STAMPlorations 5th Birthday

I am so happy to be able to celebrate the success of STAMPlorations with you today with a post on the STAMPlorations main blog. As you may already have seen on the STAMPlorations blog, for the duration of June, the STAMPlorations DT are showcasing our favourite cards in honour of STAMPloration's 5th Birthday. I want to take this opportunity to wish Shery and David happy STAMPiversary and wishes of many more. 

The chance to be part of Shery's STAMPfamily is an honour and a privilege. She is the most creative lady out there, and in addition, she is the most generous and hardworking as well. I feel so happy to have been able to be a part of the STAMPlorations team for a few years now, and every time I am blown away by the gorgeous new products. I keep using the stamps, dies and stencils over and over again, still going back to the old ones as well as loving to explore the new releases, many of which I'm sure will become classics in their own right.

So today I have the honour of showcasing my favourite three cards I have created while designing for STAMPlorations. It's probably not a surprise that they are all rainbow coloured... It was not easy to narrow it down to three, it's like picking your favourite child. I have also created a new card to wish STAMPlorations Happy Birthday using  Bloomtangled #1 Cover Plate Die, which you can see at the beginning of the post. I love, love, love paper piecing these dies. Nothing says bliss like an early morning big cup of coffee, a pair of tweezers, some glue and a gazillion die cut pieces!

CAS sweetness using Sugar Rush and Copics

Birthday party using Balloons and Banners and no-line
watercolouring with Distress Inks

A thing with wings using the gorgeous Flutter Zen 2 Layering dies,
Dots All Over Stencil, a sentiment from Noteworthy 2
and Ink blending with Distress Inks.

I also made another card inspired by my first one. The Bloomtangled Cover Plate dies are designs from the Bloomtangled Colouring Book so I thought I would take the same design from the colouring book. I covered the page in clear Gesso and then coloured it with Gansai Tambi watercolours. I die cut the page and used the large piece to create a panel for a card. I was also able to get two smaller die cuts from the leftover pieces of the page. I used one to make a tag with a sentiment from Noteworthy 2  heat embossed in white. I used the other tag for a hand lettered quote, which I ended up using in my Bullet Journal.

If you want to join in on the festivities you can CASE any of my designs - or any designs from my fellow DT teamies - and link up over on the main birthday blog post. Any type of project is eligible and there will be loads and loads of inspiration all through June so I'm sure you will find something to inspire you. You can also win prizes by playing along with the wishlist linky party. Between these two posts, you might be the lucky winner of one of the many prizes in honour of STAMPlorations 5th birthday!

If you are not familiar with the term CASE, it stands for "Copy and Share Everything" but in the crafting world you should take it to mean "be inspired by". So you could use any part of the projects above as inspiration for your cards, maybe the flower theme, maybe the colours or maybe something else that you get inspired by. I can't wait to see your inspirational projects in the linky on the main birthday blog post.

The STAMPlorations products I used for my new cards:

Bloomtangled #1 Cover Plate Die

Happy Word die

Bloomtangled Colouring Book

Thanks word die

Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Noteworthy 2

Manila Tags Nesting Dies

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.

STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop Day 4

Welcome back to day 4 of the STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop. I hope you have enjoyed the party so far, we have certainly enjoyed the wonderful projects you have been linking up. 

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.

Today's card is focussed around the big and bold sentiment which I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black using the Sketchy Alphabet and the watercoloured with an ombre effect using Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I did the same with the balloons and banners from the aptly named Balloons and Banners stamp set. Last, I stamped some swirls from the same stamp set as the card looked a bit bare and I think it ended up looking much more festive.

Card: 300 gsm watercolour card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Balloons and Banners and Sketchy Alphabet
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves

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.

STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop Day 2

Welcome to the second day of the STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop. We are celebrating with new product launches and a great linky party too.

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 my card I started by stamping the sentiment in Versamark using Sketchy Alphabet and balloons from Balloons and Banners. I heat embossed all stamped images in white powder. Then I played with my Distress Inks to create the background and the splatters. Last, I added the second line of the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black.

Card: 300 gsm watercolour card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Balloons and Banners, Sketchy Alphabet
Ink: Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade, Wilted Violet
Other: 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.

STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop

Today I'm hopping along with the STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop. Happy 3rd Birthday STAMPlorations and here's to many more! I hope you will all join me in wishing all the best to STAMPlorations and the wonderful Shery Russ in the year to come. I can't wait to see all the new and exciting products that are coming, particularly the brand new dies! There is a lovely new stamp set as well called Kathryn's Big Wishes. So many new and fantastic products and ideas to work with as well as all the inspiration from the wonderful DT.

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 inspired by the mood board below. For more info see the STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday Blog Hop post.

For my card I used the fun Balloons And Banners stamp set. I started by stamping the balloons in Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and then watercolouring using bright colours of Distress Inks, letting the colours run outside the lines of the balloons. Then I masked the balloons and flicked spots of colour all over the card. Last, I stamped one of the sentiments from the same set. 

Card: 300 gsm watercolour card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Balloons And Banners
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mustard Seed, Abandoned Coral, Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron and Hickory Smoke

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.