Sunday, August 25, 2013

LET'S DO THE POLKA.....DOT!

Hi everyone!  Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  

This week, we're all about polka dots or some sort of dots.  Just looking at polka dots makes me happy...don't they affect you that way, too?


I finally got what was one of the Hot Picks at CHA back in January ... an Envelope Punch Board and I used it to create this really fun and funky envelope. 

The envelope punch board is so cool and so easy to use!  Just figure out what size card you will fit inside the envelope, refer to the chart right on the Envelope Punch, cut your paper to the size you need, follow the simple directions and with a couple of punches and score marks ... instant envelope!  I love it!  My envelope is 5" x 7 1/2".  So I began with a 10" x 10" sheet of blue cardstock. 

Next, I decided to pull out another "toy" that I've yet to play with ... my GelliArts Plate.  Again, so simple and SO FUN!  I started with an iridescent blue paint and using a brayer, smeared it onto the Gelli Plate.  Then I laid down yet another new toy ... my 6x6 Crafters Workshop Mini Layered Beads Stencil.  I laid a piece of white Bristol paper on top of the stencil and rubbed across it with my hands to transfer the image.  

When that was finished, I pulled up the stencil and turned it over with lots of paint on the underneath side.  Then I laid another piece of paper over it and rubbed my hands across it to pick up the reverse image.  Very cool!

I was having so much fun with the polka dot stencil and Gelli Plate that I decided to see what Wendy Vecchi's Polka Dotty Stencil would look like.  Instead of iridescent blue, I used bright red and repeated the process all over again..

Here are the results.  How cool?!?

I added some Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink to the background of the red prints and cut up all of the Gelli Plate prints into various size rectangles.  




I edged with them with black and glued them into place on top of the envelope.

What would a polka dot piece be without Dyan Reaveley's Dependable Dotty? I altered her a bit though by adding Pondering Petunia's head on Dotty's body.  That is one thing I love about Dyan Reaveley's stamps; so many interchangeable parts.

I stamped the images onto Specialty Stamping Paper and colored them with various Distress Inks and a Detailer Water Brush.  I added Glossy Accents to her glasses, lips and boots to give them a little dimension and make them shine.  Finally, I matted her onto black cardstock and cut her out.  Her hair is various size polka dots that were punched out of the Specialty Stamping paper and some paper that I had embossed with Black Embossing Powder so that the black dots would be shiny.

Next I mixed some vintage with this funky card by adding Tim Holtz' Movers and Shapers Vintage Fan.  I cut them out of plain Grungeboard.  I embossed the bottom fan with Black Embossing Powder and then a light coat of Rust Antiquities Embossing Powder for a little rusty appearance.  Next I cut out another set of fan blades and embossed all of the blades with Liquid Platinum Embossing Ink.  I piereced a hole into the center of both fans and attached them with a Long Fastener.  


The fan blades will actually spin!  Love it!  Then I added some of the paint I used on the Gelli Plate background to the fan blades and splotches of it on the background; as if the paint came flying off of the fan and created all of that funky background.  

 I added the sentiment from Dyan Reaveley's Say What You Mean stamp set.  As I said in the beginning of this post, polka dots make me smile and this sentiment also gave me a reason to smile.  

So there you are ... all sorts of polka dots!  I hope you'll join us at Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge.  You could be the lucky winner of our weekly prize of a 

$50.00 credit voucher. 

We also love to showcase some of our best entries of the week in our

A very nice honor indeed!

Here are a list of all of the products available at Simon Says Stamp that I used in creating this Polka Dot Envelope:




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Sunday, August 18, 2013

CARNIVAL!!!

Hello Everyone!!!  It's another Monday and time for a new challenge from Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!  This week, the theme is "Carnival".

Carnivals and Circuses are about the same thing, right?  Anyway, here is my challenge piece for this week ...

I created a large, dimensional tag using vintage circus images from Tim Holtz and Bottle Caps.

