Exciting News! Viva Las Vegastamps Design Team!

Hi Everyone,

Wow, it has been hard to keep this secret to myself! I tried out for the Viva Las Vegastamps Design Team, and was asked to join the team! I am so excited and honored to be a part of this new design team! Viva Las Vegastamps has such a huge variety of stamps, you have to check them out! There is literally something there for everyone! Viva Las Vegastamps also has the famous Miracle Tape, and if you haven't tried this tape out, you are going to LOVE it when you do!

 Just click on the logo above to go to Viva Las Vegastamps and be prepared to be there for a while, as I said, there is tons of rubber to look at! While you are there, have a look at the video of the actual store...I tell ya, it's rubber heaven!!!! I sure wish I lived close by, but, alsas, there is always ordering online!! Thank goodness!

To see the rest of the Design Team, please go to our awesome Design Team Leader's blog, Terri Sproul . You will find a bio for each member, as well as links to everyone's blog! There is such a varied style for each member, we hope you enjoy and get inspired!!!

On another note, my husband has been transferred back to Montreal for May 1st. We are currently in Hawkesbury, Ontario, looking for a new place to live. We haven't had much luck yet, we may have to move on to the next town, as we decided not to live in Quebec this time around. We really want to be back home in Ontario. 

I do have a card to post, but the internet here keeps going off and on, and it won't seem to load a bigger picture. I will have to try again later!! You are going to love Viva Las Vegastamps and I can't wait to show you and hopefully inspire you to try them out! 

Have a wonderful day everyone, and thank you for stopping by today!!!

:)
Kim 

Viva Las VegaStamps Design Team tryout!

Hi there,

Today I am submitting a couple of my cards for the Design Team tryouts at Viva Las VegaStamps! If you would like more info, or would like to check out their incredible (huge) catalogue, please click on the logo below!

Now onto my cards! I had so much fun creating both of these cards. We are to pick out 2 of our best projects to show in this post. These are amongst my favorites, so I hope you like them.

I just love the quirky sentiments available at Viva Las VegaStamps! To start with I stamped the woman image, and coloured her in. She was then cut out and put aside for a little bit! lol I used a wave cutter to create the ground. I then adhered this to a piece of Basic Grey paper, then onto a base of brown c/s. I stamped the flower stems, which is the bottom of an arrow stamp, added my punched flowers and added Dew Drops to the centers of the flowers. Lastly I stamped the sentiment on the Basic Grey paper, and layered it twice on c/s, and adhered to the card. This card makes me laugh every time I look at it, and my husband chuckled when he saw and and agreed!! Awww…its’s really not true at all, I love cooking!

For my second card, I chose a photo stamped card! I just love photo stamps, and didn’t realize what a vast selection they have at Viva Las VegaStamps! For this card I started with making my card base. I used plain c/s, and then adhered a piece of Bo Bunny paper on top. I then stamped a small swirl around the outside of the card. To stamp this image, I used glossy paper, and stamped the image with Black Ancient Page inks. I will repost a tutorial I have on my blog for instructions on stamping photo images and colouring them in. After I coloured the image in with Tombow markers using a watercolour brush, and I used distress inks on the image, to make it appear a bit more vintage. Flowers were then punched and adhered to the card, and pearls were added to the centers.

Photo Stamping Tutorial

I decided to put this on my blog, as I still get so many emails asking for instructions on how to use Photo Stamps! I know everyone has a different way of doing things, but this is what works best for me, and how I have been teaching people in classes. I hope this helps anyone that is having troubles!

Supplies needed:

Photo Stamp

Glossy Cardstock
Ancient Page Inks
Phototwin Markers
Tombow Markers
Watercolor Brush
Foam Pad to stamp on
D/S Tape (double sided tape)
Masking Tape
Distress Inks

First and foremost, I wash my unmounted rubber stamps in the sink with dishsoap. I then lay them on a lint free towel to dry. When they are dry and I am going to use an image, I use masking tape to remove any little pieces of lint or glitter that have managed to get on the stamp. I mount the stamp on an acrylic block, using d/s tape. I also check my ink pad, and if there is lint on it, I use the masking tape to remove it as well.

I have 2 ancient page black ink pads, one is about 4 years old and doesn't have much ink. The other is new so it's well inked. I first go over the image with the old pad, if I don't have enough ink, I go over it with the new pad. Then I take the old pad, and it's like I am inking the stamp, but I am actually removing some of the excess ink. If you have to much ink the image will be splotchy. The nice part about using the 2 inks pads, is that the old one removes a bit of ink, and will probably have a perfect amount of ink for the next time I ink up a photo stamp image! If you just have the 1 ancient page ink pad, just swipe some of the ink off over a piece of paper. To much ink is not a good thing!

I put my glossy paper on top of a foam stamping pad. I then press the image down on the glossy, firmly. I make sure I press on all the corners, as well as the middle of the stamp. I do this for about 20 seconds, then leave it sitting on the paper for about 30 seconds. Then I give it another firm press and slowly remove the stamp from the glossy paper. If you are still getting splotches, you may have a bit too much ink on your stamp, so try a bit less next time.

I then heat set the image with the heat gun. Then I swipe a few colors of markers on a piece of plastic. Get my watercolor brush damp, and pick up a bit of color with the brush, and paint the image in. The phototwin markers are so soft, and lend themselves so nicely to photo stamped images. But for any darker colors I use the Tombow markers, but any water based markers will do the trick. Just make sure you are removing most of the water from your brush before you start painting the image in or your paper will warp. I just use a napkin and press my watercolor brush lightly onto the napkin before I pick up some of the colour from the markers.

If you aren't up to trying the watercolor technique, you can just use the distress inks and a stipple brush to add some colour to your image! Or even just rub the distress inks on the edges to give them a more vintage type look.

I have been using the photo stamps for many years now, and have taken everyone’s advice and kind of mixed it all together to get the results I am looking for. This seems to work for me!

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope your day is wonderful,

Kim

Oh Baby! Viva Las VegaStamps!

 

I made this card for a friend, good thing he got a chuckle out of it! lol  The main image is from Viva Las VegaStamps, isn’t she sexy? Anyway, she is stamped on a piece of basic grey paper, then I used Nestibilities to frame her, and distressed the edges a bit. The card base was stamped around the edges with a tree stamp from Hero Arts. I just used the top of the tree. There is a little corset on the ribbon, I thought it needed a little something.

Now for the inside of the card…..uh-oh

I know it’s a naughty card, but I sure had fun making it!

If you have a chance, check out the Viva Las VegaStamps!! They have a HUGE variety and something for everyone! They are also looking for a new Design Team, why not try out?

Have a wonderful day,

Kim