STAMPlorations Inspiration

 

And so we are here - it's almost Christmas! December has flown by, hasn't it? We are all facing a different and weird Christmas this year given the (sometimes rather last-minute) lockdowns we face. I hope whatever you do for Christmas you stay safe, wash your hands, keep a distance and all that. If you decided to not see family this Christmas to keep safe, I send you big hugs. And as always if you are one of the heroes keeping us safe or alive over the holidays, you have my big thanks for sacrificing your time for the benefit of us all.

This year I gave almost exclusively home-made presents (if you follow me on Instagram you will know I'm an avid knitter and struggling crocheter). Socks, hats, hand warmers, even a few crocheted blankets (never again, I'll tell you!). And this year all of my gifts had hand-made tags on them (probably a first!) as I was inspired by my exceedingly talented DT colleague Deepti of Dees Art Utopia and her amazing use of stencils and Distress Inks/Oxides. I tried (poorly) to imitate her genius and you already saw a batch of my tags last week and here are some more for this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post. Don't forget to leave a comment on the post to be entered into a monthly draw for a $15 prize code.

For my tags, I started by inking tags using Distress Inks and Distress Oxides and cutting the tags using Stitched Tags Nesting Dies. I then used various STAMPlortions stencils (there are so many amazing stencils to choose from!) and either sprayed them with water to make impressions of the stencil in the ink or inked through the stencil in the same colour as my background tag to make a subtle stencil pattern on the background of the tags. After letting the tags dry thoroughly, I stamped the wreath from Joyful in Versamark and heat embossed in gold. Last, I die cut a sentiment using Christmas Sentiments Phrase Dies in shimmery card. I think these turned out quite nice!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful

Stencils: ARTplorations All Swirls Slimline Stencil, Burst Slimline Stencil, Flair Slimline Stencil, 

Placid Stencil

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments Phrase Dies, Stitched Tags Nesting Dies

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Oxides, Tsukineko Versafine

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. And if you use my code you also get to pick a freebie to the value of $7 (for details see the badge below).

Note that as a STAMPlorations affiliate, I get a small commission on any orders you place in the STAMPlorations store using the links in my blog post or my coupon code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. This is at no added cost to you. Thank you for your support to keep my craft addiction going :) 

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Hi, how are you this fine Tuesday? I'm ok, excited about the upcoming holidays. I'm taking a bit of time away from work over the second half of December and I'm really looking forward to it after this ****show of a year.

As we can't have a Christmas party at work this year, we have been invited to take part in various online organised activities - there is a choice of 12 different activities, of which we can pick 2. I did mine last week, I did a wreath making session (we were sent a beautiful kit with wreath making supplies and then given an instructional Zoom session where we assembled our wreaths) and I also did cocktails and quiz where we were sent supplies to make our own cocktails and then we all had to prepare questions for the Christmas quiz. That was fun! Have you had any fun socially distanced Christmas activities?

For today's crafty activities, I continued to expand my Christmas tag stash to share with you as part of today's STAMPlorations Inspiration post. Don't forget to leave a comment on the STAMPlorations post for a chance to win a $15 prize code. I have been so inspired by all the beautiful inked backgrounds created by my DT teamie Deepti. She is amazing! so I took a stab at creating some inked and stencilled backgrounds too. 

I started by smooshing various colours of distress ink onto white card. That's always super fun and messy, my fingers looked like a rainbow! After the ink had dried well, I used the Stitched Tags Nesting Dies to cut my tags. Next, I took out a few of my STAMPlorations stencils and inked through them in a completely non-planned and random fashion on the tags. I used  All Swirls Slimline Stencil, Flair Slimline Stencil, 

Trees Slimline Stencil, Dots All Over Stencil and Honeycomb Delight Mini Stencil. I used my anti-static tool on the tags and then stamped the Yuletide Deer and heat embossed in dark grey. Last, I heat embossed sentiments from Joy in white on black card and added these to the tags. A bit more mixed media than I usually do, but fun none the less and the end product turned out quite ok. I can't wait to add these to my Christmas presents!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Yuletide Deer, Joy, 

Stencils: ARTplorations All Swirls Slimline Stencil, Flair Slimline Stencil, Trees Slimline Stencil, Dots All Over Stencil, Honeycomb Delight Mini Stencil

Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine, Tim Holtz Distress Oxides and inks
 

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. And if you use my code you also get to pick a freebie to the value of $7 (for details see the badge below).

Note that as a STAMPlorations affiliate, I get a small commission on any orders you place in the STAMPlorations store using the links in my blog post or my coupon code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. This is at no added cost to you. Thank you for your support to keep my craft addiction going :) 

STAMPlorations Inspiration

 

Welcome to this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post. I have entered November with hardly any Christmas cards made (I can hear you gasping all the way here...). I'm proud to say I have finished most of my (mainly knitted or crocheted) Christmas presents but cards... not so much this year. Last year was the total opposite - lots of cards, but hardly any presents. Luckily I have made a few cards during the year, but I think from now until Christmas, all my Inspiration projects will be Christmas themed to bulk up the Christmas card stash. 

I thought I would do something a bit different from my usual Christmas card by creating a slimline card. I started by inking brown and red Distress Ink through the Flair Slimline Stencil, I really love this stencil, it's super versatile and will adapt to so many different designs depending on colours and other elements. Here I combined it with the wreath from Joyful and the deer from Yuletide Deer, both heat embossed in copper on kraft card and coloured with Distress ink. Last, I attached a sentiment from Simple Christmas Clear Stickers. I think it turned out quite nice with a rustic feel.

As always, don't forget that by commenting on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post you are entering into a monthly draw for a $15 prize code. And there are so many offers in the STAMPlorations store at the moment, check below for info, including a code which, in addition to a discount will also give you a freebie! 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Yuletide Deer, Joyful

Stencil: ARTplorations Flair Slimline Stencil

Other: Simple Christmas Clear Stickers

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Vintage Photo and Festive Berry, Tsukineko Versamark

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. And if you use my code you also get to pick a freebie to the value of $7 (for details see the badge below).

Note that as a STAMPlorations affiliate, I get a small commission on any orders you place in the STAMPlorations store using the links in my blog post or my coupon code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. This is at no added cost to you. Thank you for your support to keep my craft addiction going :) 

This month there are oodles of discounts, for which you can find codes here, including 30% off word/phrase dies, 25% off square stencils and 40% off clear stickers. There is also a Christmas Special Sale and Coffee Lovers Sale.

STAMPlorations Belated Birthday Party Day 3

 

Happy Wednesday! Welcome to day three of the STAMPlorations Belated 7th Birthday Celebration. If you have been following along this week, you already know that we are showcasing new STAMPlorations products and there are lots of prizes up for grabs, you can find more details over on the  STAMPlorations Belated 7th Birthday Celebration blog post.

For today's card, I'm trying out the new Flexi Templates - these are a completely new product designed by the amazing Monika Skinner. There are so many fun ways of using these templates, and Monika has already showcased several ways over on the STAMPloraitons blog. I used them to mask off a part of the new Burst Slimline Stencil to create an oval focal point for my card. I masked off my card using the Oval Flexi Template, and placed the Burst Slimline Stencil on top, and inked a rainbow of Distress inks through the stencil and Flexi template. I stamped the crystals from Sparkly, coloured them with Copics and fussy cut them. The sentiment is from the new Bloomfully: Sparkle stamp set. I added three sequins for a bit of bling as I figured you can never go wrong with a bit of bling!

Note that all products (including the new release products) in the STAMPlorations store are 10% off instantly throughout October. BUT you can get an additional 20% off by using my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. If you use my discount code you will also receive the Just Plaid square stencil FOR FREE (see image below)!

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 as a STAMPlorations affiliate, I get a small commission on any orders you place in the STAMPlorations store using the links in my blog post or my coupon code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. This is at no added cost to you. Thank you for your support to keep my craft addiction going :) 

Products used

Stamps: STAMPlorations Bloomfully: Sparkle, Sparkly

Stencils: ARTplorations Burst Slimline Stencil, Oval Flexi Template

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

STAMPlorations October CAS Challenge Reminder

Hi CAS crafters! I'm here to tell you it's now mid-October. And yes, you know what that means, right? We are midway through the STAMPlorations October CAS challenge. And that, of course, means you still have a few more weeks to join in on our October CAS fun! 

For my card, I used one of the new fabulous Slimline Stencils called Trees and inked it with Hickory Smoke and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks. I then stamped some of the cute critters from Woodland Friends on white card, coloured them with Copics and fussy cut. Last, I added a sentiment from the same stamp set.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Woodland Friends

Stencil: ARTplorations Trees Slimline Stencil

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Hickory Smoke and Spiced Marmalade, Copics

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. This excludes some of the promotions, which specifically mention that additional discounts are not applicable.

Note that as a STAMPlorations affiliate, I get a small commission on any orders you place in the STAMPlorations store using the links in my blog post or my coupon code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. This is at no added cost to you. Thank you for your support to keep my craft addiction going :)

Don't forget to check out the sitewide sale in the STAMPlorations store for the month of October, and don't forget to use my code  STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout for an extra discount!