STAMPlorations October CAS Challenge - Orange

Welcome back to the STAMPlorations CAS challenge! We had a long break but are now brimming with pent-up CAS inspiration. I hope you will enjoy playing along, and can't wait to see what you create. And of course, you will have plenty of chances to win amazing STAMPlorations prizes too.

Our first optional colour twist this season is Any Shade of Orange. I was inspired to create a big flower using the lovely Peony Number Two stencil so I inked Distress Inks in yellow and orange through the stencil using a foam applicator. I finished my one layer CAS card with a sentiment from Noteworthy 2 and splattered some water for added interest.

Now it's your turn to create a CAS card, either with or without orange. You are free to use any products you want, but if you have any STAMPlorations crafty goodies, we would love to see what you create with them. Don't forget to display our challenge graphic in your post and link back to the CAS challenge post on the STAMPlorations blog to be eligible for our prizes.

I'm linking up this card over at AAA Cards where the theme is One Layer and the optional twist is autumn.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Noteworthy 2

Stencil: ARTplorations Peony Number Two

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey, Abandoned Coral

STAMPlorations Spring Fling

Welcome to the STAMPlorations Spring Fling event! Every spring, the lovely Shery, Mummy of STAMPlorations, does a grand big event with twelve days of giveaways. And I'm super excited that Shery always invites her design team (including yours truly!!) to join in on the fun. We are sharing spring themed projects which will hopefully inspire you to get creative too!

Every day there is a prize to be won by commenting on the STAMPlorations Spring Fling blog post and the designer's blog posts. You can comment until the 19th of April, and all winners will be announced in a big winner's post on April 22nd so don't forget to check in on the STAMPlorations blog to see if you are one of the lucky winners!

For my first Spring Fling project (yes, there are a few more to come in the next few days!!) I created a kraft tag using all the colours of the rainbow. I started by cutting a tag from kraft Card using CUTplorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies. Then I inked Distress Oxides through the ARTplorations Peony Number Two stencil. I stamped the Be A Rainbow Typografia Motivate sentiment in Onyx Black ink on top of the peony. Last, I stamped two butterflies from Fluttery, coloured them with Copics in all the colours of the rainbow, fussy cut, adhered to the tag and liberally doused in Ice Stickles. I finished the tag with white ribbon and burlap twine from my stash.

Don't forget that during the Spring Fling, the Spring Fling section in the STAMPlorations store is 25% off (no code needed). However, if you use my code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout, you can get up to 45% off!! 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Be A Rainbow Typografia Motivate, Fluttery
Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Tags Nesting Dies
Stencil: ARTplorations Peony Number Two
Ink: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Oxides, Copics

Mother's Day Flower for Grandma

May is my favourite month. I know I'm a bit biased as my birthday is at the end of the month - but I still think it's the best month of the year. The garden is gorgeous, nature is in full bloom, the weather is turning nicer with promises of summer. And of course, the two bank holidays! I couldn't have asked for better weather for the first one of the two. We had our first BBQ of the year, first pitcher(s) of Pimms, lots of gardening, lots of ice cream, sunshine and unfortunately also the first slight sunburn of the year (don't forget to add that SPF).

I also managed to find a little sliver of time in the craft room while hiding from the midday sun to try to avoid further sunburn to create a Mother's day card for my grandma. I was inspired by the gorgeous inspiration image over at Daring Cardmakers - I was inspired by the large flower, the pink ombre, hand lettering and gold stars. I was also inspired by the beautiful floral image over at Inspired by All the Little Things and the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. Last but not least I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is ombre. 

I started by inking Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Abandoned Coral Distress Ink through the Peony Number Two ARTplorations stencil. I then splattered the card with water, and pink and yellow ink. I also inked a bit of Mowed Lawn ink around the edges of the card. I die cut three banners using a Lawn Fawn die and hand lettered the sentiment (it says Happy Mother's Day in Finnish). Last I die cut some stars from gold glitter paper for a finishing touch. 

