Journey Without Limits

Hi Everyone,

First of all, if you are looking to help us celebrate the arrival of baby Catherine by joining the 'Shery's finally popped' linky  party, you can find it here.

It is time again for some more inspiration over at the STAMPlorations Blog. This is where the girls from the Inspiration DT showcase their creations and invite you to CASE. You can link your creations up with the Inspiration CASE Playground the link to which can be found at the end of each Inspiration Post.

To play along you can either CASE any of the Inspiration DT's projects or the one we chose as our inspiration for the month. You also don't have to use STAMPlorations stamps to join the fun, however we would be thrilled if you did. Why not have a go??? You don't have to exactly copy, it is simply about taking inspiration from a project. We would love to hear what inspired you....

For today's project I used one of STAMPlorations' newest sets, Frames And Flowers, and combined it with the Trendy Birds and the Bold Sentiments Journey and Imagine sets.

I stamped my sentiment, masked the strip around it, stamped the birds, leaves and flowers, removed the mask added some doodled lines, layered on my base card and finished off with some pearls.

That's it from me for today. Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see the gorgeous projects my teamies created and of course to link up your CASE too.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

what I used:
sets from STAMPlorations, links are in the above text
   

Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Pistachio Pudding and Soft Suede inks from Stampin'Up!

Welcome, Precious Little One!

Hi All,

Yay!!! We're celebrating the arrival of Baby Russ!!! Congratulations to the happy parents, Shery and David!

In true style, whilst Shery was giving, birth Becca hijacked the STAMPlorations Blog for this little celebration. The idea originally came from Sari, and Becca volunteered to organize a linky party. You can link up any baby themed cards on the STAMPlorations Blog to congratulate the happy parents.

To create my card I worked with the Balloons and Banners and the Heaven Sent sets and sponged regal rose though a large die cut star shape. I then used the small stars and stamped them inside the star using the same ink as I used for sponging. Next I framed my star with a doodled scalloped border to soften the look before stamping my sentiment in black Versafine ink. Next I stamped, coloured and fuzzy cut the teddy bear, popped it on foam pads and attached it to my panel before stamping the star border n my base card, rounding corners and attaching my panel. I stamped and fuzzy cut my banners, stamped the bows into place, added my banners and finished off by adding some tiny stars and a touch of glitter glue.

I am entering my card at.
Addicted to Stamps and More - CAS

That's it from me for now, hope that you can join the linky party.

If you would like to mail your card to Shery (totally optional of course), here is the address:

The Russ Family

PO Box 883

Strathmore, CA 93267

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

The sets I used, links are in the text above.
 
Regal Rose and Pistachio Pudding inks by Stampin'Up!
tiny stars were part of a nail art kit from Poundland

Sunshine On A Cloudy Day

... or how to survive the British Summer ... Lol

Hi Everyone,

It is time again for some more inspiration over at the STAMPlorations Blog. This is where the girls from the Inspiration DT showcase their creations and invite you to CASE. You can link your creations up with the Inspiration CASE Playground the link to which can be found at the end of each Inspiration Post.

To play along you can either CASE any of the Inspiration DT's projects or the one we chose as our inspiration for the month. You also don't have to use STAMPlorations stamps to join the fun, however we would be thrilled if you did. Why not have a go??? You don't have to exactly copy, it is simply about taking inspiration from a project. We would love to hear what inspired you....

For today's project I used two of STAMPlorations' newest sets, Frames And Flowers and Fond Expressions 2, and combined it with the birds from the Trendy Birds set

I started off by stamping the bird using Bermuda Bay ink and masking it. Next I stamped the branch in Early Espresso, the roses in Strawberry Slush and the leaves in Pistachio Pudding using generational stamping. I removed my mask and coloured the pattern using my clear sparkly Sakura gel pen and finished by giving the bird a glittery outline too. I stamped my sentiment and layered on my base card.

Here is another look hoping to catch some of the sparkle ...

That's it from me for today. Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see the gorgeous projects my teamies created and of course to link up your CASE too.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

what I used:
sets from STAMPlorations, links are in the above text
  

Bermuda bay ink and card stock, Strawberry Slush, Early Espresso and Pistachio Pudding inks by Stampin'Up!

Almost Forgotten

Hi Everybody,

It is Inspiration Time over at the STAMPlorations Blog. This is where the girls from the Inspiration DT showcase their creations and invite you to CASE. You can link your creations up with the Inspiration CASE Playground the link to which can be found at the end of each Inspiration Post. To play along you can either CASE any of the Inspiration DT's projects or the one we chose as our inspiration for the month. You also don't have to use STAMPlorations stamps to join the fun, however we would be thrilled if you did. Why not have a go??? You don't have to exactly copy, it is simply about taking inspiration from a project. We would love to hear what inspired you....

Now it's time to show you my project ...
You might have almost forgotten something I mentioned in my video Easy Brusho Backgrounds. I showed you one I had created and said that I was waiting for the large Marigold stamp to arrive as I thought it would be a perfect match. Well, what can I say ... or maybe you would like to see for yourself ... here it is the finished card ...

I simply black embossed the marigold, stamped my sentiment from the Fond Expressions 2 set and layered on a black base card.

The keen eyed of you might have noticed that the French Marigold is a larger version of the one from the The Birds and The Blooms set, which was June/July's Stamp Club Set. I simply loved it so much that I had to get the larger version too! :-)

That's it from me for today. Feel free to pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see the gorgeous projects my teamies created.

Back soon with more projects ... until then ...

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used. Links to the STAMPlorations projects are in the above texts
 

Brushos - Lavinia Stamps
card, pigment ink and black embossing powder (wow powder) from stash

as a reminder of what it looked like, The Birds and The Blooms set ...
 

STAMPlorations August Blog Hop Day 5

Hi Everyone!

It's Blog Hop Time again over at STAMPlorations! Welcome to Day 5, where we're shining the spotlight on Frames and Flowers, a set designed by Deepti aka Dee's Artsy Impressions.

Here is the set ...

... and here is what I made of it ...

Using the branch and generational stamping I created a wreath to which I added some flowers and leaves before stamping my sentiment in the center, rounding some corners and layering on my base card. I worked mainly with pigment inks and finished off by adding some pearls and glitter. I wanted this card to be bright and summery hence the multitude of colours reminding me of a flower meadow.

Back to the Hop ... every comment you leave will count and increase your chances of winning one of the great prizes on offer. Commenting closes on Sunday 23rd August and the winners will be announced on Monday 24th August on the STAMPlorations Blog.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

Prizes:

FIVE (5) commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day.
ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate

Plus ...

links to previous days:
Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4

That's it from me for today. I shall be back soon with more inspiration. Until then , have a lovely weekend!


hugs

Monika xxx

STAMPlorations August Blog Hop Day 4

Hi Everyone!

It's Blog Hop Time again over at STAMPlorations! Welcome to Day 4, where we're shining the spotlight on Houses Extras, a set designed by Shirley aka The Bee's Knees.

Here is the set ...

and here is what I made of it ...

Well as you can see, I've been playing with the maps from my old diary again for this cheerful project with a child like feel. I used my stitched rounded border die to cut the 'world', attached to my panel just above a decoratively scored line and stamped my trees from today's set into place before colouring them using my alcohol markers. I then used some more alcohol markers and the ARTplorations Clouds stencil to create my sun. Next I white embossed my sentiment from the Fond Expressions 2 set on a black banner, layered everything as shown and my card was finished.

Following up on a point I made yesterday, here is another look at the finished project ... note how the colours change ...

Back to the Hop ... every comment you leave will count and increase your chances of winning one of the great prizes on offer. Commenting closes on Sunday 23rd August and the winners will be announced on Monday 24th August on the STAMPlorations Blog.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

Prizes:

FIVE (5) commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day.
ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate

Plus ...

links to previous days:
Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 -

That's it from me for today. I shall be back again tomorrow with more inspiration. Until then , have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what else I used:

 

stitched border die Lil-inkers

alcohol markers were a mixture of Promarkers and Tinge Alcohol Markers

STAMPlorations August Blog Hop Day 3

Hi Everyone!

It's Blog Hop Time again over at STAMPlorations! Welcome to Day 3, where we're shining the spotlight on Fond Expressions 2, a set designed by Shery aka Shery Russ Designs.

Here is the set which is fast becoming one of my favourites ...

and here is what I made of it ...

The little stars from the Balloons and Banners set really reminded me of a smile and gave me the inspirations for this card. Again I masked off a strip and sponged some yellow and orange before stamping the starry smiles in yellow, my sentiment and another big smile in black and my card was finished,

Strange how the colours change depending on light when you take a photo ... here is another look to illustrate the point ...

Back to the Hop ... every comment you leave will count and increase your chances of winning one of the great prizes on offer. Commenting closes on Sunday 23rd August and the winners will be announced on Monday 24th August on the STAMPlorations Blog.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

Prizes:

FIVE (5) commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day.
ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate

Plus ...

links to previous days:
Day 1 - Day 2

That's it from me for today. I shall be back again tomorrow with more inspiration. Until then, Have a lovely day!

hugs

Monika xxx

here is what else I used:

Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie inks by Stampin'Up!

Freshly Made Sketches

Hi Everyone,

The girls over at Freshly Made Sketches are celebrating their 200th challenge, and they are celebrating BIG!!!

As usual with big parties in blog land there are lots of sponsors and prizes to be won. I am joining the celebrations as part of the STAMPlorations Design Team.

Here is the sketch that got our creative juices flowing ...

I might have been pushing the boundaries of a clean look a little with my cards, but hey ... one can try. There is still some clean and crisp detail in my first card such as the stitched die cut border detail, the raised inlaid diecut sentiment and the clean and crisp edges.

So, how did I make my card? I was working with the Bloom Factory ARTplorations stencil and matching stamp set by STAMPlorations. I placed my stencil on a piece of white card and spritzed with pink color shine ink (Heidi Swapp). Once dry I die cut the stitched border (die by Lil-inker) and used the stamps from the Bloom Factory set to stamp the matching shapes in Crushed Curry (Stampin'Up!) on my lover panel. I then die cut my sentiment (Clearly Besotted) from my upper panel and twice more from white card before layering all on my white base card and adding a pink sequin to finish.

TIP!: Whilst the stencil was still wet, I placed it on another piece of card to get the imprint I used for my second card.

For this card, I combined my stencil imprint with stamps from the Mixed Media Grunge, Balloons & Banners and the Follow Your Arrow sets. To start with I was a little torn between using the imprint as was or to add a little depth by stamping through the stencil. Given the the sentiment was going to be very bold, I felt that my background needed a little more substance and I decided to go for the latter. I placed my stencil over the imprint and stamped the honeycomb stamp from the Mixed Media Grunge set through my stencil using Sahara Sand ink (Stampin'Up!). I then added a little border around and across in Crumb Cake using another stamp from the same set. I stamped my sentiment in Tuxedo Black (Memento by Tsukineko) and added the little lines either side before stamping the little hearts from the Balloons and Banners set in Regal Rose (Stampin'Up!). I finished off by adding some print detail in Tuxedo Black and Sahara Sand to two of the corners and layering on my black base card.

Again I am pushing it a little, but I think the straight line of my stamped sentiment and the three little hearts add enough of a clean look to hopefully let it pass.

That's it from me for now. I shall be back in a couple of hours time with my next instalment and contribution to the STAMPlorations Blog Hop.

See you in a little while.
Hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used from STAMPlorations, links are in the above text:
    

STAMPlorations August Blog Hop Day 2

Hi Everyone!

It's Blog Hop Time again over at STAMPlorations! Welcome to Day 2, where we're shining the spotlight on Balloons and Banners, a set designed by Deepti aka Dee's Artsy Impressions.

Here is the set ...

...and here is what I made of it ...

I basically turned one of the balloons into little lanterns using the Eiffel Tower from the World Birthday Cakes set as my candle. I did this by using a black pen to doodle the rims and bases, masking off and just stamping the flame inside the lanterns before colouring them using Spectrum Noir Markers. To stamp the lanterns I simply used a couple of drawn lines as my guide and stamped the balloon upside down..

I would like to enter my card at:

Craft Stamper - Pens and Pencils Challenge
Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - Masking
Happy Little Stampers Sketch Challenge - 

Back to the Hop ... every comment you leave will count and increase your chances of winning one of the great prizes on offer. Commenting closes on Sunday 23rd August and the winners will be announced on Monday 24th August on the STAMPlorations Blog.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

Prizes:

FIVE (5) commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day.
ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate

Plus ...

links to previous days:
Day 1

That's it from me for today. I shall be back again tomorrow with more inspiration. Until then , have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx


what else I used: