June Birthdays

There sure seem to be a lot of them.  I'm one, so is my husband, and many of our friends have June birthdays.  Since the celebrations are beginning soon I put off a couple of items on my agenda to create some small birthday cards. 

The Stampotique Birthday Cake Cube with Candle was a good option to begin my June birthday card set.  I had a stack of 2 x 2" Twinchie cards cut for my children's studio, colored cardstock and my pile of PITT pens (that I can't live without).  To complete this simple collection I used Copics, BIC markers, a corner cropper, and Jim Holtz Distress Inks. You'll also need scissors, adhesive, and foam or adhesive dots.

The completed cards measure 3.5" x 4". 

Cut assorted card stock 3.5" x 8", score in the center and fold.  Stamp a variety of cakes in a variety of colored inks on white card stock.  Color cakes to your desired palette.  Add some bling, glitter, or what ever you desire.  Trim cakes, accent with Pitt pens for some contrast.
Now design a border on your 2 x 2" white card (Twinchie) with the PITT pens.  I like the small tip. 
Pull some colors from the cake and decorated your border design. Attach the 2x2" decorated Twinchie in the top center of the card.  Clip 2" wide scraps to add to the bottom. 
Now embellish the edge of the card with the PITT pen and color with markers.  Add the cake in the center of the Twinchie with double sided sticky foam to make it dimensional. 
Trim corners with a corner cutter and distress the edges with monochromatic Distress Inks. 

It's good therapy to work on variations of a theme, and not a bad idea to make up a batch of birthday cards in advance!


 

E I E I O

It's hard for art teachers to do their own thing when they are planning and creating with children all week.  So I decided to initiate a monthly "Art Night" with some artsy friends to visit and share my studio space.
When I was cleaning party aftermath my attention deficit made me sit down and respond to SDC99 Stampotique Designers challenge...Summertime.

With full intentions of focusing on "summer in the city" I grabbed the mini city cube, the town and country cube (mini trees on these cubes), and the sun sliver...but then I came across the barnyard cube, and well, EIEIO.  The little red house is cut from row houses.

EIEIO

 

Art Night!

 

 

Count your rainbows

I received my shipment of Stampotique Wizard of Oz characters this week. After stumbling across the quote, "Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms,” I respond to this week’s designer's challenge no. SD91 Sketch featuring the Dorothy image.
 

The colors from the background papers were motivation to pull additional scraps that directed the color palette of the piece.  Dorothy is colored with Copics and a little glitter for her ruby shoes.

Note: The background painted paper is made with tempera in my children’s workshops.  We set up trays of diverse colors at each station and apply watered down tempera to make solid sheets.  After the sheets are colored, children will move about to different stations where there are a variety of gadgets to print with.  Repeat patterns added. When the papers are dry they are flattened and cut in quarters.  I use these papers for a wide variety of projects.

New Images from Background Stamps

 

I was playing with some dry wash and paper mask techniques for my young students and decided to use it as a springboard to respond to Sam Read's Stampotique Designer's Challenge #90; Song Inspiration.  "Good Day Sunshine” (Beatles) uses three Stampotique  images; Love Definition , Vintage Script,  and Flower Girl. 

I cut a circle mask for the sun and tore out a curved shape to create a hill.  Pebbles Pearlescent chalks, Copics, and a little glitter pen scribble was applied after laying down  the paper masks.  Flower Girl's dress is paper pieced.

 The next images use all background stamps with paper masks and a little line work. 

I created three random mask shapes for the trees by cutting into a post-it note and tearing desired shapes.   A dry wash of chalk was applied prior to stamping background stamps. For the house I cut out the rectangle and triangle on separate masks and applied the Baroque Background with colored dye inks.

Scrap paper completes the house door.

 

 

 

 

New Images on Vera Lane

 
"Bloom" is a set of three images that will come to you in six files. Why six files? Three of the blooms are very light and will print in a softer value. I used the lighter set for this delicate watercolor wash.

I arranged the three Bloom images and inserted a borderless text box to type "Merci." Using a water brush, it took under a couple of minutes to add some light watercolor washes, and tie with a bow. 

 

Stella Luna is a set of four digi stamps.  I would love to show you a sample, however, my dog ate it. (True story)  She's really quite cute, and I wanted to get her in the shop before we hit October.

 

For the birds...

Today I have two bird images to share with you, one is a digi stamp, and one is in rubber! Both images will give you a smile.

Meet Magnolia.

Magnolia is a very versitile digi stamp, she comes with two additional images for you to manipulate in your card and paper crafts.  This image can be stretched for a tall card or pulled to create a shorter and chubby bird.  Magnolia's pusre can be small or stretched to create more of a shopping or oversized bag.

If you enjoy using digi images, please stop by Vera Lane Studio's Etsy shop.

If you prefer stamping in rubber, you may want to check out two sizes offered of "Bird Legs" from Stampotique.  She has lots of character, with a little more serious feel than Magnolia.
Stamp or print - today is for the birds.

 
Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Friday.

Where the rubber meets the digi...

I’m procrastinating a bit this morning.  I should have gone to the gym but I found myself in my studio, imagine that?  I came up with this fast little card, combining a digi stamp and two rubber stamps.

I rarely know what I’m going to do once I get here.   I have cigar boxes with card starts, random scraps glued to a surface, painted borders, partially stamped images, etc.  These are things I would put out for my students in free time, and it was amazing to watch what the children would come up with.  My advice to the kids, was to let the paper choice guide you to your coloring.

So today, I found this embossed white cardstock with a scrap glued in the center. This was going to be my base.  I had one of my ‘Les Chats” digi images already cut.  Using Copics, I pulled some pink form the scrap and added a little accent of green.  I love how the white stays so crisp so I left the cat’s body white.  I decided on a landscape format and attached the cat asymmetrically.  

 There were a handful of green and pink flowers I must have cut long ago. “Play with both,” I would tell the kids. I preferred the green, although I did not care that it would be so close to the green above the act's eye, so I added the white circle, accented with some pink Prismacolor pencil to enhance the edge.  Now it needs a  sentiment – so I stamped “Happy Birthday.”

At this point I am floating the flower element and it is unbalanced. It needs a stem, and for my eyes, it needed color with some black contrast to pull over the cat image.  Does that make sense?  Since the cat is outlined in the black I need to visually balance the composition.  The perfect stem is the Ribbon Border #3 from Stampotique. No need to introduce anymore colors, just repeat the colors in the cat image. 

To begin with boxes of scraps, it is a fast way to create a spontaneous card or little work of art.  This approach is really great fun for the kids. Creating that composition, using balancing skills and making choices about shape, texture, and color, taps into those thinking skills. 

While my specialty has been working with children, I hope some of the process will inspire you too.

Tip:  When printing your digi image, create an entire page and use the sizing handles to alter the sizes.  Rotate the images so you can fit as many as possible on your sheet -- then print on cardstock.  Cut them out and set them aside for later use. 

Happy Friday.