STAMPlorations Inspiration

Hi crafters! For this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post I'm doing some serious stash diving in my UFO box. I decided to create Christmas cards using as many different bits and bobs which I have already made for something else but didn't get used. It was a fun way to challenge myself and to give a new life to things. 

I started by selecting three tags I have created in the past using Distress Oxides and Inks and ARTplorations stencils. One of these already had the stag's head from Yuletide Deer heat embossed on it, so it was perfect to go as it was. I also found a stamped image of the Poinsettia Row which I had watercoloured and then abandoned, so I die cut the middle of the image into a fourth tag. I also found some stamped and heat embossed but not yet coloured images from Joyful which I watercoloured and fussy cut for the two other tags. Next, I used some leftover printouts from a friend's wedding invitation I made many years ago and used the reverse of those as the card backs (the kraft panels). To create some texture, I ran the panels through my die-cut machine using the Circles All Over Texture Cover Plate and inked some Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges. Last, I used a mix of sentiments I had pre-cut in the past and also die cut a few new sentiments using scrap pieces of coloured card to finish the cards. Not too bad for a pile of unfinished objects! Below you can see close-ups of the cards.

Stamps: STAMOplorations Joyful, Yuletide Deer, Poinsettia Row

Stencils: ARTplorations All Swirls Slimline Stencil, Flair Slimline Stencil, Tribal Triangles

Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Tag Nesting Dies, Circles All Over Texture Cover Plate, Christmas Sentiments Phrase Dies

Ink and colouring: All the inks....

Note that I have received some of the stamps and other craft supplies for free as a member of the STAMPlorations Design Team, therefore this blog post has to be identified as an ad. I have been using STAMPlorations products for years before joining the Desing Team at which time I paid for all my STAMPlorations products and I love them as much today as I did then. 

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

 

And so we are here - it's almost Christmas! December has flown by, hasn't it? We are all facing a different and weird Christmas this year given the (sometimes rather last-minute) lockdowns we face. I hope whatever you do for Christmas you stay safe, wash your hands, keep a distance and all that. If you decided to not see family this Christmas to keep safe, I send you big hugs. And as always if you are one of the heroes keeping us safe or alive over the holidays, you have my big thanks for sacrificing your time for the benefit of us all.

This year I gave almost exclusively home-made presents (if you follow me on Instagram you will know I'm an avid knitter and struggling crocheter). Socks, hats, hand warmers, even a few crocheted blankets (never again, I'll tell you!). And this year all of my gifts had hand-made tags on them (probably a first!) as I was inspired by my exceedingly talented DT colleague Deepti of Dees Art Utopia and her amazing use of stencils and Distress Inks/Oxides. I tried (poorly) to imitate her genius and you already saw a batch of my tags last week and here are some more for this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post. Don't forget to leave a comment on the post to be entered into a monthly draw for a $15 prize code.

For my tags, I started by inking tags using Distress Inks and Distress Oxides and cutting the tags using Stitched Tags Nesting Dies. I then used various STAMPlortions stencils (there are so many amazing stencils to choose from!) and either sprayed them with water to make impressions of the stencil in the ink or inked through the stencil in the same colour as my background tag to make a subtle stencil pattern on the background of the tags. After letting the tags dry thoroughly, I stamped the wreath from Joyful in Versamark and heat embossed in gold. Last, I die cut a sentiment using Christmas Sentiments Phrase Dies in shimmery card. I think these turned out quite nice!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful

Stencils: ARTplorations All Swirls Slimline Stencil, Burst Slimline Stencil, Flair Slimline Stencil, 

Placid Stencil

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments Phrase Dies, Stitched Tags Nesting Dies

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Oxides, Tsukineko Versafine

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, how are you feeling about the impending festivities? Excited? Stressed? Strexcited (that's half stressed, half excited, with a bit of Brexit anxiety thrown in there...)? I got my international batch of cards and parcels shipped just over a week ago, and it felt good to tick all of those things off my to-do list. Now I only need to worry about domestic cards and wrapping the presents for my partner's family. And wrapping presents, of course, brings me to the need of having gift tags at the ready. I prefer to make a few batches of tags rather than make them as I wrap - it may be a bit industrialized, but if it works, don't question it. 

