Starry Sky Bunnies

Just a quick post today to link up with a few starry sky related challenges. I tried something a bit different with inking up the moon and the sky on black card using Distress Inks and then adding plenty of Ice Stickles to the moon and stars. 

I'm linking up with a few challenges:

AAA Cards - Moonlight 

Lawn Fawnatics - Bling It Out

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Starry Night

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Animal Antics

Card and paper: White 200 gsm card, black card, Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Dark, Perfectly Paid Rainbow, Perfectly Plaid Fall

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Starry Skies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxides, Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Grassy Border Die

Other: Gold embossing powder, Ranger Ice Stickles

October STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Mid-Month Reminder

Welcome to our mid-month STAMPlorations challenge reminder post. As you may have noted, this year we are not doing separate reminder posts for each challenge, but instead doing one inspiration filled reminder post. I hope this will inspire you to play along with our STAMPlorations challenges in case you haven't already (and if you have, the challenges allow you to link up multiple times if you happen to get inspired again!)

Our CAS challenge optional colour twist this month is black, and I thought a black background would be perfect to show off gold splatters and the blingtastic stamps from Sparkly. I stamped the jewels in Versamark and heat embossed in gold, coloured them with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and added some details in white gel pen. I used an old Stampin' Up stamp to stamp the splatters in Versamark and heat embossed in gold. Last, I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of purple ombre card from my stash.

Card: Black 250 gsm card, scrap of purple ombre card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sparkly, Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark and Memento Tuxedo Black, Faber Castell Polychromos pencils

Other: Gold embossing powder

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.

A Tribute for Melissa Lane

You may have heard that fellow STAMPlorations design team member, the very talented Melissa Lane, recently passed away very unexpectedly. Melissa shared her colourful creations over at Honey Bee Lane. 

As Melissa loved butterflies, the STAMPlorations team are doing a tribute in her memory over on the STAMPlorations blog in the form of butterfly themed creations. If you knew Melissa, or were inspired by her creations, there is a linky where you can share a butterfly creation in her memory. There are also instructions on how you can send your cards to Shery who will send them on to Melissa's family should you wish to do so. 

My heart goes out to Melissa's family and I'm sending them my deepest condolences along with this rainbow of butterflies.

Christmas Moon

I recently went a bit crazy and ordered a huge batch of Lawn Fawn stamps and dies. Oh, how I remember thinking that making my own cards would be such a great idea to save money. Makes me laugh every time. I think I once worked out that my cards come out at about £30 each... I hope the recipients appreciate them. My partner just rolls his eyes every time I get a new delivery. But I'm preaching to the choir here, right?

Anyhow, among many, many, other things, I ordered the Lawn Fawn Winter Skies and Wish Upon a Star stamp sets which are so adorable. And this morning I saw that this week's Just Us Girls challenge is Celestial Elements. So instead of cleaning my kitchen, I made this card!

I've been doing a lot of blending with Distress Oxides lately but this time I dug out the trusty old Distress Inks and I do love the vibrancy of the colours. I had so much fun inking the moon and the night sky in Peacock Feather, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot. I used Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber for the moon. I heat embossed the stars in white after ensuring the ink had dried thoroughly and liberally using my embossing buddy all over the sky (don't ask me how I know...). I die cut the pieces for the scenery and coloured the adorable bears and their big scarf with Copics. Don't they just look so cosy sitting there, gazing upon the winter sky?

I'm also linking up over at ABC Christmas Challenge where the theme is U is for Upon (or V is for Very Quick, which this card definitely was not), Christmas Crafts All Year Round where the theme is Santa, Elf or Fairy, Crimbo Crackers and Sweet Stampin' Christmas where the theme is Anything Goes.

Card: Neenah Solar white card, white shimmer card, scraps of green and red card from my stash

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Winter Skies, Wish Upon A Star

Dies: Lawn Fawn Forest border, Stitched Hillside borders, Scripty Merry

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black and Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feather, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot, Copics

Other: WOW white embossing powder

Rest In Peace Monty

Earlier this week our lovely little ball python Monty passed away. This made me incredibly sad, although I suspect it was even harder for my partner who has spent almost 15 years with Monty, more than twice the time he's spent with me! I created a little picture in his memory, my interpretation of what snake heaven would look like. I think it helped me work through some of the sadness.

I'm linking up my little shrine over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Anything But a Card, Daring Cardmakers where the theme is pets and Make My Monday where the theme is animals.

I started by creating the sky by blending Distress Oxides and heat embossed the stars from Lawn Fawn Upon a star onto the night sky. I die cut the puffy clouds from vellum. I stamped my images onto white card, coloured with Copics and die cut with the matching dies. Last, I composed my scene, adhered all the pieces and splattered the night sky with gold watercolour before mounting the scene in a picture frame. 

Card: white 200 gsm card, Hobbycraft 190 gms white card, vellum from my stash

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Jungle (and matching dies), Upon A Star, Critters from the Past (and matching dies), Wheelie Like You (and matching dies)

Dies: Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Border, 

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Distress Oxides 

Other: Gold embossing powder

Little Birdie Told Me...

I needed a card to congratulate a colleague on the upcoming arrival of a little one but was short of inspiration. Luckily I stumbled across the colour challenge over at House of Cards and realised they will work perfectly with one of my favourite baby card stamp sets, Tweet Love. I was also inspired by the animal theme over at Make My Monday.

I stamped the cute little giraffe and tweetie bird in Versafine onto watercolour paper and watercoloured them. I layered a few different greens and added some green splatters to create a background before die cutting with Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Dies and stamping a sentiment from Tweet Love . I added some really old Stampin' Up patterned paper onto a card base before attaching my panel to the card and added a few adhesive gold pearls to finish.

Card and patterned paper: White 200 gsm card, 250 gsm watercolour paper, old Stampin' Up patterned paper from my stash

Stamps: STAMPlorations Tweet Love

Ink and Colouring: Versafine Onyx Black, Gansai Tambi watercolours

Other: STAMPlorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Dies, adhesive pears 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.

ARTplorations Stencil Hop

Today I'm excited to be part of the STAMPlorations Stencil Hop revealing new stencils from the talented Sanna Lippert. I got my hands on two fun stencils - A Whale's Tale and Dots 'n Beans. I created a few projects with each, mainly using my Gelli plate which was super fun although I'm still learning how to use it. 

If you want to hop along with us, and of course have a change to win some great prizes, you can visit all the designer's blogs and leave comments for a chance to win one of 4 prizes. You will find a list of all participating designers in the STAMPlorations Stencil Hop post. You don't have to comment on all the blogs, but the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win one $20 gift certificate, one $10 gift certificate, and 2 winners will get their choice of three (3) Sanna Lippert Designs stencils. Commenting closes October 21 and winners will be announced on November 10 in the October Winners post.

I started by creating some prints using A Whale's Tale and Dots 'n Beans stencils and Distress Oxides with my new Gelli Plate. For my first card I stamped images from What's Brewing onto kraft card and coloured them with Polychromos pencils. I used the Stitched Tags Nesting Dies to die cut a tag from the stencil print and stamped the With Coffee typografia stamp. I finished with splattering Vintage Photo ink on the tag.

For my second coffee card I used the Gelli print for the panel in the background, inking Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges of the die cut panel. I stamped Framed Coffee Pot in Versafine and watercoloured with Distress Inks. I finished by adding a sentiment from Coffee Happy. 

I used one of the prints of A Whale's Tale and matted it onto black card. I drew the happy little whale as I didn't have any appropriate stamps to match the fish tail pattern and custom created a sentiment. And before you say anything, I know a whale is not a fish, but my artistic talents are limited and I didn't think I could manage an actual fish! I think he turned out quite cute, fish or not.

For my last project, I used a watercolour background and inked grey Distress Ink through the A Whale's Tale and outlined the fishtails in white gel pen. I stamped the ship from Born to Roam, coloured with Copics and fussy cut. I stamped a sentiment from the same set, splitting it up over multiple lines and fussy cutting the last word. 

You can find all of Sanna's inspiring stencils in the STAMPlorations shop. Also note that from October 8 to 21, all stencils are 15% off - no coupon needed. The discount is automatically applied in the shopping cart. And if you use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA you can get an extra 20% off, so this is a great time to do some stencil shopping.

Card: 250 gsm white and kraft card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm card, black 250 gsm card, scrap of red card
Ink and colouring: Distress Oxide, Distress Ink, Faber Castell Polychromos, Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Copics, 
Dies: ARTplorations A Whale's Tale, Dots 'n Beans
Stamps: STAMPlorations What's Brewing, With Coffee, Framed Coffee Pot, Coffee Happy, Born to Roam
Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, 
Other: Gelli plate, white gel pen

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.

Thanks A Latte

I've been enjoying a fantastic luxury for the last few weeks, I've been working four-day weeks. This is the life, I'll tell you. I had managed to not use all my annual leave days so I decided to use the last few to just take Fridays off. I wish I could keep doing this indefinitely as I have been enjoying really slow Fridays at home, reading a book for a few hours in the morning while drinking big cups of coffee on the sofa, then moving upstairs to my craft room to spend the rest of the day there. I genuinely meant to spend these days cleaning the house and clearing things off my to-do list, but let's just call these my mental health days and ignore all that dust in the corners, right? 

My card is inspired by the inspiration image over at Daring Cardmakers. My choice of patterned paper was inspired by the blankets in the inspiration photo and I was also inspired by the leaves and the colours scheme of oranges, reds and teal. I was also inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, the Awesome Autumn theme over at Lawn Fawnatics and the Thank you theme over at CAS on Friday.

Card and patterned paper: Teal 250 gsm card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, watercolour card, scrap of red card, Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Fall, Knit Picky

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Love You a Latte and matching dies, Claire's ABCs

Ink and Colouring: Distress Inks, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves, Scripty Thanks

October STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Black

After a summer break, the STAMPlorations CAS challenge is back! I'm so excited to get back to making CAS inspired creations and seeing what you create. The rules are the same as they always were, you can create using any product you want as long as you create a CAS card. Remeber to link back to the main challenge post on the STAMPlorations blog and to include the challenge graphic in your post to be eligible to win the monthly prizes. 

This year we are doing things a bit differently as we will no longer have a mid-month inspiration post, just the main post on the first Thursday of every month. Just as there has always been, you will find an optional colour twist which I love using just to push myself a bit.

This time the optional colour twist is black, and I thought why not change things up a bit and use black card. I have bought a small set of Faber Castell Polychromos pencils, inspired by all your fabulous pencil colouring out there on the Interwebs. I used to admire other people's beautiful colouring on black card, but the non-brand colouring pencils I had didn't really work on black card and I used to wonder what I was doing wrong. Well, I can tell you that using real artist's pencils is what made the difference! These work like a dream, although I still need to learn to use them... I'm already dreaming of a bigger set as I only have 12 colours at my disposal at the moment. But that is just about enough to colour the beautiful Blossom Sprays #1 stamp, and I heat embossed a sentiment from Noteworthy 2 in white.

Card: Black 200 gsm card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Dee's Artsy Impressions Blossom Sprays #1, Noteworthy 2

Ink and Colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Faber Castell Polychromos

Other: Wow Opaque Bright White Super Fine embossing powder 

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.

October STAMPlorations TAG Challenge - Fall

I'm very excited to be blogging today about the October STAMPlorations TAG Challenge as I have been given a wonderful opportunity to join the design team. Hopefully you have a lot of pent-up TAG mojo in store after our summer break! I can't wait to hop around to all of your blogs and to be inspired by what you create. Our first challenge of the season is All About Fall with an optional twist of red, orange and gold. 

My tag is inspired by the colourful leaves and all the birds migrating to a warmer climate right now. I started by blotting Twisted Citron, Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide onto a craft mat, spritzing and picking up several layers of ink onto white card. Then I used one of the Manila Tags Nesting Dies to cut the tag. I inked up the Trendy Leaves stamps in yellow, orange, red and brown Distress Oxide, spritzed with water before stamping and fussy cut them. I also die cut some leaves using the Trendy Spring Blooms dies. Then I randomly stamped various stamps from Mixed Media Grunge in red, orange and brown around the edges of the tag and added a sentiment from Noteworthy 2. Before attaching the leaves, I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink through the Some Birds stencil and last I stamped and heat embossed some dots in gold in the upper left corner of the tag and added some ribbon and twine.

There are very few rules - please follow the theme and your project has to have a tag in some form. You don't have to use STAMPlorations products but if you have any we would love to see how you were inspired to use them. Don't forget to link back to the challenge and add the challenge graphic to your post if you want to be eligible to win prizes.

I'm linking up my tag over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is Tag It.

Card: 200 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Leaves, Noteworthy 2, Mixed Media Grunge
Dies: CUTplorations Manila Tags Nesting Dies, Trendy Spring Blooms
Stencils: ARTplorations Some Birds
Ink: Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Distress Oxides Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Twisted Citron, Spiced Apple, Barn Door, Vintage Photo, Tsukineko Versamark
Other: gold embossing powder, ribbon, twine, sequin and an adhesive gem 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.