some of their best goods! And if you leave a comment on our blog this week you'll be enter to win the Plate o' rubber of your choice! (leave a comment each day for multiple entries!)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f0VkWlrY-FM/UVBrb7gyIPI/AAAAAAAABoU/S_0HBy3VbWo/s1600/clearsnapVLVbloghop1_edited-1.jpg
You won't believe this project from yesterday by Suzanne! She uses a whole plate of stamps and no patterned paper to create her layout.

Today I'm sharing a total of four projects! the first two come from Judy -- she was having so much fun with her new inks and stamps that she kept going after the first!


Judy used Clearsnap Archival Dye Glacier Lake and Wicked Black ink. Smooch Pearlized Accent Inks in Pumpkin, Sassy Pink and Gold Lame. She also used VLVS! images Explore, Men in Balloon Basket, Girl in Polka Dot Dress, Writing background , Diamond Harlequin BG and Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder.




 2nd up we have Susan M. Brown:



Tags are popular among our stamping crew, and scene stamping on them is a favorite! Susan used ColorBox Archival Dye Inks - Wicked Black and & Khaki Green; ColorBox Cats Eye Chalk Inks - Citrus Yellow, Lime Pastel, Wisteria, Creamy Brown, Orchid Pastel, and Prussian Blue; Smooch Spritz - Gingersnap; Smooch - Banana Custard, Sweet Melon, Lettuce, and Plum Berry from "JUICY" smooch mini kit. (Right?! Go girl!) As well as VLVS! Images Bunny looking Right Large, GrassLeprechaun on Mushroom,  and Mushroom. She finished off the tag with the letters for HOPPY from our December Daily Plate and the Easter stamp.

And last but certainly not least today we have Lea:



 She's brought us this springy colored stunner by starting with Bo Bunny Press papers and enhancing them with VLVS! Stamps Orange and a Half and Feed Your Soul, as well as Clearnsap Sundance Yellow Smooch, Greenapple Smooch, Carrot Orange smooch
 
Now head over to the Clearsnap blog to see what they've cooked up :)
(P.S. don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win the plate o' rubber of your choice!)

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

VLVS! + Clearnsap Day 2

Welcome to day two everyone!!

We've paired up with Clearsnap all week long to bring you beautiful inspiration using their inks and our stamps! 
 Yesterday's projects were awesome, did you check out the vintage skate card Denise Hahn did? Or the Mixed Media Doll Placeholder by Tami Sanders? And a big round of applause to our own DT! Beautiful works :) 

Today I get to share a project from Ang W:
She made a cuff bracelet using Tim Holtz grunge paper. Spritz the grunge paper with the smooch persimmon and orange, and paint it with the ink pad moody blue all by Clearsnap. Stamp protected by angels (Check out our stamps by other companies section!) and the Whimsical Cloud (By VLVS!)using the wicked black archival ink by Clearsnap. Embellish with a sewing machine, attach some grommets to the back, and protect it with varnish.

I also get to share this beautiful piece from Hermine:



Clearsnap Used:
Colorbox Crafter’s Aruba, Limon and snow
Smooch Glitz  Lime Twist and Gold Rush

Hermine says : "I made this canvas using lost of different materials to try out  the Clearsnap Colorbox Crafter’s inks, and it works out absolutely fantastic on many different things, like canvas, wood, paper, craftpaper and ribbon. To make some highlights I used Smooch Glits Lime Twist and Gold Rush."

Beautiful pieces right?? Thanks so much for sharing your projects with us today girls!!

Now head over to the Clearsnap blog to see what they've cooked up :)
(P.S. don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win the plate o' rubber of your choice!)

Monday, March 25, 2013

Clearsnap + VLVS! Day #1

Hello Friends!!

Welcome to the first day of our inspiration week between Clearsnap and Viva Las VegaStamps!


First up today we have miss Aimee Fleck with this gloriously bright journal page :

Aimee used the following VLVS! stamps:

She used Candleglow smooch spritz by Clearsnap to color the trim as well as Sea kiss spritz, Splash spritz, and Cherry Ice spritz, Sassy Pink smooch, Siren, Azure smoch, Pumpkin smoch, Gold Lame smooch, and Green Apple smooch on the rest of her page.  
Other: Watercolor paper or canvas paper, Nested dies & die cut machine, or elecgtronic die cut machine, White card stock, Black card stock, Bling, Embossing ink, VLVS Super Gloss clear embossing powder, Stapler/Tiny Attacher
Tulle trim, Heat gun, Scissors, Washi tape, Craft Glue.

Second we have the fabulous EllenBee:
 VLVS! used:
Miracle Tape
Clearsnap used:  Bronze Ink and Copper Smooch. Ellen colored her rhinestones with smooch!
Other: mini coffee notebook, May Arts ribbon, various papers.


Don't forget to hop over to the Clearsnap Blog and see what they have to share today!!
(P.S. don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win the plate o' rubber of your choice!) 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Enchanted


ENCHANTED



Direct to rubber technique
Paint twinks directly on to your stamps
1. spray each of your colors with water and let them sit
2.  When paints have attained a syrupy like constistancy you can paint 
directly on your stamp.
3.  now stamp

Supplies:
Vivalasvegastamps!
Nesting Gears 2 3/4 x 3 3/4Facial Features 3 x 2 1/2Gear 1 x 1Enchanted 1 x 3 1/4
Nesting gears         Facial features         Gear 1x1                            Enchanted
     item no .18077            item no. 14326             item no.18086          item no.18823


Other suppliies needed: 
paint brushes
card stock background papers
I used Dictionary paper by Marah Johnson
 Twinkling H20's from Splash of Color
 Glitter pens from Splash of Color

I strongly suggest seeing the You-tube video by
Marah Johnson on how to do direct to rubber techniques.


                             

Easter Greetings!

Easter Island statues + bunny = quirky greeting card for this year's end-of-March celebration, perfect for my little oddball holiday celebrating of sorts. At any rate, a handful of bold images have been used here:  Easter Island Gang, Easter Greetings/Lilies and Dumb Bunny.  

I actually started out with Dumb Bunny - embossed him onto a piece of Kromecote cardstock using Stampo's Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder and colored him in using Copic markers.  I set him aside.




From there, I cut out a variety of patterned papers to layer onto a turquoise card.  The final top piece is actually another piece of Kromecote that I colored using some of the new Tim Holtz Distress Stains in shades of Peacock Feathers, Crushed Olive and Picked Raspberry - all touched up with a bit of Brushed Pewter.  Using Staz On ink, I stamped the Easter Island Gang and embossed the Easter Greetings/Lilies.

Voila!  Quirky greeting card for Easter.  A handful of jelly beans, a stack of new books, and a yearly screening of the French film, Chocolat will complete my holiday.  Happy Easter!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Best Chick in Show!

Happy Saturday Everyone! Leslierahye here and in my part of the world the season has changed to Spring and we are about a week away from Easter. That means we will have lots of Easter events in the community and at the school celebrating the Spring Holiday. When I saw the May Arts Ribbons that the team were given to work with, the wide twill ribbon looked like it needed to be made into some sort of winner ribbon! So, I bring you the award for Best Chick in Show!

for this project you will need :
Mix'd Media Inx
Crepe Paper
May Arts Ribbon
Distress Reinkers
Maya Roads Pearl Mist



I began by stamping the hexagon background on my ribbon with Mix'd Media Inx and heat embossing with Ultra High Gloss Embossing Powder. I then misted the ribbon and painted with Distress Reinkers the colors of Spring. I worked on a piece of white cardstock which would then become my chick--I dried it with the heat tool, stamped the chick and egg stamp with Mix'd Media Inx and heat embossed the image and fussy cut it out.

Once dry, I then went back with the scroll stamp on top of the ribbon and just heat set it.

I stamped the scroll on pink crepe paper as well. I then used Miracle Tape on the back of an EcoArtBoard 2×2 square to ruffle my stamped crepe paper. Miracle Tape on the edges of the board also held the crepe paper up to the sides covering the edges. The EcoArtBoard was painted with Distress Reinkers and the hex and swirl were once again stamped and heat embossed. The Chick and Egg image was attached to the front with foam tape. The ribbon was attached to the back with Miracle Tape...Our Best Chick in Show award is now ready to be presented!!

I hope you enjoy my project! Thank you for looking! ~leslierahye

A N N O U N C I N G
Join us all week starting Monday the 25th on the Viva Las VegaStamps! and Clearsnap blogs for inspiration using beautiful stamps and beautiful inks!

Friday, March 22, 2013

Wind Up Your Stamping for a Very Hoppy Steampunk Surprise!


