Cupcake Inspiration Challenge 400th Challenge Celebration

I'm so excited to be part of the celebrations for the 400th challenge post over at Cupcake Inspiration Challenge. Huge congratulations to the CIC team for reaching this impressive milestone and thank you for the inspiration from the talented DT every week. I love the fun inspiration images, and try to play along when I get a chance. 

STAMPlorations are one of the prize sponsors for this great celebration, and therefore the STAMPlorations DT got the great chance to play along and show you our cards in the hopes of inspiring you to play along too. If this post inspired you to shop over at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA for 20% off at checkout (for more info see end of this post).

For the challenge, you can pick any of the previous CIC prompts for your inspiration (by the way you can find the inspiration images very conveniently on Pinterest here). I decided to go with CIC #307 - Spring. I was inspired by pretty much all the elements in the image - the beautiful pink-white-purple-light blue colour scheme, the flowers and the dragonfly. In fact, the dragonfly was a big part of why I was so inspired by this image as I only just got my hands on the new CUTplorations Dragonfly Layering Dies and couldn't wait to get to play with it!

I started by painting a background for my card using Gansai Tambi watercolours, drying between some of the layers and splattering on more colour. Then I added gesso through ARTplorations Happy Flowers stencil. Every time I get out my tube of gesso I feel like I'm entitled to call my card mixed media. Then I die cut the dragonfly using the Dragonfly Layering Dies. I also die cut the sentiment using the new Hello Sunshine phrase die. I absolutely love this sentiment die, it's perfect at this time of year as a reminder that spring is just around the corner and there is already hope of sunshine from time to time even on this rainy island! I used my Wink of Stella glitter pen to add some shimmer to the sentiment and the dragonfly, and before attaching the die cuts I splattered some more purple and pink watercolour onto the card for some extra interest. 

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper, scraps of Stampin' Up Wisteria Wonder and Soft Sky
Dies: CUTplorations Dragonfly Layering Dies, Hello Sunshine phrase die
Stencil: ARTplorations Happy Flowers
Other: Gesso, Gansai Tambi Watercolours, Wink of Stella 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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

I'm super excited to be part of Spring Coffee Lover's blog hop. STAMPlorations is one of the super sponsors of the hop and we got together with a bunch of ladies from the STAMPlorations DT to have some crafty fun with the gorgeous new STAMPlorations coffee themed stamps and dies. What a gallery of gorgeous spring inspiration! And as usual there will be lots of prizes to be won as well so don't be a stranger and make sure you play along. You can easily find all the Coffee/Tea themed products in the STAMPlorations shop under the Coffee/Tea Lovers category. And don't forget you will get 20% off at checkout if using the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA.

I love coffee. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm sipping a latte which one of my colleagues treated me to. A nice cup of coffee just makes life so much nicer, doesn't it? Or maybe even a cup of hot chocolate from time to time, if you feel really decadent... For my spring themed coffee projects I had the pleasure of playing with the most fantastic Bloomin' Spring Coffee Basket designed by the talented Shery herself. Shery, it's like you painted a picture straight out of my dreams - coffee and donuts. I just can't control myself around donuts, I could eat them all day every day! 

I started by stamping the beautiful spring basket onto watercolour card using Versafine Onyx black ink and coloured the image and the sun halo around it with Gansai Tambi watercolours. I die cut the sentiment twice using the new Hello Sunshine phrase die which I absolutely adore. It inspired the colour choices for my card. I created a matching bookmark using the Coffee Donut Row Border stamp on a tag I die cut from watercolour card using one of the Luggage Tags Nesting dies at the top. I added a ribbon from my stash to keep with the sunny yellow colour scheme. Now it's your turn to show us your beautiful coffee and spring inspired creations!

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour card, scraps of dark brown and yellow card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Bloomin' Spring Coffee Basket, Coffee Donut Row Border
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Gansai Tambi watercolours
Dies: CUTplorations Hello Sunshine Phrase Die, Luggage Tags Nesting Dies
Other: Ribbon from my stash

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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

Penguins In The Snowy Night

This weekend I just withdrew into the craft room. It's my place of safety, comfort and re-charging the batteries. It's been a tough week, and quite a rollercoaster weekend. But when I surround myself with my stamps, dies and inks I feel like none of the bad stuff can touch me. I love how I can completely lose myself in the crafting for hours at a time. 

I love starting my crafty session with a browse of the the current challenges. This time I absorbed inspiration from the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches as well as the gorgeous inspiration image over at Inspired By All the Small Things. I'm also linking up over at House of Cards where the challenge this month is Create a Scene and Just Add Ink where the theme is Just Add L (I used L for Layers, I hardly ever do add as many layers as I have here.)

I started by creating the starry night sky using smooshing. I started by inking up my craft mat with yellow and green Tim Holtz Inks, spraying and smooshing my watercolour paper. Then I started building dark blue and black, adding some layers of yellow and green again from time to time, and drying between some of the layers. When I had reached the look I like, I dried the background completely and splattered with white acrylic paint. As I thought the sky actually looked more like a snowy than a starry sky I thought I would go down the winter scene route although the weekend has felt very much like spring.

While the acrylic paint was drying I stamped, coloured and die cut the penguins and built the little scene. I then die cut the background papers and adhered everything in place. I added some gold Wink of Stella to some of the yellow bits in the sky, but it doesn't show in the picture. In real life it adds a nice little sparkle to some parts of the night sky. Last, I added some more white splatters with my gel pen, as the Picket Fence splatters dried quite faint in some parts of the sky. I love how the smooching technique just turns out so random, and you never know what you will get.

Card: 250 gsm white card, 190 gsm watercolour paper

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress inks Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Tim Holtz Distress Paint Picket Fence

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Snow Cool and matching dies

Paper: Stampin' Up Christmas 2013 paper (sorry, can't remember the name), Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched Borders dies, Stitched Hillside Border dies, Signo white Gel Pen

March STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Mid-Month Inspiration

As usual the weeks have just flown by and we are already in mid-March. So we are popping in with a mid-month inspiration post from the fantastic STAMPlorations CAS team to hopefully inspire you to create something sky blue for our March CAS challenge.

We just came back from a week's skiing holiday and when we got home, it felt like spring. The daffodils are in full bloom as is the apricot tree. So I thought it would be perfect timing to get out the Framed Solitary Daffodil which I stamped using Versafine onto watercolour card and painted with Gansai Tambi watercolours. I die cut the first part of the sentiment using the Happy Word Die and stamped and fussy cut the word Easter using Sketchy Alphabet. Before adhering everything in place, I splattered some watercolours on a white card base to create some interest in the background as well. I really like how the colour combo turned out, I particularly love that stunning vibrant green in the Gansai Tambi palette.

Card: 250 gsm white smooth card, scrap of yellow card, scrap of blue card, 300 gsm Daler&Rowney Watercolour paper

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Gansai Tambi watercolours

Stamps: STAMPlorations Framed Solitary Daffodil, Sketchy Alphabet

Dies: CUTplorations Happy Word Die

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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

Second Brusho Rainbow Card

If you saw my last post here you know I've been playing with stencils and Brushos. For my first card, I sprinkled Brushos through the Retro Circles stencil. But after creating that card, I had a stencil which was gorgeously rainbow-coloured and I didn't want all that gorgeous colour to go to waste, so I smooshed it against several pieces of watercolour paper to create different rainbow coloured pieces of card. I picked my favourite of these for the background of this card. I just love the random splotchiness and how the colours have blended. I used the largest Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die to cut my favourite part of the background and mounted it onto black card to really make the colours pop. I then die cut the sentiment using Happy Word die from another panel of watercolour paper I smooshed the stencil onto. I used much more water on that card before pressing the stencil against it, so the colours spread out and don't show the stencil outlines at all, but I thought the colours were still really pretty so I wanted to make some use of that as well. I also die cut the same word in back and layered them before adding as much shimmer as I could get out of my Wink of Stella pen. To finish the card, I stamped and heat embossed the second part of the sentiment using a stamp from Balloons And Banners. I adhered a few white sequins for a finishing touch. 

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

Just Us Girls - Use a Stencil 

Inspired By All The Little Things - inspiration image

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Bit O'Green

Card: 190 gsm watercolour card, Stampin' Up Black card

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Brushos

Stamps: STAMPlorations Balloons And Banners

Stencil: ARTplorations Retro Circles

Dies: CUTplorations Happy Word die, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die

Other: Wink of Stella, Papermania Seafoam White 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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

Rainbow Brushos Round One

Hello all you lovely crafters (and non-crafters, hi Mom!!!) When you read this I am enjoying an amazing time skiing the Grandvalira in Andorra. So far we have enjoyed amazing snow and sunshine but also high winds and a bit of rain. The Culinary Consultant is working really hard to pick up this whole skiing malarkey and although I'm a very good skier I have no idea how to teach him as I've been skiing since I was a kid. It's hard to tell someone what to do if you only do it out of muscle memory.

What I can do is tell you how I made this colourful rainbow card. If you follow my blog you know rainbow is my favourite colour and I tend to go back to it over and over again. For this card I simply used some washi tape to attach the STAMPlorations Retro Circles stencil to some watercolour card, sprinkled it with Brushos and spritzed it with water. I'll show you in another post what I did with the stencil which was totally covered in those beautiful Brushos. Then all I did was stamp the first part of the sentiment with STAMPlorations Hashtag authenthic and die cut the Amazing from a scrap of black card adding some Crystal Effects to add that gorgeous glossy shine.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - For a Special Lady
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Make Your Own Background
Make My Monday - Colours Of The Rainbow

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper, scrap of black card

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Brushos

Stamps: STAMPlorations Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic

Stencil: ARTplorations Retro Circles

Dies: CUTplorations Amazing Word die

Other: Stampin' Up Crystal Effects, sequins from my stash

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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

March STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Anything Goes With Sky Blue

It's March. Where did February go? Is it just me? Didn't we just fall asleep on the sofa at 11 pm on New Year's eve? I need to get onboard with the whole "accepting things you cannot change". Anyhow, I hope you have been crafting your way through 2017 so far? The pink gallery for our February challenge was aaah-maaa-zing! Thank you so much for all the inspiration.

Our March optional colour twist for the STAMPlorations CAS challenge is Sky Blue, can't see what you create with that colour! And don't forget, STAMPlorations products are optional but if you have them we always love to see how you use them. The only rule is to make your card CAS. And to add the below challenge graphic to your post, linking back to the main CAS post on STAMPlorations. And the prizes are a $10 gift card for the winner and a $5 gift card to the top picks. And don't forget you can always use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout to receive a respectable 20% of your shopping in the STAMPlorations store.

For my card, I started by using my most favourite ever stencil - Two Feathers and inked it using three shades of blue Distress ink and a foam applicator. I then used a piece from my UFO (UnFinished Objects) box, a card background I created using blue Distress paints or watercolours (I can't remember) and stamped two feathers from Trendy Feathers 2  in Versamark and heat embossed in silver. I fussy cut the feathers and adhered to to the background, finishing the card with a sentiment from the same stamp set in black. I love the "You're on my mind" sentiment as it would work for many different situations. 

Card: 250 gsm white smooth card, 160 gsm watercolour card

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2 

Stencil: ARTplorations Two Feathers

Other: Papermania Silver 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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

Time Out 3 Year Celebration

I'm super excited to be part of this special post to celebrate the Time Out Challenge 3rd birthday. Happy Birthday Time Out, here's to many more! I love playing along with Time Out and would like to thank the amazing DT for their amazing inspiration and fun challenges. As Shery of STAMPlorations fame is on the Time Out DT, STAMPlorations is one of the sponsors of this special Time Out Challenge and therefore we are also celebrating over at the STAMPlorations blog. 

The theme for the new challenge over at Time Out is Love/Friendship with the optional twist of spotlight stamping. This means that you choose to only colour in a specific part of your stamped image. I went a slightly different direction but still with the same theme and stamped a lot of the yummy donuts from my favourite ever STAMPlorations stamp set called Sugar Rush, and then only coloured in one of pair of donuts to highlight them. I then added some Wink of Stella glitter to the donut glaze, it doesn't show very well in the main image but I tried to show the subtle shimmer in the spotlight image below. As a finishing touch I added a rain of pink sequins to the top of the card. 

Don't forget to hop over to Time Out to take part in this birthday challenge with lots of prizes, and to also visit STAMPlorations as there will be extra prizes to be won there. Now if you excuse me, I might just have to nip off to the shops to get me a donut as I suddenly had a craving for them... If you got a craving for STAMPlorations products, don't forget you will get 20% off if you use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout (more info at the end of the post). 

Card: 200 gsm white card, scrap of pink card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sugar Rush

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Other: Wink Of Stella glitter pen, small sequins from my stash

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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!