STAMPlorations Inspiration

Can you believe you are now reading the last Inspiration post of the year? How did this happen? At least next year it should be easy to switch to write 2020 instead of 2019. 

To get us in the New Year mood, I decided to create a fun galaxy card. I started by stamping the gorgeous  Blossom Sprays #3 in Versamark and heat embossed in silver. I then used watercolours to create the galaxy around the flowers and splattered with white gouache paint. I coloured a scrap piece of card with distress markers and blended with water before die cutting using the fun Skinny Sentiments. I cut the other part of the sentiment in black and layered with the coloured letters. 

Thank you so much for following along, commenting, taking part in the STAMPlorations challenges and overall just being your amazing selves. Keep it up in 2020, I can't wait to see what the year has in store!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3

Dies: CUTplorations Skinny Sentiments

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Markers, Gansai Tambi Watercolours

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Merry Christmas! I hope you get some time to rest and relax and enjoy good food in good company. And if you are working this Christmas, thank you very much as you are probably someone keeping us safe or healthy or both. 

For our STAMPlorations Christmas Inspiration post I created a simple monochromatic card to match the tag I created a few weeks ago for the 25 Days of Christmas Tags event.

I stamped the parcel and wreath from Joyful and coloured some details with red watercolour. I then die cut the sentiment from red card using Christmas Sentiments and cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. Last I matted the panel onto red card and attached to a white card base.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful

Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies, Christmas Sentiments,  Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Festive Berries

Take advantage of our last sale of the year. Get 25% off nearly all products in the store*.

  

Use code DEC2019 on checkout.

No minimum order. Flat shipping rates apply.

Last Minute Inspiration

Every year I promise myself I won't leave Christmas things to the last minute, and every year that's how it turns out. This year I wouldn't even have sent out Christmas cards, but as my dearest set to write some cards, I thought that as a card crafter I simply cannot skip that duty. But to my shame, we did send out some shop-bought cards in addition to some handmade ones, and the majority of cards I had were from the stash I made inspired by our Christmas in July event over at STAMPlorations. Future me, please take note for next year...

I made a batch of snowflake tags for my presents this year. I used Stitched Tags Nesting dies on offcuts of kraft card which had been laying around in my UFO box forever. I stamped the lovely snowflakes using Stampin' Up Endless Wishes and heat embossed them in white. I added some of the small sentiments from the same stamp set which I stamped on a scrap piece of blue card. These were really quick to mass-produce and I think they matched the wrapping paper really well.

Anyhow, I have tried to be a bit more thoughtful about gift wrapping this year. I bought some recycled wrapping paper without any glitter or foil so it's compostable or recyclable. However, I had one very big gift and it would have used up the whole roll of that wrapping paper, so instead, I decided to use some of the brown paper that you get with your Amazon parcels. I simply smoothed out the paper and stamped the lovely images from Joyful in Distress Oxides. (sorry about the horrible pictures, this was literally last minute late in the evening...) 

I then added some nice festive ribbon, which can be re-used over and over (I already had tons of this in my stash, so no new ribbon was bought for any of the presents this year). I used a scrap of the store-bought wrapping paper, and die cut a tag using Stitched Tags Nesting dies, which I attached to a tag I had die cut from scrap cardboard from a chocolate bar! I used one of the Christmas Sentiments dies to cut the red sentiment. Super easy and super quick!

I also used some scraps of the store-bought wrapping paper (waste not, want not and all of that) which I die cut using the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and added the same sentiment using Christmas Sentiments and adhered everything to a cardbase made from some beautiful handmade paper.

I created a variation on the theme using vellum as the card base and added a hand-lettered greeting inside the card. 

That is a wrap on all my Christmas presents this year (apart from something I ordered from a shop which said they would guarantee delivery by Christmas, but yesterday I got an email to say it won't make it after all. I'm really annoyed, but I guess there are bigger problems in the world after all).

Stamps: Stampin' Up Endless Wishes, STAMPlorations Joyful

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Stitched Tags Nesting dies and Christmas Sentiments

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Just a quick post today to show you what I have created for this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration Post. A warm mug full of Christmas wishes! I started by inking Distress Ink through the ARTplorations Christmas Tree 1 stencil. I used the Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies to die cut and paper piece the mug. I think it looks a bit like a poinsettia. To create the sentiment, I heat embossed words from Joyful in copper and die cut the Christmas in red card using Christmas Sentiments.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful
Stencil: ARTplorations Christmas Tree 1
Dies: CUTplorations  Christmas Sentiments, Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Shabby Shutters


Take advantage of our last sale of the year. Get 25% off nearly all products in the store*.

