Blog Hop - VIVA LasVegaStamps and StencilGirl

I'm excited to be playing along in another StencilGirl blog hop, this time with VIVA Las VegaStamps.

Although my summer studio is confined to a tiny table on the deck and a small bin of supplies with which to work, it has a stunningly beautiful view and a lovely breeze off the lake!  In addition, with gates at both ends of the deck, it acts as a giant playpen to contain Yoshi, my Dog Guide Foster Puppy so that I can work without worrying about her getting into trouble!  She's even got a little wading pool to play in. LOL

I chose to work with VIVA Las VegaStamps Plate O' Rubber #1399 (Mary Vogel Lozinak's design) and Mary Beth Shaw's Gears Stencil.

I started by randomly putting paint down on my page using blue, orange, black and a bit of green.

Then, using a semi-dry brush technique and an antique white, I applied paint using a small brush and the Gears stencil.

I love how this worked...not as heavy as if I had filled in the entire stencil with paint, but still giving me all of the wonderful detail of Gears. I don't usually use the entire stencil on the page, but in this case it was exactly the background I was going for!

I tore a couple of strips of marbled dyed paper I had in my stash, tearing from the front to achieve that bit of a white border along the edge.  Those were adhered to the page using matte medium.

I stamped some of the stamp images onto deli paper, using dark brown ink.  I then tore them out, added them to dictionary paper using matte medium and an old credit card, and when they were dry I tore them out leaving a bit of a border around them.

Before adding the stamped images, I traced around them and painted a blue background to help them pop a bit more.  They were adhered to the orange strip so that they'd look like they were rolling downhill.

I decided to trace some of the key features of the stamps with a permanent black pen to give them a bit more definition.

Some white lines were drawn in (see last image) to represent motion.

Using my paint bottle as a pen, I wrote the large text. This took a long time to dry because of the thickness of the paint.  If you try this, be patient so you don't mess it up by touching it too early!

When that was dry I doodle outlined the letters with a fine permanent black pen.











And here's the final page:

GIVEAWAY!

All comments on the hop (ALL WEEK) are eligible for the giveaway. 

The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win. 

GIVEAWAY will close on Sunday, August 24th @ at 11:59PM Central Time.

GOOD LUCK!

Here's the blog hop order for today...enjoy!

StencilGirl Talk
Gwen Lafleur
Kirsten Reed
Linda Kittmer-You are here!
Karen Knight
Amy Lassiter
Viva Las VegaStamps!

If you missed the beginning of this week long blog, head back to this link on StencilGirl Talk to find the links to the first day!

Day Three of the Sizzix and StencilGirl Blog Hop Featuring Eileen Hull Designs

I'm excited to be part of this fun week long blog hop featuring Eileen Hull and StencilGirl!

It's always fun to be able to combine a variety of products and techniques to create and today I'm doing just that!  I'm playing with a variety of StencilGirl stencils, Sizzix Die Cuts and Eileen Hull stamp designs.  You can see the full list of products I used, along with links below.

I decided to make a little memory album for a friend who just had to return her future dog guide puppy for her formal training as a Service Dog (SSD).





I started with the easel.  I used spray ink and the Curvy Ladder stencil.  I continued to layer on paint using different stencils and stamps, keeping to various blues. My final step was to add some white circles and random rub-on letters.









I used the Dots and Dashes stencil as the initial layer on the memory book cover, layering Bubbles stencil over it. The inside covers were done with the Inside Out stencil and off prints using the Dots and Dashes again. The accent pieces were painted with a brush and then I doodled on them using permanent black and white pens.  

I repurposed a piece of scrapbooking paper to create the accordian centre binding that holds the pages in the book (Sissix provides a PDF showing you how to assemble the album).

The inside pages of the album were cut from my collection of Gelli printed, marbled and painted papers.

It was fun selecting the photos to used in the book.  I had them printed at a Kodak kiosk for a great price.  This is a really freeing exercise since you can go ahead and cut up the photos, knowing that they can be worked around other features on the page. Some pages invited a bit of hand lettering to comment on the images.

And, when closed and in the easel, I think it would look really cute on a mantel or shelf!

Products Used:

Sizzix ScoreBoards Pro Die - Ease

Sizzix Bigz Die - Labels & Buttons

Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die - Album, Photo

Crafitti Direct - Eileen Hull's Picket Fence Stamp Set

Curvy Ladder Stencil by Julie Snidle
Dots and Dashes Stencil by Jessica Sporn
Inside Out Stencil by Seth Apter
Bubbles Stencil by Paticia Baldwin Seggbruch

GIVEAWAY: 

StencilGirl will be giving away one 

stencil per day, randomly chosen from 

comments left on all blogs participating that day.

Deadline for comments is Sunday, August 24th @ at 11:59PM Central Time

Good Luck!

Blog Hop Stops for today:
StencilGirl Talk
Jennifer Priest
Linda Kittmer-You are here
Tracy Evans
Rina Gonzales
Evgenia Petzer

If you missed the earlier blog stops in the week, check back in at StencilGirl Talk for the entire week's links.  Have fun!

I'm Honoured and Excited!

I'm on a bit of a high right now!

I knew I had had something accepted for publication in 1000 Quilt Inspirations, but I'm thrilled to announce I will have ELEVEN of my pieces published in this book, which will be available for purchase at the end of the year!

You can find out more about purchasing the book by going to Qbookshop.com

I can't wait to see a copy myself!

Exciting News...

I'm excited to share that my piece, Garden Dreams, has been accepted into the upcoming Fibre Content 2014 juried show! I hope you'll be able to come and see this and the other art in person between September 9 - 16, 2014.  See the info below for more details.