Blog Hoppin'

Welcome to the Inchie Arts and StencilGirl Blog Hop!

Hi, it's me Kae Pea! Owner and artist at RubberMoon.
We are so excited to be a part of this hop.
Here at RubberMoon we love Inchie Arts art squares and StencilGirl stencils!

I created a great piece of framed art using a few supplies and I wanted to share this fun project with you.

Here are the materials I used for my piece of art:

• 4" Inch Inchie Art Square (I used white but other colors would be great too!)
• Wheel In the Sky Stencil ( I designed this one but there are so many awesome stencils to choose from!)
• gouache and acrylic paints ( I used my favorites but you choose yours!)
• paint brush
• baby wipes 
• RubberMoon stamp "True Free Spirit" (this one is by Mindy Lacefield and there are so many more great sayings and images at RubberMoon.com!)
• ready made frame with a 4 x 4 opening
• black ink pad

1. Paint your Inchie Art Square with gouache*
(it is important to use gouache for this layer so you
can easily remove color with your baby wipe.
 you may use acrylic, but it will not come up as easily.)

2. Place the portion of your stencil that you want to use
over your painted Art Square and remove
color with your baby wipe by gently rubbing and patting.

3. Remove your stencil and now paint and stamp with acrylic
paints. I used some texture/mixed media stamps from RubberMoon.

Here is my Inchie Art Square...painted, stenciled and ready to stamp!

I used the "true free spirit stamp" I only used the words
"free spirit" by masking off the word "true"...
I placed my finished art into a 4 x 4 white frame.

Would make a great gift but also looks perfect in my studio!

Thank you for visiting! And thank you to Inchie Arts and StencilGirl for inviting us to hop!

Leave a comment ON ANY (or all) of the blogs involved in the hop as your entry

We'll be picking one lucky winner to receive a 

$25 StencilGirl Gift Certificate and

1 package each of White 4", 3", ATC (2.5" X 3.5") and Swatch (2" X 4") size Art Squares!

All comments left on the hop list participants’ posts will be entered. 

One comment per blog. 

Comments close on January 30^th @ 11:59PM Central.
Winner will be announced on January 31^st.

January 25

StencilGirl Talk
Mary C. Nasser
Mary Beth Shaw
Lisa Lee

January 26 
StencilGirl Talk
Maria McGuire
Gwen Lafleur
Dina Kowal

January 27 
StencilGirl Talk
Janet Joehlin
Sharon Harnist
Kae Pea  <<<YOU ARE HERE! Thank you for coming by!

Thankful for RubberMoon

I know I gush about the RubberMoon Mail Club all the time, but only because it really is that great. Every month I look forward to whatever surprise is going to land in my mailbox. When my beloved comes home from work, he always stops to get the mail on the way in. Each month there comes a point that he walks through the door and announces, "You got something from RubberMoon." I will not confirm it as fact, but it is entirely possible that I emit a squeak of delight when I hear that.

I will, however, confirm that I emitted such a squeak this month upon actually opening my package. Because... Wow! What a great bunch of goodies! Just look - it felt like my birthday or Christmas or something.

This month, not only did I get the very cool, exclusive frame stamp from RubberMoon (which I used to make the card above) and art sample (inspiring as ever from our own Kae Pea), but a bunch of other goodies from other noteworthy companies that joined in the fun. There was an extra rubber stamp from 100 Proof Press, Art Squares from Inchie Arts, chip board die cuts from Gina's Designs, and an ink pad from Impress Cards & Crafts!

All of this makes it the perfect time to say how very thankful I am for RubberMoon and the constant inspiration I get from RubberMoon stamps, yes, but also for Kae Pea who tirelessly (I'm sure it only seems that way... she must be exhausted) runs the place all while making art of her own, and for the amazing, creative group of fine folks that make up the MoonMail Club. You may have noticed that when I end these blog posts, I always ask, "Where will your imagination take you?" I always hope that you'll take it both literally and figuratively. After years of playing with all kinds of different rubber stamps from nearly every company there is, my imagination took me to the doorstep of RubberMoon... and for that, I am truly thankful.

I used the frame stamp to make a quilted looking Christmas card because I was already in Christmas card making mode and had all my other Christmas stamps and colors out already. I used various other RubberMoon stamps to fill in the frames. Those stamps include:

FaLaLa
6-sided Snowflake - Small
Sprinkles Cube
Tiny Elf
Party Planning Penny (last month's MoonMail offering)
Reindeer Border
Christmas String o' Lights


Other Products Used:
StazOn Solvent Ink various colors
Stickles
Gold Gel Pen
Liquid Pearls
Water-based markers
StazOn Studio Glaze
Glossy cardstock

August Moon Mail Fun

I was, as usual, delighted to get my little package from the RubberMoon Mail Club this month. There are always extra fun little goodies included. This time, in addition to the fun little leafy stamp from RubberMoon, it included an extra stamp and faux postage paper from 100 Proof Press and new 2 x 4" pieces from inchie arts.

I was immediately inspired. Since I'm constantly digging for my mail box key - it always seems to find the most remote corner of my purse - I decided to make a special key chain for it. This was so easily done!

I began by punching a hole in the top of my inchie arts square. Then I used the beautiful leaf stamp that Kae Pea designed. By the way, this was one she designed back when RubberMoon was barely a dream, thinking that one day it would make a really cool stamp. That day has come, and it is a cool stamp!

I used StazOn ink to do all my stamping because it is a solvent ink and won't run if it gets wet. I used sharpies to color in everything for the same reason. Five minutes later, I had a nifty new key chain and my digging for the mail key days are over!

Then, because it was hot and humid and I was feeling surly about that, I used the stamp to make a snowflake. Yeah. I'm very much done with summer weather. Can you tell?

Where will your imagination take you? Happy crafting!

RubberMoon Art Stamps used
Exclusive Moon Mail stamp
New Moon

Other products used
inchie arts squares
StazOn ink
Sharpies

Wait! That's not all!!! 

Through Sunday, August 16th, RubberMoon is having a 15% off sale on Halloween and Christmas stamps! Check it out!!!

It's a Hoot!

I was so thrilled to receive another package from the RubberMoon Mail Club last week. Look at all that stuff! I got, as usual, the exclusive stamp that only Moon Mail Club members get, plus a couple of pre-folded card backings from Inchie Arts, plus a piece from Gina's Designs Mixed Media Fragments 1. As always it was accompanied by a newsy note from RubberMoon's Kae Pea, as well as a fun print of her art work.

I have Father's Day on the brain, and knew immediately what I wanted to do with the piece from Gina's Designs. I thought it would work perfectly with RubberMoon's Happy Father's Day stamp.

I began by using the piece from Gina's Designs as a stencil. I simply set it on my cardstock and liberally spritzed the entire thing with Fireworks spray. Then I lifted the piece off and coated it with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink, to which I added clear embossing powder. I heat set the embossing powder and it gives the piece a really cool, slightly metallic shine.

By then, my cardstock was dry, so I used the same color of ink again to stamp the sentiment. To give it a little extra something, I dotted on some Liquid Pearls in dark chocolate.

(Is all this talk of chocolate making anyone else hungry?)

I assembled my card and adhered it to one of the pre-folded cards from Inchie Arts.

I thought I was done, but that adorable owl stamp that came with my package would not stop staring at me! So, I made a bookmark.

For the bookmark, I stamped the owl twice with StazOn Jet Black ink then colored in the owls using Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils. I gave the eyes a little extra sparkle with some yellow Stickles and finished off the "hoot" by hand-lettering the "h" and "t". All it needed was a colorful ribbon.

I love getting these surprise packages in the mail from RubberMoon Mail Club. It's like a little bit of Christmas on an ordinary day. I never know what's going to be in the package, so the inspiration kind of leaps out of the package along with the goodies. Add to that the fun and inspiration we have in the Facebook group... well, what's not to love?! You could say it's a hoot!

See you next week and Happy Crafting!

RubberMoon Mail Club Fun

Hi, Barb here, and I must tell you about The RubberMoon Mail Club! 

I just signed up for it last month and after my first packet, I'm wondering just what took me so darned long! It's like getting a fun little present in the middle of the week for no real reason. And aren't those the best kinds of presents?!

What I received was a fun newsy note from Kae Pea, the rubber stamp that she designed (shown in the above picture), an Inchie Art ATC Square (also pictured above), and an extra surprise stamp from 100 Proof Press. I was - you guessed it - over the moon.

Because I really had other things that needed to get done, I started playing with the stamp instead. I'm a total gold medal champion at the Procrastination Olympics. For some reason I had this phrase in my head, uttered many, many years ago by a rather precocious child I was caring for. When I asked, "Why are you so crabby today?" He replied, "Do I look like the bluebird of happy nest?!" The poor kid was so sincere in his obvious misery, that I had to run off to another room to laugh.

So, for whatever reason, I was thinking about it, procrastinating and playing with my new stamp, and this happened...

I turned the Inchie Art ATC square into a magnet, and used the large Chubby Crow stamp for my non-bluebird. At first I was kind of annoyed that bits of my embossing powder had stuck to the background, but then I decided to like it because it made him look a little unkempt and grumpy. I used a sharpie to add the quote.

And, because I had nothing better to do (ohyeahright), I made a card using both new stamps.

There you have it. I hope you'll join us in the RubberMoon Mail Club. It's so much fun. And, hello... a new stamp (and other goodies) every month. How could that be anything but good? 

Day 4 with Sunny Carvalho

Celebrate our new product launch….with Inchie Arts

As you know, we carry several different sizes of the popular Inchie Arts Art Square products. And when they decided to launch their new 4” black Art Squares they invited us to announce and sell it first. 

In fact, it was one of our artists (thank you Sunny!) that nudged Inchie Arts to introduce this particular size and color.  To celebrate, we invited a handful of our designers and artists to let creativity fly with the new 4” black Art Squares. 

Every day from now through Saturday we will be posting amazing creations from Lisa Lee, Barb Rogers, Lindsay Ostrom, Sunny Carvalho, Jessica Sporn and Kristen Powers.

And on the Inchie Arts blog, ALL IN AN INCH, Lisa will be sharing lots of techniques and tips for all sizes of black Art Squares from 1" to 4".  

A few things you may not know about black Art Squares:

·        they are made from 100% cotton (not paper)

·        they are a super black with the 'black' sourced from natural ebony

·       they are a perfect 4 ply substrate for direct art application especially acrylic paints, white and metallic detail pens, colored pencils, Pan Pastels, stamping and embossing with white or light colors, chalk board style work and photo creations.  

Day 3 with Sunny Carvalho-It's a Paint Party on the Square!

Made with one of my newest stamp images from RubberMoon, "Mermee Waves"  I stamped the image  using a white Staz On stamp pad. I then used torn pages from an old book and collaged them along the bottom of my 4" Black Art Square to create 'waves'. I drew in my jumping fish and big rock using a white paint marker. Next, I used Golden Fluid Acrylic paints to paint my images and background. I used my white paint marker again to add in the stars and dots and lines around the collage bit in the top upper corner. I Love working on the black surface as it helps to make the colors pop and gives the illusion of such glowing color.

Below I wanted to share a painting I created using the New 4" Black Art Squares. I began with Titian Buff acrylic paint to create my underpainting. From there I layered many washes and colors of paint. You can see in the progress pics the many layers it takes to get the depth and values! I had so much fun painting on these new Inchie Art Squares and I know you will too!

create an underpainting using a light color

begin to add color and block in other areas and shapes

continue to layer your paints

more color and value, begin adding more detail

final washes of color and detail to make it pop!

TA DA!

Hope you enjoy working with my RubberMoon Stamps and Inchie Arts new black Art Squares as much as I do!

For more of my art and creations please visit my Etsy Shop!

Thank you,

Sunny C.

Day 3 with Lindsay Ostrom-Doodler Extraodinaire!

Celebrate our new product launch….with Inchie Arts

As you know, we carry several different sizes of the popular Inchie Arts Art Square products. And when they decided to launch their new 4” black Art Squares they invited us to announce and sell it first. 

In fact, it was one of our artists (you know who you are SC!) that nudged Inchie Arts to introduce this particular size and color.  To celebrate, we invited a handful of our designers and artists to let creativity fly with the new 4” black Art Squares. 

Every day from now through Saturday we will be posting amazing creations from Lisa Lee, Barb Rogers, Lindsay Ostrom, Sunny Carvalho, Jessica Sporn and Kristen Powers.

