November Stencil Sunday

Hello, Crafty Friends!

Welcome to another Stencil Sunday in November, May I take the opportunity to remind you of the current Mixed Media Challenge over at STAMPlorations. As you know Anything Mixed Media Goes as long as it is not a card and you use at least one stencil.

My DT contribution for this Stencil Sunday is ... a pen holder

I bought this wooden shape a while ago and had already coated it with two coats of off white emulsion paint. I decided to work on the base coat directly rather than covering with paper/card. It was going to be an adventure ...
... and here is how I made it:

• spray the base coated box with Ocean Blue, Forest Green and Gold Artiste Spritzing ink and allow to dry
• lightly stamp the Distressed Damask Background in Tiger Lily Archival, you only want to pick up a little of the pattern
• sponge Tiger Lily through the A Bloom And Three Buds ARTplorations stencil and outline with a dark brown alcohol marker
• add some highlights using a white gel pen
• add a border of dots using an orange and edge using a dark brown alcohol marker
• sprinkle with clear embossing powder and heat set
• at this point you can add some extra stamping to the sides of the internal box, if you feel like it. I personally didn't do this
• add highlights to the bloom and buds using gold shimmer eyeliner, I love it for its non-messy, very fine glitter
• finish off with a coat of Mod Podge

A few of my observations:

• the pigment spritzing inks will pool and mix before drying, it will react differently as compared to using paper, which is partially due to being coated with acrylic emulsion
• any colour from the Archival ink and alcohol markers will change mainly influenced by the golden shimmer pigment from the spritzing inks, Tiger Lily is a very bright orange
• the spritzing ink will react with Mod Podge where it hasn't been sealed with clear embossing powder to make it look painted rather than spritzed. I only coated the front and back with embossing powder

Here are a few more photos ...

I hope you feel inspired to create something different, maybe even do some up-cycling or re-purposing .... why not link it up with the Mixed Media Challenge over at STAMPlorations. The theme is always Anything Mixed Media Goes except cards which means projects such as tags, ATCs, canvases, layouts, art journal pages etc,are perfect for entering, and you must have used at least one stencil (any brand) in your project. The challenge will close at the end of the month. You can find the full challenge details plus more Mixed Media inspiration here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

That's it from me for today. I shall be back soon with another project to share.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used from the STAMPlorations Shop, remember to apply my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA (not case sensitive) at check out for a 20% discount on their stamps, stencils and dies:

ARTplorations Stencils: A Bloom And Three Buds


STAMPlorations Stamps: Distressed Damask Background

CASEplorations April

Hi Everybody,
It's CASEplorations Time again. This is where we, the STAMPlorations Girls, pick one card each month to CASE. CASE originally means copy and share everything, but in our playground we understand it as take inspiration from ...

This month we are taking inspiration from a card Kimberly Wiener made for her post here, when she was our Guest Designer for the Stamps & Glitter challenge last July.

I love the bright orange combined with the blue. The splatter pattern also stood out to me as something that I liked.
I actually made my card last Friday in between seeing clients which meant I didn't want my fingers getting inky. This is why instead of splatters I used dots and circles to get the movement for my card. I stamped these using the ring from The Bee's Knees Newlyweds Extras set, the ring was used for the circles and simply turned over for stamping the bubble like dots.
I then took a die cut butterfly and added some pattern to it by embossing the Distressed Damask Background in light blue and highlighting it with a darker blue using the resist technique.
To add some more contrast I decided to layer my butterfly on a piece of orange card with a blue banner and white on black greeting from the Joyful stamp set.

To finish my card off I simply added some sequins ... and here it is:

As always there is a chance for you to play along at the CASEploration Playground, more details can be found here.
Before I go just a quick reminder that the new APRIL Release Stamps are available at a 10% discount until 10th April. If you are a member of our Stamp Club, you will get your 15% discount on top of that too.

Smiles all around. Mine arrived in the post today .... off playing ...

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

stamps I used:
   

April Release stamps

January Challenge at STAMPlorations

Happy New Year, Everybody!!!
Hope you all a great festive season. It's my first post for 2015, and what better way to kick my blogging year off than showcasing a couple of DT projects I made for STAMPlorations' January Stamps & Ink challenge.
My first card uses their Distressed Damask Background and SAB Dare.

In brief, I created the scalloped pattern on my background stamp by inking it up with my Rich Cocoa Memento dewdrop ink pad and some masking which left me with a stamped scalloped pattern. I did this after I attached my die cut flower and blended some ink (Strawberry Slush and Bermuda Bay) over and around it. To finish I added my sentiment, a piece of ribbon and gem.
I took inspiration for my layout from the current challenge over at CAS(e) this Sketch and I would like to enter my card there. As you can see I had a little play with it and swapped a couple of elements.

For my next card I went all out inky creating a little scene and framing it using Trendy Leaves combined with the Distressed Floral Swirls and a sentiment from the TYPOGRAPHIA: Encouragement set.

There is also a craft-along video for this one hence I won't go into too much detail. I blended some inks, one of my favourite techniques, to crate a landscape background. I then stamped some swirls around the bottom edge and some leaves around the top using generational stamping and Versafine inks. I them embossed my sentiment and added some highlights using alcohol markers before adding a few birds and golden metal embellishments.

I would like to enter my card at CCEE Stampers where you are required to make a card with one or more birds. Mine has some tiny ones flying into the sun, hope that this will qualify.

This is my contribution for the Stamps & Ink challenge at STAMPlorations, head over to their blog to see the fabulous projects my Teamies prepared for your inspiration. This is also where we're welcoming Tenia Nelson from Jazzy Paper Designs as our guest designer for the month. The challenge will end 31st January and the winner will be announced on February 5th.
As always there is a great prize package awaiting the winner which includes a Guest Designer Spot in March. It could be you, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out the details and enter your creation.

This is it from me for today. If you like my creations, why not join and follow my site either through Friend Connect or Google+. Back soon with more projects ....
Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here are the sets I used:


Inks from Stampin'Up! I used: Straw berry Slush, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi
Versafine Inks: Spanish Moss, Olympia Green, Crimson Red, Imperial Purple, Onyx Black
Die cut flower - eclips shape by Sizzix
ribbon - Stampin'Up!
Gems, Memento inks, black fine liner pen and Tinge alcohol markers

Loving Distressed Damask

Hi Everyone.
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.
You might have noticed that I changed over from WordPress. Ever since I decided on the move, I had been looking for the Google Friend Connect button and finally found it!!! YAY! Given that it has taken me so long to find the little gadget I am extending the Blog Candy, one of my hand made calendars, deadline until Sunday 4th January 12 noon GMT. I shall be drawing two lucky winners of one calendar each.
This is a quick post from me today coinciding with a Spotlight Feature on the STAMPloratios Blog. I finally got round to ordering two stamp sets I had wanted for a while. They arrived through the post the week before Christmas, and I couldn't help but playing. Here are the two cards I made using the Distressed Damask Background and the Distressed Floral Swirls plus a couple of stamps to keep you looking forward to the New Year.

I wanted to go for all out colourful and used all my little cat eye ColorBox inks for the background.I quite like the mottled effect you get from using them to create a pattern on the stamp whilst inking up. I could have added some more stamping, splashes or ink spritzes to my first card, but I decided to leave it as is given that the random inking adds a lot of interest and depth.

For my second card, I used the second imprint of the stamping and layered a pattern on top using fainter and brighter inks to add more depth.

Both sentiment stamps are from a new range Shery is going to introduce next year: The STAMP LAB! Exciting times ahead ... Watch This Space!

Given that I had so much fun, I couldn't resist making another card to sneak in before the post goes live. This time teaming both sets with our current STAMP CLUB set Sugar Rush.

This time I decided to only ink part of the stamp creating a pattern for my background. It a sort of reminded me of wafers and scoops of ice cream once I stamped hence I turned it into this ice cream themed beauty.

A more detailed description on how to make the cards can be found on the STAMPlorations Blog here.

Hope you feel inspired using the Distressed Damask Background in different ways. I for one am looking forward to seeing your makes using this technique.

Before I go, just a quick note: If you have been sitting on the fence about joining our STAMP CLUB, now is a really good time to do it. With more products being added to the inclusive package next year, joining now will actually save you money. The full details and pre-view of what's new for 2015 can be found here. The After Christmas Sale is still on until 31st December 2014, and as a STAMP CLUB member there will be extra savings for you too, details of which can be found here.

Wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR full of crafting magic!

hugs

Monika x

  

Here are the videos for my cards:

1st card

2nd card

3rd card