Stampotique art journaled tag

I love making tags.  I don't know what it is about them, but I love them!

I also love Roc Nicholas' Stampotique images.  'Dog', one of the latest release, stars on this tag.  Roc's designs are so open that you can stamp them onto pre-painted paper for a different effect each time.

I played around with a paintbrush (a bit of a shock for me as I prefer the unpredictability of a baby wipe to apply paint usually, it's a way of getting around my perfectionism) and some watercolour paints for this background.  I did add a hint of orange with a Ranger archival pad and a Primark makeup sponge though.

One day I'll get around to displaying all my tags in my craft room.  For now they live in a box or in a pile on my desk and I enjoy browsing through them every now and again.

Stampotique stamps used:

dog  2433  Roc Nicholas

row of numbers  7213 Amy Wilson Wellenstein

french journal page  10015 France Papillon

barcode text  10020 France Papillon

barcode  10019 France Papillon

Stampotique blog hop celebrating the new releases

Welcome to the Stampotique blog hop!  Thispost will remain at the top of my blog whilst the hop is live.

Kim kicked it all of on the Stampotique Designers' Challenge blog so if you didn't arrive here from 

Kaz Boughton's blog 'Slightly Wonky Crafts' 

then please head over here to start the hop (after you've finished visiting me of course ;).  

We are celebrating the launch of the new images released today, which, if you are a fan of our Facebook page you may already have got a sneak peek!  There are lots of images from our favourite stamp designers and we welcome our newest designer, Magda Polakow, who is also a very talented member of our design team.  I've used her raindrops on my altered envelope :)

new release Stampotique stamps used:

raindrops   #5820 Magda Polakow

sunflower lge  #9256 Janet Klein

sunflower medium  #9257 Janet Klein

french journal page  #10015 France Papillon

bike text  #9255 Janet Klein

....and I can see the french journal page being a new favourite!  I have to say though, it was very difficult, choosing which stamps to use to make a project for the hop, there are so many lovely new ones!!  I've already added some more to my wishlist.

Don't forget to leave comments on each of the blogs for your chance to win some goodies - we will be randomly drawing two winners for a $30 gift certificate for Stampotique stamps at the Stampotique online store.  The new stamps are available over there now. There's also an extra chance to win over at your final destination, the Stampotique Designers' bloghttp://stampotiqueoriginals.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/call-for-stampotique-creations.html, where there is also a special announcement.

Thanks for visiting!  The next blog to hop to is 

'Made by Chook' 

where you'll meet the very talented Corrie Herriman.   Blog hop winners will be announced on the Stampotique Designers' blog when the next challenge is announced, on April 23, 2014. 

new release stampotique stamps used:

Gucio walking  #5821 Madga Polakow

barcode  #10019 France Papillon

Barcode text  #10020 France Papillon

french journal page  #10015 France Papillon

a touch of art journaling

 I hope you've enjoyed the Stampotique blog hop; it's still open for another few days if you've not had chance to join in yet.  I've continued to enjoy playing with the new stamps and this time decided to make a journal page.

One of France's new stamps says

so I decided to use this as a challenge for a page.  I can't say I pushed myself out of my comfort zone with my colour choices, but I did by

- stamping the words and phrases 'cockeyed' rather than vertical or horizontal

- adding doodled marks

- using different inks which blotched and didn't blend in, and leaving them on the page rather than trying to blend them in

I wasn't sure about this page at first but it's growing on me ;)  What would you do to move outside your comfort zone in the projects you make?  I'd love to know.

Stampotique stamps used:

comfort zone text  #10021 France Papillon

french journal page  #10015 France Papillon

barcode text  #10020 France Papillon

barcode  #10019 France Papillon

bike text  #9255 Janet Klein

calendar squares cube  #6094 Daniel Torrente

lavinia stamp challenge #4 Spring Colours

The latest Lavinia stamps challenge is to use spring colours so I dug out my gelli plate again and got stuck in with some yummy greens.  The leaves are just sprouting on the trees around here and have that lovely fresh colour.

I picked up some library cards in Waterstones recently as I thought they'd make a nice change from making tags ...

I inked up my gelli plate and then used my Adirondack 'wild plum' ink pad to stamp my zen toadstools onto the plate.

 

After using a sponge to intensify the greens I tapped my 'wild plum' inkpad onto an acetate block, spritzed it with water then used this to paint in my toadstools.

A few splashes of ink, some extra stamping and a hint of white gel pen later and I was happy with my library card.

The pocket got some stamping to but I decided that I didn't like the two together!

So I put my tags in the pocket ...

... and turned the library card into a card, which took me forever and reminded my why I rarely make cards!!!

a different type of background

For a while now I've felt in a bit of a rut with my journal backgrounds....always doing the same process.  Today, following on from the workshop last week led by the lovely Cath Wilson, I got out my versamark pad and stamped 'sometimes I pretend to be normal ...' over a tag.  I heat set it then added dylusions inks.

Some splashing of water, and extra stamping and I was happy with my background for the artichoke monster.  I used an old map for my background journal page!

Stampotique stamps used:

artichoke monster   4036 Kira Nichols

sometimes I pretend  3069 Jo Capper-Sandon

row of numbers  7213 Amy Wilson Wellenstein

faux batik

Faux batik using clear embossing is a technique I'd seen demonstrated, and knew how to do  in theory but hadn't had a good go at so it was a real treat to spend the day with the "Vicky Stampers" where Cath was teaching on Saturday.  [Sorry Chris, we will make it together one day I'm sure!]

I happily played with this technique on card, tags, and in my journal.  

It was a real treat to spend the day exploring a new technique, using another person's stamps alongside my own, and meeting new people.

I now have a longer wishlist of stamps I'd like!!  I also got to play with some of my new purchases from Port Sunny; the butterfly above is from Indigo Blu and the cow parsley is a woodware stamp from The Stamp Man.  Huge thanks to Cath for letting me be her guest, and all the "Vicky Stampers" for making me feel so welcome [and a special 'hello' to Ann :) ]

ooooo....inkygeliness on a journal page

I carried on playing with my gelli plate and inks for this week's Stampotique project.  What is great about colouring a page with dye ink pad inks is that you can use a journal with thin pages and they don't need gluing together to make them thicker or gessoing!

This time I brayered some inks onto my gelli plate, then placed a stencil on it and brayered some ink through that before placing my journal on the plate and taking a print.

Stamping onto the gelli plate then taking a print off it makes the stamped image look slightly different (and reversed!)

I turned the gelli plate over so I could see where I was placing my reversed stamped image.....

....then added some more 'shrooms' stamped on text paper, and repeatedly stamped 'each life needs it's own quiet place'.

'Owlseeyou' is enjoying his own quiet place!  I gave the page a bit more 'zing' by adding some colour from my ink pads using a sponge.

Over on the Stampotique blog post I have a question for you!

Stampotique stamps used:

Owlseeyou by Kira Nichols

heart tie by Jo Capper-Sandon

Giant Shroom by Jo Capper-Sandon

Mushroom group by Jo Capper-Sandon

Quiet Place by Jo Capper-Sandon