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

It's time for the STAMPlorations Inspiration post for April 2021. I'm once again creating four Christmas cards to celebrate the end of the month, and to build up my Christmas card stash as last year things didn't quite go to plan on the Christmas card front. Don't forget that by leaving a comment on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post you are entered into a monthly draw for a $15 prize code to the STAMPlorations store.

This time I used one of my most used STAMPlorations Christmas stamp sets, Joyful and very conveniently it has four beautiful stamps so perfect for today's set of cards. I have used these stamps so so much, and although the colour of the rubber has changed a bit over the years, they still stamp as great as they did at the beginning. 

I started by picking a range of Distress Inks and masking off random slivers of card fronts, inking to create geometric shapes with three different colours blended together. Next, I left the ink to dry for a while and then used an anti-static tool to make sure the heat embossing powder wouldn't randomly stick all over the inked regions. I stamped the images in Versafine and heat embossed in a gunmetal powder. Last, I sprinkled some Distress Ink I diluted with water across the card front and added a sentiment I created from leftover coloured card and Simple Christmas Clear Stickers. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful

Stickers: STAMPlorations Simple Christmas Clear Stickers

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine, Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Ink

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

 

Welcome to this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post. I have entered November with hardly any Christmas cards made (I can hear you gasping all the way here...). I'm proud to say I have finished most of my (mainly knitted or crocheted) Christmas presents but cards... not so much this year. Last year was the total opposite - lots of cards, but hardly any presents. Luckily I have made a few cards during the year, but I think from now until Christmas, all my Inspiration projects will be Christmas themed to bulk up the Christmas card stash. 

I thought I would do something a bit different from my usual Christmas card by creating a slimline card. I started by inking brown and red Distress Ink through the Flair Slimline Stencil, I really love this stencil, it's super versatile and will adapt to so many different designs depending on colours and other elements. Here I combined it with the wreath from Joyful and the deer from Yuletide Deer, both heat embossed in copper on kraft card and coloured with Distress ink. Last, I attached a sentiment from Simple Christmas Clear Stickers. I think it turned out quite nice with a rustic feel.

As always, don't forget that by commenting on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post you are entering into a monthly draw for a $15 prize code. And there are so many offers in the STAMPlorations store at the moment, check below for info, including a code which, in addition to a discount will also give you a freebie! 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Yuletide Deer, Joyful

Stencil: ARTplorations Flair Slimline Stencil

Other: Simple Christmas Clear Stickers

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Vintage Photo and Festive Berry, Tsukineko Versamark

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

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

Hi, happy Tuesday and happy STAMPlorations Inspiration day! We have a new Inspiration Post over on the STAMPlorations blog. Don't forget that by commenting on the post over on the STAMPlorations blog you will have a chance to win a  $15 gift code to the new fabulous STAMPlorations store.

I'm continuing my Christmas in July theme from last week. This time I did some white heat embossing in white on kraft using the wreath from Joyful which I watercoloured with Distress Oxides, and splattered with white watercolour. I cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and inked the edges of the panel with Vintage Photo. I used the sentiment stamps from Joy to create the sentiment. This was actually quite a quick card to make so I might make a batch of these to get seriously started with my Christmas card stash.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful, Joy 

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Oxides

If you feel like shopping in the STAMPlorations store, 

you will get 30% off all products in the main store!

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Hi and welcome to the first STAMPlorations Inspiration post for July. I am going to devote my July projects to some Christmas card ideas as I think July is a good time to start thinking about designs for Christmas cards so that once you get a bit closer to Christmas you have multiple cards and designs done and if needed, you can mass-produce one or a few of them. 

Another exciting thing for July is that the brand new STAMPlorations store is now open! All the STAMPlorations stamps, dies, digis and other crafting supplies are now available in one shop and you can also find the Outlet store in the same place. Don't forget to use the code RELAUNCH at checkout to get 30% off your first order in the new store and for subsequent orders, you can use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout for 20% off. And there is even a freebie you can get for FREE if you pay for shipping. And if you leave a comment on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post over on the main STAMPloratios blog you can win a $15 gift code to the STAMPlorations store!

For my first Christmas in July project involves one of my all-time favourite Christmas stamp sets, Joyful. I heat embossed the Christmas present image in gold on white card, watercoloured with Gansai Tambi watercolours and fussy cut the image. I used the Dream Flower stencil with Distress Inks to create the background for the card, which I think looks a bit like poinsettias. Last, I added a sentiment from Joy heat embossed onto kraft card. 

Note that if you use any of the affiliate links in this post I will get a small compensation from your order without any additional cost to you!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful, Joy

Stencil: ARTplorations Dream Flower 

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Distress Ink, Gansai Tambi watercolours

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.

25 Days of Christmas Tags

I'm excited to share with you my tag for the 8th annual 25 Days of Christmas Tags event. If you are part of the crafting community on the Interwebs you are probably already well familiar with this event but if you aren't, it's run by the amazing Tracey McNeely of In My Creative Opinion. Every year, Tracey brings together the paper crafting community for 25 days of amazing Christmas tag inspiration, and you can take part by hopping along, leaving comments and creating your own tags. 

And for an extra chance to win, hop over to the STAMPlorations blog extra 25 Days of Christmas Tags post and you can win a set of the fantastic new Christmas Sentiments dies I used for my tag!!

Today the sponsor of the day over at 25 Days of Christmas Tags is STAMPlorations and I was lucky to get to contribute to this event. I cut my tag using the STAMPlorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies and stamped the Christmas presents and wreath from Joyful in black ink, adding a bit of red watercolour to the images. I then die cut the sentiment using the new Christmas Sentiments dies, once in black and once in red and attached them to the tag. I love these dies, they are all you need for your Christmas card sentiments this year. There are several dies, they are a perfect size both for tags and cards and I absolutely love the beautiful lettering. I know this will be my forever love Christmas sentiment, and die-cutting the sentiment really makes it pop off the page.

Don't forget to follow along for the whole 25 days of Tags over at Tracey's blog and comment on the posts and create your own tags to get into the Christmas crafty mood! And after you have done that, hop over to the  STAMPlorations blog extra 25 Days of Christmas Tags post for a chance to win the Christmas Sentiments dies!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful

Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies, Christmas Sentiments

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

December STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Mid-Month Inspiration

And so this is Christmas. Well, only a few sleeps away. We made it here once again, through the whole year. I hope you and your loved ones will have a wonderful and relaxing time, and enjoy your time in whatever way you are planning to spend it. And if you are one of the many people working your way through the holidays, thank you for doing that as you have one of those jobs which is vital in keeping the rest of us healthy, safe or happy. 

This is the mid-month reminder for the STAMPlorations December CAS challenge, the last reminder for the last challenge. Of the year that is, we will be with you bright and early in the new year on January 4th with a brand new challenge. But for now you can enjoy our gold theme for a few more weeks, maybe squeeze in those last Christmas cards you need. Or are you one of those super organised people who have a stack of cards bigger than you need? Congratulations in that case, and can you please tell me your secret (yes, yes, I know, it's all about getting started early... maybe I'll try having a January Christmas card crafting session to start the stash for next year to avoid the madness of the December crafting rush). Thank you for crafting with us this year and for sharing your gorgeous creations in the gallery, hope you will continue to do so next year.

For my card, I started by stamping the beautiful wreath from Joyful onto Neenah Solar white card in Memento black ink and coloured with Copics. I then stamped the beautiful sentiment from Delight in the Joys - Typografia Christmas in Versamark onto vellum and heat embossed in gold. Last, I die cut the vellum using the smallest die from Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and attached to the card using micro glue dots for vellum.

Card: Neenah Solar white card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful, Delight in the Joys - Typografia Christmas
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Copics
Dies: Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies
Other: Gold embossing powder, vellum micro glue dots

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.

STAMPlorations Typografia Christmas

I'm so excited to join my fellow STAMPlorations DT sisters to showcase more of the awesome Typografia Christmas stamps (the first batch was showcased beautifully here) in the STAMPlorations Typografia Christmas Blog Hop! As you can see, there is a big bunch of gorgeous sentiment stamps, you can find them all in the STAMPlorations Store. To celebrate the blog hop you will automatically get 5% off these stamps but if you use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout you get an additional 20% off! 

And it wouldn't be a blog hop without some prizes, which you can win by leaving comments on the main Typografia Christmas Blog Hop post and on the designer's blogs. One randomly drawn commenter will win a choice of 3 Typografia Christmas stamps. Commenting closes on Monday, October 9 and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, October 10.

I absolutely adore these gorgeous stamps, and they make it so quick and easy to create gorgeous Christmas cards, or maybe to use them in your notebook, planner or journal! For my first card, I used the gorgeous Merry Little Christmas stamp, which is probably my favourite of them all. I just love that beautiful lettering, particularly the swirly Merry Christmas. The actual card was quite easy and quick to put together. I started by masking a rectangle using washi tape and scrap paper from watercolour card. Then I sprinkled a little bit of blue and purple Brushos onto the watercolour card and spritzed water with a mini mister. After drying the card with a heat tool I used my embossing buddy and then stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it with gunmetal embossing powder. And that's it! I may just make these in a bunch of different colours as my main "mass-produced" Christmas card this year.

My next card involved a bit more work. I started by stamping the Christmas present from Joyful onto Neenah White card in Memento Tuxedo Black and colouring with Copics. Then I stamped the Delight in the Joys stamp in Versamark and heat embossed in gold. I die cut the vellum using the smallest Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die and adhered to the card using vellum glue micro-dots.

For my last card, I used the From Across the Miles stamp and the cute and cosy log snow-covered log cabin from Homespun Christmas. I stamped the log cabin in Antique Linen Distress ink for a pale outline perfect for some no-line watercolouring. I watercoloured the log cabin with Distress Inks and created a dark winter's night sky around the cabin and all the way down the rest of the card. Last I used my embossing buddy all over the dark blue background, stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it in white. I used a gel pen to add some snow to the background for a finishing touch.

I'm linking up my first card over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme this week is Christmas.

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney Aquafine watercolour paper, 250 gsm white card, Neenah Solar white card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: STAMPlorations Merry Little Christmas, Delight in the Joys, Homespun Christmas, From Across the Miles, Joyful
Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Brushos, Copics, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Ground Espresso, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Pine Needles, Peeled Paint, Signo white gel pen
Other: Embossing powders in gold, gunmetal and Seafoam white

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 And Embossing Christmas cards

I have made my own Christmas cards for my colleagues for a few years now. I've posted some of my previous ones here, here (I really loved these!!) and even older ones here. I like to keep them at the 10x10cm size (about 4x4 inches) as I can get three cards from one A4 sheet of card. I need to make about 25 of them, so I want them to be easy and not have too many steps.

For this year's design I though I would try two different colourful backgrounds - one using watercolours and one using Brushos. I think I prefer the Brushos over the watercolour, although I think the more even colour of the watercolour background will let the embossed image stand out better. I just randomly applied watercolours / sprinkled the Brushos and heat embossed stamps from the STAMPlorations Joyful set in either gold or gunmetal silver.

 

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

AAA Card Challenges - Christmas
ABC Christmas Challenges - Y is for Yikes (there is less than two weeks left until Christmas...)
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Silver or Grey 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - ATG

And here is a look at the whole batch together.

Card: 250 gsm white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful 
Ink and colouring: Versamark, Gansai Tambi, Brushos
Other: Gold and gunmetal embossing powder