April Guest Designer; Marina Prinsessan Holmen

Marina Prinsessan Holmen

I am delighted to announce our guest designer for the month of April, Marina Prinsessan Holmen.  Marina has been a fan of Vera Lane Studio digi stamps having submitted outstanding samples to share with our members,  I know the works she will be posting this month will be a treat!

Marina Prinsessan Holmen is 57 years young and loves to create cards.  Marina is married to a officer in military with 3 children ranging in ages 36, 21 and 19 and a  dog. Professionally Marina works children with special needs and has done so since 2003.

Inheriting her artistic vein from her mother and she from her mother , Marina loved to create art from an early age. Her art philosophy is to find beauty in the ugly, albeit Marina's creates are those of beauty!  When Marina had no time for pottery she began her paper crafting with scrapbooking -- that let to creating cards.  Marina has been creating wonderful paper crafts since 2002. 

Marina's creations will be posted on Wednesdays for the month of April.  I know you will be inspired by her creations.  Please welcome Marina in joining our fabulous and creative design team and cheer her posts on!  You can find more of Marina's creations on her blog at: www.frideborgsmys.blogspot.se

Wear the pretty dress

Verdette is from the most resent Stampotique release.  She stands demurely with her hands positioned to create a heart.  She's a daughter, a mother, a sister, a sorority girl, a bridesmaid, or a bride. She becomes any gal you wish for her to be with paper piecing and or a hair trim.  Today Verdette is the girl in a pretty dress.

For the background I applied acrylic paints with stencils on the Gelli plate adding collage scraps face down to the plate. These pieces had glue on the back, and adhered to the printing paper with the printing process. The process is a type of Chine colle which translates to Chinese gluing. 

I printed the quote using Stamping Nico with is one of my favorite fonts to use with my handmade cards.  Verdette is stamped with StazOn and clear embossed.  I used dye ink to stamp her on scrapbook paper to piece her dress.  Verdette stands above the Chine colle surface with silicon dots. 

Thanks for stopping by. You can also find me on Facebook.

Put a bird on it

Vera Lane Studio is a happy place.  The street is filled with whimsy and sunshine.
 
Here's a sweet little set to be used alone or combine with some of the characters from Vera Lane.



Bud and Birds includes 7 .png files

Bud and birds as all Vera Lane digi sets is quite versatile for all your paper crafting. Resize, flip, rotate, stretch.  Use them together all alone for cards, thank yous, invites, journal pages, tags and more.

Buds and birds, part of a growing collection of quirky and whimsical digi stamps can be found in my Etsy shop.  The loose and sketchy line nature of this hand-drawn art can be incorporated into your art for a unique and original look. 

Vera Lane Studio images are designed to be simply colored for a clean graphic quality as well as collages and mixed media techniques.  The versatility of these images have no limits with your imagination and artistic skills.

Thanks for taking a look.

 

bird is flipped horizontally

Swiss dot bird in horizontal flip
 

Gelli print will leave you in stitches

My " background pile" was calling me this morning.  I had a small pile of gelli prints that I had created with acrylic paints, stencils and scraps.  I loved the transparency of the paper and thought it would be fun to pleat and stitch.

I first pleated the print then stitched on my sewing machine.  I altered the stitch length and stitched a scribble formation.  The weight of the folded and stitched print created a wonderful background for some Stampotique stamps.

On a piece of muslin I stamped create .  It was trimmed and stitched on contrasting paper.  Hung out to dry was stamped and embossed.  I painted the bunny using a waterbrush with Gelatos.  She hangs on a snippet of waxed floss. A small piece of washi tape picks up the colors that are behind the create image. 

This piece is so random but I love the experiment and texture play.  Hope it gives you the idea to print and stitch.

Happy, happy, yum, yum

This little card came together rather quickly.  I really like when that happens.

