Sunday, June 1, 2014

Lesson 1: Watercolors (keeping it simple)



Hello friends,
So much going on this week!  We have a BRAND NEW STAMP RELEASE coming THIS THURSDAY plus...today begins our June challenge to memorize a chapter from the bible this summer!  We will be working through chapter 1 of Genesis throughout June, but we encourage you to work on memorizing a chapter of your choice.

FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Please go read through our 3 part section on MEMORIZING SCRIPTURE before going further if you haven't already:  CLICK HERE ( it will be on the sidebar under Creatively Memorize Scripture logo...and we will keep that up for you so you can always find it on the blog!  We will continue to add the June Memorizing Scripture posts to this logo as well, so you'll need to scroll down!!)
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Today we want to keep instructions AND MATERIALS simple.  My goal is to have 30 minutes a day to devote to working in my GENESIS CHAPTER 1 journal. I am usually working in Pan Pastels, Acrylic, or occasionally oil, so I decided to give watercolors a whirl...and I LOVE the simplicity of them and the striking colors and effects you can get with them.  So my GENESIS CHAPTER 1 journal I will only be using:
                                      *watercolors (pencils and paints) with the flower wells shown below
*a few good brushes
*a few pens, pencils, and markers
*stamps and ink (I can't resist...I'm a stamper at heart!)
*and my watercolor journal

So you decide what YOU will be using.  In the first 3 posts I had you read under FIRST THINGS FIRST above,  I  described  techniques for creating a Scripture book using acrylic paint so you have examples for that.  Just try to keep it simple, and within the amount of time you can honestly spend working in it.  If you don't want to worry with color, use pen or pencil on notebook paper!

Next, I wanted to work on lettering as I go through this month and well as playing with the watercolor techniques on my pages.  So I grabbed my books and magazines and will keep them handy as we go.  I want the SCRIPTURE to be SHOWCASED.  My goal, which we always must keep in mind, is to MEMORIZE God's Word, not create a necessarily priceless work of art :o)  So the lettering will be important.  

I want to practice a bit before I decide to write INTO my journal so I am pulling out some watercolor paper and playing first. 

The first verse in my journal is Genesis 1:1.  I played with watercolor on the right of the watercolor paper you see below and the left was what I decided to actually make:
So let me take you through some of my thinking so you can think through these as you go into yours.  First thing, I felt CREATED fit better and was better as bold for the composition.  Next I didn't like the green that came when I put the blue over the yellow (taught kindergarten and first grade for many years...should know that one LOL).  So when I went to make the finished side of this paper I made sure to use my blow dryer.  Next, it NEEDS and outline!!!  Black marker will probably go around all my Scripture.  I also practiced adding color with a paintbrush and taking color off with a paper towel on the right side, realizing I am far more attracted to the bold colors than the muted (hence the strong blue and yellows on the left).  I also tried every white pen I own out on the right and different ways to give shadow to the word GOD.  This led me to create a SHADOW practice sheet...

If you click on the photo you can see close up some of the different shadows I made in different ways.  This was very helpful and it actually inspired me to keep a separate practice notebook where I can practice with different fonts when I have a few minutes here and there.  This is actually EXCELLENT for Scripture memory!  The more I write Scripture, say it, hear it, think on it...the more I secure it into my heart!

So that is enough for one day.  Get your notebook or sketchbook or art journal and write out verse 1 for today.  If you want to add some color, do that.  I will be back once or twice a week in June to share more ideas and tips and to show you what I've created in my art journal thus far and I hope you will join me!  Memorizing Scripture is so very powerful!

Until then...don't forget to get your sticky note on your bathroom mirror and go over it every time you are in there:
 
Then tomorrow you will add 1:2 and repeat BOTH verse 1 and 2 together.  Day 3 you'll add verse 3 ONLY IF you know verse 2 solidly otherwise stay on 1 and 2 until you know both.  For now put them side by side or in a row down your mirror as  you go.  I'll share another way of storing these once you get to day 7 so that you aren't requiring 3 bathrooms to do this LOL.

