STAMPlorations Inspiration

Happy Tuesday! Today I'm bringing you a bit of sparkle as part of my project for this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post. I had a week off work last week, which I had been looking forward to very much as I haven't really had much time off since our week of skiing in February. Doesn't that feel like another life? I was looking forward to a week of crafting and knitting but instead, we have been painting my partner's old home which we have been renting out for the last eight years. And it really was in need of a lick of paint - well, correct that, a few gallons of paint. But I have to admit, I am starting to feel my age, and a week of full-time DYIing has taken its toll. And as much as I love painting and colouring beautiful stamps, I really, really, really don't like painting walls! Oh well, it's all done now and I think I deserve some sparkles and I'm sure you do too!

Today's card combines a few fabulous STAMPlorations stamp sets. I started by stamping the beautiful horse from Deepti's Live Love Ride and turned it into a unicorn. I then added lots of rainbow colours flowing from the unicorn's mane out all over the card. I added the Leave a Little Sparkle sentiment and the diamonds from Sparkly. Next, I upped the bling factor by inking Versafine thorough the Dots All Over stencil and heat embossed in sparkly silver embossing powder. I also added 

Don't forget that by commenting on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post you enter into a monthly draw for $15 gift code. And if you feel like shopping, don't forget you get 20% off normal priced products in the STAMPlorations store by using my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA (if you use the affiliate links in this blog post I will get a small commission without any additional cost to you and you help feed my crafting addiction).

Stamps: STAMPlorations Live Love Ride, Leave a Little Sparkle, Sparkly
Stencil: ARTplorations Dots All Over
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Versafine, Gansai Tambi watercolours

This month you get 25% off clear stamps using code STAMP25 and 15% off stencils with code STENCIL15  in the STAMPlorations store. Using my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA you get 20% off all non-discounted products! There is even a freebie of the month which you get totally free (as long as you pay for shipping).

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 New Release Sweetly

It's time to introduce the fourth stamp set of the STAMPlorations February 2020 release week. And it's another one of Shery's gorgeous floral sets - Sweetly. It contains a big bunch of flowers, a butterfly and a mix of words and sentiments. 

For my first card, I stamped the butterfly, masking as I went along. I used my watercolours to colour the butterflies, letting the colours run over the lines to create a rainbow halo around the butterflies. I created the sentiment by heat embossing in white.

For my second card I started by stamping the bunch of flowers onto watercolour card and heat embossed in gold. I then die cut the panel using the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and coloured the flowers with the Faber Castell watercolour pencils. I attached the panel onto some Tim Holtz patterned paper and added a gold sentiment which I die cut using Everyday Sentiments.

For a chance to win a $20 gift code or one of the new stamp sets, comment on the blog post over on the STAMPlorations blog and the participating designer's blogs. You don't have to comment on all blogs, but every comment will be entered in the random draw. Commenting is open until February 19th and the randomly drawn winners will be announced on February 21st. Also, the new stamps are 10% off automatically until February 19 in the STAMPlorations store and if you use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA you will get an extra 20% off.

Other STAMPlorations projects used: CUTploration Everyday Sentiments dies, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

STAMPlorations November CAS Challenge - Brown

Happy November and welcome to the November STAMPlorations CAS challenge. This month our optional colour twist is Any Shade of Brown, which for me meant chocolate cake! I stamped the cake using Layered Cake Bake in Distress Ink and watercoloured with multiple shades of brown Distress Ink and added strawberry icing on top. I added the sentiment using the new  Everyday Sentiments dies. I die cut the sentiment in light brown card and inked darker browns around the edges of the die cuts. I love these new dies, as they are the perfect size for a card where you want to add a die-cut sentiment but don't want the sentiment to take centre stage. I have been looking for smaller sentiment dies which would be perfect for cards or smaller projects like tags and these are absolutely perfect! 

I'm linking up my card over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes this week.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Layered Cake Bake

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Gathered Twigs, Work Lipstick

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Happy Tuesday! Tuesday has become my favourite day of the week as I get to share a new crafting project and see what the other ladies of the Inspiration team have created over on the STAMPlorations blog for our weekly Inspiration post. 

Today I wanted to share a card I made using the fun Zen Coffee Cup Layering dies. I started by Die cutting the mug from dark brown card, and then a second time from watercolour card. I coloured the watercolour version with Gansai Tambi watercolours and paper pieced them into the brown frame. I heat embossed the fun sentiment from Coffeeology in copper onto vellum and splattered some brown ink for added interest. 

