STAMPlorations New Release Blog Hop

Hello Crafty Friends!

Welcome to DAY 5 of the STAMPlorations Stamp and Coordinating Dies Release. Yes, no more fiddly fuzzy cutting, each one of theses sets has a coordinating die set for easy crafting.

Here are my makes ...

First up is The Bee's Knees' Birds Of Paradise on one of my Brusho backgrounds. This one has a bit of golden shimmer paint in it. I stamped, coloured and die cut my birds (Birds Of Paradise Coordinating CUTplorations Dies), stamped the sentiment and cut it into pieces which I edged with black before layering everything on a skinny card adding doodles as I went along.

Next up is Shery's Bloom Happy set with its Coordinating CUTplorations Dies which I combined with a stamp from the Grunge Floral Strips set. I stamped the Floral Strip in Crushed Curry onto my yellow Brusho background, die cut the postage stamp from a piece of matching spritzed card, stamped my sentiment and postage stamp out in black, die cut the flower and layered it all up. To finish, I added a touch of sparkly nail varnish to my flower. 

Another Brusho background is helping me to showcase Becca's (Big Grins) latest set Buttercups And Butterflies which again comes with Coodinating CUTplorations Dies. I chose to work with the large buttercup, I simply love its boldness, and one of the sentiments. I stamped and coloured the buttercup, die cut it using the coordinating die and attached it to my base, a print I took off the ARTplorations Bubble Dance Stencil whilst working with my Brushos. To finish, I doodled an outline border, attached my sentiment and added glitter highlights to my buttercup.

Last but not least is this super cut giraffe from Dee's Artsy Impressions' Tweet Love set. I used another one of my yellow and emerald Brusho backgrounds, partially stenciled ARTplorations Oh, My Stars! in Crushed Curry and towards the bottom stamped the little stars from the Balloons And Banners set in matching ink. I coloured my giraffe with Promarkers and die cut her using the Coordinating CUTplorations Die. I popped her up on the card, doodled my border and finished off with a little sentiment.

As with every Blog Hop, it's over to you now. Leave a comment on as many participating blogs as you can. Commenting closes on Tuesday 16th August, and the winners will be announced on Thursday 18th August. Full rules, list of prizes and links to all the participating blogs can be found here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

That's it from me for now. Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. I shall be back soon.

Have a lovely weekend and Happy Hopping!

hugs

Monika xxx

here is what I used:

Birds Of Paradise, Birds Of Paradise Coordinating CUTplorations Dies, Bloom Happy, Bloom Happy Coordinating CUTplorations Dies

   

Buttercups And Butterflies, Buttercups And Butterflies Coordinating CUTplorations Dies, Tweet Love, Tweet Love Coordinating CUTplorations Dies

   

Vignette Grunge Floral Strips, Balloons And Banners, ARTplorations Stencils: Oh, My Stars! and Bubble Dance 

   

Making Lemonade

Hello Crafty Friends! We all know, that, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. We crafters are quite good at 'lemonading'. Today I thought I'd let you in on one of my crafting lemonade secrets.

When I got down to creating today's project for the STAMPlorations Spotlight Feature, all I could think of were lemons and how zesty and refreshing they can be. The idea for my card was born.

I decided to make a one layer card with splashing and splattering using some ready to use Liquarel watercolours cyan and lemon yellow. I chose to work with sturdy card stock rather than watercolour one.

I also got out my Gone Postal and Noteworthy stamp sets, black Archival ink and a brush. To see how I made this card and to discover my 'lemonading' secret click here to pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog.

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

here is what I used:
Gone Postal, Noteworthy
 

Fun with Brushos

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations. Inspired by Kylie's workshop at the craft retreat, I had to play with Brushos. They are so addictive. I made several backgrounds and more, all of which will be revealed during the course of August as I've used them in almost all of my DT projects. Here is the first one ....

When working with Brushos you can create truly unique pieces as no two will ever be the same. The above background was made using Yellow and Emerald spritzed with water and gave me these beautiful little bubbles on the right, perfect for this little elephant from the Tweet Love set from this week's official release, details of which will be at the end of this post.
My little elephant was coloured with Promarkers, cut using the Tweet Love Coordinating CUTplorations Dies and popped up on a grounding of crazy double running stitch stamping using a stamp from the Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares set. My sentiment is from the Heaven Sent set, and all that was needed were a few glimmer dots to finish.

That's it from me for now, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog here for more inspiration and to leave a comment for your entry into their prize draw.

The links to their Blog Hop so far are: Day1, Day2

Back soon. Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Tweet Love, Tweet Love Coordinating CUTplorations Dies, Heaven Sent, Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares
   

Color Blooms ATCs Part 2

Hello, Crafty Friends!

Welcome to this first Sunday in August and the start of a new Mixed Media Challenge over at STAMPlorations. As you know anything Mixed Media Goes as long as it is not a card and you use at least one stencil.

As promised I shall be showing you the last three ATCs I made using one of the pages from Color Blooms ...

I attached my piece of Color Bloom page to a piece of card sponged with Crushed Curry and lightly sponged a frame in Pimpkin Pie using the ARTplorations Stencil Gridlocked. Next I used the Art Splatters Stencil and paste for the running paint and sprinkled it immediately with golden glitter. Once dry, I doodled a little border, stamped my sentiment from the Vignette Artful Flutters set, layerd onto my ATC base and finished off with some glitter around the edges.