And add a set of sticky notes to your refrigerator.  I had no idea how much this addition helped me!!  

Please leave us a comment if you are committed to memorizing a chapter of the Bible this summer (we have 3 months until fall :o)!  You can DO THIS!!

Blessings,
Antoinette                                  shop online for our stamps and Bazzill papers:

Friday, May 30, 2014

OWH Winners announced + Getting Ready to Memorize Genesis Chapter 1!!

Hello friends!

We wanted to give a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the OWH bloghop this year!!  What AMAZING CREATIONS everyone created!  And thank you to the more than 100 of you who left us some love in the form of a comment!  We had intended to give away 10--$10 store credits, but decided to give away more since so many participated.  LET'S GET TO THE WINNERS:
 Andrea T
Ruth G
Jessie
arlsmom aka Lynda
SuprfoxDesigns
irmz
April Story
airbornewife
Michele Smith
Becki with an i blog
Nancy M
Coco
kzladie
Coco
Brenda Hugar
Congratulations to you all!  If you haven't registered at our online store, go there first and register.  THEN email us at inspiredstamps@gmail.com, letting us know the email address you registered under and we will email you back when we get your $10 store credit into your account!!  You can shop anytime, as there is no expiration date on this!  AND it will automatically be applied to your order when you are ready, so no codes to remember either!   WINNERS HAVE THROUGH SUNDAY JUNE 8TH MIDNIGHT TO REGISTER AND CONTACT US VIA EMAIL TO CLAIM THEIR PRIZE, or it will go to someone else.


As we get ready to begin our 30 DAYS OF JUNE: MEMORIZING A BIBLE CHAPTER,  I wanted to send you to 3 posts I created a while back about HOW TO MEMORIZE SCRIPTURE.  It has such great information in it that I don't want to repeat, since I have new things to share with you.  So click on the link here or the photo link to the 30 DAYS OF JUNE on the right side of this blog to find all the posts I did.  Then I'll be back on SUNDAY with the START of our MEMORIZATION of Chapter 1 of Genesis!! 


Have a great evening and I'll be back soon!
Blessings,
Antoinette

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Summer Cards with Scripture!

Hello friends!

Friday is the last day to take advantage of our store-wide sale:
www.inspiredstamps.com


Here are the summer cards our DT has created for you to enjoy:
Kary:
Deneen:


Belinda:
Chere:
Patty:
Shanta:

 Thank you so much for stopping by!  We will announce our winners from the OWH bloghop Friday!!
Blessings,
Antoinette




Wednesday, May 28, 2014

June News announced!!

Hello friends!
If you did not see the MANY MANY beautiful cards in the Operation Write Home 2014 bloghop, be sure to click HERE!

We have only 2 DAYS LEFT in our storewide sale (including clearance!): CLICK on this link to go to the online store:   www.inspiredstamps.com

And now on to our next month-long challenge---Memorizing a CHAPTER in the bible!  In addition to the other Inspired Stamps artwork (card-makers, no fear---we will have plenty of card posts in June also), I am going to be leading you through Genesis Chapter One, a verse each day, starting this FRIDAY, May29th with our GETTING READY post.  I will have a lot of tips and tricks to help you reach your goal of memorizing a chapter of the Bible.  And no worries if you take longer than 30 days, you will have the skills and the encouragement right here to come back to as you are ready for the next verse!  We will keep the logo up on the sidebar with links to all the posts!  I am so excited to get started!  If you are wondering what you should gather and don't want to wait until Friday, I recommend you get a pen and sticky notes ready.  For those who will want to Art Journal this as well, you'll need a notebook/mixed media journal/watercolor journal/ or sketchbook, depending on what medium you plan to use.  And Grab a piece of ribbon for Sunday's DAY 1 post ( a fun extra activity for you that day!).

I'll see you tomorrow for an amazing display of cards by our uber talented Design Team!!

