Who says that distressing your creations has to be stressful? Stampendous carries a perfect line of products, and fifteen amazingly talented team members, to help you create whatever look you want. From CAS (clean and simple), to distressed, to OMGeee over-the-top, we've got it all!
One of the industry's favorite artists, Andy Skinner, has designed some über-cool Cling Stamp images for Stampendous, and the distressed look is pretty much a given when using his designs. Below is a video where he shares his love of mixed media design:
I created the above mixed media piece using Andy Skinner's Cling Industrial and Nature sets. See the crackle edging all around the "frame"? It's just the crackle image from the Industrial set stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink on sage green cardstock. Period. How cool is that? What appears to be an artist's canvas is simply Core'dinations Vintage cardstock, sanded a bit here and there, and inked around the edges. The barn, fence, trees, and birds are all elements from Andy's Nature set, and were stamped in black ink, as well as a second tree on another piece of cardstock. All were colored with a wash of a wet paintbrush and Inktense Watercolor Pencils from Derwent, with more Inktense coloring and shading here and there.
Spoonfuls of Stampendous' Fran•tagé Spoonful of Rust mixture were added at the bottom, and heated from underneath to save all the yummy texture and color from blowing all over the workspace! All the essential elements for Fran•tagé-style distressing comes in just that one cool container...various sizes and colors of embossing enamels, Color Fragments, Mica chips, etc. You seriously NEED to have this product...well, and so many other products under the "Fran•tagé" category on the website. They're a distressing extravaganza! Oh, and all of those strange bits of ephemera that you've been saving for the perfect mixed media project? Just throw some Essentials over the top, and heat from underneath, and your ephemera becomes one with your project, just as you envisioned.
So, head on over to the other team members links, check them out, leave some love, order the cool stuff HERE, and begin to DE-STRESS yourself with a bit of DISTRESSING!
Here's a quickie post for this week's "Create Christmas" challenge on the Stampendous blog. If you follow both the Stampendous team and the Woodware UK team, you'll see this twice.
The tree from the Stampendous Cling Create Christmas set was stamped in black on green cardstock, and die cut with it's matching set of dies. Some ink-distressing was added before running it through my Big Shot Pro with the Large Flourish stencil. I swiped a bit of brown ink over it to highlight the embossed surface. I cut off a portion of the tree before adhering it to the tag along with a tartan ribbon bow.
We're up to number 45 on the Woodware Sketch Challenge parade. The visual is shown above. When you play along, be sure to follow the info on the Woodware Blog to upload your creation for a chance to win.
My card today is so simple. Unusual for me. Lol. I broke out my Andy Skinner designs from Stampendous, including his Industrial set and his Nature set.
The border at the top of the design was stamped in black on a kraft card using his crackle design. The green panel was stamped using the tree and birds from the Nature set. Finally, the barn and fence from the Nature set were stamped in black on the burnt orange square. All edges were distressed with ink and the sharper edges of the Dreamweaver Picasso tool!
The sentiment seemed appropriate, and finishes off this perfect-for-any-occasion greeting card.
The Stampendous and Clear Scraps teams are having a transparently good time this week, and we'd love for you to visit our blogs for fun inspiration and an opportunity to win a fabulous prize package. We have three prize packages, each of which will include our Cling
Jumbo Filigree Stamp Set, a Jumbo Perfectly Clear Acrylic Handle, PLUS a
Clear Scraps Mixable Album and some extra acrylic accents! Comment on
our blog and each designer’s blog of the day throughout this week of our
hop and the winners will be announced Monday, May 18th. Please click the Official Rules for all the info on winning.
Clear Scraps are an amazing product, clearly designed for all of your favorite art media. You can read all about it on their website, as well as find locations to purchase this terrific line of products...and their blogsite is full of suggestions for incorporating these goodies along with products like Stampendous and Dreamweaver.
Here's what I've created for today's post:
This page is the perfect example of how the perfect embellishment can MAKE the project. I created this scrap page featuring pictures of my son, Matt, and his track racing that he loves so much. He also loves to fix things, change things, add things, and always has. Therefore, using the Dreamweaver Stencils' Gears background was appropriate. This was paste-embossed in Matte Black, and sprinkled with Stampendous Aged Taupe and Aged Bronze Embossing Enamels, and then heated for plenty of texture and shine without looking blingy. The rest of the background was a few stamped images from Andy Skinner's Industrial and Steampunk Cling Sets licensed by Stampendous. Finally, the wonderful Clear Scraps Gears border which I daubed on more of the Matte Black Embossing Paste, and sprinkled with a bit more of the enamels, and heated slightly. You have to keep the heat tool far from the surface or the acetate border will warp a bit. Once cool, I swiped a bit of Black StazOn ink around the edges. I'm really happy with how this turned out, and hope that he will be, too.
