Left of Center~New Challenge #87~Three of a Kind with Sweet Pea Stamps

Happy Friday!

Glad you came by to check out the fantastic new challenge this week at Left of Center Creative Challenges! We are up to Challenge #87!

Our awesome sponsor this week is Sweet Pea Stamps. Our theme is Three of a Kind. As always at LOC you are welcome to play along with the theme or just go Left of Center, but do play :)

I was given this fabulous image by Rebecca Sinz, called "Toxic".

I made a digital hybrid canvas today. "Toxic" is colored with Sharpies. Once done, I scanned the image and played using Photoshop Elements. The images used for the sea are from the digital kit by Marta van Eck called "About a Fish" available at Mischief Circus.

The quotation is from the book, "Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman.

Have a great day!

~kim

Visible Image Inspiration Day~Gesso Image Transfer, Dandelions & Texture

Hello Happy Day!

I hope your day is fantastic and leads to a fantastic week!

Before I share my 'canvas' with you today, I want to share a quick link to Visible Image's NEW wonderful Christmas stamps. They are timeless and elegant and will last many years to come. I hope you will pop over and see (and order :) )! Click HERE to transport to the Visible Image Stamp blog, there is a special offer, too :)

Today as promised here is my 'canvas' to share. The substrate is cardboard from a recycled shipping box panel.

Lots of pictures, I really love texture and think I got a bit carried away with it on this one :)

Click to make each image a bit larger.

I coated both sides of the canvas with DecoArt White Gesso.  On top of that I added some stenciled patterns using DecoArt Modelling Paste. I let the whole board dry overnight.

Once it was dry, I covered it with another layer of gesso, sort of a thick layer. I used a laser printed copy of one of my own photographs, the dandelions, and placed it face down into the gesso.

My blog post with the original photograph is HERE

I pressed it down into the gesso by hand and did some more smoothing with a bone folder. I wanted to make sure I got the whole image pressed into the wet gesso. I let it dry overnight again.

Once dry I misted the surface with water then started rubbing off the paper.

Once the image was clear and slightly distressed, I covered the dandelions with a layer of Americana Decoupage Crystal Glitter to seal it. It adds a nice fine sparkle with one layer and helped the main image to stay clear for all the next layers of paint and ink.

The borders all around are built up with layers of DecoArt Crackle paste, Antiquing Cream and various DecoArt acrylics. The majority of the color comes from the English Red Oxide Antiquing Cream layered with alcohol inks. 

I used the "Create Your Imagination" sentiment by Visible Image in the This is Me set. The diamonds are cut from the background stamp, Grunge Harlequin. Love the size of both these stamps!

Have a fabulous fun day!

Stay current with Visible Images, here are the links to where you must be :)

Inspiration from the Design Team on the Visible Image Blog, HERE

Come and JOIN the Facebook Group where you can enter our 'Show & Tell Challenge' for your chance to WIN some awesome Visible Image stamps! 

And don't forget to LIKE the Visible Image FACEBOOK PAGE too!

You can also sign up to the Newsletter HERE

See you soon!

~kim

I am also sharing and supporting these fabulous challenges:
Rhedd's Creative Spirit: July Anything Goes
Frilly and Funkie: Something to Say

Stencil Sunday~STAMPlorations Mixed Media Team~Happy Flowers

Happy Sunday!

~~please scroll down or click HERE to see my fun mail art today :) ~~

Today is my first post with the STAMPlorations Mixed Media Team!! Yay!

Each first Sunday of the month, you will have an ARTplorations stencil mixed media project from me and the rest of the fabulous creative team. There is even a challenge for you to enter :)

You can see all the inspiration HERE! I do so hope you enjoy it!


