June TAGplorations Reminder

Hello Crafty Friends!

Just a gentle reminder that the TAGplorations Challenge is in full swing over at STAMPlorations ... and there is still time to play.

The theme for June is: All About Dad

The optional twist is: to use a Stencil

Here is my DT project ...

As you can see, I went for the optional twist and used a stencil to add some sponged dotty detail. My tag is a simple one-layer tag with masked and stamped fancy birthday cakes. It's finished off with some paper ribbon.

If you love tags, why not give it a go and play along? Your project can be anything as long as it features a tag. You can enter as many projects as you want, but one per blog post please, and you don't have to use STAMPlorations products, yet we'd be thrilled if you would. There is currently a free image to download at STAMPlorations Never ending Anything Goes Challenge here. Please check out the full revised challenge guidelines here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

One lucky winner, voted for by the DT, will win a $15 STAMPlorations gift certificate and 3 randomly picked players will win a $5 STAMPlorations gift certificate each.

Ready for more tagtastic inspiration? Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see the gorgeous projects my teamies created and, of course, to link up your tag project/s too.

There is more inspiration about all the challenges here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

That's it from me for today. Have a lovely week.

hugs

Monika xx

here is what I used from the STAMPlorations Shop, you can use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout for a 20% discount on their, stamps, dies and stencils

Sweet And Sassy Dad, World Birthday Cakes, Kathryn's Big Wishes, Dots All Over Stencil

   

Manila Tags Nesting Dies

here is what else I used:

Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie SU inks, Grenadine Izink ink, white card,  black Versafine ink, red paper ribbon

TMR 12th June

Hello Crafty Friends!

It is Wednesday and time for a new challenger over at The Male Room challenge blog where the bi-weekly challenge is all about making projects for the men in our lives. Our guest designer for the next fortnight is Christine, you can check out her fabulous creations on here on Christine's blog.

My DT project for the new challenge is ...

Each challenge, of course, has a different theme. For challenge #113 it's Cooking & Baking. Lots of scope there!

#113 Cooking & Baking

Rather than Masterchef I was thinking Bake Off with all its fancy cakes for my one-layer cake day card. It's simply masked and stamped with a touch of maker colouring. This seems to be my theme for this month ... B&W with a little bit of colour ....

Fancy creating something for a male person in your life, pop over to The Male Room for more inspiration and to link up your masculine makes.

That's it from me for today
Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
World Birthday Cakes - STAMPlorations, feel free to use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA for a 20% discount on their stamps, dies and stencils
Brush Marker - The Works
black Versafine ink, white card - from my stash

Taking The Scenic Route

Hello Crafty Friends!

It is Wednesday and time for a new challenger over at The Male Room challenge blog where the bi-weekly challenge is all about making projects for the men in our lives. Our guest designer for the next fortnight is Asa, you can check out her fabulous creations on here on Asa's blog.

My DT project for the new challenge is ...

Each challenge, of course, has a different theme. For challenge #110 is Add An Age. Lots of scope there!

#110 Add An Age

Well, I went for the mature and young at heart male in form of my brother who celebrates his 60th birthday this year. He loves his motorbike and regularly takes it on holiday! 😀

I love collage stamping, it's great for one-layer cards which this one is apart from the added age. I started off by spreading some ink (Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise) on my craft mat, lightly spritzing it with water and mopping it up with my base card. The rest is simple stamping with the addition of splatters and a die-cut 60.

Fancy creating something for a male person in your life, pop over to The Male Room for more inspiration and to link up your masculine makes.

That's it from me for today
Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
motorbike stamp - past issue of Creative Stamping Magazine
cogs stamp - current issue of Creative Stamping Magazine, at the point of writing
World Birthday Cakes, Wanderlust Hipster Icons, Gone Camping, Mixed Media Elements, Numbers Plate Die - STAMPlorations, feel free to use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA for a 20% discount on their stamps, dies and stencils
Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise inks - Stampin'Up!
Miel Izink Ink - Craft Stash
black Versafine ink and white card - from my stash

Eat More Banana Cake

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's Inspiration Time over at STAMPlorations. This week my teamies and I are showcasing stamps by our very own Deepti under her label 'Dee's Artsy Impressions'.

