She Thinks

Hello.  Gail here with the new and beautiful Steampunk Mermaid.  Absolutely love this stamp and I decided that it would go perfectly with the wonderful Bubbles Background.  

I stamped the Bubbles Background onto green card and embossed with black embossing powder.  I only wanted to used the darker parts of the image so I cut along each of the bubble strips.  Then I glued them down individually on the green card base.

I stamped and fussy cut Steampunk Mermaid and coloured her with distress inks.  I thought the green card looked a little plain so I added glitter.  A few gold and silver pilot marker highlights to the mermaid and done!!  

Thanks for dropping by.  Remember there is still time to link up your ANYTHING GOES projects over at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.  The linky closes at midnight.  See you there.  Hugz

Happy Cat Throws A Party

Hello.  Gail here.  I am sneaking in with a post to remind you that tomorrow is the last day you can comment on the new stamps posts for a chance to win 10 shiny Lost Coast Design dollars.  There are three posts, so if you comment on them all then that's three chances to win.  Are you still here???   Oh yes, of course!  You are waiting to see Happy Cat's latest endeavor.  Well, it's party time at Happy Cat's place and he has been decorating again.  

Party in the yellow room!  I embossed Lost Coast Bubbles Background with orange embossing powder on yellow card.  I stamped Lost Coast's Happy Cat on white card, embossed with black powder and fussy cut him.  I made a celebration banner using red thread and a sizzix die cut from the Crazy Cats set.  Happy Cat loves that, and the fish were quite tasty as well.  I embossed the Happy Birthday die cut words with 5 colours of embossing powder.  Purrrrrrrr.  

Thanks for dropping in.  Don't forget to hop over to The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity and comment on those new stamps posts.  And the current challenge is ANYTHING GOES and the linky is open until the 25th.  Hope to see you there.  Hugz

Hop Along

Greetings Lost Coast fans.  Gail here with a few more details of my Hop Along tag featuring the gorgeous Whimsical Flora

I've also used the Bubbles Background, but I wanted to try and use it in a slightly different way

Here are the three steps for my tag background.  I stamped the Bubbles Background at an angle off the edge of the tag using Midnight Blue dye ink.    I masked the stamped area and stamped again at a different angle.  I decided it was a bit dark so for the final masking and stamping I didn't re-ink the stamp.  Ye olde second generation stamping.  This obviously gives a lighter impression, which can be fun and useful at times.  Then it all became totally irrelevant, cos in the end I decided this was too dark for the image and re-stamped the whole thing with pale turquoise ink!  Ho Ho Ho

I stamped the wonderful Flora on a scrap of MME patterned paper.  I decided to adjust the angle of her legs and then, since she was then in the hopscotch position, I decided she needed a boot!!   It all made perfect sense at the time!!   I don't seem to have many boot stamps so I drew a boot shape on a piece on red metal foil with an embossing pen and embossed with black powder.  It was a bit bright so I added some black embossed dots.  I want a pair of boots like this!!!

So here she is on the slightly paler version of my tag.  I've edged and grounded her with the Midnight Blue ink and added a bit of bobbly wool.  

Thanks for dropping by.  Our ANYTHING GOES challenge is in full swing on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.  Do hop over and see all the wonderful entries and inspiration from the team.  And don't forget to link up your makes.

Altered Pages are having a Lost Coast Designs promotion this month so you can also visit them for masses of fun inspiration using Lost Coast Design stamps and also some special offers.  In support of this fun event Lost Coast Designs are also offering our blog readers a very special 10% discount.  Use the code Altered Pages when you check out to receive your discount.  Have a lovely day.  Hugz

Postcard from Frank

Hello.  My name is Gail, aka ionabunny, and I am so pleased and excited to be posting my first tutorial as a design team member for Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda.  I made this for the current Postcards challenge using the gorgeous Frankenstein from Carmen's Veranda and the fabtabulous Bubbles Background from Lost Coast Designs.  

I have a particular weakness for Frank and when I saw this stamp I just had to have him.  Isn't he a hunk!  And at just under 3.5" high he is always going to make a striking focal point.  

I always feel a bit sorry for Frank.  I mean, he never asked to be resurrected and have bolts in his neck and a dodgy complexion.  So I decided he need a grungy background.  I stamped, embossed and masked Frank, and then ripped some painter's tape and masked off the edge of my 4 x 6" card.

I inked Bubbles Background with Versamark ink and then removed some of the ink with a paper towel.  I stamped and embossed with black embossing powder.  Removing the ink gives a broken impression and the ripped tape has given me a nice wiggly edge as well.  Then I used an embossing pen to make a ragged frame which I embossed with lilac embossing powder.

Here's the postcard with the complete lilac embossed frame.  I also overheated some of the embossing powder on the edges of the Bubbles Background to give it a more matt appearance in places.

I used shades of purple distress inks to colour the background and Cracked Pistachio and Evergreen Bough distress inks for Frank's face.  I coloured his bolts with a gold pilot marker and used a blue Galaxy marker for his eyes. 

Thanks for dropping by.  There is still plenty of time to make a postcard for the challenge.  Hop over to the Lost Coast Portal To Creativity to see more inspiration from the DT and to link up.  I can't wait to see what you are making.  Hugz

For The Birds

Good Monday morning everyone!  Hope you July is going great.  I wanted to share with you a tag I created for the current event going on over on the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.  I've stepped out the process so you can see how it was created.

Start by stamping Bubbles onto a tag with black ink.  Sprinkle Nuance powders in different colors across the tag then mist to activate.  When that dried, I used yellow and orange markers to color in some of the bubbles.  I then dry brushed gesso over the tag to somewhat mute the very bright colors.

Stamp Mini Whimsical Birds 1 & 2 onto some mixed media paper and color with a selection of LSG sprays.  Cut out.  Next cut out some bricks (I used Sizzix's Mixed Media 3 set) and paint with Paper Artsy Cherry Red then emboss with DI Fired Brick EP.  Using a baby wipe, brush a little black paint across the bricks.

Water down some red and black paint and flick across the background.  Do the same with some gesso.  When that is dry, glue down the brick and add shadows with the gray Nuance powder mixed with a little water.  Cut out and paint some alphas and numerals and add to the background.  Add your bricks to the tag then position your birds over the bricks.  Finally, roll a piece of red ribbon in some gray Nuance powder mixed with water and tie off to the top of the tag.

Easy peasy!

Until later.............................
Marilyn