Sunday 30 June 2019

Reviewing Hunkydory's Prism Ink ....

... and having my 5-a-day!

Hello Crafty Friends!

A few weeks ago an email landed in my inbox asking me, if I would like to review some Hunkydory products. I got to choose the products I wanted to work with and keep. In return I had to write an honest review and add the links to their products, both of which I will do.

I decided that I wanted to review their Prism Inks as I am always on the lookout for good stamping inks. To help me do this, I added a couple of stamp sets and a stencil ...


To go with the fruit and veg theme, I chose the following Prism inks:
Red BrickSpring Meadow, Apple Green, Purple VelvetJersey CreamButterscotch and Slate Grey

And for the supporting role, I went with the following stencil and stamps:
For the Love of Masks - Hip Hip Hooray!For the Love of Stamps - Fruity Fun and For the Love of Stamps - Mixed Vegetables. The mask is sturdy, has a good size and can be used for a variety of projects, mixed media or plain inky. The stamps are good clear polymer quality. I like the funny faces and punny sentiments.

The above names are all directly linked to the products in the Hunkydory Shop. I can honestly say, that before getting these products, I had never used Hunkydory stamps, stencils or inks.

My first impression of the ink pads ...

I like the curvy shape. The lid sits firmly on its base and won't fall off or break, if accidentally dropped. The lip on the lid makes it easy to open each ink. It also makes it easy to get hold of an ink pad when they are stored next to each other in a shallow draw or box which is good as they can't be stacked on top of each other.
The ink itself is contained in a sponge similar to the ones used for pigment inks. I much prefer this compared to the very smooth pads some other brands have on offer. I also like the sponges' curved edges. I can see the ink pads being used as stamps in their own right to stamp background accents.
The size of the ink pads will make it easy to ink up stamps without smudging the surrounding area when using a stamping platform.

Before doing anything else, I stamped the colours to see how well the ink matches the colour on the lid. They match pretty well.


Only light tapping was needed to ink up the stamps for good coverage and clear image stamping.

Here is one simply stamped creation using the Slate Grey Prism Ink which is fast becoming my favourite. It's a one-layer card to which I simply added a piece of coloured twine from my stash.


For my next two card, I did a bit of sponging and picked up some ink for watercolouring the peas ...


... both of which was easy to do. The ink colours layer well for watercolouring and adding shading.
The peas and sentiment were stamped with black Versafine ink from my stash. To finish, I simply added some doodles with a fineliner pen.

I am entering my card at Less Is More - one layer, spots 

For my next card, I kept the same layout, added another border from the stencil and a bit more ink blending ...


The pale yellow of the Jersey Cream did blend with the Red Brick for a reddy orange.

For my next card, I did some more ink blending and then spritzed with water. The inks reacted really well.


Next I blended some Red Brick with Purple Velvet, a combination I really like ...


... I messed up the sponged dots (I didn't secure the stencil well enough) and had to bring in a stamp from my stash using Slate Grey to disguise my mistake.


I did sponge a die-cut I had in my stash and made this CAS card ...


I am entering my card at AAA Cards - one corner, optional twist flowers 

Next I did some blending and watercolour scribbling on Mixed Media card ...


The pale Jersey Cream is a bit too pale for watercolouring larger areas which I a sort of expected given that using water with inks always dilutes the colours quite a bit hence it works better with strong and bold colours.

I used the stencil to doodle the triangles for my pineapple chunks on my sponged panel. The ink hadn't quite dried and I decided to sprinkle it with clear embossing powder and blend with a bit of Purple Velvet.


I stamped, watercoloured (Red BrickSpring Meadow, Apple Green, Jersey Cream and Slate Grey) and fuzzy cut some pineapples to add to my card.

The great discovery was that the inks are slow-ish drying which means they can be used for heat embossing. (When using the Prism inks for stamping without wanting to heat emboss, simply allow for plenty of drying time. Alternatively heat set the stamped images to avoid accidental smudging) I tried the embossing on my watercoloured piece of card using the Jersey Cream with clear embossing powder for a subtle pattern ...


... which I turned into a not so subtle card adding more colour using some markers and a die-cut border from my stash. The sentiment is heat embossed using Spring Meadow and clear embossing powder.


My verdict:

I really like the Prism inks. They are very versatile and come in a good range of colours. It is definitely a product, I can recommend. The quality of the stamps and stencils is really good too.
Having never bought from Hunkydory before, I really surprised myself how much I liked their products. I will definitely get some more Prism inks and some other bits to try.

Here is one last look at my projects ...









That's it from me for today. Have a lovely week!

hugs
Monika xxx


Fruity FunMixed VegetablesHip Hip Hooray!
Image for For the Love of Stamps - Fruity FunImage for For the Love of Stamps - Mixed VegetablesImage for For the Love of Masks - Hip Hip Hooray!


Wednesday 26 June 2019

TMR 26th June

Hello Crafty Friends!

It is Wednesday and time for a new challenger over at The Male Room challenge blog where the bi-weekly challenge is all about making projects for the men in our lives. Our guest designer for the next fortnight is Andreja, you can check out her fabulous creations on here on Andreja's blog.

My DT project for the new challenge is ...


Each challenge, of course, has a different theme. For challenge #114 it is to include Multiple Layers. Lots of scope there!


I am normally not one for using lots of layers, but I managed a base card with three layers. For the background I used a stencil print, layered a strip of matching paper behind my topper and stamped the bird over the two layers.


