STAMPlorations Inspiration - National Coffee Day

 

Happy Tuesday, aka STAMPlorations Inspiration post day. Today we have a special post as we are participating in the National Coffee Day hop hosted by the Coffee Loving Cardmarkers. As always, STAMPlorations is one of the supersponsors for the event. This time the hop is a bit different from waht you are used to if you usually play along - there is no linking up this time, just a hop to all the super sponsors. 

This year, STAMPlorations is giving away 2 prizes: a $20 gift code and  Zen Coffee 1 cover plate die. Winners will be drawn from all comments left on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post between September 29 and October 6. As an extra perk, select coffee themed products are 20% off in the STAMPlorations store BUT if you ALSO use my DT cupon code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout you get an EXTRA 20% off!! (note that if you use my code I will get a very small commission on the sales as I'm a STAMPlorations affiliate, but most importantly it will not be at any added cost to you).

For my card, I started by stencilling autumn colours through the Leaf Prints Mini stencil and splattered some ink on the card too for extra interest. Then I stamped, coloured and fussy cut the coffee cup and pot from What's Brewing, added them to the card and finished with a sentiment from the same set. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations What's Brewing

Stencil: ARTplorations Leaf Prints Mini

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

As mentioned above, select coffee-themed products will be 20% off from September 29 to October 6 in the STAMPlorations store. You can get an extra 20% off when you use my DT coupon code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. You also have a few more days to take advantage of the September offer 25% off clear stamps with code STAMP25 and 15% off stencils with code STENCIL15.

Coffee Mug for Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Have you already played along with the Spring/Summer 2020 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop? I have, but I feel this great event warrants at least another card. Also, this is a reminder that STAMPlorations is one of the super sponsors for the hop, and as usual, Shery is giving away extra prizes over on the STAMPlorations blog (and it's from the new CRAFTplorations product range so it's super exciting!) and there is a gorgeous free digi too.

A while ago, I created a bunch of panels by smooshing Distress Oxides, and decided to use some for this card. I started with a lovely pastel panel which I die cut with one of the beautiful, ornate dies from Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies and matted on black card. I then used another panel and die cut that with Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. I stamped the coffee cup from Bloomin' Coffee and You in grey on white card, added the Distress Oxide panel and coffee cup, and compelted the card with a fun sentiment from Coffee Happy.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy, Bloomin' Coffee and You
Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies
Ink and colouring: Distress Oxides, Distress Ink Hickory Smoke, Tsukineko Versamark


Don't forget the Coffee Lovers Sale in the STAMPlorations store.

 

Products in the COFFEE/TEA LOVERS section are 40% off with code COFFEE40.

Spring Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Today is the launch of the Spring/Summer 2020 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! As always, STAMPlorations is one of the sponsors of the event so along with the rest of the STAMPloratios Inspirations team we are sharing extra inspiration over on the STAMPlorations blog today. There are four STAMPlorations gift codes up for grabs over at Coffee Loving Card Makers as part of the main Blog Hop, but as usual, Shery is being very generous and there is an extra prize drawn from those leaving comments on the STAMPlorations blog post.

We also have another reason to celebrate over on the STAMPlorations blog as we have recently released two new coffee themed stamp set. You may have seen the release post earlier this week and here are two other projects I created with these fun new stamp set.

For my first card, I used the coffee stamp from Sweet Kindness which I stamped four times and coloured using Copics. I heat embossed sentiments from Coffee Happy in white on black card and added them to the card. 

For my second card I used the coffee cup from Bloomin' Coffee and You. I stamped it and coloured with Copics before fussy cutting the image. I die cut a background which I created with Distress Oxides using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, and added coffee beans using the Dots n' Beans stencil. Last, I added a sentiment from What's Brewing, matted everything on a piece of blue card which I attached to a card base decorated with Washi tape.

I hope you are inspired to create your own coffee themed projects!

  
Bloomin' Coffee and You | Sweet Kindness

Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy, What's Brewing

Stencil: ARTplorations Dots n' Beans

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

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

 

Products in the COFFEE/TEA LOVERS section are 40% off with code COFFEE40.

