Two Floral Postcards

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today I'm sharing two postcards. They are very popular in online forums for swaps. Here is one I made with a floral theme capturing the atmosphere of Summer holidays.

For my first project I was working with STAMPlorations' current Stamp Club set Trendy Spring Blooms with sentiments from the Born To Roam set, the Camera Large from their Stamp Lab and the Smile CUTplorations Word Die. Full details on how it cam together can be found in my Spotlight Tutorial on the STAMPlorations Blog.

The ink smudged a bit more than anticipated when I coated the front with Mod Podge. This could be due to the card stock I used, it was different from my previous ones. I might also have been rushing it a bit and didn't put the Mod Podge on thinly enough for the first coat. Worth bearing in mind!

Anyway, if you fancy receiving this post card, I shall draw one lucky winner from all the comments left on this post by Sunday 21st May.

On to my next project, This one I made for the May Postcard Swap at the UK Stampers Forum on FB. I used my new goodies Irises (CS154D) from Hobby Art and some old favourites from STAMPlorations, Mixed Media Grunge for the brick pattern, Life In Full Color for the sentiment and Art Marks for the stamped pink splatters. Here it is:

I stamped and watercoloured the iris and its background. I then stamped the brick pattern and splatters in Blushing Bride SU ink, stamped my sentiment and added blue watercolour splatters and touches of golden eyeliner to finish before coating the front of my card with Mod Podge.

If you zoom in, you can just about see the delicate sparkle of the eyeliner in the center of my iris.

I shall leave you with one last look at both finished projects.

That's it from me for today. If you feel inspired to do some embossing using your die cut shapes, why not link your make up with our Spotlight Project Showcase. We love to see your makes.

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:
Trendy Spring Blooms, Born To Roam, Camera Large,
  

Mixed Media Grunge, Art Marks, Life In Full Color
  

Smile CUTplorations Word Die

*** Discount code works on sale items too

other supplies used:
CS154D Irises Sharon Bennett Collection - Hobby Art Ltd
Strawberry Slush, Gumball Green and Elegant Eggplant ink - Stampin'Up!
Pool Party card stock - Stampin'Up!
Onyx Black Versafine ink
Daler Rowney Aquafine watercolours in round tin

A Woman Like You

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's Inspiration Time over at STAMPlorations. This week my teamies and I are showcasing stamps by Becca under her label 'Big Grins By Becca Cruger'.

I decided to work with Becca's newest set Sweet & Sassy Mom to create my. DT project for the week Here it is ...

When I first saw the flowers in Becca's new set, I immediately thought of creating a stamped arc to fuzzy cut around. Well, that's what I did for my card stamping some of the blooms as outline only and coloured the larger one using Promarkers. I also added my sparkly eyeliner glitter and glossy accents, stamped the sentiment and added a few pearls to finish.

I got two versions, the golden pearls in the above photo and white ones in the photo below.

What do you think?

As mentioned earlier, this week we are showcasing stamps designed by Becca under her label 'Big Grins By Becca Cruger'. All her sets will be reduced by 10% apart from the Buttercup And Butterflies and the A Full Heart sets both of which will be 20% off. Yes, that's another two great sets at an amazing discount.

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:

Sweet & Sassy Mom

*** Discount code works on sale items too

Something Old Something New

Hello Crafty Friends!

Just a very quick post today sharing a card I made using some of the new Uniko goodies from Saturday's Art Stamping Festival.

I used their Vines Winter set which a an add on to the Vines set and combined it with one of the first ever stamp I bought to make my very first Christmas card of the year. One never can start soon enough ....

I was inspired by the colours over at CAS Colours & Sketches #221


Of course I am entering there too! 😊

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

May Mixed Media Challenge

Hello, Crafty Friends!

Welcome to May 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.

My DT contribution for May is ... a set of Butterfly ATCs ....

... which I made as an entry for a swap over on Facebook (UK Stamper's Forum). This was one project where I had to just go with the flow. I stared off with a shaving foam background which I made some time ago using red, orange and green. I stenciled over it using Starlight paint through the Doily Squares stencil. You can't see the colour, but you can still pick up the texture underneath the red. I added some dotty Washi tape and Dry Wall Tape (plasterboard tape) before deciding that it all needed to be covered with a little gesso and red Liquitex ink.

Now this is where I tried out something new. I picked up the Daisy Play stencil and my oil pastels, used white for the daisies and yellow around the edges. I die-cut the solid Flutter Zen 1 butterfly, stamped with the sentiments from the Art Marks set and painted it with Cosmic Skin Dazzle Paint.

I stamped the butterfly from the Trendy Butterflies 2 set, coloured with Promarkers, layered as seen, added some shading and glossy accents. It is worth to note here that the glossy accents reacted with the red Promarker and changed the poppy red to what looks like burnt orange.

I then added rub-on borders and sentiments and finished off with sequins and copper Stickles.

I hope you feel inspired to dig into your crafty resourcefulness and create something to enjoy  .... why not link it up with the Mixed Media Challenge over at STAMPlorations. The theme for the Mixed Media Challenge 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.

Ooops, almost forgot to mention the prizes: one winner as chosen by the Mixed Media DT will receive a $10 gift certificate and two Top Picks will receive a $5 gift certificate each, all of course redeemable at the STAMPlorations Shop ... but that's not all ... if there are 25 or more entries one lucky randomly drawn winner will receive two standard sized stencils of their choice.

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

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:

ARTplorations Stencils/Masks: Daisy Play, Doily Squares
Both are new stencils and should be listed in the shop shortly.

STAMPlorations Stamps: Trendy Butterflies 2, Art Marks,
 

CUTplorations Dies: Flutter Zen 1 Layering Dies

*** The personal discount coupon STAMPGIRLMONIKA works on already reduced items too, but can not be combined with any other coupon codes.

CUTplorations May

Hello Crafty Friends!

A new month ... an new challenge, over at STAMPlorations the May CUTplorations Challenge has started. Here is my DT piece ...

How did it come about? Well, the CUTplorations Chellenge is a monthly challenge requiring you to use die(s) and take inspiration from the monthly changing photo which for this month is ...

image source: g5g5g5g5g5 images pixabay.com

So what have we got?

• flowers
• hearts
• leaves
• sunshine
• bricks/wall
• colours

As you can see, I went with ...

• bricks
• colours green pink, grey and white
• hearts
• the flowers reminded me of bunting

I stamped the brick pattern, added the stamped, watercoloured and fuzzy cut bunting, my die-cut wonderful from a blended piece of card, the word day cut from white card using the Lowercase Alphabet Plate Die, the small hearts from the Clustered Hearts Die, a bit of stamped sentiment, splattering, doodling and twine to finish.

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to see how my teamies interpreted the photo and to link up your entry too. There are prizes for the winner ($10 gift certificate) and the two runner-ups ($5gift certificate each) as voted by the DT plus, if there are 30 or more entries, one randomly drawn winner can choose any 2 of the CUTplorations Word/Phrase Dies the DT used in their projects. That's well worth creating for, what do you think?

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 used: Wonderful Word Die, Clustered Hearts Die, Lowercase Alphabet Die Plate
  
STAMPlorations Stamps used: Balloons And Banners, Mixed Media Grunge, Blossom Overture
  

*** Discount code works on sale items too

Stamp Spotlight April Release

Hello Craft Friends!

It's Blog Hop Time over at STAMPlorations to celebrate and showcase their latest stamp release, 4 gorgeous sets to celebrate the feminine.

First up is Sweet & Sassy Mom designed by Becca, a set of 6 image and 7 sentiment stamps, which I used to make this super CAS card ...

Next up another CAS card showcasing the flowers from Deepti's Best Mom Ever (1 large floral image and 4 sentiment stamps) and a sentiment from Shery's One Cool Chick set with a little bit of Spotlight Colouring and orange embossing thrown into the mix ...

Well I did add some glossy accents to that yellow flower too after a bit of a lucky escape. I used Promarkers to colour an image I had intended to watercolour. Yep, Archival ink and alcohol markers is not a good combination. Luckily I realized what happened early on and was able to avoid going over the stamped lines when colouring. 😌

Next up is the card I made using Shery's set, One Cool Chick (1 girlie image and 9 sentiment stamps), in combination with Noteworthy and the Lacy Edges And Borders CUTplorations Dies.

A little bit of watercolouring, splattering, foiling, fuzzy cutting around part of the image and die-cutting a border was all that was needed to make this card. I used holographic silver foil which gives my design a lovely colourful border when catching the light.

Last, but not least, is Shirley's Parfumerie, a set of 9 image and 2 sentiment stamps, perfect for those watercoloured CAS cards.

Stamped and watercoloured with a little shadow, I added some fine splattering to give the impression of spraying the viewer with fragrance from the bottle.
I am entering this scented card at:
Less Is More - Shadow


CASology - Flow


As always with a blog hop there are prizes to be won. Two winners will be drawn at random from all the comments left on the STAMPlorations Blog and the participating designers blogs. One winner will win her/his choice of stamp set and the other one will win a $15 gift certificate redeemable at the STAMPlorations Shop. Commenting closes Monday 8th May, and the winners will be announced on the STAMPlorations Blog in the winners post on Wednesday 10th May.

Here is one last look at my DT projects for the Hop ...

That's it from me for today. Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for all the links of the participating designers blogs and to leave comments along the way. I shall be back on Friday with my DT contribution to May's CUTplorations Challenge. See you then!
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:

Sweet & Sassy Mom, Best Mom Ever, One Cool Chick, Parfumerie
   

Notewothry, Lacy Edges And Borders CUTplorations Dies
 

*** Discount code works on sale items too

The Ultimate Accessory

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 Parfumerie one of the New Release Sets to create a one-layers CAS card. Here it is ...

Pretty straight forward, I stamped the bottle, coloured with watercolour and added a little shadow, added some scribbled foiling, sentiment and gems to finish.

I am entering my card at:
Less Is More - Shadow


CASology - Flow

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 10% apart from the Faerie Door and Brew-tiful Day sets which will be 20% off. Yes, that's correct, Shery has reduced two sets by 20% each this week. Plus, if you were to use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA, you could save yourself an extra 20% on top of that .... just saying ....

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:
Parfumerie

*** Discount code works on sale items too