Stampotique April Release : Phrase Cube #2

Lucky me.  I love a good snarky phrase and Stampotique's new Phrase Cube 2 is right up my alley.  :)  I made a postcard today using Phrase Cube #2, Mash Up, Jillian, and Scribble Angel.

Go to our Stampotique Facebook page to check out more great projects featuring our new stamps.  :)

SDC 270: Text Background

Hello there, friends!

Over on the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog we've got a new challenge for you.  This time we're looking for text backgrounds on your projects.  In the spirit of all that is text-a-licous, I made an ATC to share.

Oddly enough, I covered over most of my text background, but it started with several ripped strips of old book pages (different fonts, sizes, etc.).  I gesso'd and absorbent grounded randomly over that and then added some rich spray inks.  Thistle Bouquet is my main image (love this stamp).  Several additions of acrylic paints, gel pen, Stickles, charcoal pencil, watercolor crayon and washi tape later, I called it done.

I hadn't used my spray inks in a long time and The Muse insisted that I pull them out for this.  Those suckers battled me!  They kept bleeding through my layers of paint (which I KNEW they would do but had kind of forgotten about), but I do love the vivid color of them so I guess it was all worth it.  ;)

The SDC designers would love it if you would take us up on this challenge and link it up on the blog for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate to the Stampotique online store.   Gotta' love that!

Happy Arting.

Rubber Dance Spring Challenge: Altered Playing Card

Hello there!  A few weeks ago I saw a YouTube video by Gelli Arts showing gelli printing on tissue paper.  I've been wanting to try it ever since.  I have a deck of playing cards sitting on my desk begging to be altered and it felt like the perfect mix.

(I've also had this bird die forever and never used it.  Shhhh...)  After ripping and layering the printed tissue papers, I added some acrylic paint, stamping and a die-cut.  Easy breezy.

Here's what it looked like after ripping and gluing on the tissue paper:

I lifted the litle birdies off the base of the card with dimensional foam tape and let them bask in the sun (Inka Gold).

I have really slacked off on my 52 weeks of cards; I think it's been 3 weeks now since I've created one.  Yikes.  However, no time like the present to start back up again, I say.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  Happy Spring!

Blingy Birthday Card

Good morning, friends!

Today I'm sharing a birthday card I made for my son (actually made it BEFORE his birthday - sweet!).  Love this birthday blueprint die from MFT...it makes creating so easy.

I'm entering this in MFT's sketch challenge.  Here's the sketch:

Thanks for taking a peek at my card today.  :)

Spring Fling ATC

I love that Rubber Dance Art Stamps is using 'spring' as their challenge theme.  I am SO ready for sunny skies and blooming flowers!  I used stamps from their Textured Flowers, Texture Houses, and Textured Feathers sets as well as one of their ATC background stamps on this ATC.

I love using foam sheets for clouds - very fluffy looking, don't you think?  There is also Glossy Accents on the windows to make them glass-like.  :)

Thanks for stopping by today.  Enjoy!

Wanderlust ATCs

One of my regular trading groups has a theme of Birds & Bees this month.  While I was tempted to go a sexier route, my Bird Crazy stamps have been sitting at the bottom of a pile, unused, for a long time.  I decided to whip them out.

I used cheap ol' student grade watercolors and much nicer Color Bursts as well as washi tape, Distress stains and Copics to color everything.  Love the two backgrouund stamps from VLVS, too.

Thanks for stopping by today!

An Interactive ATC

I'm not sure what prompted my search, but this morning I had a flashback to a class I took several years ago by Julie Ebersole.  She showed us a bunch of techniques for creating interactive cards.  I LOVE interactive cards.  I just think they add some fun to regular ol' cards.  I did manage to find the files and created an interactive ATC this morning.

I was in the mood today to just create something not initiated by any challenges or prompts.  I haven't been using my Distress inks much lately so just started by creating the background.  When I reached into my nature-themed stamp storage I saw the globe flower stamp sitting there; haven't used that one in years!   

It was very therapeutic to just create and I'm always up for justifying my purchases that have been collecting dust.  ;)

Thanks for stopping by to see my makes today.  

Eyeball ATC

Ha ha...what a weird title.  Perhaps the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet; I'm feeling a little goofy.  Anyhoo...

I was sitting here at my ultra-cluttered, can-hardly-see-the-desktop space the other day and it occurred to me that I have some lovely stamps, that I was DYING to have, that have sat here unused pretty much since I received them.  Determined to remedy that situation, I grabbed an ATC background from my stash and came up with this:

Because of the business of the background, you can't really see all of the coolness if this particular eyeball, but trust me...it's really cool, with lots of dotty, splashy bits in the corners.

You can see the cool bits a little better in the above picture.  I embossed the definition to make it stand out more and then put some Diamond Glaze on the eyeball itself to make it nice and shiny.

Thanks for stopping by today to take a peek at what I do.  :)

SDC 268: Add Ribbon or Lace

Hellooo, Friends!

We are in week 2 of the Add Ribbon or Lace challenge over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog.  Now, I don't know about y'all, but I went through a big ribbon and lace phase many years ago when people started adding them to their scrapbooks and cards.  I hoarded loads of pretty, patterned ribbons and luscious laces and then my kids started getting older and busier and I started taking fewer and fewer pictures.  Oops...my scrapbooking dwindled to ... never.  My pretty ribbons and laces gathered dust.  I dusted off some lace to make this postcard for a friend.  :)

Stamps: When Heart Speaks and Texture Cube 1

The base of this is actually a plain old gesso'ed index card that I jazzed up with modeling paste, acrylic paints, stamping, lace, and washi tape.  It was super quick to make and very unplanned and easy breezy.

We would love it if you take our challenge and create something using lace or ribbon.  Check out all of the challenge info HERE on the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and link up your project for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate to the Stampotique online store.

Cheers!
Julie

Rubber Dance March Color Challenge

Today's project uses colors that I don't typically reach for (but am trying to use more often).  I also got to try some new product.  Win-win!  I made a card using the sentiment stamp from Rubber Dance's Sarcastic Superpower stamp set.  If you haven't seen it, you really need to...hilarious!

The new product that I used is Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powder.  It was really hard to get a good picture to show the cool glimmery effect it has, but I tried.  Looks very juicy and lemony in real life.  ;)

On the pink background, I used flowers from Rubber Dance's Textured Flowers set.  LOVE that set.

Thanks for taking a peek today.

Still More NEW Stampotique Stamps for March!

If you love the quirkiness of Stampotique, you will certainly find something that strikes your fancy in the March release.  Below you can see what I did with Script Background, Cranium, Elaina, and All Aboard.

Script Background seems a perfect idea of what's going on in Cranium's head.  :)

Elaina is dressed up and ready to Par-tay!

These friends on All Aboard are ready to fly away on a mail art envelope.

Check out our Stampotique Facebook page to see what the Design Team has done with all of the new stamps.  Right after that, you'll want to head over to the Stampotique online store to grab some new goodies. :)