Make Today Amazing

Hi Crafty Friends!

Last one of the tulip cards ... for now

It's a one-layer card, simply stamped with a stencilled background.

Trudy Spring Corner for the tulip corner stamp and sentiment stamp by Crafty Roo Designs, Brick Wall square stencil by STAMPlorations.

Wishing you a lovely weekend!
hugs

Monika 💕

Tulip Hugs

Hi Crafty Friends!

Got another tulip card for you today. This one has been inspired by a border from my garden where I planted some tulips in front of a sandstone wall. They'll be in bloom very soon.

I picked a stencil from my stash, did a bit of blending, added the coloured tulip, stamped my sentiment and finished off with a sequin. 

Trudy Spring Corner stamp set for the tulip and sentiment stamp by Crafty Roo Designs, Brick Wall square stencil by STAMPlorations.

Wishing you all a lovely day!
hugs

Monika 💕

You Make Me Smile

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's Tuesday and this means it's Inspiration Time over at STAMPlorations.  I thought I'd share another little card with a subtle stencil background ...

There are three main options for subtle stencilling on coloured card

1. use a colour that is close to the colour of the card stock (I used Miel Izink ink on mine)
2. use Versamark for the stencilling which gives a slightly darker tone than your card stock's colour
3. go a little darker by using light grey ink, however one needs to be cautious when using grey on yellow card as the darker shade might have a hint of olive (black and yellow are used to mix olive green)

My image was coloured using markers and waterbrush.

If you feel like bagging yourself a bargain and take advantage of STAMPlorations' Birthday Month Sale check out the graphic at the end of this post. All items in this section will be 40% off when using code 7YEARS at check out.

Should you find yourself placing an order of anything not included in the Birthday Month Sale, feel free to use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout for a 20% discount on your order. Please note that my discount code can not be combined with any other coupon code, but you can use it as often as you wish. I've got to be honest, if you use the code I will get a little reward.
You can check out all of STAMPlorations' current promotions here.

That's it from me for today. Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out my teamies' beautiful makes.

Hope you're having a lovely week!

hugs
Monika xxx


here is what I used from

- STAMPlorations Shop:

Bloomin' Coffee And You, Sweetly, Brick Wall Stencil
  

this is the graphic for STAMPlorations current sales

Stamp Release over at STAMPlorations

Hello Crafty Friends!

STAMPlorations are releasing two new stamp sets today and they are celebrating with a little Blog Hop too. Both sets feature a mix of coffee themed and floral images with some beautiful sentiments.

Here are my DT pieces using the new sets ...

The floral image on my first card was coloured using my metallic pencils, fuzzy cut and popped up on a brick wall stencilled background. The sentiment was snipped apart for a bit more interest and impact.

My next card has a somewhat minimalist colour scheme. The flowers surrounding the label were again coloured with metallic pencils and the label itself got a bit of added texture through pencil colouring and a bit of stamping using the dotty border stamp from the Mixed Media Grunge set. The splatters on the base card were stamped and my card was finished off with a metal charm.

Here are both of the new sets ...

Bloomin' Coffee and You | Sweet Kindness

There will be some prizes too for those who wish to hop along and leave comments on the STAMPlorations Blog and the participating designers' blogs. Winners will be drawn at random from all the comments left on the STAMPlorations Blog and participating designers' blogs. Commenting is open until Monday 8th June and the winners will be announced on Wednesday 10th June in the May Winners post on the STAMPlorations Blog.

There will be two winners in total.

One winner will get either Bloomin' Coffee And You or Sweet Kindness, winner's choice.

One winner of a $15 gift code.

Both of the new sets are on offer at 10% off, no coupon needed.

Should you find yourself placing an order soon, feel free to use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout for a 20% discount on your order. Please note that my discount code can not be combined with any other coupon code, but you can use it as often as you wish. I've got to be honest, if you use the code I will get a little reward.

You can check out all of STAMPlorations' current promotions here.

That's it from me for today. Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out my teamies' beautiful makes using the new stamp sets and, of course, to hop along.

Wishing you all the best of luck. Hope you're having a lovely week!

hugs

Monika xxx

here is what I used in addition to the new sets from

- STAMPlorations Shop:

Art Marks, Mixed Media Grunge, Brick Wall Stencil

  

this is the graphic for STAMPlorations current sales

Introducing New ARTplorations Stencils

Hi Crafty Friends!

Over at STAMPlorations they are releasing 6 new stencils designed by Helen under her label Helen G Designs. In true style they are celebrating with a blog hop.

Before I give further details, let's first have a look at the new stencils ...

  

Brick Wall, Clouds, Rubber Bands

  

Petals 1, Petals 2, Petals 3

Aren't they amazing? I really loved working with them. Here are my makes ...

In my first card, I used the Petals 1 stencil to highlight the negative Perched Bird die-cut ...

... my next card uses the Clouds stencil for the background and the Petals 3 stencil to add interest to my die-cut bird ...

... my last card uses the Rubber Bands and Brick Wall stencils to create a funky background for my stamped bird.

As always with a blog hop, there are prizes to be won. Two winners will be randomly drawn from all the comments left on the STAMPlorations blog and all the participating designers' blogs, links to which can be found here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

One crafter will win all 6 of Helen's new stencils and the second winner will win 3 of the new stencils (winner's choice).

Commenting finishes on Wednesday 8th April and the winners will be announced in the March Winners post over on the STAMPlorations Blog on Friday 10th April, just in time for Easter.

Here is one last look at my projects ...

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more stencil inspiration and to join the blog hop.
Wishing you a wonderful day!

hugs
Monika xxx


here is what else I used from the STAMPlorations Shop:

Perched Bird Die, Hugs Word Die,
 

Softly, Birds Of Paradise
 

Christmas Trees & Stencils

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today I'm sharing a couple of projects made for March's Christmas In The Air feature over at STAMPlorations. In this special feature Nancy and I are sharing a couple of Christmas projects each on the 2nd Wednesday in March and May.

This month I thought I'd go with Christmas Trees and stencilled backgrounds allowing the Sketchy Yule Trees to take center stage.

My first card features one of them with a starry background ...

I coloured the tree with metallic pencils, stencilled the stars and grounded my tree with my stamped sentiment. It was stamped in full to one side of the tree and just a bit of it to the other side.

You can easily do this using a stamping tool, simply by sliding your card across as shown ...

As you can see, these photos of the easy way were taken after my card was finished which means I did it the hard way. ;)

If you don't have a stamping tool, it's easy to do with a craft mat and ruler too. Simply align your card with the grid of your mat and make a faint pencil mark as your stamping guide.

Here is a close up of my first card ...

Next up is a Banksy inspired card ...

Initially I had a grungy look in mind, but going with the flow an almost CAS look suited my messy watercoloured tree better.

Given that white embossing looks best on coloured background, I decided to colour outside the lines for maximum impact before fuzzy cutting my tree. You can go rather messy with the colouring, it will be much neater once the tree has been cut out.

I popped it up on foam pads and added it to my stencilled background, stamped my sentiment and finished off with small gems.

Brick Wall, one of Helen's new stencils due to be released next week, was stencilled using Smoked Paprika Prism ink.

Here is one last look ...

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out the lovely projects my teamie Nancy made. The Christmas In The Air feature also doubles up as a mini blog hop. Shery will randomly draw one winner of a $15 gift code from all the comments left on the Christmas In The Air posts on the STAMPlorations Blog, on Nancy's log and on my blog.


Have fun hopping along.
hugs
Monika xxx


here is what I used from the STAMPlorations Shop

Sketchy Yule Trees, Christmas Elf, Oh, My Stars! Mini Stencil
  

Joy, Brick Wall Stencil (designed by Helen G Designs) due to be released next week