Mail Art !

Morning all :) Today I wanted to share some mail art I created using a home made envelope.

I have an envelope maker and often use this instead of store bought plain white envelopes. Its so fun to use old magazines, since the background has already been started. I added a couple of stamps from Viva Las VegaStamps! to the envelope and some sponging and doodling : 

The Spinning Swing Ride stamped on the left, isnt it great, and perfect for some 'Air Mail' LOL.

I also used Admit one ticket, which I stamped and fussy cut and added on. I did some background stamping with bulls eye target stamps and added a label for the address. 

Stamps used : Spinning Swing Ride 19203

Admit one ticket 19190

Bulls Eye Target solid 19196

Bulls Eye Target open 19193

This is my last creation for the Viva Las VegaStamps! DT, but I will be sticking around in the Facebook group facilitating the trades, if you would like to come and join us :) 

Hugs, Nikki x

Swim Fast

I made a couple of cards, featuring one of the original stamps I bought from Viva Las VegaStamps! a number of years ago.... Diver from Board : 

Isn't the diver great. I stamped him in memento black ink and colored him with copics and fussy cut him. I added some white gel pen highlights.

I wanted to create a splashy watery background for him, and this is how I accomplished that :

I used water color powders, sprinkling them onto my water color card stock : 

Then I spritzed it with water :

and used a straw to blow the water around. 

I love the richness and unpredictable effect you get, a perfect backdrop for my diver.

The words are typed on my typewriter. The card front is matted onto a blue card base.

I made two similar cards, although adapted one image so he's wearing a swim cap : 

Thanks for stopping by x

You are Beautiful

I am up on the Viva Las VegaStamps! blog today, sharing a postcard I made featuring the beautiful Whimsical Ladies Face with Tears : 

Firstly I used a blue painted piece of card to make my background. I added red, yellow and white acrylic paint and a brayer and my fingers. Then I stamped her and clear embossed her. I used color pencils to make the face area lighter, and added color to her lips, white acrylic to the highlight in her eye : 

The scrap paper that I used to clean my brayer was then used to make the flowers, since obviously the colors are already the same : 

I used a die by Tim Holtz Alterations to cut the flowers, then I layers them and lightly sponged the edges in blue :

I added color co-ordinating brads and layered the flowers and glued them in place around the face : 

A close up of her face : 

Final step was to add some black and white splatters and the wording, which is embossed in white : 

Stamps used :

Whimsical Face with Tears 19773

You are Beautiful 19832

Hope you found some inspiration here :) Nikki x

Be Prepared Mail Art

Today I am sharing some art mail I made for Viva Las VegaStamps! Mail Art Monday :)

Mostly the cards I make are 5.5" x 4.25", so I have used an envelope for that size card. I think in this case the envelope may well outshine the content :

The focal image is Whimsical Gas Mask Guy. I stamped him onto tissue paper and embossed the image. I then painted the back of the tissue paper, to emphasise his jacket and match the color scheme.

The envelope has a Gelli® print background, acrylic paint and stencils. I wanted to get a really vibrant and contrasting color scheme. I used the Writing Chevron stamp to bring my border color into the body of the envelope. There is space for the address in the centre and the stamp top right.

The letters I cut from magazines and glued into place. 

To me this guy, donning his gas mask looks like he is ready for all eventualities !

Mail art is lots of fun to make, and there is weekly inspiration at the Viva Las VegaStamps! blog and facebook group. You should check it out.

Nikki x

We're all in the same boat

I am over at the Viva Las VegaStamps! blog today with this fun postcard.

 I really like this image, Four Ladies in Boat, just look at the expression on their faces, aren't they great :

I guess the meaning of the wording is open to interpretation, deep and meaningful or just humorous .. what do you think ?

For this postcard, I used water soluble powders for the background, I love how the colors swirl and mix when you spritz it with water. I dabbed off the excess water from the sides.

Then I added some of the powder to my craft mat and sprayed it with water. Using this as a sort of stamp pad, to add some cloud like images on my background. I used Smear/smudge stamp to do that :

Then time to stamp my focal image. I stamped it onto the background, and then again onto plain white card stock, which I colored with alcohol markers and fussy cut :

Finally I glued my image over the top of the other, edged the postcard in black and mounted it onto black cardboard. The words were typed on my typewriter.

These ladies are adorable, here's a close up. You can just make out the crystal effects I added to their glasses to make them a little more reflective :)

I hope you found a little inspiration here :) Nikki x

Fathers Day Blog Hop

The Viva Las VegaStamps! design team are celebrating our  males with a blog hop today, in the run up to fathers Day. There is also a giveaway ... more info at the end of this post.

Welcome, you will have arrived from Fiona's blog. 

Here is the card I made. I know, I am being a little sentimental today  :

For this card I used Dylusions sprays in the background. Then added some white acrylic across the bottom and around the edges. I used Doodle Frame with tangerine colored ink around the inside edge. I then coloured Sunflowers with tangerine and olive coloured inks and stamped into the card. While the ink was still wet I embossed it with clear powder and coloured in the petals of the flowers with the tangerine ink to further enhance them.My focal images are the adorable Walking Family. They are stamped onto white card stock with memento ink and coloured with copics and fussy cut. Finally I die cut the word 'Dad' and typed 'We love you' on my typewriter. And the card front was put onto a white card base.

To all the deserving men out there, the Dad's, Grandpa's etc ... Happy Fathers Day x


From here you will hop over to Michele's blog.


But before you go .... VLVS are giving away a pound o' rubber .... one random comment on one random blog on the hop will win ... so make sure you visit all and leave some love :)
What a great prize, have fun on the hop and good luck.


The full blog list for todays hop, incase you want to jump around :

VLVS! 
Corrie Herriman
Jenn Engle
Hermine Koster
Tera Callihan
Fiona Paltridge
NIkki Woodward - you are here
Michele KosciolekDeeDee Catron

Seek Paradise

I am celebrating all things elephant today. Look at this gorgeous and serene animal, Sitting Elephant from Viva Las VegaStamps!  :

 

The background is kraft cardstock. I added a thin layer of  Golden acrylic ground for pastels onto my craft mat and placed the card stock ontop of it and pulled it up. When its dry it gives a really rough textures, even more so because of how I added the medium. I added a little colour with prisma pencils to the background. I stamped my focal image, Sitting Elephant in black stazon, and coloured him with inktense pencils, gel pen, sharpie paint pen and Faber Castell Artist pitt pens. I drew the stem from his hat and added the punched out flower. I coloured around the elephant with prisma colour pencils. I stamped Fantasy Bird in the background in pink ink and clear embossed it.

There's so much texture in this, here's a close up : 

The final thing was to add the sentiment, Seek Paradise and the bakers twine and heart embellishment.

Thanks for stopping by x

I've still go it !

Today I am sharing some fun Artist Trading Card's (ATC's) I made.
And I am over on the VLVS blog too :) 

The star of the show is Senior Lady doing split by Viva Las VegaStamps!

Isn't she fun. Seriously, can you imagine being able to do the splits in later life. Kudos to her. 

In the background that I have also used a stamp from the most current release, Squiggly star collage.

The background is made up of torn music paper, acrylic paint and black and white ink.

A close up :

I actually made a series of these ATC's, here they are : 

Thanks for stopping by, Nikki x

A versatile background

Today I am posting over on the Viva Las VegaStamps blog, with three things I made using the same background, and plate, 1400. This plate is the newest addition to my family and I wanted to try out a few of the stamps. I love green and orange together and this color scheme is apparent on each of the makes here, with the green background and orange rhinestones. 

My makes, an ATC, a tag and a card :

I started this whole process with an inked water colored background. I used water soluble powders, but you could use any water based product. I colorised the whole sheet of water color paper with greens and yellows. Its so pretty isn't it :

I then began stamping and using various portions of the colored background, cutting them down to size. Its a great way to quickly utilise a background you really like, rather than making smaller individual backgrounds :

More info about my three makes : 

The tag uses the funky gal Spikes on head #18507 as the focal point. She is stamped onto the tag directly, and then again onto plain white card stock, colored with copics and  the main head shape fussy cut and glued over top of the stamped image on the tag.  Close up of that :

In the tag background I have also used Measuring Tape #19565 and Mesh Texture # 19569. The words are The Truth is out there #19548

My second make is a card featuring the gorgeous 4" x 4" Sun background #18366, which I paired up with the sentiment Hello Sweetie #19148 :

And finally an ATC, using Steampunk Owl #18508, Writing Triangles # 19571 and Texture background #19570. The additional items in this ATC are words typed on my typewriter and die cut branch and cogs. Also I added a layer of diamond glaze/crystal effects to the owls eyes, I like that glassy eyed look :)

Hope you found some inspiration here. Thanks for stopping by.  Nikki x

Reminiscing ...

I wanted to share with you an 4.25" x 5.5" card I made using a stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps!, this adorable angel pigs stamp, which contains two pigs. Seriously how adorable are they :)

 I think the pigs are looking very thoughtful, sitting up there in the clouds with their angel status ....  reminiscing perhaps about the past, about the days of rolling, frolicking and cavorting in the mud. Here is a close up of one of the piggies, so you can see how I reached my conclusion : 

The background is stenciled and I used water soluble powders to colour it. The clouds are hand cut and I used a cloud die. I lightly sponged the edges in gray and layered them. The pigs are stamped in black ink and coloured with copics. I fussy cut them and cut off the wings. Then I stamped the pigs again in grey ink, fussy cut and glittered them. I attached and glued everything together.

I thought this might be a great card for sending to someone to let them know you are thinking of them, they are certainly unique and memorable images :)

Thanks for stopping by, Nikki x

If you haven't been to the Viva Las VegaStamps! blog before, there is so much inspiration there, check it out ... HERE 

Eat My Dust

How exciting, my very first post as part of the Viva Las VegaStamps! Design Team. Check out the post on their blog HERE.

I have made a 4"x6" postcard featuring one of the newest additions to my VLVS addiction, erm ... I mean collection ! LOL. 

I enjoyed coloring Lady on Scooter, with copics and metallic pencil, isn't she great. I sure hope I am still scootering at her age!

The wording 'Eat my Dust' is to demonstrate just how fast she is actually going ...  

Can you see the determination on her face :

For the background I wanted to do something in stark contrast to her somewhat conservative demeanor so I went for a northern lights mystical sort of background, with lots of space dust :)

I used mixed media card stock and painted it with black gesso, then sponged on white actylic paint. When that was dry I sponged over the white with alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. Adding color on top of white always makes it appear more obvious and vibrant. I splatted water down white acrylic for my stars :

 Now to really highlight this gorgeous gal. I used my 4" round gelli® plate with green acrylic and a stencil, then I stamped this onto my background and rolled off some of the excess paint on the roller to make the ground and added a little green into the sky :

This green whimsical moon-like sphere was perfect to highlight the focal image. I adhered my image to the postcard with miracle tape. Finally I added the wording 'East my dust' with letter stickers.

Thanks for stopping by, Nikki x

Viva Las Vegas Stamps - Whoot whoot

I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining the awesomely talented Design Team over at Viva Las Vegas Stamps. This will be a very exciting and fun venture ....

Check out the announcement Here on the VLVS blog 

If you aren't familiar with their stamps, you should go and check it out, there are thousands of images, suitable for absolutely any tastes. And if you ever visit Las Vegas you should pop into the bricks and mortar store. I just love them and am looking forward to the months of creating ahead...

I love how DeeDee (DT lead) described me, totally summed me up where I have been trying to define myself for years : Her style is fun and whimsical with a touch of hilarity. 

I have played many times at the VLVS blog challenges. It is my fave type of challenge actually, a monthly inspiration board, HERE is the link to March's, and there are also trades in the facebook group, Viva Las VegaStamps Groupies. As well as lots of awesome inspiration at both :)

Let the fun begin and hope to see you there x

Fish Fingers and Custard anyone ?

I bought one of the fab Dr Who plate from Viva Las Vegas stamps a while ago (#925). I just love it ... I can actually make it fit any occasion ! Here I have used fish fingers and custard.

I decided to make a surprise ATC for a friend, she is a BIG Dr Who fan, and especially of Matt Smith as the Dr. In one of his earlier episodes he ate fish fingers and custard - not to everybody's taste I imagine ... a little bit like art ! 

My ATC : 

The background is made with dylusions sprays and acrylic paint. I die cut the picture frame using a Spellbinders die and painted this with gold lumiere paint. Its very shimmery in real life.

For the fish fingers, I put molding paste onto a piece of card stock with a pallet knife and made the texture bumpy. When it was dry I painted it with acrylic paints, then stamped the image with stazon ink and fussy cut them. Don't they look kinda real ! The bowl was stamped on acetate with stazon ink and fussy cut, the custard is yellow card stock. This was all glued together and added to the ATC. Finally I put micro beads below the bowl for some added dimension, and wrote the words with a gel pen :)

I sure hope my friend likes it :)

Viva Las Vegas Stamps postcard trade

I decided to join in a postcard trade at Viva Las Vegas Stamps. We had to make four 4x6" postcards, mail them and then get three back from other players :) One will be be displayed in the store. 

The title was Fall Harvest. Here was the glitch ... All my VLVS images are quirky and weird beings. I did not have a single fall or Halloween image ... So I improvised :

Here is my make using Some of the Dr Who images from plate o rubber 925 

I was quite amused making this, that she is covering her eyes. I am a big Dr Who fan, its such a wonderful and quirky show, glad I finally got to use this stamp set I bought recently.

The background is made with Dylusions paints, there is lots of embossing, fussy cutting and stamping, close up :

 And here are my four postcards, all on their way to DeeDee at the store in Las Vegas, hope my swap partners like them :)

Thanks for stopping by, Nikki x

Making gift packs of cards

So much fun to make card packs as gifts.  

Here is the set I made, using predominantly Viva Las Vegas Stamps, although the dog in the hammock is Stampotique :

I don't have brusho's, but I love the look so attempted to recreate it here using Dylusions sprays, I think it worked out pretty well actually :) I wet the card stock then removed the spray nozzle from the bottles and splatted (highly technical term! LOL) the ink onto the card stock. The colors ran and blended. Images stamped onto white card stock, colored and fussy cut.

Sending cards as gifts, I mean how much would each cost in a store ? And could you even get some original and textured pieces ? I sometimes feel that home made cards are under valued and people don't want to pay much for them, but would rather go into a store and pay $5 plus for a printed one ? Makes no sense to me .... 

Here is each individual card : 

Thanks for stopping by :)

Viva Las Vegas June challenge

This is my last make for the June challenge at Viva Las Vegas Stamps. 

I cant believe this is my third make. LOL. I bought the stamps last month and I have been having such a great time with them, they are so quirky and original.

My card using the bee hung up image and Time flies : 

I liked the combination of flying insect and wording, that time flies :) 

The inspiration board for the June challenge was DOTS, letters and alphas, grunge, insects, moths, butterflies, spray paint, drips, splatters, paint, distressed, scribbles, black, white, lime, green, blue, turquoise, and more!

I got the colors, the splatters, dots, grunge, insect etc. 

I do not own brusho's but like the look they give, so I recreated that look here with Dylusions sprays : I wet the card stock, then removed the spray mechanism from the bottle and splatted (yes, a highly technical term ! LOL) ink onto the saturated background. Pretty neat effect I thought and fairly similar to the brusho/watercolor look :)

Thanks for stopping by x