Blog: Manhattan

April ArtFoamies Challenge – Day 18

Are you playing along with Nat and Sarah’s April ArtFoamies Challenge ? You can follow along on my Instagram feed daily with videos and photos, and I post updates here on the blog too from time to time throughout the month. Today I’m recapping Day 18!

Day 18 – Pattern – Playing with my stamps and making up new patterns is one of my favorite things to do as a breather moment. I rarely plan it out – which is probably a huge difference to anyone who is a pattern maker but I just love the random grabbing of two or more stamps and giving it a go. And well, I really like this pattern with my Manhattan and one of the Triple Play stamps… I take it ;)

Here is a look at April 18:

Follow along with the challenge on instagram  and post your artwork too with the hashtag #artcollabChallengeAccepted

Everyone approaches Challenges differently. This ArtFoamies Challenge that Sarah Matthews and I came up with has had me thinking about how I want to approach it. In the past my Foam Stamplifier Challenge #foamstamplifierchallenge I used all kinds of different media, so I didn’t want to repeat myself. I also thought about how Sarah usually uses ArtFoamies with ink pads, while I use acrylic paints and the first parameter became clear: I will only use ink pads for the challenge. The other challenge is that I purchased an old ledger journal and I want to turn it into a pattern book. I usually make my own pattern books by binding loose printed papers into a book. This method has the advantage that if a print doesn’t turn out too great it can be discarded. By printing directly into this 125 year old ledger I have no out. So using my foam stamp designs to create patterns into a ledger book with ink pads is my challenge for this month.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Inspiration from Around the Globe – August 2018

Ready for some inspiration? Today we have some projects from around the globe. It’s always fun to see how you’re using my stamps and stencils and I am so happy to share some examples today. So let me know if you’re doing something cool with my products, and you might see yours on the next Inspiration from Around the Globe!

First up is a beautiful wall hanging from one of our former Creative Squad members Gwen Lafleur, from the US. She is using my Manhattan stencil for the blue background pattern on this funky design!

Next is Barbaree King also from the US with a cool mixed media postcard using my Grove Street foam stamp on the left in pink.

From the UK we have a pop of color from Colleen Melody, using some stamps from my Marks stamp set in red here.

From the US we have a neat mixed media index card from Cathy B who has created a nifty wedding scene using my Mailbox, US Flag, and Main Station stamps, all from the fun Stroll Through the Hood 2 set :)

And finally we have some pages from Jade Sutton in the US who is using my Manhattan foam stamps to create a bold background to unify her spread.

If you’re working on something fun with my stamps or stencils, be sure to tag me and share! I’d love to see! Here are some of the supplies used in this post:



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Nat

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Vacation Mode – Josefine Fouarge

  

It’s time for a project from my Creative Squad! Today we have a sweet little art journal page that is filled with pattern and color, from Josefine Fouarge. She is using my Manhattan and Mini Chicago ArtFoamies, my Cape Cod stamp from the Stroll Around the Block set, and my Hamburg stencil. This month’s theme is: Vacation Mode – Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are slogging through winter with only one thing on our minds – vacation! Whether it’s Spring Break, a weekend getaway, or an hour with a good book, everyone needs an escape to Vacation Mode now and again.

This month’s topic got me thinking. It’s been a while since I have been on a vacation and there is none in sight either. So, I decided for myself that if you can’t go on vacation, shopping is the next best thing. And trust me, I am good at that ;)

I was at one of the big box stores the other day and couldn’t pass the paint and paper aisles without grabbing a few items. To make sure that they don’t end up in a drawer unused, I incorporated them in my new art journal page.

I covered my art journal page in the new Liquitex paint. Then I picked a few ArtFoamies (Mini Chicago and Manhattan) to stamp them with other shades on top. I used two different paints and alternated the colors between each stamping. Aren’t these colors just pretty? Do you understand why I couldn’t walk by them? :)

Next up, I used the new recycle paper and stamped the negative ArtFoamie in the same patterns, but with a contrasting color. Again, I alternated between two colors.

Now I ripped up the brown paper and adhered some of the scraps onto my art journal page. It was important for me that the patterns match and create the illusion all the shapes merging together.

I needed a border, so I used the Gel Press petites and white acrylic paint to add one. Because the border was rather boring, I added a very light pattern to it. I did that by tracing the pattern from the Hamburg stencil with a pencil.

While I was coloring in some of the stenciled shapes with the same pencil, I thought that the colorful background needs some white as well. So I added a few white shapes.

The page still was missing a focal point, but I didn’t want to stamp anything directly onto the page. Usually that doesn’t end well for me. Instead, I prefer to stamp the image (in that case the Cape Cod house from the Stroll Around the Block set) onto a piece of tissue paper. I adhered that with gel medium and colored the house with Liquitex and Montana paint pens.

To finish the page up, I added a few scribbles and some shadows. I love that the paint pens made the house look like a cartoon.

On a side note, I totally enjoyed working with the brown recycle paper. It has such a neat texture to it and added the perfect contrast for the negative/ positive foam stamps.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Don’t forget to check out all the other Creative Squad creations every Tuesday!

Thank you Josefine! I absolutely love those colors and patterns together! Here are some of the supplies that Josefine used:



Feel inspired? Working on something yourself that you’d like to share?  I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

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Nat

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Live Like It’s Spring – Marsha Valk

  

Hello from the Creative Squad! Today Marsha Valk is officially ushering in spring with a collection of gorgeous collages using a whole bunch of my stencils and the monthly theme Live Like it’s Spring – Springtime is when Mother Nature kicks it into high gear. It’s the time to wake up and approach life with renewed energy.  Let’s join Mother Nature in this reawakening and create some things in the Spirit of Spring!

When it’s Spring again I’ll bring again… Tulips from Amsterdam! They’re actually from my craft room about 50 km east of Amsterdam… but that’s near enough I think ;-).

I started with mono printing a bunch of greenish, reddish and yellow/orangey prints on copy paper with my Gelli plate and Nathalie’s Buenos Aires, Manhattan, Mesa Verde, Santiago, and Toledo stencils. Once dry I cut them up into tulip leaves and stems.

I wanted to use Nat’s ‘Amsterdam’ stencil, with the tulip pattern, for the background. To achieve a softer ‘ghost’ print, I had to pull four prints: I applied paint onto the Gelli plate, layered the stencil on top and pulled two prints to remove most of the paint.

Then I removed the stencil and pulled another print to remove even more paint. And then for the final print I applied white paint onto the Gelli plate and pulled a last ghost print. And this last print is what I used for the background.

The last step was to collage the tulip parts onto the Gelli printed backgrounds.

Thank you Marsha! I love how you combined all those different stencil patterns with those gorgeous spring colors. In addition to some white copy paper, Marsha used these supplies – some links are affiliate links:




Play along with us! I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat

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Impossible to Forget – Art Journal Spread

“I will not be another flower, picked for my beauty and left to die. I will be wild, difficult to find and impossible to forget!” – Erin Van Vuren

I loved the quote when I found it – and I had to include it in my art journal.

The background was a VERY purple background – LOL- so I toned it down a bit by using some Baltic Blue Acrylic Paint and gesso over some of the areas. I used my Manhattan positive and negative Foam Stamp set as well as the Manhattan Border Foam stamp for a pattern. To break the very linear pattern up a bit I used the Grannies Rubber Stamp.

I painted over a magazine image that I had saved , using acrylic paints and some markers. That was fun. A different color scheme when usual for me but it is totally my cuppa tea :)

Here are some of the supplies I used – some of the links are affiliate links:



Have a beautiful day!

Nat

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Breathing Dreams Like Air

Dreams, we all have them, or so I hope ;) I have a couple more dreams, right now a very easy one … SUMMER – LOL. Yeah- that is one dream, but of course I have a couple more.

I used my new Manhattan Stencils on this page with acrylic paint- the 9×12 and the 4×4 – different sizes, same pattern- BLISS.

I also used the Grunge XXX Stamp with acrylic paint, yup, that’s how I roll. Just make sure to clean the stamp right away so that you don’t ruin it. Baby Wipe is your friend!

Hope you like my pattern play and you are breathing dreams like air today.

Here is a short list of supplies- some links are affiliate links:


Nat

Comments (2)

  • jbonomo

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    Love that stencil and the Manhattan stamp too……but seriously, how did i miss the Mark Maker Stamps in class. That’s been on my wish list for awhile….guess I will have to go shopping once again.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you so much Julie – Yeah the Manhattan stencil and stamp are one of my faves – it feels to me super vibrant, just as Manhattan – LOL ! The Mark Maker stamps are out of stock but should be back in stock in a couple days again – I reordered them :)

      Reply

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Dream a New Dream – Cheiron Brandon

 

Hello friends! Today Cheiron Brandon from my Creative Squad is sharing a very happy art journal spread using my Manhattan Positive and Negative Foam Stamp set and this month’s theme: Dream a New Dream. This January, let’s focus on all the possibilities of a fresh start.  What are your dreams for this year?  Whether it’s art-making, family, travel, or work related, January is a great time to dream about what the future could hold.

Hi there! It’s Cheiron here with my January post, and this month is all about Dreaming a New Dream. I always love the start of a new year and the chance to set goals and recharge.

For my project today, I created an art journal page with some of my dreams and goals for the coming year. I used Nathalie’s Manhattan Positive and Negative ArtFoamies stamps to create some printed deli papers to use as part of my journal page. I love making black and white papers to use with really bright paints.

I then layered on some paints in bright fluorescent colors…don’t they make you happy?

I finished up my layers by adding more paints, some dripped fluid paints and some splatter.

I topped off the page with cut out hearts in black and added some word stickers to the hearts. I applies Distress crayons in various colors around the hearts and blended them in with my fingers, then added another layer of white splatter to the whole page using a splatter brush. Fun, easy page and a great way to think about what I want to accomplish for 2017!

Here’s a closer look at all the yummy color:

Thank you Cheiron! I always love the fun colors she uses and this one really makes me feel happy! In addition to a die cutting machine, Cheiron used these supplies – some links are affiliate links:




Play along with us! I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat

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Be You, Not Them …or In My Art Journal Today

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This art journal spread started out as a demo page in a workshop . I was showing how to use the positive and negative Santa Fe and Manhattan Foam Stamp Set with differently colored StampBuddies. (if you missed my short tutorial on this – check it out here) .  A lot of the pages I show techniques on are later a great starting point to turn into a finished art journal page.

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I like how much depth and dimension you get when stamping offset. I also love how stamping a second time without re-inking shows a lot of texture.

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And I had a good time playing with the graphites on top of the magazine image. He looks a bit ill – LOL- but maybe just because he isn’t himself ;)

supplies


Hope you have a wonderful day !

Nat

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Live, Laugh, Love – Art Journal Pattern Play

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For this art journal spread I played with my ArtFoamies Versailles Positive and Negative as well as with my Manhattan Border Stamp.

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I added different acrylic paint colors to each of the ArtFoamies StampBuddies included in the Versailles stamp set and then stamped first with the one stamp and then filled in with the other stamp . I love how you can use the stamps each just as they are or layer them on top of each other to get really intricate designs. I stamped around the border of the tag with the Manhattan border stamp.

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For the art journal background I used the same colors on top and stamped right into the journal- then added some green acrylic paint here and took some areas off again, while the paint was still wet. I wanted to have the stamped images show through the paint at places to give it a more layered and dimensional look.

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I adhered the tag to the background of the right side of the journal with some double sided adhesive and then used my new Varco ArtGraph to write out the words. I went over them again with a small wet brush.

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I love the result- it is a bit wild and yet cohesive as the pattern and colors get repeated. That was a lot of fun.

Here are the supplies I used- some of them are affiliate links:

supplies



Hope you have a wonderful day today filled with Live, Laugh and Love

Nat

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