Welcome to Viva Las Vegastamps! - it's finally FRIDAY and Easter is almost here! Susan here today bringing you some Springtime Steampunk inspiration. I participate in fellow DT member LeslieRahye's bloghops and this month's installment was in celebration of Spring. I always plan to play along with the 12 tags monthly challenge by T!m Holtz and this month I actually have... in total VIVA LAS VEGASTAMPS! Style!!!


I have to say that I had so much fun making this and I only used ONE die - a spellbinders frame to contain my bunny silhouette. The rest of my tag is totally handmade - including handstamped paper, fussy cut elements and a little greencrafting, too! 

   

**TIP FOR THE DAY** Don't be afraid use your stamps in interesting and unconventional ways. The reverse silhouette is a popular trend right now and I'm seeing it everywhere. Today I have created this great technique by stamping on the back of my die cut frame and with a craft knife fussy cutting out the steampunk rabbit. I just love this creepy cool mechanical rabbit.



My grass is hand-cut also - quick and easy large freehand zig-zag using my craft knife. I'm happy to report that this insanely perfectionist measurer did not use a ruler to make uber-straight cuts {imagine that}; and all digits are accounted for!


I distressed and aged a tag cut out of Easter colored double-sided cardstock by My Minds Eye ans stamped several gears and steampunkery items in Stuart Superior Brown Memories Dye Ink. In the same ink, I also combined individual letter stamps to spell out "hoppy" and combined with the word "steampunk", stamped in a row on a cream cardstock, then trimmed and folded to create a quick and easy banner heading. I added a coordinating circle from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Hole Reinforcers to the front and back {best $1 ever spent this year}.


Strips of green tinsel are adhered to the frame back using, yep you guessed it! Miracle Tape made this process quick and easy, too! I finished off the back with some 3D foam tape, tied bow around and mounted to the tag base.


Another little discovery... get quick faux wrinkled ribbon by using recycled ribbon bow from a plant. I have a potted plant basket in my kitchen that had a pretty yellow bow on a pick in it. In grabbing my acrylic blocks on my kitchen table, I spotted this ribbon and grabbed it for this tag - it was the perfect match for my spring tag. I gently untwisted the wire around the ribbon bow and CRUMPLED it up. Being that this ribbon is the same as the ribbon used for gift wrapping, it it perfect for distressing. The wrinkling along with a swipe of vintage photo distress stain to age it a little, works perfectly.


The finishing touch are my gear flowers and colorful button eggs. The stems for my flowers are recycled thin strips of metal that the guys at work trim off the metal printing plates that I quilled into leaves and stems. The metal has a lovely teal coating on one side and the backside is silver. I have a whole little bin of these metal strips coiled for creative re-purposing. "HOPPY STEAMPUNK!!!"

•••••••••••

Supplies used: STAMPS - Steampunk Rabbit #16032, and Small alphabet from December Daily Plate 1430, Steampunk Outline #16005, Compass #16019, Watch Parts #16007, Gear Duo/ Small and Large #16025,  Gauges #16028Gears Rotating #16031, and Watch Movement #18457. Also used: my DIY mix of gesso/acrylic/glazing medium; sandpaper; My Minds Eye Kaleidoscope double-sided patterned paper, Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic Paper Pack - used Green and White; Miracle Tape; Diamond Glaze, 3-D foam mounting tape; Spellbinders Nestabilities® Labels 4 Die Set; Stuart Superior Memories Dye Ink in Brown; Ranger Vintage Photo and Antique Linen Distress Stains; Ranger Adirondack® Acrylic Paint Dabber in Snow Cap; Tim Holtz Idea-ology Hole Reinforcers; and Clearsnap Creamy Brown Chalk ink.

A REMINDER... there are six new plates on pre-sale for 20% off for a very limited time...the plates should be in any day now. So many great new images -AND- a "WHO-vian" plate with a re-issue of my blue police box stamp... just in time for the return of Dr. Who at the end of the month! Drop by the Viva Las Vegastamps! store to get the new releases and browse the VLVS! rubber vault.


Thanks so much for dropping by. Have you seen what the Viva Las Vegastamps! Design Team has been creating? There's so much amazing inky inspiration to see!  If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. I'll be back soon with another stamping adventure...and I'm starting off April on an adventure of my own - a trip to the WORLD FAMOUS Viva Las Vegastamps! Have an inky day - and a fabulous weekend! Sb