Spring Coffee Lovers Hop

... and Special Stamp Release at STAMPlorations!

Hi All,

It's double celebration time today ... Firstly, STAMPlorations have a special stamp release of caffeinated goodness ... cute, elegant and cheeky ... here they are ...

 

... just in time for the second celebration ...

... more about this later.
To give you some ideas, I channeled my inner Queen, dug out the doilies and, working with the Always Teatime set, came up with the following inspiration ...

For my first card, I spritzed a pale pink base card with some pink and gold spritzing ink and attached my paper doily as seen. Next I enlisted the help of one of my watercolour brush stroke practicing cards and gold embossed one of the cups from the Always Teatime set before stamping the rising aroma from the Vignette: Eat Drink Be Merry set in fuchsia StazOn. I stamped a cheeky sentiment from the Literary Caffeine-ations and added another one from the Vignette: Eat Drink Be Merry set before finishing off with some sequins.

Next up is one with a more Spring like feel ...

I used another one of my brush stroke practicing pieces for the golden rays of hope emanating from the teacup. I stamped (in Tangerine Tango on cream card) and fuzzy cut the teacup (Always Teatime), stamped my sentiment (Always Teatime), added some leaves (Frames and Flowers), layered up, doodled a partial border, stamped the butterflies in Tangerine Tango (Frames and Flowers) and finished off by adding some sequins.

Next up is the card, I made first ...

I stamped mt teacup and sentiment, both from the Always Teatime set, on a piece of splattered watercolour background and added a little more colour to the flowers on the cup before distressing the edges and leaving to dry. I then embossed a piece of raspberry coloured card with a lace pattern. As I didn't want the pattern to be too dominant, I run the card through my machine again simply sandwiched between the cutting plates to flatten the embossing for a more subtle effect. I then layered everything up, doodled a white border and added some sequins and clear gems to finish.

That's my inspiration for today. Commenting on the STAMPlorations Special Stamp Release Hop finishes on Good Friday, 25th March at 11.59pm Pacific Daylight Time. Until the hop closes there is also ... wait for this .... a 15% discount on everything in the STAMPlorations shop, just enter coupon code SPRINGCLBH at check out. Two winners will be drawn at random and announced on Easter Sunday 27th March. The full rules and more inspirations from some of my teamies can be found on the STAMPlorations Blog.

I would also like to link my second card up with ...

• Addicted to Stamps and More - Photo Inspiration   
• Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop - Spring   

That's it from me for today. Happy Hopping!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Always Teatime, Vignette: Eat Drink Be Merry, Literary Caffeine-ations, Frames and Flowers
   

Love You Like Coffee Take 2

Hi Everyone!

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments on my previous post featuring the coaster I made. Well I thought I'd follow it up with a matching desk calendar. The two would make a perfect gift ...

... plus it gave me the opportunity to do a follow up and do a little tutorial on how I created the background.

As a reminder, this was the coaster ....

... and here is the matching calendar ...

... and here is the video explaining how I made it.

I thought it was best to simply have the video explain rather than me trying to put it into written words. Here are the links for the stamps I used:
Trendy Leaves, Eat Drink Be Merry, Mixed Media Elements, Sketchy Coffee Cups (the little heart on the cup), Freebie Digi (books and cup as of 8th Oct 15), which I flipped before printing to get my right handed image.

If you want to craft along to the video, apart from the stamp sets, please get the following ready too:
piece of kraft card measuring 21 x 14.5 cms, scored along the 21 cm edge at 9, 18, 19 and 20 cms
piece of cream card measuring 14 x 9 cms
a calendar tab mounted on a piece of red card
Crushed Curry, Real Red, Chocolate Chip and Sahara Sand Stampin'Up! inks brown fine tip marker, back Versafine ink
Have your digi stamp sized, printed (think I set the height at 6 cm before printing to give you an indication of the size I used), coloured with alcohol markers and fuzzy cut
acrylic blocks and shaving brushes or blending tools, glue

I am linking up with the following challenges:

Sisters of Craft - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes optional use pink

That's it from me for now, back again in a few hours with another stamping tutorial.
See you then!

hugs
Monika xxx

stamp sets from STAMPlorations, links are in the above text
   

Love You Like Coffee

Hi Everyone,

Just quickly wanting to share my second project for the Coffee Lovers Fall Blog Hop. This time I opted for making a coaster which currently is drying before I can apply several more coats of Mod Podge for protection. I took the photo after just one coat, here it is:

I die cut a large circle from cream card and sponged my background using my trusted shaving brushes with Crushed Curry and Real Red inks. Next I stamped the leaves (Trendy Leaves) in Crushed Curry and added some script detail (Mixed Media Elements) in Sahara Sand plus further detailing using stamps from the same set in Early Espresso. I flipped and printed my digi stamp, added the heart (Sketchy Coffee Cups) to the coffee cup, coloured (alcohol markers),fuzzy cut my image and attached it in place before stamping my sentiment (Eat Drink Be Merry) and layering on a thick cardboard coaster. To finish I applied several coats of Mod Podge.

I am linking up with:
Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog - Fall
Craft Stamper - Take a Technique

Pop over to the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog and join the fun.

Have a lovely weekend!

hugs
Monika xxx

stamps by STAMPlorations used, links are in the above text
   

Real Red, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso and Sahara Sand inks - Stampin'Up!
Alcohol markers used are a mix of Promarkers and Tinge Markers
digi stamp - STAMPlorations, freebie from their Anything Goes Challenge open to entries using their stamps

Coffee Lovers Autumn Blog Hop

Hi Everyone,

it's that time of year when the leaves shine in the most beautiful and amazing colours, it's also time for me to join the Coffee Lovers Fall Blog Hop. This is my project:

I sponged my background using Crushed Curry and Real Red Stampin'Up! inks, added some detail using the ARTplorations Dots and Dashes stencil with a touch of Real Red, stamped the leaves (Trendy Leaves by STAMPlorations) in Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip (Stampin'Up!) and added some stamped coffee beans (Latte Love) interest too. Next I stamped coloured and fussy cut my coffee cup (Latte Love by STAMPlorations), stamped my sentiment (Eat Drink Be Merry), layered as shown and finished off with a doodled border.

Pop over to the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog and join the fun.

Have a lovely weekend!

hugs
Monika xxx

stamps and stencil used, links are in the above text