My Cards and Tags: Textured Tags Using Whimsy Stamps' "You Are" Stamp Set

What a treat it's been to be a Special Guest Designer at Whimsy Stamps this month.  I've got to say that the people I worked with there have been nothing short of A-MA-ZING and the products have been a lot of fun.  Here's a tag duo I made with Whimsy's stamps, dies and some Brushos crystals.

I started by stenciling some splotches onto these fabulous tags I cut with Whimsy Stamps' Stitched Tags die set.  I outlined the splotches with a Sharpie to give them more definition.

Next came some color magic as I added Brushos crystals and sprayed the tags with water. After the tags dried, I stamped them with black stitches from Whimsy's "In Stitches" stamp set.

Next I used Whimsy Stamps' Honeycomb Pattern die to add some texture to my tags.  Then I painted over the honeycomb with acrylic paint.

I wanted more color, so I added acrylic paint in different shades.

I finished off my tags by adding a little more white acrylic paint, letting it dry, then stamping the tags with some great sentiment words from Whimsy Stamps' "You Are" stamp set.  I added a little tag to the top (also from the Stitched Dies set) that I cut out of a Bingo card.  I twisted some wire to make hooks and these tags were done.

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Whimsy Stamps.

"You Are" stamp set

"In Stitches" stamp set

Stitched Tag dies

Honeycomb Pattern die

My Other Creations: Notebook Using Dina Wakley's Gals and Borders Stamp Set

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme embraces all things school/ study-related.  Give me any excuse to even THINK about making a notebook and I'll take it! Here's a mini notebook whose cover I revamped:

I like to buy notebooks this time of year and then make covers for them and give them as gifts as the holiday season approaches.  For this cover, I started out with Strathmore Mixed Media paper.  I sprayed it with Dylusions Spray Ink and water.  Dylusions sprays and water are a great way to color a lot of space with minimal effort.

I started layering strips and scraps of painted paper and Washi tape onto my cover, then decided to whip out this charming girl image from Dina Wakley's Gals and Borders stamp set.  I love a lot of stamp images, but I'm not always clever enough to figure out how to use them when they have big sections of opaque color.  I knew that if I stamped the girl as she was, she'd cover up a lot of the collaging I'd just done.  So I tried something new.  I stamped her in black ink, then cut our her torso, leaving just an outline of her torso which I glued a strip of patterned black and white paper to.  Here's a pic of my separate elements: the notebook, the cover, and the girl.  

I glued everything together and added some stitching, a flower, and a "clever girl" sentiment that I stamped with alphabet stamps.  I wanted the girl to be the focal point, so I had to make sure she was nice and dark.  To get a super dark black stamped image, I usually have to either heat-emboss with black powder or color in the stamped sections with a Sharpie.  I used a Sharpie for this image.

I added a strip of an old vintage Bingo card to the spine and painted the edges black.  As a final step, I wanted to top off my notebook with some yarn. A simple way to do this is to tie fibers to a paperclip which can be used as a bookmark.

Here are the supplies I used on my project that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Strathmore Mixed Media Paper	Dina Wakley Gals and Borders Stamp Set	Seth Apter Spellbinders Coffe Ring die	Simon Says Stamp Hydrangea Petals die	Sizzix Big Shot
Hustle and Heart 12x12 Paper Pack	American Crafts Shimelle 12 x 12 Starshine Paper	Hero Arts Playful Alphabet Stamps	Tim Holtz Idea-ology JOURNEY Design Tape	Dylusions Ink Spray, London Blue
Dylusions Ink Spray, After Midnight	Dina Wakley Black Heavy Body Acrylic Paint	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley LIME Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley Evergreen Acrylic Paint
Dina Wakley TURQUOISE Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley TANGERINE Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley LEMON Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley Fuchsia Acrylic Paint	Dina Wakley RUBY Heavy Body Acrylic Paints
Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad

My heart and good wishes go out to all those youngsters and maybe not-so-youngsters who have recently headed back into the world of academia!  Go you!  Be sure to get crafty if you need a break from homework and being responsible in general.  Create something study-rific and upload it to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!

My Cards and Tags: Textured Card Using Whimsy Stamps' Honeycomb Pattern Die and Corrugated Cardboard

I'm excited to share another project using some fabulous products from Whimsy Stamps.  I decided to do some experimenting with die cuts and corrugated cardboard and this is the result:

I started off with Whimsy Stamps' Honeycomb die and a scrap of corrugated cardboard that I'd painted white.

I cranked it through my Sizzix Big Shot and the die cut through the cardboard beautifully.

I took a recipe book page to use as my background and smeared white acrylic paint on it.  I popped out some of the hexagons that were cut and glued the honeycomb panel to the background.

Next came the color!  I smeared on acrylic paint in light teal, yellow and green.  I splattered on some high flow acrylic paint in fluorescent pink.

I punched out a heart, traced it with a Sharpie and added a great sentiment from Whimsy Stamps' Handmade From Me stamp set.

This card was all about experimenting and I enjoyed seeing how the texture emerged along the way.  Three cheers for corrugated cardboard + die cuts!

Here are the wonderful Whimsy Stamps products I used:

Handmade From Me stamp set

Honeycomb Pattern Die