Hello My Stampy Friends! Welcome to my last post for Topflight Stamps. After 2 1/2 years with this awesome team it is time for me to move on. Life has gotten super busy & just does not leave me time to continue. This has been a wonderful experience. The gals on this team are super supportive & friendly. It has been a pleasure to play with so many, wonderful, stamp company products & get inky on my Mixed Media Mondays. A special thanks to Donna Bowman for creating this creative space for us to play in. Lisa Hoel thanks for hanging in with me when things went pear shaped! You are a wonderful DT Lead. 

Here is my Mixed Media Monday booklet. This week the team is playing with a focus on the UK company Visible Image. The have a wonderful range of stamps & stencils. You can see the full tutorial on this wonderful inky page on my blog here.

This was the set that inspired my design. Love these quotes & how cool & sketchy they are. 

 A few stencils were used including Daisy, Daisy. 

This is where the cool bricks started from- Stone Wall. Using Grit Paste with this made the stone so realistic!

For color PaperArtsy Infusions were used for all the background color. Love these pods of powder that create such beautiful color. 

 The red quote box is using Fresco Finish, again for the full how to, head over to my blog.  

The paint was applied with a brayer. 

 

Using a Gel Press as my palette to make spreading the paint on the brayer super easy. Well that is it for my last post. Thanks so much for joining me on this awesome adventure. I hope you hope over to my blog, follow my social media & leave me a comment. Remember get inky whenever you can!

Crafty Individuals Art Journal Page

 Hello Topflight Stamp Fans! Karen Bearse here with a Mixed Media Monday art journal page. This week the team is focusing on the Crafty Individuals stamp company which is based in England. They make quality, red rubber stamps.

I decided to continue working in my 6x6 art journal this week. There are a few different techniques used on this page so if you want a tutorial you can find it here.

I am in a mushroom phase & love all the things related to this fungi, so Counting Toadstools was perfect to use as my focal image. Crafty Individuals has a lot of stamps that are made up of multiple images, which makes them very dynamic. 

The crow from this stamp was also used. The image stamps so nice & crisp. 

The last stamp I used was to make the little postage stamp, so many great pics to choose from & can be used for more then just Christmas! Christmas Postage added a nice junk journal ephemera touch to my page.
 

My background started as a Gel Press print. Fresco Finish paint works wonderfully on these prints. 

This stencil from Darkroom Door, continues to be one that I reach for. Just love this one! For the rest of the ingredients used on my page be sure to check out my blog post. I hope you have a lovely start to the Holiday Season & that you take some time to de-stress & get inky!

Gift Tags & Decor Ideas

 Hello Topflight Stamp Fans, Karen Bearse here today making gift tags & with a wonderful Winter decor idea. This week the Design Team is making all things holiday gift & decor related. I hope you check back often! If you want to see how my tag below was made check out the full tutorial here. 

 Here is the tag I came up with after multiple attempts to adhere chunky embossing powder to the detailed Snow Flake stamp. Let's see what other products were used. 

 Did you know we are having a sale? This is the perfect time to pick up a little something, something for your Christmas list & grab some of your wish list too!

If you love winter this is a must have background stamp by Darkroom Door. 

 The Sentiment was from another must have set- Merry Mail. 

 Of course I love all things embossing & in the end went with the tag that had Blue Moon by Seth Apter for Wow.

 I love the look of Glimmer Mist & this was used for the banner color, lots of shimmer wonderful shine.

My focal image is one of the newest releases from Tracy Evans for AALL & Create. I just love that this house image can give my tag a vintage, cool vibe. House of Butterflies welcome to the world! 

I also have an idea using Stamperia's Winter Tales paper pad in that blog post. Super easy way to make gift tags. 

Here is a wonderful, Winter decor item that can be made using products from the bundle. You can see the tutorial here. That is it for this week! I hope you get the chance to get inky.

Mini Santa Mail Art Journal Page

 It is time for some Christmas/Winter fun on the blog today. Karen Bearse here with a mini art journal page. This season can be busy, fun & stressful so getting your art on can often be the best thing to do! You can find the tutorial on my blog here.

Here is my art journal page. I wanted it to have that junk journal vibe. I challenged myself to make all the ephemera using stamps & stencils. Amazing that can be done.

It was one of the pages that came from a recent Notepad book I made which you can find here. I encourage you to make your own mini art journal so there is a place to put your work. 

If you don't want to make a journal you can find a wonderful one here. Is is 4x4" so nice and small to get started in. The paper is nice & mix media heavy.

This page started as a Gel Press page. Using Fresco Finish Paints & a touch of metallic paint.

 This circle stencil was the main image used on the background. I also used this on deli paper with snow white Fresco Finish, then stamped on it to create a slightly translucent element for my page. 

 If you can only get one set for Christmas fun this is a great one!! 

This one has lots of wonderful Holiday quotes.I hope you have a lovely week & you get some time to get inky!

Let's Make a December Daily Page

 Hello Topflight Stamp Friends! Karen Bearse here with a December Daily page that can easily be converted to a card. This week the team is working with a Christmas/Winter theme. I am still determined to finish my December Daily Album for 2019. I like how this turned out & may make another for 2020. Working on these helps get me in the Christmas Spirit & reminds me that the importance of the  holiday is about family shenanigans!

This is the page I did front & back. So much wintery goodness on this! Let's take a look at the products that were used. For a full list plus a tutorial you can hit my blog here. 

The base of my page is from the Stamperia paper pack. Did you know that TF now sells paper? There are also some great bundles including the paper & chipboard for these pages. This one is called Winter's Tale & is just stunning.  

 This was the quote "Warm Winter Wishes" used on the front page of my piece. Just love the imagery of this set by Sara Naumann for PaperArtsy. 

This quote was embossed with Seth Apter's Blue Moon from his Cosmic set. Just love the different flecks of blue's & tiny bit of black which makes it very dynamic. The photos don't do it justice!

The snow flakes on this set by Jofy are very interesting & the accent images in them are great! I accentuated them with a gold gel pen. 

For the quote "Peace Be With You" from the above ESN40 set Weathered Gold emboss, from the Metalz Trio by Seth was perfect. I also added some script images from the set ESN41. That is it for the base parts of my page. This page gave me some awesome therapy & I have a piece ready to go in my December Daily project, such a bonus! I hope you check back to see what the team will be up to this week. Now go get inky!!

Stencils, Stencils & More

 Hello Fans of Topflight Stamps, Karen Bearse here today starting the week of with lots of stencils! That is the theme this week & I used a lot of them. I decided to make a mini art journal using Eileen Hull's latest die cut The Notepad by Sizzix. I am working on some videos for this project so make sure you check back on my blog to see when they go live.

Here is my Notebook. It is covered in Gel Prints. When we talk about stencils one of the best products to use them with, is the Gel Plate. A great way to create lots of backgrounds fairly quickly. Warning this technique is addicting as it is so much fun & makes dynamic, unique pieces. 

Let's see what was used to create this book. Of course 1st you will want a Gel Plate. They come in many different sizes. A great beginning size & one that is perfect for this project is the 6x6". 

You will also need a brayer to roll out your paint. 

Next up lots of stencils!! Any type works but it is harder to work with really detailed images. This is one that was used on my cover. PS208 Numbers

These one on the right, Journey was also used on the cover & all of them on the inside pages. Just use which ever ones catch your eye! Grunge Border was used on multiple inside pages. Great stencil with so many images! 

As for paint, acrylic is a great product to use for Gel Printing. Lots of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish on this project. 

The cover looks so dynamic using these Butterfly Post Stamps by Darkroom Door. 

 Of course we need some stamps! These sets by AALL & Create have some great images. You can just use bits & pieces of them in random spots. Mail Art look at all the possibility there!

This Tracy Evans set Foliage is one of her newest & I just love the potential on this. Really need to use it on vellum with embossing powder! That is it for this week. I hope you have lots of time to get inky!

Art Journal Into Fall

 Hello Topflight Stamp Fans, Karen Bearse here today with a Fall art journal page. I also have a full tutorial & step by step video for you! You can find those on my blog here.

I just love the imagery from these elements! Nothing says fall more than owls & bats!

This stamp set Night Owl by Visible Image has some great images as well as that awesome quote. 

This Lavinia stencil Leaf Mask, is so fabulous with all the great detail. If this one is out of stock here is another one. 

 Love this circle in the circle stencil by Sara Naumann. Fresco Finish paint works great on stencils. 

 

This Number Wall stencil by Autour de Mwr is big & has so much potential. 

As for art journals, I love using the Art By Marlene journals. If you like the kraft paper look simply glue one in and then go to town. This one is 8x8 but will work well, you would just have more background space. It is on sale too! Well that is it for me this week. I hope you check back here to see what Fall/Autumn pages my team mates are creating!