STAMPlorations January Release Week Day 2

Hello Crafty Friends!

Welcome to Day 2 of the STAMPlorations January Release Blog Hop which today features Fowl Play, a set of 7 adorable chicks and 3 sentiments ....

I know, you'll be having so much fun with these chicks. As for my part, they were perfect for a slider-shaker card ...

The slider element sits in front of the acetate in a pocket created by attaching the frame on three sides only. You could of course have it sliding out to the side rather than the top.

Otherwise it's a straight forward shaker card with the sentiment stamped inside the shaker element.

As with every Blog Hop leaving comments along the way on all participating blogs increases your chance of winning one of these fabulous prizes:

• 2 winners of $25 gift certificates randomly drawn from comments left the STAMPlorations Blog and designer blogs links to which can be found here
• 1 winner of her choice of 1 stamp set from the new release randomly drawn from STAMPlorations' Facebook page
• 1 winner of her choice of CUTplorations die from the new release randomly drawn from STAMPlorations' Instagram page

To join the fun hop, leave a comment on my blog and pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more commenting and all the links to the fabulous projects my teamies created.

Commenting closes on Tuesday 7th February and the winners will be announced in the January's Winners Post on Friday 10th February on the STAMPlorations Blog.

All four stamp sets and three CUTplorations die plates in this release are available at a 5% discount, no coupon needed, from the STAMPlorations Shop until Friday, 10th February. For an added 20% off enter the discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout.

That's it from me for now, I shall be back tomorrow with more Blog Hop Inspiration.
See You then ...

hugs
Monika xxx

links to previous days: Day 1

here is what else 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 all their stamps, stencils and dies:
Party Time, Graphic Squares, CUTplorations Dies: ATC/Tag Builder, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies
  

Fun with Brushos

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations. Inspired by Kylie's workshop at the craft retreat, I had to play with Brushos. They are so addictive. I made several backgrounds and more, all of which will be revealed during the course of August as I've used them in almost all of my DT projects. Here is the first one ....

When working with Brushos you can create truly unique pieces as no two will ever be the same. The above background was made using Yellow and Emerald spritzed with water and gave me these beautiful little bubbles on the right, perfect for this little elephant from the Tweet Love set from this week's official release, details of which will be at the end of this post.
My little elephant was coloured with Promarkers, cut using the Tweet Love Coordinating CUTplorations Dies and popped up on a grounding of crazy double running stitch stamping using a stamp from the Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares set. My sentiment is from the Heaven Sent set, and all that was needed were a few glimmer dots to finish.

That's it from me for now, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog here for more inspiration and to leave a comment for your entry into their prize draw.

The links to their Blog Hop so far are: Day1, Day2

Back soon. Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Tweet Love, Tweet Love Coordinating CUTplorations Dies, Heaven Sent, Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares
   

Color Blooms ATCs Part 2

Hello, Crafty Friends!

Welcome to this first Sunday in August and the start of a new 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.

As promised I shall be showing you the last three ATCs I made using one of the pages from Color Blooms ...

I attached my piece of Color Bloom page to a piece of card sponged with Crushed Curry and lightly sponged a frame in Pimpkin Pie using the ARTplorations Stencil Gridlocked. Next I used the Art Splatters Stencil and paste for the running paint and sprinkled it immediately with golden glitter. Once dry, I doodled a little border, stamped my sentiment from the Vignette Artful Flutters set, layerd onto my ATC base and finished off with some glitter around the edges.

For my next ATC, I sponged the edges of my piece of Color Blooms with Rich Razzleberry, used Art Splatters for the running paint, doodled a border, stamped my sentiment from the Trendy Butterflies set and added lots of sequins.

On my 3rd and last ATC today, I used only a narrow strip of my Color Blooms Page and layered it up with newsprint paper sponged with Tempting Turquoise. Again I used the running paint bit from the Art Splatters stencil with a little bit of glitter. I then stamped a partial border using the heart square from the Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares set, stamped and heat embossed my small butterflies from the Trendy Butterflies set, stamped and fuzzy cut another one, doodled a golden outline and finished off with a sentiment from Artful Flutters, some gems and a little daisy.

