STAMPlorations Inspiration

How are you today? Thank you for taking the time to stop by. Are you starting to accommodate to this new normal of isolation and social distancing? I have not left the house for anything else than my daily walk/jog for a few weeks now. I'm ever so grateful we have a big garden and our house borders on fields with footpaths so I can go out for relatively isolated walks, although I have to say I have never met as many people on my walks/jogs as I have in the last few weeks. It seems like the whole world has suddenly taken up walking. Luckily I get to see my colleagues every day on video conferencing too, and we have online boardgames nights, Friday drinks and daily coffee breaks. And of course, there is always the craft room.  

And talking of crafting, it's time for another STAMPlorations Inspiration post. I was inspired by the daffodils in the garden to create this springtime card. I started by stamping the Narcissus - Large twice, masking for the second round of stamping. I then coloured the flowers with watercolour pencils and added a green sentiment using Everyday Sentiments dies. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Narcissus - Large
Dies: CUTploratoins Everyday Sentiments
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Faber Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils

March STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Mid-month inspiration

 

The mid-month reminder for our monthly CAS challenge over at STAMPlorations always stops me in my tracks. I can't believe how quickly the month is passing by. I hope you have had a chance to craft and maybe play along with our challenge already? If not, there is still plenty of time to join us for our Anything Goes with an optional twist of yellow challenge. The fantastic and very creative DT have a new bunch of cards to show you and inspire you with if you need a bit of help to kick-start the good old mojo. Don't forget that the winner will be rewarded with a $15 gift card to the fabulous STAMPlorations store ($10 if not using STAMPlorations products in your submission). 

I started by stamping the lovely Narcissus Large in Scattered straw Distress ink, and painted it with my lovely Gansai Tambi watercolours. I finally got a chance to use my brand new ultra fine Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Watercolour brush. So worth every penny! After finishing the flowers I added some green and turquoise around the flowers, and splattered really fine splashes of colour on the background. Last, I created the sentiment by spelling out "Easter" using the gorgeous Sketchy Alphabet and added a "Happy" from Blossom Overture. Whoever says you have to have lots of stash to create a card? All you need are a few stamps and some watercolours. And maybe a ridiculously expensive brush or two...

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
AAA Cards - Easter
Unicorn Challenge - CAS (My third entry for the challenge)
Deep Ocean Challenge - Easter
Try it on Tuesday - Nature
Artistic Inspirations - Anything goes with an optional twist of Easter

Card: 300 gsm textured card 
Stamps: STAMPlorations Narcissus Large, Sketchy Alphabet, Blossom Overture 
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Scattered Straw, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours 

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Spring has sprung

I guess we are well into spring already as the daffodils are out. But it's also really cold and we just had a touch of hail so maybe it's not quite spring yet... Anyhow, it's spring in the craft room with some daffodils and narcissi on the windowsill and bright colours in the watercolour palette. 

Today's card was inspired by a couple of challenges with a spring theme. First of all, it was inspired by the elemental inspiration image over at Daring Cardmakers. I was inspired by the spring flowers (I don't have a tulip stamp so Narcissi it was this time), the colour scheme of yellow, green and wood, and the woodgrain on the table as well as the large letters. I was also inspired by the Easter/spring theme over at Time Out. There is also an optional twist of masking, and I chose to include the twist by masking the stamped image when I inked through the woodgrain stencil. Time Out is also celebrating 2 years of challenges, happy birthday to Time Out and here's to many more! I'm also very excited to link up with the brand new CAS Mix Up challenge. The theme for the first CAS Mix Up challenge is stamping + watercolouring + your choice. I choose masking and stencilling as my choices. I'm also linking up with Just Us Girls where the theme is flowers and Darnell's fabulous NBUS challenge which is already on round 6. Lots of NBUS on this card; STAMPlorations Narcissus stamp, the Weathered Wood stencil and the Sketchy Alphabet stamps are all out and about for the first time, but most certainly not the last. 

I started by stamping the STAMPlorations Narcissus stamp in Antique Linen and watercolouring with my Gansai Tambis. Then I masked the flowers and inked Vintage Photo through the STAMPlorations Weathered Wood stencil. Last, I used the Sketchy Alphabet from STAMPlorations to spell Spring in green ink, and I completed the sentiment using the Stampin' Up Alphabet Rotary stamp, and a stamp from the Mixed Media Elements set.

Card: 300 gsm textured white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Narcissus Large, Mixed Media Elements and Sketchy Alphabet, Stampin' Up Alphabet Rotary stamp

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz distress inks Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Stampin' Up Pear Pizzazz, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours

Other: STAMPlorations Weathered Wood stencil