ARTplorations New Release

Today I'm excited to have the chance to show you some projects I have created for the release of Helen's new stencils over on the STAMPlorations blog. Helen has created six new super fun stencils. I'm happy to join the other designers in the STAMPlorations Inspirations team to create projects using the new stencils. We are having a blog hop to celebrate Helen's new stencils and hope you will hop along with us. If you leave comments as you hop along, you will be entered in a draw to win some of Helen's new stencils! You have until April 8th to leave comments. You don't have to comment on all blog posts, but the more comments you leave, the more chances you will have to win.

For my first project, I used the Clouds stencil and inked using the edge of the stencil to create a sky in blues, pinks and purples. I stamped the balloons from Tweet Love, coloured them with matching Copics and fussy cut them. The sentiment is die-cut using Everyday Sentiments. 

For my second card I used the Petals2 stencil for creating a monoprint instead of applying ink through it. I used Distress Ink pads in Mustard Seed, Abandoned Coral and Peacock Feathers directly onto the stencil, misted it with water and pressed against watercolour paper. I die cut the monoprint and another piece of shimmering silver card using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. I then added some gorgeous mandala die cuts from Bloomdala Bliss: Felicity using the same grey shimmering card. Last, I heat embossed one of the lovely sentiments from Bloomdala Bliss in white onto black card and added a few clear adhesive gems for that little extra bling.

For my third card, I used the Brick Wall stencil to create my background. I used various shades of red and brown inks to create the brick wall, and splattered water onto the card for extra interest. Then I die cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. I stamped the beautiful florals from Softly and watercoloured them with Distress Inks. Last, I stamped one of the sentiments from Noteworthy 3 onto vellum. 

I hope you enjoyed the projects and are having fun hopping along with our blog hop!

Stencils: ARTplorations Helen G Designs Clouds, Petals2, Brick Wall

Stamps: STAMPlorations Tweet Love, Bloomdala Bliss, Softly

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments,  Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Bloomdala Bliss: Felicity

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

If you feel like doing a bit of shopping, you may want to check out the STAMPlorations Springtime Sale in the STAMPlorations store!

Products in the SPRINGTIME section are

20% off instantly until March 31

No code needed! Simply add qualifying products to your cart and the discount is automatically applied.

STAMPlorations November CAS Challenge - Reminder

How can it be mid-November? What happened? I am completely, 110%, sure the November challenge started maybe two or three days ago. Therefore I have to accept that someone has stolen at least a week from my November. Maybe instead of putting the clocks back one hour, someone forwarded a full week? 

Whatever the explanation is, I guess I better accept it's the 15th and therefore I'm happy to share my mid-month reminder and additional inspiration project for the STAMPlorations November CAS challenge. Our optional colour twist this month is brown and I used Sanna's gorgeous Barley stencil to create a fun one layer CAS card by inking Distress Inks through the stencil. I added a sentiment from Noteworthy 3.

I hope you feel inspired to play along with the challenge, you have until the end of the month to link up. You don't have to use STAMPlorations products, but if you have them we would love to see how you are inspired to use them. Don't forget to make it a CAS card!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Noteworthy 3

Stencil: ARTplorations Barley

Ink: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo

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

Fairy Tale Deer

I've been creating and crafting quite a bit this new year but I have mostly spent my creative time on my bullet journal and on knitting so I haven't had time to create too many cards. Today when I saw the first ever challenge over at CAS Stencil Challenge I thought this would be perfect chance to play with one of my NBUS stencils from the latest release of Sanna Lippert stencils in the ARTplorations range. I'm also linking up over at CASology where the theme is Fresh, and I interpreted this to be fresh spring colours (a girl can dream of spring, right?). Last, but not least I'm using my new stencil as an excuse to link up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Something New.

I was utterly enchanted by Sanna's Fairy Tale Forest stencil and could not think of a better image to combine it with than my current favourite stamp, the super-cute deer from STAMPlorations Woodland Friends. To keep everything CAS, I only inked through a corner of the stencil using foam applicators and green, blue and pink Distress ink. Before inking, I stamped the deer, masked it and coloured it with watercolours. Last, I stamped a sentiment from the same stamp set and added a few tiny little adhesive rhinestones.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Woodland Friends
Stencil: STAMPlorations Fairy Tale Forest 
Ink: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Gansai Tambi watercolours

If you feel like doing some New Year's crafty shopping, hop over to the STAMPlorations store where the New Year Storewide sale (exluding New Release products) is continuing until January 15th!

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.

Mother's Day Flower for Grandma

May is my favourite month. I know I'm a bit biased as my birthday is at the end of the month - but I still think it's the best month of the year. The garden is gorgeous, nature is in full bloom, the weather is turning nicer with promises of summer. And of course, the two bank holidays! I couldn't have asked for better weather for the first one of the two. We had our first BBQ of the year, first pitcher(s) of Pimms, lots of gardening, lots of ice cream, sunshine and unfortunately also the first slight sunburn of the year (don't forget to add that SPF).

I also managed to find a little sliver of time in the craft room while hiding from the midday sun to try to avoid further sunburn to create a Mother's day card for my grandma. I was inspired by the gorgeous inspiration image over at Daring Cardmakers - I was inspired by the large flower, the pink ombre, hand lettering and gold stars. I was also inspired by the beautiful floral image over at Inspired by All the Little Things and the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. Last but not least I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is ombre. 

I started by inking Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Abandoned Coral Distress Ink through the Peony Number Two ARTplorations stencil. I then splattered the card with water, and pink and yellow ink. I also inked a bit of Mowed Lawn ink around the edges of the card. I die cut three banners using a Lawn Fawn die and hand lettered the sentiment (it says Happy Mother's Day in Finnish). Last I die cut some stars from gold glitter paper for a finishing touch. 

Card: White card, scraps of rainbow card and glitter gold card

Ink: Mowed Lawn, Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Abandoned Coral Distress Ink

Stencil: ARTplorations Peony Number Two 

Other: Lawn Fawn Extra Sentiment Banners dies, dies from Stitched Journaling card and Critters ever after die sets

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop

Today there is a special treat over at the STAMPlorations blog as we are celebrating the annual ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop. This year we are showcasing the brand new gorgeous stencils from the talented Sanna Lippert of Papierstau. Please come and hop along with us, pretty much everyone on the STAMPlorations DT are featuring these gorgeous stencils today! And of course, there is a little something in it for you as well. You have the chance to win either a gift certificate to the STAMPlorations store or some of Sanna's yummy stencils. Prizes are randomly drawn from everyone commenting on the ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop and the participating designer's blog posts. The full list of participating designers can be found over at the ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop.

For my first card I wanted to let the super fun Evolution stencil shine as the star of the card, so I masked off a rectangle and inked Distress Inks in Twisted Citron, Mustard Seed, Abandoned Coral, Wilted Violet and Mermaid Lagoon. Then I stamped the sentiment from Noteworthy 2. I was going to leave it at that but inspired by the sentiment I doodled a frame around the image and added a few black pearls.

For my second card I die cut a piece of watercolour paper using the medium-sized Crazy Double Running Stitch Nesting die inked three shades of green Distress Ink (Pine Needles, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron) through the Christmas Tree 1 stencil, moving the stencil for every shade of green I used. I left the die on while I inked to create the white border around the edges. Then I sprinkled different green shades of Brushos onto a scrap piece of Watercolour card, spritzing with water from a Mini Mister. Then I die cut the shape using Christmas Icons - Christmas tree 1. I used the stencil to add some Christmas tree shapes to the die cut in Pine Needles ink, and added some adhesive pearls as decoration. Last, I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment from Homespun Christmas onto red card, cut a thin strip and added it to the card.

I'm linking up my Christmas card over at AAA Cards where the theme is Christmas and over at Daring Cardmakers where the theme is Trim the Tree.

I'm also linking up the card I made with the Evolution stencil over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where Anything Goes this week.

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

Stamps: STAMPlorations Homespun Christmas, Noteworthy 2

Stencils: ARTplorations Evolution, Christmas Tree 1

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Nesting die, Christmas Icons - Christmas tree 1

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Inks Abandoned Coral, Mermaid Lagoon, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron, Wilted Violet, Brushos

Other: Adhesive pearls 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 the Shoe Fits

Just a quick post today to play along with this week's challenge over at Shopping Our Stash where the theme is "If the Shoe Fits". I just had to play along as I love shoes - although sadly getting old doesn't really seem to go with high heels - and I also love the stamp set A Girl and Her Shoes from the super talented Shery of STAMPlorations. And I really love Distress Inks too, so I inked up a really colourful background and splattered with water through the Oh My Stars! stencil, and then just for fun I splattered some more all over. I stamped the gorgeous shoes and coloured them using Copics to look exactly like my dream shoes. After fussy cutting, I covered them in Glossy Accents for that patent leather shine. Last, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set.

Card: 300 gsm white card, Neenah Solar White card
Stamps: STAMPlorations A Girl and Her Shoes
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral, Festive Berries, Aged Mahogany, Copics, Signo White Gel pen
Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, Glossy Accents, ARTplorations Oh My Stars! stencil

More Summer Coffee

I just received a new batch of STAMPlorations goodies, including the awesome It's a Brew-tiful Day phrase die. So with the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop still going, I couldn't help myself, I had to take the die for a spin. 

I started by stamping the Framed Coffee to Go in Versamark and heat embossed in copper. Then I used the small dies from the Trendy Spring Blooms Dies set on some scrap pieces of rainbow card I created using Distress Oxides for another project. I cut the flowers to fit the coffee cup. I used the same scrap rainbow pieces to cut out the sentiment. I created a rainbow background by inking with Distress Oxides through the Dots All Over stencil. 

I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Stencil It and Make My Monday where the theme is Summer Brights. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, 350 gsm Daler & Rowney watercolour card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Framed Coffee to Go

Dies: CUTplorations Trendy Spring Blooms Dies, It's a Brew-tiful Day phrase die

Stencil: ARTplorations Dots All Over

Inks: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Oxides 

Other: Papermania Copper embossing powder

Don't forget the STAMPlorations 4th Birthday Hop and Wishlist Linky Party is in full swing with lots of opportunities to win great prizes. Also, don't forget you can get 20% off when shopping at the STAMPlorations store by using the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. Together with the 15% birthday discount (which is applied automatically without any code) that adds up to a whopping 35% off your order!

Soft Colours

Just popping in for a super-quick post today, it's already way past my bed time but I really wanted to share this card. In fact, I had a bit of a problem with sharing this card as I made it on Monday evening, but as it's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home I had no idea how I would manage to get a photo in daylight. In the end my only solution was to take the card to work and snap a pic using my phone. So apologies for the quality of the pic.

The reason I really wanted to share the card is that I absolutely loved the inspiration image over at Inspired by All the Little Things, and I absolutely loved getting out a few ARTplorations stencils and my soft colour Distress inks to create the card (and by the way, if you go inspired to order these stencils, or anything else from STAMPlorations, you can get 20% off by using my offer code STAMPGIRLKAROLA, more details at the end of the post). The gorgeous Peony Number Two stencil is definitely becoming one of my absolute favourite stencils (and this coming from a crafter who had no idea how to use stencils a year ago!!). I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where Anything Goes this week and the Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge where the optional twist is stencil. 

Card: 250 gsm white card, scrap of Milled Lavender card
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Antique Linen, Milled Lavender and Spun Sugar
Stencils: ARTplorations Peony Number Two and Dots All Over
Dies: CUTplorations Celebrate word die
Other: Pink adhesive rhinestones 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!

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop

 

Today I'm am thrilled to be part of the ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop. We are getting together with a bunch of the STAMPlorations girls to celebrate Shery's amazingly beautiful ARTplorations stencils. You can find the main blog hop post over on the STAMPlorations blog. There will be stencil inspiration over on the blog for a whole week and the fun starts today.

To be honest, I didn't use to craft very much with stencils, I could never really get my head around what to do with them. However, this all changed after I found the ARTplorations stencils and the incredible inspiration over on the STAMPlorations blog. These days I love to grab a stencil from time to time and create some beautiful patterns. Often I use them for backgrounds, but today I decided to make them the star of the show. I used one of the new ARTplorations stencils called Circular One, which creates the most stunning pattern. I thought creating a rainbow coloured pattern using Distress Inks would look striking against a black and white version of the same stencil. I also used CUTplorations dies for my card - the largest one of the Luggage Tag Nesting Dies for the tag, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle dies for the background and Amazing Word die for the sentiment. 

Card: 250 gsm white card

Stencil: ARTplorations Circular One

Stamps: STAMPlorations Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic

Ink: Distress Inks Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Abandoned Coral, Broken China, Wilted Violet, Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron, Black Soot, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Dies: Luggage Tag Nesting Dies, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle dies, Amazing Word die

Other: Glossy Accents

November STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Mid-month inspiration

Welcome to our mid-month inspiration post for the STAMPlorations CAS challenge. The DT has a bunch of fantastic projects to inspire you and to remind you that there is still plenty of time to link up to our November CAS challenge, where the optional colour twist this month is purple. What a perfect opportunity to get some Christmas cards done in a non-traditional colour. I've gone for a lot of non-traditional colours on my Christmas cards this year just to change it up a bit. And of course get a chance to win some great prized from STAMPlorations as well!

For my card, I started with die cutting a rectangle using the fun wonky stitched Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting die from CUTplorations from watercolour card. Then I attached the deer stencil from Christmas Reindeer using glue dots which I had made a bit less sticky by pressing them between my fingers for a while. Next, I used a spoon to sprinkle purple, violet and blue Brushos on the card, and sprayed with water from a spritzer. The key is to make sure you sprinkle very lightly with the Brushos if you want the speckled look. After letting the watercolours dry, I carefully removed the stencil and die cut the sentiment from a scrap of turquoise card and attached everything onto a purple card base. Quick and easy, and I just love that speckled Brusho look. I'm linking up with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Christmas Critters.

Card: Daler&Rowney 300 gsm watercolour card, purple card from my stash, scrap of turquoise card from my stash

Colouring: Brushos (violet, purple and blue)

Stencil: ARTplorations Christmas Reindeer

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting die, Merry Christmas phrase die