I decided to work with Chikoo Goes Bananas and the yummy Cupcake Builder #1 dies to create this cheerful make. ...

I basically die-cut the cupcake pieces and layered them up to make 2 cupcakes. Chikoo was stamped, watercoloured using markers and fuzzy cut. I decided to pinch a sentiment from one of Shirley's sets and use it as a way of grounding the cupcakes.

As mentioned earlier, this week we are showcasing stamps designed by Deepti under her label 'Dee's Artsy Impressions'. All her sets will be on sale for the week until Monday 25th March at 10% off, no coupon needed, the discount will be automatically applied.

For more inspiration, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog. pop to see what my teamies created and to leave a comment for your entry into their prize draw.

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:
Chikoo Goes Bananas, Cupcake Builder #1, World Birthday Cakes, Stitched Snow Hills
   

*** Discount code works on sale items too

Birthday Shaker

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's Inspiration Time over at STAMPlorations. This week my teamies and I are showcasing stamps by our very own Shirley under her label 'The Bee's Knees'.

I decided to work with the Newlyweds Extras and World Birthday Cakes to create a shaker card. Here it is ...

I wanted to showcase some of the smaller stamps this time and felt that using a frame die, like the one from my stash, was a good way to do this. If you haven't got one, you can always design your own and cut it with a craft knife. Instead of the pierced dots, you could use faux stitching.

I used the large rectangle only for my shaker otherwise it would have been too fuzzy for my liking.

TIP!: Cutting the frame twice helps with the positioning of the stamping as you can use the off cuts to stamp on and inlay them into your first frame before adding the second frame with dimension and acetate for the shaker.

As mentioned earlier, this week we are showcasing stamps designed by our very own Shirley under her label 'The Bee's Knees'. All her sets will be reduced by 15% until Monday 8th January.

Of course Shery will still draw a winner at random from all the comments left on this month's Inspiration Posts over on the STAMPlorations Blog. Pop over to see what my teamies created and to leave a comment for your entry into their prize draw.

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:
Newlyweds Extas, World Birthday Cakes

 

*** Discount code works on sale items too

STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop Day 3

Hi All! It's PARTY TIME!!!!! STAMPlorations is turning 3 and they are celebrating BIG! It's Blog Hop Time!

..... and Shery is releasing a new product too ... CUTplorations thin metal dies. More about this later ...

First up is my DT contribution to DAY 3 of the blog hop. Today I was working with the World Birthday Cakes ....

Simple stamping, colouring and spritzing is all that is needed to make this card. It's super easy.

Now back to the blog hop ... as with every blog hop there will be prizes for commenting on participating blogs. You can find all the links for DAY 3 here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

The prizes for commenting are:

Prizes for commenting on the STAMPlorations blog and STAMPlorations designers blogs:

• THREE (3) winners of $25 gift certificate
• SEVEN (7) winners (1 per day) of $10 gift certificate

All prizes will be randomly drawn using Random.org

.... hold on, that's not all ... there is also a Linky Party you can join to help us celebrate

How does this work:

• there is a mood board below for you to draw inspiraiton from
• create your project (No back linking, projects must be new, but you can use any brand of product. We would be tickled pink if you were to use STAMPlorations products, but it is not necessary.)
• display the mood board in your post
• link to any of the 7 blog hop posts
• the linky will be open until 5th July

Here is the mood board, remember it needs to be displayed in your blog post to qualify ...

Here are the Linky Party prizes:

• one winner of Kathryn's Big Wishes
• one winner of three CUTplorations word dies, winner's choice

All winners will be drawn by Random.org.

The release of CUTplorations Thin Metal Dies will be celebrated during the last three days of the blog hop from Sunday 3rd July onward.  

This is me finished, one last look at my card, which incidentally has quite a few of the mood board elements ... cakes, colours, party atmosphere ...

I shall be back soon. Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

link to DAY 1, DAY 2, DAY 3 of the Blog Hop

here is what I used:
World Birthday Cakes

STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop Day 1

Hi All! It's PARTY TIME!!!!! STAMPlorations is turning 3 and they are celebrating BIG! It's Blog Hop Time!

..... and Shery is releasing a new product too ... CUTplorations thin metal dies. More about this later ...

