STAMPlorations Inspiration

Happy September! I'm still in denial that summer has passed and the nights are getting darker again. But that means there is more time for crafting, nothing like a rainy day, a hot cuppa and a craft room full of goodies for inspiration. And as it's Tuesday it's also time for a new STAMPlorations Inspiration post.  Don't forget to leave a comment on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post to enter into a draw for a $15 gift code to the STAMPlorations store. 

Today's card is inspired by the increasing amount of hot drinks as the weather starts to cool down. I used one of my Distress Oxide panels from my inspiration box and die cut it with the Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies. I also die cut the cup in black, and then paper pieced it using the colourful pieces. I absolutely love the process of paper piecing these beautiful, intricate die cuts. It's so calming! I added a border using the Dots 'n Beans stencil and pink Distress Ink, and finished with a bunch of sentiments from Coffee Happy

Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy

Dies: CUTplorations Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies

Stencil: ARTplorations Dots 'n Beans

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Oxides

Don't forget to check out the https://stamplorations.com/?aff=karola and take a look at the promotions page to get the best deals. 

Spring Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Today is the launch of the Spring/Summer 2020 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! As always, STAMPlorations is one of the sponsors of the event so along with the rest of the STAMPloratios Inspirations team we are sharing extra inspiration over on the STAMPlorations blog today. There are four STAMPlorations gift codes up for grabs over at Coffee Loving Card Makers as part of the main Blog Hop, but as usual, Shery is being very generous and there is an extra prize drawn from those leaving comments on the STAMPlorations blog post.

We also have another reason to celebrate over on the STAMPlorations blog as we have recently released two new coffee themed stamp set. You may have seen the release post earlier this week and here are two other projects I created with these fun new stamp set.

For my first card, I used the coffee stamp from Sweet Kindness which I stamped four times and coloured using Copics. I heat embossed sentiments from Coffee Happy in white on black card and added them to the card. 

For my second card I used the coffee cup from Bloomin' Coffee and You. I stamped it and coloured with Copics before fussy cutting the image. I die cut a background which I created with Distress Oxides using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, and added coffee beans using the Dots n' Beans stencil. Last, I added a sentiment from What's Brewing, matted everything on a piece of blue card which I attached to a card base decorated with Washi tape.

I hope you are inspired to create your own coffee themed projects!

  
Bloomin' Coffee and You | Sweet Kindness

Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy, What's Brewing

Stencil: ARTplorations Dots n' Beans

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukinko Versamark and Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Distress Oxides, Distress Inks

 

Products in the COFFEE/TEA LOVERS section are 40% off with code COFFEE40.

More Coffee Lovers Fall/Winter 2019 Blog hop

I'm having so much fun creating with my STAMPlorations for the Zen Coffee Cups Layering Dies for the Coffee Lovers Fall/Winter Blog Hop that I couldn't stop at the one project I made the other day. I chose another die and paper pieced it using Tim Holtz Distress card. I find it so incredibly meditative to pick up those tiny little pieces of card and put them together into beautiful projects. A good cup of coffee, a few biscuits, a nice podcast and me and my tweezers. Saturday morning bliss is what it is! This time I added a sentiment from Coffee Happy and used the Dots n' Beans stencil to create the background for my card.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy

Dies: CUTplorations Zen Coffee Cups Layering Dies

Stencil: ARTplorations Dots n' Beans

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Tsukineko Versamark

Coffee and Donuts

I'm back to celebrate the wonder of coffee and this time I'm celebrating the sweet union of coffee and donuts. Every time I look at the STAMPlorations Sugar Rush stamp set I get such a craving for donuts. I love the "Drink Coffee, Read Books, Be Happy" sentiment from the fantastic Literary Caffeine-ations by the funny and talented Becca Cruger but I thought she had left out a very critical bit about eating donuts, so I decided to add that little bit to make the sentiment complete. 

I started by stamping the coffee mug from Coffee Happy, and after masking the mug I stamped the coffee pot and then the donuts onto a white card base that I had die cut using the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting dies. I stamped the sentiment and die cut the happy using CUTplorations Happy Word die twice, once using black card and once using patterned paper from Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Fall paper. I coloured the images using Copics inspired by the colours from the patterned paper. Last, I inked around the edges of the die cut panel using Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink and attached the stamped panel onto Early Espresso card.

I'm linking up over at the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop for one last time, it's been such a blast as usual and the inspiration from all you fellow crafters has been so amazing. I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges Anything Goes and AAA Card Challenges where the theme is masking. 

Card: Neenah Solar white card, Stampin' Up Early Espresso, scrap of black card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sugar Rush, Coffee Happy, Literary Caffeine-ations 

Ink and Colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Copics

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting dies

Other: Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Fall paper

Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

The whole crafting blogosphere is alight with coffee this week - yes, it's another Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and I was inspired to create something to celebrate the elixir of life. I managed to quickly create this card in the morning before we headed off to for Father's Day Lunch with the Culinary Consultant's family. Actually I had to re-make the card as the first time I smudged the ink really badly on the sentiment - I need to find better cardstock for stamping. Happy to hear about your favourites!

I was also inspired by the colour challenge over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up with the CAS Mixup where the theme is Stamping + die cutting + your choice (paper piecing)

Card: white 300 gsm super smooth card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy 

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin' Up Soft Suede

Other: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow patterned paper and Spring Showers die

Pastel Afternoon Tea

Happy Friday peeps! I am celebrating my birthday today by taking a day off work as is the Culinary Consultant. We don't have any special plans, just having a lazy day is special enough - we slept in (although it's quite sad that we are getting so old that sleeping until 7am is considered sleeping in!) and I'm planning on making a delicious brunch involving eggs, bacon, smoked salmon, mozzarella and raspberry and white chocolate scones. Not to mention the first coffee I have had in two weeks, which I know will taste absolutely delicious (I'm trying to cut down on my addiction to calorie-rich over sweetened caffeinated drinks). I did start the day with a bit of crafting, as I'm sure it's the best way of starting out a good day!

Today's card is inspired by the challenge over at The Card Concept (this is for the Clean and Simple category). What a great opportunity to get to use one of the lovely stamps from the STAMPlorations Coffee Happy stamp set combined with one of the hilarious sentiments from Literary Caffeine-aitions. I was also inspired by sketch over at The Paper Players, and I'm linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges where Anything Goes.

I started by stamping the tea cups in Versafine Onxy Black and masked the image. Then I used a round die to cut a hole in a scrap piece of paper and added water to the cardstock base through this home-made stencil to create the circular background. I painted the background in Tim Holtz Distress ink in Iced Spruce and Peacock Feathers. After the background dried, I added some splatters of water and Peacock Feathers before painting the cups and adding some gold Sharpie around the edges of the cups. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it in gold - inspired by the gold frame in the inspiration image. Last, I added some enamel dots.

Card: 300 gsm white textured card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy and Literary Caffeine-aitions
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Iced Spruce, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar, Gold Sharpie
Other: Gold embossing powder, Stampin' Up Candy dots, home made enamel dot

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop - Day two

Welcome back to day two of the ARTplorations stencil hop where we celebrate all the grogeous projects that can be created with stencils. If you missed it, you can find all the DT inspiration from day one here, along with the chance to win by commenting on the DT blogs. And the DT is more than happy to inspire you again today, with more projects using the fun ARTplorations stencils, on the STAMPlorations here. We wanted to remind you that you still have two days to link up with our Stencil Linky Party. You don't have to use ARTplorations stencils to join, but if you have them, we would love to see what you create with them.

Today I created two bookmarks using ARTplorations stencils, STAMPlorations stamps and Tim Holtz Distress inks. I started by creating a 5 cm wide slip of textured white card, and used the Stampin' Up Tag topper punch to create the top. I used a corner of the Distress ink container to draw the outline of the rounded corners and fussy cut them. 

For the first bookmark, I started by inking the card using yellow, orange and red Distress inks. I then inked through the Retro Circles stencil in Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso inks. To finish off the tag, I stamped two sentiments from Literary Caffeine-ations and some cups from Coffee Happy in Versamark and heat embossed in white. I added some twine to finish off the bookmark.

