Let's get Distressed with Stampendous!

Creating with a distressed look can still have happy and fun results as I've shown with my card today. Happy bright colors, with torn edges, smeared inks, piles of texture is so interesting...don't you think?

I've used my Stampendous Creative Palette, and added several drops of various Dreamweaver Color Solutions Alcohol inks, with several drops of blender solution, and let the colors swirl. I grabbed a few panels of Stampendous Mixed Media White cardstock, and placed them over the surface to grab the beautiful colors. A few more drops of blender between each panel keeps the solution wet enough, while the colors become more pastel.

Obviously, the panel I used for this card was my first, and the most saturated. When the ink was dry, I stamped the Cling Blossom Bunch in Black StazOn ink. The edges were torn and ink was smudged. A heavy sprinkling of Powder Blue and Purple Color Fragments with Shabby Blue Embossing Enamel over the top of them was heated from underneath for the Fran•tagé Encrusted Jewel Technique that is perfect with the distressed look. This panel overlaps a second panel which had been stamped with the Cling Vintage Note, smudged with gray inks, and ink-stenciled with the Dreamweaver Small Cathedral Window. This same stencil is used to add pattern to the purple card base, along with more ink-distressing around the edges.

For a bit of juxtaposition, bright yellow is added here and there, including on the clip with the sentiment from the Perfectly Clear Life Words...oh, and of course, a bright and happy silk ribbon bow from May Arts! Not the usual depressing distressing, eh?

Check out more...

Stampendous Blog

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

Janelle Stollfus

Woodware: Happy Gears with Screwloose and Sparky

The Woodware team are "Mechanically" oriented this week. Normally, this is where I'd break out my distressed projects with the rusted gears, and torn edges, and Steampunk look, but nope. Yes, there are gears, but everything is done in a bright and fun way.

The base is a textured blue cardstock, ink-distressed, and stamped with random images from the Steampunk Gears set from Stampendous. One large gear was stamped on the edge, and the center punched out to reveal the Cling Sparky image on a Wobble Spring! The sentiment was added from the Perfectly Clear Happy Greetings set.

The focal panel's base was created using acrylic paints and inks on the Creative Palette Square set, which includes some square images as well. More gears and images were stamped over the panel, as well as the Cling Screwloose image. A screw brad fastener was added for one eye, and an extra monitor frame was stamped, cut out, and popped up for more dimension.

Such a fun card for the mechanically-oriented family and friends in your life!

Woodware: Painting the Pansies with Pinterest

Each month this year, one of the Woodware designers have been selected to choose a theme for one of the weeks. My choice is "Inspired by Pinterest" as it is one of my favorite sources for inspiration. Just take a look at this amazing watercolor below! Wonderful vibrant colors with lovely, watery effects.

Artist Linda Virio on Pinterest

My version is more on the cute side, but I loved the idea of the House Mouse Designs® critter painting the pansies! I figure that magic would have to have a part in the process, as depicted by the swishes of Stampendous Multi Crystal Glitter Mix applied with a glue marker. Before I reached that point, here's how I created the  background...

Using the Stampendous Creative Palette, I placed a few drops of Dreamweaver Color Solutions Alcohol Inks in Cosmo Pink, Iceberg, Lemoncello, and Pumpkin on the surface, added several drops of the blending solution, and used a can of "air" (purchased in an office supply store) to move the colors around. I placed a panel of Stampendous Mixed Media White Cardstock over the inks to pick up the colorful swirl. You need to move quickly as the inks can dry quickly, but you can re-wet them with more blending solution. The solution is also perfect for  cleaning the surface of your palette. There will be staining, but it will be transparent.

Once the panel was dry, the House Mouse Designs® Painting Pansies was stamped in black ink, and a bit of coloring with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush on the design to bring it all together. A fun button and ribbon for embellishment and a quick stamping of the sentiment from the Stampendous Perfectly Clear Life Words complete the card.

Don't forget that the entire team are playing with my theme this week. I can hardly wait to see what they'll come up with! Check each day on the Woodware blog.

Texturize It With Stampendous, Dreamweaver, and Woodware UK: Day Four

We have a different sort of collaboration for you!

