Perfect Pearls

... for a subtle look ...

Hi All,

For today's Inspiration project, I was working with my very limited stash of Perfect Pearls. I felt this delicately drawn lily from the set Smile would really suit this style ...

You simply stamp the image using Versamark ink and apply your PP powder (I used Rust, Perfect Gold and Heirloom Gold) with a soft brush. I finished off with a statement making gold embossed sentiment.

You can see more great and inspired Inspiration Projects over on the STAMPlorations Blog where leaving a comment will give you an entry for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate.

The April Stamp Release Blog Hop is still in full swing over on the STAMPloratiosn Blog. Why not pop over and join the fun.

I shall be back soon with more inspiration.

Have a lovely weekend!
Hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Smile, Bloom Sketches
 

STAMPlorations April Stamp Release Blog Hop

Hi All,

Welcome to Day 5 of the STAMPLorations April Stamp Release Blog Hop. Today it's the turn of the Inspiration team to showcase the new stamps. Each of us created one card per new set. I am starting my post off with a creation using the feathers from the Trendy Feathers 2 set and a sentiment from the Strong Women set which is fast becoming one of my favourites.

The background is made by  applying some Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight inks to my craft mat spritzed with water and picked up with a piece of white card to which I added a few black spritzed splatters. The pink feathers are stamped and fuzzy cut, the yellow one is heat embossed, my sentiment was stamped on a matching panel before layering everything up as seen and finishing off with some sequins and a twine bow.

Next up is a card using the Groovy Shoes set which I combined with the splatters from the Mixed Media Elements set to create this retro inspired card ...

I stamped a border using the larger one of the half flower stamps using Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry inks. I then used a damp brush and pulled some of the colour from the outline into the petals to create a little shading. I stamped the splatters, stamped my sentiment, layered up, added a doodled border and finished off with some gems and fuzzy cut heels.

Next up is a card using the Smile set in combination with brushos ... 

The lily is white embossed on a piece of cream card, the same type I used for my base card, sprinkled with brushos and spritzed with water and fuzzy cut once dry. The background has been created in a similar way directly onto my base card, sprinkling with brushos and spritzing with water. Once dry, I layered up my elements and stamped my sentiment at the top.

Next up is a card featuring another stamp from the Strong Women set in combination with the lily of the valley stamp from Smile and a sentiment from Hashtag Authentic ...

I started off sponging my turquoise oval and bleaching the large amazing (Hashtag Authentic) into it using water. I then stamped my sentiment once and the lily of the valley several times in Concord Crush and coloured them using Northern Light Twinkling H2Os avoiding the stamped outline as much as possible as the ink I used to stamp was a dye ink. A little turquoise spritzing finished the look.

As with every blog hop leaving comments on participating blogs will give you entries in the final prize draw. Commenting closes on Tuesday 3rd May and the winners will be announced on Thursday 5th May.

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

This is what you could win ...

Prizes:

ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMPlorations blog and designers' blogs (Days 1 to 5 post) wins the entire release (all 4 stamps)
ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMPlorations blog and designers' blogs (Day 5 post) wins a $20 gift certificate to the shop
FOUR (4) commenters randomly drawn from Designer & Stamp Spotlight posts (Days 1 to 4) each wins a $10 gift certificate to the shop
ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from our Facebook page will win a $15 gift certificate for herself and a $15 gift certificate for one friend she tags in her comment

*************************************************************************

Did these tickle your creative taste buds? Then leave a comment and pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog and join the Hop.

Good Luck and Happy Hopping!
hugs
Monika

Here is what I used:
If you like the new stamps, they are 10% off each until May 6; when bought as a bundle, it's 15% off. Yaaaayyy!!!
Trendy Feathers 2, Groovy Shoes, Smile and Strong Women are the new sets.
   
I combined them with stamps from Mixed Media Elements, Hashtag Authentic
 

She Believed

Hi All,

It's Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations and I am back today with another Twinkling H2O make using the last one of my stencil prints from this month's ARTplorations Stencil Hop project using the Delicate Links stencil, If you zoom in, you can just see the pastel pink print adding some lovely detail around the sunflower ...

