The Sisterhood Of Snarky Stampers - T is for Tissue

I am so excited to be guesting over at one of my favourite challenges - The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers. I had so much fun playing with Becca's llamas for their F is for Farm challenge that my llamas won me the coveted crown of Queen of Snark which I have been wearing with great pride the past week (just imagine the looks I get at work...). The bonus prize is that I get to guest design with the fabulous Sisters for their new challenge themed T is for Tissue. You can see poor Edna feeling a bit under the weather with one of the many winter bugs we have had going around, I hope she feels better soon. I took the liberty to interpret the challenge in a slightly different way and decided instead that T is for Tissue paper Tutu!

I started by stamping one of the Flamingos from Lawn Fawn's Flamingo Together, colouring with Copics and die cutting using the matching die. I then took a few small pieces of pink tissue paper, layering them, glueing them together and scrunching them up to look like a mini tutu. Then I fussy cut the wing of the flamingo so that I could attach the tutu to the back of the wing. I also die cut the crown using gold glitter card and a die from Critters Ever After, adding some adhesive gems to it. I didn't have a stamp with the sentiment I wanted to use so I printed most of it onto white shimmery card and then stamped the word Pigeons using Violet's ABCs in Versamark and heat embossed in silver. Then I splattered some Tim Holtz Picked Raspberry ink onto the card and die cut it with a Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle. Last, I added the card front to some ombre pink/purple card, adding the flaming to the card front and decorating the layers of the tutu with Ranger Ice Stickles.

Card: White shimmer card, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card, gold glitter card, ombre pink card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Flamingo Together and matching dies, Violet's ABCs

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After and Stitched Rectangles dies, Papermania silver embossing powder, adhesive gems from my stash, pink tissue paper from my stash, adhesive pink gems from my stash

Floral Congrats

Does a run cancel out eating your body weight in chocolate? I've done both today and I decided I will believe one cancels out the other... I was also supposed to be cleaning, but true to myself I made a card instead. As one does. Our house is a mess and my craft room the worst mess of all!

Today's card is inspired by the beautiful colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up over at CAS on Sunday and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is die cuts.

I used Distress Oxides to create some coloured panels, one green and one purple and used these for die cutting using STAMPlorations Trendy Spring Blooms dies, along with some grey card for the "outlines" of the flowers. I absolutely love these dies and I particularly love to piece the die cuts with coloured card. It's a bit fiddly but all you really need is a good pair of tweezers and some patients. I think it's better than meditation! The background card was a piece I dabbed some leftover ink onto when I was making my coloured cards - waste not, want not and all that stuff. I heat embossed a sentiment from Trendy Feathers 2.

Card: shimmery white card, grey shimmery card, light grey card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2

Dies: STAMPlorations Trendy Spring Blooms, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover, Tsukineko Versamark

Distress Oxide Flutters

Just a quick post as Sunday has once again run away with me. How is it possible for the weekend to always just disappear? No, I refuse to believe it's just because I spent two three four hours doing a bit of light lettering practice... Yes, I was going to clean the house. Lettering? Cleaning? Don't look me in the eye and tell me you would have picked cleaning! Please, don't tell me if you would...

Hope you had a productive weekend, however you decide to define productive! I created this card which is inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch - I really liked this week's sketch as this is my second go at it. I was also inspired by the Butterfly theme over at CASology. 

Card: 200 gsm white shimmer card, scrap of black card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies 2

Stencil: ARTplorations Ethnic Flutter 1

Ink: Distress Oxides, Tsukineko Versafine

Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, sequins from my stash

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

Home Is Where The Cherry Tree Blossoms Are

Dear Webstagram Hivemind, do any of you have any experience with Wifi enabled memory cards? My poor old computer is reaching a state where it's having frequent strokes and I fear it is nearing that time it goes to the great big junkyard in the sky. Well, it will go to recycling but anyhow... I pretty much know which computer I want to spend my life's savings on but it doesn't have an SD card slot. Yes, I could get a separate card reader, but why do that if I could just get a wifi memory card instead? So any experiences you have, good or bad let me know, please. 

And from that let's move on to today's card. What is it with weekends, I woke up at 5am this morning when I could have slept in, whereas during the week I simply cannot bear to drag myself out of bed at 6 am? The one good thing about early Saturday mornings is that my creative mojo seems to be at it's strongest, so I've already made a few cards today, the first which you can see here. It was inspired by the Cosy Home challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. I was also inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch, the colours over at Color Throwdown and the gorgeous Cherry Blossoms inspiration image over at Just Add Ink. 

