Enter the Magical World of Carnival Bizarre featuring Blockheads Stamps!

Roll Up!  Roll Up!  Get your Tickets Here!

Enter the magical yet strangely peculiar world of Carnival Bizarre...if you dare!

Hello Stampers!

I'm so excited to share my latest Blockheads Design Team project with you all!  I've had a fabulous time designing a dimensional carousel-like piece housing 3 booths and showcasing a variety of Blockheads Paper Arts rubber stamps!

 

So come with me and enter CARNIVAL BIZARRE!

CARNIVAL BIZARRE ENTRANCE

THE QUEEN FAIRY'S CARNIVAL BOOTH

THE JESTER'S CARNIVAL BOOTH

MATERIALS and SUPPLIES

 Rubber stamps by Blockheads Paper Arts

PrismaColor coloured pencils 
I used the following colours on the entire piece:

  Canary Yellow, Crimson Red, Peacock Blue, Blush Pink, Sienna Brown, Indigo Blue and Violet

PrismaColor Gold metallic paint pen - fine point

Gold metallic paint pen - broad point

Versafine Onyx Black ink pad

Black Sharpie - ultra fine point

Ancient Page Chocolate ink pad

Distress Inks:  Walnut Stain, Fired Brick and Weathered Wood

ColorBox Fluid Chalks ink pad - Prussian Blue

Dark Cream cardstock

Tim Holtz Core-dinations Cardstock - Terracotta (red) and Stream (teal)

Tim Holtz Alterations Poker Face Embossing Folders set - available at Blockheads and Sizzix

Sizzix Postage Stamp frame die cuts

Stipple brushes

Bone folder

Heat gun

Glue dots and Black Pop Dots

Double-sided sticky tape and Permanent Adhesive Tape runner 

Glue Stick

Post-it notes

Ruler, pencil, scissors

Assorted ephemera:  tickets, foil coins, tiny paper scrabble letter tiles

CARNIVAL BIZARRE

TUTORIAL

Draw the Carnival Booth panel 3 times in pencil on dark cream cardstock and randomly stipple Walnut Stain Distress Ink onto the lower sections just to grunge it up a bit.

Mask off the right hand side of the first stripe of the Booth Awning with post-it notes and apply Fired Red Distress Ink directly to the cardstock to add dark texturing.  Then colour the entire stripe by applying the same ink with a stipple brush.  Do the same to each alternate stripe.

Apply Weathered Wood Distress Ink to the remaining stripes in the same way but this time I also stippled Prussian Blue Fluid Chalk ink over the Distress Ink to achieve the colour I wanted.

Outline the Booth Awning with a black Sharpie and stamp a portion of the Flourish design onto each stripe with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  I used post-it notes to mask each stripe again.

Stamp the whole Flourish image at the top of the Booth Awning and the two large flower medallions in the remaining space.  Do all the above steps on all 3 Carnival Booths and then cut out just the awning portion including the ball shape at the top.  Leave a quarter or half inch border on the bottom sections just to help with the next stage of stamping.  You'll know what I mean when you see the other photos.

Stamp the Victorian Lamp Post 5 times onto the same dark cream cardstock.  I stamped the whole lamp once and then just the glass light part 4 times.  Colour them with Canary Yellow, Crimson Red, Sienna Brown and Indigo Blue.  Add a touch of metallic gold to the filaments with a fine point PrismaColor paint pen.

Score a fold line down the center of the 4 lights and the 3 carnival booths.

Cut out the lights and adhere to the circles at the top of each carnival booth with a glue stick.  You can see the border I left on the bottom section there too.

I embossed two Terracotta and two Stream pieces of Tim Holtz' Core-dinations cardstock with his Queen of Hearts and Joker of Diamonds Texture Fade embossing folders.  I sanded some areas to reveal the core of the cardstock and also distressed them up a bit with an old black cube ink pad and also a touch of an old gold cube ink pad for a bit of grungy glam.  I used old ones that are no longer juicy for a more dry-brushed effect.  For a bit of bling I highlighted the card suites in metallic gold.

Now for the Stars of the Show!

 Stamp the Queen Fairy and the Jester onto the same dark cream cardstock in black Versafine ink and cut out.

Colour the images and add gold detailing with a fine point PrismaColor metallic gold paint pen.

