Thankful Gratitude

Hello Crafty Friends!

STAMPlorations are hopping again as they are celebrating their 3rd Annual STAMPlorations Giving Thanks Blog Hop & Wishlist Linky Party. I am thankful to be part of their amazing DT, and here are my creations ...

It is an honour to be among so many talented designers, the full linky list of which will be at the end of my post. Each designer showcases some of the stamps from STAMPlorations Thanksgiving Release. A real time for celebration!

click here to go to the STAMPlorations Blog

For now, I'm briefly going back to my cards.

The first one was made with a background of Infusions Coloured Stains, A Bit Jaded & Golden Sands, with the Typographia Something To Be Thankful For sentiment being heat embossed in Early Espresso. I finished off with a strip of gold foiling and a couple of pearls.

My second card uses a purple and turquoise brusho background with stamping in Elegant Eggplant. The sentiment I used is the Typographia Gratitude Is A Blossom, and the florals are stamped using the Blissful Blossoms.

Back now to STAMPlorations' mega hop celebrations ... you can win prizes for commenting on participating designer's blogs, getting involved on Facebook and Instagram plus linking up to STAMPlorations Wishlist Linky Party. Here are the prizes up for grabs:

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

• THREE (3) winners randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMPlorations blog and participating designers blog will each receive a $25 certificate to the STAMPlorations store

Prize for liking, commenting, tagging a friend, and sharing STAMPlorations Giving Thanks Blog Hop & Wishlist Linky Party post on STAMPlorations Facebook page:

• ONE (1) randomly drawn winner will receive a grab bag consisting of new products (valued at $25 MSRP) + another grab bag of the same value to the person he/she tags

Prizes for linking up to the STAMPlorations Wishlist Linky Party:

• TWO (2) randomly drawn winners will each receive products in their wishlist (up to $40 MSRP)

Prize for commenting and re-posting STAMPlorations Giving Thanks Blog Hop & Wishlist Linky Party post on the STAMPlorations Instagram page:

• ONE (1) randomly drawn commenter will win her choice of Giving Thanks stamps (Thankful & Blessed; Wonderfall Time; Words of Gratitude; OR any 2 Typografia Thankful stamps)

Commenting on the blogs and linking up to the Wishlist Linky Party ends on Thursday 30th November at 11:55 p.m. Pacific (which is 7.55 GMT, Friday 1st Dec in the UK).

Winners will be announced on December 10 in the November Challenges and Hops winners post. Winners have until December 31 to claim their prize. The full details can be found here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

To add the cherry to the cake, Shery is having a Thanksgiving Sale too.

Use the BIGTHANKS coupon code at checkout for a whopping 40% discount of their stamps, stencils and dies. Please note: The BIGTHANKS code can only be used once per customer/shipping address and cannot be used in combination with other coupon codes. It does not apply to products from the New Release, Retiring, Colouring Books and Gift Certificate categories.

You can even get a freebie included in your order, here is what to do:

• choose one word/phrase die from the shop up to the value of $10 which you would like for free
• place your order using the BIGTHANKS coupon code
• this is the important bit: include the following in a note with your order or email Shery directly mentioning that you were reading my Giving Thanks blog post and decided to order an that you would like your chosen die for free; there is no minimum order needed to qualify. Example: Hi Shery! I just read Monika's Giving Thanks blog post and decided to place an order taking advantage of your generous 40% off offer. I would like the AMAZING word die as my freebie. Many thanks
• I would like to ask you one favour, please make sure you spell Monika with a 'K' as there is also a Monica with a 'C' who is a STAMPlorations teamie. It simply helps to keep us apart. Thanks so much! 💖💖💖

Should you wish to place an order for products from the new release category, you can stll use my personal discount code details of which are in the side bar.

Also check out the graphic below, but first here is the linky to all the participating blogs, mine is no 29 ...


