Valentines Day Cards in a non traditional sense- Unity Stamp Co.

I think we all can agree that my style of crafting is not exactly... well traditional. I have grown to really love what I do and through the process I have come to the realization that I tend to lean towards the artsy, colorful and re-purposed style of crafting... and I couldn't be happier.

I am trying to expand my horizons, as I have found that the reason that I do lean towards the artsy distressed style is not because clean and simple couldn't be a style I create... more or less to draw or cut a straight line kinda frightens me. I hide my mistakes with paint, flowers and inks... lol. But I am going to try and create some simpler designs because I love love love the look of it.

Today I created some non-traditional "Not yo' momma's" Valentines Day cards. These cards were for examples at CHA, of the New Crafters Inks by Clearsnap Inc. Both of these greeting cards were created using my new background stamps from Unity Stamp Co.

4 YOU greeting card

Products used: cardstock (Bazzill Basics), Inks, Glitter, and embossing powder (Clearsnap Inc), Stamps (Liz Hicks Studios for Unity Stamp Co.), Pen (Sakura of America), sequin and vintage paper (Unknown), Dry adhesive (Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L) and wet adhesive (Beacon Adhesives)

Foreground and background: use rich colors to create your focal point like I did using Collage of Digits here. I added some visual interest to the background by layering my stamps over tinted vintage paper. Using Dinged Dots and I.Kat along the side helps to break up the boldness of the main stamp.

 

Layer Colors and Patterns: The happening trend right now in fashion is not only color blocking BUT also blocking with complimentary patterns. Use analogous or complimentary colors with my stamps to create beautiful layered effects like you see above. I used three different colors and 3 different stamps to create this colorful collage.

Isolate a number and use it to your benefit: Here I added glittered embossing powder to the #4 to use it for my sentiment.

 Love You Card

Products used: Cardstock (Bazzill Basics), Inks and embossing powder (Clearsnap Inc.), Stamps (Liz Hicks Studios for Unity Stamp Co.), Pen (Sakura of America), Punchinella and Vintage paper (unknown), Dry adhesive (Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L) and wet adhesive (Beacon Adhesives)

Make a bold impression: Use a repetitive pattern (Like the hearts here) in bold colors to allow the stamped background to fade. Taking the visual interest off of the background with this bold heart pattern allows the viewer to see the hearts first and notice the background secondary, which translates really well as perceived depth.

Outline to define: Use a dark pen to outline letters or patterns that may otherwise get lost in the background.

Since this post IS a part of our Launch Party with UNITY STAMP CO. I want to remind you of our giveaways taking place till February 2nd 2013. Check them out here. 

I used ALL 4 of the background stamps on the first card and Dinged Dots & my alphabet on the second.

These background stamps are on sale for only $8.99 AND my Alphabet is only $20 right now. To add to the amazing prices... $1 of every sale goes to help Melody Ross with her work for Full Circle Exchange in bringing awareness and assistance to those involved in Human Trafficking. Sale is for this weekend only so grab them while you can. You can order your Unity Stamps right here.

Also make sure to check out the brand new LIZ HICKS STUDIOS facebook page that we created to keep track of all of the good stuff we are doing with Liz Hicks Studios. If you didn't know... Liz Hicks Studios is not just me, it is my family as well but mostly me and my husband. This is our families joint effort and I would love for you to check out what we are doing next by checking out our page here.

There is a whole lot of fun things going on this year... this is just the beginning. I hope you enjoyed these cards and the details that I have shared. With explaining them as I did, I hope that you can take this info and find ways to make it useful in your crafting.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Liz Hicks

Pleasant Surprise...

Every once in a while... I get a fun little email from friends using the products that I have licensed or created. Last winter I released a beautiful Alphabet Stamp Set through Unity Stamp Company. Our friends Angela and Christian are the owners and when I was getting ready to teach at an upcoming event, they helped me out by creating these stamps from my designs. 

The other day, My Instagram friend Angie Blom posted a picture of some of her cards using the stamps and it just made me so happy to see the beautiful colors.

If you would like to see more of Angie's work... check out her blog My Scraptastic World. Angie is
currently designing for Unity Stamp Company, Authentique Paper  and Creating is Fun. 

I love love love seeing these stamps in action. I haven't done a whole lot of licensing work since I have been busy with school, so it is such a treat to see these in action. Thank you Angie for sharing them!

If you have any projects using these stamps I would LOVE to see them and share them with everyone... just email me at primadonnaliz@yahoo(dot)com.

Thanks again Angie!

~Liz ♥ 

STAMP SALE! 30% off!

SO I JUST found out that the stamp set that I designed for Unity Stamp Co. is ON SALE! 

You may remember it from a few months back as I used it for the cover of my art journal...

It is a full funky alphabet that is kind of a junked up font that has a text to it. This was a part of the SMAK kit for December, but you can get it now for 30% off! It is a full sheet of red rubber, all letters (lowercase) plus numbers and a few other goodies.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Unity, and I am sure that you probably do too! Check out the rest of their site, as there are TONS of stamps on sale, and some great promos going on.

Here is the stamp set:

Here is the stamp set from the demo I did of my art journal cover.

For the 30% discount use code SUNSHINE30

If you have the stamps or are ordering them, PLEASE email me! I would LOVE to see what you create with them.

I am working on a few other designs, and another project... but it has taken a while to work out some of the kinks... that is the way it works when you are trying to articulate an idea that is rumbling around in your head... I hope it works out, because I think it would be AWESOME for mixed media and crafting...

Thanks for peeking in today :)

~Liz Hicks ♥

Art Journal and Tablet Keeper projects

So today is my day to share my projects for the Nancy Zieman's Tablet Keeper Blog Tour! I ended up with two projects to share... not necessarily on purpose, lol.

I started out with (good) intentions to create a tablet keeper for my new E-Reader. I decided to use muslin  as my base for my project as I love how easy it is to paint. What I SHOULD have done was paint first, cut second.... But I went against my better judgement and painted my cut fabric. I should know better, but was so excited to get started and paint, lol. Anyways, to make a long story short... my initial fabric that I painted had shrank about 1/4 inch So, this lead me to creating a fun art journal out of this.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to marry different crafts into my project.

 I added hand drawn flowers to the cover and painted the cover with acrylic paint, water colors and a carbon pencil. The title was created with the stamp set I designed for Unity Stamp Company.

Here is a close up of the cover. In order to create a weather proof seal on my cover, I used a jewelers grade epoxy resin, Ice Resin to seal it. It gives my cover a beautiful slick effect that can easily be wiped off ( a must have with kids!).

 

 Here are some of the fun inside pages I created out of paper, muslin and stabilizer.

 

This page I created by using a firm stabilizer covered in muslin. This is wonderful for mixed media art journaling as it creates a firm, mostly water resistant barrier in between your pages.

For my Tablet Keeper, I actually started a new project from scratch (measuring twice, cutting once!). I first assembled my project and then painted to prevent any shrinkage :)

Supplies used: Nancy Zieman Tablet Keeper template, Tablet Keeper stabilizer, Create a Strap. Acrylic Paint, Water Color paint and Twinkling H2O's, Unknown items- Thread and Muslin.

 I am very happy with the way it came out. It is very organic looking which I love. I love that it has an irregular look to it, makes it totally hand made and ME!

 Here is an up close picture of the flowers. The detail and shading was created with acrylic paint, water colors and twinkling H2O's by Creative Imaginations.

Here is the inside of the cover. I painted sporadically with cream paint and  hand journaled a nice reminder for myself. From here, I covered the page with Ice Resin to create a transparent look to the page. I did all of this before I sewed the page down.

For an added little detail, I added a piece of vintage paper to the tablet insert so that the print could vaguely be seen through the resin muslin that I journaled on. I like how it adds a little depth to the project, makes you have to pay attention to the little details.

I am so happy to have been a part of this blog hop. It made me bring out some of my trusty craft supplies and explore different areas than I normally would. 

Here is a picture again of the wonderful Clover prize package that Nancy has up for grabs during the blog hop. Check out the blog link here for the details.

Thanks again for sharing this project with me. I had a lot of fun creating this on behalf of Brewer Sewing. If you have any questions you can email me or find me on facebook :)

~Liz ♥

Live from CHA- Charity Wings and CHA events

Live at CHA! This year... I have the opportunity to work with Charity Wings and their Live at CHA event. SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L, Clearsnap, Bazzill and Unity Stamp Co. Have generously donated product for this sweet little make and take that we will be demonstrating. We will be LIVE at 11am THIS Saturday, If you are interested... contact Elena at (charitywings@yahoo(dot).com).

We will also be live with CHA sharing the newest in SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L products.

Here is what CHA is advertising...

"CHA will be webcasting the hottest products live from the Show floor for 2 hours a day. That’s right EVERY NEW PRODUCT that is entered into the Innovations Product Showcase will receive a 3-minute interview on CHA-TV. CHA-TV is a free webcast portal for the craft & hobby industry. CHA will use this new resource to webcast the hottest new product launches live from the upcoming 2011 Winter Show. Two-time Emmy Award winner and CHA’s National Spokesperson Terri O will be conducting the daily interviews from 11 am – 12 pm and 1 pm – 2 pm PT live from the CHA-TV Broadcast booth on the Show floor. You'll need to download the free CHA-TV Facebook app at http://apps.facebook.com/craftandhobby or view it live on the web at http://www.linqto.com/rooms/craftandhobby/. at http://www.linqto.com/rooms/craftandhobby in order to view the webcast. "

SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L will be LIVE this Saturday at 1:30pm.


What a great way to be a part of the event... right from your own HOME!

Hope to see you there!

~Liz

Love is the whole point.

Sorry for the delay in my art journal blog post. It has been one of those weeks, nothing exactly traumatic has happened... just preparing for our trip next week and adjusting to working at home.

So this week, it was my turn to choose a prompt...

prompt: "What excites you?"
product: thread

I guess bottom line is that I just wanted to know what excites people right now. What gets your blood pumping, makes you happy... makes you smile?

For me... It is simple.. LOVE

I love these videos from Liberty Mutual showing how everyday people and the little things we do each day pay forward respect, responsibility and love. Love is not just something you keep for your family and friends, it is an outward expression that you are allowed to share openly in everything you do. It is sharing a mutual respect and compassion for this world onto mankind.






Imagine just little things that we do each day that impact the world in a positive way. Things you may not even know that you do, give into this world in a positive way... and that is a beautiful thing :)

Now I know this risks sounding mushy and sappy and well it is not intended that way... my only intention is to remind each of us (myself included) that although the day may be rough.. the road bumpy and the destination far... each day whether we like it or not... we chose to get up, go about our day and at some point in that day we impact the world in a good way. If it is a small service like opening a door for someone, smiling, or even just hitting a deadline... we all have small opportunities to be blessings on to someone.


So here is my page for today... I used some great products from some pretty amazing companies. The paint are from Plaid (Folkart) and Clearnap (Smooch and Spritz and Glitter) . The stamps are by Suzi Blu for Unity Stamp Co. And of course my favorite sparkly thread by Gutermann.

This little mermaid is juggling her heart, fish and stars... and making magic of it all :)

Here is a close up of the fish stars and hearts. with the threaded background.

And here is the beautiful glittery goodness I created by mixing Smooch Spritz, Smooch Paint and Glitter (a pretty awesome combo if I do say so myself!)

Here is a close up of the mermaid... this is a hand drawing by Suzi that was made into a stamp By Unity Stamp Co. and this is one of my favorites!!!!!

And of course, here is my separate journal page... I added glitter and paint over writing. and created some journal lines to write on.

And the bottom line is that Love is the whole point.