For my next ATC, I sponged the edges of my piece of Color Blooms with Rich Razzleberry, used Art Splatters for the running paint, doodled a border, stamped my sentiment from the Trendy Butterflies set and added lots of sequins.

On my 3rd and last ATC today, I used only a narrow strip of my Color Blooms Page and layered it up with newsprint paper sponged with Tempting Turquoise. Again I used the running paint bit from the Art Splatters stencil with a little bit of glitter. I then stamped a partial border using the heart square from the Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares set, stamped and heat embossed my small butterflies from the Trendy Butterflies set, stamped and fuzzy cut another one, doodled a golden outline and finished off with a sentiment from Artful Flutters, some gems and a little daisy.

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 today. If you want to know what I used to colour my page from Color Blooms, check out my Spotlight Project here on the STAMPlorations Blog. I shall be back soon with another project to share.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
ARTplorations Stencils: Gridlocked and Art Splatters, Color Blooms colouriong book
  

STAMPlorations Stamps: Vignette Artful Flutters, Trendy Butterflies, Patchwork Frenzy Graphic Squares
  

CASEplorations August

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's time to start off the August CASEplorations Challenge over at STAMPlorations. This month we are CASEing this stunning card by Vijaylaxmi Siyal better known as Shalu from All By Heart Creations.

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

• bold strips, appearing black to me, but on reading Shalu's post, I discovered they were navy blue
• flowers
• silver embossing and threat
• sequins
• focal pop of colour, provided by the orange flowers

Here is what I made of it ...

I went for the bold stripes which are made using a cake of chalks/pastels dragged across my piece of card. The rest is pretty easy ... the butterflies from the Trendy Butterflies set were embossed with Frantage powder, fuzzy cut and glazed with clear nail varnish. My topper and sentiment were die cut using CUTplorations dies: Word Die Smile and Rectangle Nesting Dies Crazy Double Running Stitch.

Looking forward to seeing your creations inspired by Shalu's card. You can link them up here on the STAMPlorations Blog.
Back again soon.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Trendy Butterflies, CUTplorations Word Die: Smile, CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies
  

Queen Bee Of Brushos

Hello Crafty Friends,

I just had to share this card today. I made it at the Happy Little Stampers Craft Retreat in Swindon at the weekend.

The bee and sentiment are from the Scribbly Insects set by Dina Wakley, stamped on a Brusho with Inka Gold background and coloured with Promarkers.

The retreat was great fun, and Kylie is already planning the next one!!! It was fab meeting so many of my blogging friends in person.

I am entering my card at:
Addicted to Stamps and More - Photo Inspiration 
Sisters Of Craft - Anything Goes
Stempelsonne #171 - Anything Goes as long as the main image is stamped and coloured by hand
Moo-Mania - Summer

Right, that's me done, off to hang out my washing. Back soon ...

hugs
Monika xxx

Color Blooms ATCs Part 1

Hello Crafty Friends and Happy National Coloring Day to my friends from across the Atlantic!

It's Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations, and as promised I shall be introducing some of the ATCs I made using pieces of a page from the Color Blooms Coloring Book. I won't go into what I used to do the colouring, it is all explained in a Spotlight Post here.

An ATC, Artist's Trading Card, is a piece of art work measuring 2 1/2"  x 3 1/2 ". They are usually swapped with like minded artists and have the creator's details on the reverse. I recently made a whole bunch of them to exchange at last weekends Happy Little Stamper's Craft Retreat in Swindon.

For more ATC information and ideas, see Melissa's Mixed Media Tutorial here on the STAMPlorations Blog. Now, back to my creations ....

I adhered my piece of Color Blooms to a piece of white card, stamped and embossed my sentiment from the Bold Sentiments: Explore, added a 3D effect with a white gel pen and finished off with a couple of punched hearts, some pearls, gem and fibers. I then layered on a thin piece of chipboard, added another piece of card with the details on the reverse and disguised the edge with a helping of glitter glue.

For my next ATC, I tried heat embossing without using pigment ink. I simply sprinkled holographic embossing powder on a piece of tempting Turquoise coloured newsprint paper and heated it from underneath, I then attached my fuzzy cut Color Blooms Flower, added my sentiment, Bold Sentiments: Explore and Create, and finished off with some white and sparkly doodles, sequin and sparkly dots.

I altered my next piece of coloured page by adding some pearls, sequins, glossy accents and sentiment from Bold Sentiments: Create finishing off with white and golden doodles.

Again I used a piece of Tempting Turquoise coloured newsprint paper, stamped the heart square from the Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares set around the edge as a half diamond for a grungy border, embossed as above with holographic embossing powder, attached my piece of coloured bloom, added a doodled frame and finished off with my sentiment from Bold Sentiments: Create and Imagine plus a spot of glossy accents and sequin.

This is it from me for now, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration and to leave a comment for your entry to win a $10 gift certificate.

If you got the colourin bug ... it is National Coloring Day in the US and Shery has prepared a little taster for you over on the STAMPlorations Blog here. There is also a linky party you can join. :-D

As for me, I shall be back soon.

Stay Playful and have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Color Blooms; Bold Sentiments: Create, Explore, Imagine; Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares