June Stencil Sunday

Hello, Crafty Friends!

Welcome to another Stencil Sunday in June. My 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 tag with a vintage feel ...

I started off with a Gelli Plate print from a while ago. As I had used the Bubbles stencil at the time, i decided to dry emboss the die-cut tag using the same stencil for added texture. I then played around with Distress Oxides on the tag and swirl before adding some shading using golden copper decorating chalks and black Versafine stamping with stamps from the Mixed Media Grunge set. I stamped the large Zinnia on newspaper print paper, fuzzy cut and sponged it with Old Paper DI. At this point I also blended the tag's edges with the same ink.
I added a doodled border, attached the swirl, added some rub-on sentiments and star,, set the floral eyelet and attached my flower before finishing off with sequins and ribbon.

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.

Just a heads up: All stamp sets, dies and stencils in their shop are still on the Birthday Sale at 15% off until 7th July. You can check out all the details on the STAMPlorations Blog here. Using my personal discount coupon code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout will give you an added 20% off.

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: Bubbles

STAMPlorations Stamps: 

Zinnia - Large, Mixed Media Grunge

 
CUTplorations Dies:
Luggage Tags Nesting Dies


*** Discount code works on sale items too

You Are Amazing

... at least that is how the British public feels about the little robin.

Hi Everybody!

Yes. yesterday it was revealed that the robin is Britain's favourite bird as voted for by the public!!! What better way to celebrate this event than making a card ... better even as it was also time to create a project for the Inspiration post over at the STAMPlorations Blog.
The thought of robin had me straight away reaching for The Bee's Knees Small Birds set. I had also been watching part of the Inventive Ink class over at Craftsy and wanted to try out some of the techniques ... here is my result ...

Birdie had to get dressed up as robin again. This time I decided to keep it sketchy and give him an orange (SU's Tangerine Tango) chest only to help him stand out from the colourful mixed media style background I had in mind. In the class Marjie Kemper uses DI's and blending tools, I decided to see how far my trusted SU inks (Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point), brushes and dried baby wipes could stretch to create similar effects. I started off lightly dusting some MM and DD on a piece of white card before stenciling part of the ARTplorations Bubbles stencil in DD, part of the Christmas Trees stencil in MM and some of the Confetti Circles stencil in PP before lightly blending the edges with PP. I then stamped my sentiment from the Hashtag Authentic set in black, did the same with the bar code strip and doodles chevrons from the Mixed Media Grunge set before doodling a border and lightly spritzing with TT and black. I then blended PP around the edges of my white base card, fuzzy cut birdie, layered everything in place and added some sequins to finish.

I am entering the amazing birdie at:
Time Out Challenges - Happy is the Birdie that the Sun shines on
Moo-Mania - Anything Goes
Sisters of Craft - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes with optional twist to make something for a best friend

Next up just a quick reminder ...

... details about the birthday bash can be found here.

As always there is fun to be had before that too, you can CASE any of my/our cards and link up at the Inspiration CASE Playground, short playground, to share your creation with us, enter in the blog challenges, comment on Spotlight Projects and more is already happening over at the STAMPlorations Blog.

GIVE AWAY reminder: I will email a copy of my digi stamp, the sentiment of the butterfly card here, to every new follower of my blog. Anyone who joins between now and 10th July 2015 will get one. Remember to click on the small green/blue squares to the right of the 'join this site' button to join. To claim your free stamp email me at tinkercardsATgmail.com, please replace AT with @.

This is it from me for today. Back soon with more inspiration.

Have a lovely day!

hugs

Monika xxx

from STAMPlorations I used ... (links can be found in the text above)
      

ARTplorations Stencils Blog Hop Day 3

Hi All! Welcome to Day 3 of the ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop where we, the STAMPlorations Girls, put stencils through their paces.

Today is less bright and daring, and I worked with the ARTplorations Stencils Oh My Stars! and Bubbles.

For my first card I dry embossed the Oh My Stars! stencil using my Big Shot and a rubber embossing sheet, which you simply place on your stencil before adding the required plates (check your machine instructions as these vary depending on make) and putting it through your machine.I left the stencil in place and sponged More Mustard ink to highlight the stars even further. I then removed the stencil and did some more sponging before adding a die-cut frame (Tattered Lace), swirl, sunflower and sentiment (both from the Bloom Sketches set) and finishing off by adding a butterfly (Trendy Butterflies) and pearl.

For my next card I created a background using inks and crafting mat. First I swiped some Tempting Turquoise ink over my crafting mat, spritzed it with water and took a print by placing a piece of card on the inked & spritzed area and smoothing over it using my hands. After it had dried I repeated the process using Island Indigo ink. Depending on how wet you make the ink on the mat, you end up with a more or less splattered look. Mine wasn't very wet, this allowed for the swipe marks to add a different type of texture and interest. Once dry I rounded three corners, attached my Bubbles stencil and sponged some more Island Indigo all over keeping it darker towards the edges. Next I white embossed my sentiment from the Boxed Blooms set and added a die-cut border (Tattered Lace) before finishing off by adding some tiny stars and butterfly (Trendy Butterflies) with pearl.

SIX winners, that's two per day randomly drawn from all the comments left on our blogs, will receive their choice of ARTploration Stencil.

THREE winners, randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations Blog Blog Hop Posts, will receive a $15 gift certificate from the STAMPlorations Store.

plus surprise prizes

Commenting finishes 13th March and the winners will be announced 15th March. Good Luck!

Make sure you leave a comment when visiting our blogs, you can find all the links here.

Have fun hopping!

hugs

Monika xxx

Here is what I used:

    

Tattered Lace dies by Stephanie Weightman
all inks mentioned from Stampin'Up!