Don't forget to comment on the  STAMPlorations Inspiration post for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to the STAMPlorations store.

I'm linking up my card with the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Galz - Vellum 

Allsorts Challenge - Autumn

Dream Valley Challenges - Autumn colours

Creativ Fusion - Autumn

Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffeeology 

Dies: CUTplorations Zen Coffee Cup Layering dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Gansai Tambi Watercolours

Also, don't forget to check out all the current STAMPlorations promotion here, including the End Of Summer Super Sale and so much more.

STAMPlorations Spring Fling Day 10

Welcome to day 10 of the STAMPlorations Spring Fling, thank you for stopping by! I hope you have been inspired by the spring themed projects we have been showcasing over the last few weeks. Is it spring where you live yet? We had a really warm spell about a week ago, but then it turned grey and chilly again. I can't wait for more sun, as the asparagus has started to grow in the garden and now needs lots of sun to grow. 

Today is day 10 of the STAMPlorations Spring Fling, so only two more days to go. As usual, there is a prize to be won by commenting on the  STAMPlorations blog and the designer's blogs (including mine!). Today, the prize is a choice of any in stock 4x8 stamp set.

My project started by watercolouring the background using Gansai Tambi Pearl Colours, blending with lots of water to create a rainbow. I die cut the panel using the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting dies, using the two smaller dies to cut a frame from black card. I then stamped Leave a Little Sparkle Typografia Motivate in Versamark and heat embossed in Gold. Last, I die cut the beautiful Flutter Zen 2 Layering Dies butterfly from gold glitter card. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Leave a Little Sparkle Typografia Motivate

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting dies, Flutter Zen 2 Layering Dies
Ink and colouring: Gansai Tambi Pearl Colours, Tsukineko Versamark

Don't forget the Spring Fling April sale in the STAMPlorations store. You can also use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA for an additional discount off your order. 

February STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Cerulean Blue

Happy February! We got through the first month of the year and already the days are getting just that little bit longer. As usual, a new month means a new CAS challenge over on the STAMPlorations blog. This month our optional colour twist is Cerulean Blue. 

You know the old saying "You never know what you have until you clean your craft room"? Well, I have been in major clearing out mood. Not quite sure why (and no, I haven't watched the Marie Kodo Netflix series...). Anyhow, I listed a big bunch of old crafty stuff on eBay. And I discovered a few envelopes of the narrow and long persuasion. I felt like I wanted to create some long and narrow cards to fit the envelopes and then send the cards off and that would get rid of those weirdly shaped envelopes. What a cunning plan, right?

I used my current favourite flower stamp set, STAMPlorations Bloom Doodles, to create a row of flowers which I coloured with Gansai Tambi watercolours. I stamped one of the flowers on the envelope too. I then die cut the sentiment using CUTplorations Fabulous Word Die directly from the front panel, careful to keep track of all the small pieces of the die cut. I then attached the die cut using 3D foam pads. So you can just about make out the sentiment, it's very subtle. I really love the look. I hope this has inspired you to play along with us over at STAMPlorations CAS challenge. And if you played along in our January challenge, don't forget to check in on the 10th when we reveal all the winners for all our January challenges and blog hops!

I'm linking up my card over at CAS Mix Up where the theme is dimensional die cuts (I promise my sentiment is attached with 3D foam pads, I just didn't quite manage to capture the dimension in my photo). My "your choice" is watercolour and masking.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Bloom Doodles,  Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic

Dies: CUTplorations Fabulous Word Die

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

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.

Calla Lily Congrats

I'm constantly amazed by this creativity thing. I can spend a whole day trying to create something specific and keep binning card after card as they just don't work. And then I get an idea which I don't think will even work, and then 10 or 15 minutes later I've created a card that I really like. Like the right two brain cells finally managed to meet up. Go figure!

Anyhow, today's card was inspired by the CAS on Friday challenge where the theme is Flowers, the inspiration image over at Time Out and the colours over at Color Throwdown. 

Card: Watercolour paper from my stash, scraps of kraft and black card

Stamps: STAMPlorations In Bloom: Classic Calla Lilies

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

Die: CUTplorations Congrats Word die

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.

