Curiosity Bottle

This is the project I made for the Text Background challenge over on the Stampotique Designer's Blog

Quick Tip: If you want to adhere paper to a curved surface, mist both sides with water to relax the fibers. It makes all the difference.

Stamp Used: Hunk

One Layer Tag

So I was totally kicking it old school for the SDC:216 Tag Challenge.

First I dug around and found my last Ranger manilla tag (love these!) and I stamped Topher near the middle with Versamark ink... that required finding my versa mark ink. I haven't stamped with the intention to color in a loooong time.

Then I made a mask and had to search for some repositionable glue (are you catching theme here... it's been awhile). With mixed media, repositionable is the farthest thing from what I'm looking for.

Once the mask was trimmed all pretty I let the glue set and then covered up Topher. Then I stamped the Angel wings - 2 sided (I am going to use the heck out of this most awesome stamp) kind of catawampus 'behind' Topher. I peeled off the mask and voila - a shy winged dude.

The rest was cake - copic markers for color and I made the very simple background by scribbling a bit of purple neocolor crayons and then blending it out with white liquid acrylic.

Once it was all dry, I touched up the show laces and wing tips with a black micron pen.

Easy peasy. I even got to take a picture before the rain made things too soggy.

Anyone who's been reading this blog for long knows one-layer is way out of my comfort zone. I'm glad I challenged myself to do this and I'm sure this tag will find it's way into an art journal page or postcard before too much time passes.

FWIW, I had a great time coloring and stamping - it's nice to revisit old favorite pastimes. 

Happy 200th Challenge, Stampotique!

This post is to celebrate Stampotique's 200th Challenge over on their blog! 

200! That's a big number!

Back in the day I used to participate in all sorts of challenges but as the years passed I've become more content to do my own thing. 

That said, SDC is the one challenge that often reels me back in  - the talent combined with their overall sense of fun (and love of color) always thrills me.

Here it is:
SDC200: Celebrating our 200th Challenge

Kim Howard is the hostess this week and we are celebrating:
Today is our 200th challenge and we'd like you to join us this week by celebrating.  Create with celebration, anniversary or best wishes in mind.  

So Happy Anniversary Stampotique!

You guys are AMAZING!!!

Stampotique and ICAD

The theme for the SDC 199 at the Stampotique Designers blog is Shimmer and Shine and it was chosen by my friend Kathi.

My spirit animal must be a magpie as I'm attracted to all things that shine, shimmer or glitter.  My challenge for you is to create a project that literally shines!

Since I'm also in the midst of ICAD I decided to make an index card and kill two birds with one stone.

This Jammin' stamp is one of my all time favorites! 

Art Journalling with Stamps

This page came about when I was flipping through my journal and I saw a page where I'd dabbed off stencils onto it. That is normally a perfectly fine thing to do, but the paint I was saving was dark purple, navy, black and dark brown. It was horrible. Rather than gesso over the whole thing, I decided to use my Hero Arts Neon Paint Daubers and fill in all the white spaces with bright colors. It was just the trick to bringing the whole page into a happier, more cheerful appearance.

(click on picture to see full sized)

Left Side:

As I tend to, I stamped all my images onto journal cards with Memento Ink and then colored them simply with Copic Markers. I love the interest that stamping on journal cards adds without much effort. The results tend to be on the serendipitous side and that suits me perfectly.

Right Side:

All stamps are by Stampotique, by Daniel Torrente,  and this is for their Challenge: SDC115: Lots of Layers

Frida Kahlo Mixed-Media Wall Art

It's Stampotique Designer's Challenge once again and I was so excited when Sarinda chose text paper to be the theme for their 101st challenge.

I LOVE text paper and I rarely do any projects without it. Hooray!

I thought it would be fun to make another Modern Girl, this time using Frida Grande.

After stamping her head and shoulders on book paper using Staz-On ink, I drew the rough shape of a blouse on deli paper, using it like you would tracing paper. 

Then I cut out the blouse from an embellished index card.

For her skirt I made a mono print using my Gelli Plate and layered long strips of the painted paper to form the skirt. I was going for a boho-formal vibe which I felt was consistent to what I've seen her wear in photos.

Then I added jewel and pearl embellishments.

The quote:

