Wishing Ewe

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's Tuesday and this means it's Inspiration Time over at STAMPlorations.

My DT piece for this week is a little CAS card ...

I thought I'd make one last Christmas In July card and dug out these adorable sheep.

I stamped the hats first and masked them off before stamping the sheep. They were easily coloured using alcohol makers and finished off with a touch of Stickles. The tiny trees are finishing off the cute look.

My sentiment is finished off on the inside ...

Again, I am keeping it short and sweet today. Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out the fabulous projects my teamies made.

That's it from me for now. Have a lovely day and enjoy the sunshine!
hugs
Monika


here is what I used from the STAMPlorations Shop:
Baa Baa, Pets,Trendy Christmas Trees, Sentiment Builder Christmas & New Year (retired)
  

Check out STAMPlorations' July sale -- 40% off products found in the SUMMER CLEARANCE section. Use code HEYSUMMER on checkout. Code can be used only once per customer/shipping address. Ends 7/31.

See 300+ qualifying products here

here is what else I used:

Spring Green Prism ink, red alcohol markers, black Memento ink, Stickles, pretty paper and white card from my stash

CUTplorations January

Hello Crafty Friends!

Over at STAMPlorations they have a new challenge starting ... The CUTplorations Challenge ... It's a monthly challenge requiring you to use die(s) and take inspiration from the monthly changing photo which for this month is ...

image source: Smashing Magazine

So what have we got ...

• New Year
• colours - black and gold with a touch of white
• Champagne glass
• holorgaphic texture
• fizz dots

I went with black and gold plus bubbly for a Happy New Year card ...

I spritzed a piece of black card with gold Artiste Spritzing ink and heat embossed the champagne glass  (Part Mates) and 'New Year (Sentiment Builder: Christmas & New Year) using Gold Detail embossing powder. I then inked the inside of the glass with a Versamark marker, added hot glue powder, heated it up and pressed my holographic gold foil into it letting it set for a few seconds before lifting the sheet. To finish I did some inlaid die cutting using the CUTplorations Word Die 'Happy'. Here is a close up of my subtle die cutting ...

Here is a last look at my finished card ...

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see how my teamies interpreted the photo and to link up your entry too.
New Year ... new prizes for you to win ... the winner as voted by the Inspiration team receives a $10 gift certificate, the two top picks receive a $5 gift certificate each ... and that's not all ... if there are more than 30 entries one randomly drawn winner will receive any 2 Word/Phrase Dies used by the DT.

That would certainly tempt me to play along ... remember to link to the STAMPlorations Blog and to display the challenge photo in your post.

That's it from me for now.
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:

CUTplorations Dies: Happy Word Die

STAMPlorations Stamps: Sentiment Builder: Christmas & New Year, Party Mates

 

Wonderful Home

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's Tuesday and that means Inspiration Time over at STAMPlorations. I took some inspiration from their current CUTplorations Challenge which combines the need for at least one die-cut & STAMPlorations Product with a photo inspiration.

Here is my project ....

... and here is their inspiration photo ...

I used the colour combo (Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie and Rich Razzleberry SU inks) from the leaves to watercolour the Faerie Door which I fuzzy cut and attached to my black/grey/white background created by stamping the Faerie Door twice in black before lightly sponging grey ink through the ARTplorations Stencil: Oh, My Stars!.

I added a few stamped flowers, layered on my grey base card, die-cut the CUTplorations Word Die: Wonderful from black card and attached it before finishing off my sentiment with the words 'a & happy home' from the Sentiment Builder: Christmas & New Year and a touch of Stickles.

That's it from me for today. Hop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see the fabulous pieces of inspiration my teamies prepared for you and to leave a comment there for your chance to win a prize. Should you wish, you can play along with their CUTplorations Challenge and any of the other challenges going. Have fun!

Wishing you 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:

STAMPlorations Stamps: Faerie Door, Sentiment Builder: Christmas & New Year
 

ARTplorations Stencils: Oh, My Stars!


CUTplorations Dies: Word Die: Wonderful

Happy New Year and January CASEplorations

Happy New Year, Everypone! May 2016 bring you lots of joy and crafting time!

Over at STAMPlorations we are kicking the new year off with an invitation to join us in the CASEplorations Playground. This year Shery has given it a proper challenge status, yay! This means the Playground will like in past be open for a whole month, the winner of the best CASE as voted for by the team gets a $15 gift certificate and two Top Picks will each receive a $5 gift certificate, full rules can be found here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

What is the CASE inspiration for this month, you might be asking. Well, it is a card by the fabulous Laura Bassen of Doublestick Heaven which you might recognize as her project when she joined us last January for the STAMPlorations January Release Blog Hop ...

