May STAMPlorations CAS Challenge

 

Hi fellow crafters! Happy best month of the year, May is finally here!! I love May. It's spring, there are flowers, TWO bank holidays in a month (if you are in the UK), nature is back to life, it's warm(er), and of course it's my birthday month so I may be a bit biased.

Anyhow, the first day of the month means the STAMPlorations challenges turn over a new leaf. The STAMPlorations May CAS challenge has a really great colour combo which I feel really challenged me - yellow and copper. How gorgeous are those roses in the challenge inspiration pic above? So I definitely wanted to create something with yellow roses myself. I started by stamping In Bloom: Radiant Roses in Versamark and heat embossing in copper. I then watercoloured the roses in Distress Inks and splattered some watercolour on the card front for good measure. Last, I matted the card front on copper card, and die cut a sentiment in the same copper card using  Everyday Sentiments Dies.

I hope you feel inspired to join the challenge, and as usual, there are great prizes to be won, a $20 prize code to the winner and three $7 prize codes to randomly picked entries.

Stamps: STAMPlorations In Bloom: Radiant Roses

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments Dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Ranger Distress 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 :) 

Colouring With Stamps

Happy Monday! Hope this will turn out to be a good week for you. I suffer from an issue that is surely troubling many of you - my day job keeps getting in the way of crafting... Anyhow, I'm blogging over on the STAMPlorations blog today showcasing a few cards I made using the "colouring with stamps" technique which Shery, the creative and talented owner of STAMPlorations has perfected to an art form. I thought I would try my hand at it, and hopefully, you will be inspired to try it too. It works best on images which don't have too many tiny and delicate details, although I love the look when the colour splotches extend a bit beyond the stamped image. If you like stamping, you will love this technique as you get to stamp a lot! If you don't have any suitable "splotchy" stamps, you can use the reverse of some small round-ish stamps, that works well too.

For my first card, I stamped the Radiant Roses in black and used stamps from Art Marks to colour in the roses using Distress Oxides. I also stamped some ink spots in the bottom part of the card, before adding the sentiment from Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic.

For my second card, I stamped the French Marigold Large, and this time I used Distress Inks to colour the flower. I added a sentiment from Noteworthy 3 and splattered some green ink on the card front for added interest.

For my third card, I decided to go with pastel colours. I stamped the Classic Calla Lilies along the long side of the card, before again using the splotch stamps from Art Marks to colour the florals with Distress Inks. The sentiment is from Noteworthy 3.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Radiant Roses, Art Marks, Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic, French Marigold Large, Noteworthy 3, Classic Calla Lilies
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Oxides and Inks

There are some fantastic offers in the STAMPlorations store in August. Don't forget to check them out if you are looking to extend your crafty stash.
Clear Stickers are 30% off with code CLEAR30 Coloring Books are 25% off with code COLOR25 Clear Stamps* are 25% off with code STAMP25
*Excludes newly released stamps. Codes may be used multiple times per customer throughout promotion period. All 3 codes may be used together in one order. BYOCS/Stamp club subscribers: use your personal coupon code with the codes for 50% to 70% off on qualifying items + your free shipping code on your order of at least $30.

Neutral Wedding Card

I got asked to do a wedding card, with the instructions that it could not be at all cute. Which made me have to think a bit as my go-to wedding stamp set is the super cute Lawn Fawn Happy Wedding. But having to challenge your crafty muscles is always good, and after a few rounds of optimisation, I ended up with this card. To be honest, the plan was to use white heat embossing on the roses, and I had done multiple versions with both white and clear glittery embossing powder. They look really similar when the bottles are sitting on the desk and I simply went for the wrong bottle! But in the end, I really liked the subtle shimmer from the glitter embossing powder so I went with this design after all. I then hand lettered the sentiment using a metallic sharpie as I don't have a Mr&Mrs stamp. I added some gold Wink of Stella to the sentiment for a finishing touch adding some subtle shimmer.

My card was inspired by the neutral colours and intricate piping on the beautiful wedding cake and the metallic shine from the cake stand over at The Card Concept #80 (my card style is CAS). I'm also linking up with CAS on Friday where the theme is Flowers. 

Trying to capture the shimmer of the embossing powder on the roses.

Card: White 300 gsm card, kraft card

Stamps: STAMPlorations In Bloom: Radiant Roses

Ink and lettering: Tsukineko Versamark, Copper Sharpie, Gold Wink of Stella

Other: Papermania Holographic Embossing powder, CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting 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.

Radiant Roses

I have waited for this for a long time. Finally time for my summer leave - although summer is already fading fast. Two whole weeks of no work! And of course, I'm coming down with a cold. Oh well, less gardening and more crafting. But we do have apple and pear trees heavy with fruit so I there will be a lot of jamming and stewing in this house over the next few days.

Anyhow, I did spend the whole morning in the craft room today. This card was inspired by the colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. I'm also linking up with the "Add text" theme over at House of Cards and the Stamp It theme at both Simon Says Stamp Monday and Wednesday Challenge.

Card: Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up Basic Black
Stamps: STAMPlorations In Bloom: Radiant Roses, Lotus Love
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Copics
Other: Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle, Signo white gel pen

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.