I began with some scrap over spray paper, cropped out an area I liked and added a little machine stitching.  Kara Nichols' new image Yum, Yum is colored with watercolors. I took the liberty of replacing Yum's snack with an ice cream cone from my tiny handhelds cube. On a tiny tag I stamped happy, happy.  A little washi tape and text scrap for contrast completes the composition.  Four lime brads anchor the image to the card.

Tuck in a gift card for your favorite ice cream shop and you are good to go!
Yum, yum!

Enjoy the ride

Look who is riding her bike down Vera Lane with her bluebird in her basket.  This quirky whimsical gal is part of a five piece digi stamp set, two of the images are shown in this sample.  Two funky houses, text, and a running piglet are included with this adorable biker. 

Use Vera Lane digi stamps for your personal paper crafting.  Whether you are creating cards, invites, art journal elements, or party favors, Vera Lane digi stamps come in png file format to resize to suit your paper crafting needs.

Enjoy the ride and other quirky images are available in my Etsy shop.

Spring is sure to follow

Welcome March.
It's a gorgeous day here in Arizona. We've had a rather mild winter, and after a well-needed downpour yesterday the sun is shining and the air is crisp. 

While friends and family are still experiencing storms and snow, nature's promise, spring is sure to follow.

Spring is not here yet, but "April" is patiently waiting for you  my Etsy digi stamp shop.  She comes to you un-colored along with some accent flowers and the text;

"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow."       

April can be resized for your paper craft needs. She's perfect for birthday, get well, thinking of you cards, and invites.  Print, color, and cut for art journals or tag art. 

Check out April and her growing group of friends. April and other images are available for instant download. You can find April and my other quirky images at: www.etsy.com/shop/VeraLaneStudio
 

Let's Chat -- Les Chats

As good as I am about multi-tasking; blogging has slipped the “to-do” list.  My mother’s health rapidly declined since my last post and we lost her at the end of March.  I think my Dad was tired of waiting for her as she passed the day before his birthday.  So I hope they are now guiding me and encouraging me to do the things I love to do.

I never liked to color coloring books as a child, but I did enjoy LOOKING at them. I always loved the contrast of the black line – how clean it was against the light cream page.  I liked whales, Chilly Willy, so the whole black and white thing is a childhood issue for me.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  Maybe that is why I prefer to draw with an inked line rather than color and embellish.

Do I own color? Yes, I am obsessed with collecting color.  From Copics to Lyra pencils, from Caran D’ Ache Neoart to Crayolas, paints, and pastels, chalks, and inks – I have them all.  Paper?  Another obsession, but give me a handful of Pitt pens in jet black and I am a happy one.

My recent black line play has led to the “Les Chats” collection.  Meet Luce, Luc, Marcel and Francoise.  I’m sure there are wonderful things that can be created with this quarto of kitties with colorful imaginations.  For now, I’m going to keep doodling and see what pours out of my pen.

Stampotique New Image Blog Hop

Queen of Hearts  (small trees are from mini-city cube)

Welcome to our blog hop introducing a new artist as well as many new stamps from myself and other artists.  You should have hopped here from Joanne Wardle.

  If you did not come from Joanne Wardle blog, you will want to start at the Stampotique Designer's Blog.

Join us along the blog hop for a chance to win some new stamps as a random winner will be chosen from one of the designer blogs as well as one from our Stampotique blog, so make sure to jump through the hop and leave a comment here when you are finished.  Let us know what your favorite new stamps are.  We will announce the random winners on our next challenge on 2/22/12 so you have a week to hop around.

Wunderland ATCs, Rabbit, Alice, Mad Hatter, Mushroom Forest, and Catepillar

Alice, Mushroom Forest, and Catepillar

From my blog you will hop on over to see what fabulous new stamps

Kira Nichols  came up with. 

Roc Nicholas

Kaz Boughton

Jane Wetzel

Gez Butterworth

Valerie Wilson

Willy Anderson

Maria Sabina Raita

Kim Howard

Nellie van Leeuwen

Vicki Garrett

Kate Crane

Joanne Wardle

Janet Klein
Kira Nichols
Stampotique Designer's Blog