Welcome to Velvet Paw Creations - Design Team Projects by Leigh Snaith-Brunton - The Sharpie Domino Queen & owner of LeighSBDesigns Art Stamps!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Pocket Fairy Field Journal featuring rubber stamps available from About Art Accents!

Hello Stampers!
I super excited to share this project I designed for About Art Accents.
Pocket Fairy Field Journal
This one is for all the Fairy watchers out there, you know who you are ;-)  This little Pocket Journal is perfect to keep with you at all times coz you just never know when you might spot a rare Flower Fairy out in the field and need to jot down notes and make sketches on the back of the enclosed Flower Fairy Note Cards!

fyi:  sorry about the strange font fluctuations and line spacing in this tutorial!  I've tried a million times to fix it but for some reason this particular post is super Blogger buggy :0(
click on the photo to enlarge
Materials
Various Marvy Brush, LePlume, Tombow and Sharpie markers  
Ranger Distress Ink Pads: Vintage Photo and Old Paper 
Memento black ink 
DecoColor or Krylon Metallic Gold and Silver Paint pens 
Dymo Label Buddy 
T!m Holtz Elements Grungeboard label frame 
Mini copper brads
Small hole punch
Stride Gum Packaging
White and Cream cardstock
Bone folder 
Red Liner Double-sided sticky tape 
Xyron Permanent Adhesive
Pencil, Ruler and Scissors
Bounty Kitchen towel
click on the photo to enlarge



I was inspired by the gorgeous fairy rubber stamps available from About Art Accents and the wonderful packaging that Stride gum comes in to design this project.  I was very excited to then discover that a box of business cards I have in my stash for altering fit perfectly into the slots of the gum packaging!  Once I had what I needed I pulled the gum packaging apart so I could reverse engineer the construction and make my own template.  I plan to re-use the actual packaging for a future project coz it has a wondeful minty scent ;-)  Once I had the template ready I cut the Pocket Folio out of white cardstock.  Scored all the fold lines with a bone folder and stained it with Distress Inks to age it.  I used Vintage Photo first and went over that with Old Paper and blended both into the cardstock with a sheet of Bounty paper towel.  I then edged parts of the Pocket Folio with a metallic gold paint pen.  I folded and assembled the Pocket Folio with double-sided sticky tape once the inks had dried.  I then coloured a T!m Holtz Elements Grungeboard label frame with a metallic gold paint pen and aged it a bit with some Vintage Photo ink.  Once that was dry I marked the placement of the holes on the Pocket Folio lid and used a small hole punch to make the holes and attached the label frame to the Pocket Folio with two mini copper brads.  I then made the label with a Dymo Label Buddy.

I then moved onto creating the little Field Note Cards for each Flower Fairy.  The business cards I used are made from glossy cardstock.  I stamped the fairy images with Memento black ink and coloured them with a variety of Sharpies, Marvy Brush, Le Plumme and Tombow markers.  The sky background was created by stippling on the Marvy marker inks with a Stampscapes Tonal Applicator*.  I added little details to each design with either a silver or gold extra-fine metallic paint pen. 
 *TIP:  When I stamped the fairies onto the business cards I then stamped the images again onto a piece of printer paper and cut out 'masks' for each fairy.  I then used the masks to cover the fairies while I stippled on the background inks.
I then ran the cards through my Xryon to add permanent adhesive and adhered cream cardstock to the back of each one (covering up the business card info).  Once that was done I edged some of the cards with a metallic gold paint pen and the remainder with a silver paint pen to correspond with the metallic details I mentioned above.
This next step can be quite scary so I included a few photos below to show you what the Fairy Field Note Cards looked like before I aged them.  I aged the cards by smearing Distress Ink Vintage Photo directly onto each card and spreading it around with a piece of Bounty paper towel and then did the same to the backs.  I finished off each card with a Dymo label showing the name of each flower fairy.
~ Altered Business Cards ~
Flower Fairy Collection 
 
 

This is what they looked like before taking the 'Aging' plunge!


I've entered my project in the Grungy Monday 16 Challenge over at Studio L3!

Happy Stamping!
THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

Friday, March 11, 2011

Proud to be a part of Blockheads New Design Team!

Hello Stampers!

Wow, I can't believe it's been a while since I posted anything on my blog!  Pre-Christmas my Mom came to visit from the UK for 5 weeks then over Christmas & New Year my in-laws came for a visit from the UK so it was an EXTREMELY busy time!

But I've been creating non-stop and designing loads of new projects so I've got oodles to share with you all over the next few weeks!

But first I'm pleased to announce that I was chosen to be one of three artists to launch Blockheads Paper Arts new Design Team!  Woohoo!  I'm so excited ;-)  So you'll be seeing lots of awesome projects featuring Blockheads exclusive line of rubber stamps as well as some of the great products they carry!

I've also decided to make some changes to my blog layout.  I've removed the Pages I set up specifically for Design Team projects and Leigh's Altered World projects.  From now on I will just be using my main home page and utilizing the labels feature more!

So that's all my news for now, have a super weekend and prayers to anyone who has family & friends being effected by the big quake in Japan and resulting tsunamis around the world!  Be safe!

Leigh S-B




THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN
www.VelvetPawCreations.com

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

My Faerie Cat Domino Ornaments at Third Coast Rubber Stamps!

Hello Stampers!
My Faerie Cat Domino ornaments are currently being featured over at 
Third Coast Rubber Stamps!

You can view them on their website, on their blog Facebook page!


You'll also find the tutorials for my Faerie Cat Domino ornaments here

I'd love to hear what you think so please feel free to asks questions and leave me your comments!
Thanks for stopping by!

Leigh S-B
THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN
www.VelvetPawCreations.com

Monday, August 30, 2010

Stamping Supplies & Product Reviews - DecoColor Paint Pens

Hello Stampers!

As well as sharing my Creative Adventures with you all I will also have Stamping supplies and related product news and reviews to share with you too.  My first bit of news to share isn't very good I'm afraid if you're a fan of DecoColor paint pens and do your shopping at Michaels!

For months now I've been waiting for my local Michaels to get stock in, especially the metallics.  When I asked about their stock situation and if they're discontinuing them all they could tell me was they receive new stock every week.  Well I wasn't convinced so I sent Marvy Uchida an email asking for info but haven't heard anything from them either. But the other day I visited a different Michaels and all the DecoColors had clearance stickers and a sales person confirmed they are discontinuing them :-(  So I managed to get my hands on a few colours but sadly not a single metallic in sight. 


So if you normally buy your DecoColors from Michaels I suggest you stock up on what you can before we have to resort to online ordering in the future :-(  I can't remember if Office Depot/Staples sells the metallics. I know they've got them online but will have to check my local store.  Dick Blick has pretty good prices but I just hate the shipping charges, especially if you just need to order one pen!

Well that's all I've got to share on that subject for now so until next time.....

Happy Stamping!
Leigh S-B
THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

www.VelvetPawCreations.com

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Fairy Domino Butterflies
Standing Ornaments
For the August Make & Share on DominoART I challenged my members to create projects based on the poem 'To A Butterfly' by William Wordsworth.   I love fairies and immediately knew I wanted to design double domino Fairy Butterfly ornaments and was inspired by About Art Accents Masked Fairy Girls rubber stamps!
Check out my Design Team Creations page for a mini tutorial on how I made the blue Fairy Butterfly.  Latest tutorials appear at the bottom of the page.  I will also share a mini tutorial on the green Fairy Butterfly soon too!
Thanks for stopping by!
Leigh S-B
The Sharpie Domino Queen

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Jingle in July Christmas Tree Ornament

Hello Stampers!
I challenged members of my DominoART Yahoo Group to celebrate Christmas in July by creating DominoART with a Christmas or Winter theme.  
I designed a three-sided domino ornament for my Jingle in July project titled "Images of Winter".  I'm really pleased with how this turned out and I hope I will inspire you all to try your hand at creating some DominoART for your Christmas tree this year!  You'll find the tutorial and materials list for "Images of Winter" on my Leigh's Altered World of Game Pieces page.


Happy Stamping!
Leigh S-B
THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Pocket Fairy Field Journal Tutorial

Hello Stampers!

I'm very excited to be designing for About Art Accents and I've just had the pleasure of creating a project using AAA Fairies from their ATC Fairy Plate # 144


Pocket Fairy Field Journal

This project is perfect for Fairy Watchers & designed specifically for you to be able to keep your Fairy Field Journal with you at all times because you never know when you might spot a Flower Fairy and need to jot down some important notes!  I'm thrilled with the old-world charm of the finished project and the magical vintage quality of each Fairy Note Card!

Please pop on over to my new page called Design Team Creations for Project Photos and a tutorial on how to make my Pocket Fairy Field Journal!


I hope you'll enjoy reading my tutorial and please feel free to leave me your comments.  I haven't figured out yet how to or even if I can have a comments box on a Page so you're welcome to leave your comments at the bottom of this post ;-)

Enjoy!

Leigh S-B 
The Sharpie Domino Queen

Friday, July 16, 2010

New Page - My Altered World of Game Pieces!

Hello Stampers!

I've just created a new page called Leigh's Altered World of Game Pieces and it is listed on the top menu bar.

This page is dedicated to my Creative Adventures involving Game Pieces from dominoes to playing cards!  I will share mini tutorials and also detailed step-by-step directions for my various Game Piece related creations so watch this space for unique and innovative projects ;-)

First up I've added a mini tutorial on how I went about designing the Oriental Trinket Box that won 1st place in the recent Blockheads contest!  

I hope you'll enjoy following me on my Creative Adventures and please feel free to add your comments!

Happy Stamping!

Leigh S-B
THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I won 2 out 3 categories in the Blockheads Contest!

Hello Stampers!

I'm doing the dance of joy today coz I won 2 out of the 3 categories in the Blockheads Paper Arts contest ;-)  Woohoo!!  Thank you so much to Stacey for hosting the contest!

My Oriental Trinket Box took 1st place in the 3D Altered Objects category and my Serenity card snapped up 1st place in the Cards category.  I was up against some gorgeous artwork so I'm really thrilled ;-)

I had 2 entries in each category and I will upload and share them with you all over the next week or so.

In the meanwhile here's the photos of my 2 winning entries ;-)

Oriental Trinket Box


Serenity


Thanks for stopping by!
Leigh S-B
THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN
www.VelvetPawCreations.com

Friday, July 2, 2010

New Page - Domino Sources!

Hello Stampers!

I've just finished creating a new page "Domino Sources" with tons of links to all my favourite traditional dominoes, unconventional dominoes, other game tiles as well as an assortment of really cool playing cards!  All of these are perfect for altering and adding to your altered art!  Check the page often to see what new and fun games I've found to alter ;-)
Enjoy!
Leigh S-B
THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN