Color Blooms ATCs Part 1

Hello Crafty Friends and Happy National Coloring Day to my friends from across the Atlantic!

It's Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations, and as promised I shall be introducing some of the ATCs I made using pieces of a page from the Color Blooms Coloring Book. I won't go into what I used to do the colouring, it is all explained in a Spotlight Post here.

An ATC, Artist's Trading Card, is a piece of art work measuring 2 1/2"  x 3 1/2 ". They are usually swapped with like minded artists and have the creator's details on the reverse. I recently made a whole bunch of them to exchange at last weekends Happy Little Stamper's Craft Retreat in Swindon.

For more ATC information and ideas, see Melissa's Mixed Media Tutorial here on the STAMPlorations Blog. Now, back to my creations ....

I adhered my piece of Color Blooms to a piece of white card, stamped and embossed my sentiment from the Bold Sentiments: Explore, added a 3D effect with a white gel pen and finished off with a couple of punched hearts, some pearls, gem and fibers. I then layered on a thin piece of chipboard, added another piece of card with the details on the reverse and disguised the edge with a helping of glitter glue.

For my next ATC, I tried heat embossing without using pigment ink. I simply sprinkled holographic embossing powder on a piece of tempting Turquoise coloured newsprint paper and heated it from underneath, I then attached my fuzzy cut Color Blooms Flower, added my sentiment, Bold Sentiments: Explore and Create, and finished off with some white and sparkly doodles, sequin and sparkly dots.

I altered my next piece of coloured page by adding some pearls, sequins, glossy accents and sentiment from Bold Sentiments: Create finishing off with white and golden doodles.

Again I used a piece of Tempting Turquoise coloured newsprint paper, stamped the heart square from the Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares set around the edge as a half diamond for a grungy border, embossed as above with holographic embossing powder, attached my piece of coloured bloom, added a doodled frame and finished off with my sentiment from Bold Sentiments: Create and Imagine plus a spot of glossy accents and sequin.

This is it from me for now, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration and to leave a comment for your entry to win a $10 gift certificate.

If you got the colourin bug ... it is National Coloring Day in the US and Shery has prepared a little taster for you over on the STAMPlorations Blog here. There is also a linky party you can join. :-D

As for me, I shall be back soon.

Stay Playful and have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Color Blooms; Bold Sentiments: Create, Explore, Imagine; Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares
    

Monochromatic Purple Collage

Hi Everyone!
I am back again for another tutorial over at STAMPlorations. Today I'm going for a monochromatic palette in purple working with the stamp sets Bold Sentiments: Imagine and Mixed Media Elements, our current Stamp Club set, plus the Old Rose Prints ARTplorations Stencil.

Before starting I made myself a little colour swatch on a piece of scrap paper to see how my purples would work together and to decide which ones to use.

This is basically a one-layer card which means I stamped directly on my base card.

I started off by twice stamping the script in Sweet Plum Memento ink having wiped a little ink off along the bottom edge before stamping the second time.

Next I added my splashes in Dusty Concord Distress Ink and stenciled my rose using Dark Orchid Starlights Metallic Paint. Seeing that some of my stamped splashes could make perfect leaves helped in the positioning of the rose.

I then stamped my sentiment in Elegant Eggplant, added some more stamped texture using stamps from the Mixed Media Elements set and sprayed a fine mist using a marker pen and spritzing tool. I then finished off by rounding three corners and adding some extra sparkle in the form of gems and sequins.

Here is a close up of the rose, as you can see the paint is very sparkly which adds lovely interest to the finished project.

TIP!: If you haven't got any ready made paint, you could try adding glitter to acrylic paint which should give you a similar effect.

As always there is a little video where you can craft along. It gives you a little more information on how I create my projects as I go along.

As mentioned in my video, I am linking my card with The Hop To Stop where it's all about raising awareness about Domestic Violence. The aim is to get people talking about DV which in turn may help someone to make the break and walk away. Help is out there.

How the hop works:

Anyone is eligible for a Super Sponsor prize if they link up a *newly created* papercraft project, no back-linking please. Random.org is used to draw for winners.

In order to be eligible you MUST:
>>Comment on the three entries before your linkup in order to be eligible for a prize (be a good bloggy neighbour!) (unless it's a site that requires a login)
>>Display the sponsor graphic!
>>Provide a direct link back to the hop

As you can see STAMPlorations is one of the hop's sponsors, commenting on my post over on their blog will give you another chance of winning a prize.

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

hugs
Monika xxx

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

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!