For the Love of Rubber Art

Snail Mail...

Woo hoo!  The new Memory Box & Poppystamps Spring 2013 Collection has arrived at Stampassion.com.  I am thrilled as I actually got time to play with some of the new dies and here is one of the cards.  The Memory Box Forest Snail spoke to me, for some reason, and I thought it would look good paired with the new Leafy Border die, cut from MB Key Lime Distressed Dots patterened paper.  The sweet little Missing You stamp, from Lockhart Stamp Company, added just the right sentiment and Dancing Butterflies, another new MB die, added movement and a punch of color (I used MB print paper from the Pixie 6x6 collection).

The Key Lime Dots paper is edged with Peeled Paint Distress Ink and Tim's essential Ink Blending Tool.  Missing You is stamped with my much loved VersaFine Vintage Sepia Ink Pad ~ it always stamps crisply!  The bit of sparkle on the Forest Snail is Crystal Stickles and there is Fruit Punch Stickles on the Leafy Border berry tips, as well as Berry Pearls.  I plan to stamp Lockhart's Snail Mail and Itty Bitty Escargot on the envelope...just to carry through on the theme : )

And to Stampassion's E-News Group, be sure to check our latest E-Newsletter ~ you could receive the Lockhart Missing You stamp free with your next order! 

Pretty New Flower Stamps

From Lockhart Stamp Company's January 2012, are two pretty floral images. This one is Kate's Garden Flowers.  The card was made by Karen and the pearls were made with Viva's Ice White Pearl Pen.

Pearl Pens come in great colors and do have an advantage over the ready-made, self-stick pearls.  With a Pearl Pen, you can make pearls any size you need. Or... make a string of pearls by laying thin, clear line on wax paper and squeeze the Pearl Pen out at intervals on the line.  Allow to dry. Flip over and create the other "half" of the pearl and let dry.  Voila—you have a gorgeous rope of pearls!

 

 

This stamp is called Garden Roses.  Again, the card was sent to me by Karen and she used her signature coloring medium, PrismaColor Pencils. The stamp is beautiful colored with Copic Markers too. 

Karen also used the stamp, ...missing you.  Now there's a saying stamp you can get a lot of use out of!  As always, Karen has done a great job bringing us beautiful stamps to spur creativity.

Zentangle & Art Stamps Class

Life has been hectic (as usual) but I finally put the finishing touches on the ZIA projects (Zentangle Inspired Art) for our new class, Zentangle & Art Stamps, on Wednesday, July 13.  It's all about combining rubber stamped images with Zentangle®.  The stamp, aptly named Flowers in a Pot, is from Lockhart Stamp Company and is perfect to tangle within.  As you can see from the photo, the stamp is open and not too big, so it's quick to color and tangle—so fun.  Stampassion carries the full line of Lockhart Stamps, as well as Zentangle products, and you can find them all here on our web site.

(click on either photo to see a larger image)

I absolutely love being able to take two of my passions, art stamping and Zentangle, mush them together and end up satisfied creatively and happy, happy, happy.  Zentangle is fun and so adaptable—as I've long said about rubber stamping, you can also tangle on anything that isn't moving too fast : ) 

I'll post the second project later.  For now, here's a close-up of just the finished image...

The image was colored with PrismaColor Pencils and shading is a combination of color pencils and a regular old graphite pencil.  The tangling was done with a .01 Black Micron Pen and the flower center is accented with a White Sakura Glaze Pen, which will be up on the web site soon.

Tangled Pears

Zentangle® and art stamps work very well together! 

Here is Karen Lockhart's stamp, Perfect Pears, all tangled up by me, myself and I.   The card is Memory Box Parsley (A2 size), which is a duplex card stock; white on the inside, color on the outside.  So fun to do and this card, along with others I will post are on the Lockhart Stamp Company web site, as I am their Guest Artist!

The close up, below, better shows the simple tangles I used to create this ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art), specifically:  Chillon, Printemps & Hibred Band.  The finished pears were lightly colored with PrismaColor Pencils with a little stardust added for sparkle... the Clear Stardust Pen from Sakura.

Combining two of my favorite things, Zentangle and art stamps = a slice of happy.

Ready Set Grow & Fundraiser for LLS

Stampassion is sponsoring two cards in a ten card Greeting Card Round Robin taking place on Saturday, June 18th, at Captured Moments in Rotterdam, NY. 

The event will help raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and is the brainchild of  Annette Holleger.  Annette hopes to raise $1,500 through this event and walking in the LLS half-marathon in Lake Placid. 

This card is made with a darling new stamp from Lockhart Stamp Company, called Ready Set Grow Wheelbarrow.  It is just one of a bunch recently released — lots of flowers and prettiness!  Check them out on the New Products page on Stampassion's web store. 

To take a closer look at this first card I did for the Round Robin, just click on the photo.  The second card I designed for Annette's fundraiser is quite similar to the one posted a few days ago, on June 10, in a post called A Hero Arts Hello. 

We know stampers are a very generous bunch, so let's help Annette out and make ten great cards at the same time.  Annette will also have raffles, including some cool arty stuff we donated.  The cost is just $25 — learn more by clicking here.  Go ahead... you know you want to help a worthy cause and make lots of cards ~:-)

Peonies

I adore peonies, truly they are spectacular.  Dan and I live in a heavily wooded area and despite the lack of steady sunshine, I'm happy to have one little peony that faithfully sends us two or three blossoms each spring.  Not many, but each is precious to me.  Here's a photo of one from last year.  If you click on it, it'll open a larger image and you can see the dew drops still gracing the petals.

Anyway... if I see a peony stamp, I'm there.  It's mine folks, just because it will remind me of that little slice of time, each spring, when I can cut one of these beauties and bring it inside to admire.  Fleeting, but oh, so sweet!

Lockhart Stamp Company's Peonies image is so pretty and fun to color too.  I always think pink when I see a peony, but apparently you can find them in coral, cream, crimson, purple, rose, scarlet, white, yellow and believe it or not, black!  Who knew?  Stampassion's second new card kit includes Karen's lovely Peonies image, along with with a little gratitude stamp, • thanks •, just what I feel when I see a beautiful flower.  Grateful. 

 

This is the another card I did with the stamps and papers from Basic Grey's Green At Heart paper collection, included in the Peonies Card Kit, soon to go up on our website.  How appropriate since today is Earth Day!  You can really see the beautiful texture of the card stock in this photo.  They're also in the kit and the paper is called Fresh Leaf Bark. 

I'm not sure I'll try black as the next color choice for this image, but definitely yellow or coral or really... anything but black!  I don't think my coloring skills are up to that.  I'd love to see one though, I bet they're beautiful.  Here's to peonies, in any color, and spring!

 

 

Caught A Bug?

I loved these stamps when Karen Lockhart came out with them earlier this year.The little bug is adorable and fun to color.  I thought they would make an excellent 'get well' Greeting Card Kit for our stamp customers on Stampassion.com.  It's so useful to have a card, right there and ready-to-go, when you need one!

In addition to the Lockhart Rubber Stamps, I used Basic Grey's 6" by 6" Paper Collection, Kioshi.  It has a great mix of vibrant and subtle patterns that, obviously, work well together.  I came up with three cards for the kit but with these papers, you'll have fun making up your own designs.

I also used Divine Twine, a new product in the shop.  Love the colors - take a look, if you'd like, just click here.  The spool of Divine Twine looks big, but they are only 4" tall. We have spools with a Trio of Divine Twine colors (that Mary laborious cut and wound!).  They are not up on the site yet, but I have hope they will be soon - lots of photos to take (too many, in fact!). 

The cards are from Memory Box and the color is Parsley.  I used PrismaColor Pencils to color this little dude but it would be great with markers or Copics also.  As mentioned, it's fun to color.  In part because it doesn't take long and you can get wild with the colors.

 

The shine on his wings and goggley eyes is Glossy Accents.  The manufacturer, Ranger, make Mini Glossy Accents bottles, which I included in the Kit.  It's great stuff - a clear, dimensional medium, that can also be used as an adhesive.  It's self-leveling and dries to a very clear, hard finish.  Doesn't seem to yellow over time either.

 

 

 

Here's card #3 with a little more subdued pattern paper.  The circular flower was just fussy-cut from one of the Kioshi prints.  I added a bit of Glossy Accents in the center too.

They all look great live-and-in-person.  I can't help but think someone would feel immediately better if they received this little guy!  He's so ugly, he's cute.

 

Altered Peony Collage

 
Just thought I'd show you a quick way to change the Memory Box Adore Peony Collage to fit any occasion.  I sent this card to my sister, Suzanne, for her birthday.  Although "adore" is fine for a birthday, "celebrate" seemed more appropriate.  I stamped Lockhart's "celebrate" stamp and edged it with VersaMagic Gingerbread ink, to match the base image.  Then I just popped it off "adore" and poof, it's a birthday card.  I love versatile images! 

On this version, I used colored pencils on the peonies and added Smooch Illuminate Top Coat over the pencil color.  Illuminate is the transparent pearly version of Smooch Accent Ink, that allows the color underneath to show through - very nice.  Click on the photo to see a larger image.

 

 

 

Due to my extreme dislike of naked envelopes, I stamped Suzanne's with a couple of my favorite envelope stamps from Karen Lockhart, Itty Bitty Escargot and Snail Mail.  When using the tiny Escargot stamp, I enjoy adding a sparkly slime trail with my ever-present and often used Clear Stardust Pen.  Sparkles just make everything better.

Home For Christmas

Stampassion's latest kit uses several lovely new stamps from Karen Lockhart, along with Bib cards.  I love stamping with Bib cards since they allow you to easily incorporate stamps of various sizes and, of course, because they're die cut!  Not a lot of work when the paper is all cut for you - love that.

 

Bib cards come in several nice assortments, including: Earth, Summer, Pastel, Festive and Natural.  Each package has various color base cards that make it a snap to create brilliant greet cards.  And naturally, they are all available at on our web store at Stampassion.com.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn is my favorite time of year... not too hot, not too cold and colorful!  This Basket Of Leaves from Lockhart Rubber Stamp Company was a natural choice and it was so fun to color.  You'll find the stamp online at Stampassion.com.  It's great for greeting cards and fall layouts or how about using it to adorn placecards on Thanksgiving?
The paper is from Basic Grey's Cappella Collection Paper Pad.  I absolutely love their 6" by 6" assortments and always order them for the shop.  They're perfect for cards and offer so many beautiful coordinating patterns.  Cappella is described as, "a gorgeous collection of vintage inspired Italian sweet-cream, ribboned with bold espresso and biscotti colored confections."  Yummy!  These paper pads are also a great buy - 36 sheets for $6.