Stamp and colour 3 of the Carnival Bizarre tickets too and cut them out.

The first Carnival Booth is for the Queen Fairy so I decorated her space accordingly with a collage of various images.  First create a mask of the awning scallops from post-it notes and mask that area off.  Stamp the Daisy border in black Versafine and colour.

I then stamped the French Script, Diamond background, Butterfly and Flourishes and coloured them.  I pulled all the collaged images together with PrismaColor Sienna Brown.  I added dots of metallic gold to the diamond background with a broad point metallic gold pen and small dots to the butterfly and flourishes with a fine point.  For the right hand side of her booth I adhered the Queen of Hearts embossed playing card at an angle and trimmed away the excess.  I then cut out the bottom section, edged and outlined the entire booth in gold and folded the booth in half along the score line.

The second Carnival Booth is for the Jester and I decorated his space with the Diamond background, two large ornamental Flower Medallions and Flourishes - the dude does wear tights after all LOL!  I used the same range of PrismaColor pencils to colour and added gold dots to the diamonds and details to the flowers and flourishes too.  I Adhered the Joker card to the left hand side of the booth at an angle and trimmed away the excess.  I then cut out the bottom section, edged and outlined the booth in gold and folded the booth in half along the score line.

The last Carnival Booth I did is actually the 'Entrance' to Carnival Bizarre so I decorated that space with a collage of the stamp images I used from the two 'Star Attraction' booths and coloured them with the same PrismaColor pencils and paint pens.  I then repeated the same process of cutting out the bottom section, edging in gold and folding along the score line.  All the booths are now ready to be assembled together.  This part was a bit tricky but I used a glue stick which gave me enough time to match all the parts together by wiggling them in place before the glue set too much.  I trimmed away any bits that didn't line up or just camouflaged the areas with metallic gold paint pen. 

Now all the booths are ready for decorating!  For the Entrance Booth I created framed posters of the Stars of the Show with a Sizzix postage stamp die and two more coloured images of the Queen Fairy and Jester.  I coloured the frames in metallic gold and adhered the images to the backs of the frames with tiny bits of sticky tape and added the 'Q' and 'J' card suites from the two extra pieces I embossed earlier (which you can see in the photo below). 

From my stash of ephemera I pulled out two gold English coins made of metallic foil that I'd saved from chocolate money and dulled the shine a bit with Chocolate Ancient Page dye ink and heat set the ink with a heat gun.  I adhered all the pieces to the booth with a combination of dimensional glue dots and double-sided sticky tape.

I mounted the Queen Fairy inside her booth by attaching her to one side with a 'Z' shaped folded tab made from dark cream cardstock.  I attached the 'Z' tab to the back of her and then to the right hand side of the booth in such a way to ensure she folds outwards at an angle into the center of her booth.  I adhered the lamp post with mini black pop dots for extra dimension.  I finished off her booth with the word 'Queen' from my stash of tiny paper scrabble letters I made years ago for use in my DominoART.

I added the Jester to his booth in the same way and included the word 'Jester' in tiny scrabble letters and a Carnival Bizarre Ticket too.

The final touch for the Entrance to Carnival Bizarre is a banner I made from a roll of attached tickets.  Those tiny paper scrabble letters worked perfectly to spell out 'Traveling Circus' on my Entrance banner.  I tore the ends of the banner and adhered just those end bits to the Entrance awning.  The banner pops out with the join of the tickets facing outwards.  

Carnival Bizarre is meant to be displayed in the round but it can easily be flattened for mailing by folding just the Entrance booth in half with the ticket banner pushed inwards.  The Queen Fairy and Jester fold flat onto just one side of their booths too so they don't get bent.

I thoroughly enjoyed designing this piece and I hope you like it as much as I do!

Comments as always are very welcome ;0)

For more Blockheads inspiration check out Karen, my fellow Design Teamster's blog!  She has a gorgeous Faux Batik Technique to share with you and she also used the Painted Butterflies stamps!

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

Blockheads Design Team

Take part in my Kinetic Challenge over at Blockheads Paper Arts!

Happy Friday Everyone!

I'm an official designer for Blockheads Paper Arts and I'm hosting the first of our new Design Team Challenges!  So if you're a Blockheads fan and would love to enter then here's all the info!

I challenge you to create one of my 'kinetic' projects and submit your creation on the Blockheads Facebook page to win a $25 Blockheads gift certificate plus more incentives (see below)!

What's a 'kinetic' project you ask?  Basically it means a work of art that depends on moving parts for its effect and in the last month or so I've designed two projects that fit the bill.  

Check out my 3D Pop-Up Easter Egg card and my Ladder Folio tutorials.  

Click on the photos to view the tutorials!

Spring 3D Pop-Up Easter Egg Card

Imagine the Possibilities Ladder Folio

To enter my Kinetic Challenge all you need to do is decide which project you'd like to try your hand at and get creating!  Feel free to alter my templates slightly if you need to change something to suite your creation.  The themes of your projects are also up to you, i.e they don't have to be the same themes I used!

Challenge deadline is June 12 

The winner will be announced in the next Blockheads Newsletter.

KINETIC CHALLENGE CRITERIA:

For your Challenge entry to be considered you must either use only the Blockheads line of rubber stamps and/or images from the other stamp companies Blockheads sells! 

 Please ONLY use the images that Blockheads carries so double check Blockhead Paper Arts' website!

Please include the details of the stamps you use with your entries! 

As an extra incentive to use only the Blockheads line of stamps you will also receive 1 point per card submitted to a maximum of 5 points towards earning Blockheads Rewards!  Those of you who have ordered from Blockheads Paper Arts this year, have probably noticed you can earn points, through purchases, toward a $20 gift certificate.  Enter the Challenge and give your points total a boost to earn your $20 gift certificate even faster!

The winning entry will be posted on the Blockheads blog, on my blog and Karen's blog (my fellow Design Teamster) for everyone to enjoy too!

So who is up for my Kinetic Challenge? 

Good luck & happy stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

Blockhead Paper Arts Design Team

Goth Girl Gift Ensemble featuring Blockheads Rubber Stamps!

My art usually tends to lean towards fantasy imagery and I do adore magical creatures like fairies and vampires and I confess, I'm also a closet Goth!  I just can't pull off those red plaid pants, chains and I'm not into the skull stuff like Abby on NCIS ;0)  So I've been having a ball getting my inner Goth Girl on by designing a Goth inspired gift set featuring a fancy tri-fold card, a DominoART necklace with a matching gift box for my latest Blockheads Design Team project!

The star of the show is Blockheads Paper Arts' Goth Girl - DC503-1D rubber stamp, which is one of Di's Characters and there's also a matching Goth Boy stamp too, accompanied by the Diamond background stamp from the Backgrounds for All Occassions BG501 sheet.

I used the following supplies for the Card and Gift Box 

Ink pads:  Colorbox Fluid Chalk Maroon, Versafine Onyx Black,

Brilliance Galaxy Gold, Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics:  Cool Gray 3, 5 and 9, R46 Strong Red, R00 Pinkish White,
B000 Pale Porcelain Blue and Black 0.3 Multiliner
Black, Burgundy and White cardstock
Gold metallic paint pen (broad and fine point)
Martha Stewart Score Board
Stamp Positioner
Spellbinders Diamond Nestabilities

Quickutz or Sizzix Matchbox die
Double-sided sticky tape and Permanent Adhesive tape runner
Antique gold embellishments
Antique gold chain
Tiny antique gold round brads (look in the Tim Holtz section)
Mini gold safety pin
Mini hole punch
Paper Trimmer and scissors
Stipple brush and q-tip
Plaid ribbon
Post-it note to make a mask

So let's get started with the card!  Stamp the Goth Girl with black Memento ink onto white cardstock suitable for Copic markers.  To get the burgundy colour of her dress I laid in a base of Copics Cool Gray 3 and 5 and went over it with R46 Strong Red.

Her hair, corset and gloves are a combination of Cool Gray 3, 5 and 9, eyes are B000 Pale Porcelain Blue, skin is R00 Pinkish White and I used a 0.3 black multiliner for touch ups.

Cut out a diamond shaped panel with a Spellbinders Diamond Nestabilities die and create a background by stippling on Maroon Fluid Chalk ink.  I used a post-it note to make a mask just to protect most of the stamped image and a q-tip where I wanted more ink.

I added touches of gold bling to her necklace, corset and ring with a fine point metallic gold paint pen and edged the Goth Girl panel with a broad point metallic gold paint pen and adhered it to black cardstock with permanent adhesive tape runner.  Then trimmed it leaving a narrow black border and did the same with burgundy cardstock.  I then used two larger Diamond Spellbinders dies to cut out black and burgundy panels too.

Once I knew the size of my final diamond panel I was able to determine the size of my asymmetrical tri-fold card which I made from black cardstock.  I scored the folds and stamped the left hand panel (the front of the card) with the Blockheads diamond background design in Brilliance Galaxy Gold pigment ink.

I then stamped up a sheet of burgundy cardstock with the diamond background in Versafine Onyx Black ink with the aide of a stamp positioner.

Cut out two panels for the inside of the card and trim the right hand edge of the larger panel following the diamond pattern and edge both panels in metallic gold.

Punch two tiny holes into the left and right points of the Goth Girl panel and attach one end of a length of antique gold chain to the left point with a tiny antique gold brad.

Loop the chain and attach it to the right point with a brad.  Layer the Goth Girl panel onto the two remaining diamond panels and adhere with double-sided sticky tape. 

  

Adhere only the left hand side of the diamond to the front of the black card with double-sided sticky tape and attach the other end of the chain to the card with a mini gold safety pin.  Adorn the left hand side of the card with antique gold dimensional embellishments.

Adhere a length of plaid ribbon to the right hand edge of the card and the burgundy panels to the black card with permanent adhesive tape.  For variation I cut the burgundy panels so that the diamonds lay horizontal (the gold diamonds on the black card run vertically).  Finish off the card with two more dimensional embellishments on the left panel too.

I really love the way my Goth card turned out and I think the chain rocks ;0)
Now let's get started on the DominoART necklace!

I used the following supplies:
Standard white domino
Ancient Page Coal Black dye ink pad,
Sharpies:  Pomegranate, Slate Gray and Black
Gold metallic paint pens
Jewelry findings and tools
Judikins Diamond Glaze
Plaid ribbon
Heat gun
G-S Hypo Cement adhesive   (look in the 'other glue' section)

Stamp a portion of the Goth Girl onto the domino with Ancient Page Coal Black dye ink and heat set.

Apply colour with Sharpie markers using my 'Sharpie Domino Queen' technique.  For more info on my technique see the links at the end of this tutorial too!  I sketched in a diamond pattern on her dress and then used Pomegranate and Black for her dress and the background and a combination of Black and Slate Gray for her hair, corset and gloves.

I hand drew a diamond design on all four sides of the domino and added gold dots with a fine point metallic gold paint pen.  I also added gold bling to her necklace, corset and ring as well.  I sealed all the surfaces with Judikins Diamond Glaze and attached a gold leaf shaped bail to the back of the domino with G-S Hypo Cement adhesive.  I finished off my DominoART pendant with a necklace made from the same plaid ribbon I used on the card.

Now for the matching Gift Box!

 

I used a Quickutz Matchbox die set (Sizzix also has one) and cut out the two sections from black cardstock. 

I scored the folds on my score board and then stamped a portion of the diamond background on just the ends of the box base in Brilliance Galaxy Gold pigment ink.

  

I used the scored sections of the box lid to determine measurements and cut four panels from the stamped burgundy cardstock I had left over from the card and edged them with a metallic gold paint pen.

 

I used double-sided sticky tape to assemble the box base and lid and then adhered the panels to the lid with permanent tape runner adhesive, slipped the box base inside the lid and wrapped the box with the same plaid ribbon and finished with a bow!

The links to my 'Sharpie Domino Queen' technique are below but first I want to let you know what's happening on my fellow BH Design Teamster's blog!  Karen has two wonderful cards to share with you using one of my favourite Blockheads flower stamp collections!

 Thanks for stopping by, I'd love to hear what you think of my creations and please feel free to ask me questions!  'Here's all the info on my 'Sharpie Domino Queen' technique:
My published article in Somerset Studio July/Aug 2003 issue, which is also up on my website here:
Velvet Paw Creations.com.

I'm completely re-designing my entire website but most of it is still up for browsing though.  

You can also see more of my technique via my blog's
Project and Tutorials Index menu under
 'TECHNIQUES:  The Sharpie Domino Queen Technique'.

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

Blockheads Design Team