Happy Birthday, Shery!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you .....

It's Shery's birthday today, and Maria has highjacked the Inspiration Post for the celebrations and linky party.

Here is me sending .....

... with a little ATC, my first one ever. It is winging its way over to you, Shery, across the Atlantic as we speak ...

Here is a little bit more about the process ...

Cover a piece of cardboard (ATC size 2 1/2" x 3 1/2") with pretty paper, distress edges distressed edges and apply some paint to mute the colour and add texture. I used some I had for ages giving the appearance of handmade paper. Not sure if it was still ok as it had shrunk in volume inside the unopened jar despite never having been used, but it gave some interesting texture anyway. I then applied a little Picked Raspberry distress ink to finish off my ATC base.

Next I stamped, embossed and fuzzy cut the bird seen in the video below ...

... and finished the ATC ...

... and added a touch of spritzing just for fun.

I am entering my ATC at:
Craft Stamper Make It Take It - Anything Goes with the Take a Stamp technique

Have a lovely Birthday, Shery. You are the best!
Big Hugs
Monika xxx

If you want to wish Shery Happy Birthday, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog where you can also join the Linky Party.

Wishing you all a fabulous day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Trendy Birds 2, CUTplorations Hugs Word Die, Vignette Chevron And Arrows, The Birds And The Blooms
   

Make A Big Wish

Hi All,

It's Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations ... and we got a little surprise for someone very special. It's Shery's Birthday today, and Maria has organised a party ... you can join and link up your projects here on the Inspiration Post.

For my DT project I was working with Kathryn's Big Wishes ....

the background came about by mopping up the ink left from sponging when making my DT card for the CASEplorations Challenge. I simply added a few splodges of purple Artiste Spritzing Ink courtesy of a partially blocked nozzle. A stamped sentiment and coloured candle with a touch of glossy accents completed the look.

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to wish Shery a 'Happy Birthday' and join the party. As for myself I shall be back in a minute with my Birthday Project and Wishes for Shery.

Back very soon ...
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Kathryn's Big Wishes

CASEplorations July

Hi All,

Welcome to July and a new CASEplorations Challenge. This month we are taking inspiration from this super adorable card by Elina Stromberg ....

Elina posted about her card here on her blog. As always Maria has chosen well to give you lots of inspiration. What can be seen from looking at Elina's card?

• Birds on a branch with a little nest
• hearts, large and small
• large single word sentiment
• red, orange and yellow colours
• writing in the background
• some water splatters
• layered card

Here is what I made of it ...

• two birds became one and the branch turned into a flower for my hummingbird
• the large hearts from the background became flowers
• I stuck with the large single word sentiment
• red, orange and yellow became pink, orange and yellow with a touch of purple
• writing in the background
• some water splatters
• instead of layered card to frame I used the largest of the CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

... and finally, here it is ...

I sponged some Versamark through the ARTplorations Stencils: Flower Burst Large and left it to dry before sponging my background and spritzing it with water. I added the script from the Mixed Media Elements, stamped the hummingbird from The Birds And The Blooms set and attached my die-cut sentiment 'hugs', a CUTplorations Word Die.

Here is another look ...

Inspired to CASE? Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to join the fun at CASEplorations. I shall be back shortly with more makes ....

See you in a bit ...
hugs
Monika xxx


here is what I used:
ARTplorations Stencils: Flower Burst Large, The Birds And The Blooms, Mixed Media Elements,
  
CUTplorations Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, CUTplorations Hugs Word Die
 

CUTplorations Die Release Hop Day 2

.... and overall Blog Hop DAY 6 ...

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 ... and this is day 2 of their release ...

First up is my DT contribution to DAY 6 of the STAMPlorations blog hop. Today I was working with the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies ....

... and added a little help from SMILE and the CUTplorations Word Die Hugs whilst going crazy with spritzing inks. It's pretty straight forward, cut a couple of Crazy Double Running Stitch rectangles, a couple of hugs and a piece of coloured card, spritz freely with ink,stamp the calla lily, shadow layer the hugs and layer everything up as seen finishing off with some sequins.

Here is a closer look at the shadow layered hugs and stitching detail of the nesting dies ....

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 6 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.

Here is another look at my card ....

I shall be back tomorrow with more CUTplorations inspiration. Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

link to DAY 1, DAY 2, DAY 3, DAY 4, DAY 5, DAY 6 of the Blog Hop

here is what I used:
Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Word Dies: Hugs, Smile
   

Stencil Sunday

... and joining STAMPlorations' Mixed Media Team

Hi All,

today I want to invite you to come with me on a new adventure journey ... discovering Mixed Media.

Today's Stencil Sunday is also the start of July's Mixed Media Challenge over at STAMPlorations, and my DT piece is an altered puzzle framed mirror .....

The individual pieces were given a coat of stone coloured emulsion paint left over from decorating. I then used the ARTplorations Weathered Wood Stencil and Crumb Cake ink to create my base pattern before adding some dimension with texture paste and the ARTplorations Leaf Prints Stencil. Once dry, I sanded the leaves a little and added some colour and a few stenciled leaves. Using Basic Grey ink I stamped a few flowers and edging using stamps from the Bloom Factory and Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds sets ....

To finish off I added some shaped leaves which I attached with decoupage gel glue to help keep the shape and dimension and some coloured and fuzzy cut blooms.

Here is a little close-up of the textured, stenciled and shaped leaves ....

If you wonder how I made the leaves, have a look at my short video below. The basic steps are the same, but I used pale green coloured card instead of white to start which meant there was no need to use the Promarker.

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 now. I shall leave you with one last look at the mirror ...

Have a lovely day!

hugs

Monika xxx

here is what I used:

ARTplorations Stencils: Weathered Wood and Leaf Prints, Bloom Factory and Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds stamp sets

   

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

Mature Engagement

Hi All,

for today's Inspiration Roundup post over at STAMPlorations, I am sharing a card I made for my friend Sue a few weeks ago. It is an engagement card she wanted to give to her fiance who likes lilies ... the colour red was also mentioned ... here is what I made ...

I stamped, coloured and fuzzy cut the calla lily from the Smile set, cut an oval shape from Cherry Cobbler card, used the same colour card for my base card and spritzed with gold, layered everything up and finished off with a few golden confetti hearts.

The inside featured a verse Sue had chosen and a 2nd generation stamped image of the calla lilies. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo.

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration and to leave a comment for your entry to win a $10 gift certificate.

That's it from me for now, I shall be back again tomorrow with more Blog Hop Inspiration.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is the set I used:
Smile