STAMPlorations Inspiration

 

Today I'll continue my explorations of cards on kraft for this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post. The weather has been a bit miserable here, but the daffodils are in bloom in the garden now being bright yellow spots of sunshine even when it's grey and rainy. Inspired by them and other early spring blooms I stamped the beautiful lilies from Blossom Sprays #3, heat embossed them in black and coloured them with Polychromos colouring pencils. I love how the white pops on the kraft background! I splattered a bit of brown ink, inked some brown ink around the edges of the card panel and matted it on black before attaching it to a kraft card base. Last, I added a sentiment which I die cut using Everyday Sentiments. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Faber-Castell Polychromos colouring pencils

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 all, happy Tuesday! How is your February coming along? I feel there is definitely a bit more light now which helps in the mornings, and soon I hope there will be enough light in the afternoon as well so it doesn't feel like it's dark before the working day ends. I am already dreaming of spring but I think we have a cold front to deal with so I'm worried that my poor little daffodils which are already venturing out in the garden will freeze. Let's hope they make it and soon there will be pops of yellow in the flower beds.

My card for today's STAMPlorations Inspiration Post most certainly reflects my dreams of spring. I love the faux watercolour technique and I used the beautiful Blossom Sprays 1 stamps with Tim Holtz Distress Markers for this card. I used the markers to colour the stamp, then spritzed it generously with water before stamping onto watercolour paper for that lovely bleeding colours look. Then I just added a heat embossed sentiment from For the Birds for this simple almost-one-layer card. I hope you will have a chance to craft at some point this week. Also, don't forget there is a monthly random draw to win a $15 prize code to the STAMPlorations store and you can simply enter by commenting on the STAMPlorations Inspiration Post. Last but not least, see below for a discount code and check out info about the February offer in the STAMPlorations store

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays 1, For the Birds

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Markers, 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 :) 

Reminder STAMPlorations CAS January Challenge

 

We have already managed to get through half of the most depressing month of the year and to celebrate that it's time for more inspiration from the STAMPlorations challenge design teams in the challenge reminder post!

If you were planning to play along with our monthly challenges but haven't had time to do so yet, or if you haven't linked up the maximum allowed 3 projects, you can still play along. Our January CAS Challenge colour twist is pink, red and orange. I used these colours to ink up a background for my card using Distress Oxides. I heat embossed the beautiful Blossom Sprays #3 in white on the background and added a die-cut sentiment using Everyday Sentiment Dies.  

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiment Dies

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Oxides

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

Happy Tuesday! You know what that means? It means we have a new STAMPlorations Inspiration post over on the STAMPlorations blog. For today's card, I started by creating a background using watercolours. I just drew some parallel lines freehand across the card base. I stamped the beautiful Blossom Sprays #1 in black onto white card, fussy cut the flowers and attached to the rainbow base. Last, I die cut the sentiment using Everyday Sentiments and Skinny Sentiments using black card and some card I coloured with the same watercolours I used for the background.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #1, 
Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments, Skinny Sentiments
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine, Gansai Tambi watercolours

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 Inspiration

We are past the middle of February. Does this mean I can start dreaming of Spring? At least my craft room seems to be longing for brightly coloured florals and green leaves. That's why, for today's STAMPlorations Inspiration Post I did some fun colouring with stamps. 

I started by stamping Dee's beautiful Blossom Sprays #1. I then used a stamp from Art Marks to colour the flowers with Distress Oxides. I finished by adding a sentiment from Noteworthy 3. Quick and easy one layer card with lots and lots of colour!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #1, Art Marks, Noteworthy 3

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Oxides

STENCILS and CLEAR STICKERS are

20% off instantly until February 29

No code needed! Simply add stencils and clear stickers to your cart and the discount is automatically applied.

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Can you believe you are now reading the last Inspiration post of the year? How did this happen? At least next year it should be easy to switch to write 2020 instead of 2019. 