First up is my DT contribution to DAY 1 of the blog hop. Working with the special release set Kathryn's Big Wishes, I went off into fantasy land and imagined her travelling the world. Here she is floating above the World Birthday Cakes ....

Simple masking and colouring is all that is needed to make this card. I started off by stamping Kathryn and her balloon using my MISTI before arranging the cakes to suit, colouring, stamping my sentiment and finishing by layering on a purple base card.

Now back to the blog hop ... as with every blog hop there will be prizes for commenting on participating blogs. You can find all the links for DAY 1 here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

The prizes for commenting are:

Prizes for commenting on the STAMPlorations blog and STAMPlorations designers blogs:

• THREE (3) winners of $25 gift certificate
• SEVEN (7) winners (1 per day) of $10 gift certificate

All prizes will be randomly drawn using Random.org
.... hold on, that's not all ... there is also a Linky Party you can join to help us celebrate

How does this work:

• there is a mood board below for you to draw inspiraiton from
• create your project (No back linking, projects must be new, but you can use any brand of product. We would be tickled pink if you were to use STAMPlorations products, but it is not necessary.)
• display the mood board in your post
• link to any of the 7 blog hop posts
• the linky will be open until 5th July

Here is the mood board, remember it needs to be displayed in your blog post to qualify ...

Here are the Linky Party prizes:

• one winner of Kathryn's Big Wishes
• one winner of three CUTplorations word dies, winner's choice

All winners will be drawn by Random.org.

The release of CUTplorations Thin Metal Dies will be celebrated during the last three days of the blog hop from Sunday 3rd July onward.  

This is me finished, one last look at my card, which incidentally has quite a few of the mood board elements ... cakes, balloon, colours ...

I shall be back soon. Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

link to DAY 1 of the Blog Hop

here is what I used:
Kathryn's Big Wishes, World Birthday Cakes
 

Gremlins and Inspiration

Hi All,

Hope you're having a good week. What can I say? ... the gremlins have moved in again this week. Have you ever had one of those weeks where everything you start just seems to end in nothing? ... where all your ideas just don't seem to work???

Well, I had one of those or was it simply that I was preoccupied with trying to implement some changes. More about this when I can talk about it in more detail. Hopefully soon!

First up for today's inspiration is a collage stamped card I made to cheer myself up a little ...

I was working with several STAMPlorations sets at the time: Mixed Media Elements, Balloons and Banners, World Birthday Cakes, Trendy Butterflies and Bold Sentiments: Journey. All my background stamping was done using Smokey Slate ink, and I started off using 2nd generation stamping for the script, my cake, some of the hearts and my background sentiments. I then stamped my main sentiment in Rose Red and Black ink before adding the heart and stamps in first generation Smokey Slate.

I am entering my card at:
CASology - Heart

For more inspiration check out the STAMPlorations Blog especially if you like CASEing or challenges. There is always something you can play along with or comment to win.

I shall be back again soon.
Have a lovely weekend!

hugs
Monika xxx

    

STAMPlorations August Blog Hop Day 2

Hi Everyone!

It's Blog Hop Time again over at STAMPlorations! Welcome to Day 2, where we're shining the spotlight on Balloons and Banners, a set designed by Deepti aka Dee's Artsy Impressions.

Here is the set ...

...and here is what I made of it ...

I basically turned one of the balloons into little lanterns using the Eiffel Tower from the World Birthday Cakes set as my candle. I did this by using a black pen to doodle the rims and bases, masking off and just stamping the flame inside the lanterns before colouring them using Spectrum Noir Markers. To stamp the lanterns I simply used a couple of drawn lines as my guide and stamped the balloon upside down..

I would like to enter my card at:

Craft Stamper - Pens and Pencils Challenge
Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - Masking
Happy Little Stampers Sketch Challenge - 

Back to the Hop ... every comment you leave will count and increase your chances of winning one of the great prizes on offer. Commenting closes on Sunday 23rd August and the winners will be announced on Monday 24th August on the STAMPlorations Blog.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

Prizes:

FIVE (5) commenters randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win the stamp set featured for the day.
ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate

Plus ...

links to previous days:
Day 1

That's it from me for today. I shall be back again tomorrow with more inspiration. Until then , have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx


what else I used: