The Raven

The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity has a fun challenge going on for the entire month of October -  the 31 Days of Halloween!  There will be a new project every day this month with a Halloween theme - the Design Team loves this month, and we go all out!  Please join us with your Halloween projects featuring rubber stamping for a chance to win some awesome stamps from Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda.

I've got a spooky card for this 2nd day of October made with the M Raven 2 stamp and the Grunge Tree background stamp, both from Lost Coast Designs.

I started by creating my background page.  For this I used three colors of Distress Oxide Inks, spraying some of each color on my craft mat and spritzing them all with a bit of water.  I took my white card stock and dabbed and dragged it through the colors letting them drip and run until I was happy with the result.  I was going for a dark and spooky look with this one.

I stamped the Grunge Tree background onto my inked up page using black ink and cut around the edges with some deckled scissors to give it a rough look.  I layered that with a piece of black handmade paper with rough torn edges.

Next I stamped my raven onto a piece of off white card stock using black ink.  I colored him with gray Copic Sketch markers and added a bit of white and darker black to his eye.  I colored the branch he is perched on with dark brown.  I affixed this to the lower right of my card front as shown.

Please join us for the Halloween fun all this month!  We are excited to see what spooking projects you can create!

31 Days of Halloween: Day 8: Goth Shrine

I'm up again on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity with another Halloween project.  I hope you are following along on the Portal and getting inspired by our Halloween projects that are appearing each day of the month of October.

For today, I have what I call a 3 x 5 index card - a fun size to make that's a bit larger than an ATC and also makes for good journaling cards in your journals.  This one features the R.I.P. stamp and the Goth Shrine ATC sized stamp, both from Lost Coast Designs.  If you like the smaller Goth Shrine, there is a larger 5" version as well.

For my background I chose a piece of striped Halloween card stock and cut it to my 3 x 5 size.  Next step was to take some decorative tissue paper and glue it atop my card using Modge Podge.  Once it was dry, I added another layer of Modge Podge to seal it.

I stamped my Goth shrine with black ink onto some cream card stock and fussy cut it out.  Using Copic Sketch markers I colored in the shrine.  I used a 1 3/8" circle punch to punch out the center.

I then stamped a portion of the R.I.P. stamp onto the same card stock and punched out a 1 3/8" circle from my stamped image.  I cut a piece of clear acrylic slightly larger than my circle and affixed it behind my shrine.  I then positioned the circle stamped image behind that and taped it in place, so it looks like a little window.

I colored the shrine with my markers and attached it to the front of my index card with foam tape.  And that's a wrap!

We can't wait to see your Halloween projects so please share them here on the Portal for a chance to win some free stamps!  Don't forget to use rubber stamping in your projects.

31 Days of Halloween: Day #2: Which Witch?

 

Over on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity  the whole month of October there is a Halloween challenge going on called "The 31 Days of Halloween". There will be a new project every day this month with a Halloween theme - the Design Team loves this month, and we go all out!  Please join us with your Halloween projects featuring rubber stamping for a chance to win some awesome stamps from Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda.

I have a little ATC here for you, featuring the Gnome Witch with Stars stamp from Lost Coast Designs.  This is one of the fun, new gnome stamps available at LCD, so be sure to check them out as each one is cuter than the one before!

My background for this was created with Distress Oxide spray inks in shades of blue, green and yellow.  I sprayed my paper with water first then sprayed my colors kind of randomly and let them drip and run together.  After drying the inks, and using the same blue Oxide ink, I sprayed some on my craft mat and dipped a rubber stamp into the ink and used it to stamp on my background.  I zig zag stitched along the right side with black thread and outlined the whole ATC in black ink.

My witch was stamped with black ink onto white card stock and colored with Copic Sketch markers as shown.  I glued a few silver sequin stars onto her robe and colored the star on her wand with a gold pen.

She was then glued to the ATC front as shown and done!

We can't wait to see your Halloween creations so please be sure to enter them on the Portal for a chance to win some free stamps!!

Housewife

 Hi again with another project for The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity:  Sentiment in Focus.  For this challenge I used a saying or sentiment that has at least five words.  Be sure to feature rubber stamping in all your projects too!

