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

My Cards and Tags: ATC's using Dina Wakley's Collaged Hearts

Ah, ATC's!  These mini works of art, otherwise known as Artist Trading Cards, only have one official rule: they must be 2.5" x 3.5" in size.  They are a lot of fun to create and they're this week's theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  I made a trio of them featuring a heart image from Dina Wakley's Collaged Hearts stamp set.

I started these cards using Strathmore Mixed Media paper.  I cut the card shapes, then added some lattice shapes for texture (Kaisercraft's Lattice die).

Next I smudged on some Distress Ink with a sponge.

I added some color splats by holding my Distress Stain bottles completely upside down, then smashing them straight down onto my cards.  The sponge dabber tops make great splats! 

Once the stain dried, I smeared some white paint on top to tone down the colors a bit.

Next I took some of the punched-out lattice shapes from my die and colored the edges with a black Sharpie.

I smeared some texture paste through a Tim Holtz bubble stencil for some white dimensional dots.  Next I added some Distress Paint (I let it drip down a bit, then spritzed it with water to complete the drip).  Then I glued the black lattice pieces onto the cards and smeared around their edges with black paint.

I stamped and cut out some hearts from Dina Wakley's Collaged Hearts stamp set and glued them to my cards.  I sewed over them with my sewing machine.  I wanted to add one more text-type of element, so I punched some circles out of some Tim Holtz flashcards.  I love the classic retro look of the font.

I glued my circles on and these ATC's were done!

Here are the fine supplies I used from Simon Says Stamp:

Strathmore Mixed Media Paper	Sizzix Big Shot	Kaisercraft Lattice 4x6 die	Dina Wakley Collaged Hearts Stamp Set	Tim Holtz Elementary Flash Cards
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil BUBBLE	Tim Holtz Distress Twisted Citron Ink Pad	Picked Raspberry - Distress Ink	Peacock Feathers - Distress Ink	Salty Ocean - Distress Ink
Mustard Seed - Distress Ink	Ripe Persimmon - Distress Ink	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	Tim Holtz Distress Stain In Picked Raspberry	Salty Ocean Distress Stain
Distress Stains - Peacock Feathers	Distress paint Twisted Citron	Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Salty Ocean	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley Black Heavy Body Acrylic Paint
RANGER TEXTURE PASTE	Ranger Non Stick Craft Sheet

I am excited to see your ATC's!  Upload them to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store. 

Also, be sure to check out the inspiring Simon Says Kids Only Summer Challenge!