Creative Squad

Inside Outside – Tania Ahmed

  

Hello from my Creative Squad and welcome to a project from Tania Ahmed. Tania is bringing us a super fun easel card using my Stroll Around the Block set of house stamps, my My Home is My Castle stamp, and my What’s the Point stencil. Be sure to watch her awesome video for the how-to and join us for this month’s new theme: Inside Outside – Inside can be cozy and warm. Outside is about fresh air and freedom. Are you a homebody or do you suffer from cabin fever? We’re creating with these opposites in mind.

I was inspired by this month’s theme to create an easel card as a play on the “inside Outside” theme! My main focus was the Queen Anne Building stamp which is a part of the Stroll Around the Block Set #1.

The theme made me think about whether I preferred to stay at home or be outside. Did I prefer my own company or to be around people? As I get older I am getting more and more comfortable in my own skin and realising that I can have moments where I prefer one or the other scenario and that it’s okay! I’ll have days where I want to make a clean and simple project and then there will be days when I will be absolutely covered in paint and making happy creative messes!

I decided to make a video tutorial showing how I made this easel card, and I loved how it turned out :) Click on the video below to watch:

Here are also some photos:

Thank you Tania! I’m just loving your video and seeing the awesome texture you created with my What’s the Point stencil on this card! Also those colors are yum! In addition to various cardstock and papers, here are some of the supplies that Tania 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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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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My Home is My Castle – Maura Hibbitts

  

Hello from the Creative Squad! Today we are super happy to introduce to you our newest member: Maura Hibbitts! Maura is a master of colorful layers and we are so happy she will be with us to share some of her projects. Today she brings us an art journal spread with tons of yummy texture. Maura uses my Stroll Around the Block stamp set, the My Home Is My Castle cling stamp, my Santa Fe foam stamps, and my Toledo stencil. She is also working from this month’s theme: My Home is My Castle – Home means many different things depending on who you ask and where you are in the world. This month we’re thankful to have a place to call home, a place where we can rule and be King – or Queen :) – of the castle!

I am honored and excited to join you this month on the Creative Squad!

When I started thinking about this month’s theme, “My Home is my Castle”, I started to imagine a castle behind my own little house. There are so many sayings that relate to this idea, like Queen of the castle (me, I guess), or a man’s home is his castle (hubby), that I knew where I wanted to head with this. In real life, I am glad I don’t live in a huge, drafty castle that I would have to clean, as housework is a much lower priority than creative work.

I headed to my big Dylusions art journal, and squirted on some yellow and turquoise paint and blended it together with a brush. While the paint was still wet, I closed the book and pressed the pages together. Open them up immediately and let dry to create a nice texture.

Next, I used dark blue paint with a brayer on the Art Foamies large Santa Fe stamp and stamped a repeating pattern across the pages to create the main part of the castle. Then, I used the small Santa Fe stamp to make the upper part of the castle. Once that dried, I went over the castle with Quinacridone Gold.

I wanted to add a bit of a dreamy quality to my castle, so added a layer of Interference Gold. I like how this brought out more of my paint texture too. I also added bright green with the Toledo stencil around the edges of my pages.

I outlined the castle with a graphite pencil and went over it with a water brush, and added in some window slits and an entrance. Using bright pink paint with the Wired stamp, I added pops of color for contrast, and also stamped some color pops onto a sheet of green card stock for later use.

Here’s a closeup of the colors and textures on the page.

I chose Nathalie’s Art Deco home stamp for my pages, so I could use bright colors on it. I was thinking of those wonderful turquoise and pink homes in Florida (maybe because it is so darn cold here). I stamped it onto watercolor paper, added color with watercolors and markers, then fussy cut it out. I cut out a few funky trees with the paper I’d previously stenciled, and distressed them a bit with black ink.

Of course, I had to add a flag flying from one of the turrets of the castle. I painted it in yellow and went around it with a black pen.

Behind each of our homes, whether an apartment or house, is the castle of our imagination. I hope you’ve been inspired by my art journal pages to create your own awesome project!