Card: White card, scraps of rainbow card and glitter gold card

Ink: Mowed Lawn, Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Abandoned Coral Distress Ink

Stencil: ARTplorations Peony Number Two 

Other: Lawn Fawn Extra Sentiment Banners dies, dies from Stitched Journaling card and Critters ever after die sets

Soft Colours

Just popping in for a super-quick post today, it's already way past my bed time but I really wanted to share this card. In fact, I had a bit of a problem with sharing this card as I made it on Monday evening, but as it's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home I had no idea how I would manage to get a photo in daylight. In the end my only solution was to take the card to work and snap a pic using my phone. So apologies for the quality of the pic.

The reason I really wanted to share the card is that I absolutely loved the inspiration image over at Inspired by All the Little Things, and I absolutely loved getting out a few ARTplorations stencils and my soft colour Distress inks to create the card (and by the way, if you go inspired to order these stencils, or anything else from STAMPlorations, you can get 20% off by using my offer code STAMPGIRLKAROLA, more details at the end of the post). The gorgeous Peony Number Two stencil is definitely becoming one of my absolute favourite stencils (and this coming from a crafter who had no idea how to use stencils a year ago!!). I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where Anything Goes this week and the Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge where the optional twist is stencil. 

Card: 250 gsm white card, scrap of Milled Lavender card
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Antique Linen, Milled Lavender and Spun Sugar
Stencils: ARTplorations Peony Number Two and Dots All Over
Dies: CUTplorations Celebrate word die
Other: Pink adhesive rhinestones from my stash

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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Wow it's been a busy day today. I started the day at the gym with the release of the 100th Les Mills Body Pump programme. It was great fun, I really love this class and I've been doing it for at least 10 years now. After that I walked into town to find out my favourite clothing store is closing, so they were selling everything for half price. I splurged like I haven't splurged for years. Now this is a great motivation for me to not gain weight, as I have bought several beautiful suits and a dress as well. I hope your day has been great too, whatever you have been up to.

While in town I also managed to mail several birthday cards, including this one for my Grandma who is turning 92 years soon. I wonder what it feels like to have lived for so long. How strange must today's world seem, with things like the internet which is completely foreign to her. What are the things I will have no idea about when I'm old? I already feel like I have no idea what the kids are doing these days with Snapchatting and whatnot. Sometimes it feels very comforting to create cards, read physical books and write in an analog journal. I love that one of my friends started writing me letters, and I have been responding to her. I used to write so many letters when I was younger. It's amazing to get a letter in the mail, make a cup of coffee, maybe get some chocolates and read the thoughts of your friend. It's very retro!

Anyhow, on to today's card. I started by inking with Distress Inks through the gorgeous Peony Number Two ARTplorations stencil. I then cut a strop from the inked flower to match the sketch I was inspired by. I also cut a strip of patterned paper from Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow. Next I used the STAMPlorations Sketchy Alphabet to create the custom sentiment (it's not very easy to find Finnish sentiment stamps...). It just says Congrats in Finnish. I stamped the letters in black Versafine onto white card and fussy cut them. After adhering them to the card I added some Ice Stickles and pink Ranger Distress Sticklers. To add a bit more of a grunge look I splattered pink inks and water over the front of the card and added a few gold sequins. 

As I've been struggling with fining my crafting mojo, which clearly hasn't still returned from the wild New Year's party it went to, this card required quite a few challenges for inspiration. I was inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the gorgeous inspiration image over at The Card Concept. My card is CAS and I was inspired by the black, pink and gold colour combo, the gorgeous flowers and the stripes on the mug. I'm also linking up with Shopping Our Stash where the theme is Stickle me Elmo (use Stickles), Clean and Simple on Sunday where the theme is black, white and one other colour and Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge where the theme is Stencil. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sketchy Alphabet 

Stencils: ARTplorations Peony Number Two

Ink: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry and Abandoned Coral

Other: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow paper, Ranger Ice Stickles, Ranger Distress Stickles Worn Lipstick, gold sequins from my stash