Vintage Postcard

I made a vintage looking postcard for a challenge going on at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.  The challenge is mail art, and for this postcard I used the Chloe Face stamp from Lost Coast Designs and the Loopy Background stamp, also from Lost Coast.

I took a vintage-y looking piece of scrapbook paper and cut it to a 4 x 6 postcard size.  I edged it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink to give it an antiqued look.  I stamped my Loopy Background on the left side of the card with black ink, then stamped Chloe Face atop that using the same black ink.  I found an old 2 cent stamp which I affixed to the right corner and typed out an address label and attached that where the address would be written.

I really like the old feel of this, and it was so simple to make.  Go over to the Portal and check out this challenge!

Mail Art: Bird Mail

There is a new challenge at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity that started on May 1st.  The challenge is "Mail Art", and I opted to decorate an enveloper this.  I chose a square 5 1/2" by 5 1/2" square  envelope for this.  

I used a leafy patterned stencil and blue and green Distress Oxide inks to stencil the pattern over the front of the envelope.  Next I stamped the Bird Collage background stamp from Carmen's Veranda on the front of the envelope with black ink.  I then used the Swirls and Dots border stamp and black ink to stamp along the right and left edges of the envelope.

I affixed a decorative butterfly stamp to the upper right corner and typed out an address label to complete the envelope.  This is a really simple project with endless possibilities, so I hope you will share you mail art projects over on the Portal.  Be sure to prominently feature rubber stamping in your creations for a chance to win some free stamps from Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda!

Just A Girl Looking for A Donut

Hi, I'm back again with a postcard for the "Sentimentally Yours" Challenge going on til the end of this month on The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.  All projects should include a sentiment or saying.

For this postcard, I used the 50's Girl stamp from Lost Coast Designs and the In Front of A Salad clear stamp from Carmen's Veranda.  If you want to check out a great selection of fabulous sentiments, please visit the Clearstamps page at the Carmen's Veranda website - lots of them will make you smile!

My postcard background is a piece of checked scrapbook paper, edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I stamped my 50's Girl with black ink onto white paper and fussy cut her out.  I then restamped her onto a piece of red scrapbook paper and cut out just her dress, attaching that atop the original stamped image.  I added a bit of color with some Copic Sketch markers.  I stamped my sentiment onto a piece of vintage diary page paper and edged it with the same Distress ink.  I lightly attached both of these stamped images to my postcard front and then built my collage around them.  By not completely fastening down my central items, I am able to position pieces of ephemera, etc behind and around them.  Once I have all my collage elements in place, then I will finish gluing down my central elements.  

So hop over to the Portal before the month is over! and enter your projects featuring rubber stamping for a chance to win some free stamps!

Ask Albert

Happy spring!  I'm back with a card for the new challenge going on at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity during the last half of the month of April:  Sentimentally Yours.  We are looking for your projects which feature your favorite sentiments or sayings.  And I found a great one for this one - Eenie, Meenie, Minie - from Carmen's Veranda.

I also used the Einstein stamp from Carmen Veranda and the Ledger background stamp from Lost Coast Designs.

For my background I dove into my box of Gelli prints and found this one using cream, brown, and gold acrylic paints and some stenciling.  My stamping covers most of it so you can't really see the stencil design on this one too clearly.  But stamped with the Ledger background in black StayzOn ink gave it kind of a vintage feel, I thought.  I then tore around the edges and applied some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to age it a bit.

I stamped Einstein with black ink onto cream card stock and fussy cut him out then positioned him on the lower portion of my card front.  Next I stamped my sentiment with black ink onto the same card stock, cut it out, and edged it with black ink.  It gets positioned just above Albert as shown.  Layering with a piece of black card stock is the final step.

Chihuahua Playing Bingo

Happy April Fool's Day, and I'm featuring a post card I made for the "Numbers" Challenge at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity that runs until April 14th. My postcard features the following stamps:

Coffee Chihuahua Stamp

Bingo Border Stamp

and

Small Diamonds Background Stamp

all from Lost Coast Designs.

The sentiment is Fun and Games from the clear stamp collection at 

Carmen's Veranda.

I cut a piece of coffee dyed paper to post card size at 4" x 6".  I edged this with

Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I used the same ink to stamp the small diamond background over the whole card and used black ink to stamp the Bingo border along the left side.  I randomly stamped some little bits of text with black ink here and there.

My Chihuahua was stamped with dark brown ink onto white card stock.  I cut him out and colored him with a light brown marker.  I colored his collar red and left his teeth and the spikes on his collar white.  I found a tiny Bingo card on a collage sheet, cut that out, and replaced the coffee cup he is usually holding with the game card.  I then used foam tape to affix this to my post card front.

The sentiment was stamped with black ink onto cream colored card stock and edged with the same Distress ink.  I attached it to the upper right corner.

Hope you will hop over to the Lost Coast Portal and check out the challenge!

Trio of Tags

I'm here today with a trio of tags for the current Mini Me Challenge at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where we are looking for "mini" projects - think ATCs, ATC coins, tags, twinchies, etc.

For this set of tags, I used the Circus Dogs Set and the Verticle Party Hats Border stamps from Lost Coast Designs and the Happy, Sing, and Play clear stamps from Carmen's Veranda.

My background for these tags is part of a collage master board I had left over from another project.  I die cut my tags from that master board and edged them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I stamped my circus dogs onto coffee stained paper with black ink and fussy cut them out.  I attached them to the tags with foam tape to give them some dimension.  I stamped a ball onto orange paper and cut that out for one of the dogs.  (This ball stamp also comes in the Circus Dog set.)  For the second dog, I stamped one of the party hats onto orange paper and cut that out.  I added some white Nuvo drops to the tips on his hat.  And for the third dog, I stamped the top portion of the original dog stamp onto orange paper and cut out the dog's ruffled collar and attached it atop the original stamped image.

Next I stamped the three sentiments with black ink onto white card stock.  I ran it through my copier and reduced the size by 30% so they would fit better on my tags.  I edged them with black ink and glued them to the bottom of each tag.  Final step was to tie some yellow decorative ribbon at the top of each.

Gnomes and Chickens Crossing the Road

This is a card I made for the Gnome challenge going on at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity the last two weeks of January.  I made this using the Pointy Hat Gnome and the Small Diamonds background stamp, both of which can be found at Lost Coast Designs,  The sentiment is Chickens Crossing, one of the many clearstamps on the Carmen's Veranda website.

I created my background by heat embossing the small diamonds background onto a piece of black card stock, using white embossing powder.  I trimmed up the edges and layered it with a piece of white card stock.

Next I stamped my gnome with black ink onto white card stock, colored him with Copic Sketch markers, and fussy cut him out.   I glued a white pompom to the tip of his pointy hat.

I die cut the center circle using white paper and affixed it as shown.  I positioned the gnome atop this and used foam tape to attach him to give him a bit of dimension.  My sentiment was stamped with black ink onto a white square, edged with blue, and positioned as shown.

Done and dusted!  You still have a couple of days left to enter the challenge for the chance to win some free stamps!