Happy Reminder

Hi All,

We are half way through February already and over at STAMPlorations the CASEplorations challenge is in full swing hence a reminder of our invitation to join us in the CASEplorations Playground. The Playground will 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 Anita in France of My Papercraft World ...

Anita posted about her card here on her blog. There is lots of inspiration to take from her card, such as circles, hearts, rainbow colours, layers, bold sentiment, love theme ...

Here is what I picked:

• bold sentiment
• shaded colours
• movement using flowers instead of circles
• gems instead of hearts

Here is may reminder take of Anita's card ...

Using a flower from the VIGNETTE Eclectic Florals set and dye inks, I inked my flower up and stamped it in the different colours. With a damp brush I drew some of the outline colour into the petals which gives a very subtle colouring. Next I stamped the 'happy' in black and orange embossed the word 'be', both from the Sentiment Builders:Happy, layered on a yellow base card and finished off by adding some more movement through the addition of gems.

Pop over to the original Playground post or the reminder post to join the fun and to see what my teamies and Anita herself made as heir CASEs ... and of course to join our CASE challenge too.

That's it from me for today, back again tomorrow with more inspiration.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used in today's project:
Vignette Eclectic Florals and Sentiment Builders: Happy
 
Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo and Pacific Point inks - Stampin'Up!
Tuxedo Black Memento, tangerine Kerpowder! embossing powder, gems and yellow card from stash

Most Loved

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

What better way to add to the Valentine's celebration than having some Cupcake Inspiration!
STAMPlorations are sponsoring their challenge  no 347, and we girls from the STAMPlorations Design Teams have been invited to play along. Inspiration is to be taken from the following photo ...

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

As you can see, I went for hearts, love theme, cupcakes, glitter, arrow and a touch of gold working with the following stamp sets and ARTplorations Stencil by STAMPlorations: Sketched Cupcake, Vignette Chevron and Arrows, Vignette Eclectic Florals, Sentiment Builders Love, It's All About You and Hearts All Over.

I started off stamping, colouring and masking my center cupcake before sponging my background using Smoky Slate, Crisp Cantaloupe and Strawberry Slush ink. Next I used the Hearts All Over Stencil and added some hearts in Cantaloupe and Strawberry. With my mask still on I added two further cupcakes in Slate. The arrow is made up of the stem from the Eclectic Florals set with the heart from the SB Love, and the chevrons from the Chevron & Arrows sets. A piece of ribbon and sentiment from the All About You set finished the card off,

If you feel inspired by Cupcake Inspiration and want to play along pop over ti their blog and look out for challenge 347. Good Luck!

This is it from me for today, I shall be back with more cards tomorrow and more cupcakes on Tuesday!

Anjoy your day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Sketched Cupcake, Chevron & Arrows, Eclectic Florals, It's All About You, SB Love
    

ARTplorations Stencil Hearts All Over


Smoky Slate, Crisp Cantaloupe and Strawberry Slush inks - Stampin'Up!
ribbon - Fantastic Ribbons
red and gold embossing powders, red glitter, kraft card, Spectrum Noir markers, Promarkers, gold gel pen, black Memento, white card from stash

Adjusting Sails

Hi All,

It's Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations. I was glad about a little crafting break during a busy weekend looking at narrowboats. It seems as if our plan is more difficult to achieve than we thought. Anyway I shall keep you updated as today we are having another look at a boat we saw yesterday. It was a wild card ... I liked it, Nick isn't so convinced ...

You probably guessed it ... this was the reason for today's nautically themed card ...

I started off spritzing some blue and gold Artiste in on a piece of white card. Next I stamped the script from the Mixed Media Elements set in Island Indigo and added the boat from the True North set in black Archival before painting in the sails and hull with glossy Mod Podge. Once dry I had a nice layer of resist which allowed me to blend the storm clouds around my boat without having to create a fiddly mask. I removed the excess ink from the mod podged boat with a very lightly damp tissue. Next I stamped my sentiment (True North) and the sea (Mixed Media Elements) and finished off by adding the birds (ARTplorations Some Birds stencil), all in Island Indigo, and layering on my Bermuda Bay base card.

This just made me giggle ... it seems as if all the good boats are disappearing in Cheshire's answer to the Bermuda Triangle ... no sheltered bay in sight ... lol

I am entering my card at:
Craft Stamper Make It Take It - Text Me!, must have text or script in the background

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration and to leave a comment for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate for their store in their monthly draw.

That's it from me for now. Hoping to be back soon.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used in today's project:
Mixed Media Elements, True North, ARTplorations Stencil Some Birds
  

Love All Around

Hi All,

I have been playing with my Gelli Plate in preparation for a demonstration at my Craft Club in a couple of weeks time. Today I was trying out mirror stamping ... here are the results ...

The first card was actually stamped using one of the sticky, gel like mobile phone holders for your car dashboard. It is a good way for trying out this technique should you not wish to splash out on a Gelli Plate which certainly gives you a clearer print as you can see in my second card. The left hand seahorse and the right hand cat were stamped/printed in this way. The right hand seahorse is stamped, but I wasn't careful enough hence I disguised my bad stamping with a couple of hearts.

I am entering my 'Purrfect Love' card at:
Addicted to Stamps and More - CAS
Addicted to CAS - red

I am entering my seahorse card at:
Sisters Of Craft - Anything Goes
613 avenue Create - Anything Goes, use something from your stash - black hearts which I punched out a while ago, but never used

There is a short video showing the technique which I recorded in between seeing clients today, it's short and sweet as I didn't have time to finish my card there and then.

... a last look at both card ...

 

That's it from me for today. back soon.
Have a lovely weekend!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
from STAMPlorations Sentiment Builders: Love, Pets and Vignette Celebrate Artsy
  

From KatzelKraft Les Chats russes, Seahorse and Mur De Pluie
  

From Stampin'Up! the following inks: Bermuda Bay, Summer Sun, Melon Mambo and Real Red
From Stash: cool grey Promarkers 1,2,3 and black Memento ink; card and black punched hearts punch by Creative Memories, had it for ages)

Love And More Love

Hi All,

It's time for a little more inspiration over at STAMPlorations. Today I made two projects for you, nothing daring just good sturdy cards ...

The first one is a very girly shaker card ...

... the idea was to make the heart as big as possible. It is not one of my best cards, but there are a few good ideas here. I backed the heart with some paper from the Love and Lipstick collection (All About Scrapping, STAMPlorations' sister shop), which I think works quite well. I also like the way the little deer (Reindeer Games) stretches out its arms and legs ready for an embrace, I achieved this effect by only attaching the body and head with foam dots, this makes the arms and legs curve up naturally. The banner over the heart is a kind of cute too ... and that's when I became a little unstuck ... I am now wondering what it might look like having the little deer partially inside the heart .... guess I'll just have to make another card. :-D

Next up is an engagement card for Katie, which I shall give to her mum Dianne to pass on ...

I stamped the border in Pool Party using a stamp from the Grunge Floral Strips before silver embossing the ring from the Newlyweds Extras set and adding a diamond in the form of silver Perfect Pearls sprinkled with very sparkly glitter. To finish, I added a peel-off, silver twine and layered on my linen effect base card.

That's it from me for today, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration provided by my teamies. Whilst there, leave a comment (each month a randomly drawn commenter will win a $10 gift certificate) and have a good look around for current challenges, tutorials etc

Back soon. Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used in today's projects, links are in the above text
   

It's A Boy

Hi All,

Last Friday our Teamie Deepti ave birth to a healthy baby boy, Siddharth Malik. Over at STAMPlorations we are celebrating the occasion with an impromptu Linky Party to congratulate the happy parents and, of course, send many blessings and well wishes their way.

Here is my little contribution towards the fun ....

... which will be making its way across the Atlantic. If you want to join the party, you can link up your creation over on the STAMPlorations Blog. The linky will stay open for two weeks.

Many congratulations, Deepti and Vikas. Sending many blessings for baby Siddharth, may lots of happiness be sprinkled along your path!

hugs
Monika xxx

February CASEplorations

It's February already and over at STAMPlorations we are kicking the new month off with an invitation to join us in the CASEplorations Playground. The Playground will 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 Anita in France of My Papercraft World ...

Anita posted about her card here on her blog. There is lots of inspiration to take from her card, such as circles, hearts, rainbow colours, layers, bold sentiment, love theme ...

Here is what I picked:

• shaded colours down one side
• bold sentiment in two tones
• gem, which I turned into gems instead of hearts
• layers

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

I used one of the Grunge Floral Strips and started stamping in Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie ... that's when I realized that I was using my stamp upside down ... I made the decision to have the shading the other way 'round and continued stamping in Melon Mambo and Pacific Point. I added the 'happy' sentiment, SB Happy, in black and embossed the 'birthday' in orange, layered on my mambo base card and added tiny gems to finish.

Pop over to the Playground to join the fun and to see what my teamies and Anita herself made as heir CASEs ... and of course to join our CASE challenge too.

That's it from me for today, back again tomorrow with more inspiration.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here are the sets I used in today's card, links are in the above text