More Coffee Lovers Fall/Winter 2019 Blog hop

I'm having so much fun creating with my STAMPlorations for the Zen Coffee Cups Layering Dies for the Coffee Lovers Fall/Winter Blog Hop that I couldn't stop at the one project I made the other day. I chose another die and paper pieced it using Tim Holtz Distress card. I find it so incredibly meditative to pick up those tiny little pieces of card and put them together into beautiful projects. A good cup of coffee, a few biscuits, a nice podcast and me and my tweezers. Saturday morning bliss is what it is! This time I added a sentiment from Coffee Happy and used the Dots n' Beans stencil to create the background for my card.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy

Dies: CUTplorations Zen Coffee Cups Layering Dies

Stencil: ARTplorations Dots n' Beans

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Tsukineko Versamark

Coffee Lovers Fall/Winter Blog Hop 2019

Today is the start of the 2019 Coffee Lovers Fall/Winter Blog Hop and STAMPlorations is again one of the super sponsors! So we are celebrating over at STAMPlorations by sharing lots of {insert your favourite hot drink} themed projects, and if you know anything about STAMPlorations you will know there is most certainly going to be some extra prizes to win too!

I have recently had a coffee revelation. I changed the milk in my latte (yes, I'm one of those people who want my coffee with more milk than coffee) from the cow stuff to oat milk and that has made my coffees so much more enjoyable. As the tub of milk says - oh wow, no cow! 

For my coffee card, I started by die cutting the Zen Coffee Cups Layering Dies using watercolour paper and coloured the die-cut using Gansai Tambi watercolours in autumnal hues. I attached the mug onto a panel I cut using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and finished the card with a heat embossed sentiment from What's Brewing.

I'm linking up over at The Card Concept.

Stamps: STAMPlorations What's Brewing

Dies: CUTplorations Zen Coffee Cups Layering Dies, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink and colouring: Gansai Tambi Watercolours, Tsukineko Versamark

STAMPlorations November CAS Challenge - Brown

Happy November and welcome to the November STAMPlorations CAS challenge. This month our optional colour twist is Any Shade of Brown, which for me meant chocolate cake! I stamped the cake using Layered Cake Bake in Distress Ink and watercoloured with multiple shades of brown Distress Ink and added strawberry icing on top. I added the sentiment using the new  Everyday Sentiments dies. I die cut the sentiment in light brown card and inked darker browns around the edges of the die cuts. I love these new dies, as they are the perfect size for a card where you want to add a die-cut sentiment but don't want the sentiment to take centre stage. I have been looking for smaller sentiment dies which would be perfect for cards or smaller projects like tags and these are absolutely perfect! 

I'm linking up my card over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes this week.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Layered Cake Bake

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Gathered Twigs, Work Lipstick

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

Spring Coffee Blowout

Is there anything better than a hot cup of coffee? In the morning, while crafting, with a big piece of chocolate cake, or all of those three combined!

In honour of coffee and the STAMPlorations Coffee Stamps Blowout Sale which starts today, I created two cards using Sanna's gorgeous Dots n' Beans stencil as the centrepiece. I sprinkled Light and Dark Brown Brushos onto watercolour paper covered by the stencil and spritzed generously with water. I haven't had much success with this technique but after watching Loll's video I realised the secret is to remove the stencil quickly before the water starts seeping under the stencil. I then die cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and added a coffee cup and sentiment from What's Brewing. I'm linking up my card over at CAS Stencil where the theme is Powdered Inks.

For my second card, I used the monoprint from the stencil. I watercoloured the Nature Having Coffee stamp using Gansai Tambi watercolours, and added a sentiment from Literary Caffeine-ations along with some doodles. Inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches I also added some die cuts using Trendy Spring Bloom Dies.

If you got inspired to create some caffeinated creations of your own, you can use the code COFFEEBLOWOUT in the STAMPlorations store.

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.

ARTplorations Stencil Hop

Today I'm excited to be part of the STAMPlorations Stencil Hop revealing new stencils from the talented Sanna Lippert. I got my hands on two fun stencils - A Whale's Tale and Dots 'n Beans. I created a few projects with each, mainly using my Gelli plate which was super fun although I'm still learning how to use it. 

If you want to hop along with us, and of course have a change to win some great prizes, you can visit all the designer's blogs and leave comments for a chance to win one of 4 prizes. You will find a list of all participating designers in the STAMPlorations Stencil Hop post. You don't have to comment on all the blogs, but the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win one $20 gift certificate, one $10 gift certificate, and 2 winners will get their choice of three (3) Sanna Lippert Designs stencils. Commenting closes October 21 and winners will be announced on November 10 in the October Winners post.

I started by creating some prints using A Whale's Tale and Dots 'n Beans stencils and Distress Oxides with my new Gelli Plate. For my first card I stamped images from What's Brewing onto kraft card and coloured them with Polychromos pencils. I used the Stitched Tags Nesting Dies to die cut a tag from the stencil print and stamped the With Coffee typografia stamp. I finished with splattering Vintage Photo ink on the tag.

For my second coffee card I used the Gelli print for the panel in the background, inking Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges of the die cut panel. I stamped Framed Coffee Pot in Versafine and watercoloured with Distress Inks. I finished by adding a sentiment from Coffee Happy. 

I used one of the prints of A Whale's Tale and matted it onto black card. I drew the happy little whale as I didn't have any appropriate stamps to match the fish tail pattern and custom created a sentiment. And before you say anything, I know a whale is not a fish, but my artistic talents are limited and I didn't think I could manage an actual fish! I think he turned out quite cute, fish or not.

For my last project, I used a watercolour background and inked grey Distress Ink through the A Whale's Tale and outlined the fishtails in white gel pen. I stamped the ship from Born to Roam, coloured with Copics and fussy cut. I stamped a sentiment from the same set, splitting it up over multiple lines and fussy cutting the last word. 

You can find all of Sanna's inspiring stencils in the STAMPlorations shop. Also note that from October 8 to 21, all stencils are 15% off - no coupon needed. The discount is automatically applied in the shopping cart. And if you use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA you can get an extra 20% off, so this is a great time to do some stencil shopping.

Card: 250 gsm white and kraft card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm card, black 250 gsm card, scrap of red card
Ink and colouring: Distress Oxide, Distress Ink, Faber Castell Polychromos, Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Copics, 
Dies: ARTplorations A Whale's Tale, Dots 'n Beans
Stamps: STAMPlorations What's Brewing, With Coffee, Framed Coffee Pot, Coffee Happy, Born to Roam
Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, 
Other: Gelli plate, white gel pen

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.

Caffeine High

Today I'm showcasing a big bunch of coffee inspired cards and tags over on the STAMPlorations blog as part of a big discount on coffee themed products. Hop on over to see all of my cards over there!

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.

Coffee Is Always A Good Idea

Just a super quick post today as I'm extremely busy with the important task of binge watching Netflix and slouching on the sofa. Which I know is not good for my back, but my mind needed an evening off after doing all the meal prep for the week ahead, doing laundry and even cleaning the house a bit. In between trying to motivate myself to clean the house I made a quick little card inspired by the loveliest of drinks which I was sipping while creating. I was inspired by the colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. I was also inspired by the inspiration image over at Inspired By All The Little Things. I'm also linking up with Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Autumn.

Card: 300 gsm linen textured white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Leaves 2, Anywhere There's Coffee, Framed Coffee To Go
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Aged Mahogany
Other: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka and Let's Polka in the Meadow papers

Coffee Side by Side

A while ago I played along with the fabulous Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and was lucky enough to win one of the prizes from the generous sponsors. I have had very little time in the craft room, but I finally got a chance to play with one of my new sets. I love coffee so much, but it really doesn't agree with me as my hands start shaking a lot if I have more than one cup. So in the morning at work, I cherish my one cup and that's it. But it won't stop me from enjoying caffeine related crafting!

My inspiration for this card was the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches as well as the colours over at Color Throwdown. I have to admit I did take some liberties with the shape in the sketch to work with the shape of my stamp. I'm also linking up over at CASology where the Cue Card this week is Coffee. How convenient!

Card: 250 gsm white card

Stamps: Unity stamps Coffee Side by Side

Ink and Colouring: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Let's Polka and Let's Polka in the Dark patterned paper