Polar Bear and Northern Lights

Our living room has transformed into Christmas lights central. I decided this year to go minimal with Christmas decorations - no tree, no tinsel. Instead lots of warm white Christmas lights, poinsettias and candles. I'm loving it (although I had to let the BF put his blue Christmas lights somewhere, and he chose the bedroom... oh well, as long as they are not in the living room, eh?). But the presents are wrapped, food prep is done as much as it can and tomorrow I'll deliver the last of my Christmas cards and presents to my colleagues after which I'll start focussing more on winding down and relaxing than anything else. Every month I set myself one task for the following month, and the task I set myself at the end of November was to spend some time in December sipping some mulled wine or hot cocoa and reading a book, or maybe just enjoying all the Christmas lights in the house.

I haven't had much time for creative crafting - at best I've managed a few batches of really simple Christmas cards and gift tags. But the other night, inspired by the most amazing Northern Lights we saw when we spent a week in Finnish Lapland a few weeks ago, I wanted to create a card inspired by the most magical lights in the sky. I used watercolours to create the sky, splattering it with white acrylic paint for stars. Then I stamped and coloured the cute polar bear from Lawn Fawn Critters in the Snow.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
CAS on Friday - Christmas 
CAS Mixup - Stamping + 2 of your choice (watercolour marbling and die cutting)
CAS Watercolour - ATG
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Stitch It

Card: 250 gsm white card, scrap of red card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm watercolour paper
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Snow, Hats Off and matching dies
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Gansai Tambi watercolours
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Circles, Scripty Merry
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles

October STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Anything Goes With Orange

Hello and welcome back to the first STAMPlorations CAS challenge after our summer break. It's so good to be back, and can't wait to see all your gorgeous creations in our gallery. I have to admit my crafty mojo clearly needs some routine and structure - during the summer my Mojo was a bit all over the place, but now I'm in gear again. Hope you are inspired to play along with us!

It's all very clean and simple really (see what I did there...) - we invite you to create a Clean and Simple (CAS) card and link it up to the gallery. You can use the optional colour twist if you want to. You are free to use any products you want to, but if you have any STAMPlorations goodies we would love to see how you use them! You can link up to 3 cards in each challenge. Don't forget to add our challenge graphic in your post, along with a link back to the challenge so others can also play along. The prizes are a $10 gift card for the winner and $5 gift cards to the top picks. Last but not least, if there are 50 or more entries: 1 random winner will get to pick a product of their choice (3x5 stamp set OR 2 standard size stencils OR 1 CUTplorations word/phrase die).

For my card, I used the gorgeous In Bloom: Classic Calla Lilies stamp. I stamped it in Versafine black ink, and coloured with Gansai Tambi watercolours using yellows and oranges giving it an autumnal vibe. Then I die cut the sentiment three times from yellow, orange and red card and stacked them on top of each other.

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper, scraps of red, yellow and orange card

Stamps: STAMPlorations In Bloom: Classic Calla Lilies

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

Dies: CUTplorations Hello Word die

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.

Bloomtangled

I know you already had a  glimpse of the beautiful new STAMPlorations colouring book for National Colouring book day but today we are here with some of my fellow STAMPlorations DT ladies to showcase the book and some projects we made from the coloured pages for the official Bloomtangled Blog Hop and Linky Party.  And of course we want you to have some fun too, you can comment on the main blog post and all the designer's posts for a chance to win some prizes. On the main blog post you will also find a download from the colouring book. If you download the page, colour it and turn it into any kind of project you can link up and win even more prizes.

First I'll show you some pages I coloured with different mediums. 

Coloured with Faber Castell Albrech Durer watercolour
pencils and light blending with a little water.

Gansai Tambi watercolour on clear gesso.

Sharpies work really well with the colouring book -
I just love the vibrant colours.

Of course I wanted to turn my coloured pages into some projects. I used the page I coloured with Sharpies and made two cards by die cutting the coloured page using the Crazy Double Running Stitched Rectangle, matting it onto pink and purple card and adding black and white die cuts. 

I used the watercoloured page to decorate my bullet journal - I die cut a large panel of the page again using the Crazy Double Running Stitched Rectangle. I added some die cuts and used the Sketchy Alphabet stamps to create the letters to spell August. I inked through the ARTplorations Ethnic Organic One stencil using Distress ink to create the background for the journal page. I used leftover strips of the colouring book page to decorate the weekly spreads.