Fancy creating something for a male person in your life, pop over to The Male Room for more inspiration and to link up your masculine makes.

That's it from me for today
Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Bird stamp - The Works
Birds Of Paradise for my sentiment, Mixed Media Grunge for the dotty border, Cornflower StencilSTAMPlorations, feel free to use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA for a 20% discount on their stamps, dies and stencils
Turquoise Brusho Powder, Cyan Liquarel liquid watercolour, Cire Izink ink, black Versafine ink, Slate Grey Prism Ink, die-cut topper white card - from my stash

Tuesday 25 June 2019

Heartful Of Thanks

Hello Crafty Friends!

Continuing the Birthday Celebrations over at STAMPlorations, I've chosen a more colourful theme for this week's Inspiration Post DT project, I made a little Thank You card to send to my niece in Germany who has asked us to save the date for her wedding next year. Here it is ...


I went for the heart chakra colours of green and pink and used the dots from the Layered Snowman set to stamp the dotty background. The heart was cut from various scraps of pink and layered with some more tiny hearts providing the embellishments.

As you can see, I am not much of a bokeh stamper, but I hope you get the idea.


STAMPlorations, Shery's little company, is celebrating its 6th birthday this month, and to mark the occasion Shery will draw 6 winners of a $25 gift code each from all the comments left on the Inspirations Posts on the STAMPlorations Blog and the participating designers' blogs, you can find the links for this week here.

STAMPlorations are also having a birthday sale throughout June. All the products in their shop's 6th Birthday section are on offer at 30% off, no coupon needed. The discount will be automatically applied at checkout. If you love a bargain, you can get an added 20% off by using my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout.

Here is one last look at today's card ...


I had to give you a little bonus project, another B&W with a pop of colour and a touch of glitter and bling ...



Keeping it short and sweet today, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out the fabulous projects my teamies created.

Have a lovely day!
hugs

Monika xxx

Here is what I used from ...
Stamplorations Online Store:
Layered SnowmanArt MarksTrendy Spring BloomsClustered Hearts Die
preview-LayeredSnowman preview-SheryRuss_ArtMarks1 preview-SheryRuss_TrendySpringBlooms preview-ClusteredHearts-CUTplorations

Kathryn's Big WishesRosebudsArt Marks
preview-DAI-KathrynsBigWishes stmp1077.jpeg

Feel free to use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout for a 20% discount off their stamps, dies and stencils. Happy shopping!

Tuesday 18 June 2019

Right Shoes

Hello Crafty Friends!

Continuing the Birthday Celebrations over st STAMPlorations and my B&W with a pop of colour scheme this week, I made another one-layer card for this week's Inspiration post DT project ...


I'm back using a splash of pink and these heels were perfect. I simply drew the line and stamped mt heels and sentiment.


Liking my card the way it turned out, I wondered what it might look like being really girly with a lit of bling. Here is the updated version ....


What do you think?


STAMPlorations, Shery's little company, is celebrating its 6th birthday this month, and to mark the occasion Shery will draw 6 winners of a $25 gift code each from all the comments left on the Inspirations Posts on the STAMPlorations Blog and the participating designers' blogs, you can find the links for this week here.

STAMPlorations are also having a birthday sale throughout June. All the products in their shop's 6th Birthday section are on offer at 30% off, no coupon needed. The discount will be automatically applied at checkout. If you love a bargain, you can get an added 20% off by using my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout.

Here is one last look at today's blinged up card ...


Keeping it short and sweet today, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out the fabulous projects my teamies created.

Have a lovely day!
hugs

Monika xxx

Here is what I used from ...

STAMPlorations Online Store:
A Girl And Her Shoes
stmp1095.jpeg
Feel free to use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout for a 20% discount off their stamps, dies and stencils. Happy shopping!

Friday 14 June 2019

June TAGplorations Reminder

Hello Crafty Friends!

Just a gentle reminder that the TAGplorations Challenge is in full swing over at STAMPlorations ... and there is still time to play.

The theme for June is: All About Dad
The optional twist is: to use a Stencil


Here is my DT project ...


As you can see, I went for the optional twist and used a stencil to add some sponged dotty detail. My tag is a simple one-layer tag with masked and stamped fancy birthday cakes. It's finished off with some paper ribbon.


If you love tags, why not give it a go and play along? Your project can be anything as long as it features a tag. You can enter as many projects as you want, but one per blog post please, and you don't have to use STAMPlorations products, yet we'd be thrilled if you would. There is currently a free image to download at STAMPlorations Never ending Anything Goes Challenge here. Please check out the full revised challenge guidelines here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

One lucky winner, voted for by the DT, will win a $15 STAMPlorations gift certificate and 3 randomly picked players will win a $5 STAMPlorations gift certificate each.

Ready for more tagtastic inspiration? Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see the gorgeous projects my teamies created and, of course, to link up your tag project/s too.

There is more inspiration about all the challenges here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

That's it from me for today. Have a lovely week.
hugs
Monika xx

here is what I used from the STAMPlorations Shop, you can use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout for a 20% discount on their, stamps, dies and stencils

preview-sweetandsassydad preview-TBSWorldBirthdayCakes preview-DAI-KathrynsBigWishes preview-web-stencil-077-DotsAllOver

preview-manilatags

here is what else I used:
Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie SU inks, Grenadine Izink ink, white card,  black Versafine ink, red paper ribbon