I stamped the sunflower from the Bloom Sketches set in Coffee Archival ink and coloured it using Celestial Sun and Mandarin Blush H2Os and a little of Northern Lights for the background. I then spritzed with Crushed Curry ink, stamped my sentiment from the Strong Women set in black and layered onto my matching base card.

Here is another look for you ...

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out the wonderful projects my teamies created and to leave a comment for your entry to win a $10 gift certificate.

Hope you enjoyed my little offering today. I shall be back on Friday with my DT contribution to the April Stamp Release Blog Hop over at STAMPlorations. It's already in full swing ...

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used ...
Bloom Sketches, Strong Women, ARTplorations Stencils: Delicate Links
  

Feeling Blessed

Hi All,

It's time for a little Inspiration over at STAMPlorations. To create my DT project I used a print of the Delicate Links Artplorations stencil I took when making my card here. When taking the print, after spritzing the stencil which still had the ink from blending on, I aligned my piece of card to get the actual frame of the stencil to form a border as you can see in the bottom left hand corner. I then simply combined it with stamps from the Strong Women and Smile sets to make my card...

... the rest is pretty straight forward. I added a little black ink spritzing, stamped my sentiment and added my stamped, coloured and fuzzy cut lilies to finish. Here is another look ...

I am entering my card at:
Craft Stamper Make It Take It - Spring Flowers

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration and to leave a comment for your entry to win a $10 gift certificate.

That's it from me for now. Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

Here is what I used:
Smile, Strong Women, ARTplorations Stencil: Delicate Links
  

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop Day 3

Link the graphic or your text to the April 15 post:

http://stamplorations.blogspot.com/2016/04/artplorations-stencil-blog-hop-day-3.html

Hi All,

welcome to Day 3 of the Flash Stencil Linky Party over at STAMPlorations. Today's piece of stencil inspiration cam about when I decided that I wanted to use some form of watercolour with the stencil. I also wanted to try out how my Twinkling H2Os would look on black card ....

First I dry embossed the Delicate Links stencil on a piece of black card using the appropriate Big Shot sandwich. With my stencil still attached, I picked up some of the pattern using Navajo Pearl and Plumeria Twinkling H2Os, before adding some gems and dots using my glittery gel pen. I heat embossed my sentiment from the Bloom Sketches set in gunmetal Kerpowder! and layered everything as seen ...

That's it from me for today. Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to join the party. I shall be back soon.

Have a lovely day!

Hugs
Monika xx

here is what I used:
ARTplorations Stencils: Delicate Links, Bloom Sketches
 

ARTplorattions Stencil Blog Hop Day 2

Hi All,

Welcome to Day 2 of the Flash Stencil Linky Party over at the STAMPlorations Blog. Today's inspiration piece features one of the prints I took from my Delicate Links stencil after I finished the sponging for yesterday's card. You can just see a bit of it on the right hand side. To make best use of this partial print, I decided to combine it with the Shower Of Flutters stencil and its matching stamp set Trendy Butterflies plus a sentiment from the Strong Women set.

I did my sponging using Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo ink and my stamping using Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo. To finish the look I added a black doodled frame and a tiny die-cut butterfly.

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to join the Linky Party, remember, you can use any make of stencil to join the fun.

That's it from me for today, I shall be back gain tomorrow with another project with a more masculine feel.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
ARTplorations Stencils: Delicate Links and Shower Of Flutters, Trendy Butterflies, Strong Women
   

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop Day 1

Hi All,

Welcome to Day 1 of the ARTplorations Stencils Blog Hop. This is where we, the STAMPlorations Girls, are putting stencils through their paces. Over on the STAMPlorations Blog you can see all the gorgeous projects from CAS to Mixed Media the team have created. Here is my DT project using ARTplorations Stencils: Delicate Links and a sentiment from SMILE ...

I sponged a piece of white card using Daffodil Delight ink, attached my Delicate Links stencil and partially sponged it with Melon Mambo ink.

