Masked Ball - By Barb Black

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!

************************

I've been playing with masks, Rubbermoon stamps, and IMAGINE Crafts products and some Gina's Designs laser cuts... and I've been having a ball!

It all started in October when I bought some inexpensive paper pulp masks. It so happened that they arrived right around the same time as a whole bunch of goodies from the above-mentioned companies. I dove in and only emerged when I was told that it was time for dinner.

For this one, I began by painting the mask with a sponge using dark blue, purple, and black acrylic paint. 

Once dry, I stamped stars all over it using Rubbermoon's star stamp from the Dust Collection set and Silvery Shimmer Delicata ink. I wasn't sure I needed another metallic inkpad, but, wow! The Delicata metallics really stand out and I love them.

After the ink dried completely, I drew in some light "veins" (for lack of a better word) with Black Diamond Stickles. I drew on eyelashes with Diamond Stickles. 

I gave the "cheeks" a few spritzes of IMAGINE Craft's Sheer Shimmer Spritz in silver. Then I glued on some rhinestones that I've been hoarding for a few years.

For this next mask, I was itching to go all steampunk with some of Gina's Designs Texture Sheet Gears.

I began by sponging metallic copper acrylic paint all over the sheet of gears.

I let it dry slightly and sprayed it with IMAGINE Craft's irRESISTible in bronze. IMAGINE Craft's irRESISTible sprays stay beaded up for texture. In this case, it makes it look like the gears were victim to an oil leak. Pretty cool, huh?!

I set the gears aside to dry and went to work on the mask. I began by spraying the blank mask all over with IMAGINE Craft's Sheer Shimmer Spritz in silver. 

I used Tim Holtz masks and sponged on thin copper and gold acrylic paint for some of the gears.

I outlined the eyes with Black Diamond Stickles and made little metallic beads with Copper Liquid Pearls.

I cut out the gears to fit the face and glued them on. Once they were in place, I filled some of the holes with IMAGINE Crafts Pico Embellisher in black, and with a few rhinestones.

After playing a little with the IMAGINE Crafts Pico Embellisher, I decided to go a little crazy with it. So, I did another butterfly mask.

For this one, I sponge-painted the mask with various shades of yellow and orange. Then I sprayed it liberally with IMAGINE Craft's Sheer Shimmer Spritz in gold. 

Once it was dry, I doodled all over the lower half and drew "veins" on the top half using IMAGINE Craft's Pico Embellisher in both black and white. I also outlined the entire piece with the Pico Embellisher. 

I added dabs of other colors using Liquid Pearls.

Again, I finished it off by gluing some rhinestones in place.

I hope you've had as much fun looking at these as I had making them. To see other projects I've done, please check out my blog at In the Studio with Barb. Thanks!

Fall Paints a Pretty Picture

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!

"In between fall’s final harvest and winter’s first bite comes a golden hour, a time to mull things over, plan for next time, and feel thankful for all the good fortune that drifted our way while we were too busy to notice."

I think this is my all-time favorite quote about my all-time favorite season of the year, and the inspiration for the art journal page created below.

I prepared my base with a layer of  Golden Acrylics, then added envelope scraps and portions of a vintage fall scene postcard.  The white gesso circle in the center will house another portion of the vintage postcard.

Next I added a scribble frame (Stampin' Up) and two leaves in the lower right corner (promotional leaf-shaped cards from Starbucks). 

Then I had some fun with Imagine Crafts irRESISTible color texture sprays in Cottage Ivy and Bronze. You can see the delightful dimension they add in the photo below.

To ensure my final images showed up clearly on top of the acrylic paint and irRESISTible's ink, I stamped with my all-time favorite standby ink pad: Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko StazOn ink in Jet Black and Ganache. Additional stamped images from Stampin Up: Hardwood and RubberMoon: Carved Leaf, Carved Leaf Corner, Round Tree, Mixed Media Scribble, Mixed Media Corrugated, Paint Brush and Kre8tiv Elements stamps.

I double stamped the Mixed Media Scribble with white gesso and StazOn Ganache and highlighted the paint brush with an irRESISTible Pico Embellisher in Wedding Dress (white).

Now, please take a moment during your Thanksgiving holiday weekend and "feel thankful for all the good fortune that drifted your way while you were too busy to notice."

by Colleen Bodvig

Winter Wonderland Triptych: RubberMoon stamps and 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!

I was very excited to create a piece for this Imagine Craft-RubberMoon blog share.  I am a long-time fan and user of Tsukineko inks and mediums, but are so many new options that I had a hard time choosing what I wanted to do.  I decided to try using their sheet metal in ATC size to create a stand-alone holiday triptych that I can use year after year. I chose the StazOn inks in Ganache, Emerald City, and Gothic Purple to colorize the scene and enhanced it all with clear Goosebumps and irRESISTible Texture Sprays in white and green.

I began the project by prepping the metal with a quick-drying product named GlazeOn.  This is a wondrous new project that works in two ways.  First, it acts as a ground to help the inks adhere better to the metal. Second, it allows you to layer the solvent-based StazOn inks so that you can create in layers. Pure genius.  I let the GlazeOn air dry for ten minutes and then squeezed some white StazOn reinker onto the metal and spread and textured it with a cosmetic sponge.  I repeated the process on the other side and let dry.  My project was now ready for the composition.

 

I added the ground with Ganache using a pouncing motion and a cosmetic sponge.  When dry, I added some opaque white StazOn reinker for snow.  I continued the scene by stamping RubberMoon's 5 Snowy Trees, added small and larger stars that were part of the RubberMoon Mail Club in black StazOn, and used a cosmetic sponge to lightly color the trees for a base coat.  Looking to add interest to the trees, I added some dots to the trees with the end of a paintbrush using the Gothic Purple StazOn.

 

          

I sealed that layer with GlazeOn.  Once dry, I used the inksplat stamp to add some texture to the sky area and then split up the sentiment and applied with black StazOn. 

Again, I sealed the layer and then set about using the irRESISTible green ink to darken and shade the trees.  This added more depth and interest to the composition. You can see the color difference in the first picture below.  To add more visual and tactile texture, I sprayed white irRESISTible ink and then finished with clear Goosebumps spray and let them dry. 

 

When dry,  I used a ruler to mark, used a 1/16" hole punch, and then added the jump rings.

Here is the triptych laid out (front).  The different textures really stand out, even in the photo.  The back looked empty with just the white background on top of the metal, so I reproduced the ground and then used my favorite StencilGirl stencil, Layered Salad,  by Terri Stegmiller.  I used the irRESISTible green on a cosmetic sponge first to support the color scheme on the front.  I then repositioned it and used black StazOn to finish.  I finished with a spray of irRESISTible white for that snowy look.  

I love the textural look of this project and enjoyed working with these new products from Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts, and, of course, it is always wonderful working with RubberMoon stamps. Thanks for joining me in my winter wonderland. As always, you can find more of my work on my site or on Facebook at Nancy Curry Art.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.