Poundshop Brush Markers 1

Hello Crafty Friends!

Who doesn't love a bargain?! The other day I went on a little excursion to my local Poundshops and ended up buying a set of 6 brush markers from the kids craft section. Here is my first make using them for a soft watercoloured look with STAMPlorations stamps:

I stamped the Blossom Sprays #1 on Mixed Media paper, added some colour with my new markers and moved the colour around with my waterbrush before doing some serious fuzzy cutting. The BG is 2nd generation stamped in Tempting Turquoise using stamps from the Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds and the Mixed Media Elements sets. The sentiment is from the Blossom Overture set. I a sort of shortened it by omitting the Hope You bit, it just sounds a little bit more positive to me.

I am entering my card at:
Addicted To Stamps And More - Anything Goes
Craft Stamper Make It Take It - Anything Goes (STAMPlorations is sponsoring, got to support my teamies)
Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes with Optional twist 'blue'

That's it from me for today. Have a lovely week!
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:
Blossom Sprays#1,Mixed Media Elements , Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds, Blossom Overture
   

*** Discount code works on sale items too

Stencil Sunday

... and joining STAMPlorations' Mixed Media Team

Hi All,

today I want to invite you to come with me on a new adventure journey ... discovering Mixed Media.

Today's Stencil Sunday is also the start of July's Mixed Media Challenge over at STAMPlorations, and my DT piece is an altered puzzle framed mirror .....

The individual pieces were given a coat of stone coloured emulsion paint left over from decorating. I then used the ARTplorations Weathered Wood Stencil and Crumb Cake ink to create my base pattern before adding some dimension with texture paste and the ARTplorations Leaf Prints Stencil. Once dry, I sanded the leaves a little and added some colour and a few stenciled leaves. Using Basic Grey ink I stamped a few flowers and edging using stamps from the Bloom Factory and Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds sets ....

To finish off I added some shaped leaves which I attached with decoupage gel glue to help keep the shape and dimension and some coloured and fuzzy cut blooms.

Here is a little close-up of the textured, stenciled and shaped leaves ....

If you wonder how I made the leaves, have a look at my short video below. The basic steps are the same, but I used pale green coloured card instead of white to start which meant there was no need to use the Promarker.

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 now. I shall leave you with one last look at the mirror ...

Have a lovely day!

hugs

Monika xxx

here is what I used:

ARTplorations Stencils: Weathered Wood and Leaf Prints, Bloom Factory and Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds stamp sets

   

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop Day 4

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop. This is where we, the STAMPlorations Girls, put our stencils through their paces.

For today's project I worked with the Happy Flowers stencil to create two cards using some Black Stars Sparkle Medium. As you've probably noticed, I always look for ways to do things differently, normally one would apply the sparkle medium in the same way as embossing paste ...... I decided to use a brush instead to get the following two effects.

For my first card I stenciled the sparkle medium through the Happy Flowers directly on cream card using my brush before adding some grunge using stamps from the Mixed Media Grunge and Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds and a little blending with Basic Grey ink. I heat embossed my sentiment from Fond Expressions on a torn strip of vellum and layered as shown. To finish I 'grunged' one of the corners, added some sequins and a little paper twine. I quite like the slightly surreal looking effect I achieved.

For my second card, I first prepared my background using stamps from the Mixed Media Grunge set. I then sponged the Happy Flowers using Charcoal ink before applying the sparkle medium as above. I then simply layered on my black base card and finished off with organza ribbon and bow.

You can just about see the sparkle in both of the cards.

TIP!: Applying the medium with a brush gives the image a rough textured look which adds further interest. I will have to try this now using embossing paste, I guess, to see what the effect will be....

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. Feel free to leave comments as you go along. Every comment will be entered into a prize draw. Commenting closes on 29th May and the winners will be announced on 1st June. Good Luck!

Prizes:

SIX (6) winners (2 winners per day) will receive their choice of ARTplorations stencil. Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs.