I hope you feel inspired to create something different .... 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. If you want to know what I used to colour my page from Color Blooms, check out my Spotlight Project here on the STAMPlorations Blog. I shall be back soon with another project to share.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
ARTplorations Stencils: Gridlocked and Art Splatters, Color Blooms colouriong book
  

STAMPlorations Stamps: Vignette Artful Flutters, Trendy Butterflies, Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares
  

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
    

Be Free

Hi All,

It's Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations. For today's DT project I played with the Trendy Birds 2 and the wonky stitching from the Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares sets plus a little help from the Dots All Over ARTplorations Stencil.

I sponged a piece of white card with Baked Brown Sugar ink and using water and the Dots All Over stencil beached some dots into it before sponging a few dots in Tangerine Tango. Once dry, I gold embossed my bird, added some darker sponging and outline with Early Espresso before finishing with some sentiment and wonky stitching stamping in the same colour.

Here is another look at the finished project, the bird emerging from the shadows .....

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration and to enter their monthly prize draw.

I shall be back again tomorrow to help celebrating their birthday .... please check in again.

See you then
hugs
Monika

here is what I used:
Trendy Birds 2, Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares, ARTplorations Stemcils: Dots All Over
  

CASEplorations May

Hi All,

May is here, and that means the start of a new CASEplorations Challenge over at STAMPlorations. This month we are taking our inspiration from no other than Shery Russ herself ...

Shery made this card a while ago, that's before she changed her blog to The One Layer Mixed Media Girl, hence her original card and post can be found here.

What inspiration can we take from Shery's card ...

• stencil
• watercolouring
• pink and yellow colour combination
• one-layer
• black splatters
• Mother's Day

I went with one-layer and stencil. Instead of watercolouring, I used ink blending and spritzing of the stencil before taking the print. Given that I've made quite a few pink and yellow cards recently, I decided to team my pink (Strawberry Slush) with Coastal Cabana instead. The black was replaced with Elegant Eggplant. Here is my take on Shery's card ...

I was working with the ARTplorations Stencils: Floral Mania of which I took a print before sponging with Coastal Cabana. I then added my sentiment from the Strong Women set, a wonky stitched line from the Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares set and a few sequins to finish.

Here is another look ...

Are you feeling inspired to CASE? ... the current CASEplorations Challenge remains open for the whole month of May. Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to join ... and for more inspirationon how to CASE of course.

That's it from me for today.

Have a lovely week!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
ARTplorations Stencil: Floral Mania, Strong Women, Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares
  

More Gelli Plate Experiments

Hi All,

back again with another helping of Inspiration. Today I have a card and video tutorial for you which I made as my DT projects for STAMPlorations. First up is my finished card using part of the print from the video tutorial ...

... which I sponged with Pumpkin Pie and Tangerine Tango inks before stamping 'Discover Who You Are' from the Bold Sentiments: Discover set into part of the background. Acrylic ink almost acts like a resist and your dye ink will wipe off it, leaving you with a faded image.
I then added some stamping around the edges using a stamp from the Mixed Media Elements set. Next I embossed my sentiment from the Hope Blooms set and my butterfly from the Blossom Like A Butterfly set in Early Espresso on news print paper, fuzzy cut and edged my pieces using the matching marker pen and attached them to my card.
I used the pen to doodle a partial border, edge an off-cut of the print paper which I attached to my card  before stamping some stitched lines (Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares) across it and finishing off with a gem on my butterfly.

I would like to enter my card at:
Craft Stamper Make it Take It challenge - Text Me! must use script or news print

Below is a short video tutorial on how I created my original print with my Gelli Plate and the ARTplorations Stencil: Bloom Factory ...

For more inspiration pop over to the STAMPlorations blog where leaving a comment will get you an entry into their monthly random prize draw for a $10 gift certificate.

That's it from me for today. I shall be back soon with some more Gelli Plate experiments ... until then ...

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used in today's projects
Blossom Like A Butterfly, Hope Blooms, Bold Sentiments: Discover,
  

Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares, ARTplorations Stencil: Bloom Factory
 

Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine tango inks, Early Espresso Stamp'n'write marker, Early Espresso embossing powder, news print paper - all Stampin'Up!
Acrylic Paints - The Works
Gelli Plate and roller - Amazon