What is a carnival without a "BIG TOP"?  I began with a piece of manila cardstock and Wendy Vecchi's Yike Stripes stencil to create the "BIG TOP" at the top of my tag.  I made the stripes using Fired Brick Distress Ink and then covered them with Wendy's new and AMAZING Transluscent Embossing Paste!  See the shine on the stripes?  It's glossy but not gaudy.  Perfect for distress work! Next I die cut the bottom edge with Tim Holtz' Plaque and Postage On The Edge die cut to create more of the feel of a Big Top.


I stamped the wheel from Tim Holtz' Big Top twice onto Specialty Stamping Paper with Jet Black Archival Ink.  I cut out only the center circle one one of the stamped images and divided it into equal sections.  Then I colored in each of the elongated triangles of the circle with various Distress Inks and a Detailer Water Brush.  When dry, I glued it into place, inked the top of the wheel with Versamark Embossing Ink and then poured Clear UTEE over the top of the newly altered wheel.  I heat set it and poked a hole into the center of the wheel where I would add a Tim Holtz Washer and Long Fastener.



Here is the way the original stamp looked and my altered, more "Carnival" version.

The clowns were also stamped onto Specialty Stamping Paper and colored with various Distress Inks and a Detailer Water Brush.  Primarily, the flesh faces were done with a mixture of Scattered Straw and Tattered Rose.  The bright red hair, cheeks and lips is Barn Door. The bright blue is Salty Ocean.  The other yellow-ish vintage color is Scattered Straw.  I cut around the clowns and glued them onto another piece of left over striped paper from the Big Top to create a pocket.  I also gathered a piece of distressed cream crepe paper with a needle and thread that would later become a big clown color for the center clown.  That was attached with 1/8" Scor Tape and the wavy edges of the crepe paper all accented with Waterfall Stickles.  I also accented the other clowns with Waterfall and Stardust Stickles for that extra "sparkle".


Here you can see the completed pocket, the wheel and three Bottle Caps Inc. vintage bottle caps and vintage circus images inside of each.  The cabochons on top magnify the images and give a neat vintage look of being covered in glass.

  
The basic #10 Manila Tag was distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the Big Top attached with 1/4" Scor Tape to the backside of the tag.  I then clipped off either side to conform to the shape of the tag.  I added two black pop dots stacked on each side underneath the front of the Big Top to give it more dimension and I flared out the bottom half of the tag.  The Fired Brick Tickets were originally manila cardstock that I distressed and cut out using Tim Holtz' Mini Tickets die cut strip.  I then stamped the ticket image on each ticket using Jet Black Archival Ink.  Time to put everything in place.

In this photograph, you can better see the dimension of the Big Top.

I also die cut a Tim Holtz Mini Ticket onto a piece of distressed Manila Cardstock and stamped "Life Is A Circus" on it.  I colorized some of the letters with Fired Brick Distress Ink and a Detailer Water Brush.  I then stamped three stars and circles from Tim Holtz' Bitty Grunge stamp set and colorized the stars with Salty Ocean Distress Ink and a Detailer Water Brush.  I punched out the circles and pop dotted them in place.  I then sliced either side of the tag with my Tonic Craft Knife and inserted a piece of black ribbon.  I added some tickets across the front of the Big Top and some running vertically down the tag.  Looks like a circus, doesn't it?


The center portion of the tag sports the altered wheel that will really spin.  The Wendy Vecchi hand (from her Mail Art stamp set) to the right is supposed to look like those "tickers" that point to the winning number on a wheel after it stops spinning.  It is colored with the same colors as the clowns and is pop dotted in place.

   
The clown pocket is really fun.  I love the main clown's big ruffled collar.  I also love the vintage images from Bottle Cap Inc.'s Vintage Circus bottle cap centers.  I added them to distressed Bottle Cap bottle caps and covered them with a 1" cabochon.  They really make the images pop!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing this tag and see how I made it.  And ... I hope this has inspired you to join our challenge and create something with a "Carnival" theme.  Then enter our challenge and YOU could be the lucky winner of our weekly random drawing of 

$50.00 credit voucher.  The Design Team also choose our top picks from each week and some of them are highlighted on our newer feature called ...




So, join us today and YOU may be among the select artists that we feel have really rocked the challenge.

 Here are all of the products available at Simon Says Stamp that I used in creating this tag:






32 comments: