Popping Up to Say Hello Spring!

Hello Topflight fans! It's spring here in Atlanta, GA and I've got spring fever! I've been taking full advantage of the fantastic weather, going for long walks with my sweet pup, Bandito (a Havanese), so I thought I'd make a card to illustrate how excited he gets when we set out for our daily excursions.

To create this interactive scene card, I used the beautiful IndigoBlu Country House Stamp and colored it up with Arteza fineliner pens. I softened the loose sketchy coloring with a water brush. For the interactive feature, I used an X-Acto blade to cut open the right door from the double doors in the image. I inked the edges with a Momento tuxedo black marker so that the white edge of the paper disappeared. I also colored the inside of the door to match the outside of the door.

To represent my Bandito, I colored up one of the pups from the Jessica Lynn Original Shih Tzu stamp set. I fussy cut it out and, again, inked the edges to hide the white edge of the paper. Then I positioned this pup so that it looked like it was coming out of the house, securing the bottom and right sides behind the right door and popping up the head with foam dots on top of the left door. 

To add a springy look, I glued some fun nail art flowers onto the topiaries. For a bit of shine, I also added Ranger glossy accents to the glass in the transom above the doors, the glass in the side lamps, and the eyes and nose of the pup. Lastly the whole card front was popped up on fun foam before being attached to a black card base. The doorway was backed by a bit of vellum to soften the interior of the house.

Thanks for joining me today! If you'd like more details about the products I used or to watch the process of making this card, please visit me at my blog HERE.

Carabelle Studio-la rafistolerie

Topflight now offers us the collection "La Rafistolerie" by Carabelle Studio.

What a beautiful collection!

Today, I chose the stamp "3 Birds"

I created my background with Oxide inks

Evergreen Bough

Blueprint Sketch

Shaded Lilac

and the Studio Light STAMPSL184 stamp

The birds have been colorized with Distress inks

Spiced Marmalade

Fossilized Amber

Mowed Lawn

Antique Linen

Picked Raspberry

Dried Marigold

Abandoned Coral

Nathalie Fournier/Topflight Stamps

Alexandra Renke - Using Washi

Welcome to the Topflight Stamps blog.  It's Jenny here, and I'm here to show you how to use some of the Alexandra Renke washi tape that Topflight Stamps has available in their store.   Washi tape is making a bit of a comeback right now, and the Alexandra Renke washi tape is absolutely gorgeous.  It truly deserves its own focus on a project.

I created two cards, both with a very similar technique, each showcasing a different tape.  The tapes I used were Sweet Pea (top) and Violet Magic (bottom).  

The cards I created are 4-bar (approx 5" x 3.34"), made from 110lb cardstock - I found that a smaller size stops the washi tape being lost in the white space of a larger scale card.   I trimmed two panels of cold press watercolor cardstock to the same size.  I then wrapped a strip of the washi tape around the panel, folding the excess around the edges, and adhered the panels to the card bases with glue runner. 

I created watercolor paint in a palette using the Violet and Cerise Paper Artsy Infusions powder (tape some powder in a well and use a waterbrush to mix the paint to your chosen opacity).   I picked up the paint on the waterbrush and flicked the paint onto the panel sparingly.  I thought the colors of this paint perfectly co-ordinated with the tape, and complemented the splatters already on the Violets tape. 

I heat embossed the sentiments (from a set by For the Love of Stamps - Sweet Tea Party) in white embossing powder onto cold press watercolor cardstock.  I then did a light wash of the violet and cerise paint over the top, trimmed it out and popped it up on foam tape.   To finish I added a scattering of sequins that co-ordinated with the tape. 

For details of more supplies used, please check out my blog.  Topflight Stamps carries a wide range of Alexandra Renke, including stencils and stamps.  Be sure to check them out. 

Jenny 

Three Little Birds - Carabelle Studio Stamps

Welcome to the Topflight Stamps blog.  It's Clare with you today and this week I'm certainly detecting a little sign of spring in the air.  Listening to the birds singing in the morning  inspired me to whip up a project that reminded me of that famous song!

I used stamps from Carabelle Studios, Zorrotte, Heart & Bird along with Birgit Koopsens Scribbled leafs and textured circles

I stamped on some background stamping, using permanent ink, onto some plain white card stock.  Over this I blended a combination of Peacock feathers, Salty Ocean, Broken China & cracked pistachio Distress Oxides over card and then wiped through stencils with a baby wipe to remove some of the ink. I also added in some patches of Hickory Smoke oxides.

Using some white acrylic paint I stencilled on some some circles.  I dried the circles, replaced the stencil and bumped it over to gently add some Wilted Viotlet Distress Ink.

I die cut my card into my desired shape and added some stamping using the scribbled leaves and textured circles set.  I used a watermark ink and heat embossed with white opaque powder.  Using wilted violet again, I edged the individual cards.

You might have noticed that one of my little birds is facing the opposite way!  I stamped the bird onto my Gelli Plate and took a reverse print off of the plate.  I stamped the other birds the normal way, colouring with Neocolour II crayons and coloured pencils.  

I do hope you have enjoyed your visit to the blog today?

Happy Crafting,

Clare.

Topflight Stamps 1st Birthday - $10 voucher winners..Is it you?

Welcome to the Topflight Stamps Blog.  As a result of our 1st birthday celebratory blog hop we are excited to share with you the winners of our $10 vouchers.  If you  and your name haven't already received your voucher code and has been mentioned please comment below with your email address so that we can forward your prize details.

• Donna Bowman chose -Darla W

• Lindsay Weirich  chose - Jean Marmo

• Clare Messenger chose - Kathi - Kats Tales of Stamping

• Jenny Colacicco chose - Maureen Hayes

• Veronica Zalis chose - Viki Banaszak

• Tenia Nelson chose - Janet Day 

• Lisa Hoel chose - Itagg

• Teri Anderson chose - 3Kidmama

• Jenny Marples chose - Karina Arrgain

• Karen Bearse chose - The Words Crafter

• Kristina Song chose - Christine Alexander

Congratulations to you all!  Remember to comment with your e-mail address to claim your prize.

Happy Crafting,

Clare.

Paperartsy Infusions & Carabelle Stamps

Hey bloggers Barbara here,  I'm home from holiday and raring to go with some fab new stamps & products from

TOPFLIGHT STAMPS

This week I've been using Infusions from Paperartsy and & 'There Are Always Flowers', designed by Birgit Koopsen for Carabelle-Studio

I started off by sprinkling Infusions (Royal Blood) onto water-colour cardstock, then spritzed with water.

Allowing this to dry thoroughly I stamped the images with Versamark and heat-embossed in white.

I then 'lifted' the colour from the flowers with bleach, and re-coloured with Infusions (Blackcurrant) and an Aquabrush. I kept the water to a minimum as I wanted the colour to be intense.

The leaves were done in the same way with the colour 'The Sage' (See end of post for pics)

I doodled a few dots, added 3 sequins and I was finished. 

I'm not used to doing 'dark-coloured' cards, as I like bright, vivid colours best, but I will certainly be buying more of the Infusions, in different colourways.

Here is my finished card....hope you like it.

Catch you all next week.....in the meantime, have a great weekend, hope you find some "crafting time".

Barbara x

Prickly ATCs with Infusions

Hey Topflight fans! CraftyPaws here today to share some prickly ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) made with the super cool PaperArtsy Infusions. 

I first made some backgrounds on Strathmore watercolor paper, laying down some Liquitex Matte Medium and Infusions in The Sage, Lemoncello, and Orange Country. I also wanted some red and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Ken Oliver Merlot Color Burst I had in my stash blended in nicely (although without the cool wood grain look of the Infusions). I cut some of it down into standard 3.5" x 2.5" ATC backgrounds, inking the edges with Versa Fine Black Onyx Ink.

The rest of the colored watercolor paper was used to stamp out the Carabelle Studio Cactus Stamps, and I used some scraps to create grounding for the images. I stamped the cactus with Momento Tuxedo Black Ink, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder to set the ink (NOTE: when I had tried to fussy cut a cactus before embossing it, the ink smeared everywhere even after I thought I had heat set it; I guess the matte medium was too slick a surface for the ink).  Then I fussy cut all the images out and inked the edges with a black Sharpie marker for a clean finished look. Other than adding a pop of red for the cactus flowers with a red Sharpie, I did no other coloring!

I placed the two smaller cacti in the pot together and doodled speech bubbles for each of them that said, "You Make Me Less Prickly." and "Ditto."

The large Opuntia cactus was so majestic on it's own that I just doodled a black sign with white letters that said, "Can't Touch This".

The skinny Saguaro looked like it had arms so I added eyes and a mouth to her and gave her a speech bubble that says, "Hug Me!"

I had so much fun crafting this silly ATC series. Using the Infusions gave such great color and visual texture, and I saved so much time not having to color each cactus. If you'd like more details about the products and process of making these ATCs, please visit my blog HERE. Thanks for visiting with me today!