That's it from me for today. Have a lovely week & Happy Hopping!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used from the STAMPlorations Shop
Gratitude Is The Blossom, Blissful Blossoms, Something To Be Thankful For
  

Mistle-doe

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 the Christmas Cookies & Cheer and the Reindeer Games sets to create a fun Christmas card. Here it is ...

A bit of stamping, masking, colouring and fuzzy cutting finished off with a die-cut frame, Stickles and gems.
The idea of Rudolph with an apron really tickled me. TIP!: It was easiest to cut off the apron strings rather than masking them hence the fuzzy cutting.

STAMPlorations have a special Thanksgiving Offer starting tomorrow with the Thanksgiving Blog Hop And Wishlist Linky Party. Keep checking their blog here for the start time at 7am Pacific (3pm GMT).

There will be a coupon code BIGTHANKS which can be used once per customer/shipping address for a whopping 40% discount. This offer excludes products from the New Release and Retiring category, Coloring Books and Gift Certificates.

The BIGTHANKS coupon code cannot be combined with any other coupon codes you might have.

Should you wish to purchase products from the New Release you can always use my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout for a 20% discount. This code can be used more than once and works on sale items too, but cannot be combined with any other discount code.

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. I shall be back again tomorrow with my Thanksgiving projects.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx


here is what I used from the STAMPlorations Shop
Christmas Cookies & Cheer, Reindeer Games, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies
  

Penguins #1

Hello Crafty Friends!

Just sharing a quick Christmas card using a bit of sponging and die cutting, here it is ...

I got these sweet penguins with a magazine I treated myself to at the weekend.Of course, I had to have a play and add some die-cut snowflakes too. The shaped base card is one I had for ages, only just opened the pack; the sentiment is one I bought online, but my link no longer works.

Sometimes simplicity is all you need.

I'm keeping it short and sweet today. I shall be back again tomorrow, until then ...

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

STAMPlorations Stamp Release Day 3

Hello Crafty Friends!

Welcome to Day 3 of the new stamp release Blog Hop over at STAMPlorations. They are introducing a new set of Layering Stamps designed by Shirley under her label The Bee's Knees. Today my teamies and I are showcasing Layered Holly, a set of solid and outline stamps in Shirley's loose and sloshed style perfect for those artsy Christmas cards. Here is my DT piece ...

Well, I had to dip into my pigment powders again, this time I ended up using Brilliant Red and Emerald Green Brusho. The leaves and berries were inked, spritzed with water and stamped. Outlines and sentiment were gold embossed.

I really like how the brusho background adds interest to the stamped leaves whilst the water spritzing does the same for the berries. I had inked the leaves with a slightly darker green around the outside, but it doesn't really show, maybe there was not enough contrast between the greens.

Back to the hop, there are three sets in this release, and I had much fun playing with them. Here they are:

As with any blog hop, there are prizes you can win simply for leaving a comment on participating blogs, a list plus links can be found here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

• one commenter drawn randomly from all comments left on the STAMPlorations and participating designer's blogs will win a $20 gift certificate redeemable at the STAMPlorations Shop
• one commenter drawn randomly from all comments left on the STAMPlorations and participating designer's blogs will win her choice of Layered Stamp set from the release

Commenting closes Monday 13th November and the winners will be announced on Tuesday 14th November over on the STAMPlorations Blog in their October Winner's Post.

All of the three Layered Stamps sets are reduced by 5% until the end of November. You can get an added 20% off all of STAMPlorations' Stamps, Dies and Stencils including Shirley's new sets by using my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout.

Are You up for some blog hopping? Simply pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to join the fun.

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:

Layered Holly

*** Discount code works on sale items too and cannot be combined with any other discount code

Links to previous days of the blog hop:
Day 1 - Day 2

STAMPlorations Stamp Release Day 2

Hello Crafty Friends!

Welcome to Day 2 of the new stamp release Blog Hop over at STAMPlorations. They are introducing a new set of Layering Stamps designed by Shirley under her label The Bee's Knees. Today my teamies and I are showcasing Layered Snowman, a set of versatile solid and outline stamps which can be used all year 'round. Here is my DT piece ...

