CUTplorations November Challenge

Hello Crafty Friends!

Over at STAMPlorations it's the second month of their new challenge ... 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 ...

• skeleton leaves
• rain drops
• umbrella
• girl being blown about in the wind
• grey background
• colours: purple, orange and yellow plus B&W
• autumn theme, cold, damp and windy

I went with the leaves, colours and the autumn theme which made me think of warm and hot drinks ...

I stamped the leaves using the textured ones from the Trendy Leaves set to get some of the translucent effect of skeleton leaves. I then stamped and fuzzy cut my Sketchy Coffee Cups, added and coloured the heart and attached it to my card. I then added the die-cut border from the upcoming Art Edges Cutplorations Edge/Border Dies (watch out for a Mini Release Hop next week), die-cut and attached the Birthday sentiment. Next I die-cut the Warm Winter Wishes Phrase Die, snipped off the warm and wishes and added them to my card before finishing off with some doodled stem and hearts.

Here is another look ...

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see how my teamies interpreted the photo and to link up your entry too. A little birdie told me that you could win some of the word/phrase dies we used in our projects in their random draw.

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: Art Edges CUTplorations Edge/Border Dies, Birthday Word Die, Warm Winter Wishes Phrase Die
 

STAMPlorations Stamps: Trendy Leaves, Sketchy Coffee Cups
 

September CASEplorations

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's time to start off the September CASEplorations Challenge over at STAMPlorations. This month we are taking inspiration from one of the CAS Stamp Girls as we invite you to CASE this stunning card by Ksenija Risova from Sweet Kobylkin.

Ksenija posted about her card on her blog here, if you want to check it out. Have a look, what can you see?

• cups/mugs
• coffee, tea or any other type of hot drink
• CAS
• red, orange, yellow with a touch of blue
• kraft card base
• white splatters
• fish tail banner
• catchy sentiment

Here is what I made of it ...

• mug
• stayed with the hot drink theme
• red, orange and yellow in my focal image with a blue faded outline for dimension
• splatters in my brown Brusho background
• the fish tail banner became a die cut tag
• created my own catchy sentiment

here are the steps:

1. create brusho background by sprinkling some brown brusho powder on your craft mat, spritz with water and mop up using a piece of watercolour card
2. die cut the small tag from the CUTplorations Luggage Tags Nesting Dies
3. stamp the mug and hearts from the Sketchy Coffee Cups set in black Memento ink and colour them with alcohol markers
4. die cut the Hugs CUTplorations Word Die from black card
5. create a 'in a mug' sentiment and edge with black
6. attach your tag using a heart shaped brad to the brusho base and layer on a red base card TIP!: Use a matching alcohol marker to colour your brad, if needed
7. attach the sentiment and finish off with with a couple of white sequins

Here is another look at my finished card ...

Hope you feel inspired to put your own spin on Ksenija's card and join us at CASEplorations. You can link your finished project up here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

That's it from me for today. I shall be back soon with more projects to share.

Have a lovely day!

hugs

Monika xxx

here is what I used:

STAMPlorations Stamps: Sketchy Coffee Cups

CUTplorations Dies: Luggage Tags Nesting Dies, Hugs Word Die

 

Borders ... Glorious Borders!

Hi All,

STAMPlorations have got some fantastic new stamps ... Artsy Borders!!! ... four in total ... Butterfly Row, Cupcake Row, Daffodil Row and Daisy Row ... You will LOVE them! They have already become my favourites as they make for easy, quick and classy cards!

They look absolutely stylish, simply stamped in black on white card and paired with a simple sentiment from the Bloom Sketches set and finished off with a few clear gems ...

 

 

This combination would make a great gift as a set of cards, and it is easy and quick to make, just perfect for those last minute birthday presents.

Of course you can add some colour too ...

... through adding some fuzzy cut and coloured elements, butterflies in my case, or ...

... through adding some acetate highlights, or ...

... trough colouring and fuzzy cutting the whole chain of glorious cupcakes, made a little more glossy with a coat of Mod Podge, or ...

... through adding a die-cut splash of colour and spritzing, or ...

... trough creating a faux no-line-watercolour look, for which I stamped the Daisy Row in Sap Green Archival before watercolouring around it with Pistachio Pudding SU ink and highlighting the daisy centers with Crushed Olive DI. To finish I stamped my sentiment from the Boxed Blooms set in Garden Green SU ink and added a couple of decorative score lines  and rounded corners.

There is even room for taking things much bolder ...

.... such as using a very bright colour scheme with a touch of glossy accents for a real Sugar Rush of a sweet treat, or even going all out artsy ....

