Our Design Team is Growing! Meet our new memeber Tasha!

We are moving into our fall season on Vera Lane and are happy to announce our newest Design Team member, Tasha Nez.  Our Design Team guest and talent coordinator Stephanie Eaton was our scout on this lucky find!  Tasha has been a Vera Lane Studio fan within her busy school schedule.  Having guest hosted for us in the past with favorable reviews we are so excited she is joining us full time!  Here is a little bit about Tasha: 

My name is Tasha and I’m a mixed-media artist, amateur
photographer/graphic designer and gallery assistant for a non-profit
art organization. I’m from a small city in sunny New Mexico! I
recently graduated from college and received an Associate’s Degree in
Human Services focusing on Substance Abuse. Alongside having a passion
to help others I also have a passion for creating art! I like to
dabble in so many different forms of art from acrylic painting,
water coloring, book-making, photography, jewelry-making to
illustrating just to name a few.
I first started creating art almost six years ago by making artist
trading cards with sharpie markers as my only medium. Who knew that
those small cards would lead me on such a grand adventure! It is my
hope that I can inspire others to seek and discover creativity in
their everyday lives and make their worlds as colorful as can be.

I hope you will all join us in welcoming Tasha.

April Guest Designer: Stase Collins

Our Guest Designer for April has been dazzling us with her creative creations by mixing and matching Vera Lane Studio images to create a wonky nursery rhyme book.  We've asked Stase to share a little bit about herself:

I am a 70 something year old who lives in the UK. I have been crafting for approximately the last 12 years and enjoy many types of craft. Mixed media, upcycling, making albums and cards to name just a few.
My latest obsession is the quirky and whimsical digital stamps from Vera Lane Studios, which I enjoy playing and having fun with. It keeps the brain active!!

Here are just three pages from Stase's book.  Please join us this month so you can view more of Stase's creations.  We have an active ATC swap also taking place.  If you are not part of our FaceBook community and like working with digi stamps look us up!

Welcome Corrie Herriman to our Design Team

We are so pleased that our entire design team will be staying on to continue their play with Vera Lane Studio digi stamps. The team is excited to add another member to our team of talent. 

Many of you know Corrie and the creations she has shared.  Now you will see Corrie's weekly posts. The team has already had a preview of things to come and we can tell you that you will be tickled!

So welcome Corrie!  Please read her introduction and look for her creations on Sundays!



Hi, my name is Corrie. I live in the Netherlands in a small market town called Venlo, which is situated next to the German border.

I have been crafting all my life; I knitted, crocheted, made dolls and teddy bears, painted and probably did quite a few more crafts. In 2012 I discovered paper craft and the rest is history as they say. I love bright colours but also like vintage and shabby chic. I started making cards and then quickly branched out into artjournaling, altering things, ATC's, postcards and tags. I love trying new things... and I have all the time in the world for my hobby as I don't work anymore.  Apart from crafting I also like nice food and wine, lovely holidays, reading and cooking. 

I am very happy to be on this team and I look forward to sharing my projects with you ! 

Blog: www.MadeByCHook.blogspot.nl

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/corrie.herriman/

Pinterest: https://nl.pinterest.com/corrieherriman/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/corrie.herriman

The Traveler; Our June 5th new release

Our new release this week is a whimsical little traveling gal named Beatrix.  Beatrix is wide-eyed,

ready to seek adventures with her well traveled suitcase, camera, map and postcard.  This value-bundled seven digi stamp set also comes with three sentiments all in jpg and png high resolution files.

Our talented design team has shared their creations this week with more to come.  With so many travelers this summer The Traveler set is a great collection for scrapbooking, planners, journals and bon voyage cards. 




VLS DT Member Carole  opened up our week of fabulous designs with this beautiful dimensional card. Carole reversed the image of Beatrix and used the accessory images in repetition to bring you to the car's focal point.  The delicate light colors are perfect for a summertime traveler.  Isn't her periwinkle coat pretty?  Learn how Carol approached this creation by clicking on her name for her blog.

