April STAMPlorations challenges - Mid-Month Reminder

Welcome to the April STAMPlorations Mid-Month reminder post. We have once again sped through half of the month. We have had a cold start to April, it was really warm and lovely for one weekend in late March but then it turned cold again. As in having-to-scrape-your-windscreen-in-the-morning cold. I'm ready for lovely sun now, thank you and please. We really need to do some emergency work in the garden. Most of our neighbours are retired and spend a lot of time making their gardens so beautiful whereas we must be the house they all point at with disapproving looks... Anyhow, it's more important to have some quality crafting time than a pristine garden, don't you think?

I created a tag inspired by the recycling theme for our TAGplorations challenge. I started by using some tissue paper which was used to wrap my toilet paper (yes, that's right!). I covered some scrap card (left over from a failed experiment) with the tissue paper and die cut a tag using Stitched Tags Nesting Dies. The tissue paper was originally black and white striped, but I used Gansai Tambi pearlescent watercolours to colour the white bits, and splattered some silver and gold pearlescent watercolours onto the tag. I stamped the paint brushes from Life In Full Colour again onto a scrap piece of card (which had some failed stamping on the other side of the paper) and coloured with Copics. Last, I heat embossed a sentiment from the same stamp set in white and added a scrap piece of ribbon and some leftover wool to the tag.

My card for the CAS challenge was inspired by the Dark Navy optional colour twist. I smooshed Distress Paints onto watercolour paper, adding some white and yellow splatters to create a starry sky. I die cut the card using Crazy Double Running Stitch Nesting Dies. I stamped several houses from Houses and coloured them with Copics. Last, I added a simple dark navy strip for the sentiment which was heat embossed in white. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Life In Full Colour, Houses

Dies: Stitched Tags Nesting Dies, Crazy Double Running Stitch Nesting Dies

Ink and Colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Gansai Tambi Pearl Colours, Copics, Distress Paints

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at theSTAMPlorations 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.

New Year, New Journal

And so it's 2017. Do you feel different? You would think that in all my many, many years I would already have learned that nothing magically changes when that clock strikes 12, but every year I have this tiny little hope that maybe somehow it will feel different. And again, I will try to go into the new year hopeful that next year will be better than the last. That things will keep on changing to the better. I think it's really important to remember that things won't magically change. For things to change, you need to change things. A good motivational read about it here. Also, when thinking back on 2016 all I could think of was the bad things. But we should focus on the positives! 

Before I go on with my musings, I have some very exciting news to share with you. I can offer you a 20% discount code for the STAMPlorations shop. If you want to indulge in a bit of shopping, all you need to do is enter the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA when checking out. The discount will apply to both normal price and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The discount cannot be combined with other codes in the STAMPlorations store. If you have any questions or problems with the code, just let me know.

As usual there will be no New Year's promises from me. But I will continue on my journey on trying to live healthily most of the time. And enjoy the good things. This year I will try to focus more on being present. Not trying to multi-task everything. Focus on the person in front of me or the task in hand. It will be hard - I always type away on my blog posts while watching TV, or read emails while I'm in meetings. I will try my best to do less of that.

I will continue to journal. I loved having an analog calendar. I will continue to write more by hand. And I will try to incorporate some art in my journal - at least one page a month. However, I have struggled to get started with the new journal - I carried it with me on my Christmas trip but didn't write anything in it at all. I guess it's similar to a writer's block. When I received my recent crafty stash from STAMPlorations that seemed to break the block. I got so inspired that I just crafted without thinking and created my journal title page which is very different from anything I usually create. I even used my Tim Holtz Distress Crayons which I have been hiding in my desk drawer for months and months. I just kept colouring, stamping and adding stuff like there's no tomorrow. 

I started by smudging the crayons thorough the stunning ARTplorations Two Feathers mask, blending the crayons as I went. Then I used the gorgeous new Scribbly Splattery Grunge stamp set in black and grey around the edge of the stencilled image. I die cut the panel using the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. I stamped a sentiment from the Life In Full Colour stamp set in black and stamped the paintbrush from the same set on another piece of paper. I coloured the brush using Copics and fussy cut it. Then I stamped and fussy cut the numbers for the year using Sketchy Alphabet from a scrap piece of rainbow coloured card I created last summer and haven't been able to throw away. I used the same leftover piece of coloured card to die cut the Hello, Seriously and Awesome and then die cut the same sentiments from black card which I used to layer the sentiments. I added loads of Ice Stickles on the "2017" as a finishing touch. I also used grey ink though the feather mask to create the background for my brightly coloured panel. I sure don't know what 2017 will bring but at least I'll receive it in psychedelic colours!

I'm linking up with the Time Out challenge where the challenge is to be inspired by the sentence "With each sunrise we are given a chance for a new beginning". I was inspired by the words "new beginning". I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, C.R.A.F.T, Brown Sugar and 4 Crafty Chicks where anything goes. Last but not least I'm linking up with Cut It Up challenge where the theme is Out with the old, in with the new (my old thing - those old Distress Crayons which have been in my drawer for at least six months, my new things - Scribbly Splattery Grunge and Life in Full Colour stamp sets have never been used)

Paper: Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, scraps of black card, scraps of rainbow coloured card created with Tim Holtz Distress Paints
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin' Up Slate Grey, Tim Holtz Distress Crayons, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Hickory Smoke, Copics
Stamps: STAMPlorations Scribbly Splattery Grunge, Life In Full Colour, Sketchy Alphabet
Dies: STAMPlorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Hello Word Die, Seriously Word Die, Awesome Word die
Other: STAMPlorations Two Feathers mask, Ranger Ice Stickles

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping for STAMPlorations products you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at the 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!