Leave a message here if you know you will join us for June's 30 day Bible Chapter Memorization challenge!

Blessings,
Antoinette

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Operation Write Home Bloghop 2014 (giveaways+ online sale + a quick coloring tutorial)



Hello friends and welcome to the Inspired Stamps blog for OWH's annual Memorial Day Bloghop!! 
As a company, this is our 3rd year participating so I know people want to see the artwork, see the store specials, comment for a chance at our giveaway and move on!  So I will just take a quick second to say, the reason this is so dear to my heart as the owner of Inspired Stamps, is because my husband has been a US Army soldier since we were married 25 years ago this year (making our family a military family for a very long time)!  I so appreciate what OWH does in sending our soldiers cards that we all make to encourage them and help keep them in touch with their loved ones!  What a wonderful service!!

I did a very QUICK tutorial (and several of our Design Team members have signed up for the blog hop too, so you'll see more Inspired Stamps as you continue hopping!) on how to color and cut out a character stamp to give it dimension!

Here is a quick coloring guide for 3 of our best-selling military stamp sets first:

                              Military Soldier (3"x4"), HLO:Soldier Boy (2"x3"), and HLO: Sailor (2"x3")

Here is what I did to make my card:
 I started by stamping the Inspired Stamp: His Little Ones: Soldier Boy twice.  Then I colored using Copics and cut out the pieces I wanted to 'pop' in dimension:
Deciding what I wanted to be in back, I numbered to the side.  So after I color the uncolored stamped image of HLO: Soldier Boy ALL IN BLACK (so it just shows a silhouette of his shape), I glued each piece on the other colored sided down, using popdots starting with 1 and going to 5.  His pants were glued directly to the place where the pants are on the blacked out side. Then I used one pop dot to give some height to his jacket and one pop dot each to his shoes.  Then two pop dots to put his head on; Then 3 popdots so his hat would stand out a little more from his head.  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THIN POP DOTS or you'll see too much of the white popdots (I like to color mine black on the sides to help with this):

I also use a black marker around the edges of each piece to make it look better:

 Here is the OWH card sketch I used followed by my card:


 GIVEAWAY:  We are giving away 10--$10 store credits to 10 randomly selected commenters from today's post. You have through Thursday, MAY 29th midnight EST to leave us a comment and be entered to win!  Come back FRIDAY to see if your comment was chosen and claim your prize!!

**WE ARE HAVING A STORE-WIDE SALE IN OUR ONLINE STORE NOW THROUGH FRIDAY!!  HEAD OVER AND CHECK OUT OUR CLEAR STAMPS**
ALL ORDERS PLACED THIS WEEKEND WILL BE SHIPPED FIRST THING 
TUESDAY MORNING!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  We'd love to have you join us regularly by following our blog post, facebook page and pinterest boards!

CLICK THE OWH PHOTO BELOW TO GO ON HOPPING:

http://wp.me/p2kUr6-4o6
http://wp.me/p2kUr6-4o6 
 
Blessings,
Antoinette and the Inspired Stamps Team

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Online Store-Wide Sale begins FRIDAY!! HUGE OWH bloghop starts Saturday morning!!

SHOP ONLINE HERE:
All orders placed Friday-Monday will ship first thing Tuesday morning after the long holiday
weekend!!
 
While current supplies last; no rainchecks!
 See you HERE Saturday for
*a tutorial
*giveaways
*this amazing bloghop!!
Blessings,
Antoinette
 

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Operation Write Home Bloghop this SATURDAY---Are YOU hopping?

Hello friends!
Inspired Stamps and our Design Team will be participating in the OWH bloghop that begins this coming Saturday MAY 24th at 3am EST!!  We hope you will consider joining their bloghop and sign up by going to their link here:
 We will be offering giveaways and a shopping special in celebration!
We will be back soon with more artwork!
Blessings,
Antoinette
Shipping MOST ORDERS placed by 3pm the SAME DAY they are placed!