{Spotlight Project} Monika Does Some Confidence Building

Hello STAMPlorations Friends! I needed a bit of cheering up the other day to try and recover my mojo. A bit lost for ideas I rooted through my stamps and found a not-yet-used Typograhia Motivate: Doubts stamp, the wording of which somehow spoke to me. I pulled it out, had a closer look at it, reflected on the words a little and decided that I needed to allow a bit more intuitive flow when crafting. It had gone AWOL in recent days.

Getting messy with Mixed Media projects is great for gaining confidence and winning back your mojo. You can really loose yourself in the process. It certainly worked for me, have a look.

Let me take you through my process ....

I picked up a small canvas (18cm x 12.5cm or 7x5 inches) and some papers which I tore up and glued to my canvas. Yes, I simply used my ordinary tacky craft glue and made sure to apply it generously.
The torn edges make for a smooth and step free transition from paper to canvas.

I then added a thin coat of gesso, a little thicker in patches.

In my bits box I found a Dragonfly die-cut from when I tried cutting it with the Grand Calibur (it doesn't cut intricate dies well, I'm much better using my Big Shot). It was a bit messy, but would be perfect for a variation of texture.

I snippet around it leaving part of the frame intact and glued it to my canvas. As the gesso was still a bit wet, I used a large acrylic block to firmly press the die-cut down into place.

Next I picked up Stone and Eggplant PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics, opaque and semi-opaque finish respectively, and painted some of each as my next layer.

I then added a piece of doily and painted French Roast and Beach Hut, both translucent Fresco Paints, as my next layer.

TIP!: If you don't have any translucent paints, try diluting your acrylics to get a similar effect.

I stamped the Typograhia Motivate: Doubts stamp in black Versafine on a piece of mixed media card, carefully snipped it into pieces and laid it out on my canvas. On my table was little ink smudged heart (I used it as mask for another project, check back on July 31 to see which one 😀), it a sort of fitted and I added it to my canvas.

At this point I took a photo to remind me of the layout as I wasn't quite yet ready to attach these pieces.

Rooting through my draws, I found a stack of rub-ons and added a couples of them to my background. Bummer, I got more than I bargained for. A piece of frame was too eager to stick, I hadn't even rubbed over it.

Aged Silver Frantage embossing powder to the rescue. I used a clear Emboss pen to apply my pigment ink around the edges (you can equally well use a clear pigment ink pad), sprinkled the powder on and heat set it for an aged and distressed look. The little frame piece was covered up.

I added the sentiment pieces and heart roughly in the same position I wanted them to be in and applied some Royal Amethyst and Sapphire Treasure Gold metallic wax finish to highlight some of the texture.

To hang my little canvas, I simply added a couple of glass beads to organza ribbon, attached it to the revers of my canvas with strong double sided tape and secured it further with a glued on piece of strong, pretty paper.

I then finished off with some doodles and a sun charm.

Not having had a plan when I started the project, it simply developed as I went along, for example: originally I thought that I'd keep the sentiment as one. I ended up snipping it apart. Rather than gathering supplies, I only looked for them as part of the next step.

It was rather nice to loose myself in the process. The most important thing in preventing doubts from taking over is to start. The way will become clearer as you go along. You got all the tools to create your own kind of beauty. Just go for it!

Here are some more photos:

If you feel like doing some confidence building of your own through making a mixed media project or using one of our other Stamp Club sets or making a project using any of the techniques or ideas shared by my teamies in their Spotlight Posts, make sure to link up your makes with our spotlight project gallery here.

The Dragonfly Cover Plate Die is one of the products in our July sale at 40% off and can be found in the SUMMER CLEARANCE section. Use code HEYSUMMER on checkout. Code can be used only once per customer/shipping address. Ends 7/31.

That's it from me for today. Hope my project inspired you to get creative with mixed media.
Have a lovely week!

hugs
Monika xxx
Doubts, Dragonfly Cover Plate Die
 

{Inspiration Project Post #225}

Hello STAMPlorations Friends! Welcome to Tuesday's Inspiration post.