So from now until Christmas, for the STAMPlorations Inspiration posts, I will be sharing some Christmas tag designs from this year's batch with you, I hope they will inspire you in case you are in need of tags too. Today, I'm sharing some quick and easy poinsettia tags. I started by colouring the Framed Christmas (digi) three times with Copics. Then I ran white card through my Sizzix using the Wonky Stitched Grid Texture Cover Plate Die and die cut the tags using Stitched Tags Nesting Dies. I attached the poinsettias and a sentiment I die cut using Christmas Sentiments Phrase Dies in red. I added some red ribbon and a bit of bling as a finishing touch. These little cuties are now ready to be attached to any present as needed. As always, don't forget to leave a comment on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post to be entered into a draw of the monthly $15 prize code.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Framed Christmas (digi), 

Dies: CUTplorations Wonky Stitched Grid Texture Cover Plate Die,  Stitched Tags Nesting Dies, Christmas Sentiments Phrase Dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

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 November CAS Challenge

It's time for the mid-November STAMPlorations challenge reminder! If you were planning to play along with any of our November challenges, you still have two weeks to do so and there is a big bunch of inspiration from the whole DT over on the STAMPlorations blog. 

My card for the November CAS Challenge is using the optional colour twist of pink and black. I started by masking off a rectangle on my card using Rectangles Flexi-Template. Next, I added the Snowflakes Stencil and blended pink and grey Distress Ink through the stencil. Then I created the sentiment using a stamp from Joy and a die-cut from Christmas Sentiments Dies. Last, I added a few sequins for extra bling. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joy

Stencils and masks: ARTploratios Snowflakes Stencil, Rectangles Flexi-Template

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments 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 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 :) 

This month there are oodles of discounts, for which you can find codes here, including 30% off word/phrase dies, 25% off square stencils and 40% off clear stickers. There is also a Christmas Special Sale and Coffee Lovers Sale.

STAMPlorations Inspiration

As we are coming to the end of July, we are also coming to an end of my Christmas in July Inspiration posts as part of our weekly STAMPlorations Inspiration Posts. Have you started working on your Christmas card stash yet? I haven't really, just the few cards I showcased the last few weeks. I should probably mass produce one of them to ensure I have some cars available when December sneaks up on me, I always think it's a good idea in theory to mass-produce a specific card design, but when I have done a few I always get bored!

This week for the STAMPlorations Inspiration Post I created a Christmas tag - well, in fact, two tags but I'm not 100% sure if I like the second one. I used one of my Distress Oxide backgrounds for my tags, die cut them with Stitched Tags Nesting Dies and inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I heat embossed the Christmas tree from Sketchy Yule Trees, deer from Yuletide Deer and Christmas bells from Jingle Bells in copper and watercoloured with Gansai Tambi watercolours before fussy cutting and adding to the tags. Last, I added die cut sentiments using Christmas Sentiments.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sketchy Yule Trees, Yuletide Deer and Jingle Bells

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments, Stitched Tags Nesting Dies

Ink and colouring: Distress Oxides, Gansai Tambi watercolours, Tsukineko Versafine

Don't forget to use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA for 20% off normal price products in the STAMPlorations store.

STAMPlorations Inspiration

How is your summer going? I'm enjoying the light and the sun when it's available and trying not to think about the evenings starting to get darker again. Our greenhouse is doing great and we are getting lots of cucumbers and the tomatoes are coming along too. We were also lucky to get some apricots this year, nothing like the massive crop we got a few years ago, - enough to eat but not enough for jam, unfortunately. And amongst all of that, it's time for another STAMPloratios Inspiration post, and as usual, if you comment on the post over on the STAMPlorations blog you enter into our monthly draw for a $15 gift code to the brand new and fabulous STAMPlorations store.

For my Inspiration project this week I continued with another Christmas card. I started by stamping the wreath from Joyful in Versafine and watercoloured with Gansai Tambi watercolours. I heat embossed one of the deer heads from Yuletide Deer in gold on kraft card and finished everything off with a few black splatters and a die cut a gold sentiment using Christmas Sentiments. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful, Yuletide Deer

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments 

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

Don't forget the All Moved In sale in the STAMPlorations store! 

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Merry Christmas! I hope you get some time to rest and relax and enjoy good food in good company. And if you are working this Christmas, thank you very much as you are probably someone keeping us safe or healthy or both. 

For our STAMPlorations Christmas Inspiration post I created a simple monochromatic card to match the tag I created a few weeks ago for the 25 Days of Christmas Tags event.

I stamped the parcel and wreath from Joyful and coloured some details with red watercolour. I then die cut the sentiment from red card using Christmas Sentiments and cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. Last I matted the panel onto red card and attached to a white card base.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful

Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies, Christmas Sentiments,  Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Festive Berries

Take advantage of our last sale of the year. Get 25% off nearly all products in the store*.

  

Use code DEC2019 on checkout.

No minimum order. Flat shipping rates apply.

Last Minute Inspiration

Every year I promise myself I won't leave Christmas things to the last minute, and every year that's how it turns out. This year I wouldn't even have sent out Christmas cards, but as my dearest set to write some cards, I thought that as a card crafter I simply cannot skip that duty. But to my shame, we did send out some shop-bought cards in addition to some handmade ones, and the majority of cards I had were from the stash I made inspired by our Christmas in July event over at STAMPlorations. Future me, please take note for next year...

I made a batch of snowflake tags for my presents this year. I used Stitched Tags Nesting dies on offcuts of kraft card which had been laying around in my UFO box forever. I stamped the lovely snowflakes using Stampin' Up Endless Wishes and heat embossed them in white. I added some of the small sentiments from the same stamp set which I stamped on a scrap piece of blue card. These were really quick to mass-produce and I think they matched the wrapping paper really well.

Anyhow, I have tried to be a bit more thoughtful about gift wrapping this year. I bought some recycled wrapping paper without any glitter or foil so it's compostable or recyclable. However, I had one very big gift and it would have used up the whole roll of that wrapping paper, so instead, I decided to use some of the brown paper that you get with your Amazon parcels. I simply smoothed out the paper and stamped the lovely images from Joyful in Distress Oxides. (sorry about the horrible pictures, this was literally last minute late in the evening...) 

I then added some nice festive ribbon, which can be re-used over and over (I already had tons of this in my stash, so no new ribbon was bought for any of the presents this year). I used a scrap of the store-bought wrapping paper, and die cut a tag using Stitched Tags Nesting dies, which I attached to a tag I had die cut from scrap cardboard from a chocolate bar! I used one of the Christmas Sentiments dies to cut the red sentiment. Super easy and super quick!

I also used some scraps of the store-bought wrapping paper (waste not, want not and all of that) which I die cut using the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and added the same sentiment using Christmas Sentiments and adhered everything to a cardbase made from some beautiful handmade paper.

I created a variation on the theme using vellum as the card base and added a hand-lettered greeting inside the card. 

That is a wrap on all my Christmas presents this year (apart from something I ordered from a shop which said they would guarantee delivery by Christmas, but yesterday I got an email to say it won't make it after all. I'm really annoyed, but I guess there are bigger problems in the world after all).

Stamps: Stampin' Up Endless Wishes, STAMPlorations Joyful

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Stitched Tags Nesting dies and Christmas Sentiments

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Just a quick post today to show you what I have created for this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration Post. A warm mug full of Christmas wishes! I started by inking Distress Ink through the ARTplorations Christmas Tree 1 stencil. I used the Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies to die cut and paper piece the mug. I think it looks a bit like a poinsettia. To create the sentiment, I heat embossed words from Joyful in copper and die cut the Christmas in red card using Christmas Sentiments.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful
Stencil: ARTplorations Christmas Tree 1
Dies: CUTplorations  Christmas Sentiments, Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Shabby Shutters


Take advantage of our last sale of the year. Get 25% off nearly all products in the store*.

  

 

Use code DEC2019 on checkout.

No minimum order. Flat shipping rates apply.

STAMPlorations December CAS Challenge - Reminder

It's time to interrupt your pre-Holiday craziness for a quick reminder. Our December CAS Challenge is halfway through, people. Halfway through! Consider yourselves reminded :) I know you are busy with everything, but the whole point of CAS Cards is that they are quick and easy. So you will surely have time for a little crafty project.

I stamped Poinsettia Row and very quickly and messily watercoloured the stamp with Distress Inks and splattered the white space with a bit of yellow. I added a die-cut sentiment in red using Christmas Sentiments and that's it, Christmas card done! You certainly have enough time to create one of these, no matter how busy you are.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Poinsettia Row

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Inks

If you are thinking of doing some STAMPlorations shopping, don't forget to visit the STAMPlorations store Promotions page for discount codes for stamp sets.

Take advantage of our last sale of the year. Get 25% off nearly all products in the store*.

  

 

Use code DEC2019 on checkout.

No minimum order. Flat shipping rates apply.

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Not long to go now, 10 more days until my Christmas Break starts for real! Are you ready for the Holidays? Who am I kidding, of course, you aren't. And neither am I. But that's ok, it will all be ok. Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. And everyone will have a lovely time, even if you never got around to baking that seventh batch of cookies or clean out every little corner of the house. So embrace the most important things, whatever those are for you and forget about the rest.

Oh, and it's Tuesday so it's time for another STAMPlorations Inspiration post, yay! I'm having so much fun every week sharing my creations with you. This week I created a Christmas Card using Sanna's lovely Fairytale Forest stencil. I started by masking a part of the card and inked it with light blue Distress Inks. I then inked through the stencil in darer blues. Next, I stamped the mandalas from Bloomdala Bliss in Versamark and heat embossed them in white. Last, I inked a scrap piece of card with the same blue inks and die cut with the new Christmas Sentiments dies.

Stamps: STAMPlorations  Bloomdala Bliss

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments

Stencils: ARTplorations Fairytale Forest

If you are thinking of doing some STAMPlorations shopping, don't forget to visit the STAMPlorations store Promotions page for discount codes for stamp sets.

Take advantage of our last sale of the year. Get 25% off nearly all products in the store*.

  

 

Use code DEC2019 on checkout.

No minimum order. Flat shipping rates apply.

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Happy Tuesday and Happy STAMPlorations Inspiration Post day. December??? Whaaaat??? How did this happen? But I have to admit, I am looking forward to a long break over the holidays. Two glorious weeks off work. I can feel some craft room time coming up.

I made a very quick and easy Christmas card, which would be easy to mass-produce. I started by inking two shades of brown Distress Ink through the Christmas Reindeer stencil. While the ink was still fresh, I sprinkled some copper embossing powder on some parts of the deer and heat set. Then I inked Peeled Paint Distress Ink through the Christmas Tree 1 stencil and splattered some watered ink on the panel. Last, I cut the sentiment in copper card using my new favourite Christmas dies, Christmas Sentiments.

Stencils: ARTplorations Christmas Reindeer, Christmas Tree 1

Dies: CUTplorations Christmas Sentiments 
Ink: Distress Inks 


Talking of Christmas, don't forget you have a few more days to comment on the Christmas Dies Redux blog hop if you want to win some fabulous Christmas dies and the 25 Days of Christmas Tags blog post if you want to win a fabulous set of the new Christmas Sentiment dies. Last but not least, you have a few more days to link up with the big Giving Thanks Giveaway!

STAMPlorations Inspiration - Christmas Dies Redux

This week we have another fun blog hop for you as part of the STAMPlorations Inspiration Post. Did you already play along with our Giving Thanks Giveaway? If you haven't you have to check it out, the prizes are fantastic!

This week we are getting ready for Christmas by creating Christmas crafts with CUTplorations dies. For my project, I used three dies - Stitched Winter Landscape for the snowy landscape, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies to die cut the front panel and Christmas Sentiments dies for the shimmery blue sentiment. I created the starry night sky using Distress Inks. I stamped the stars using a stamp from Art Marks and heat embossed in white before splattering the whole night sky with white gouache paint. Last, I couldn't resist adding some stickles to the landscape.

For your chance to win some Christmas dies, you can hop along to all the designer's blogs and leave comments. All the details you need are over on the STAMPloratios blog in today's Inspiration Post. You have until December 8th to comment!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Art Marks

Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Winter Landscape, Christmas Sentiments, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks

There are so many different events going on over at STAMPlorations, Shery has kindly summarised them all at the top of the STAMPblog! They are:

Win a 1 year supply of STAMPlorations products (ends 12/8) 5th Giving Thanks Blog Hop (ends 12/8) 25 Days of Christmas Tags (ends 12/8) Christmas in the Air with Nancy and Monika + comment to win (ends 12/8) Sticker Monday with Terri Koszler + comment to win (ends 12/8) Stencil Sunday with Helen Gullett + comment to win (ends 12/8)
Last but not least, don't forget to use the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout in the STAMPlorations store for a little extra discount!!