Thank you Maura! I love that cute little pink Art Deco house in front of the giant castle :) Here are the supplies that Maura used:




Play along with us too: 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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Comments (1)

  • Joi@RR

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    CONGRATULATIONS Maura. What a great addition Nat!!! Loved your creativity – your home/castle are WONDERFUL. Super textures too!! Xj.

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My Home is My Castle – Jennifer Gallagher

  

Hello from the Creative Squad! Today we have a super charming little project from Jennifer Gallagher that will definitely inspire you and warm your heart :) She is using my Stroll Around the Block and My Home is My Castle stamp sets and this month’s theme: My Home is My Castle – Home means many different things depending on who you ask and where you are in the world. This month we’re thankful to have a place to call home, a place where we can rule and be King – or Queen :) – of the castle!

With the beginning of each new year, it is normal to think back over the past and assess where you are and what is important to you. What is most important to me is family. My husband and I often talk about how much we love it at home. Not necessarily the structure itself, but the time spent with each other and the memories we have made here. This month the creative squad will be sharing inspiring projects that reflect on just that. Using Nat’s new Rubbermoon stamp collections, Stroll Around the Block Sets 1 & 2, we hope to inspire you and share with you what home means to each of us.

Back in the Summer, I acquired several of these shadow boxes at a yard sale. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do with them but I knew they would come in handy. You can purchase shadow boxes at your local hobby and craft store or create your own with recycled materials. I started by removing the frame and glass from the front and emptying the box of all the decorations. I sanded down the frame to give it a distressed feel. Then with a baby wipe, I smeared some Tim Holtz distress stains on the frame and let it dry.

  

I knew that I wanted to create a little scene in the shadow box to represent my home. I decided to keep with the artistic and sketch-like feel of Nat’s stamps and I felt watercolors would compliment that. I chose the Cape Cod stamp because it most resembles my ranch style home. I stamped the image onto watercolor paper with archival blank ink and then used my watercolors to match the colors of my house.

I decided on where I wanted the house to sit in the box and then designed the other pieces around it. I decided to add a large tree, a flower garden, bushes, a bird, smaller trees in the background and grass. This is where your creativity can really shine. Is this an exact replica of my home? No. But it does relay the feeling I have about home to my audience. Keep that in mind when designing your piece.

I started by choosing a blue and green gelli print from my stash. The blue to represent sky and the green as grass in my background. I used double sided tape to fix those to the shadow box. I then started painting my trees. I used my gelly roll pen to add sketchy lines to each element.

Starting on the background, I fixed each element with scor-tape. The bird and background trees were added with mounting tape to give it a little lift off the background. As I moved closer to the foreground, I fixed the elements with paper tabs like you would in a pop-up book. Mix up the levels throughout the box, giving your piece lots of dimension and interest.

The finishing touch was to stamp the sentiment, My Home is My Castle, onto watercolor paper with archival ink and add a pop of color to it. Once added, I was able to put the glass and frame back on my shadow box.

To me, this piece expresses how I feel about my home. It’s a happy and peaceful place. It is truly my favorite place on Earth. I hope that this piece inspires you to step out of the box this year in your artful adventures. I am wishing you all a wonderful year filled with art, happiness, and creativity.

Thank you Jennifer for this awesome way to use a shadow box! In addition to gelli printed papers, Jennifer used the following supplies:


Play along with us too: 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“.

Nat

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My Home is My Castle – Josefine Fouarge

  

Hello my friends and welcome to a project from the Creative Squad! Today we have some fun tags created by Josefine Fourage using my new RubberMoon stamps from the Stroll Around the Block and My Home is My Castle sets: Craftsman, Queen Anne, and My Home is My Castle. This month’s theme is: My Home is My Castle – Home means many different things depending on who you ask and where you are in the world. This month we’re thankful to have a place to call home, a place where we can rule and be King – or Queen :) – of the castle!

Hi and welcome to 2018. In the new year we get to play with Nathalie’s new stamps. Have you seen them yet?

I was in the mood for some Distress Oxide fun, so I grabbed three tags and started coloring them in. My favorite technique is ink smooshing. For that I used three colors of Distress Oxide from the same color family and smooshed one after another onto my craft mat. Then I spritzed a little water on top and dragged the tag through the ink, one color at the time. Between every color I heat set the ink. This way I always get an interesting and random background.

I colored all three tags in different color combinations, one in shiny yellow and orange, one in different blue shades and the third in a grungy green/ brown.

The next layer is using Distress Oxide again. This time I blended them with the Blending Tool through Nat’s Lily Wallpaper stencil. I used the same colors that I used for the ink smooshing so the flowers stay in the background.

Next up, I stamped some marks with parts of Nat’s Cross Circle stamp, again using the same colors for every tag.

I picked three of the houses, but ended up using just two of them. They are wider than the tags, so I stamped them a little off. The Queen Anne house fit perfectly to the yellow/ orange tag and the Craftsman to the grungy green tag. I decided to use the sentiment stamp “My Home is my Castle” for the blue tag.

At the end, I colored some areas of the houses with Faber Castell Pitt Pens. Mainly some shadows, but also light behind the windows and red for the door of the Craftsman. To add a shadow underneath the house (for a little more dimension), I used a black water color pencil. I also added a few white gel pen outlines here and there and then tied all the tags together.

Here is the finished piece.

Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to check out the new stamps, they are so much fun to play with!

Thank you Josefine! I love how you worked into the stamps to really give them dimension. Here are the supplies that Josefine used (some are affiliate links):




Play along with us too: 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“.

Nat

Comments (1)

  • maura

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    Great tags, Josefine! I love your term ink smooshing – I do that, but now I have a new name for it :). The lily stencil looks awesome with the houses. Maura

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My Home is My Castle – Marsha Valk

  

Happy New Year from the Creative Squad! We’re kicking off a new theme here but first we would like to say a big hello and welcome to new squad member Maura Hibbitts! We are so happy to have Maura and her super creative style on the team so stay tuned for her first project later this month :) And now we have a lovely project from Marsha Valk, who explores a technique by artist Max Ernst using my new Stroll Around the Block and My Home is my Castle stamp sets. Our theme this month is My Home is My Castle – Home means many different things depending on who you ask and where you are in the world. This month we’re thankful to have a place to call home, a place where we can rule and be King – or Queen :) – of the castle!

Happy 2018!

Oh, how I wish I could have a home like the ones in Nat’s new Stroll Around The Block stamp set!

My own home isn’t anything like that, but remarkably enough, there is one stamp in the set that reminds me of something I have in my house. It’s a screen print of an American house similar to the Craftsman house, and I decided to start with that stamp.

Of course, I could have just stamped with it, but I recently went to the Max Ernst Museum in Brühl, Germany and there I saw Ernst’s fascinating work composed of pencil rubbings of wood and other materials. Max Ernst invented this technique in 1925 en he called it ‘frottage’.

I wanted to try if frottage works with rubber stamps too. And… it does!

I used wax crayons, but you can also use coloured or graphite pencil and charcoal instead.

As for paper: a thin paper works best, so use printer paper or look for something of a similar weight and smoothness.

You have the option to stamp the My Home Is My Castle text first before applying the wax crayon.

Or, if you’d rather stamp the text later on, then I suggest testing if your stamping ink stays put on the wax crayon rubbing first.

I had no trouble stamping over my rubbings with Archival ink, but a combination of other brands/materials may have different results.

Position the stamp of the Craftsman house under the paper, image side up, and start rubbing over it with a wax crayon.

Rubbing with the long side of the crayon works best!

Create a landscape or background by placing background stamps or stencils under the paper and rubbing more wax crayon in different colours right next to the image of the house.

Also, try adding layers of different colours and textures on top of each other. Just have fun with it and see what you can come up with!

Thank you Marsha for sharing this super cool technique with us – what awesome results too! In addition to computer paper, Marsha used the following supplies (some are affiliate links):




Play along with us too: 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“.

Nat

Comments (3)

  • maura

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    Marsha, I love how you did this as a rubbing and were inspired by your museum trip! Maura

    Reply

    • marshavalk

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      Thank you Maura! Museums are the best: you never know what catches your eye!

      Reply

      • marshavalk

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        Or what’s going to catch your eye (but you know what I mean ;-)).

        Reply

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