For this one I used the Housewife stamp from Lost Coast Designs and the Fairy Godmother clear stamp from Carmen's Veranda.

My background was made using  a stencil and some pink Distress Oxide Ink on a scrap paper that I had spritzed with a bit of green Distress Spray.  I stamped my housewife onto white card stock and fussy cut her out.  Next I restamped her, first onto some pink scrapbook paper then onto some flowered scrapbook paper.  From the pink paper I cut our her dress, and from the flowered paper I cut out her apron.  I superimposed these onto my original stamped image and glued them in place.  I added some color to her with my Copic Sketch markers and added some fancy pearls to her fuzzy slippers!  

My sentiment was stamped with black ink onto a white square that I had edged in black.  I glued this to the upper left corner of my front as shown, then added my housewife below that.  And that's a wrap!

You have until September 29th to enter your projects for a chance to win some free stamps from Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda.  What are you waiting for!!

Baptizing A Cat

The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity just started a new challenge that will run though the end of September.  The challenge is called  "Sentiment in Focus".  For this challenge, you will create a project/s using a sentiment of at least 5 words.  Be sure that rubber stamping is the main focus of your work, too!

For this one, I used one of the cat stamps from the Party Cat Hats Set from Lost Coast Designs and the Baptize A Cat clear stamp from Carmen's Veranda big collection of great sayings.  For this background I used a gelli print created on a piece of decorative tissue paper that I had adhered to a piece of card stock.  

I stamped my cat with black ink onto white card stock and fussy cut him out.  I colored him with gray Copic Sketch Markers and added a touch of green to his eyes.  I traced around the hat that the stamped cat is wearing and using that template, cut out another hat from flowered paper, affixing it to the cat's head atop the original hat.  I added a little flower for some extra color and affixed the cat with foam tape to the left side of my card front.

My sentiment is stamped onto off white paper with black ink.  After cutting it into a square shape, I edged it with black ink and attached it to the upper right corner.  Final step was to outline the card front with black ink to give it some definition.

Please come join us for this fun new challenge using you favorite phrase or sentiment stamps.  You just might be the lucky winner of some free stamps from Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda!

Movie Mania: Godzilla

Welcome to the first of September and a new challenge on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity:  Movie Mania.  For the challenge you will create projects featuring your favorite movie characters. I opted to go with a Godzilla card.  I remember seeing "Godzilla" at the movie theater when I was small and being scared silly!

For this card, I used the Godzilla stamp and the Small Butterfly stamp from the Butterfly stamp set, both from Lost Coast Designs.  My sentiment is from the huge selection of clear stamp phrases at Carmen's Veranda.

I began with my background, which is a piece of white card stock, a leaf stencil, and three shades of Distress Ink sprays.  After spraying and drying my background piece, I edged it with some Crushed Olive Distress Oxide ink.

Next I stamped Godzilla with black ink onto a piece of dark green card stock, then fussy cut him out.  I added "teeth" with a while gel pen and enlarged his eye with a small piece of white paper and a black rhinestone.  I used a Glitter Gel pen to go over his back and tail to make them stand out more.  I then attached him to the lower left corner with foam tape.

I stamped my sentiment onto a white square with black ink and edged it in black.  I positioned that in the upper right corner.  I stamped the small butterfly twice onto red yardstick and cut them both out, attaching them as shown.  I just glued the center of the bodies to the background so I could fold the wings up to make them look dimensional.

That's a wrap!

Hi again with a tag I made for the current "Face On" Challenge going on through the end of August on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.   I used the Ancient Woman #4 tag stamp from Lost Coast Designs.  There is a whole series of these ancient woman portrait stamps at Lost Coast, and I love all of them!

I stamped my Ancient Woman onto a piece of cardboard, then trimmed the top to a tag shape, including punching a hole for some ribbon or twine.  Next I took a piece of cream and black scrapbook paper and pleated it, then stitched across it with a zig zag stitch.  I edged it, and the tag, with some Vintage Photo Distress ink to age them both, and tied a piece of twine around the pleated paper.  I then glued this to the bottom of my tag.

I finished my tag off with some light brown and black seam binding ribbon through the hole in the top along with an aged bronze charm.

Please come join this fun challenge, featuring "face" stamps - you could win some free stamps from Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda!