Friday, December 19, 2014

12 Weeks of Christmas Card Tutorials: VERY fun mask and ink brushing technique with Jamie!

Here is Jamie with our last 12 Weeks of Christmas: Tutorial Time

I have been playing with this new technique I saw online. Honestly I looked at a picture and found my own way of doing it. I am good at that. I like to experiment. 
The supplies you need for this project are brushes, ink and paper. Optional painters tape and shapes for masking areas off.  It is a super simple technique and a lot of fun to experiment with.
  So I found a picture online of a pretty card made with brushes and ink. The brushes where ink dusters and I looked them up and tried to find them at the local craft stores and no luck. Online they were more than I was willing to pay so I thought I would just get some regular brushes (on the left). I used them on a few cards and they worked pretty good but I wanted a fluffier brushes still. So I happened upon the make up brushes (on the right) at Target for $1 each. I was happy to find them so cheap and love the way they work even more than the regular brushes. 
I used some scrap paper and ripped the edges in different patterns. I used them as masks for the different colors and to produce different shades. Tip~ start the brush on the scrap paper so the strokes are more even. 
You can do this technique using the masking scraps above and do different colors, like the top three in the above examples. Or you can use shapes to mask areas off, like the balloon one above. Or you can use them to color that shape. This is what I did with this one. I used Christmas tree cut outs this this tutorial. 
 I brushed a small amount of red first just for fun. 
I used Tim Holtz Distress ink on this example however I used Stampin up and some other generic ink for the others. So any ink will do.
  This is the first time I used the template to add ink to the shape only. I just add some ink to the brush and stroke the ink on a few times, then more ink, over and few time. I re-ink the brush several times.
Then I used the actual cut outs and some painters tape to cover them up to add the red. 
 I however taped the tree on the left on the wrong side so my tree has a white glow around it a bit more than I would have like but its okay.
 I used the paper mask that I made and inked red in different shades all over the card.
 I just brushed over the tree masks. 
 I moved the paper around so the pattern would vary. 
Here is the red all done.
 Here is the front all inked. This is a very mess technique so make sure you put something under the paper. I used a piece of foam. You can see where my card was on the green foam below.  
Here is the finished card. I added brads to the tree for the ornaments and the star on top. The rest is Inspired Stamps Christmas stamps. I used the holly in the corners from the Poinsettia set. The sentiments stamps are from Vintage Christmas.
Another idea for this technique is just to make your own background paper.
This one I just randomly dabbed and brushed red and green ink on. Then I cut my paper to card front size. I stamped on top of it and colored my image. 
 The background came out nice on this card. I added another sentiment from the Poinsettia Set
I added a few red brads and some ribbon to decorate a bit more.

GREAT JOB JAMIE!!!  This is a really fun and artistic technique I know I'm going to have to play with over the Christmas season!

More artwork coming early Christmas week here on the blog!  Shipping most orders from our online store SAME DAY the order is placed...FREE SHIPPING on ALL US orders $25 and over (coupon code: 25freeshipping)

thanks for stopping by today!
Blessings,
Antoinette

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

$3.99 single Scripture Stamps!!

Hello friends!
Today I want to share with you some of my favorite artwork our Inspired Stamps Design Team has created using $3.99 Single Scripture Stamps from our shop:  www.etsy.com/shop/GodblessyourART

Up first I'll share my bags (the word LOVE is from the super popular alphabet 'LABELMAKER ALPHABET' also found in our etsy shop).  These little kraft bags each have a Single Scripture stamped on it and contained one of our Single Scripture Stamps when we gave these away:

We title our stamps with the Scripture Verse so they are easier to find.  So the Center one above is Romans 8:38-39 in our Single Scriptures.
And here are some by several of our Design Team ladies:

                                                      This one is 2 Samuel 22:31

We have many other stamps to see at our etsy shop so be sure to stop by and favorite our shop so you can find it later:
ALWAYS FREE SHIPPING on US orders $25 and over!  Right now, we are shipping out a FREE flower stamp set for all orders over $25 automatically!

Have a blessed night and we'll be back with more artwork soon!
blessings,
Antoinette

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Christmas Gifts using Inspired Stamps

Hello friends!
2 Weeks until Christmas....can you believe it?  Today our very talented Design Team at Inspired Stamps has some great last minute gift ideas to share with you!

First up is belinda who made a wonderful Scripture Flip Chart in a frame (so clever!)!  The $3.99 Single Scripture Stamps are PERFECT for this project... Here's some more of her pages:
Deneen is up next with a Scripture Holder:
Jamie has a wonderful candy bag topper:
Look at this precious ornament using one of our $4.49 His Little Ones: WINTER BOY stamps Kary made:

Patty made lovely packages with tags using Inspired Stamps:
Shanta shares a cute box she created using Inspired Stamps on the front:

We hope you are inspired to create some of your gifts this year!  Some of the most memorable gifts I have in my home are the ones made by those I love!


Blessings,
Antoinette
www.etsy.com/shop/GodblessyourART
 (FREE SHIPPING ALWAYS to US orders over $25 (use coupon code: 25freeshipping ; still shipping a FREE flower stamp set automatically to all who order over $25 this week!)


Monday, December 8, 2014

Elegant Dotty Alphabet (plus 25 Days of Christmas Bible Art Journaling)

Hello friends!
We are already into the second week of December and it feels like time is going so fast!!  I wanted to showcase one of my favorite Inspired Stamps alphabet stamps today to help inspire you as you prepare to make cards, scrapbook pages, art journaling projects, and more this season:  ELEGANT DOTTY ALPHABET:
Each letter stands approximately 1" tall and can be found in the etsy shop for sale here:
Here is some artwork done with this by Kary, Leesa and myself:
Here is Kary's lovely card:
I created a couple of pages in an art journal using this with charcoal pencil for a thankful page:
I also created the inside of this Christmas card using this stamp set to stamp out the word: 'LOVE'
And Leesa created this lovely card using the stamp set as well:
So much beautiful artwork with such a great stamp! 

Be sure to head over to our etsy shop and see all the stamps we have available for you:
Always FREE SHIPPING on all US orders over $25 and we are automatically sending a FREE flower stamp set home with all FREE SHIPPING orders this week!!

Have you been over to our mixed media/art journaling blog yet?  We will have a new update on our 25 Days of Christmas Bible Art Journaling tonight! www.GodblessyourART.blogspot.com

Thanks so much for visiting!  We'll be back soon with more artwork for you!
Blessings,
Antoinette



Friday, December 5, 2014

12 Weeks of Christmas Card Tutorials: SHADOW BOX CARD



















Hello Everyone, Shanta here!
I wanted to share a  Shadow Box card tutorial I created for Inspired Stamps.  Here are the few supplies that you need.
Stamps
1 Thessalonians 5:18





Step 1:
Cut 2 pieces of card stock at 4 1/2 and 5 1/4 Score both pieces of card stock at 1/2 and 1 inch from each end on the 5 1/2 inch side.
Step 2:
Take one of the pieces and cut a circle out for the window portion.

 Step 3:
Next take the scored parts and fold them mountain valley one forming a W and the other forming an M, placing tape of the outer flaps.
Step 4:
Stamp your sentiment in the inside and glue the panels together.
 Here is the finished card!!