For my second bookmark, I started by inking the card using purple, green and blue Distress ink. I then inked through the Tribal Weave stencil in Versamark, and heat embossed the pattern in clear powder. The to the fun and messy part - inking the whole bookmark in black Distress ink. The embossing will resist the black ink showing the bright colours underneath. I used a tissue to wipe off the excess black ink from the embossed pattern. I also splashed some water around for a distressed look. Last, I stamped the sentiments Live, Love, Enjoy from Trendy Butterflies onto white card and added some faux stitching around the edges. A bit of ribbon to finish it off!

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card
Stencils: ARTplorations Retro Circles, Tribal Weave 
Stamps: STAMPlorations Literary Caffeine-ations, Coffee Happy and Trendy Butterflies
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress inks Mustard Seed, Abandoned Coral, Rusty Hinge, Fossilized Amber, Festive Berries, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet, Cracked Pistachio, Black Soot, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black and Versamark
Other: Papermania Seafoam white embossing powder, Ranger fine clear embossing powder, ribbon and twine from my stash

April STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Anything Goes with Spring Green

Happy April peeps! April!! Seriously... Here I thought we would never get through all that winter and all of a sudden it's already spring. I just love the light - there's daylight when you go to work in the morning and there is still daylight when you get home. Nature is in full bloom. Soon it will be BBQ season and Pimms on the lawn. It's been a tough winter with the new job and some serious health problems in the family. But now it's all starting to look a bit brighter again. And on top of all the other good stuff, we have a new challenge for you over at the STAMPlorations CAS challenge!! For April we are going with a Anything CAS goes with an optional colour twist of green. I can't wait to see what you make! Thank you also to everyone who linked up with our March challenge, it was lovely to see all the fabulous inspiration.

For my card, I went with two really fab new stamp sets, Coffee Happy and Sketchy Alphabet. I have had to give up coffee because of health reasons (and no, a decaf latte just isn't the same...), so this fabulous stamp set is a close to coffee as I'm going to get. I particularly like the little sentiments that come with the set, they are hilarious. And the Sketchy Alphabet set is so much fun, you can use it to make your own custom big and bold sentiments. I coloured everything with my watercolour pens and blended with some water. Simples, as our friend Alexander the meerkat would say!

I'm linking up with the following fabulous challenges:
One Layer Simplicity Challenge - Anything One Layer goes
Creative Moments - Inspired by a song (Every time I think of coffee and songs, I think about that Taylor Swift song that everyone misheard as "Starbucks lovers". I think it still counts, lol)
Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - Go Green
Allsorts - April Fools/Humorous 
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - Beverages, coffee/te

Card: 300 gsm white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy and Sketchy Alphabet
Ink and colouring: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Faber Castell Albrech Dürer watercolour pens

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.

In need of coffee

How have you all been? Long time no craft! And even now I should be cleaning, not crafting... but we did go through this the other day didn't we, and concluded that a happy crafter is more important than a clean house. Right? I did try to do some watercolouring after work one day this week, but that was a catastrophic waste of time. I cannot draw or paint, I knew this but somehow I thought that would magically have changed. Luckily there is always the option of stamping! So after a bit of a disastrous attempt this morning to make a card which ended up in the bin, I thought I really need to do something fool-proof to get back a bit of confidence in my crafting abilities. And luckily I have a whole stash of NBUS I recently ordered from the marvellous STAMPlorations. 

I didn't use to be a caffeine addict, but after starting in my new job I am living off large vanilla lattes. And I have to admit I now have to start my weekends with a large coffee as well. I am fully planning to wean me off the nasty stuff, but maybe a bit later... once I'm a bit more settled in my new job methinks. My card was inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Inspired by a song. My song is One More Cup of Coffee by Bob Dylan. On top of that, I'm linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where Anything Goes, Crafty Creations where the theme is "Something to Eat or Drink" and Tuesday Throwdown where the theme is "Create Your Own Background".

Card: 300 gsm textured card, coloured 240 gsm chocolate card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy and Literary Caffeine-ations
Ink: Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip and Real Red