And on the Inchie Arts blog, ALL IN AN INCH, Lisa will be sharing lots of techniques and tips for all sizes of black Art Squares from 1" to 4".  

A few things you may not know about black Art Squares:

·        they are made from 100% cotton (not paper)

·        they are a super black with the 'black' sourced from natural ebony

·       they are a perfect 4 ply substrate for direct art application especially acrylic paints, white and metallic detail pens, colored pencils, Pan Pastels, stamping and embossing with white or light colors, chalk board style work and photo creations.  

Day 3 with Lindsay Ostrom!

Hi there! My name is Lindsay Ostrom and I am a designer of 

stamp art for RubberMoon Art Stamps. I have been designing for over 

30 years now. Man, i'm old.

I love drawing and doodling and do it every day. 

Stamping, well... that is something I don't do too often.

Like I said... I draw the pictures for the stamps you love to

use from RubberMoon. But it has been a challenge and an honor 

to create these mini masterpieces from Lisa's Inchie Arts black

squares and KaePea's Rubbermoon stamps.

Basically, I stamped the image ( for this one I used the Dogwood

stamp and the little polka dotted heart ) and then I used 

some clear embossing powder so that I had a nice raised edge

to color inside. The rest of what you see is my doodling, lettering and 

coloring with Prismacolor pencils.

I do alot of craft fairs and I love to make and sell signs out of 

wood. I chose to do the same with these lovely little 4x4 

black squares. I used a crop-o-dile to punch holes in the board 

and then used rusty wire and beads to make a little hanger.

I used my most favorite and expensive tool, the trusty

paperclip, to twirl the wire and keep the beads from sliding and 

rolling around. I use all kinds of fun glass beads on the hanger.

these Inchie Arts black squares are light weight

enough that they will go through the mail as a sweet little 

gift with not too much postage.

And the Prismacolor pencils as so soft and blendable...

they were a fabulous match for these black art squares.

I love the scribbly look... it's kind of my signature doodle.

For this piece with the stamped heart tree, I used a SIGNO white pen

which is AMAZING on the black squares. 

Love , love , love!!!

 

My next favorite pen to doodle on these black babies

is the Kuretake ZIG Painty Twin pen. You get two colors, gold and 

silver. This is the gold pen here for the Happy Trails

sign. The Little Miss Sunshine stamp was stamped in white

with white embossing powder and then given her

 stripes and color with Prismacolors.

Did you know that gold is the new black?

I LOVE them together!!!

Here is Little Miss Sunshine (happy camper) stamp in the dark of the night. Parked on 

some hill in the middle of a star filled night. Stamped in white 

and embossed with clear embossing powder again. Tons of white ink from

the SIGNO pen and lots of lovely colors from all my 

fabulous PRISMACOLOR pencils. All that pretty glitter on the moon

is the Wink Of Stella clear glitter pen... one of my new fav's .

After I finished all the little beauties, I sealed them with a 

UV spray sealer just to keep the pencil from smearing around. It also

tends to enhance the color in the pencils. I love to use it.

Thanks to Lisa from Inchie Arts

 and Kristen from RubberMoon for this fun project. If 

you wanna see how I used these with some on the spot doodling...

check my blog  http://lindsayostrom.blogspot.com/

and I have a little give away going on featuring 

these super cute little stamped signs.

Until we meet again!!!!

Day 1 with Lisa Lee

Celebrate our new product launch….with Inchie Arts

As you know, we carry several different sizes of the popular Inchie Arts Art Square products. And when they decided to launch their new 4” black Art Squares they invited us to announce and sell it first. 

In fact, it was one of our artists (you know who you are SC!) that nudged Inchie Arts to introduce this particular size and color.  To celebrate, we invited a handful of our designers and artists to let creativity fly with the new 4” black Art Squares. 

Every day from now through Saturday we will be posting amazing creations from Lisa Lee, Barb Rogers, Lindsay Waltman-Ostrom, Sunny Carvalho, Jessica Sporn and Kristen Powers.
And on the Inchie Arts blog, ALL IN AN INCH, Lisa will be sharing lots of techniques and tips for all sizes of black Art Squares from 1" to 4".  

A few things you may not know about black Art Squares:

·        they are made from 100% cotton (not paper)

·        they are a super black with the 'black' sourced from natural ebony

·        they are a perfect 4 ply substrate for direct art application especially acrylic paints, white and metallic detail pens, colored pencils, Pan Pastels, stamping and embossing with white or light colors, chalk board style work and photo creations.  

Day 1 with Lisa Lee - Patterns...and a chalkboard effect

Begin by randomly stamping a 4” black Art Square with the positive paisley drop from RubberMoon KRE 8 TIV Elements set using white pigment ink. 

Once dry, draw over the stamped lines with a Signo white opaque pen.

Using the same white pen, draw open shape patterns within each of the paisley drops. Don’t make them too small as you will be coloring in each of the spaces you create.

Prismacolor pencils work beautifully on the black Art Squares and the lighter colors really stand out – like chalk on a chalkboard! And, if you look carefully each paisley drop has on space that has been colored with either a silver or gold metallic pen as a nod to a favorite artist of ours named Hundertwasser, who used this technique in much of his work!

And if you would like your very own package of black 4” Art Squares, they are available here at RubberMoon!

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

TEXTURE, STAMPS & SPARKLE!!!

I am sooooooo happy to be a part of the Rubbermoon Creative Team!!! Why, you ask?

because I truly cannot contain myself when it comes to TEXTURE in my paintings...

and RUBBER STAMPS are PERFECTO for all kinds of groovy patterns!

(and rubber stamps are like chocolate...one can never have enough...)

Allow me to show you why texture bedazzles me so.....

I begin with a 6"x6" canvas and assorted supplies.
a happy gathering of stamps, ink, paint, sparkly bits, -  the whole 'kit & caboodle' 

*and of course, a  1920's vintage advertisement for washing your undies...

cuz you never know what direction this project may take...

First, I 'frost the canvas' with a layer of Liquitex light modeling paste medium...I use a thin trowel, but anything with an edge will work - I have used a piece of cardboard in a pinch.                                                    I really should own stock in this product  - it's completely addictive - consider yourself warned...

just smooth it on, no need to be perfect. Dont'cha just love when someone tells you it's ok to be imperfect???  I do.

now, the FUN begins!!!!!!! 

Press a square into center of canvas.......

then LIFT it back off...........

I am THRILLED with how this Matboard Square (above) from Inchie Arts LLC

works like a charm!!!! 

I mean, just LOOK at the pattern after 'liftoff' !!!! I wasn't initially sure where I was going with my center image before I pressed the Inchie Matboard Square, but now I clearly see a branch-like pattern...

I am going to rotate it so it looks like a pretty little winter scene...and that way I can add sparkle without guilt. hee hee.

it could also easily translate into an underwater scene with seaweed...and glitter...

That is the utter beauty of the creative process for me. Start with a vague plan and allow the project to    e  m  e  r  g  e.

 Now to indulge in a lovely 'frame' for the winter scene,

starting with this wonderful Rubbermoon ink splatter stamp! 

how about a border pattern using only the top half of this Rubbermoon Diamond stamp?

oh yeah...

how fun is this???????

I use this vintage letterpress 'O' stamp (below) to make some scallops

above the half-diamond border. Then I use the other end of a paintbrush to further define and connect shapes.

allow to dry about 2 hours, then lightly sand any sharp points.

paint the 'frame' metallic gold

and sides too...

fill in your 'center image' with light wash of acrylic paint. I used 2 of my favorite colors, aqua and periwinkle, then I gently rubbed the color off  to soften it.

add a realistic aged patina to the 'frame' by smudging Rangerink Distress inkpad on raised surfaces.

now it's just refining the details...draw a black border around scene. I used a sharp charcoal pencil for a 'hand-drawn' effect.

* Charcoal can also add subtle shading to your scene, settling into tiny crevices, and lifting off raised parts.

Then.............can't resist  .........MUST... ADD... SPARKLE!!!!!!

I glue tiny swarovski crystals to the sky.......

and

dust a bit of Martha Stewart fine glitter into the scenery

then, yellow winter sun, a tiny red glitter heart, some snow-blob-doodles

and 

DONE!!!!!! 

ok, so I didn't get to incorporate the fun vintage undies advertisement into this project...there's always next time....

see more of my stories and projects on my blog and Etsy shoppe @ www.sparkly-heart.blogspot.com

or find me on Facebook - lori sparkly franklin