STAMP BOLDLY with RubberMoon by Ceci Córdova Shrine Crazy! (part 1)

RubberMoon has new shrine stamps!  I was so thrilled when I saw them and I'm so glad I have them now, in my own hands, so I can play with them and show you what can be done with them.

"What would I do with a shrine stamp?" you might ask.  Well, that's why I'm here today:  to give you some ideas of things to do with your new shrine stamps and all the wonderful accessories Kae Pea made for them. 

Well, the first answer to the question: "What do I do with a shrine stamp?" is "Stamp with it, Silly!"

Here are two of the shrine images without embellishment....in their simple beauty: 

This is how they arrive: simple, plain, and effective.  Perfect to just stamp on a card or package or lunch bag.....You can write the recipient's name in the center open space or not, as you wish.  Just stamp it and you are done.  They are pretty cool just as they are.

But, wait!  There's MORE!

Do you think I'm going to buy a stamp that has only one use?  It hasn't happened yet!  There are so many ways to use these shrine and accessory stamps and I will show you some of them today:

I stamped this shrine and decorated it with other stamps from the shrine collection and some from the general catalog of RM stamps, also.  And then I colored it in....oh, that was fun!  I used color pencils: a combination of Crayola and Prismacolor.

A different shrine with a different personality and focus.  Again, I used stamps from the Shrine collection and from the general RM catalog: anything can go in a shrine and ANYTHING can be made to be a charm or milagro.   

Milagro means "miracle" in Spanish and in Mexico small charms of silver or base metals are sold and used to illustrate one's prayer.  As an example, a milagro in the image of a leg may be taken to the church and hung or nailed to a designated place as part of a petition for health or recovery from a leg injury.  Different body parts are available depending on which body part is in your prayer or petition.  The little charms hanging from the bottom of this shrine could be just decoration or could be to specify which body part we are praying for.

By putting a little darker color on one edge of each image, I gave the milagros and the hand a little more dimension.

As you can see, you can make these somber or exciting,

But....that's not all!

I like stamps with versatility.  I like doing fun stuff with them and finding new ways to use them. 

The following are in black and white but no less exciting for that.

The upside down shrine top makes a great banner.  It might take a few tries to line them up evenly but don't worry.  You'll get it right.  And it's way cool even if you don't have a smooth transition. 

Of course you can color these, also, if you desire.

Here are more variations using the shrines and shrine parts:

Honestly, I got a little carried away with this one.....it's way full and busy.....crazy exciting!  And I'm using a KP stamp which is not from the shrine collection but works well with the pieces.  Mix and match!

Below is a variation with the Mary stamp.  I like this.  It's much simpler and more peaceful than the previous altar, above.  I like the way the small altars give it the sense of dimension, almost like they are resting on a mantelpiece or shelf.

I built this next altar and then drew an arch over it.....no shrine stamp but many ways to make shrines using the decorations and accessories in the collection.

The truth is, when I first saw the parts, I couldn't wait to get my hands on these stamps so I could try the following ideas:

I was so excited to play with them, and it was so satisfying when I finally did!

I thought about people who don't know of a shrine tradition in their own heritage and tried to think of how we can make it more ecumenical.  Here's my first effort at multiculturalism in RM shrine stamps:

And....well......I am a doll maker.  I love making dolls of all kinds, and some are jointed.  This is what the milagros called for initially:

Yeah.  They're crazy but fun.  

I encourage you to get wild and mix them all up together, making shrines and non-shrines, serious and playful images, traditional and nontraditional, useful or not, using any or all of the stamps you have.  Enjoy them and the process of making them.

I would love to see what you come up with.

Please send photos of your work to Beauty(at)LittleBitsOfMagic(dot)com with the subject line: "Shrine Crazy!" and I will post them here for show and tell.

That's all for today, but I will be back to explore more dimensions of RubberMoon Shrines with Stamp Boldly in Shrine Crazy (part 2).  See you soon!

..........

Ceci Córdova is a midwife, mother, and artist, working with sacred art and plain old fun art.  You can work with her in her Seattle studio where she teaches art and pregnancy related classes.  In October, join her for classes in making Sugar Skulls in preparation for Day of the Dead.  Contact Ceci at Beauty(at)LittleBitsOfMagic(dot)com (subject line: "Sugar Skulls class") for more information, dates, and times.  Looking forward to seeing you!

It's Always Sunny at RubberMoon!

Can I just say... I love Sunny Carvalho's line of stamps at RubberMoon! They are fun and whimsical, and I love fun and whimsical. It's rare that I send a serious card to anyone, so I'm always on the lookout for stamps that are different, but that mirror my... oh, let's call it quirky... my quirky sense of humor.

I read just last week that adult coloring books are all the rage now. For some of us, coloring has never stopped being all the rage. Maybe we should change "all the rage" to "all the happiness". Because what takes us back to happy childhood feelings the way that coloring a plain black and white image does? Maybe throwing a water balloon at some poor, unsuspecting soul, but they'll kick you out of the coffee shop for that.

