Looking forward to 2017

For my design team make at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativities and their new 'Anything Goes' challenge, I have made an art journal page ... 2016 was not a good year for many people, and I don't know about you but I sure am looking forward to ringing in a New Year :

The stamps I used are, Back view of woman, spray webbing background stamp and Old typewriter alphabet SOTA. 

Happy New Year, I hope its a good one for you, Nikki x

It's a Party !

It's that time of year ... the season of the (dreaded !) Christmas party ...

This gorgeous gal from the Mini Manga set by Lost Coast Designs is certainly looking the part, heading out for the first party of the season :

The girl is stamped and colored with alcohol markers, then her dress and boots are clear embossed. She has been fussy cut.

The gorgeously rich background is made with Nuance powders by Magenta, and when it was dry, I stamped 'It's a Party!' from Party Words by Lost Coast Designs and embossed them in white. I added a little red washi tape and matted the ATC front onto red card stock.

Hugs and best wishes for the season, Nikki x 

Anything Goes Challenge

Today we have a brand new challenge at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, Anything Goes. As much as I like the challenge of creating to a theme, its fun to be free and create whatever your heart desires :)

I have used this gorgeous stamp, its her first inking, and I loved her even more than I thought I would. Meet Feather Diva with Face : 

For this card I created a water color background with nuance powders and a water spray bottle. I firstly added the orange and red, then when it was dry I added the blue across the top and made it run with the water. 

Feather Diva was stamped into the background in black, then I also stamped her onto plain white card stock and also onto a co-ordinating colorised piece of card stock. This was all fussy cut, her face and feathers colored with copics. I paper pieced her dress. I used a charcoal pencil to add some shadows and the ground. I like to ground my images, rather have them floating. I also used a saying from Travel Quotes and lightly stamped images from the travel stuff set in the background. 

Thanks for stopping by, and go and check out the other inspiration from the DT for this challenge, and more :) We have regular events and giveaways, its lots of fun at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity :) 

Hugs, Nikki x

Believe

Morning, Nikki here :) and today I am sharing a card I made for the new challenge over at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, Water color background. I really enjoy this look and it is complimentary to so many images. For my water color effect background  I have used nuance powders, which are for sale at Lost Coast Designs.

My card features one of the awesome new zentangle feather stamps, Zentangle Feather 1 from Lost Coast Designs :

The feather was stamped onto white card stock and fussy cut.

I used nuance powders in the background, in green and yellow, then stamped the feather stamp without reinking it, so it gives a light, shadow effect.

I added the twine, buttons and white embellishments and stamped the word 'Believe' from the Misc Words stamp set. I sponged lightly around the card, and the final touch was to matt the decorated card onto a white card base. 

I really like this zentangle feather, especially how the traditional black and white zentangle pops off the colored background. 

Mystery ATC

Hi Nikki here on the blog today, sharing an ATC I made for this months challenge at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity. I recently bought Yupo paper and just had to play with alcohol inks on it. I thought the bright vibrant colors and patterns worked really well with this quirky image from Lost Coast Designs. This is one of the Mini flying ladies : 

 

I stamped one of the stamps from the ATC borders set onto this scrumptiously rich background and clear embossed it. Then I cut it to size. I stamped the Mini flying lady on to this paper too, and clear embossed and fussy cut her. I added white details and the word is from the awesome set, Misc words. If you haven't checked out Misc words yet, you should.

There is more ATC inspiration at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, and there will be a second inspiration post on 15th ....

Unrequited love ATC

There are a few things going on over at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, there is our new challenge which is to use something see-through (like acetate) and the Skellie-Fest. I have created an ATC that fits both of the these challenges/events.

Here is my make, an ATC featuring the awesome Winged Skeleton from Carmen's Veranda : 

For my main focal image, I stamped the winged skeleton onto the acetate in black versamark and embossed it in clear powder. I then coloured the back of the image with alcohol markers. I went around the edge in dark grey and added the punched out red hearts. 

Here is a close up : 

There are so many layers here .... The base is a playing card with acrylic paint in black and red. Then I added some white splodges of paint. Next I added a layer of vellum with butterflies on it. Then finally I added the top layer which is acetate. I made the frame from stamping the Swirls and Dots border from Lost Coast Designs onto black card stock and embossing it in a pewter colour. I then cut it down and distressed it and made it into a thin edge border. Finally adding brads and sentiment. I had a happy accident with the sentiment. I typed the words 'unrequited love' on my type writer and when I came to add some of the pewter embossing powder around the sentiment, it also adhered to the typed letters so I was able to embossed them in a matching colour.