Here is my canvas for today :)

I am using the Happy Flowers stencil which you can get HERE

The canvas is small at 5 inches by 7 inches, but it is loaded with drywall tape, embossed paper scraps and DecoArt Crackle Paste, DecoArt Modelling paste, DecoArt Media Misters and a touch of sparkly glass ball beads from a dollar store :)

I am definitely in a blue phase right now :) So many of my projects are using the cool crisp blues and greens :)

I love how tilting and turning the canvas shows off something fun and new.  As I was spraying the background I added a small spritz of Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sweet Violet Purple Teal down once side. It is water reactive when dry which is what I was counting on :)

Once all the layers of DecoArt Misters were dry, I applied the DecoArt Modelling paste through the Happy Flowers stencil. As it dried, the Lindy's spray leeched up into the paste, adding a fun touch of violet. The modelling paste has a wonderful translucent quality when dry. If you do not want it too faint, add some acrylic paint to make it more opaque.

There is a great new challenge as well! Bring on your mixed media play, make sure you use a stencil, any company is ok and anything but a card :) See more info HERE 

Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and I thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. I read all comments and they make my day!

~hugs~

~kim

I am also sharing and supporting the fabulous challenge at Rhedd's Creative Spirit, July Anything Goes

Visible Image Stamps~Mail Art Play

Hi!

Thanks for visiting today!

It's my day to play with Visible Image Stamps, and I had lots more fun! I carried on with my mail art, it is so fun!

Hope you give it a try...so many possibilities!

These are the envelopes I made using a free online template. They measure 3.5 inches by 5 inches, folded closed...wonderful size for an anytime bit of Happy :)

The magnificent main bird images are Leave Your Fears  and Behind Every Mask

I stamped the image onto Neenah cardstock using Ranger Jet Black Archival ink. I love the rich, deep black and it is waterproof.

This is colored with Distress Inks, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral and Wild Honey. I sprinkled water droplets when the base was dry.

I used Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks. Life is a Journey is from the This is Me set. I splattered some Distress Paint once everything was dry.

I added a flap liner using some random papers. The back side of my orange envelope shows more stamps I used. I loveeeee the dots I made by generational stamping with part of the Plasma stamp set! Also, I edged the flaps with the line from the Drag & Drip set.

Thank you so much for coming by, I hope you have a fantastic week!

For everyone that likes to plan early, take a break from the heat with the NEW Visible Image Holiday stamps, pre-ordering July 10th! They are really wonderful and true must haves!

Stay current with Visible Images, here are the links to where you must be :)

Inspiration from the Design Team on the Visible Image Blog, HERE

Come and JOIN the Facebook Group where you can enter our 'Show & Tell Challenge' for your chance to WIN some awesome Visible Image stamps! 

And don't forget to LIKE the Visible Image FACEBOOK PAGE too!

You can also sign up to the Newsletter HERE

~hugs~

~kim

I am also linking and sharing this project with the following challenge at

Craft Stamper Magazine: July 2015 'Take a Stamp', Anything Goes

Left of Center #85~New Challenge~Ike's Art

Happy Friday!

Fabulous new challenge starts of Left of Center Creative Challenges today! Our sponsor is Ike from Ike's Art. She has graciously supplied the DT with an image to play with, so fun!

At Left of Center the theme this week is A Splash of Paint. As always if you do not care to follow the theme, then just go where your heart takes you and play be it dark, creepy, alternative, risque....you get the idea!


My image is called Zip It! I love the bold fun to color shapes and I adore bright colors....so off to play!

I'm really loving the mail art I've been seeing all over lately and wanted to try my hand at it, too :)

The envelope, folded and sealed is 3 1/2 inches by 5 inches made from a template I found online.

Of course, I had to make a card to go inside! This is another image by Ike, Road Kill. I printed it and kept the sentiment too which reads, "Had a Bad Day?!" I thought it was perfect, so I colored it up and diecut the note :)

This one shows the flap up so you can see the image and how it wraps! I loved making this and will be doing more...soon!

I hope you like it and have time to play with us this week at Left of Center and shop at Ike's!

Have a fantabulous day!

~hugs~

~kim

I am also sharing and supporting the challenges at:
 Ike's World, the theme is Fantasy.
Create and Inspire #25: Anything Goes