STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop Day 3

The STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop Celebrations continue for a third day and the inspiration shared by everyone has been fantastic. I'm so honoured to be part of this fantastically talented group of crafters who have come together to celebrate three years of STAMPlorations and the wonderful work of our dear Shery.

It wouldn't be a birthday party without prizes to win, and there are plenty of those! All prizes are randomly drawn and there will be prizes for commenting on the STAMPlorations blog and design team's blogs, prizes for liking, commenting, sharing and tagging a friend on the STAMPlorations Facebook page post and prizes for creating and linking up a party/celebration/birthday project based on the mood board below. For more info see the STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop post.

For today's card I played with my latest purchase, Brushos. They are watercolour crystals which are very highly pigmented and so much fun to play with. For my card, I started by die cutting a circular opening in a sheet of scrap paper. I then placed the ARTplorations Old Rose Prints stencil on top of the circular mask and spritzed water through the stencil using a mini mister. Then I tapped some Crimson Brusho crystals  onto the card through the stencil, and spritzed some more water. I removed both the ARTplorations stencil and the round mask and left to air dry. Last, I stamped the sentiment and the little confetti using the STAMPlorations Balloons And Banners stamps. 

Card: 300 gsm watercolour paper

Ink: Brushos (Crimson), Memento Tuxedo Black

Stencil: ARTplorations Old Rose Prints
Stamps: STAMPlorations Balloons And Banners

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Fun with stencils

Just a quick post before the Culinary Consultant drags me off to the movies. I have been totally and utterly consumed by my job for the last... well... three months or so. Basically ever since I changed jobs. Anyhow, that has meant that the poor Culinary Consultant has been the sole cook, house-keeper and general life manager in the Invisible Pink House for quite a while. So when he wanted to see a movie I had no interest in, I was inclined to decline, but then I realised I really need to be a good girlfriend and actually do something he wants to do for a change, he is more than deserving. Not once has he complained about my newfound work-o-holicism. So off to the movies we go, but before that a quick card.

Today's card is inspired by the sketch over at The Challenge as well as the colours over at Color Throwdown. I was also inspired by the image over at Daring Cardmakers, more specifically about the deep pink/purplish flowers and the gold tray, and the watercolour splatters on my card were inspired by that fantastically awesome spotted chair. I didn't have very much time in the craft room, so today's card really is a super-simple one. I started by die cutting using a stitched rectangle die. I then inked using foam pads through the STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil. I made a mask for the rose, and then moved the stencil to make the roses look like they were overlapping to match the sketch. I started by inking a bit in the middle in Seedless Preserves, then working around that in Picked Raspberry and last doing the outer petals in Spun Sugar. I splattered some ink in the same colours on the other half of the card and die cut the sentiment from gold mirri card. Cards cannot get any simpler than this, I tell you! Too bad it will still be several weeks, if not months before it's light enough for me to manage a photo of my after-work crafting in daylight, so a horribly bad flash photo will have to do, sadly. I love the colours on the card, and they are much prettier in real life, I promise you.

Card: 300 gsm white textured card, gold mirri card

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves and Spun Sugar

Stencil: STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil 

Other: Lawn Fawn Scripty Hello and Stitched Rectangle dies

February STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Anything Goes with Red

It's the first Thursday of the month, and you all know what that means, don't you? It means there is a new challenge over at the STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog. Thank you to everyone who played along with the first ever CAS challenge, there were so many amazingly gorgeous cards. 

Our CAS challenge is always Anything Goes, but every month there is an optional colour twist which this month is Red (perfect for all those Valentine's day cards, right?). You don't have to use STAMPlorations products to play along, but if you have them we would love to see them. And the best bit, every month a random winner will receive a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations shop, ($15 gift card if using STAMPlorations products).

For my February card, I wanted to create a Valentine's day card for a friend. I created a stunning background very easily by sponging Tim Holtz Distress Inks through the STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil. I used darker red in the middle of the roses, and lighter pinks around the edges. For the central vellum panel, I stamped the beautiful rose from the Blossom Overture stamp set and a sentiment from the Bloom Sketches stamp set in Versamark, and then heat embossed both in white powder. I coloured the rose on the reverse side of the vellum using bright red and green Copics giving it that stained glass look. Then I used special micro glue dots designed for adhering vellum to attach the smaller panel in an invisible way to the background.  

You can find more inspiration from the talented DT over on the STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog. And then it's over to you to show us what you have created, you have until the last day of the month to link up, and it's up to three entries per person.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes with a twist of valentine
Naughty or Nice Challenges - See red
Dream Valley Challenges - Valentine's day
Unicorn Challenge - Lots of Love 
Crafting By Design - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything goes with twist of romance/love

Card: White 250 gsm card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture and Bloom Sketches
Stencils: STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Festive Berries, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Tsukineko Versamark
Colouring: Copics R29, R89, YG13, YG17
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.