Artfully Articulate

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Go Climb a Tree!

Summer is already speeding by, it's hard to believe we've already passed July 4th! The Stampendous Design Team is sharing great ideas with you this week using our new weekly challenge of "Go Climb a Tree". Boy, that theme brings back memories. We used to have some great climbing tree in our back yard when we lived in Maryland, and our sons LOVED to climb them. My oldest son would sit it one tree that was by a walking path that went behind our house and talk to everyone walking by. Wow, how times have changed, I probably wouldn't let him do that today! Anyway, back to the theme!
The Stampendous April catalog featured some adorable new sets perfect for this theme. I'm sure you'll see a lot wonderful creations this week using them. I'm new to the Stampendous team, so I don't have those YET, so I thought I'd share a cute project I did a while back using some Dreamweavaer products.

"Dog days of Summer"

This card features three stencils and three dies to create a fun summer scene. The instructions and details can be found HERE.

Stop back all week to see what the team has come up with for you. Here's the list for today:

Stampendous Blog

Louise Healy

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Happy Creating,
Louise

Friday, July 3, 2015

Ribbon, ribbon, ribbon...May Arts and Stampendous!

We’ve had a lot going on this week to keep your Summer Vacation hopping with inspiration. In one event we’re hopping all week with one of our very favorite craft partners. May Arts ribbon is an extremely generous sponsor for us here at Stampendous and our Design Team is absolutely in love with their gorgeous ribbons, cords, strings and specialty items. You’ll find loads of beautiful May Arts on all our samples.

All week you’ve had chances to check out our Design Team Inspiration as well as the Ribbonistas over at the May Arts Blog. Be sure to comment and tell us where you’re from, because our Australian Distributor The Stencil Specialists is sponsoring a prize for one friend “down under” to win a Stampendous Stamp, a Dreamweaver Stencil and a surprise goodie from their terrific stock of Stampendous merchandise!
There are Stampendous prize packages up for grabs. THREE US commenters will receive a prize of their choice in any one roll of ribbon from May Arts and a $20 reward card. Tell us what state you live in when you comment. Stampendous Official Rules.
Be sure to stop by the May Arts blog today, because they are having a prize also! How’s that for an amazing week of prizes!
I've used our Stampendous weekly theme of "By the Sea" along with some May Arts ribbon for one of my creations today. Here's the first one:

"Peace"

I know, technically this isn't "By the Sea", but it certainly would be "By the Sound"! We used to spend two weeks at the Outer Banks in North Carolina every summer, and always stayed on the sound side, it was so peaceful! Do you see the Heron's dragonfly friend. I used two piece of May Arts ribbon and some of their black jute to create my dragonfly ribbon. The Heron (DWLG757) was paste embossed with the Matte Black Embossing Paste (DWDMBP). After it had dried about 10 minutes, I gently brush some mica powders on the tree and leaves.

Now for my second card, HAPPY 4th of JULY to all our followers in the USA!

"Oh say can you see..."

These are the cute Patriotic Painters (HMCR33), and the Cling Free and Brave (CRF234) from Stampendous. I colored them with a combination of Copic markers and Chameleon pens. The beautiful red, white, and blue ribbon is, of course, from May Arts. To create the rosette, I simply basted along the edge of the red stripe, pulled it from both ends to form the rosette, and knotted it. I closed the edge with just a little Fabri-Tac from Beacon Adhesives, then added a silver star brad to the center.

I've included all the links for the week, in case you missed any, just scroll down to reach the others.

Friday

Stampendous Blog
Amy Hurley-Purdie
Louise Healy
Asia King
Laura Drahozal
Pam Hornschu
Lyn Bernatovich
Jamie Martin
Pam Bray
Kristine Reynolds
Janelle Stollfus
Tenia Nelson
Lea Kimmel
Wendy Price
May Arts Blog

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Stampendous Blog
Asia King

Thursday

Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Dreamweaver By the Sea

Welcome to another Dreamweaver Thursday from our Stampendous Design Team. We are so lucky to receive these great products for being part of the team because we LOVE sharing all the fun things you can create with these wonderful stencils!

We are having a VERY busy week on the Stampendous team. Not only have we been featured on the fabulous blog hop with Spellbinders, we are also doing a collaboration with the beautiful ribbons from May Arts! This week is filled with inspiration. If you missed any of it, check the Stampendous blog for all the daily links.

Our theme this week is "By the Sea" there are sooooo....many great stencils that fit this theme that it's hard to choose! If you missed my By the Sea post for the Spellbinder's hop on Monday, click here. Today I'm sharing TWO fun and easy cards that fit this theme.

First, the fabulous Sailboat stencil (DWLG755). What says "By the Sea" more than a Sailboat!

"Sailing the ocean blue..."

This technique was featured on my blog a while back, click here for the complete tutorial on how to create this. Of course, the darling white "waves" are from May Arts!

The second card was featured in the Stampendous April 2015 catalog. It uses the Jellyfish stencil (DWLG758) and is super easy to make, and would be great for summer birthdays.

Jellyfish done with Pearlescent Embossing Paste

The marble background was created using the Shaving Cream and Reinker technique on glossy paper. When that was dry, I taped the Jellyfish stencil to the marbled background, and used a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Pearlescent Embossing Paste. When the Pearlescent paste dries, it is just a little transparent so it gives the true "see-thru" look of a jellyfish!

