STAMPlorations Christmas in July

I'm very excited to be here today for the kick-off of our Christmas in July sale and giveaway over at STAMPlorations. And, to be honest, it's the kick-off for Christmas crafting for me this year. I really love to see all the Christmas inspiration all over blogland this time of year as it finally got me inspired to start with my Christmas crafting. The inspiration and talent in the crafting community never cease to amaze me. If I ever feel like I'm in a creative slump, all I need to do is go on Pinterest or Instagram and I'm showered with the most amazing art, so thank you all for that!

For my first card, I used the Sketchy Yule Trees, stamping directly onto white card and colouring the trees with Distress Markers. Next, I stamped the Merry Little Christmas typografia stamp in Versamark onto vellum, and heat embossed in gold (currently this stamp is out of stock, but there are plenty of other Christmas typografia stamps in stock in the STAMPlorations store). I added a few drops of glue on the vellum under the sentiment to attach it to the card panel. If you want more inspiration for these stamp sets, check out here, here, and here.

I used the same layout for my next card, this time using the super cute snowman from Winter Chill for the background and the  Build A Snowman Typografia Christmas. I stamped the sentiment in black onto vellum and heat embossed in holographic embossing powder which gives it a great shimmer. For other ideas using these stamps, see here and here.

I created one more card using a Christmas typografia stamp, this time I combined the Jingle All the Way typografia stamp with the cute bells from Jingle Bells. I started by stamping the bells in Versamark, then I sprinkled gold and copper embossing powder to create a two-tone effect which you can see in the close-up image. I inked up the sentiment using Distress Markers, spritzed very lightly with water and stamped onto vellum. As I often manage to smudge ink when stamping on vellum, I quickly heat embossed the sentiment in clear powder, before cutting the vellum with the smallest die from Crazy Double Running Stitch Nested dies. 

For my last two cards, I was inspired by the beautifully geometric Yuletide Deer stamp set. I restricted my colour palette to bright red, black and grey against crisp white card. I started by stamping the deers in Tim Holtz Festive Berries. Then I used a black watercolour marker to colour only the word Christmas from Merry Little Christmas (although you may want to make your life a bit easier and just use a stamp which you can ink up the normal way). I then used the "merry" stamp from Joyful to complete the sentiment, inking it up once with black ink and stamping three times without inking it up in between. I then used a stamp from Mixed Media Elements to create some interest around the edge. I completed the grungy look by splattering some diluted black ink on the card front before matting it onto red or grey card and attaching to a white card base.

A few links to some other cards made using the same stamp set here and here.

I hope you have been inspired to create some Christmas cards of your own. If you want to add to your Christmas crafty stash, you can find Christmas stamps reduced over in the STAMPlorations store and there is even a giveaway!

I'm linking up my first deer card over at Crafty Card Challenge, Tales from the Craft Room, Shopping Our Stash (Happy 400th challenge!!) and Crafty Gals Corner. All of the challenges have a Christmas in July theme.  

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sketchy Yule Trees, Merry Little Christmas Typografia Christmas, Build A Snowman Typografia Christmas, Winter Chill, Jingle All the Way Typografia Christmas, Jingle Bells, Yuletide Deer, Mixed Media Elements 
Dies: Crazy Double Running Stitch Nested dies
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks and markers

STAMPlorations for Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

I'm excited and slightly high on caffeine - today I have the pleasure of joining STAMPlorations in the launch of the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop 2018. If you have played along with this blog hop before you know this is a massive event for all lovers of crafting and coffee, and if you haven't - hop over to have a look, I can guarantee you will be glad you did. You can find more coffeelicious inspiration from my fellow STAMPlorations designers on the STAMPlorations blog. There are plenty of prizes to win and a generous discount code for the STAMPloratons store too. As if that wasn't enough, you will also find the latest gorgeous STAMPlorations free digi which I have used for my second card!

For my first card I used the big coffee mug from Anywhere There's Coffee and embellished it with a bell from Jingle Bells, coloured with Copics and fussy cut. I used a panel from my box of leftovers, bits and bobs which I have at some point in the past created by smooshing neutral colours of Distress Oxides onto watercolour paper. I stamped part of the From Across the Miles Typografia Christmas sentiment in black Versamark and used a brush to cover the sentiment in copper Perfect Pearls for a subtle shine and added some Ranger Distress Stickels to the bell.

For my second card, I used the new STAMPlorations free digi. I used to think there was no way of watercolouring digis as that made the printer ink spread and become messy. But that was before I discovered clear gesso. Now I can print digis, cover the paper in a thin coat of clear gesso and watercolour to my heart's content. Works really well on colouring book pages too! I coloured the image with Gansai Tambi watercolours, stamped the sentiment in Black and then brushed Perfect Pears over the sentiment and over the whole image to give it a warm coppery sheen. I also added Perfect Pearls to the coffee mug to make it shimmer but it's a bit difficult to capture in the pictures.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Anywhere There's Coffee, Jingle Bells, From Across the Miles Typografia Christmas, STAMPlorations free digi

Dies: STAMPlorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies 

Card: Daler Rowney watercolour card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, 

Ink and colouring: Distress Oxides, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Gansai Tambi watercolours, 

Other: Ranger Ice Stickles, Copper Perfect Pearls, clear Gesso

Today is the last chance to use my code STAMPGIRLKAROLA to get 20% off products in the NEW RELEASE and 5x7 STAMP CLUB categories and to get a free metal die with your order from the STAMPlorations store. Offer is only good until November 30th, after which the offer code will still be valid for the discount but you will not be eligible for the free die.