Here is a pic of the light catching the front of the ATC, you can more clearly see the detail, layers and texture : 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will check out our events and challenges :)

Diamonds ATC

Nikki here and I would like to share an ATC with you today, featuring the gorgeous gal Manga Goth Dots from Lost Coast Designs. 

Our challenge at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity this month is to add a splash of neon or bright color. I think the pink is pretty bright here, it makes the flowers in her hair appear even bigger !

This gorgeous gal is colored with copics and gelli roll pen for her dress. I wanted to give it a PVC, leather sort of look. She is pretty sassy wouldn't you agree? Hence the words from the song 'Single Ladies' by Beyonce :

"If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it"

See the bling on her finger ? Looks like someone 'liked it' ! LOL

For the background I have used two background stamps. Firstly I stamped Grunge Black Swirl from Carmen's Veranda in a taupe color. Then I stamped the Fourth Dimension stamp from Lost Coast Designs in peacock feathers distress ink and embossed with iridescent ice embossing powder.  I don't normally use much bling, but really thought this ATC was calling out for it. 

Finally I added a few more gems to the background, the words which I typed on my typewriter and I edged the ATC in black ink.

Thanks for stopping by and please go and check out our challenge.

Have a lovely day, Nikki x

We're not in Kansas anymore ATC

Howdy all, for anyone who follows our Events and Challenge Blog, the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, you will know that we recently had a Wizard of Oz themed event.

Who is your fave character in the Wizard of Oz ? Dorothy ? Tin man ? The Wizard ? There are so many great characters to choose from. But there is one group of critters who don't get much airtime, so I decided to honour them .... The Flying Monkeys. Here is my ATC : 

This is one of the monkeys from Three Monkeys by Lost Coast Designs. This one is the speak-no-evil. Its open to interpretation obviously, but I personally think he's laughing about all this freaking people out business ... LOL.  He is stamped in Memento black ink and coloured with copics and gel pen, then I fussy cut him.

The tremendously large and imposing wings (arent they gorgeous) are from Carmen's Veranda. I stamped them onto velum with stazon and clear embossed them. I coloured the back of the wings white with a faber castell artist pitt pen and fussy cut them. And finally glued them to the monkey.

The background was painted with acrylic paint using an old credit card, then I added white lines and dots, and edged it in white. I glued on the flying money and cut off the section of wing that overhung the ATC. Finally I typed the words on my typewriter.

Hope you will pop over to the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity and visit Lost Coast Designs or Carmen's Veranda online stores to get a better look at these stamps :)

Have a lovely day, Nikki x

Lets get this party started !

There is a new Challenge at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity : Lets Party !

Nikki here, sharing a card I made for the challenge, featuring Party Girl from Lost Coast Designs : 

Party Girl was stamped in elderberry memento ink, coloured with copics and white gel pen highlights added,  and I fussy cut her.

For the green in the background I used a gelli print background, then inked up the Sunflower Background from Lost Coast Designs in green ink. Without putting the stamp onto a block I rolled sections of it here and there on the background. I also stamped the sunflower onto another piece of white card stock, then punched this into shapes : the circles and scalloped strip you can see. I sponged a little of the elderberry ink onto them and glued them down. Finally adding some lines with an old credit card and ink.

The words were stamped on my typewriter and the card front matted and glued together.

I really like the contrast here of the elderberry and green, and she is such a great image to work with.

And there's plenty more where she came from .... Check out the other inspiration at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity or the wonderful, varied and unique images at Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda.

Thanks for stopping by x

Valentines : The Human Heart

Hi, Nikki here sharing with you my make for the Valentines Event we just ran on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity... I don't know about you but the lovey-dovey Valentines mood lasts for the entire month of February here :)  

Here is a reversed canvas I made for the Valentines event : 

I had this idea in mind for a while, to use the backside of a wooden canvas for my make, entitled
"The Human Heart'.

Amongst my favourite colors are pink and grey, and in this there is also a hint of blue.  I wanted the main focus of this piece to be the blood red heart, so I kept the other elements subtle and co-ordinating. The skeleton stamp I have used is Winged Skeleton from Carmen's Veranda. Yes I fussy cut it, and sponged it in gray and pink ink. The wings were stamps separately on velum, fussy cut and added for dimension.
Here is a closer look :

To do the background I painted the canvas in pale blue, grey and white paint. Then I added strips of printed paper to the background and around the edges. I swiped my grey stamp pad across it, then I stamped the Grunge Black Swirl stamp from Carmen's Veranda onto the background in pink and then added clear embossing powder to it all and head set.  I dripped watered-down gray paint down the background of the canvas.