Some of the other team members have more "sea-sational" ideas to share with you:

Louise Healy

Don't forget to mark your calendar for the big finale of the May Arts hop tomorrow! You might win one of the prizes!

Happy Creating,
Louise

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Stampendous and Spellbinders By the Sea!

The Stampendous Design Team is having fun this week partnering up with the team at Spellbinders and we hope you'll like what we've created for you!

Our theme this week is By the Sea, so I've used a Spellbinder Nestabilities from the Labels Eight set to create my beach scene.

This was actually pretty easy to make, just follow these easy steps:

Fold a white A2 top fold card in half and stamp the front with the swirl from the Mixed Media Cling Rubber Brush Strokes (CRS7001) set
Cut a label out of white cardstock with the second largest die from the Labels Eight set and stamp it with the swirl too
Paste emboss the Dreamweaver Scallop (LM106), Seahorse (LM181), and Starfish (LM209) with Regular Embossing Paste using a palette knife and paste spreader
Remove the stencil and sprinkle with Golden Sand Embossing Powder, tap off excess and heat set, when cool, cut out the images
Sprinkle the bottom area of the die cut label with a combination of Golden Sand, Taupe fragments, and Bronze glass glitter, heat from underneath
Tear two pieces of kraft cardstock for the "sand" area of the card
Edge everything with brown ink using an ink blusher
Stamp the saying from the Life Words set, SSC1213, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on kraft cardstock, tear edges and ink with brown
Layer torn kraft cardstock along the bottom, front edge of the card then add the label, and more embossing elements along the bottom edge, heat
Layer on the shells and saying, and add a knotted cord

Be sure to keep checking back with the team this week to see what else we have in "shore" for you!
Here's today's links:

Louise Healy

Happy Creating,
Louise

Friday, June 26, 2015

Flowers and Fairies Finale!

Flowers and Fairies have been the theme this week for our Stampendous Design Team, and there are so many wonderful stamps over at the Stampendous website!

I recently picked up this wonderful set at one of my local stores. I love flowers of all kinds and had to create something with it right away!

SSC1112 - Daisy Thanks

Here's what I came up with today:

I stamped the flowers on Mixed Media White paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink , then colored them with Chameleon Color Tones pens. I used the Labels Eight Spellbinders Nestabilities dies to cut the flowers out, and used the largest one to cut out a black mat. The Stampendous team will be joining the Spellbinders team next Wednesday, July 1st, to share ideas using products from both great companies. Plan on stopping by!

Here are the team members playing today:

Happy Creating,

Louise

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Dreamweaver Thursday

It's Dreamweaver Thursday for the Stampendous Design Team, and we're excited to share some ideas with you! Our weekly theme is Flowers and Fairies, so, of course, I wanted to show you the perfect example using Dreamweaver Stencils. Well, it might not be perfect, but I really like how this turned out and hope you do too.

"Hidden gem"

I wasn't quite sure the idea in my head would work the way I thought it should, but I think it did! Do you see the Fairy hiding in the Wisteria? She looks like she's hiding under a canopy of vines doesn't she? Here's how to do it:

Tape the Wisteria stencil (LG725) on white cardstock and use 1/4" stencil brushes to color the image, I used Brilliance Thyme and Lavender, use the Picasso (LL332) to help keep your colors where you want them
Move the stencil over and add more Wisteria
Remove and clean the stencil
Tape the Fairy stencil (LG762) along the bottom of the Wisteria
Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Translucent Embossing Paste over the Fairy, remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning
Carefully sprinkle the wings with UltraFine Crystal glitter, the "skin" areas with Micro Fine Crystal glitter, and the dress and hair with Micro Fine Lavender glitter, tap off extra, let paste dry
The paste looks white when you put it on, but it dries clear, so the Fairy ends up looking like she is behind the flowers, it is very cool!
Use 1/2" stencil brushes to add color around the edges
Stamp the friendship saying from the Friendship Assortment set (SSC1116) on white paper with Memento Tuxedo Black, and rouge color around that too
Put it all together and you have a great card to send to a wonderful friend!

Fairy-ly certain you'll like these too!

Stampendous Blog

Louise Healy

Happy Creating,
Louise

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Flowers and Fairies!

Flowers and Fairies is the theme this week for our Stampendous Design Team, and the new flower fairy stamps released in April are a perfect fit. See all of them over at the Stampendous website!

I just love this Fairy Dance (CRW148) stamp, and had so much fun coloring her. You can change the colors to suit the person you are sending it to. Blue could say "heard you're feeling blue", Yellow for "Sending sunny thoughts your way!". Well, you get the idea. I was in a pinky-lime mood, so that's how I colored mine. The wonderful saying is CRH319 Cling Timeless Fairytales.

"Tickled Pink!"

The fairy and saying were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black then colored with COPIC markers. I added a little glitter for "pollen" on the stamen, and in the centers of the little flowers. Oh, in case you didn't notice, I stamped her twice, colored one whole image and just the tutu of the second image to cut out and overlay with foam tape on the petals, but flat at the waist. I thought it gave her a lot of dimension.

I want to wish my very talented, dear friend, Pam Hornschu, a Happy Birthday! Hope you're having a Fairy Tale day!

Our design team has more great ideas to share with you too!

Louise Healy

Happy Creating,
Louise