Over the Summer, we're keeping things easy. Each week the girls from the Inspiration team are showcasing products of their choice. This week our new stickers have been popular for quick and easy cards.

We'll still randomly draw a winner from all the comments left on our Inspiration posts, have a look and leave a comment for your entry to win a $10 gift certificate.

 

 

 

{Stencil Sunday} Beautiful Inked Backgrounds by Sue

Happy Sunday, STAMPlorations friends! We are back with another helping of Stencil Sunday goodness! On the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Sunday of the month, the STAMPgirls are sharing their projects that show off how to creatively use ARTplorations stencils. And each month, we'll pick one winner of a $15 gift code -- the winner will be drawn from all comments left on the Stencil Sunday posts for the month, as well as from the designers' blogs.

Kicking off this month's Stencil Sunday feature is STAMPgirl Sue with two cards with beautifully ink-blended backgrounds.

  

{JUNE WINNERS}

Hello, STAMP friends! It's the 10th of the month, which means it's time to announce last month's winners! We also have winners of our Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge and June Inspiration Projects posts + 6th Birthday Giveaway, as well as winners of our special posts: Stencil Sunday and Digital Wednesday. Challenge winners (winners of the $15 gift certificates) were voted by the design team members, while all others were randomly chosen by Random.org.

An important reminder to challenge players: When playing in our challenges, please display the challenge graphic AND link back directly to the challenge post (NOT to the main blog or the challenge section) in your blog post in order to qualify for the prizes. Also, please be mindful of the maximum challenge entries. A couple of our challenges have a limit on the number projects you can link up.

An important note about our winners post: winners (challenges, blog hops, and special posts) of the previous month are announced in one post (this one). All winners must claim their prizes by the deadline. If you are a regular player in our challenges or participant in our blog hops and special events, please consider following our blog, even signing up to receive email notifications when new posts are published. You'll find those links on the right side bar.

An important note about our prizes: For our challenges, we offer prizes in the form of gift certificates for use in our main store. For our special posts, hops, and events, we offer prizes in the form of gift certificates, gift codes (also called coupon codes and gift vouchers), and products. There is a difference between a gift certificate and a gift code and it's all explained on THIS PAGE. HOWEVER, if you are a winner, you may opt for a gift code to our digital store. Note, though, that if you choose this, the gift code cannot be combined with other codes (I use a different e-commerce platform for our digital store).

Winners, please claim your prize on or before Wednesday, July 24. Prizes not claimed by July 24 will be forfeited -- no exceptions. Please understand that because we have a lot of winners and give away $100 to $200 worth of prizes in the form of products, gift certificates, and coupon codes each month, it would take a lot of time to contact the winners individually. I also want to be fair to those who regularly visit our blog and claim their prizes within the time frame given.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CLAIMING PRIZE

When claiming your prize, send an email to stamplorations@gmail.com. 

I have an email filter set up for claiming prizes so to avoid delay and to make sure I see your email in my BLOG PRIZE folder, follow this format in the subject line:

"STAMPlorations June Winner - specific challenge here"

e.g., "STAMPlorations June Winner - CAS Challenge"

"STAMPlorations June Winner - Digital Wednesday"

It also helps if you include what prize you won (a $15 gift certificate, a $5 gift certificate, a $15 coupon code, $10 gift code, etc.) in the body of your email. Also specify if you prefer to use your prize on our main store or digital store. This way I know which code to generate, as codes generated for one store will NOT work on the other store.

If you are the winner of a tangible/mailable prize, include your complete mailing address in the email you send, even if I already have mailed to you before. (It saves me time having to look up your address.)

{Spotlight Project} Shirley Rescues A Couple Of Fails

Hello, peeps! Have you ever had a card start to go wrong, but you haven't wanted to throw it away? Me plenty!