At this point I started to think ahead ... I removed the stencil, spritzed some water on it and took a few prints which I used for a couple of other cards, one for tomorrows project and the other one for next week Tuesday's Inspiration post project. But now back to my card on today's post ...

I stamped my sentiment in black Archival ink, layered on my white base card and added some sequins to finish.

As with every Blog Hop, leave a comment on ideally all of the participating blogs for your chance to win one of the fabulous prizes on offer. Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. Commenting closes on Sunday, 17th April and the winners will be announced on Tuesday, 19th April. Good Luck!

****

Prizes:
THREE (3) winners will receive their choice of ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs.
ONE (1) winner will receive a $15 gift certificate OR her choice of 2 ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog. 

Extra prizes for those who participate in the Flash Stencil Project Linky Party and link up by April 15:
TWO (2) winners whose projects feature stencils (any brand) will each receive their choice of one (1) ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7)
ONE (1) winner whose project features an ARTplorations stencil will receive her choice of three (3) ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7) OR a $15 gift certificate to the shop.

That's it from me for today. I shall be back again tomorrow with more stencil inspiration.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
ARTplorations Stencils: Delicate Links, Smile
 
Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo inks - Stampin'Up!

Adding A Twinkle

Hi All,

Its time for a little Inspiration over at the STAMPlorations Blog. I decided to use one of their new sets called SMILE in combination with a sentiment from Lotus Love to create my DT piece .... a skinny one-layer card.

I started off by white embossing the lilies on my cream base card. Next I masked and sponged the partial oval using Tempting Turquoise and Pacific Point inks before bleaching some of it from the flowers. I then used some Navajo Pearl Twinkling H2O to colour the lilies to make them look like floating above the card. I stamped my sentiment in Pacific Point and added some strategically placed sequins to finish.

After having been sitting in my cupboard for some time with only very occasional use, my Twinkling H2Os have finally come out to play. I rather like this effect and shall use it again. Here is a more close-up look ...

I am entering my card at:
Craft Stamper Make It Take It- Spring Flowers
One Layer Simplicity - As You Wish
CAS on Sunday - Flowers

For more inspiration, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out the creations my fabulous teamies came up with, Whilst there leave a comment for your entry to win a $10 gift certificate for their shop.

I hope you enjoyed todays offering. I shall be back tomorrow for the ARTplorations Stencil Hop.

See you then.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
SMILE, Lotus Love
 
Tempting Turquoise and Pacific Point inks - Stampin'Up!
Navajo Pearl Twinkling H2O - LuminArte

Dragonfly Dance

Hi All,

It's Inspiration Time over at STAMPlorations. As my DT contribution I worked with one of the dragonflies from the Winged Things set, a sentiment from the Hope Blooms set and some added bits from the Mixed Media Elements and Mixed Media Grunge sets.

I did some all over stamping of the dragonfly in Smokey Slate, added my sentiment in black, added the circle and the dotty border in SS, doodled a border in black and finished off by adding two coloured, fuzzy cut and slightly shaped dragonflies and a couple of gems.

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration and to leave a comment for your entry to win a $10 gift certificate.

That's it from me for today. I shall be back again soon with more makes.
Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

stamps I used:
Winged Things, Hope Blooms, Mixed Media Elements, Mixed Media Grunge
   

Acetate Doodles

Hi All,

Just a quick card to share. I made it using some of the acetate circles I showed you in my video here. For the doodled ones I used Peel Off Markers, applied the main colour first and then added waves, dots or dashes using a different colour. Here is the finished project ...

I adhered the circles with brads, glue dots or sticky sheet, the latter I attached before punching the shapes. It leaves the acetate looking a little opaque whilst still creating a nice effect. I finished off with a sentiment from the Big Greetings set by STAMPlorations, some gems and a few scored lines.

Here is another last look at my card ...

I am entering my card at:
Addicted to Stamps and More - Make your Mark

That's it from me for now, I shall be back again tomorrow. Until then ...

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

stamps I used:
Big Greetings