A Funny Little Romance

Hey there, friends!  It's another Monday and another post with Walter.  This week's theme is PaperArtsy and I was so torn between a serious card or one with lots of whimsy since they offer so much of both.  Ultimately, something fun and whimsical won out - but I did throw in a touch of some serious elements.  I fell in love with these Zinis characters as soon as I saw them on the Topflight Stamps website - they're just so cute and fun.  The way that the little guy looks so adoringly off to the side while the little woman throws her hands up in the air (waving them like she just don't care!) looked to me like two people in love.  That's exactly what my design this week celebrates . . . a funny little romance.

I began this scene by deciding where to place my two Zinis, PaperArtsy - Zinski Mini - ZINI 36 & PaperArtsy - Zinski Mini - ZINI 37, and stamping them.  I knew that I wanted to put a stenciled heart between them and wanted to leave enough room between for that.  I then grabbed some masking paper, stamped both onto it, and fussy cut my masks.

I was ready to begin on my background once the masks were applied.  A really simple way to color a background without ink blending is to apply the ink with a baby wipe.  I pressed by inkpad onto my glass surface, grabbed a baby wipe, picked up some ink with it, and began to press the wipe against card panel.  You may swipe it across, gently rub in circles, or simply press & apply as I did to create a more gradient look.  I believe this a great technique to use in this design since it is so whimsical.  I then grabbed my pouncer brush with some white pigment ink and just lightly pounced around the panel.  This step serves two purposes - it lightens up the color a bit and also helps to give a blended look to the panel.

Lots of repeat stamping was done to finish off the design before adding the stenciled heart.  I used several stamps from PaperArtsy - Mags Woodcock - EMW004 to add in background text and a couple of floral elements.  With the stamping finished I could now move on to stenciling.  Rather than simply ink blending the heart, I thought it would be more fun to use some acrylic paint to form the shape using PaperArtsy - Stencil - Mags Woodcock - PS515.  This definitely didn't give me an exact replica of the heart on the stencil since I applied the paint with a palette knife rather than a brush.  I am okay with that though because it gave me a more imperfect & whimsical looking heart that truly goes so well with these characters.  I did one last thing to add a little more character to it - used a small sanding disk to gently sand away some of the paint & distress it.  I love the result!

I finished up by coloring these two little love birds and florals with alcohol markers and then adding in some bling using Hunkydory - Diamond Sparkles Glitter Gemstones - Amber Sparkles.

What do you think of my funny little romance?  Do you enjoy designs like this?  Let me know in the comments!  I'll see you again on the blog next Monday with another project.  Until then . . . be well!

Topflight Products Used:

PaperArtsy - Zinski Mini - ZINI 36

PaperArtsy - Zinski Mini - ZINI 37

PaperArtsy - Mags Woodcock - EMW004

PaperArtsy - Stencil - Mags Woodcock - PS515

Hunkydory - Diamond Sparkles Glitter Gemstones - Amber Sparkles

Beautiful Bits: Turning Gel Print Scraps into Art

 

Hello friends! Ericka from Strangely Creative here, and today I'm sharing one of my favorite ways to stretch my supplies and make the most of every creative session.

If you've been following me for a while, you already know I have a hard time throwing away anything colorful that comes off my gel plate. Every little strip, corner, or leftover piece finds its way into a small container on my craft desk. Today, that little container became the inspiration for three completely unique cards.

Sometimes the smallest scraps hold the biggest creative possibilities.

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🎨 Building Backgrounds from Leftovers

Instead of starting with a fresh sheet of paper, I reached into my stash of gel print scraps and began creating small collage panels.

Using a square piece of cardstock as my base, I simply glued down the colorful scraps until the entire panel was covered.

There was no plan.

No pattern.

Just color, texture, and intuition.

One of the things I love most about this process is that every panel tells a different story. Even though they're made from leftovers, each one becomes a one-of-a-kind background.

Once the adhesive dried, I added a few random paint marks across the panels to bring in another layer of texture and movement. Sometimes those final little marks are what make everything come together.

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🍃 Creating Three Different Focal Points

While the paint was drying, I reached for the beautiful PaperArtsy JOFY mini 103 leaf stamp and challenged myself to stamp it three different ways.

I created:

• A classic version stamped on white cardstock using Versafine Clair Twilight ink. 

 

• A soft, translucent version stamped on blue vellum and heat embossed in white. 

 

• A second vellum version heat embossed in gold for a little extra elegance.

 

It's amazing how changing just the paper and embossing color can completely transform the same image.

 

Once each leaf was finished, I paired it with the collage panel that complemented it best.

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✨ Finishing Touches

To complete each card, I added:

• A simple hand-drawn frame
• A short sentiment
• Minimal embellishments to let the colorful backgrounds remain the star of the show

The result is three completely different cards, all created from pieces that could have easily ended up in the trash.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope this project inspires you to dig into your scrap bin, embrace a little creative play, and discover the beauty hiding in those leftover pieces.

Happy creating! 💛🌿

 

Topflight Stamp Supplies 

 

PaperArtsy - JOFY Mini 103 Shop at: TP	Embossing - Bright White Ultra Fine Shop at:  TP	WOW! Embossing - Clear Shop at:  TP	WOW! Embossing - Clear Embossing Pad Shop at:  TP	WOW! Embossing - Metallic Gold Rich Pale 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

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