Playing Around

Hi Everyone,

It is Inspiration Time again over at STAMPlorations. My project came about when I was playing with some dies in preparation for making some much needed Christmas cards. Well, what can I say ... the first one ended up being a birthday card instead ...

I die cut the star border from cream Centura Pearl card and combined it with stamps from the Balloons and Banners set. I stamped coloured and fuzzy cut my balloon, stamped my sentiment in black Memento and the little stars in Pumpkin Pie before layering up as shown.

As I quite liked the green - orange combo, I decided to finally venture into making a Christmas card.

Using stamps from the Joyful and Sentiment Builders: Christmas and New Year to make up my sentiment, I simply stamped my sentiment and added some tiny die cut stars. A very quick and easy card to make.

Should you wish to CASE any of my or my teamies cards, please link them up at the Inspiration CASE Playground. You find the Linky at the end of each Inspiration Post on the STAMPlorations Blog ... hope to see you there.

Just in case you missed it, here is another look at my card from yesterday's post ...

That's it from me for today. I shall be back soon.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
stamps from STAMPlorations, links are in the above text
  
Twinkle Twinkle Die'sire Edge'ables and green core-dinations card (was a lucky dip colour) - Crafter's Companion
Pumpkin Pie and Gumball Green inks - Stampin'Up!
Tinge Alcohol Markers for colouring balloon - The Works

That Time Of Year

Hi Everyone,

It's Inspiration Time again over at the STAMPlorations Blog ... and I thought my project could also double up as a reminder for the Mini Release Blog Hop where you could win the stamp set featuring these incredibly cut critters. It is called PETS and designed by Shirley aka The Bee's Knees. Commenting on the hop closes 11.55pm Pacific today (7.55 am GMT Saturday 12th September). If you fancy giving it a go, click here.

Now back to today's project ...
It's that time of year again when some of us are starting to dread the Ch....... word. Hence I thought it might be an idea to bounce some lovely gift ideas about. I recently acquired some 2016 calendar tabs and was waiting for an opportunity to use them ... and given that we all love PETS, in my case cats, what better idea than combine the two ....

... into a lovely desk top calendar! I stamped, coloured (watercolour pencils) and fuzzy cut my two cats from the PETS set. Next I stamped my background in Sahara Sand using stamps from the Pets and Sentiment Builders: Christmas & New Year. I then added a little Washi Tape, stamped the stitching from the Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares set, slightly blended the edges with Sahara Sand and attached it to my base. I then used Gloss Mode Podge to attach the cads and calendar base before lightly coating it all with my Mod Podge. To finish I attached my calendar, added some rub-on swirls and flowers plus a sequin.

Having never used rub-ons before, I decided some weeks ago that I ought to give them a try and duly ordered a job lot of them from eBay ... and the there they were sitting ... and sitting ... until today/yesterday when I felt I needed something else to add to my calendar after sealing it all with Mod Podge. Well, that's when I discovered something new ... rub-ons are actually very easy to use ... what was I worried about?! lol

Here is another look at my finished project. If you want to make one yourself, you can find instructions on how I made the base here and in my video here.

I am entering my calendar at:
Craft Stamper - Anything Goes
Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
House of Cards - Stitch it up, the calendar can quite easily be sent as a card
Darnell's NBUS challenge - Anything Goes as long as there is some 'never before used schtuff included, mine were the calendar tab, rub-ons and the smaller one of the cat stamps

That's it from me for today. For more inspiration, fun and to check out the Inspiration CASE Playground, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog. I shall be back soon with more projects to share.

Have a lovely weekend!

hugs
Monika

Here are the STAMPlorations sets I used, links are in the above text
  

Sahara Sand Ink - Stampin'Up!
Calendar Tab - Printable Heaven
Washi Tape - Fantastic Ribbons

CASEplorations July

Hi Everyone,

It's time to explore CASEing again in the STAMPlorations Inspiration CASE Playground. This month we are taking inspirations from a card  made by Tenia Nelson, who is part of the STAMPlorations Challenge Design Team. She made this funky new home card:

You can find her original post here on her blog Jazzy Paper Designs. Well I had a go at making two cards this month. First up is a card I made for Katie, a friend's daughter. She and her partner have just bought and moved into their first home!!!! ... a real achievement given that they are still in their mid twenties! When I looked through my sentiments deciding which one to use, it really tickled me thinking that Katie rather than buying lots of shoes would buy a house ...

... and I hunted through my stash to find these paint brush and paint pot papers, added a few stamped splashes using a stamp from the Holiday Artsy set and layered them on my chevron embossed base card (core-dinations). I stamped my house from the Houses set, fuzzy cut, layered and fuzzy cut again for the shadow, added the die-cut SOLD, a piece of Washi and my altered sentiment from the A Girl And Her Shoes set. As you can see I roughly kept the same layout, the one chevron became the chevron embossed base card. Here is another look ...

Next up is a card I made in advance for Nick's sister who is in the process of selling her house and buying a new one. It has a different slightly more patchwork like feel to it ...

... probably because I used rose patterned paper and stamped stitching from the Graphic Pentagons set on the Washi. I did pick the papers to reflect her mature age and the card reminds me of a mood board of her style. Instead of the chevron I used the heart from the Sentiment Builders: Love set. I kept with the stenciled YAY (ARTplorations Hello and Company stencil) and added A New Home which I made up from another two of STAMPlorations Sentiment Builders Christmas & New Year and Happy. This time I kept three of the rounded corners and a couple of sequins finished my card off perfectly.

If you enjoy CASEing or want to give it a go even if you've never done it before, pop over to the Playground to join the fun. There are also lots of other things going on over at the STAMPlorations Blog, currently you'll find the Birthday Blog Hop, the never ending Anything Goes Challenge for projects using STAMPlorations goodies, commenting to win on the Inspiration and Spotlight Posts plus the new monthly and sketch challenges will start soon too. Links to each of these as always are found at the top of the home page.

I shall be back in a little while with my third installment for the Birthday Blog Hop and Linky Party.
Until then....

hugs
Monika xxx

stamps and stencils used, links as always in the text...