I started by stamping the cute houses from STAMPloratios Houses in grey ink. Then I stamped the tree from Houses Extra, coloured it with Copics and fussy cut it. I didn't have a stamp with the sentiment I wanted to use, so I printed it onto pink card and added the red die cut heart to the sentiment. 

Card: 250 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card, scrap of pink card, scrap of red card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Houses, Houses Extras

Ink and Colouring: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate, Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Arctic dies, Ranger Ice Stickles

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

Llama Tell You

Llama here to tell you that we are having the most hilariously fun new release over at the STAMPloraitons blog - Llama Tell You by the always funny Becca Cruger who I'm sure you know from her awesome blog Damsel of Distressed. This was an absolute have-to-have set for me as I'm the worlds biggest fan of llamas and alpacas. We live quite close to an alpaca farm, and every time we drive past I have to look out for the alpacas. What I didn't know that the owner of the farm is someone my Culinary Consultant has had some professional contact with, and a few years ago he actually arranged for us to have a visit on the farm. We got to see an alpaca baby which had been born the previous night, and we got to cuddle Humphrey the tame alpaca. I consider it to be the most romantic thing he has ever done for me, and it's one of my favourite days ever!

These were some of the alpacas we got to meet on our day out.

Anyhow, you can see why I couldn't resist Becca's awesome llama set. I had such a fun time making a Valentine's card and a Birthday card. You can find more inspiration from my fellow STAMPlorations DT members and the amazing Becca herself over at STAMPlorations along with a chance to win this fun stamp set!

I'm linking up my herd of llamas over at Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers where the theme is F is for Farm Life, I'm sure Edna would love to hang out with the herd!

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

February STAMPlorations Challenge - Paint It Red

 

You might have noticed that there are some temporary changes to the challenges over on the STAMPlorations blog while Shery is taking a Winter break to enjoy being a new Mummy to her second adorable daughter, aptly named Winter. 

But keep calm and keep crafting as there is still a challenge for you! The individual challenges (CAS, mixed media, CUTplorations and Theme&Sketch) have been combined into one big super-challenge and will run that way for February, March and April. 

This month our super theme is Paint It Red which runs until the end of the month. We would love to see any love themed or red (or both) projects in our gallery. Go wild and create anything your heart desires - cards, ATCs, mixed media... or anything else you can think of - in any style you prefer! I decided to stick to CAS as that's what I know and love. You can use any products you like, but if you have any STAMPlorations crafty stash, we would love to see you use it!

I decided to go for both red and love (it is February after all...). I used watercolour pencils in pink, red and grey through the Zen Hearts stencil and then used a fine watercolour brush on the coloured parts. Colouring through a stencil is so easy, even if you wouldn't be very good at colouring, you can't fail this way. Then I simply added the hilarious sentiment from Funny Kinda Love and added a few adhesive pearls from my stash. Quick, easy and perfect for V-day. 

While you are busy creating, don't forget to keep checking in over at STAMPlorations as there will be some awesome new products coming there soon. Llama tell you, you might want to check in on Wednesday. Llama so excited already! That's all Llama say for now...

I'm also linking up over at these super-inspiring challenges:

House Of Cards - pink colours and Valentine's theme

Just Add Ink - Just Add Romance

Just Us Girls - Love

Card: 250 gsm white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Funny Kinda Love

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils

Stencil: ARTplorations Zen Hearts

Other: Adhesive pearls from my stash

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

Feather Overload

I was going to clear out my crafting desk today. Instead, I have made a few cards and a much more horrible mess! Oh well, priorities, eh? Next, I'm heading into the kitchen to make buns which I'll fill with whipped cream and jam. We make them back home for Shrove Tuesday, but I didn't feel like waiting for another week so why not!

Anyhow, what about today's card? I was inspired by the inspiration image and sketch over at Fusion Card Challenge and the colours over at Color Throwdown to create this feathery card. I first tried to create the feathers using Vellum to get that stained glass look, but every time I tried to stamp on the vellum, the ink just wouldn't dry and made an absolutely horrible mess on the beautifully colourful vellum. So I went for plan b using card and Distress Oxides instead. I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where Anything Goes.

Card: White 300 gsm card, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card, scrap of black card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Feathery 
Ink and stamping: Tsukineko Versafine, Distress Oxides, Distress Ink Hickory Smoke
Other: Papermania Seafoam white embossing powder, Dylusions Shattered stencil

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.