I then started work on the border. I stamped the Swirls and Dots border from Lost Coast Designs around the border in grey ink. Then I used a stencil and molding pasts around the edges of the canvas, coloring it with pink ink.I dripped watered-down gray paint down the background of the canvas. The let it all dry .... 

While it was drying I stamped the Roses image, which is a stamp by Lost Coast Designs and fussy cut it. I stamped it in gray and sponged in gray and pink.

The words were added using two alphabets by Lost Coast Designs, Old Typewrite Alphabet SOTA was used for 'The Human' and Heart was done using Licence Plate Alphabet Set. I colored the cardstock with blue acrylic paint, then stamped in grey waterproof ink. I smudged the ink when  wet and added white splatters and cut the out. I also distressed the edges :

And another pic of the finished canvas. You can see I added pink tissue paper and white cotton thread behind the main elements, it added a more feminine touch.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and please pop over to the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity for more Valentines, and other inspiration x

The ocean is my home

Hi, Nikki here. It is no secret .... I am a big fan of Artist Trading Cards (ATC's), and with all this cold weather here where I live, I thought I should create something warmer and what could be more appropriate than a mermaid swimming in the ocean on a warm sunny day.

To create this ATC I used one of my current fave background stamps, Whitecaps, coupled with Star Mermaid with face from Lost Coast Designs.. Have you seen the awesome selection of mermaids, go check it out at Lost Coast Designs.

Here is my ATC : 

The card stock was painted with various blue acrylics, then I heat embossed the whitecaps with pearl white embossing powder, adding some white gel pen to accentuate the white caps. The mermaid is stamped and colored with copics and fussy cut. Her tail and the star she is holding are glittered and the pearl she is holding is dimensional, using liquid pearls. With a craft knife I cut across the waves and slipped part of her tail in. The wording is handwritten. I think she makes a very beautiful focal point in this background.

Reminder that there are monthly challenges at Lost Coast Designs, they start the first Monday of each month at our event and challenge blog. This months challenge is 'Clean and Simple' and here is my make, featuring Cracked Party Cat :

Nikki x

Oh Joy ATC

Hi, Nikki here sharing an ATC I have created for the 2nd day of our Carmen's Veranda Christmas event at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity using two Winter Holidays stamps from Carmen's Veranda : Elf and Christmas Lights.

I titled this ATC : 'Oh Joy'. I mean, just look at the little elf's face ... He looks so joyful LOL

The first thing I did to make my background was apply glue stick through a star stencil. When that had dried I sprayed the background with Lindys Stamp Gang Starburst sprays and let it dry. The Christmas light were stamped in Stazon, then I added liquid pearls to the lights. See how some cracked over the glue stars - I liked that. Some of the cream lights also absorbed the color from the sprays, which was unexpected and welcomed. You see, there are no mistakes with mixed media techniques, only pleasant and unexpected surprises. LOL. I added a little glass micro bead to the base of each light.

The elf was stamped in memento ink, and colored with copics, see how cute he is in this close up:

The final step was to add a couple of thin strips of glitter, I do like a little bling on Christmas projects. The word Joy was die cut from a Tim Holtz word set. The elf was adhered with pop dots to add dimension. And the ATC front matted onto black card stock.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are enjoying our build up to Christmas , with the Carmen's Veranda Christmas event and also our 2nd Facebook challenge, Winter Holidays :)

Dia de los Muertos

At the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity this month, we had a Day of the Dead event, or Dia de los Muertos. This means it's All Soul's Day, celebrated in early November in various European and Latin American countries, especially Mexico. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family who has passed, and help support their spiritual journey.

I made some Dia de los Muertos ATCs, and I really liked the monochromatic look, with a splash of color : 

Here is my make, 3 ATC's featuring the Skull Flourish from Lost Coast Designs :

For these ATC's I wanted a very textured background. I used molding paste and colored it with grey acrylic paint. Then I applied it to the ATC base with a pallet knife and stamped into it with the skull flourish while the now grey paste was still wet :

 I then left the molding paste to dry and went to clean my stamp. I just used an old toothbrush and bar of soap. Its important to wash the stamp before the paste dries on it :

I sprayed the ATC background with black and white dylusions and let it blend and drip. Then I left it to dry. When it was dry I tore the edges, and sponged lightly with grey ink.

I stamped the skull flourish in black ink onto La Blanche card stock, and added a little embossing powder while the ink was still wet and heat set it. I fussy cut it and glued it onto my textured background. I used a C3 copics to go over some of the shading on the skull to add dimension.