*ahem*

Sunny's images are great fun to color in. The designs leave endless possibilities for color combinations and work well with colored pencils (which is what I used), watercolor, crayons, pens, sharpies, etc. I often use a blender pen dipped in ink when I work with some of these stamps.

Where will your imagination take you? Happy Crafting!

RubberMoon Stamps Used

Lucy Bird
Lucy Bird 2
Cat's Eye
If Cats Could Talk They Would Lie
Lucy
Happy Thoughts
Heart Wand

Hamsa Earrings

Remember when we were kids and we used to play with Shrinky Dinks? They were those little plastic images that we'd put in the oven for a few minutes and watch them as they got smaller and smaller. I recently reconnected with my inner kid and played with stamping images on polyshrink (the same material that Shrinky Dinks were made of).

I decided to try and see what would happen to RubberMoon's Hamsa stamp. I was so delighted with the result that I just had to make a pair of earrings. 

Polyshrink shrinks to about 40% of its original size. You can see below the difference between the original size and the heated size. 

To make the earrings, I simply stamped the polyshrink with StazOn ink. Then I colored it in with colored pencils. Keep in mind when you do this that as the image shrinks, the colors intensify and darken.

Before shrinking the image, I punched a hole at the top to attach the earring findings. It's important to do this before heating, as it's impossible to do after.

All I had to do once the images were shrunk was to attach the earring findings. It took very little time, and now I have unique, lightweight earrings to wear! It's also a ridiculously inexpensive way to make fun jewelry.

Oh, and the gold Hamsa that I first experimented with? 

I turned that into a pin. 

So Simple

Remember that long ago day (well, for me it was long ago)? It was a rainy summer day, you were stuck indoors with nothing to do, then suddenly the day brightened as Mom handed you a new coloring book and a fresh pack of colored pencils or crayons.

As much as I love making a mess and experimenting with new products and techniques and goo and glitter and doo-dads, sometimes I just need a moment to color like I did in times of yore. So, that's what I did with this card. I stamped the images and sentiment, then got out my bin full of colored pencils, and took a short trip back to my childhood.

Often people say, "I'd love to do what you do, but I don't have the time or money to invest." With something this simple, you're out very little - a piece of cardstock, a couple of rubber stamps, and a box of pencils from the dollar store. As for time? You can do this anywhere - waiting for an oil change, watching TV, sitting at a picnic table in the park.

It really takes so little to be a kid again. Mostly all we need to do is give ourselves permission.

For this card, I used the following RubberMoon stamps:
Happy Thoughts Words
Lucy
Beautiful Balloon Girl

"It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."
~Pablo Picasso

Dimensional ATCs - RubberMoon Stamps & Imagine Crafts, Cross Promotion

IMAGINE Crafts and RubberMoon Art Stamps are excited to share with you the amazing projects that our design teams have created to kick off the Holiday Season! Over the next few days, we'll be sharing with you inspiration and techniques using IMAGINE Crafts' line of ink products featuring rubber stamps from RubberMoon. Be sure to visit the IMAGINE Crafts and RubberMoon blogs daily for more projects and ideas!

"Dimensional ATCs"

by Martice Smith II

Hello friends! This is Martice, sharing two examples of how to add a simple dimensional effect to your artist trading cards (ATCs). Let's get started!

For my examples, I used Bristol ATCs, measuring 2.5" x 3.5" and 2" x 2" art square from Inchie Arts, LLC.

No need to prime or prep the surface of these cards...Just jump right in and create!

Artist Trading Cards and Twinchies from Inchie Arts

For the first Dimensional ATC, I chose these stamps:

Large Fern
Frida
Kae Pea - Wings

This ATC was created with a layer of paper, matboard, plastic and stamped images.

"Watch me GROW" Dimensional ATC

* Starting with an artist trading card (ATC), I lightly dabbed the surface and sides with Memento Luxe ink pad in Bahama Blue.

* Next, I mixed chartruese green and phathalo blue to create a subtle ombre effect. I used a sponge dabber to apply the mixture of paint onto the Large Fern stamp.

* I stamped the Frida stamp onto white paper, colored with Prismacolor colored pencils, added some doodling with a white ink pen and cut out the image with an craft knife. She's attached to a 2" x 2" art square, sprayed with irRESISTible Colored Texture Sprays: Electric Yellow (Neon).

* In the bottom corners, I used a Chinese metal stamp that reads "Growth".

(Each layer was added with foam dots, to give dimensionality.)

I love the look of the butterfly wings! It was a little experiment for me - I was trying out different inkpads to see which one worked the best on the surface of the Vertigo Sheets (from Imagine Crafts). I decided to go with VersaFine in Onyx Black. After a few minutes, the ink started to "bleed" and darken, so, I quickly sprayed it with varnish. (The wings' edges were painted in liquid gold leaf.)



For the second Dimensional ATC, I used these stamps:

Dogwood Blossoms, top
Alphabet, bottom

 and my very own, homemade washi tape!

Homemade washi tape, made from masking tape

* I blotted the Alphabet stamp in irRESISTible Colored Texture Sprays: Lady Bug (red) and stamped it onto the ATC, flipped the stamp upside down and stamped in another area- just to give it some character and visual interest.

* Next, I added a strip of washi tape near the bottom, a few sprays of Shimmer in silver and sparkle, and a light splattering of black gesso in select areas.  

* I stamped Dogwood Blossoms on a scrap piece of gessoed phone book paper and applied two foam dots to adhere. Look at this sassy ATC!

detail of "Blossoming" ATC

I just love how my homemade washi tape holds up!
If you look closely, you can see that some of the letters appear to have a red drop shadow. This simple illusion was created by slightly offsetting the washi tape over the stamped area (in red).

The finished ATC looks like this:

"Blossoming" ATC

 
I hope you've enjoyed these two examples!
Peace to you and happy creating!

---
Supplies:
Bristol Vellum surface, ATC (2.5" x 3.5")
2" x 2" Art Square from Inchie Arts, LLC.
irRESISTible Colored Texture Sprays: Lady Bug and Electric Yellow (Neon); Imagine Crafts
Memento Luxe inkpad: Bahama Blue
VersaFine Pigment inkpad: Onyx Black
Black gesso

Vertigo Sheet from Imagine Crafts
Metal Chinese Stamps
Sheer Shimmer Spritz - Silver and Sparkle
Foam dots - small

RubberMoon stamps:
kp5025 - frida
Large Fern - Art Stamp
Kae Pea - "Wings" - Rubber Art Stamp

ge2234 - dogwood blossoms
rm2594 - rubbermoon alphabet

RubberMoon loves Tombow! #tombow100

Hi. It's me, Kae Pea! I was pretty thrilled when Tombow asked me to join in on the 100 days of Tombow blog hop! My participation in this hop helps a great cause ($100.00 worth of product to the Council for Arts Education for each person participating) and well, you know that I love a good artsy challenge! I have used and loved Tombow products for a good number of years and RubberMoon Art Stamps and Tombow supplies are a match made in crafting heaven!

Tombow sent me such a nice package of things to play with, including Tombow dual tip markers, a Stamp Runner adhesive roller and a wonderful box of Trojiten colored pencils. Aren't they great?

Products from Tombow

 As soon as I saw the great box that the pencils came packaged in, I knew I wanted to make a travel art box!!

So I got started right away....I pulled out a few extra materials....

Materials used in this project:

1. Tombow Dual tip markers (in assorted colors)
2. Trojiten Colored Pencils from Tombow ( and I used the box they came in to create this project!)
3. Tombow Stamp Runner adhesive roller
4. white glue
5. white gesso
6. a flat paintbrush
7. a few RubberMoon stamps (including a small Ultimate Red Rubber Palette)
8. (2) pieces of coordinating decorative papers and a scrap of cardboard (for insert)
9. assorted colors of acrylic paint
10. a black inkpad

 

I cut my scrapbook paper to size and a piece of cardboard to line the inside and set it aside.

    I opened up the box and laid it flat. I  brushed white glue all over the outside, making sure to cover the entire box.

I covered my entire box with one piece of decorative paper. (though you could collage lots of different pieces too.)

 

Make sure your paper is smoothed down well and glued on all edges....

Next, I used my Tombow Stamp Runner adhesive and ran some adhesive on my cardboard insert and the inside flap of the box so I could line both with more of my coordinating decorative papers.

Adhere your papers...and glue your covered cardboard into the bottom of the box.

 YAY! Now the box is covered inside and out and it is time to Stamp, play and COLOR!!!

I dry brushed avery small amount of white gesso onto my outside cover. I just did this to break up the pattern of the paper a bit so my stamped images would stand out a little better. I was very sparing and only did very light coverage.

and then...I stamped my chosen RubberMoon Stamps using black waterproof ink.

and colored the images in using my Tombow markers and colored pencils!

I also took my favorite paint splatter stamp and "inked" it up using acrylic paint.

I squeezed out a bit of paint onto The Ultimate Red Rubber Palette and spread it out evenly using a sponge brush to make a thin layer of paint. I then tapped my stamp onto it to get paint onto the stamp...

I repeated this process three times with three different colors of paint (cleaning the palette between paint applications). It added so much fun, colorful texture and was just what I needed for my artsy pencil case. See?

I finally added just the right sayings to the back and the inside and then filled it with some art supplies to take along with me so I can make art and journal wherever I go....

back of my artsy pencil case

front of my artsy pencil case!

Ta da!! 

 RubberMoon + Tombow = Paper Craft Love

 I hope you enjoyed this project! I know I sure did!

Thank you Tombow!!

Sending Moonbeams,

Kae Pea

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