Whimsy Blog Hop! New Rubber Stamps! Blog Candy!

Welcome! 

If you have landed here randomly, you are in the middle of a blog hop by Whimsy Stamps.  If you would like to start at the beginning, go to Bev's blog.  If you have come here from Elaine's blog, you are right on track!

This is a rather exciting blog hop, that will be running from today (Sunday at noon) until Thursday Oc 7th at noon.   So you have a few days to hop along and see all the DT and Guest DT's creations, and enter to win the many prizes up for grabs!  

And I happen to be one of the SIX blogs that is offering blog candy!  If you enter, you get a chance at this new  image I illustrated that I called, "Starry Night":

  It's made with deeply etched red rubber - top of the line quality.   It is in the style you are used to seeing from me.  But!

  I also branched out into a different style this time and did some more serious designs for Christmas.  I could hardly wait to show you! I did a poinsettia, a sprig of holly and some candy canes.  I wanted to do something a little different, because I love realistic images as well as fun whimisical ones.  It isn't the style of drawing you are used to seeing from me.  What do you think??

 It is quite a large set that includes these candy canes I used on my card (I used the large version) the poinsettia I used on the background paper in a large and small version (I used the small version) a sprig of holly and also 5 sentiments by Ann Vento of Raindropecho Designs.   Click on the following links to see the full VINTAGE CHRISTMAS SET

all of my new illustrated stamps

Ann's new Christmas sentiments and background stamps.

 I used beige card stock; a light beige for the candy canes, and a medium beige for the poinsettias. Before I started stamping, I sprayed on Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist and gold Smooch Spritz.  The Smooch gives it a really subtle and beautiful golden sparkle that the photo would not convey.  

I used the watercolour stamping technique.  I coloured the actual rubber stamp with Tombow pens, water based markers, and then spritzed the stamp with water a few times before stamping the image.  As with real water colouring, the outcome is never predictable!  Some of them pooled a lot while others, with less water, remained an outline.

For the candy canes, I went back in after stamping and picked up some more ink colour with a very wet water colour brush and washed some more colour onto the leaves, the red stripes of the candy cane and also the berries.  Then I painted Copic White onto the white of the candy canes. 

 When all was dry, I painted Smooch Pearlized Top Coat all over the candy canes.  They really do sparkle!   

I put two coats of Ultra Thick Embossing Powder on the main image panel to give it even more of a glow.   I tried to capture the sparkle and glow in this photo, but still, it didn't translate well.

Now here is an example of one of the sentiments in the set that Ann designed (with my holly sprig on either side).  It is a part of the Vintage Christmas set AND it is also being sold on its own.  I just love the font Ann used!  Keep in mind the extra dots are from the Glimmer Mist.  I put this panel on the inside of the card:

I painted the panel edges and the Tim Holtz grungeboard with a gold craft paint found at Michael's. 

There are so many more stamps being released today; some super cool newsprint stamps that Ann designed as well as a cute Santa AND a new Christmas carousel horse from me!  I hope you will do the whole hop to see what the DT did with them.  AND we have some uber talented guests on board for this hop too, you won't want to miss seeing what they did as well!

If you want a chance to win this Vintage Christmas set, you need to use the inlinkz option below.  Just link up your blog or online gallery so we'll know how to contact you, and your name will be entered into the draw!  You have until Th Oc 7 at noon cuz that's when I'll pick a winner!

Next stop on the hop: 

Suzanne

If you do not have a blog or online gallery to link to and you wish to enter for the draw, please let me know in your comment and you will be included!