Goldfinch in the Flowers

Hello!  This week at Topflight Stamps, our theme is Anything Goes.  I used a PaperArtsy set called Scrapcosy ESC19, which features lush flowers and a beautiful bird.  I stamped the flower cluster on either corner of the card, and stamped the bird on a scrap of paper using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.  I colored the flower centers, the leaves, and the bird with alcohol markers.  Then the bird was fussy cut and added to the center of the card, perched among the flora.

This is my last week as a designer for Topflight Stamps, and I am so very grateful for the time I've had as part of the team!  My thanks to Donna, owner of Topflight Stamps, for having me as a designer.  It's been my pleasure to create with the amazing products she has in her shop!

Hope you have a wonderful week! ~ Colleen Dietrich

Supplies used from Topflight Stamps:

PaperArtsy - Scrapcosy ESC19

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

In the Garden with Woodware Stamps

Hello, Lisa Hoel here. This week at Topflight Stamps our theme is Anything Goes! I was inspired by the Woodware stamp set Garden Wellies to make this cute garden themed card.

The background was created with Lavinia Dinkles ink powders. I used flowers from the PaperArtsy Tracy Scott stamp set #24 to stamp over the background and then layered on fussy cut stamped images from the Garden Wellies set.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the Topflight Stamps store for a wide selection of different and hard to find stamps, stencils and other paper crafting supplies from all around the world! Also keep an eye here on the Topflight Stamps blog. There is new inspiration posted often!

Topflight Stamps Supplies Used:

Woodware stamp set - Garden Wellies

Lavinia Dinkles Ink Powder - Deep Yellow

Lavinia Dinkles Ink Powder - Lime Divine

Lavinia Elements Ink - Confetti

Versafine Clair ink - Nocturne, Monarch

watercolors

 

Sending Heartfelt Wishes

It's Tuesday which means that you've got Kathi here to share a project with you! It's an "Anything Goes" week so I decided to create  a summery birthday card with the Good Things Take Time Clear Stamp Set TE60 and the Flower Power Clear Stamp Set TE37 — both by Tracy Evans Boutique, the Leaf Green and Ultramarine Brusho Crystal Colors by Colourcraft, and the Crea-Nest-Lies XXL Double Stitched Rectangle Die Set by CREAlies.

Here it is!

I wanted the flower stems to be green so I decided to use the 'no lines' coloring technique. The lilies from the Good Things Take Time Clear Stamp Set TE60 by Tracy Evans Boutique were stamped with Copic-friendly yellow ink onto a panel of Bristol Paper. Heat set the ink. 

My neighbors have beautiful red/orange lilies, so I used red and orange Copic markers to color the lilies and green Copic markers to color the stems. My colors got a bit over-saturated, but I was mostly pleased with the result.

A small amount of Leaf Green and Ultramarine Brusho Crystal Colors by Colourcraft were sprinkled into wells of a color palette. Water was added to the Crystal Colors to dilute them. A wet paint brush was used to dampen the paper around the stems, then the Leaf Green Crystal Color was brushed onto the bottom section of the panel on a slant. 

A wet paint brush was used to dampen the paper around the flowers and stems on the top part of the image panel. Ultramarine Brusho Crystal Color was painted onto the image panel. 

The colors were looking a bit streaky, so a wad of cotton was wet with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, then pounced onto the background avoiding the Copic colored images. A cotton swab was dipped into the alcohol and pounced onto the areas closest to the images. The alcohol mottled the background and brought out some of the other colors in the crystals. Fun! 

Water-color brush pens were used to add detail to the lawn and to the flowers. I decided to pounce the alcohol-saturated cotton onto the image panel again which softened some of watercolors.

The image panel was throroughly heat set, then cut with the third largest die from the Crea-Nest-Lies XXL Double Stitched Rectangle Die Set by CREAlies. 

The "Sending Heartfelt Wishes..." sentiment stamp from the Flower Power Clear Stamp Set TE37 by Tracy Evans Boutique was positioned facedown on the top left of the image panel die-cut. Melon Soda VersaFine Clair Ink by Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko was used to ink the sentiment, which was then stamped and heat-set.

Black glitter pen was used to outline the stamens of the flowers and add a slight dimensional touch.

The image panel die-cut was matted with black metallic cardstock that was trimmed to be 1/8" larger than the die-cut.

The matted image panel was adhered to a white textured A6 card.

Please pop over to my blog, Kat's Tales of Stamping, for step-by-step instructions, notes, and complete supply lists.

Topflight Stamps Products Used:

Good Things Take Time Clear Stamp Set TE60 by Tracy Evans Boutique

Flower Power Clear Stamp Set TE37 by Tracy Evans Boutique

Leaf Green and Ultramarine Brusho Crystal Colors by Colourcraft

Crea-Nest-Lies XXL Double Stitched Rectangle Die Set by CREAlies

Melon Soda VersaFine Clair Ink by Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Thanks for visiting today!

Light Summer Rain Watercolor

Hi, friends!  It's Monday which means that you Walter on the blog with you today.  This week's theme is Anything Goes and I wanted to focus on my favorite brand in the Topflight Stamps shop - Chou & Flowers.  I truly enjoy this brand/s designs and the scenes that you can easily build using their stamps.  My vision for today's design is an overcast summer day with a light rain falling.  We often think of the beauty of summer being held on a sunny day with lots of bright colors.  However, there's much beauty in the rain and gray hues of an overcast day.  For some, it may evoke feelings of melancholy while, for others, there is solace in the quietness of such a day.  The good news is that it's all about how look at it and if you make the most of it, which is why the sentiment "Don't let life dull your sparkle" is perfect for it!

I used the following items from Topflight Stamps to create this design: Chou & Flowers In the Rain Stamp Set, Chou & Flowers Our Home Stamp Set, Lavinia Stamps Don't Let Life Dull Your Sparkle Stamp, Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and Hunky Dory Glitter Diamond Purple Sparkles Embellishments.  From my stash, I used a 4" x 5.25" sized piece of watercolor paper, an A2 white card base, a 4 1/8th" x 5 3/8" piece of navy cardstock to serve as a mat, a watercolor pan set, masking paper, clear embossing ink, and white embossing powder.

The key to the scene is deciding on the placement of your focal objects, which for me were the woman with the umbrella and the phone booth, stamping them and then masking them.  Creating a mask to protect your image allows you to easily use other stamps to build out the background and stamp over your focal points to include the details around them.  As you may see in the next two pictures, I masked my subjects and then started to build out the beautiful brick plaza.

Creating the plaza only required the one stamp from the set.  The stamp easily aligns with each stamped image and so it is just repeat moving & stamping to finish it.

With the plaza stamped, I arranged the row house stamp and part of one of the tree line stamps to complete the scene.  Both the houses and the tree line stamps aligned perfectly on top of the plaza.  I was finished with stamping and removed my masks to reveal the fully stamped scene.

I grabbed my heat tool and ran it over both sides of the panel to ensure that all of the ink was dry.  I then began filling the scene with varying shades of watercolors.  I used a mixture of grays and blues to paint the sky and the telephone booth, which I felt was a good mix to color the glass panes of the booth.  Once the painting was complete, I again ran my heat tool over both sides of the panel to ensure dryness.  I was then able to stamp my sentiment with clear embossing ink, add some white embossing powder, and heat set it.  I then adhered the panel to the navy-blue mat and adhered the combined panel to the card base.  A few Hunky Dory Diamond Sparkles were added for a little shimmer & shine.

I hope that you enjoy today's design!  Do you often mask stamped objects to create scenes?  Do you enjoy the process or view it as too much work?  How about water coloring?  Let me know in the comments.  I'll see you again next Monday with another design.  Until then . . . be well!

Topflight Stamp Supplies

Chou & Flowers In the Rain Stamp Set

Chou & Flowers Our Home Stamp Set

Don't Let Life Dull Your Sparkle Stamp

Versafine Onyx Black Pigment Ink

Hunky Dory Diamond Sparkles Purple Sparkles

  

One Gel Print, Three Christmas Cards: Christmas in July Inspiration

 

Hello crafty friends! Ericka from Strangely Creative here, and today we're celebrating one of my favorite crafting traditions... Christmas in July!

I know it may seem a little early to start thinking about holiday cards, but I've learned that making a few cards now means a lot less stress when December rolls around. Plus, it's the perfect excuse to pull out some festive stamps and spend a little extra time creating.

For today's project, I challenged myself to stretch my supplies by turning one gel print into three different Christmas cards.

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🎨 Starting with a Favorite Gel Print

I began by digging through my stash and found a colorful gel press print that had been waiting for the perfect project.

 

One of the things I love about gel prints is that every section has its own personality. Cut your larger gel prints into smaller panels and let each one become the background for a different design.

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🎅 Coloring the Gnomes

Next, I reached for the adorable PaperArtsy Kate Crane 017 stamp set and colored each of the whimsical gnomes with colored pencils.

 

I love how relaxing colored pencils are. Building soft layers of color and adding subtle shading gives each little character its own personality. Once they were finished, I paired each gnome with the section of the gel print that suited it best. It almost felt like matching ornaments to the perfect Christmas tree.

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✨ Adding Texture & Shine

To give the backgrounds a festive touch, I used the PaperArtsy Kate Crane PS427 stencil with gold texture paste.

 

The raised metallic texture catches the light beautifully and adds just the right amount of holiday sparkle without overpowering the colorful backgrounds.

Sometimes a little shimmer is all a Christmas card needs.

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💌 Finishing Touches

To complete the cards, I added:

• Sentiments from the PaperArtsy JOFY 117 and Kate Crane 007 stamp sets
• My signature hand-drawn frame
• Simple layering that lets each gnome remain the star of the card 

 

Three cards finished... and a few more crossed off my Christmas list!

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Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope these cheerful little gnomes inspire you to get a head start on your holiday cards and remind you that even one background can become several beautiful projects.

Have a wonderful weekend, happy crafting, and Merry Christmas... just a little early! 🎄✨

 

Topflight Stamp Supplies 

PaperArtsy - JOFY 117 Shop at: TP	PaperArtsy - Kate Crane 007 Shop at: TP	PaperArtsy - Kate Crane 017 Shop at: TP	PaperArtsy - Kate Crane PS427 Shop at: TP	WOW! Embossing - Clear Shop at:  TP
	Tsukineko - Versafine Clair - Twilight Shop at: TP	Gel Press - Reusable Gel Printing Plate Shop at: TP	Speedball - 2" Brayer Shop at: TP

Christmas Snowflakes

Hello!  This week at Topflight Stamps, we're celebrating CHRISTMAS in July!!  I went with a clean and simple design, making Visible Image "Let It Snow" stamp set the star attraction here.  With WOW! Embossing Ink and WOW! Weathered Gold embossing powder, I stamped the largest snowflake in the center of the card, and then at each of the four corners, and used a heat tool.  The shine on this is gorgeous in person (see second photo below).  The very center of the main snowflake has a cluster of juniper berries from PaperArtsy - Alison Bomber - Juniper Edition.  I stamped it on a scrap piece of cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, colored with alcohol markers and fussy-cut.  It passes easily for a different kind of berry; it's a versatile stamp set!

Have a wonderful week! ~ Colleen

Supplies used from Topflight Stamps:

Visible Image - Let It Snow

PaperArtsy - Alison Bomber - Juniper Edition

WOW! Embossing Powder - Weathered Gold

WOW! Embossing Ink - Clear

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Christmas in July with Woodware Stamps

Hello, Lisa Hoel here. This week at Topflight Stamps we're cooling it down with "Christmas in July"! If you are like most of us, when December rolls around we run short on time for holiday card making. Why not get a start now?

I started off with a shimmery silver gel print background. The main stamp from the Woodware Holy Night set is such a beautiful focal image – I just added some color and gold accents. Perfect!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the Topflight Stamps store for a wide selection of different and hard to find stamps, stencils and other paper crafting supplies from all around the world! Also keep an eye here on the Topflight Stamps blog. There is new inspiration posted often!

Topflight Stamps Supplies Used:

Woodware stamp set - Holy Night

VersaFine Clair ink pad - Nocturne

Gel Press print

watercolors