Laura posted a tutorial on how she made her card here on her blog. There is lots of inspiration to take from her card, such as using texture paste, colour scheme of pastel rainbow colours, the Leaf Prints ARTplorations stencil, the Hashtag Authentic stamp set, twine ...

Here is what I picked:

• texture without the paste, I used Fran-tage Powders instead
• ARTplorations Leaf Print stencil
• white embossing on black card, I used my Shabby White Fran-tage Powder
• sentiment in two different banner pieces which I turned into one embossed and one die-cut
• multiple colours seamlessly blending into each other which I emulated using three different colours of Fran-tage powders, Shabby White, Shabby Pink and Aged Gold
• fine strands of twine which I turned into a squiggly die-cut as I am no good at looping twine and fixing it to a card
• subtle sparklies, in my CASE not so subtle

Finally, here it is, my take on Laura's card ...

I rather like the almost Art Deco feel, the leaves look a little bit like the stylized pineapples that were so fashionable at the time; it must be all the gold in the Fran-tage powders ... It was not a look I had in mind when I started off, it came about when the Aged Gold powder turned out to look rather more black than gold. The larger golden bits of the powder didn't attach well to the pigment ink, maybe I hadn't inked well enough through my stencil.

It is actually an easy card to make. I attached a piece of white card to the Leaf Print Stencil and applied clear pigment ink through it before removing the stencil and sprinkling with my powders, one at the time, starting at one end and moving across to the other. Once embossed I added my golden scribble, my embossed sentiment from the Sentiment Builder Christmas & New Year, my die-cut sentiment (layered x 3) and sparklies to finish.

Pop over to the Playground to join the fun and to see what my teamies and Laura herself made as heir CASEs.

Wishing you a

hugs
Monika xxx


here is what I used, links to STAMPlorations Products are in the above text
 

Shabby White, Shabby Pink and Aged Gold Fran-tage Powders - Stampendous
Tim Holtz Scribbles and Splat dies - Sizzix
'happy' word die - Clearly Besotted

Gremlins Galore

Hi All,

Been entertaining Gremlins again!!! Yesterday that was, when I was trying to get my Spotlight Project done for STAMPlorations. They must find me being quite a good host, providing them with lots of entertainment ....

Lets show you the finished project first ...

It's not a card, but a little vellum envelope/treat bag/gift wrapping/gift card holder .... I am sure that you'll be able to find plenty of uses.

It was in the process of making this that my little guests got plenty to enjoy themselves on. It started with spritzing the vellum and trying to prevent it from curling up. The idea was that I would pick the spritzed vellum up and nicely place it on a radiator to dry ... bad idea .... as soon as I picked said vellum up ... as by magic ... it rolled itself up tightly ...not exactly what one would like to happen given that it was still wet with ink. Lesson learned: I let my second piece dry in situ.

Punching the vellum to create the little bag was a little tricky, but easy enough. Phew!!!

Next up stamping the poinsettia ... in sepia archival ink on vellum and colouring from the reverse with alcohol markers ... nice idea .... that's if the Gremlins hadn't ad other ideas ... Having never really coloured vellum in such a way, I was rather relying on their co-operation ... What I got was mischief!!! First of all the archival ink too seemed to develop a mind of its own and started blurring and running in some odd way. It's never happened to me before, the stamping on the bag looks pretty crisp. I won't even mention my disaster of reverse colouring, I'm too embarrassed to share it hence I went for embossing and picked up my Apple Red Ultra Fine WOW powder ... or so I thought. What I had picked up instead was a pot of granules looking more at home in a kitchen cupboard than in my craft room .... OOOPS! Did I mention??? I hadn't read the label when purchasing the magazine the powder came with a while ago ... I simply assumed.

Well, as it turns out this WOW Ultra High embossing powder makes your image look as if it was drizzled using thick luscious caramel or chocolate. Not so bad after all.

If you would like to see how my project was made in the end pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for a photo and video tutorial.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

stamps I used:
VIGNETTE: Christmas Block, Holiday Sketches: Christmas Flower, Sentiment Builders: Christmas & New Year
  
tools used:
Flower Pinch Board - We R Memory Keepers
there is also a little video showing you how to make a similar bag:

Loving Collage Stamping

Hi Everyone!

Hope you had a lovely weekend. Here on the Wirral it was raining cats and dogs, which makes perfect crafting weather! :-)

Today's post is a two in one venture. First up is a collage stamped card I made as my DT piece for today's Inspiration Post over at the STAMPlorations Blog. It serves also as a reminder for their CASEplorations Challenge, where you are invited to CASE any inspiration projects made by the DT in any given month. You can find more information about this here.

I am currently in collage stamping mode. I absolutely love this technique. it is such fun to combine stamps to create your own image. I love using either one single colour in combination with generational stamping or two matching colours to achieve my desired depth. For today's card I used the latter working with Soft Sky and Lost Lagoon SU inks plus STAMPlorations stamps of course. Here it is...

I started off stamping the script from the Mixed Media Elements set in Soft Sky. Using the same ink I added some snowflakes (VIGNETTE: Christmas Block) and the poinsettia (Holiday Sketches: Christmas Flower). Next, using Lost Lagoon, I stamped my sentiment and and the Christmas Tree (generational stamping) from the Oh, Christmas Tree! set and finished off with the wavy line from the Mixed Media Elements set. To completely finish the look, I rounded three corners, and my card was done!

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see the brilliant makes my teamies created. Have a good look around as there are quite a few challenges going on and sometimes simply leaving a comment may win you a prize.

I am entering my card at:
Craft Stamper - Take a Stamp/ anything goes as long as it is stamped
One Layer Christmas Card - Anything Goes, optional twist reindeer

These are the STAMPlorations sets I used in my project. the links to which can be found in the above text.
   

to be continued ... once back from the dentist ...

Back from the dentist with a temporary crown fitted, ready to go on to the next projects which was a sort of a two for one thing. I die-cut the ornament (Spellbinders) and used it in both cards. Here they are ...

For my first card I used the frame as a mask to sponge my Daffodil Delight and stamp some snowflakes (Christmas Block) through using the same ink. I removed my mask and placed my ornament to cover my sponged bauble before stamping the Silent Night music (StampCamp) in River Rock. I turned my bauble shape over again covering the sponged are and stamped the trees (Woodland Christmas by Creative Stamping magazine) using the River Rock ink. I removed my mask and stamped my sentiment (SB Christmas & New Year, Joyful) in black into my bauble added the bow (Woodland Christmas by Creative Stamping Magazine) in Cherry Cobbler, added a few little stars (Lavinia Stamps) in River Rock, some ornamental embossed lines (Simply Scored Border Plate by Stampin'Up!) and a red gem to finish.

Next up is the card I made featuring the musically stamped ornament previously used to mask off the bauble ...

I simply added the trees in Always Artichoke, the deer in Soft Suede and my sentiment in black (all stamps from Woodland Christmas by Creative Stamping Magazine). I sponged my base card using Cherry Cobbler ink, added some DP (retired Stampin'Up!), sponged my border (decorative strip by Sizzix) with a mix of Cherry Cobbler and Soft Suede, layered it all up, attached my ribbon (Fantastic Ribbons) in a bow, added a punched glittery snowflake (punch by Creative Memories), pearl and sequins to finish ....

... and then the gremlins moved in ... my card got a little close to a wet wipe ... horror!!! ... it ended up with a stain .... I had to rescue it by adding the unexpected strip of DP to cover up the accident. What do you think? Feedback welcome!

I am entering this accident prone card at:
Allsorts - Ribbons and Bows
Crafty Calendar - Sparkle, Bling and Embellish

That's it from me for today, back again soon with more inspiration. Until then ...
Have a lovely week!

hugs
Monika xxx

PS: Just popped in at the STAMPlorations Shop and saw this ...

.... no guessing what I'll be doing next ... LOL

Magic Of Christmas

Hi Everyone,

I'm definitely getting on a roll making Christmas cards, and I am very much linking using non-Christmas stamps in them too. For today's card, my contribution to the Inspiration Feature over at the STAMPlorations Blog, I incorporated stamps from the Balloons and Banners set combined with stamps from Joyful, Blossom Overture and SB Christmas & New Year.

I started off with a white base card spritzed with Gold Artiste Ink on which I stamped my sentiment (made up of stamps from Balloons and Banners, Joyful, Blossom Overture and SB Christmas & New Year) and bows and string. I then added my stamped and coloured stars, the fuzzy cut star balloons, and doodled a partial border to finish.

The second project on the Inspiration Post is one I made for the Coffee Lovers Fall Blog Hop. You can read about it here.

Hope you feel inspired, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration, tutorials, challenges and simply commenting to win ...

I shall be back soon with more inspiration. Have a lovely week!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
stamps from STAMPlorations, links are in the above text