ICAD Warm-Up, Using a Viva Las Vegas Stamp

Hello again, everyone!  Man, it’s been a while since I last posted.  It’s a challenge to juggle work, home life, make and edit video, write blog posts AND have fun creating, but I hope to do a better job with it.

So much (artsy-wise) has happened – more swaps, more cards and look!   I bought a 2-lb grab bag of stamps from Viva Las Vegas Stamps (their online store is here.)   This is a bit out of character for me, as I am wary of grab bag and random bulk buys.  In my head (and I know this isn’t always the case), I associated “grab bag” with “things that didn’t sell.”  I did some research online, and I didn’t see where other people had recently posted their grab bag hauls – I was worried about getting a bunch of political, religious, or super-basic stamps, but in the end, I am glad that I took the leap and ordered them.

So can you guess how many stamps is in a 2-lb grab bag?  152 stamps!  Wow…that’s a lot for one haul!   I have a video of all the stamps I received here, if you want to see what I received.  I like most of what I got, and actually loved a number of them.

When they produce their stamps, they manufacture them on a rubber mat called a plate, and this is what I received – plates of rubber stamps, not a bunch of individual stamps.  There was one or two stamps missing from each plate, so you end up receiving incomplete plates.   I received a variety of stamps, which excited me.

Now came the hard part – choosing the first stamp to play with!   Out of all of them, I choose the NASA Jet.  I love all things NASA and I actually like old planes (okay, this jet probably isn’t that old, but the point still stands!  LOL)   

Because Daisy Yellow will be hosting the Index Card A Day challenge soon, I decided to work on a 4x6 card, which is the size of the index cards I will be working on this year.  I glued a graph-paper patterned scrapbook paper to it, as NASA is all about math and science, and I remember having to do math problems on a similar graph paper in school.  I trimmed the card, but I didn’t seal it with Mod Podge or matte medium, because I planned to use Distress Inks, and I wanted the inks to soak into the paper, not stay on the surface.  I used Old Paper and Tea Dye in the Distress Inks, and Vintage Photo in the Distress Oxides.  There was no rhyme or reason on using the Inks versus the Oxides – it was just whatever I happened to grab at the time.  I used the tried and true spritz-and-smoosh method to add the inks to the paper.  I did the same thing to the globe, which was from a Tim Holtz ephemera pack, then I edged the globe and card with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.    I decided that I needed more on the background, so I did end up stamping a chevron stamp (also from VLVS) in Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

Now for the stamp!  The NASA jet was facing in the wrong direction –  when you stamp it, the nose points to the left, but I wanted it to point to the right.  This wasn’t a problem though, because I stamped it on thin, white tissue paper with archival ink.  Then you just flip the tissue you paper over, and viola!  The stamp faces in the right direction.  The only downside is that any words, like “NASA” and “USAF”, are reversed.  I don’t mind that, though.

I glued the stamp onto a piece of scrap mixed media paper then fussy cut it out.  I colored it with Brushed Silver Distress Paint mixed with a bit of Hickory Smoke Distress Stain, and then I added highlights with Barn Door stain.  I also splattered the Brushed Silver/Hickory Smoke mix to the card – it adds an extra level of grunge to the card that I loved.

Assembling everything was easy – I glued the globe on the edge of the card, then cut off the excess.  I then glued the trimmed off part to the right side of the card.  I added the jet and the words “Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity.”  I thought it was perfect for the card.  What do you think?

And that’s it for today!  That’s so much for stopping by – check out the video below to see how I made this.  Until next time!