Amazing what googly eyes, a bit of bling and some organza ribbon can do ... things you find when rooting through your stash. 😀
This card was inspired by the one I posted about on Tuesday and when I saw the googly eyes with lashes. I just had to make a wedding card.
The large solid stamped was only inked around the edges with 1st generation stamping being used for Mr and 2nd generation for Mrs. Of course one can always adapt this too for Mr&Mr and Mrs&Mrs ...

Back to the hop, there are three sets in this release, and I had much fun playing with them. Here they are:

As with any blog hop, there are prizes you can win simply for leaving a comment on participating blogs, a list plus links can be found here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

• one commenter drawn randomly from all comments left on the STAMPlorations and participating designer's blogs will win a $20 gift certificate redeemable at the STAMPlorations Shop
• one commenter drawn randomly from all comments left on the STAMPlorations and participating designer's blogs will win her choice of Layered Stamp set from the release

Commenting closes Monday 13th November and the winners will be announced on Tuesday 14th November over on the STAMPlorations Blog in their October Winner's Post.

All of the three Layered Stamps sets are reduced by 5% until the end of November. You can get an added 20% off all of STAMPlorations' Stamps, Dies and Stencils including Shirley's new sets by using my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout.

Are You up for some blog hopping? Simply pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to join the fun.

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:

Layered Snowman, Newlyweds
 
*** Discount code works on sale items too and cannot be combined with any other discount code

Links to previous days of the blog hop:
Day 1

STAMPlorations Stamp Release Day 1

Hello Crafty Friends!

Welcome to Day 1 of the new stamp release Blog Hop over at STAMPlorations. They are introducing a new set of Layering Stamps designed by Shirley under her label The Bee's Knees. Today my teamies and I are showcasing Layered Leaves, a set of solid and outline stamps in Shirley's loose and sloshed style. Here is my DT piece ...

When I first saw these stamps, I knew I had to somehow involve pigment powders. I dug out A Bit Jaded and Golden Sands Infusions Coloured Stains, sprinkled them on a piece of card, lightly spritzed with water and allowed them to dry.
I inked up the large solid leaf with Crushed Curry and a little Early Espresso around the edges, spritzed with water and stamped into place before stamping the smaller on in Cajun Craze and the outline in Early Espresso. I then added the smaller leaves and my embossed sentiment to finish.

Back to the hop, there are three sets in this release, and I had much fun playing with them. Here they are:

As with any blog hop, there are prizes you can win simply for leaving a comment on participating blogs, a list plus links can be found here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

• one commenter drawn randomly from all comments left on the STAMPlorations and participating designer's blogs will win a $20 gift certificate redeemable at the STAMPlorations Shop
• one commenter drawn randomly from all comments left on the STAMPlorations and participating designer's blogs will win her choice of Layered Stamp set from the release

Commenting closes Monday 13th November and the winners will be announced on Tuesday 14th November over on the STAMPlorations Blog in their October Winner's Post.

All of the three Layered Stamps sets are reduced by 5% until the end of November. You can get an added 20% off all of STAMPlorations' Stamps, Dies and Stencils including Shirley's new sets by using my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout.

Are You up for some blog hopping? Simply pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to join the fun.

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:

Layered Leaves, Fond Expressions 2
 
*** Discount code works on sale items too and cannot be combined with any other discount code

It's Snowtime!

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 one of Shirle's new sets due to be released this week. The set is called Layered Snowman and is perfect for creating cute characters and more. Here is my Cabaret inspired card ...

It's pretty straight forward stamping with the large solid 'circle' being lightly inked on the outsided edges only. The coal 'teeth' were used as a hint of clothing, maybe a bow tie and the googly eyes to add some character.

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% for the week until Monday 13th November apart from the new Layering Stamp sets from the release which will be 5% off. You can get an added 20% off by using my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMONIKA at checkout.

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:
Layered Snowman

*** Discount code works on sale items too