To get us in the New Year mood, I decided to create a fun galaxy card. I started by stamping the gorgeous  Blossom Sprays #3 in Versamark and heat embossed in silver. I then used watercolours to create the galaxy around the flowers and splattered with white gouache paint. I coloured a scrap piece of card with distress markers and blended with water before die cutting using the fun Skinny Sentiments. I cut the other part of the sentiment in black and layered with the coloured letters. 

Thank you so much for following along, commenting, taking part in the STAMPlorations challenges and overall just being your amazing selves. Keep it up in 2020, I can't wait to see what the year has in store!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3

Dies: CUTplorations Skinny Sentiments

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Markers, Gansai Tambi Watercolours

World Watercolour Month Linky Party with STAMPlorations

Today I'm excited to be part of the World Watercolor Month Linky Party over on the STAMPlorations blog. You can win great prizes by commenting on the post over there as well as my post here. There is also a linky party so you can join in on the fun!! Hop over to the STAMPlorations World Watercolour Month post for more details. Now for the details about my projects, I hope they will inspire you to create something for the Linky Party!

We have been enjoying a nice few weeks of summer in the UK (I hope you have too, wherever you are) but we had a rainy day so it felt like the perfect time to spend some quality time with my favourite stamps and my Tim Holtz Distress markers creating some colourful cards to brighten up the grey day.

For my first card, I used the Bloom Doodles stamp set. I arranged the flowers onto the card front and picked them up with a big clear block so they would stay in the correct layout. I then colored them with Tim Holtz Distress markers (but any markers with water-based ink will work), spritzed the stamps liberally and stamped on watercolor card. I spritzed some additional water on the stamped image to get the look I wanted. Next, I die cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. Last, I splattered some inks on the panel and added a bold sentiment using Happy Birthday.

I used the same faux watercolour technique for my second card. I used the Feathery stamp set with Distress Markers. I took all the beautiful feather stamps from this set and arranged them on the card. I picked them up with a big clear block and coloured the stamps with Distress Markers. I spritzed the stamps with water, stamped, dried and die cut using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. The sentiment was created by die cutting black card using the Thanks word die, and a small stamp from For the Birds. Last, I added some Ice Stickles to the "thanks".

For my third card, I used the gorgeous Blossom Sprays #3 stamp. This stamp combined with the faux watercolour technique makes a stunning card really quickly and easily. Pick your favourite colours for the flowers and add greens for the foliage. Spritz water and stamp, spritzing extra water to the stamped image if you want a more blended look. I added a simple die cut sentiment using the Celebrate word die.

All of these stamps are really versatile and would work for a lot of different occasions. You could even create the cards but not add any sentiments, and once you know what you need the cards for you could quickly add one of the Clear Stickers to the card and that way you will always have cards with the perfect sentiment!

I'm linking up the first card over at Inkspirational where the theme is 3 or 5 of something. 

I'm linking up the second card over at {Pin}spirational as I was inspired by the multi-coloured ice creams to create my multi-coloured feathers.

I'm linking up the third card over at CAS Watercolour where the theme is Bouquet of Flowers and Less Is More where the theme is Celebrations.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Bloom Doodles, Happy Birthday, Feathery, For the Birds, Blossom Sprays #3

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Thanks word die,Celebrate word die

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Markers

All of the stamps I have used in this post are currently a delicious 40% off in the big STAMPlorations Summer Clearance with the code HEYSUMMER. These are some of my all-time favourite stamp sets which I use over and over and over, and you can get them for a bargain until the end of the month.

CLICK HERE to see all 300+ qualifying products.

Code may be used once per customer/shipping address.

Code expires 7/31.

June STAMPlorations challenges - Mid-Month Reminder

The summer is rushing away in a hurry, how can we already be halfway through June? The silver lining is that we are only halfway thorough June, so there is still two more weeks to play along with the STAMPlorations challenges. Together with my fellow DT members, we were so inspired by the current challenges that we wanted to share some more projects with you over on the STAMPlorations blog. Hope you will join us if you haven't already!