THREE (3) winners will each receive a $10 gift certificate. Winners will be randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog.

+ Extra prizes for those who participate in the Flash Stencil Project Linky Party and link up by May 31.

That's it from me for today. I shall be back again tomorrow with another stencil project or two.

Have a lovely day!

hugs

Monika xxx

Here is what I used:

stamps and stencils from STAMPlorations, links are in the text above
  
Charcoal Vintage Ink Spot, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green and Basic Grey ink - Stampin'Up!
Black Stars Sparkle Medium - Imagination Craft
Paper Twine - The Works
Organza Ribbon - Fantastic Ribbons
orange embossing powder and card from stash

Masked Birthday

Hello Everybody,

Hope you enjoyed having a look around Snowdrop yesterday.
Today's piece of inspiration is a little easier to make, and I have given a couple of older sets an outing too. Older in this context of course means that I haven't used them in a while, but they are actually some of my favourite sets: Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds, Sentiment Builders Happy and VIGNETTE Chevron & Arrows. I combined them with the rose from Blossom Overture to make this birthday card.

I first stamped and masked the roses, next I masked out the oval and sponged some yellow inside before adding texture using a couple of Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds. I removed my masks and coloured the roses using stamp 'n' write markers before stamping the HAPPY sentiment and adding some black splashes and layering on my black base card. I then stamped the word BIRTHDAY on a strip of white card stock, attached it to my card and finished off by adding a few sequins.
Well, if you fancy CASEing my creation and linking it up at the Playground over on the STAMPlorations blog, here is the link. This is where you can also see the amazing projects created by my teamies. If you pop over, please leave a comment there too and you'll be entered in a prize draw.
I shall be back again tomorrow with another bit of inspiration for you.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx


   

Springtime Smiles

Hello All,

good to see that you were feeling inspired to use your eye shadows for card making! I would really love to see your CASEs for this technique in our Inspiration CASE Playground.

Today's card uses a mixture of STAMPlorations stamp sets which are: Boxed Blooms, Blossom Overture, Mixed Media Grunge, Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds and The bee's Knees: Small Birds.

This card started off as an Easter card project which never got properly underway. I simply run out of time and turned it into a card capturing the essence of Spring. Daffodils are still in boom around here and they looked especially pretty in the Easter sunshine. I always love seeing their bright and cheerful yellow popping up as an early sign of Spring. I used Promarkers to colour mine. I then masked them off and stamped the backdrop using one of the stamps from the Mixed Media Grunge set, our current Stamp Club set, in orange turning the stamp as I went along. I removed the mask and and continued into stamping a border using the same stamp. I added some extra texture using the dots from the Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds set before black embossing the word smile (Boxed Blooms) and stamping the sending you a (Blossom Overture) into place. I added a doodled border, used my warm grey Tinge Alcohol Marker to add a shadow and popped little birdie from the Small Birds set on to finish. I decided to layer on a dark blue base card as it best enhanced the cheerfulness; black was too stark, kraft drained the colour, and orange, green and yellow didn't work either. Guess that blue sky we've had of late wanted to be included too. :-)

My next card is the one I intended to post on Good Friday, but as you know my husband had other ideas ...

I used stamps from the Blossom Overture set, coloured with alcohol markers layered on a texture base card. I purposefully layered my panel off center to add some subtle interest.
If you feel inspired to CASE any of today's card, you can link up here where you'll also find more inspiration plus when you leave a comment you'll be entered into a random prize draw the winner of which will receive a $15 gift certificate or 2 ARTplorations stencils of their choice.

Here are the new April release stamps for you to have a quick look at, we will be introducing each set with a week long blog hop starting 20th April ...

if you can't wait until then you might want to pop over to the shop now .... Shery has extended the 10% off offer on these sets until 12th April plus you'll get free international shipping too and if you area STAMP CLUB member you can also claim your 15% discount on top!

Well that's it from me for today.
Have a lovely weekend!
hugs
Monika xxx


the sets I used:
      

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