I also made another card from a page I coloured earlier for National Colouring book day. Again the beautiful florals just needed nothing other than a simple sentiment 

I love the page I coloured with watercolour pencils, so I haven't had the heart to cut it yet!

Card: white 250 gsm card, pink and purple card, scrap of black card
Colouring: Sharpies, Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Wilted Violet, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peeled Paint, Faber Castell Albrech Durer watercolour pencils, Gansai Tambi watercolours
Dies: Crazy Double Running Stitched Rectangle, Fabulous word die, Hello word die, Gorgeous word die, Seriously word die, Awesome word die, Celebrate word die
Stamps: Bold Sentiments Fabulous, Sketchy Alphabet
Other: ARTplorations Ethnic Organic One stencil, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

National Colouring Book Day and Bloomtangled

Bloomtangled page coloured with Sharpies

Did you know that today is National Colouring Book Day? Not that you necessarily need an excuse to get out your colouring book and colouring medium of choice, but if you haven't done that for a long time, let me remind you how incredibly relaxing and fun it is to sit down and just colour away. As a special treat, today I and some of the amazingly talented ladies of the STAMPlorations DT are sharing some colouring inspiration from the new STAMPlorations colouring book Bloomtangled. We will show you more from this super fun book later, but today we are sharing a lot of pages we have coloured over on the STAMPlorations blog. 

Shery has made a page sampler from the book available over on the STAMPlorations blog so you can join in on the fun immediately. You can link up your coloured page until Sunday, August 7th and one randomly drawn winner will receive a copy of the colouring book. You can also find the book over in the STAMPlorations store. And don't forget by using the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA you will receive 20% off at checkout. Below you will find several pages I have coloured using different media.

The book and my beloved Faber-Castell watercolour pencils.  

So far I have tried out Sharpies, Copics, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils (with very little water) and Gansai Tambi watercolours but before using the watercolours I covered the page in clear Gesso. My absolute favourite was the Sharpies due to their super vibrant colours. 

Watercolour pencils before adding water

Gansai Tambi watercolours on a page covered in clear Gesso.

I had so much fun with the Copics
I had to colour another page.

Nothing like a bit of colouring and a happy cup
of coffee to get the day started.

Now it's your turn to do some colouring and don't forget to link up your free Bloomtangled sampler for a chance to win the book. Together with the DT team, we will be showing you some projects we created from our coloured pages in a few week's time so don't forget to come back to check in. And there are a few other great new releases coming soon as well which I can't wait to share with you. I would love to hear from you if have ever tried colouring. Did you enjoy it? Which book would you recommend? What media do you enjoy using?

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. 

Watercolour Butterfly Row

Yesterday I got into the craft room after a bit of a break-up with my crafty stuff for a while. I started by making a few really simple and quick cards to warm up, I published them on the blog yesterday.  Today's card is the second card I made after I had spent some time warming up first. I was inspired by the butterfly theme over at CAS Watercolour. I also managed to play along with CAS Mix-up where the theme is Stamping + Tissue Paper + your choice. I was really intimidated by the tissue paper theme but when I saw Loll's great ideas to adhere the watercoloured tissue paper onto acetate I got the idea to attach my watercoloured tissue paper onto vellum (easier to glue it on!) and die cut for the sentiment. I was also inspired by the rainbow pastel colours over at Daring Cardmakers (although no unicorns this time, weird enough!!).

I started by stamping the gorgeous STAMPlorations Flutter Zen Row stamp onto watercolour paper and heat embossed the delicate butterflies in gold. Then I used my super fine watercolour brush and Gansai Tambi watercolours to colour the butterflies in all the colours of the rainbow. After colouring the butterflies, I added some grey around the butterflies for contrast, and splattered some black onto the background. Then I tackled the daunting task of watercolouring the tissue paper. Again, I couldn't help myself but colour it into a rainbow. I'm really on a rainbow streak! Then even more challenging, I dried the tissue paper using my heat gun, and scrunched it up. Then I glued it onto vellum, and die cut using the CUTplorations Celebrate Word die. I also cut a second sentiment in black to create some contrast. 

Card: Daler & Rowney 300 gsm watercolour card, tissue paper, scrap of black card, Dovecraft 110 gsm vellum

Stamps: STAMPlorations Flutter Zen Row

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Gansai Tambi watercolours

Other: Gold 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.