... with a Gelli Plate print as backdrop inspired by a sunny Spring afternoon sitting in the garden with a cuppa ... birds tweeting ....
There is a little video on how I made the print which I spritzed with gold Artiste Spritzing Ink before cutting it to size. I then added some green dotted Washi, my coloured and fuzzy cut Daffodil Row and Sketchy Coffee Cup, my potting soil stamped Trendy Birds and a Noteworthy sentiment. Some doodles and sequins finished the look.

Well, and at the end once you finished making your card, you can always look over the piece of paper you used to try out your stamps or for stamping off and blending etc. to see, if there is a card like this, you could make ...

I found this piece of paper on the messy stamping paper (scrap paper in other words), I had been using for quite a while, and simply added some stamped splashes from the Mixed Media Elements set, the sentiment from the Bloom Sketches set, some doodles, ink spray and sequins.

Well, all of these pieces of inspiration came about before I was even following my original idea and pairing the borders with their full size counterpart like the Cupcake row with the Sketched: Cupcake and the Daisy Row with the daisy from the Bloom Sketches ... I guess these will have to wait for another post ....


here is the little video:

That's it from me for now.
Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Butterfly Row - Artsy Borders, Cupcake Row - Artsy Borders, Daffodil Row - Artsy Borders
  
Daisy Row - Artsy Borders

Bloom Sketches, Sketched: Cupcake, Boxed Blooms, Sugar Rush, Sketchy Coffee Cups,
    

Trendy Birds, Noteworthy, Mixed Media Elements
  

December CASEplorations

Hi All,
It's time for another month of CASEplorations over at STAMPlorations where CASEing means 'taking inspiration from'.
As it is December and here in the northern hemisphere that means anything from freezing to cool and damp, what better way to warm up than looking at having a hot drink ... hence this month's inspiration comes from the following card by Amy Tsuruta:

It has a brilliantly frosty colour scheme combined with the warmth of a hot cuppa. You can find Amy's original post here.

Well, winters where I live hardly ever are crisp and frosty, and Shirley had already used the Gluehwein punchline (bang went the Christmas Market idea :-/) ... I had to think on my feet and came up with this watery, rainy look ...

I liked the colour combo of the grey and cool blue and decided to use my splodge mat for creating the background. Ink and water react differently and you get a drier print than with a normal brown craft mat. I applied some Soft Sky ink to my splodge mat and spritzed with water before lapping it up with a piece of linen effect card. I used the left over ink from my mat to slightly blend the edges.
I stamped the mug, hearts (both from Sketchy Coffee Cups) and stitching (Graphic Squares) using Basic Grey ink and added my sentiment using Lost Lagoon. Initially I thought that I would add some shading to the cup and hearts, but decided against it. I rather liked the pastel look.

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more CASE Inspiration and to link up your CASEd creation(s).

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

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

Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon and Basic Grey inks - Stampin'Up!

Altering Boxes

Hi All,

It's Inspiration Time again over at STAMPlorations. The project I would like to share with you today is a little box turned tea chest. I made two of these as a gift for a couple of friends from two lightweight wooden boxes. The idea was that they were small and light enough to carry a couple of tea bags in to work.

I started off removing the metal bits and coating the wooden parts with gesso. Next I applied a coat of dark grey emulsion from a match pot (couldn't find my acrylic paints, arrghh), followed by a thin coat of plum emulsion and and a coat of gold metallic acrylic paint.

TIP!: I intentionally applied thin coats as I wanted the underlying colours to show through. The gold acrylic gives a translucent finish and depending on light you can see more or less of the grey/plum base.

Once dry I stamped the little tea cups from the Sketchy Coffee Cups set in black archival and the leaf from the Frames and Flowers set in sepia archival ink which gave a nice coppery look. Once the ink had dried I added some highlights to the cups using a Tan Promarker and LV3 Spectrum Noir Marker.

I cut a piece of acetate and attached it to the inside of my lid, followed by a matching piece of plum card with a heart aperture. I then filled the heart shape in the lid with some matching sequins and glitter before attaching an acetate heart and plum frame with copper highlights (using copper pigment ink).

Here are some more photos of my box ...

I am entering my box at:

Crafty Calendar - Sparkle, Bling and Embellish

Sisters of Craft - Anything Goes

Hope you'll feel inspired to try something different whether it be using paints or creating a mixed media project. Should you fancy CASEing my project, and it doesn't have to be a box, elements from this can be used on a card or tag, or any of the ones my teamies made, it would be great if you could link up up with the Inspiration CASE Playground. Looking forward to seeing your creations.

Have a lovely weekend!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used, links to the stamp sets are in the above text:
 
little wooden box - The Works