STAMPlorations Inspiration

Welcome to this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post! As usual, it's time for me and the rest of the Inpiration team to showcase some of our favourite STAMPlorations products. I was inspired by dragonflies today, probably because I'm already missing summer, although it's barely gone. So I inked up some summery colours and did some die-cutting to bring back some of that summer feel. As always, don't forget to leave a comment on the Inspiration post on the STAMPlorations blog for a chance to win a gift certificate!

For my card, I created a background using Distress Oxides and a stamp from Vignette: Celebrate Artsy. It's such a quick and easy way to create an impressive background. I then used the Dragonfly Layering Dies to die cut the dragonfly in vellum and white shimmer card. Last, I added a sentiment from Vignette: Celebrate Artsy in black.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Vignette: Celebrate Artsy

Dies: CUTplorations Dragonfly Layering Dies

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxides Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet

Don't forget you have a few more days to take advantage of the great

 End-of-summer sale in the STAMPlorations store.

Things With Wings Blog Hop Final Reminder

Thanks for stopping by today for the final reminder of the Things With Wings Blog Hop and Linky Party over at STAMPlorations to celebrate spring. The inspiration in the linky is absolutely amazing, thank you for everyone who has linked up. I'm honoured to join a bunch of the amazing DT ladies for the final inspiration and reminder post, you still have a few more days to link up, until April 30th to join us and also for your chance to win a bunch of great prizes. And if you aren't lucky enough to bag yourself some prizes this time round, you can always use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA in the store for 20% off your order. 

For my card today I wanted to use the gorgeous Bloom Boldly stencil and the super fun Dragonfly Layering dies. I stated by inking Distress Inks through the stencil and die cut the tag using the Luggage Tags Nesting Dies. I'm happy I went for a slightly different colour combo from what I usually use, I think the bright colours have such a spring feel to them. I die cut the dragonfly and the thanks for the sentiment from a piece of green card I found in my UFO box which I created using Distress Paints way back when. Last, I die cut the solid dragonfly from vellum and another "thanks" from purple card to create a bit of contrast. Last, I mounted everything onto white card and added Ice Stickles to the sentiment and dragonfly wings.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

AAA Cards - Stencil 

CAS on Sunday - Stencil

Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - Blend

Card: 250 gsm white card, 250 gsm white hammered card, 300 gsm watercolour card, Dovecraft 110gsm premium vellum, scrap of purple card

Stencil: ARTplorations  Bloom Boldly stencil

Dies: CUTplorations Dragonfly Layering dies, Luggage Tags Nesting Dies, Thanks Word Die

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, Wilted Violet, Distress Paints

Other: 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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

STAMPlorations Things With Wings Spring Blog Hop & Linky Party

I'm so glad you stopped by my blog as I'm thrilled to be part of the STAMPlorations Things With Wings Blog Hop & Linky Party which starts today. We are celebrating spring! Isn't it wonderful when the flowers come out and the sun is warm enough so you can enjoy being outside. I love spring. It's my favourite season, I love it more than summer. I love watching the garden come to life, the beautiful spring greens and the daffodils which are then slowly making room for other colours in the flower beds. I love watching the buds turn to blooms on the fruit trees and the seeds starting to germinate in the greenhouse. The simple pleasures in life!

As usual Shery is generously giving out lots of prizes to all of you who want to play along with us to celebrate spring. You can play along by commenting on the main blog post and on the designer's posts. You can also link up your wing-themed art projects to our gallery, you don't have to use STAMPlorations products but we would love to see you use them if you have any. Both commenting and linking will be open until April 30th. You can see all the wonderful prizes on the main blog post. You can find all the gorgeous new spring themed STAMPlorations products under the New Release category in the STAMPshop. And you can get a 20% discount by using the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout!

For my wing-themed card I used the new Dragonfly Layering Dies. This is a set of dies I was looking at and thinking I don't really know how to use this, and maybe I don't really like it. How wrong was I!! After playing around for a bit I just totally fell in love with this die. The dragonflies are so gorgeous and you can play around with so many different looks. White borders on colourful dragonflies, vellum dragonflies with colourful borders, white against black, any combination really! I chose to go with rainbow colours, because as you know, rainbow is my favourite colour. I used a piece of watercolour card I had created previously using Brushos to die cut the dragonflies an a piece of sparkly white card for the top border to accentuate the colours. I created a rainbow coloured background using the ARTplorations Bubble Dance stencil by blending Tim Holtz Distress inks using foam applicators. Finally, I die cut the sentiment using the new Be Kind Phrase Die. All the bright colours on this card make me smile, I hope it will inspire you to also create something spring and wing themed for the linky party. Don't forget to hop around to see what my incredibly talented DT colleagues have created for the hop as well.

I'm linking up with the following challenges: 

AAA cards - Shiny Spring

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Make a Rainbow

Time Out - Be inspired by the phrase "When it rains look for rainbows, when it's dark look for stars"

Card: 250 gsm white card, 160 gsm watercolour paper, white and grey glitter card

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Brushos

Stencils: ARTplorations Bubble Dance 

Dies: CUTplorations Dragonfly Layering Dies, Be Kind Phrase Die