Stephanie will be blogging later as she was one of our DT travelers this week!  She's back home creating for you but was able to get her beautiful water-colored card up for you to enjoy before she left town. 

Stephanie uses watercolors in many of her creations with depth and vitality.  Her monochrome outfit on Beatrix looks great against her dreamy watercolor backdrop.
Follow Stephanie on Instagram @inkypinkyboo if you'd like to see more of her techniques.

Design Team Member Nikki brought you this adorable journal entry featuring The Traveler along with a row of houses from our Tall Houses collection and one of our Vera Lane car images.  Clever to tuck Beatrix in the vehicle and create a mini road trip!

Nikki changes up her media so you never know what she will use next.  Click on her name to see her blog and learn about her style and techniques.




Mischelle is our designer that likes to show us options.  Often Mischelle will

make variations on a theme.  Her version of The Traveler features Beatrix in a bright red coat against neutral tones.  The text from this set is repeated to create  an effective background for this piece.

Please be sure to check out Mischelle's beautiful blog "Mischelle Makes"

Speaking of traveling, our Designer Teresa has been enjoying a sunny vacation.  Teresa was sure to have her sample ready for you with today's post.  Beatrix is featured with a lovely hue of pink hair, lime green lashes and a sweet light aqua coat.  She looks stunning on the creamy background with the photos that bring pops of color with images from some of our other sets.  You can learn more about Teresa's approach to this set on her blog The Fat Cactus.  Teresa's use of color and balance of design elements is ever so inspiring.


We have two more designers to show off their makes this week as well as customers showing off their version of Beatrix and her travels.  Our sentiments and accessories are so versatile that you can see your own vision to create with this set with such great team inspiration!

Digi Stamps for monthly birthdays

Vera Lane Studios has over 150 active sets in our Etsy Shop with new images arriving all the time.  While many of our image sets are perfect for a unique birthday greeting we have also included a special "Birthday Club" line with exclusive image sets for that special birthday. 

While all our bundled sets carry that "Vera Versatility" we certainly hope that these monthly sets add some additional whimsy to your collections no matter what birthday month you are looking for.

If you are looking for inspiration and how to work with our images you are welcomed to join our private Vera Lane Studio FB group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple prompt Sunday: Scribble it, just a little bit

For those of you who have joined us last week bravo and thanks for posting!

I stated these prompts would be simple for a creative quick fix.  Sometimes simple is hard -- does that make sense?  I heard some apologies out there. It's O.K. -- we are just having fun, right?

But today's prompt IS simple.

If you read the title you are probably now humming that obnoxious silly song that it's a near rip off from.  Let's scribble it.  Just a little bit.

Simple prompt:  Scribble a background for a tag.  Attach ONE Vera Lane Studio image of your choice and snap a pic.  Post it on our group page and mention what you liked or didn't like about the challenge.

I love to scribble. Pencil is my favorite media to scribble in but you can experiment.  I like to think of random thoughts or ideas and just let my hand move swiftly --- if words make no sense it doesn't matter, it's not meant to be read. Scribbles create a great visual texture and is a nice complement to a graphic image.

You can take it up a notch, scribble over Gesso and add a little colored media.  Or Gesso over your scribble to expose a tad of texture underneath.  Splash it with watercolor, color with Inktense and drip water on it, smear some Gelatos with baby wipes.  Play!  Invent! 

The image in my sample is from Buds and Birds.  It's a seven image digi stamp set with a couple of whimsical birds, a flower (as shown), a sun image (which can also be used as a flower) and a couple of sentiments.  As with all my sets images can be used together or alone.  Vera versatility!

 You never know when you need to pop a colorful and arty tag to a gift bag, bottle or wine, or cellophane bag of home baked goods.  So scribble, and make someone happy.

Simple prompt Sunday; 5, 5, 5

from Good to be home set

Welcome to Simple Prompt Sunday.   Need a little art fix but don't have the time?  Join Vera Lane Studio Digi Stamps in a quick little layout.  You never know when it becomes that perfect little card to cheer someone's day.

PROMPT:  5-5-5

Since today is the 5th of July you will create a 5 x 5 card with FIVE elements. ONE must be a VLS digi stamp and FOUR must be random scraps from your stash.  Try not to cut anything.  You may have scraps or even tags that are precut, but the task is to find "as is" and arrange. 

Please post your creation to our FaceBook page and hashtag the set you used.

Have a happy Sunday!

Leading ladies

 Happy Monday!

Two new sets are live in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop!
"Queen of Hearts" and "Coyoacan".

These two sets are are in 300 dpi png format but are available in jpeg by request for tablet users.  The Queens scepter and dagger are designed to fit over the hand. Reverse the images and they can adapt to either the left or right -- use together, alone or without.  "Queen of Hearts" can be used with the other creepy Wonderland characters from Vera Lane Studios.

The Latina Collection is inspired by  a memorable summer living in Cuernavaca using it as a home base to travel.  Coyoacan is a beautiful village and home of Casa Azul, Frida Khalo's home.  This four image digi set is inspired by her love of animals. 


Both sets are open to your interpretation with your paper craft and coloring skills.  Use Vera Lane Studio versatile sets for your art journals, cards, ATCs and more.

 

Lilacs for Sunday

Brought out some of the Fleur de Girls to play with.  Here's Lilac -- I stamped her with black Versafine on watercolor paper.  I painted her with a combination of children's watercolors and Peerless. 

I used a black liquid stylist pen to add the quote.  And it needed something.

I guess I must have been day dreaming because I got caught up in doodling and my XS Pitt pen wound up traveling all over the surface. 

If you are not familiar with the collection over at Stampotique there is an entire garden of whimsical "fleur" girls with quotes, backgrounds and accents.  Perfect for spring. Or anytime.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Welcome to my lovely garden...

Pandora is the newest character to appear on Vera Lane.  She comes with three flower stamps and a flying bird stamp image. 

Scale the digi images up or down for your paper craft needs.  Make thank you cards, birthday, or just a cheery hello.  The versatile image set can be used for your own interpretation.  Use for ATCs or your personal art journal. 

This digi set is available now for instant download.  Check out this set and others at the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop today!

New release-- The Cherry Street Collection by Vera Lane Studio

Vera Lane Studio has just released two new sets from the Cherry Street Collection.  Meet "The Crazy Cat Lady" and "iYoga."

Both sets come with five digi files in 300 dpi resolution.  They can be resized and flipped in MS Word for your to print, color, cut and add to your paper projects.  Size small for an ATC or larger for an art journal page.

Let's cover the world with glitter and pearls

 Vera Lane Studio's "Cherry Street Collection" introduces the digi stamp set Glitter and Pearls.

The Cherry Street collection features diverse characters from the original Vera Lane Studio crew.  The blue header background identifies images in this line.  These digi characters still offer an element of whimsy with a fresh style all their own.

Glitter and Pearls comes with "Beatrice", two quotes and an optional crown.  The versatile set can be used for birthdays, Sweet 16, invites, Valentine's Day, or any time you need to send a little glitter. 

Beatrice can be enlarged to create a mixed media canvas or reduced to create an ATC.  Her clean lines and open spaces makes for easy coloring and or paper piecing techniques.

Vera Lane Studio images are available for instant download.  All VLS digi stamps come to you in 300 dpi resolution .png files.  They are designed with the end user in mind to craft into your personal paper creations.

See Glitter and Pearls and the complete selection at  the Vera Lane Studio Shop.

Image release Monday

Happy Monday!
Vera Lane Studio Digi Stamps just released two new image sets. 

"Hope and Honey" is a set of five files, three images and two quotes.  Hope is a sweet little clown that would be perfect for a good cheer card, children's birthday, invites, or a thank you.  She is versatile with her little pup Honey.  He comes with a hat too!

"Thinking of You" is also a five file set.  Colette comes holding a flower with a sun and cloud image for layering or using alone.  Two quotes are in the set for your designing options.  The expression on Colette's face makes her suitable for so many difference uses.  The simple sun and cloud images enhance the mood, use together or alone, change the layering to create the feeling tone of your choice.

I hope you enjoy Vera Lane's newest additions.

Besties

A couple of new gals have moved in on Vera Lane!  The set is called "Besties" and they are ready for instant download in my Etsy shop.
Right now we are running a 25% coupon off of a $7.00 minimum purchase.  Use coupon code:  JULY4TH  at check out.  Coupon will run through July 11th.

Something old, something new

The Fleur de Girl image is the very first stamp I designed for Stampotique.  She's still one of my favorite images and her essence still appears in some of my current designs.

The medium sunflower is one of my newest images for Stampotique. The combination of old and new work well together in this whimsical scene.

After stamping and coloring the old and new images with Copics, I clear embossed them to stand against a muted collage from scraps.

I stamped bushes on patterned paper to add some depth to the composition.

I hope it inspires you to take out an early stamp and combine it with a new image!

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.

New York state of mind

It's a stunning sunny morning here in Arizona.  Before I get to my projects for today I thought I would create a simple little card to wish New Yorkers a beautiful peaceful day.
Again I blend old an new images.  Buildings from my Stampotique mini city cube are cut and repeated on a background of linear watercolor washes to emphasize all is bright and beautiful.  Taxi! and Beep Beep is a new two-sided stamp from the recent release.

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are.
 

Layers!

Sue Davies is hostess of this week's Stampotique Designer's Challenge and the topic is layers!  What a great time to integrate some new and older Stampotique images and layer away.

This little square format card layers cardstock, scrapbook paper and a square of white bristol cardstock.  My flower block (9182) is stamped with Versamark Watermark ink, heat set, with Pebble Pearlescent chalks applied as a dry wash.  Dog Family (9250), Carol's Flower, small (9166) and Roc Nicholas's bgrateful is stamped on a piece of bristol and colored with Copic markers.  Images are fixed with glue dots.  An XS Pitt pen is used to create a delicate border.   

Changing ink colors for digi stamps



There are a variety of ways to work with digi stamps.  Once you

become familiar with the tools in your Word program, the more you will be able to do with your images.  In this tutorial I am using MS Word 2010. 

Since I like to cut out most of my images, it makes sense for me to fill a page prior to printing.  You can take best advantage of your paper real estate by flipping, turning, and resizing your images.  Fill up a 8.5" x 11" sheet --if you are not using all the images right away you have them on hand for quick last minute cards.

Images import in black and print in black, unless you tell your image to print otherwise.  There are thousands of ink colors at your fingertips in your Word program.  Match your favorite chalks, inks, Copics, Prisma, or Bic colors. 

Once you have created your layout click on the image you want in a color.   An icon marked "color" will be a visible tool in the top tool bar.  Click on it and a pull out menu with lots of options will appear. 
In this screen shot I have already selected and colored several images.  Arranging images close is possible with png files.  If you are using jpeg images you will have that white box fixed around the image and waste paper.  Make sure your digi stamps are high resolution and a .png file.


The screen shot on the left shows you the many color options in the pull-out menu.  You will have a choice of tone, saturation, and color fill (which is kind of cool because the outline remains black and the image is a solid fill).
What if you want to customize your colors and go beyond the options in view?
At the bottom of the menu you will discover there are additional tools to select color variations or customize your own colors.

 I like to print on a nice white cardstock that takes media well.  My preference is Strathmore 88 lb. cover Bristol in Ultimate White.  It's an elegant paper and makes lovely note cards as well.

Before you print check your print settings.  To get a deep crisp outline be sure to select best quality  (or photo quality) as many printers have ink saving features and will default to draft print.


Any questions?  Please contact me at:  janet@veralanestudio.com

                                                                                                   

 

Fiddle

Humphrey just got his summer cut -- he is all ears.  With his slender little body he reminds me of "Fiddle" -- little simple stick dog with full floppy ears, a little sweet, a little mischievous. 

Here Fiddle is paper pieced on white on white on white...pretty simple?  I rolled a little Distress marker around the edges but I think I should have just let the shadows create the contrast. The spine of the card has a slit to accommodate the ribbon tuck.