I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me, too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.

~~~~- Frida Kahlo

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today. It's my last week as guest designer for Stampotique and again, I truly couldn't be more honored to have the privilege. 

Note: Some of you eagle-eyed blog readers may notice there are two different spellings of, "Frida" shown in the pictures. When I printed the quote I was working from an official Frida Kahlo website and her birth name had the 'e' in "Frieda" but the spelling she used professionally drops the 'e'. I went back and forth and finally decided to correct the art. Some of the pictures are from before, some after. For the final work I went with the commonly used, "Frida Kahlo"

Art Journal Page Featuring Stampotique

(click to see this full-sized)

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Hope your week is going well. We're busy unpacking and getting ready for our trip back to Canada next week. It's exciting to see the house coming together.
I'll share pictures as soon as I can find my camera ASAP

This week Kim picked the challenge over at the Stampotique  Designer Challenge Blog and would you believe it's their 100th challenge? Huge congrats to everyone involved. It's one of the few challenge blogs I can't wait for each week and I play along with regularly.

The  SDC Challenge 100  theme is, "Anything Goes" and I LOVE being able to just mess around and see where inspiration takes me.

It took me to my art journal. Surprise. Surprise.

On the left side I used Beauty Verse on a mixed media tag that features spray ink, stenciling, french dictionary text and messy stitching with black thread. 

The base of the page has layers of paint, stencils (fragmented flowers is one), stamping and Neocolor II and I brought it all together with a tiny bit of striped wash tape. 

For the right side, I built the base up with paint, stencils, spray and music paper. 

 I stamped Heart Throb on a Handmade layers tags from Elle's Sudio and colored him with copics. Stamping on pre-made (printed) tags is one of my favorite short cuts. What you lose in control over the paper you more than gain back in the illusion of complexity.

Doesn't it look like the red chevron at his feet is washi tape and the blue dotted 'stamping' to his left is also the printed tag. The "no. 12' too. In reality, all I added to the tag was Heart Throb and the red splatter. 

Isn't Heart Throb just the most loveable stamp? I'm smitten.

To match things up nicely I added the other half of the ripped piece of striped washi tape above the focal image. I think that sort of symmetry brings a lot of balance to an art journal page.

Speaking of balance, did you notice how the two sides are very different but the weight of the images is about the same, the colors are repeated (blue on the left in amongst the orange and red and the yellow on the right)

Also in addition to the striped washi tape,  I had manilla tags on both sides as well as red paint splatters.

Sometimes art journal pages can get a little crazy - and that's awesome - but if you are looking for something a bit more calm to look at, or you want to make sure your quote gets as much attention as your focal image, you can do that with weight and symmetry and you don't have to sacrifice fun painty layers. 

Thanks so much for popping by.

Warmly,
~~~Nicole

Summer Garden Fairy Mixed Media Collage

Hey Everyone! 

The SDC99 challenge, chosen by Carol, is "Summertime"and the first thing that came to mind was gardens, flowers, fireflies... and that led me to creating a garden fairy clothed in a cheerful sundress.  

The piece measures 6x12 and the background is acrylic paint on MDF, with layers of stamping and stencils. The majority of the stencils used in this mixed-media wall hanging are TCW - Balzer Designs. 

For her wings, dress and boots I made Gelli Plate mono-prints using regular typing paper and deli paper. The deli paper is translucent (like vellum) and it gives the wings a lovely ethereal quality. 

For the head I stamped Jill on book paper, I just love her big eyes and sassy hair. I'll be investing in the other heads ASAP here's a link to the ones I'm coveting Stampotique carries: Leeta, Jeepers, Miss Snottie, Clover,  Muffin, Pockets and Mervyn

The flowers were made with scraps from my mixed-media index cards and a heart punch. 

For the quote I stamped Sometimes on typing paper using Staz-on. I could really relate to the sentiment:

*snort*

This is also my entry for the Simon Says Stamp: Inspired By Challenge. I was inspired by this pin:

And it's my "Inspired by Gardens"  'Take the Challenge' with Mou entry. 

My youngest said this is his favorite piece I've ever made. I think my heart just about exploded with happiness :-)

Thanks so much for visiting.

Warmly,

~~Nicole

Tooting My Own Horn

I had some happy things going on and I thought I'd share.

(this is a card I blogged ages ago but wanted to share again)

Firstly, there is a little 'about me' write up over on the Stampotique Designer's Blog. I'd love it if you popped over there and left a comment.

HERE'S THE LINK

Also, one of my Bombshell Stamps cards, featuring Cherry Bomb, was published:

Hooray!

SDC98: Pink & Turquoise

So I've been bursting my buttons trying to hold in my exciting news. 

I'm the Guest Designer for May at Stampotique!

*SQUEAL*

The first challenge is creating with Pink and Turquoise and I thought it would be awesome to make an art journal page since my art journal is already filled to the brim with Stampotique stamps - like HERE, Here and HERE.

I began by making some Gelli Plate prints on thick art paper using hot pink and turquoise paints.

Next, I stamped Frida Grande on one of the prints with black Staz-On ink, fussy-cut the image and matted her on a mixed-media index card and then layered that on the hot pink polka-dot print. I pulled it all together with a few splatters from a neon pink Sharpie paint pen and a teensy bit of washi tape.

I just love how this color palette interacts with black so I made a Gelli printed background mixing the turquoise with white paint and black gesso. 

I worked some marks into the wet paint and then added some circles with neocolors once it was dry. For continuity there are some neon splatters in there too as a final layer.

The quote, 
"A certain darkness is needed to see the stars."
 seemed to fit what I know about Frida Kahlo and it's a quote that speaks to me too.

Can you tell I'm absolutely obsessed with making my own custom papers? And trust me, you'll be seeing this stamp again and again.

World Card Making Day: Two for the Time of One

 Happy World Card making Day.

As you know, I like to be efficient and one of my favorite crafty habits is to make more than one of something if I've gone to the effort to haul all my supplies out. In the end you save time and money plus you usually get ahead a bit, especially if it's a card as you make the card you need and a second one for later.

This card is for the SplitCoast Stampers Hope You Can Cling To "Five Words" Challenge.

 

My thanks (and possible apologies) to Kate Crane who was where I first saw the idea of cutting Hunk's head open to let his thoughts show.

And this one is for the Moxie Fab World "Love" challenge.

Bright Challenge at Stampotique

 Bright is my thing. 

So imagine my happy dance when the challenge over at the Stampotique Designer's Blog was a bright card. Yay!

This was my first time using Pink Paislee - Mistables Resist Paper and I think it's pretty neat stuff.

I followed the directions from Ellen Hutson (The Classroom) for Tiered Stamping and used both copies and Sakura soufflé pens to color Hunk.

Thanks for visiting :-)