Joy Crafts - #bestdad

Welcome to the Topflight Stamps blog.  It's Clare signing in today and I'm sharing a card made using Joycraft Stamps.

I used a stamp from Joy Crafts 'Cars and Truck' set,  lightly watercoloured and added some deeper shading with coloured pencils.

#bestdad was created on a piece of card with Distress Oxide inks using Joy Crafts Small Alphabet Stamps.

Remember to pop back every day for a little bit of Topflight inspiration.

Happy Crafting,

Clare.

Inks, a stencil and Carabelle Studio stamps.....

Hi Topflight Stamps fans, Barbara here again...... and this week I've made a couple of tags to show you.

I've used a fabulous new stamp by Carabelle-Studio.

This stamp is a complete image and makes for a very quick card or tag.

 I inked up a piece of cardstock with some new inks called Izinks......they are BRIGHT!!

I then applied white paint through an Andy Skinner stencil, from PaperArtsy.

With the card cut in half, the stamp was inked with Versamark, then heat embossed....... one piece in white and the other in black. I stamped the butterfly part on separate inked card, cut them out and adhered to the tag.

 I was just curious how different the tags would look, although they were identical apart from the colour of embossing powder.

I'm still not sure which one I prefer 😀 what do you think??

Topflight Stamps have a massive selection of Carabelle Studio stamps, why not pop over to check them out?

Catch you soon, have a great weekend,

Barbara x

Industrial Steampunk Heart for Courage

Hello Topflight fans. Today I've made a card for a dear friend who is contemplating shuttering his start-up. It is a very emotional time, and a lot of dreams and hopes are being dashed. But I think he is right to close this chapter and move on to the next. I created this card not only to let him know that I am thinking of him, but to remind him of the quote, "Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts."

I created this Industrial Steampunk card inspired by the striking Carabelle-Studio "The heart has its reasons" stamp set. I Copic colored it, and fussy cut it out and then painstakingly popped the whole image up on fun foam for added dimension. I also added some Ranger Glossy Accents to give it some shine and interest.

For the card front, I really wanted to create a layered and textured background. I rummaged through my paper scrap box and found some thick watercolor paper that I had long-ago painted with blue and green fluid acrylics. Just a bit of that peeks around the next layer up, which is a glossy and slightly textured patterned paper of keys and clock work hands. I also found a bit of corrugated kraft card stock that I decided to paint with streaks of turquoise shimmer mister, black acrylic paint and putty acrylic paint. 

For some Steampunk accents, I die cut 5 gears from 100 lb black card stock using some Diemond Dies Steampunk Gears Dies. To give them a metallic shimmer, I blended on some Delicata Golden Glitz Ink to the die cut gears. I positioned them around and behind the top layer, which was the beautiful Steampunk heart image. 

For the inside liner, I simply stamped out the faucet from the Carabelle Studio "The heart has its reasons" stamp set on the upper right side. I matted the liner on more of the watercolor paper with the fluid acrylic paint to echo the matting on the card front. Then I used my computer to print out the quote into a big water droplet shape. I hand cut out the droplet, blended on some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass, and positioned it as if it were falling from the faucet.

I really enjoyed crafting this Steampunk Industrial card. If you'd like more details about the materials or to watch a Copic coloring video of the Steampunk heart image, please check out my blog HERE.

Topflight, Carabelle Studio and Sweet Butterfly eyes

Here is a new stamp from Carabelle Studio and now available at

Topflight

"Sweet Butterfly Eyes"

I used the "Galaxy" technic for the background with Oxide inks

 Archival ink "Brilliance" and

Pigment ink SU "Whisper White" 

Nathalie Fournier/Topflight Stamps

Creating the look of Wood Carved Stamps with Rubber Dance

Welcome to the Topflight Stamps blog!  It's Jenny here, and today I'm showing you several different projects using a stamp set that mimics the look of wood carved stamps, and which can give a great focal point to a simple card.

The stamps I used for this are the Carved Whimsy Wood Stamp set by Rubber Dance.  They are rubber stamps but have etchings that give them the look of carved wood when you stamp them. 

To create my watercolor block printing cards, I used a variety of shapes of acrylic block.  On each one I swiped Distress inks or Distress Oxide Inks over the block - on the longest I used three colors, and on the smaller blocks (one is a circle) I used two colors.  I then liberally sprayed them with water and then pushed them down into a panel of Canson XL coldpress watercolor paper, then lifted off, dabbing up any excess with a paper towel. 

On the pink leaf stamp, I also splattered some of the excess paint with a small paintbrush.On the tree card, I ran the panel through a die cutting machine with a woodgrain embossing folder.  When dry, I stamped the images in a variety of dye inks, masking off the trees witha  post it to create a cluster. 

I then trimmed down each of the panels to 4.25" x 5.5" and adhered with double sided tape to white 110lb card bases and added a tiny sentiment from the Tim Holtz Ideology Chit-Chat stickers collection.

For my final card, I trimmed down a panel of wood paper (made from real wood) and stamped it with brown dye ink, stamping off onto scrap paper first so the impression was a lighter brown.  Before it dried, I heat embossed the tree in clear embossing powder, and added a sentiment. I adhered it to a kraft card panel.

I really love how these turned out - so simple, and yet so effective.  For more details on the supplies I used, please check out my blog, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Jenny 

Fine Flowers-Darkroom Door & Paperartsy

Welcome to the Topflight Stamps blog.  It's Clare today, this week I have cultivated an A5 canvas using Darkroom Doors 'Fine Flowers'

Using the following stamps and stencils I pieced together my mini plot.

Darkroom Door Fine Flowers

Jofy Mini JM58

Jofy Leaves Stencil

I used watercolour & Polychromo Faber-Castell pencils to colour the flowers.

I painted the canvas with Paperartsy Fresco Paints along with a green layer through the stencils.  I also stencilled the leaves with some crackle paste.

You might notice that there are additional leaves surrounding the flowers.  Now I love a multi-use stamp and I soon recognised that one of the flowers provided excellent foliage!

That's it from me this week but I'll be back next week with some more craftiness.

Happy Crafting,

Clare

Mother'sDay & Paperartsy Stamps

Hi blog followers, it's Friday already and I'm back with my TOPFLIGHT STAMPS post for this week.

 I live in the UK, and we've already had Mother's Day, but I notice it's coming soon in the US.

Because of this, I've made a couple of feminine cards, which could be used for Mother's Day, or even a birthday.

I've used Jofy stamps again, from Paperartsy, (link at end)

 These are simple cards, but quite effective.

I stamped the large flower onto previously inked background, then cut it out. At this stage I added doodles, with a white pen. .....Using Distress Oxides and a blending brush, I lightly inked a small part  of white textured card stock, to give a very soft base for the vibrant flower. I splashed a bit of contrasting colour over the card, then adhered the flower to the background. 

I filled in parts of the image with Ranger 'Glossy Accents'.

The 'mum' was die-cut and adhered along with a small sentiment.

The whole 'topper' was mat onto black card, then a white card base of the same textured card. 

My usual few sequins and I was done.

Because I love this new stamp set, I made a second card whilst I had the stamps out, in a different colour.

I've also used a Jofy stencil on this one.....(the leaves are actually a pretty green colour, but look anemic in the pic 😕)

Well, as always, have a great weekend, with plenty of crafting if you get the chance.

Bye for now,

Barbara xx

 

FIND IT HERE

 FIND IT HERE

 

 

Feminine Feline Mother's Day Card

Hey Topflight fans! I have several very strong women in my life whom I treasure and for whom I am so thankful. Today I'm sharing a feminine card that is also a little edgy. I used the Visible Image Live Life Now butterfly stamp as the focal point of the card. For the background, I started with Strathmore Bristol Paper to sprinkle on and spray with water some Ken Oliver Color Bursts in Merlot and Lemon Yellow. I also wanted a bit of soft pink so I water colored on some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Spun Sugar. After achieving a splotchy look I made sure it was totally dry before I moved on to the stamping.

I used a MISTI to repeatedly stamp the butterfly until I got a pretty dark saturated image. Then for good measure, I used a Momento Tuxedo Black Marker to fill in some areas that weren't quite as dark as I wanted due to the now slightly irregular card front texture. I wasn't totally satisfied with the dull black butterfly so ultimately I used VersaMark Ink and some Ranger Black Embossing Powder to fully emboss the splattery butterfly. Ohhh and all of a sudden it seemed to come to life!

For the sentiment, I dug through a stash of rub on sentiments and found the word "CHERISH" in a beautiful swirly font that I thought would complement and not distract from the butterfly. I carefully rubbed it onto the whole lower part of the card front. Next I inked the edges of the card front with some Versafine Black Onyx Ink before popping the whole piece onto a soft pink card base using fun foam scraps for a bit of dimension.

For finishing touches and a bit of sparkle, I added sequins in black, pale pink, true pink, yellow gold and lemon yellow. I placed the appropriately colored sequins on the background areas to match the watercolored background. I also used a bit of ebony black glitter glue to add a bit of extra sparkle and texture on top of the black sequins, along the body of the butterfly, and strategically on some of the splattery parts of the butterfly.

I hope you've enjoyed this fast and feminine card share as much as I enjoyed crafting it! If you'd like more details about the products or to watch the card making process video, please check out my blog HERE.

Bloom and Grow

What a beautiful new stamp at Visible Image!

 Bloom and Grow 

now available at Topflight Stamps

I decided to arrange it with the stamp

Born to Perform

The background was made with Distress Oxide inks

Wilted Violet

Shaded Lilac

Faded Jeans

Blueprint Sketch

Evergreen Bough

Worn Lipstick

Nathalie Fournier/Topflight Stamps

Floral Watercolor

Hi Everyone and welcome to the Topflight Stamps blog!  It's Jenny here, and I have a floral card today, created using embossing paste over patterned paper, and watercolor using brush markers.

The image I'm using today comes from Indigoblu - one of the gorgeous super sized floral stamps.  This is the Peony stamp, and it is perfect for playing with your coloring mediums. 

The patterned paper I'm using today also comes from Topflight Stamps - it is the pink, ivory and green collection by Studio Light.  These papers are so pretty.  Soft and muted complementary colors, some with very faint floral and abstract images on them.

To create my card, I trimmed down a piece of the patterned paper to 4.25" x 5.5" and adhered it using strong glue to some sturdy white cardstock.   Using a stencil (Tim Holtz Speckles) I applied white embossing paste randomly, focusing more towards the bottom of the card, and lighter towards the top.

While the panel dried, I stamped the leaf and peony images in Versamark ink onto Bristol Smooth cardstock and heat embossed in white. I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to watercolor in the image but instead of water, I used a Clear Wink of Stella brush pen. I used Oatmeal on the leaves.  On the Peony I used Light Carmine in the shadow areas, blended into Pale Pink.  I added some Carmine into the deepest corners. When dry I added another layer, this time of Oatmeal, just into the darker areas but blending out over the whole petal.  This muted the pink slightly.   I then trimmed both images out.

When my panel was dry, I adhered it to a card base. I then popped up the peony with foam tape.  I snipped the leaves into three parts and slotted them in behind the peony.  The sentiment was die cut and embossed (Spellbinders Victorian Letters) on gold mirror foil cardstock and adhered with foam tape.  I scatted a couple of pink iridescent sequins to finish. 

As always, the full supply list can be found over on my blog.  Topflight Stamps carries several of the new Indigoblu large florals and Studio Light paper pads - be sure to check them out! 

Have a wonderful day!

Jenny 

Paperartsy & Jo-Fy @ Topflight Stamps

Hi bloggers, Barbara here again with my regular Friday post for  

TOPFLIGHT STAMPS

This week I've used two sets of  Paperartsy stamps, designed by Jo Firth-Young (JoFy) - links at end

To start, I covered two pieces of watercolour card with Distress Oxides in a rainbow effect. Once these were dry, I splashed water droplets and white paint on top to give a bit of texture, then stamped and stencilled some small images.

I stamped the leaves on one piece of card with Versamark, and heat-embossed in white.

On the other piece of card, I stamped some flowers and leaves, then fussy-cut them.

These were all added to the base card with double-sided foam tape, along with a small sentiment.

I mounted the piece onto black card, to make the colours pop, then onto a white card base.

I added a few sequins, as usual.

I'm loving the Paperartsy stamps at the moment.....my desk is covered with them 😀so I'll be using them a lot in the next few weeks.

Why not checkout the fabulous selection on the Topflight Stamps site....I'm sure you'll find something you love too.

Catch you all next week, enjoy your crafting

Barbara xx

Stamps used.......

JOFY 59 ( HERE )

JM 58 - ( HERE )