Wall art on an art journal page

Hi!
Hope your weekend has started well.
I wanted to share with you a page I made in my new art journal book:

The page is a fun collage with inked and stamped background. My favourite techniques, and my favourite stamps. True art journal pleasure!

I made a simple picture tutorial for this project; it can be read in the Viva Las VegaStamps! blog. More info on the stamps I used is at the end of the post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Hop with Imagine and Precious remembrance Shop: Day 2

Hi and greetings from Finland!
Welcome to our Blog Hop, organized by Precious Remembrance Shop and Imagine!

Starting yesterday the design team members of both companies have been sharing with you lots of amazing projects and tons of inspiration - enjoy and have fun!

The blog hop comes with a cool giveaway: Hop along and leave us some comments on each blog you've visited. Please also show us some love!:) Like and Follow both companies on Facebook and Instagram:

Precious Remembrance Shop: Facebook , Instagram
Imagine Crafts: Facebook , Instagram

There are two amazing prizes for lucky winners:
One winner will get 'School Days' and 'Totally' stamp sets by Precious Remembrance Shop. Those are the stamps I have used in my projects; I love them!
And another lucky winner will get a $30 Gift Certificate from Imagine Crafts.
How cool is that! 

Here's a list of design team members and their blog posts for Blog Hop day 2:

Lisa Elton
Kelly Lunceford
Greta Hes
Helen Gullett
Rosemary Dennis
Steph Ackerman 

Melissa Andrew

Nadine Carlier

Martha Lucia Gomez

Roni Johnson

Jowilna Nolte

Kyriakos Pachadiroglou

Iris Rodriquez

*** Elina Stromberg *** You are here!

Kassy Tousignant

Jennifer Vanderbeek

The blog hop ends on May 19.  So there's still plenty of time to visit the blogs, to leave your comments, and to get a chance to win a fun prize!

My second project is a stamped, stitched, and heat-embossed Thank You card:

For the card front I chose a piece of plain kraft cardstock. I stamped the pattern with yellow ink as I did not want the ink to show too much under the stitches. Once the yellow Memento was dry the lines could be seen only very gently which was just the result I wanted to gain.
I used only one stamp, but rotated it by 180 degrees after each line.

Using three strings of the pink and embroidery yarns I stitched the stamped pattern.

The sentiment text I stamped on a piece of vellum, and heat-embossed using copper embossing powder. Before adhering the card front on the patterned background paper I attached the vellum strip on the back of the card. With both ends secured between the cardstock layers the strip did not have to be glued on the card front.

I like how the card background looks like. Hope it inspires you, too!
If you missed the blog hop posts from yesterday (blog hop day 1), please have a look at my ATC card post yesterday. Blog hop ends on May 19, so there's still plenty of time to participate.

Thanks for participating in our blog hop and for visiting my blog.
Wishing you a wonderful day!

Blog Hop with Imagine and Precious remembrance Shop: Day 1

Hi and greetings from Finland!
Welcome to our Blog Hop, organized by Precious Remembrance Shop and Imagine!

Today and tomorrow design team members of both companies are sharing with you lots of cool projects and tons of inspiration - enjoy and have fun!

The blog hop comes with a cool giveaway: Hop along and leave us some comments on each blog you've visited. Please also show us some love!:) Like & Follow both companies on Facebook & Instagram:

Precious Remembrance Shop: Facebook , Instagram
Imagine Crafts: Facebook , Instagram

There are two amazing prizes for lucky winners:
One winner will get 'School Days' and 'Totally' stamp sets by Precious Remembrance Shop. Those are the stamps I have used in my projects; I love them!
And another lucky winner will get a $30 Gift Certificate from Imagine Crafts.
How cool is that!

Here's a list of design team members and their blog posts for Blog Hop day 1:

Lisa Elton
Kelly Lunceford
Greta Hes
Helen Gullett
Rosemary Dennis
Steph Ackerman 

Melissa Andrew
Nadine Carlier
Martha Lucia Gomez
Roni Johnson
Jowilna Nolte
Kyriakos Pachadiroglou
Iris Rodriquez
*** Elina Stromberg *** You are here!
Kassy Tousignant
Jennifer Vanderbeek

Here are pictures of the projects I made; a pile of grungy ATC cards:

For the background of the cards I used white mixed media cardstock that I colored with pink Fireworks! mist. I applied several layers of color, drying the mist inbetween layers. The white splash marks are made with plain water; I splashed drops of water on the misted paper, let the water react with the pink color for a few seconds, and then lifted the color by pressing the cardstock with a paper towel. Before decorating the background with Precious Remembrance stamps I dabbed some white acrylic paint on the cards.

When stamping, I did not attach the stamp on an acrylic block, but just held it in my hand. This way I was able to get more control of the stamp, and to use the image only partially. First I stamped triangles on the cards with red StazOn, and then crossing stripes with black StazOn.

Once all mists, paints and inks were completely dry, I stitched some of the triangles with dark pink embroidery yarn. When sewing, I used 3 strings of the yarn. The ends of the yarn I hide between the back and front card layers.

The texts are stamped with Precious Remembrance stamps, too. I cut the words out, and glued on the ATC's.

I like how the ATC's turned out. Hope they inspire you, too!

**If you're interested in swapping one of the above ATC's, please leave me a comment with your e-mail address using my blog contact form (link on the top of the page). I'd be happy to send you one of the cards!**

Thanks for stopping and happy hopping! Be sure to leave comments (one per blog) during these 2 days so you can be entered to win our cool prizes. Winners will be announced on the Precious Remembrance and Imagine Blogs at the end of the month. Good luck!

Stencil techniques on a pink art journal page

Hi,
I love stencils. There are so many cool designs out there, and one can never have too many of them! Usually I use stencils for creating cool background patterns and textures, but some stencil images are perfect for collaging, too!

The inspiration for this art journal page was a StencilGirl face stencil I’d been wanting to try out for some time already. Instead of dabbing ink through the stencil or using gesso or texture paste, I decided to build the stencil face from black cardstock. 

Before creating the face image, I prepared the background. The first layer of color was misted, using the vivid ‘Lilac Posies’ color from Imagine Fireworks! series. Once the color was dry I added texture: I mixed pink Fireworks! spray ink with white texture paste and stenciled random patterns on the pages. Once the paste was dry I started stamping; first using magenta acrylic paint and a piece of bubble wrap as my stamp, and then continued with regular stamps. For the triangles I used a Cocoa Daisy stamp set, and the black dots I stamped with the end of a plywood pencil. As finishing touch I added a hint of white by stamping white acrylic paint on the page using a plastic roll.

For the face I wanted to try a fun collage technique fun technique; I placed the face image on black cardstock, traced the face parts with a thin pen, and cut out. The larger pieces I cut with scissors, but for cutting the smaller parts I used a craft knife. For assembling the face on my art journal page I used the stencil as my guidance. It made the assembly job so much easier!

The quote was picked up from Pinterest, and for cutting the letters I used my die-cutting machine and Sizzix alpha dies. I’m happy with how the page turned out!

Wishing you a wonderful day!
Hugs,