  

 

Use code DEC2019 on checkout.

No minimum order. Flat shipping rates apply.

STAMPlorations December CAS Challenge - Reminder

It's time to interrupt your pre-Holiday craziness for a quick reminder. Our December CAS Challenge is halfway through, people. Halfway through! Consider yourselves reminded :) I know you are busy with everything, but the whole point of CAS Cards is that they are quick and easy. So you will surely have time for a little crafty project.

I stamped Poinsettia Row and very quickly and messily watercoloured the stamp with Distress Inks and splattered the white space with a bit of yellow. I added a die-cut sentiment in red using Christmas Sentiments and that's it, Christmas card done! You certainly have enough time to create one of these, no matter how busy you are.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Poinsettia Row

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Inks

If you are thinking of doing some STAMPlorations shopping, don't forget to visit the STAMPlorations store Promotions page for discount codes for stamp sets.

Take advantage of our last sale of the year. Get 25% off nearly all products in the store*.

  

 

Use code DEC2019 on checkout.

No minimum order. Flat shipping rates apply.

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Not long to go now, 10 more days until my Christmas Break starts for real! Are you ready for the Holidays? Who am I kidding, of course, you aren't. And neither am I. But that's ok, it will all be ok. Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. And everyone will have a lovely time, even if you never got around to baking that seventh batch of cookies or clean out every little corner of the house. So embrace the most important things, whatever those are for you and forget about the rest.

Oh, and it's Tuesday so it's time for another STAMPlorations Inspiration post, yay! I'm having so much fun every week sharing my creations with you. This week I created a Christmas Card using Sanna's lovely Fairytale Forest stencil. I started by masking a part of the card and inked it with light blue Distress Inks. I then inked through the stencil in darer blues. Next, I stamped the mandalas from Bloomdala Bliss in Versamark and heat embossed them in white. Last, I inked a scrap piece of card with the same blue inks and die cut with the new Christmas Sentiments dies.

Stamps: STAMPlorations  Bloomdala Bliss

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments

Stencils: ARTplorations Fairytale Forest

If you are thinking of doing some STAMPlorations shopping, don't forget to visit the STAMPlorations store Promotions page for discount codes for stamp sets.

Take advantage of our last sale of the year. Get 25% off nearly all products in the store*.

  

 

Use code DEC2019 on checkout.

No minimum order. Flat shipping rates apply.

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Happy Tuesday and Happy STAMPlorations Inspiration Post day. December??? Whaaaat??? How did this happen? But I have to admit, I am looking forward to a long break over the holidays. Two glorious weeks off work. I can feel some craft room time coming up.

I made a very quick and easy Christmas card, which would be easy to mass-produce. I started by inking two shades of brown Distress Ink through the Christmas Reindeer stencil. While the ink was still fresh, I sprinkled some copper embossing powder on some parts of the deer and heat set. Then I inked Peeled Paint Distress Ink through the Christmas Tree 1 stencil and splattered some watered ink on the panel. Last, I cut the sentiment in copper card using my new favourite Christmas dies, Christmas Sentiments.

Stencils: ARTplorations Christmas Reindeer, Christmas Tree 1

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments 
Ink: Distress Inks 


Talking of Christmas, don't forget you have a few more days to comment on the Christmas Dies Redux blog hop if you want to win some fabulous Christmas dies and the 25 Days of Christmas Tags blog post if you want to win a fabulous set of the new Christmas Sentiment dies. Last but not least, you have a few more days to link up with the big Giving Thanks Giveaway!

STAMPlorations December CAS Challenge

It's December. How did this happen? Are you freaking out about Christmas? We are having family over for Christmas and I'm already stressed about cooking. And don't even get me started on cleaning the house. It's a disgrace... 

With all the above in mind, I have made a safe fortress in my craft room. I just craft and refuse to come out and face all the Christmas preparations. What an adult way to handle things, right? I created this card using the great new Christmas sentiment stamp set Joy. I stamped the solid words in various Christmas colours using Distress Inks, and then added the black outlines. I splattered some Distress Ink and that's it. Super quick and easy, a minimal amount of stash needed. Perfect for those last-minute cards, and perfect for mass production.

I hope you'll come and play along with our STAMPlorations December CAS Challenge. All you need to do is link up a CAS card, the rest of the rules are in the CAS Challenge post. The colour twist is optional but highly recommended!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joy

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink