National Coffee Day Blog Hop

To celebrate National Coffee Day, Coffee Loving Cardmakers are hosting a great big blog hop. If you usually participate in the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog hops you know they usually involve linking up cards, but this time the blog hop is a bit different. All you have to do this time is hop along and leave a comment for all the sponsors and you can win lots of great prizes. STAMPlorations is stop #15 in the hop and by commenting on the main post and the posts from the STAMPlorations designers you can win prizes! And if you don't win a prize, you can always stock up on your coffee themed crafty stash using the 15% discount in the STAMPlorations store (discount applied automatically).

For my coffee themed card, I started by stamping Trendy Leaves in Versafine Onyx Black around the edges of a piece of watercolour card. I coloured the panel with watercolours, and inked Vintage Photo Distress ink through the Leaf Prints Mini stencil. I stamped the big coffee mug from Anywhere There's Coffee on watercolour card, coloured the mug with watercolours, inked Vintage Photo through the very apt Dots n' Beans stencil and added a coffeelicious sentiment from Coffeeology.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Anywhere There's Coffee, Coffeeology, Trendy Leaves

Stencils: ARTplorations Dots n' Beans, Leaf Prints Mini

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, watercolours

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Happy Tuesday! Tuesday has become my favourite day of the week as I get to share a new crafting project and see what the other ladies of the Inspiration team have created over on the STAMPlorations blog for our weekly Inspiration post. 

Today I wanted to share a card I made using the fun Zen Coffee Cup Layering dies. I started by Die cutting the mug from dark brown card, and then a second time from watercolour card. I coloured the watercolour version with Gansai Tambi watercolours and paper pieced them into the brown frame. I heat embossed the fun sentiment from Coffeeology in copper onto vellum and splattered some brown ink for added interest. 

Don't forget to comment on the  STAMPlorations Inspiration post for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to the STAMPlorations store.

I'm linking up my card with the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Galz - Vellum 

Allsorts Challenge - Autumn

Dream Valley Challenges - Autumn colours

Creativ Fusion - Autumn

Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffeeology 

Dies: CUTplorations Zen Coffee Cup Layering dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Gansai Tambi Watercolours

Also, don't forget to check out all the current STAMPlorations promotion here, including the End Of Summer Super Sale and so much more.

November STAMPlorations challenges - Mid-Month Reminder

Halfway through the month already? Can you hear Christmas approaching? Have you already played along with our November challenges over at STAMPlorations? I can't help you with the first two dilemmas, but if your answer to the last question is no, fear not. You can find freshly added inspiration today for various November challenges on the STAMPlorations blog. My tag is for the November TAGplorations challenge, where the theme is about being thankful and with an optional twist of polka dots. I'm very thankful for coffee every morning and I thought it would probably be fun to drink it out of a pink polka-dot mug!

The background is created using Distress Oxide smooching. I stamped the coffee mug and pot and coloured using Copics, except for the coffee cup which I paper pieced. Last I heat embossed the sentiment using copper embossing powder. 

Card: 300 gsm watercolour card, Neenah Solar White card, Lawn Fawn Let's Polka, Mon Amie patterned paper
Stamps: STAMPlorations What's Brewing, Coffeeology
Dies: CUTplorations Manila Tags Nesting Dies
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine, Distress Oxides, Copics
Other: Papermania Copper 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. Note that if you order from the NEW RELEASE and 5x7 STAMP CLUB categories before the end of November you will also receive a free thin metal die with your order.