See the texture : 

I typed the words on my typewriter and added the flowers and embellishment.

Finally I matted the textured ATC front onto grey card stock that I had edged in grey ink and stamped the mini skulls. It is very faint, but if you look closely you can see them along the edges. 

Here are individual pics of the three ATC's :

Don't forget that we have our monthly challenge on the Lost Coast Postal to Creativity. 

This month we are asking you to make Mail Art. I love mail art, there is nothing nicer than receiving a wonderfully decorated envelope in the mail, stamped and addressed to you.

Here is my creation, using one of the mini flying ladies, circle frame, Old Typewriter Alphabet SOPA from Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda background stamp, Postcard background.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you found some inspiration here, Nikki x

Trick or Treat

This is my second make for the 31 Days Of Halloween, which is taking place over at the Smeared Ink blog, sponsored by Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda. You can check out the Design Teams daily inspiration at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.

Here is my make, featuring Carmen's Veranda stamps Large People Skull and Grunge white swirl background. I also used the Old Typewriter Alphabet from Lost Coast Designs :

The skull image is so great. I stamped it onto glossy card stock in black versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I then added more definition to the shaded parts of the image using grey distress ink and a cut n dry pen nib.

I really love the grunge backgrounds, they are so versatile. I used the white one here stamped over a distress ink background and acrylic splatters. The words are white heat embossed.

The 'Trick or Treat' amused me, both words are pretty relevent to this image ... LOL. Love the sexual innuendo :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Everything Dances

Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda are sponsoring Smeared Ink's 31 Days of Halloween. Every day for the duration of the event, fabulous Halloween inspired art will be shared by the Design Team at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.

For today, here is my make :

For this standard sized card I have used the larger skeleton from Dancing Skeletons. I stamped the skeleton in memento black and added depth and shading with copics, cool greys. I outlined the image in black and fussy cut it.

The background was so fun .... I got the idea for the background behind the skeleton from a Youtuber Shana Conroy, a video entitled Dreams. I painted the background with black gesso, then sprayed dylusions sprays and let it dry. I then splashed watered down white gesso onto the background, put a layer of paper on top and pulled it off. Because dylusions sprays react with water, they started to color the white gesso. I let it dry. Doesn't it look awesome, a perfect backdrop for the skeleton.

I layered this card, matting the black with distressed yellow card stock, and I stamped Carmen Veranda's grunge black swirl background onto the card base which I had first colored with distress inks.

The finishing touch was the words, which I typed on my typewriter. Cut them out and edged in black. I love Maya Angelou, and this quote from her suited this project perfectly I think.

I really enjoyed making this card ... so I decided to make a few artist trading cards too :

I used the exact same techniques and stamps, except for the stamping on the blue background. I used the same grunge black swirl, but this time I used the new ATC sized one. How great to have a smaller version for ATC's. The grunge backgrounds are really great, and there are a whole host of ATC background stamps available at Lost Coast Designs.

The words were quite amusing for one of the ATC's. Who remembers the hit from 1993, "Boom! Shake the Room"? Quite funny to link the old-school hip-hop with the dancing skeleton.

Hope you found some inspiration here and please pop over to The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity and Smeared Ink to see the other gorgeous pieces :) 

Single Layer Card - Challenge #16

The current challenge over at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity is to make a Single Layer Project. That means no layers, no embellishments etc. 

I have used Carmen's Veranda Birds Background stamp to make my card, and thought this
image was gorgeous enough without the additional layers :

This Carmen's Veranda background stamp is gorgeous and actually bigger than an average card front.
I have made a standard sized card here, 4.25" x 5.5".

The background is sprayed with Dylusions, then I stamped the image with archival black ink. I then spent some time using a paint brush to color the image, with various inks and stains. I love coloring, and can definitely see the fascination with coloring books, its just so relaxing and therapeutic. 

Here is my work in progress :

To finish off, I added some dark brown and white gel pen detail and accents. My final touch was to sponge on some yellow distress ink to tone it down a little, and I matted and mounted the card front.

I hope you find some inspiration here, and perhaps you will come and join our challenge to make a single layer project, there are only two days left to link up .....

Reminder that you can use any images you want to join our Single Layer Challenge at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity but if you  use Lost Coast Designs or Carmen's Veranda images you will get double entry to win the prize.

Also, our first facebook challenge is going on.
Have you checked it out yet ?

Check us out on Facebook : Lost Coast Designs Page and Carmen's Veranda.

Hope to see you there x

Insanity Strolls Through

I love quirky and fun images, and there are so many to be found at Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda.

Today I am sharing a fun make with you that you might have seen in our August Circles Challenge on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity. This is the new image : Ballerina with Fish from Carmen's Veranda. How great and original is he :)

The circles were punched out of thick card stock and added to the postcard. I then used my new Dylusions paints to finger paint the background. I stamped and clear embossed the Whitecaps Background stamp from Lost Coast Designs to add some watery texture around the fish - you can just see it in the pic. I mean, the fish may be on a leash, but he still needs to be able to breath - right ! LOL

The Ballerinas dress is colored with distress inks and blending stubbs. The skin and hat are colored with my copics. I fussy cut the image and clear embossed it.

I used my fine liner with fluid white arylic paint to add the detail and dots around the circles to accentuate them, then I glued my ballerina on top, going around him with grey inktense pencil and shadowed the ground where he is standing.

I printed the wording from my computer, cut them out and added to my circles with co-ordinating finger painting. Doesn't the wording work perfectly with the image :

"Insanity does not run in my family.

It strolls though."

Can you think of any other great quotes to accompany this image ? Please share if you do ...

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you found some inspiration here, Nikki :)

See Ya

I do enjoy making tags, I also enjoy a little humor, the two are combined here :

The idea for the wording of 'See ya' came from the hand-wing. It reminds me of when people do that dismissive behind their back wave as they walk away.  'See ya' is a farewell.

I have used a TH manilla tag #8, blue acrylic paint watered down and applied in random strokes. When it was dry I went over it with spiced marmalade distress stain. It now looks green, isn't that awesome. I used the fourth dimension stamp from Lost Coast Designs for the floor and I added a little of the stamp detail all over the tag. Then some whipped spackel through a stencil. I made a separate tag and did the same background, but I stamped it with the licence plate alphabet from Lost Coast Designs and cut out the individual letters.

The gorgeous gal you see here is from the Doodle dolls 1 set also from Lost Coast Designs. She is stamped in stazon, colored with Neocolor 2's and markers. I added some white detail to her dress and stamped and embossed her crown in gold. I also embossed the edges of the tag in gold and added some gold sequins and twine.

Hope you found some inspiration here, thanks for stopping by, Nikki x

Big Eyed Cowgirls and Cowboys

Hi everyone, Nikki here using some images from Carmen's Veranda, love the Big Eyed Girls and Boy images.

Firstly I made this mail art :

It was so cool when I wrote the address on , it  now says : "Are you Liz (name and address) feeling lucky'.  LOL

The background is dylusions sprays, then I creased the envelope and sponged a little green onto the ground to give it some texture. I stamped the postcard background and I used the old typewriter alphabet from Lost Coast Designs for the wording. The big eyed girl and boy are stamped in stazon, colored with inktense pencils and fussy cut. I sponged the edges and added white gel pen detail.

 I like to make Altered Playing Cards (APC's) and Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) and these images are the perfect size.

I have used Big Eyed Shooter Girl for this APC:

I love the Western theme, and the monochromatic look. 

Just a reminder about our challenge blog, The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, this months challenge is Zentangle. 

Hope you will come and join us :) Nikki x

Owl Tag

Did you know that we now have a specific Event and Challenge Blog, Lost Coast Portal to Creativity. Go check it out for some awesome inspiration and prizes :)

Our challenge this month, #13 is Numbers. Here is my make : A tag featuring the Owl Set. 

 I just love this Owl Set, there are three different sized owls and I used the largest and smallest. Its Mamma owl teaching baby owl some math :) The owls are stamped in versafine black ink and colored with distress inks, then the white detail added with a white gel pen. The background is acrylic paint, I stamped the pencils from ATC Misc 4 Set and used a wood grain embossing folder. I sanded the wood grain and then ran it back through my big shot to flatten it out - I like the distressed look it gives. I added numbers using the Old Typewriter Alphabet, and the plus sign is drawn using a versamark pen. Then I used Stampendous shabby blue embossing enamel on the numbers and around the edge of the tag. Finished by adding some fibres.

Why I wanted to do a separate post for this Challenge make is to show you how I reversed the small owl. In the stamp set all the owls face the same direction, but as you can see this baby owl is facing Mamma.

To do this I used the Shadow Frame Set. Because there is a piece of large flat rubber, I can stamp the owl onto the rubber, then stamp that onto my card stock. Its called mirror reversing. The image is never 100% as crisp as it is from the first stamping, but is pretty darn good as you can see above.

Thanks for stopping by, come and check out our new event and challenge blog, see you there :)

Nikki x