Stampendous/DecoArt Blog Hop - Handle with Care

It's the last day today of our our joint Stampendous/DecoArt Blog Hop and I'm sharing a mini journal page with you. I recently treated myself to a tiny weeny Moleskine watercolour journal and I love working in it - the small size is perfect for quick journaling or journaling on the go. I'm using this specific journal for mindfulness and self-care so there is a theme running through it which is echoed in the sentiment on this page - a reminder to be gentle with myself!

Prizes!!!!! Comment to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more!  US winners only, see Stampendous Official Contest Rules here for more details.

Today's Hop List:

Stampendous Blog

Pam Bray

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Asia King

Janelle Stollfus

Lea Fritts

Alison Heikkila

DecoArt Blog

Here's how I made it (apologies for the state of the photos - it was late at night!):

1 Use a paintbrush, bottle lid and credit card to make marks in Payne's Grey paint onto the journal page (this is a technique I learned in Nathalie Kalbach's Creative JumpStart and I love it!)

2 Apply Cobalt Teal Hue and Cobalt Turquoise Hue paints over the top - the Fluid Acrylics from DecoArt are translucent and let all those lovely marks show through!

3) Colour a die cut heart with Pyrrole Red paint. When dry, stamp with the heart from the Handle with Care set to add texture.

4) Add random background stamping using Andy's Steampunk set. Add stencilled dots using the Pixelated stencil from DecoArt. Draw around the heart die cut with a Stabilo All pencil and blend out the pencil to create a shadow. Add scribbly lines with a paint pen.

5) Glue the heart in place and doodle around with white paint pen. Stamp the sentiment from the set and cut it up. Ink the edges to distress before sticking it in place.

Thanks for your visit today! Don't miss the other blogs.

Katy x

DecoArt/Stampendous Blog Hop - Specimen2675

Welcome to day four of the Stampendous/DecoArt blog hop - hope you've been enjoying all the inspiration so far! Today I've used Andy's Skulldoggery stamp set to create a kind of faux fossil effect on a tag.

Comment for a chance to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more! US winners only, see Stampendous Official Contest Rules here for more details.

Here's the hop list for today:

Stampendous Blog

Louise Healy

Elly Pirally

Lea Fritts

DecoArt Blog

Sorry, I didn't manage to take any step pictures of this but briefly here's how I made it:
1 Cut a tag from mixed media or watercolour paper - something that can take wet media.
2 Squeeze drops of Yellow Oxide, Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber paints onto a craft sheet or other non-stick surface. Spray generously with water.
3 Swipe the tag into and through the paints - lightly so as not to over-mix the colours. Dry and repeat until you like the result. I was aiming for a look similar to natural rock (did I manage it?).
4 Stamp and heat emboss the skull stamp with white Stampendous embossing powder. When cool, add a wash of Yellow Oxide paint to tone down the white a little bit and blend the skull into the tag.
5 Finally stamp the wording in black, distress the edges of the tag and mat onto black cardstock.

Katy x

Rubber Dance 1st Year Anniversary Giveaway and Blog Hop

Welcome to the Rubber Dance first anniversary Blog Hop!

Each member of the Design Team has chosen 3 of their favorite DT makes and their 3 fave Rubber Dance stamps. 3 seems to be the lucky number here, so there will be 3 winners, too!

• TWO lucky winners drawn at random will win the Design Team members' favourite stamps!
• ONE additional winner who shares this gift giveaway on Facebook gets a €20 voucher (approximately $25) to spend in the Rubber Dance webshop any time she wants! Just tell Bibi that you have shared it on Facebook when you leave a comment on the main blog (http://rubberdance.blogspot.com/…/1st-year-anniversary-give…), and you're in!

To participate in this blog hop giveaway, all you have to do is to visit the blog posts below and leave a comment on all of them. It'll just take a few minutes of your time. You do not have to be a follower on any of the blogs in our hop, but you're of course very welcome to become one - if you aren't already.

Hop along and see the Design Team's fave DT makes and fave three Rubber Dance stamps!

Susanne: http://clayscrapkreativ.blogspot.no/2015/05/rubber-dance-1st-anniversary.html

Majo: http://majos-art.blogspot.no/2015/05/rubber-dance-stamps-1st-anniversary-and.html 

Katy: (you are here)

Irit: http://iritshalom.blogspot.no/2015/05/rubber-dance-1-st-anniversary-blog-hop.html

Helen: http://acraftproject.blogspot.no/2015/05/rubber-dance-first-year-anniversary-and.html

Gabriele: https://artatag.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/1st-year-anniversary-giveaway-and-blog-hop/

Bibi: http://rubberdance.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/1st-year-anniversary-giveaway-and-blog.html

So without further ado here are my favourite DT projects so far:

And here are my stamp choices (join our hop and they could be yours too!!!)

From the Da Vinci plate

Lace Background

From the Vintage Birds plate

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Blog Hop

My first DT blog hop - how exciting! This blog hop is between Rubber Dance and the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers. The Sisterhood is a fab challenge group with a healthy dose of attitude - love it!

I used the Sarcasm Superpower stamps to make this fun journal page. I stamped with real lemons to create the page which was great fun! I let the cut lemon dry out a little before I used it (you want it to dry out slighly but not shrivel). For the cut-out lemons, I stamped with Archival Ink and then blended over the images with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink. MAKE SURE you apply the ink to a heat proof mat and pick up the ink with the lemon from there - you don't want to get lemon juice onto your inkpads! For the background I sprayed a variety of citrus inks before adding stamping with the Rubber Dance Diamonds background and the lemon again, this time in green. All finished with that wonderful Sarcasm Superpower sentiment!

This awesome set of quirky Sarcasm Superpower stamps from Rubber Dance is up for grabs in the hop! Simply leave a comment on each blog in the hop for your change to win!

Sarcasm Superpower set

Your next stop on the hop is: Gabriele

Here's the link list in case you get lost along the way ;).

Lee

Chris 

Lyndsey

Jessi

Michelle

Lynne

Karen

Donna

Helen

Katy (you are here)

Gabriele

Majo

Bibi

Happy hopping and good luck in the prize draw!

Katy x

Hippity Hoppity...

...it’s the Banana Frog blog hop! I hope you are enjoying the ‘spring’ themed creations? I decided that the obvious choice of subject matter to represent spring was flowers. I’d been meaning to scrap this photo of my beloved dog for ages – I just love how it appears for all the world like he’s leaning in to smell the flowers!

Banana Frog stamps I used were: Super Dreamy (flowers); Teen Tiny (small letters); Butterflies & Swirls
Other items: Versamagic inks Perfect Plumeria and Spring Pansy; Memento Ink Sweet Plum; purple scrapbook paper (unknown); Basic Grey Eva scrapbook paper; green card; white card; seed beads; brads; Diamond Stickles; chipboard letters; leaf frond stamp; black pen

This is how I made the layout:
1) Stamp multiple flowers – stamp some of the solid flower in a mix of the two Versamagic inks and some in Perfect Plumeria. Stamp the open flower onto Eva patterned paper. Stamp leafy frond onto green card. Cut out.
2) Add glitter glue to brads and when dry place in the solid flower centres. Add seed beads to the centre of the open flowers.
3) Cut a piece of purple paper and stamp all around with a swirl (Butterflies & Swirls) in Plum ink.
4) Doodle all around the edge of a sheet of white card with a black pen. In places, stamp the tiny flower stamp in Perfect Plumeria.

5) Stamp and layer a butterfly and decorate with glitter glue.
6) Assemble all the bits and bobs as shown, adding a title made from stamped Teen Tiny letters and chipboard letters.

I am also trying to get into the habit of using up my scraps, so when I had finished the layout I used the leftovers to make some cards and a tag. I originally had more flowers on the layout (I took them off as it looked too busy) so I had some blooms left to play with. I also originally cut the circle at the top from a different paper but decided I didn’t like it. So these items are just made from those discarded pieces - they are really simple but better than throwing those scraps in a drawer never to see the light of day again!

Your next stop on the hop is Nat - enjoy!