Blog: Gnarly Foam Stamp

Letting Go – Art Journal

I found one of my fat Liquitex markers in Silver and as I rarely use those anymore I wondered if it was still working. It had been laying in the drawer for years.

So I started doing some marks on the paper and wow indeed it was still ok. I love how the big marker leaves a nice textured impression. To be honest this is probably the only way I would use them as they don’t really work with my own current style and artwork, but it was interesting here in my art journal today.

I layered my Batik stencil on top and added some acrylic color over it, then stamped with my Jazzed and Groovy foam stamps and then added more acrylic paint again.

It was fun to just play a little bit with layering – something I like to do often as it makes you see things in a different way and discover new connections.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Facts – Art Journal

Here I’m using another old work of mine from an art journal page (you can see the original post and page here) from the sold out Artist Almanac.

I used a brayer to roll out heavy body white and blue paint and added some yellow areas with yellow acrylic ink. I used my Gnarly and Funky foam stamps with black acrylic paint to add some marks, and a stabilo pencil for some softer marks as well.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Stability – Art Journal

“Stability is sometimes just the bodega in your neighborhood” . I played around in my art journal for a painting of this building on canvas. 

I built up my background with my Manhattan stencil and acrylic spray paint. I also used my Gnarly and Far Out foam stamps along with ink and acrylic paint.

I also used various acrylic markers for my sketch and journaling.

Does your hood have a bodega or corner store that has all those little things you need?

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Inspiration from my Creative Squad

Our friend and Creative Squad member Judi Kauffman shared some inspiring extras with us this month: an upcycled calendar collage and some beautiful envelopes.

Last year Judi created a calendar for the year ahead that we shared with you here in this post.

She used my Grove Street, Groovy and Gnarly foam stamps to create this page.

And then Judi totally surprised us this month with a reimagining of the calendar. She saved her stenciled calendar pages from 2020 and for most of the months she turned them into bookmarks and card fronts. But for this one she decided to cut the whole piece into 1” squares and reassemble it into a mosaic. She said it’s her way of giving visual form to this horrible year when everything felt like it had crumbled into tiny pieces by making it into something interesting and cohesive. It’s going to become the first calendar page for 2021! Turning over a new page, as it were.

Judi also created a fantastic wall hanging from another calendar page redo.

She writes, “I made mosaics out of another of the stenciled calendar pages, adding some dimensional bird, tree, and mini buttons for embellishments.”

What a fantastic idea for those old calendars.

Judi also shared with us some envelopes she created using my Mini Motifs rubber stamp set. She writes, “The method: My go-to “Stamp & Drag” where there’s the look of motion.” Love the look and the softer lines.

Envelopes definitely deserve just as much love as the cards that go inside them and we think these are beautiful! 

Are you sending snail mail these days? Follow Judi’s lead and try stamping some of your envelopes too.

Here are some of the supplies Judi used:

Nat

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Energy – Art Journal

“Focus on your energy and let the universe handle everything else.” Always a good idea to keep in mind.

This background was somewhat of a journey :) I built a pattern using my Solid Hex Large, Solid Square Small, Hex Set Small and Small Circle Jumble rubber stamps… then toned it down with gesso and acrylic paint and my Jazzed and Gnarly foam stamps.

I also added some details with a white signo pen to highlight the circles in the spread. And I did my journaling.

Here are some of the supplies I used in this spread:

Nat

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Keep Showing Up – Art Journal

“Keep showing up for yourself every day!” – I saw my artist friend Tony Zatzick saying this on Instagram and I really loved it.

I thought it would be fun to combine rubber stamps and foam stamps in one page, both using moonlight duo ink pads. I used the Hex Set Small rubber stamp set.

I also used my Hex Set Large rubber stamps and my Gnarly and Jazzed foam stamps.

I love how the patterns work together and the moonlight duo inks work great with each.

Here are some of the supplies I used:


Nat

Comments (2)

  • Jean Goza

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    I love everything about this. Awesome quote. Need to post that on my studio wall! Your page layout is amazing. Love the layers. Really speaks to me.

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Goals – Art Journal

“I didn’t come this far, to only come this far!”

I received the Scribble Sticks set 3 as a thank you for playing along in the Ranger Designer Challenge in January. I wanted to test them out with my foam stamps. Here is my Funky foam stamp getting a bit of blue…

I wet the foam stamp back and applied the scribble stick and then stamped for the blocks of color. I did the same with the front for the designs.

Here is my Groovy foam stamp design.

Here is a bit of my Gnarly and my Jazzed designs. I loved the colors in this new set – they work perfectly with these foam stamp patterns.

Pretty interesting effect with the back of the stamp too – nice texture. And who doesn’t need a bit of motivation to keep going for more?

Here are some of the supplies that I used:


Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Wonderful and I have those stamps and scribble sticks…woot woot.

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Only Knowledge – Art Journal

“People love talking about themselves. For some people that is their only knowledge.” From my shall remain anonymous assistant :)

I made the background pattern with my Gnarly foam stamp and acrylic paint and the Van Vorst stamp in my Floral Tile Small rubber stamp set with red archival ink. The color scheme and the simplicity of it reminds me of Japanese calligraphy.

I put some chalkboard tape down for the quote and wrote in a white calligraphy pen.

Here are some of the supplies that I used:


Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Elegant Nat…I really like it!

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Foam Stamplifier Challenge Prompts 22-24

Day 22 – Plastic

Printing on top of plastic sheets or overhead foils is a fun way to create transparent elements for your work or nice dividers for your art journal but my favorite of all must be using Shrink Plastic. From wine charms, to embellishments to earrings. Using the foam stamps with inkpads of your choice, stamp your desired images.

Then heat the shrink film up as the manufacturer recommends and you will get a tiny version of your stamped image. Too cute! Here is a sample where I used the shrink film to create myself some new fancy earrings.

Day 23 – Scratch!

Another fun way to use Foam Stamps is to stamp onto some Ampersand Clayboard to create some great textured designs.

 

Stamp on top of the clay board with acrylic paint or spray ink or inks and then start scratching into the design. It is like doodling by scratching- better then coloring books- trust me!

Day 24 – Bits & Pieces

How about using bits and pieces of foam stamped paper to create something new?

You could create a tangram which is a puzzle which consists of 7 flat geographic shapes which put together can create a new shape.

 

Simply google tangram, print out the template, glue it on some white or black paper, start stamping with your foam stamps and cut it.

And then go and play …

Here are the different foam stamps I used for these prompts


In case you missed the prompt list  here you go:

Nat

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