This week we’re going to celebrate with the awesome Woodware Design Team and the Dreamweaver Stencils Dream Team all of the the great Stampendous and Dreamweaver Stencils products that Woodware makes available to the UK market. This is good news for our crafty friends in the UK because we’ll be offering prizes and our UK friends are eligible to win!! We’ll be offering three prizes in the UK and three in the US. Each prize package will consist of Nathalie Kalbach’s terrific Grunge Mixed Media Cling Rubber Stamp Sets and the beautiful Zen Butterfly Dreamweaver Stencil! Both products are ideal for adding texture and backgrounds to your projects!
Deadline to comment is Sunday, March 29th, Pacific Time. Winners will be picked using random.org and announced Tuesday, March 31st, in the afternoon.
And that’s our theme!! Making Texture. We hope you’ll enjoy the wonderful inspiration that three talented teams will bring you this week! Be sure to visit all the blog links listed and leave your comments! Each comment will count as an entry towards one of the terrific prize packages.

Here's what I've created for today:

Brightening things up a bit today, just to show that mixed media does not have to be a canvas or journal page, and does not need to be dark and moody either. This is a very playful card, and I had joy in creating it for the Stampendous January catalog...

The card base was created with mint cardstock. Then a canvas cardstock panel, swiped over an acrylic paint-coated Creative Palette  before being stamped with images from the Creative Palette Circles using the paint as the "ink". A few images from Nathalie Kalbach's Studio "Marks" set were stamped with black ink over the panel. Sprinkles of Stampendous Color Fragments in Hot Lime, Hot Teal, Hot Orange, and Ivory were adhered with a Zig 3 Way Glue Marker. The new Stampendous Cling The Look's Feather image was stamped on a scrap of a Creative Palette print and a scrap of the mint cardstock, with a sprinkling of the Color Fragments once again (awesome way to add texture!), and finally another section of Palette Print, with a brushing of ivory paint before stamping this wonderful new quote sentiment from Stampendous, the Cling Hope Sings from Emily Dickinson.

Here's the links to the designers that are playing today:

Stampendous Blog

Pam Hornschu

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Kimmel

Woodware Craft Collection Blog

Debs Frost

Dreamweaver Stencils Blog

Lyn Bernatovich

Gill Wilson

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy

Lynn Mercurio

 

Stampendous: Feline Fun for Easter

Nothing says spring and Easter like bright and happy colors! One of the best ways to achieve a bunch of those colors is to break out your Stampendous Creative Palette. Squirt some paints, or inks, or dyes, or in my case some Dreamweaver Alcohol inks, on top of it. Thin them out a bit. Swirl them, brayer them, brush them, use them as an ink-pad to stamp designs, or just create a bunch of artsy prints by swirling the new Stampendous Mixed Media white cardstock over the colorful surface. Once dry, they are perfect for stamping the new Pen Pattern Eggs designs over them. Add a stamped Easter basket with the Cling Floral Tapestry Background stamped over it, and a furry friend...the result is PURRfect! This particular fur baby is the Cling Feline Curious, colored with Copic markers, and cut out to hide behind the basket, mischievously breaking open the colorful eggs full of yummy treats. I think he's left too much evidence behind...in the form of Stampendous Color Fragments! At least he's appreciative...he left a nice sentiment from the Perfectly Clear Daisy Thanks set.

How about some more Easter fun? Just follow the bunny trail...or the kitty trail:

Stampendous Blog

Jennifer Dove

More House Mouse Designs® Squee!

I'm not sure if this little guy is "Singing in the Rain" or not, but he should be 'cuz this cute card was super fun to make!

The House Mouse Designs® "Rain Flower" image was stamped and water-colored with Derwent Watercolor Inktense Pencils and a wet paintbrush. Using similar colors, only with acrylic paints instead, I created a Creative Palette print. I brayered some cyan and pthalo green over the palette, allowing to mix slightly, before squirting a bit of Tsukineko® Neon Reinkers in Orange and Yellow into the mix. I laid the Dreamweaver "Rain" stencil on top of the mix, then picked it up and placed it on a panel of the Mixed Media White cardstock to transfer the paint and design. Now the raindrops are a cohesive addition to the previous focal panel. While the paint is wet, I sprinkled a variety of Stampendous Party Fragments over the surface. While this was drying, the base card was Jewel Encrusted with a mix of Color Fragments, Micro Glitter, and Clear Embossing Powder, and a strip of May Arts web was adhered with more goodies. Once everything was dry, the card was assembled, with the final addition being a cute sentiment from the Beary Mice Wishes Perfectly Clear set along with layers of paper flowers, a button, and some twine.

Here's the list to follow to be inspired by the team's mice creations, including the list from Tuesday's creations as well:

Tuesday, February 24th

Pam Hornschu

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Rhea Weigand

Wednesday, February 25th

Stampendous Blog

Pam Hornschu
(you're here)

Kristine Reynolds