My Other Creations: Wallet of Possibilities

Well, sadly, here we are at the close of Stamptember!  Hasn't it been wonderful??  If you missed out, not to worry.  You can still always find awesome inspiration and fabulous products at Simon Says Stamp.

To wrap up Stamptember, this week's challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog was to SAY IT with stamps!  I decided to honor my dad, the King of Quotes, by upcycling one of his old wallets, complete with a favorite Tim Holtz quote on the front: It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you are not.  How true!

I love that typewriter image (from Crate Paper's DIY collection) which I transferred onto the fabric background.  And here's a picture of the back of the wallet.  It features another favorite quote of mine from Benjamin Franklin.

One thing that I've always admired about my parents is that they use things until they wear out, as you can see from these pictures of the wallet when I rescued it from the garbage.  I'm a sentimental softie, but I couldn't let it go.  I had too many memories of my dad pulling it out of his pocket to finance family fun nights, school supplies, and that pair of pants that I just HAD to have (love you, mom and dad!)

 I named this project the "Wallet of Possibilities" because it's really a tribute to my parents and their words of encouragement to me over the years.  I even typed the sentiment on the back using a typewriter of my dad's that's at least 50 years old.  Beautiful, in my opinion.

When you open the wallet, it's filled with some favorite ephemera and bits of art that I find inspiring and that emulate that look of "yesteryear" that I am so fond of.

Love my parents for raising me on such great "quote-age," if that's a word, and I look forward to many more years of their wisdom and advice.

What did I use to make this project, you ask?  Behold!  And yes- you can get all of these things from Simon Says Stamp!

Crate Paper DIY Collection	It′s Not Who You Are... Tim Holtz Stamp	October Afternoon Cakewalk Ephemera	Tim Holtz Stencil Markers	Ranger Black Embossing Powder	Heat Embossing Tool	My Mind′s Eye Flair Washi Tape
We R Memory Keepers AQUA Washi Tape	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink	Colorbox Rain Forest Ink	Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Mowed Lawn Distress Ink	Liquitex - Modeling Paste

 
Do YOU have a great idea for this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge?  Of course you do!  So start crafting and show us your creations!  You could win 50 big bucks to spend at Simon Says Stamp!

My Other Creations: Pop- Up Journal Page for the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember Blog Hop

Welcome to the Simon Says Stamptember Blog Hop!  Haven't the projects been amazing??  We've all been so inspired by this Simon Says Stamptember journal kit designed by Shari Carroll.  It has honestly been one of my favorite kits to work with EVER.  So without further ado, here is my fairy tale inspired pop-up page, along with a how-to of how I got there!

 As soon as I saw this awesomely durable notebook from Dylusions, I knew I wanted to go with some pop-up pages.  Pop-up pages are great because your notebook still closes, but when you open it, you get that 3D wow factor!

I started by covering the thick white pages of the notebook with patterned paper by Prima (Finnabair collection).

I proceeded to cover the patterned pages with Gesso, acrylic paint and Washi tape (the teal Claudine Hellmuth paint and Gesso that come with the kit are awesome!)

Now it was time to create my pop-up image!  I snapped a photo of this incredible retro van that I saw on vacation one year, then I printed the photo from my computer onto normal white paper.  I decided to use the packing tape transfer technique (an oldie but a goodie) on my van.  To do this technique, simply cover your picture with clear packing tape.  If your picture is wider than a strip of tape, use multiple strips of packing tape until the whole image is covered.

Once your image is covered, run the paper side under warm water or let it soak in a bowl of warm water.  Start rubbing the paper away with your fingers until it feels relatively smooth.  What's left on the packing tape is the ink from the image, but the paper itself has been washed away.  This gives the image a cool transparent vibe.  Here's what mine looked like (packing tape side down) once I rubbed off all the paper:

I glued my transfer image onto a background vintage dictionary page (comes in the kit-- love it!) which I'd also painted and covered with Washi, as described earlier.  Then I tore off the excess dictionary page and just left the raw edges of the Washi tape.  I wanted this to look like it came ripping through my background page.  But because the transfer is transparent and Washi is transparent, you can still see hints of the dictionary page I adhered it to.

To make this van pop-out from the notebook, I folded a simple piece of blue cardstock like so (below is a side view), and glued my van image to the front of it.  When I close my notebook, the van lays down flat.

To finish off my project, I added this great little strip of Tim Holtz measuring tape ribbon (you got it- it's in the kit, too!) and also added some vintage fairy tale text, a picture of a castle and the words "La Dee Da," which I made from the letter stickers and black paint that are included with this kit.

This kit really is amazing!  Here it is as well as some other products from Simon Says Stamp that I used: 

Stamptember Journal Kit

My Mind′s Eye Flair Washi Tape

MME Find Your Wings Washi Tape

Prima Finnabair Paper

We R Memory Keepers AQUA Washi Tape

I would LOVE to see what you create for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  This week, all you have to do is show off your creation that uses any Simon Says Stamp exclusive product.  Remember that you could win a good chunk of change to spend at the Simon Says Stamp Store!
 
 Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 with an interest in exclusively selling rubber stamps. It didn’t take long until we realized we couldn’t stop there. During the past 11 years we celebrate rubber stamping in its full glory by giving access to people around the world to a one stop shop. Rubber stamps still remain the heart of our business and we are celebrating by hosting a STAMPtember® event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping. Part of the enticement of rubber stamping is that stamps can be used in creating or complementing ANYTHING! From stamping dates on bank documents and postage parcels in the early 18th century, rubber stamping has dramatically expanded to include card making, scrapbooking, mixed media, life documenting, art journaling, and many forms of altering and expressing art.

If you want to see some more fabulous inspiration, hop on over to Ashli's amazing blog next!

Tutorials: Stamping on Painted Washi Tape

As STAMPtember rages on at Simon Says Stamp, our challenge this week was to stamp on something non-traditional.  I've been loving experimenting with stamping images onto Washi tape that I've painted with acrylic paint.  Here's the finished product, along with a tutorial on how I created it:

I started out with some patterned paper from October Afternoon and some Washi tape from Tim Holtz and My Mind's Eye.  I started laying out the Washi tape in strips.  Because Washi can sometimes curl up, I used an industrial strength glue stick to permanently stick down any edges that looked like they might rebel.

Next I added some Gesso and acrylic paint in random splotches on top of the Washi.

After the Gesso and paint dried, I decided I didn't like the color combo, so I went back in and added another few splotches of darker blue paint.  That's the beauty of paint: if at first you don't like the color, paint on it again!  Then I flipped the piece vertically (just because I liked the look of it better for this project) and trimmed down my paper to a smaller size.  I stamped a Tim Holtz sentiment onto the Washi and heat embossed it.  I then used this great sunburst stencil from The Crafter's Workshop and heat embossed the sunburst stencil pattern on as well.

Next I stamped a bird image (from Dyan Reveley's "Birds on a Wire" set) on a separate piece of paper, cut it out, drew a crown for it and cut it out, too, then adhered the bird to my background on top of the sentiment.  I also cut out some polka dots from a patterned piece of paper and added them on as well.

As always, I smeared some distress ink onto the finished product and wah-la!  My project was complete!

Here are just a few choice supplies that I used on my project that are available from Simon Says Stamp:

Tim Holtz Sentiment	Dylusions Birds on a Wire Stamp Set	October Afternoon Farm Girl Paper Pack	Sunburst Stencil from The Crafter′s Workshop	Heat Embossing Tool	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink	Ranger Embossing Powder - Black
Hero Arts EMBOSS WHITE EMBOSSING POWDER	Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers Distress Ink	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot	Colorbox Rain Forest Ink	MME Find Your Wings Washi Tape	Tim Holtz Journeyman Tissue Tape	Tim Holtz Commuter Tissue Tape

As always, I'm inspired by the challenge themes posted on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  And I'm inspired by the works of creative geniuses everywhere (yes, I'm talking to you)!  So be sure to join in the stamping fun and submit something to the challenge for a chance to win fame and fortune (or at least $50 to the Simon Says Stamp Store)!