I was super inspired by one of the CAS challenge entries from May, by the super talented Jane. She had used the faux watercolour technique for her beautiful card, and I immediately went into my craft room to create a card. I coloured the beautiful Blossom Sprays #3 stamp using Distress Markers, spritzed with water and stamped on watercolour card. I then lightly sprayed the stamped image to blend the inks just a little bit more. The colouring of the stamps can be a bit fiddly, but I absolutely love the look, so it's definitely worth the time. For a high impact sentiment, I heat embossed a Thank You from For the Birds in white on black card.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3, For the Birds

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Markers, 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 discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

Last but not least don't forget the 6th Birthday Summer Sale in the STAMPlorations store.

CLICK HERE to see all 250+ qualifying products!

Faux Watercolour Florals

Just a quick post today as I've spent most of the day doing meal-prep for next week. I just can't get around to cook anything sensible during the week. Either it's meal prep on Sunday or I only eat utter rubbish all week. Lunch salads are already prepped, as are quinoa-olive-feta-tomato-chestnut stuffed peppers. Now I just need to think of something for the other half.

Today's card is inspired by the adorable rainbow birdies over at Fusion. I was also inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the Nature theme over at Time Out.

I used the beautiful STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #1, coloured the stamp with pastel colours of Tim Holtz Distress Markers, spritzed with water and stamped on watercolour paper. I cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. I added strips of Lawn Fawn patterned paper and attached it onto a cardstock that I had inked up with Spun Sugar Distress Ink. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn Party Animal.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #1, Lawn Fawn Party Animal

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Markers, Spun Sugar Distress Ink, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

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.

March STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Coral Pink

Welcome to the STAMPlorations March CAS Challenge. Spring is in the air and our optional colour twist this month is a nice spring colour - coral pink. Spring inspires me to use lots of florals. There is nothing like that spring green shooting from the dark soil to make it feel like we are going towards warmer times. 

I used the lovely Blossom Sprays #3 stamp for my card. I stamped the image in Versamark Onyx Black and coloured with Gansai Tambi watercolours and pearl watercolours. They give such a lovely subtle shimmer. I added a very light splattering of coral pink to the background, before cutting the watercolour card panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Nesting Rectangle dies. Last, I used the same watercolours I used for the flowers to create a banner for the sentiment and added a hashtag from Sparkly.

I hope you are inspired to play along with us over on STAMPlorations blog!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3, Sparkly

Dies: Crazy Double Running Stitch Nesting Rectangle 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.

October STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Black

After a summer break, the STAMPlorations CAS challenge is back! I'm so excited to get back to making CAS inspired creations and seeing what you create. The rules are the same as they always were, you can create using any product you want as long as you create a CAS card. Remeber to link back to the main challenge post on the STAMPlorations blog and to include the challenge graphic in your post to be eligible to win the monthly prizes. 

This year we are doing things a bit differently as we will no longer have a mid-month inspiration post, just the main post on the first Thursday of every month. Just as there has always been, you will find an optional colour twist which I love using just to push myself a bit.

This time the optional colour twist is black, and I thought why not change things up a bit and use black card. I have bought a small set of Faber Castell Polychromos pencils, inspired by all your fabulous pencil colouring out there on the Interwebs. I used to admire other people's beautiful colouring on black card, but the non-brand colouring pencils I had didn't really work on black card and I used to wonder what I was doing wrong. Well, I can tell you that using real artist's pencils is what made the difference! These work like a dream, although I still need to learn to use them... I'm already dreaming of a bigger set as I only have 12 colours at my disposal at the moment. But that is just about enough to colour the beautiful Blossom Sprays #1 stamp, and I heat embossed a sentiment from Noteworthy 2 in white.

Card: Black 200 gsm card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Dee's Artsy Impressions Blossom Sprays #1, Noteworthy 2

Ink and Colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Faber Castell Polychromos

Other: Wow Opaque Bright White Super Fine 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.

Flowers for Mum

We have had the most glorious week with incredibly warm temperatures for April. It's supposed to get back to normal next week, so thank you Mother Nature for the summer, it was fun while it lasted. In addition to enjoying the sun in the garden, and harvesting the first asparagus of the season (yeeeesssh!!!), I also took some creative time today. I was inspired by the In the Garden theme over at  Make My Monday as well as the Spring theme over at Time Out.