CASEploration March

Hi Everybody,

It is time again for a new CASEploration project. This month we took inspiration from a card made by Loll.

One could take inspiration from the lattice background, the golden and red colours, the candles or the Christmas theme. If you want to check it out in more detail, you can find Loll's original card here on her blog.
Here is my take on this month's project:

As you can see, I went with the Christmas theme, the colours and the candles. My background panel is a piece from the Gelli Plate treasures I created the other day, when I was working with the ARTplorations Stencils: Bubbles and rolled the paint left on my roller off on a piece of card which I subsequently used to get an imprint of the stencil itself. I felt that my artistic smudges were a good interpretation of the lattice, and the coppery colour, a mix of red and golden acrylics, adds a lovely shimmer, which sadly doesn't come through in the photograph. I heat embossed my sentiment in gold  to match the golden die cut and stamped coloured and fuzzy cut the candles, all from the  Holiday Sketches: Christmas Candles set, bfore layering my panel on gold pearlized card, adding my candles and layering it all on my red base card. I decided to go for a bold base card to add some contrast similar to Loll's card. My panel is much lighter than hers and a white base card would have been rather pale and washed out looking. I also decided to match the red of my base card to the red in my panel, I rather like how it adds depth and makes the candles stand out.

To see how my teamies interpreted Loll's card pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog, this is also where you can find a link to the Playground and join us in CASEing.
Hope you'll join us, have fun!
Hugs
Monika xxx

Here is what I used:
 
Red and gold metallic acrylic paint from Poundland
Riding Hood Red card from Stampin'Up!
Promarkers and Tinge Alcohol Markers for colouring

Gelli Plate Saturday

Hello Everybody,

Hope you all had a great weekend!

My friend Sue and I had a fabulous Gelli Plate session on Saturday afternoon with acrylic paints and stencils. I was using some of my favourite ARTplorations Stencils to lift several prints in the process. You'd be amazed how many prints we managed to lift from one application of paints! We even took some prints of the stencils. I even managed to make use of the pattern I got from rolling the paint off the roller on a piece of card as you can see in the second one of today's projects.
First up is a card where I used part of an imprint from the ARTplorations Stencils: Bubbles and combined it with the following STAMPlorations stamp sets: Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds, Distressed Floral Swirls, Celebrate Artsy and Bloom Sketches.

I used the stencil imprint with its mix of red and golden colours as my starting point and stamped the largest of the texture stamps from the Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds down one side using a touch of Early Espresso ink. I then inked up my chosen Floral Swirls stamp in Gumball Green and stamped it several times into position using the generational stamping technique before stamping a partial border in Early Espresso using the dots from the Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds set. I then stamped, coloured (Promarkers) and fuzzy cut my daisy from the Bloom Sketches set, stamped one of the brush strokes from the Celebrate Artsy set as its stalk using Early Espresso ink, glued my bloom into position and finished off by adding my sentiment (Celebrate Artsy) in black and layering on my red base card.
I really like the 3D effect of the daisy, it looks a little like a pop-up feature.

I would like to enter my card at:
Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark
Card Mania - Add Some Red
Crafts Galore Encore - Use a Stamp or Digi
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes with optional twist birthday

The background for my next card was made by simply rolling off the left over paint from my roller. It is a mix of mustard and silver acrylic paint, and the eagle eyed may even spot a faint pattern from the ARTplorations Stencils: Shutters down the right hand side as I had just used the roller to apply some paint over that stencil.
Here is the finished card:

This one was really quick and easy to make. I stamped and fuzzy cut my daisy from the Bloom Sketches set before applying clear glitter to the petals and golden glitter to its center. Whilst the glitter was drying, I attached my mustard panel to a piece of green designer paper, added a ribbon and leaf by Cheery Lynn Designs (think it's called fern leaf and comes as a set of two), stamped my sentiment from the Celebrate Artsy set, attached it to my base card and once dry added my glittered daisy using 3D foam dots.

I would like to enter my card at
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 173 - Anything Goes
Scribble and Scrap Challenge 38 - Anything Goes

Oops, almost forgot to say ... The above two cards are my contribution to the Inspiration Feature over at the STAMPlorations Blog, where this time round we showcase some of the older sets. You can pop over by clicking here to see the fab projects my Teamies have created. This is also where we invite you to CASE one of our cards and play along at the CASE Playground. Have fun!

Next up is another Mixed Media style card made using a piece of an imprint from the ARTplorations Stencils: Shutters ...

I did go a little wild here and applied some Metallic Melon and Metallic Mint Gelatos as background colour. I then added some more texture using the large stamp from the Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds with Old Rose ColorBox pigment ink and the Lattice stamp (Kaisercraft) with Lapislazuli VersaColor ink. I then stamped the butterfly corner (36 by Kaisercraft) and my sentiment (Grateful Beyond Words STAMP LAB set by STAMPlorations***) in black VersaColor ink and layered my panel onto my red base card to finish.

This card has a lovely subtle shimmer due to the Metallic Gelatos and a little silver acrylic paint (mixed with mustard) from the stencil imprint.

I would like to enter my card at:
The Crafting Cafe - Favourite Technique, mine is stamping
Sisters of Craft - Anything Goes

Hope you enjoyed my little offering today. I shall be back soon with more.

Have a lovely day!

hugs

Monika xxx

*** STAMP LAB sets by STAMPlorations are limited edition stamps which have not been officially released. You can choose a free one with orders of and over $30 worth of products from their shop.***

Here are the STAMPlorations sets and ARTplorations Stencils I used:
     
Early Espresso, Gumball Green inks, Early Espresso and Poppy Parade card stock by Stampin'Up!
Stamps by Kaisercraft, all other inks, Metallic Gelatos, designer paper, ribbon, glitter, Promarkers and paints were from my local Craft Shop