One thing that I have held close to my heart through thick and thin (and I am constantly reminded of) is one of my favorite bible passages. It is a response that Jesus gave when asked what is the greatest commandment.

²⁹Jesus answered, "The most important one says: `People of Israel, you have only one Lord and God. <sup>30</sup>You must love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.' <sup>31</sup>The second most important commandment says: `Love others as much as you love yourself.' No other commandment is more important than these."

Some translations even state that the second and just as important is to love others.

So between the liberty mutual commercials... this beautiful stamp... and well just some deep down feelings of what it truly is all about... I came up with this. It is simple and I hope to look back at this in years to come and remind myself that at the end of the day... it is about being a blessing into this world... not a burden.


I hope that this makes you smile... I think even the glitter alone is enough to make any crafter smile :)

Next weeks prompt will be:

Prompt: "What Encourages You"
Product: Paint

I do hope you will join us... and have some fun getting your hands full of paint... Just let us know you are playing along, we will be posting our pages next week.

Again and big THANKS to Rebecca Gawryl for joining me on this artisticallly Journaling adventure... Check out what she post this week... last weeks can be found here... and I have to say I just love her birdies and beautiful approach to journaling.

Thanks!

~Liz

Authentic and Pure

So this weeks prompt for our Art Journals is from Rebecca. As I told you last week, we are taking one page a week and creating in our art journals. We would love for you to follow along, but if it helps you more just to read along.. that is fine too!

Rebecca's prompt for this week was:

What bugs you?

The item to use was Stamped image or words

Now I looked at this prompt and thought what at this moment just doesn't sit well with me. And well the answer was easy... Lack of authenticity.


I look at this world and see so many beautiful opportunities for friendships to grow, people to thrive relationships to flourish and what truly keeps them from advancing is the lack of vulnerability and security to be truthful and authentic in front of others. There is nothing wrong with the way you were meant to be... We all grow, we ALL make mistakes... the beauty of it is just how you react to the mistakes you make. Do you embrace them or hide them? How can anyone else learn from your mistakes unless you share them with others who just might be going through the same exact things that you have gone through. Imperfections are meant to be shared... if even for the single reason that they show people you are human... and that is OK...

Each of us was created uniquely and perfectly in the way that only we could impact this world... and it is such a shame when we take the burden of someone else's judgment and allow it to position the direction of our passions and paths.

So here is my page... I like to create one artsy page and one journal page on the back so I can just have fun on the artsy page... Although if I can think of a creative way of adding my journal... I will add it to my artsy page, but for this... I thought it would be discreet to just show the bones of my project.

Here is my artsy page...

Close up of the flower... I used vintage dictionary pages and sparkly glitter tulle. To color the leaves I used Clear Snap Smooch, Spritz and of course around the edges I used sparkly thread.

The background.... The background was created with Turquoise craft paint and white Chalkboard Paint by Folkart (Plaid). The edge was colored with Smooch Spritz. And of course... sparkly thread (Sulky or Gutermann). I painted the lace on with the chalkboard paint.

This was some left over fabric from a Little Mermaid costume I made my daughter a few years back... just it into a stem and leaves with of course... sparkly thread. ♥
The title is a classic set of Prima Times new Roman letters... I love these letters :) i stamped the word TRUTH on the letter... the stamp I used is one of Melody's that she created for Unity Stamp Co. And of course... sewed down with silver sparkly thread :)

And here is the journal page...

The album was created by sticking pages of an old magazine circulation together to create thicker pages (something I learned at Brave Girls Camp)


I just took some Crafty Power Tape by SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L and tapes two pages together so that I had a thick page to work on.

I plan on using the journal page to write down what I am feeling at this moment about this topic. I truly believe that being purely who you are and who you were meant to be is a good thing... and we all are guilty of adapting to situations... the goal is to not lose yourself in transition and always remember who you are deep down inside and what it is you want to shine into this world!


Pure.... simple... authentic....

♥ Liz ♥