I stamped the gorgeous Blossom Sprays #1 in Antique Linen Distress Ink onto watercolour card and watercoloured with Gansai Tambi watercolours, pulling the colours outside the image to create a colourful aura for the flowers. I then die cut the sentiment using the Amazing word die. I die cut the sentiment also in black card, and layered the black die cut under the die cut from the flower panel to create a bit of dimension. I used a Lawn Fawn alphabet set to create the rest of the sentiment, and a Lawn Fawn Stitched rectangle die to die cut the front panel.

Card: 300 gsm watercolour card, 250 gsm white card, scrap of black card

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antique Linen, Gansai Tambi watercolours, Versafine Onyx Black

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #1, Lawn Fawn Claire's ABCs

Other: STAMPlorations Amazing Word die, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles die 

Rainbow Lily

You know I can't resist a rainbow. So when I saw the gorgeous rainbow striped card to CASE over at Time Out I could not resist. How could I? So out came the Copics, and the gorgeous Blossom Sprays Lily stamp from STAMPlorations. My card was also inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up with Just Add Ink where the theme is Just Add D (die cuts), Shopping Our Stash where the theme is On Trend (rainbows! what could be more on trend than rainbows!) and last but not least Simon Says Stamp Monday and Wednesday challenge where the theme is Stamp It.

Card: 250 gsm white card, Neenah Solar white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3, Sweet Cravings

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Circle die, CUTplorations Happy Word die, Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Dark, Ranger Ice Stickles

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. 

CAS on Friday Guest Designer

I was so excited to see that my giraffe card was chosen as the winner of CAS on Friday a few weeks ago, which means I have the honour to be a Guest Designer with them this week. The theme this week is Color Me Pretty, which means you should use pencils or markers to colour your creation. Thank you again to the CAS on Friday team for picking my card as the winner and for all the work you do to bring this great challenge to us crafters.

For my card, I chose to use the gorgeous STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3 from the fab Deepti of Dee's Art Utopia. I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black onto Neenah Solar White card and heat embossed with clear powder before colouring it with Copics. To keep everything as CAS as possible, all I did was cut out the panel using the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting die and stamped a small sentiment from Trendy Feathers 2. Sometimes it's so much fun to make cards which only require a minimum amount of stash and let a beautiful stamp just shine on its' own.

Card: 250 gsm white card, Neenah Solar white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3, Trendy Feathers 2.
Ink and colouring: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics
Other: STAMPlorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting die, Ranger clear embossing powder

Mojo Warm-Up Blooms

Do you sometimes feel like you need a quick and easy project to get your mojo going? Kind of like warming up for when you do exercise? I've been struggling to get into the craft room lately (and also to the gym, but that's another story), not sure why but it just felt overwhelming and I tried to start a few cards but they were all just horrible.

Then I saw an amazing card on Instagram, which of course I can't find again... it was a gorgeous flower stamp on a blue background, coloured probably with watercolour markers. I tried to find it again - you know how Instagram always brings up those same donuts over and over again... but I just can't find that card again. Anyhow, long story short I was going to CASE that card as I happened to see that the challenge over at AAA Cards and Less Is More is One Layer with a coloured card base. But then it warped into something different when I had a dig around my huge stash of unused card and I found some rainbow coloured card which looks awesome as a A4 sized sheet but really doesn't work very well when cut down in size... But I thought it would work for this design. I was planning to colour in the gorgeous STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #1 stamp. After I stamped and heat embossed it I decided to take a minimalist approach instead and just leave it as it is. All it needed was a bold sentiment from Noteworthy 2 and a fashion photo shoot together with my gorgeous hydrangea. If you come back tomorrow I'll show you the card I made after I had flexed my crafty muscles with these "warm up" cards. 

Card: Rainbow coloured card (it doesn't say what brand/make it is, I bought it on eBay...)
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #1, Noteworthy 2
Ink: Tsukineko Versafine
Other: 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.