STAMPlorations Inspiration

 

Hi fellow crafter, thank you for visiting my blog today. How are you? What have you been crafting lately? I'm here today to share my creation for this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration Post. Every Tuesday I have the pleasure to join my fellow Inspiration team members to share our latest projects made with our favourite new and old STAMPlorations products. I hope our projects inspire you to be creative too, using your favourite crafty techniques.

For today's card, I've stepped a bit outside of my comfort zone and gently dabbled in some mixed media techniques. I started with a background I created by smooshing Distress Oxides. A while ago I created a bunch of backgrounds using randomly drawn colours and this was one that I liked quite a bit. I used one of the For the Birds Dies and I also die cut the sentiment from the same panel using  Everyday Sentiments Dies. I created a card background by inking brown distress inks through one of my favourite stencils, Retro Circles and then adhered the die cut pieces to my card. 

Dies: CUTplorations For the Birds Dies, Everyday Sentiments Dies
Stencil: ARTplorations Retro Circles
Ink and colouring: Distress Oxides, Distress Inks

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.

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

Hello, how are you? Did you hop along with our big sixth birthday bash last week? It was quite a whirlwind, wasn't it? I'm starting to recover from the crafty overload but felt like a very clean and simple one layer card for this week's Inspiration Post.

I started by inking Distress Inks through one of my all-time favourite stencils, Retro Circles. I used all the colours of the rainbow to create a bright and fun background. Then I inked up the Quitting - Typografia Motivate stamp in Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black and stamped onto the background. That's it! I told you it was quick and simple :) 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Quitting - Typografia Motivate
Stencil: ARTplorations Retro Circles
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black

STAMPlorations 4th Birthday Blog Hop

I'm super excited to be part of the STAMPlorations 4th Birthday Blog Hop which is starting today and will go on for a whole week! Happy Birthday STAMPlorations and thank you Shery and David for the hard work you do to bring these wonderful inspirational products to all us crafters. There is a huge bunch of amazing new products available in the STAMPlorations store. All stamps are -15% off until July 7, and don't forget you can combine that with my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA to get an additional 20% off. And of course Shery has lot of great prizes for you to win, check out the main post here, and see what my super-talented DT sisters have created using the great new release!

I wanted to create some colourful birthday cards using the new Cupcake and Gift builder dies. I love layering dies, so much fun to play with! I created a pink and red background for the delicious cupcakes using Distress Oxides and a rainbow background for my colourful gift using Brushos and the ARTplorations Retro Circles die. If you want to shop for these great new dies (or anything else) in the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA for a 20% discount at checkout (this will be on top of the 15% automatic birthday discount)!

Card: 250 gsm white card, Daler&Rowney 350 gsm watercolour paper, scraps of coloured card, gold and white glitter card, Scrap of Stampin' Up rainbow striped patterned paper
Ink: Distress Oxides Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick, Tsukineko Versamark, Brushos
Stamps: STAMPlorations Sugar Rush
Dies: CUTplorations Cupcake builder 1, Cupcake builder 2, Celebrate Word Die, Gift Builder 1, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle
Stencil: ARTplorations Retro Circles
Other: Papermania Seafoam White Embossing Powder, 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. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

Second Brusho Rainbow Card

If you saw my last post here you know I've been playing with stencils and Brushos. For my first card, I sprinkled Brushos through the Retro Circles stencil. But after creating that card, I had a stencil which was gorgeously rainbow-coloured and I didn't want all that gorgeous colour to go to waste, so I smooshed it against several pieces of watercolour paper to create different rainbow coloured pieces of card. I picked my favourite of these for the background of this card. I just love the random splotchiness and how the colours have blended. I used the largest Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die to cut my favourite part of the background and mounted it onto black card to really make the colours pop. I then die cut the sentiment using Happy Word die from another panel of watercolour paper I smooshed the stencil onto. I used much more water on that card before pressing the stencil against it, so the colours spread out and don't show the stencil outlines at all, but I thought the colours were still really pretty so I wanted to make some use of that as well. I also die cut the same word in back and layered them before adding as much shimmer as I could get out of my Wink of Stella pen. To finish the card, I stamped and heat embossed the second part of the sentiment using a stamp from Balloons And Banners. I adhered a few white sequins for a finishing touch. 

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

Just Us Girls - Use a Stencil 

Inspired By All The Little Things - inspiration image

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Bit O'Green

Card: 190 gsm watercolour card, Stampin' Up Black card

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Brushos

Stamps: STAMPlorations Balloons And Banners

Stencil: ARTplorations Retro Circles

Dies: CUTplorations Happy Word die, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die

Other: Wink of Stella, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

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!

Rainbow Brushos Round One

Hello all you lovely crafters (and non-crafters, hi Mom!!!) When you read this I am enjoying an amazing time skiing the Grandvalira in Andorra. So far we have enjoyed amazing snow and sunshine but also high winds and a bit of rain. The Culinary Consultant is working really hard to pick up this whole skiing malarkey and although I'm a very good skier I have no idea how to teach him as I've been skiing since I was a kid. It's hard to tell someone what to do if you only do it out of muscle memory.

What I can do is tell you how I made this colourful rainbow card. If you follow my blog you know rainbow is my favourite colour and I tend to go back to it over and over again. For this card I simply used some washi tape to attach the STAMPlorations Retro Circles stencil to some watercolour card, sprinkled it with Brushos and spritzed it with water. I'll show you in another post what I did with the stencil which was totally covered in those beautiful Brushos. Then all I did was stamp the first part of the sentiment with STAMPlorations Hashtag authenthic and die cut the Amazing from a scrap of black card adding some Crystal Effects to add that gorgeous glossy shine.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - For a Special Lady
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Make Your Own Background
Make My Monday - Colours Of The Rainbow

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper, scrap of black card

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Brushos

Stamps: STAMPlorations Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic

Stencil: ARTplorations Retro Circles

Dies: CUTplorations Amazing Word die

Other: Stampin' Up Crystal Effects, sequins 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!

Love TAGplorations Day 7

Welcome to the final day of STAMPlorations Love TAGplorations. I hope you have enjoyed the amazing inspiration over the last week and also have had fun creating your own Love themed crafts. I have certainly enjoyed all the inspiration both from my fellow DT sisters and especially from you. It's amazing to see all the different creations - proof that there are no limits to the human imagination. Today's tag is dedicated to my dear Culinary Consultant. He is not a very romantic soul - I have learned not to expect anything. To be fair, he did create a custom Valentine's day card the first year we were dating. That's a few years ago now... But that's ok, he has other ways of showing me he cares. We are all different and being in a relationship is all about accepting our differences, isn't it. So if you aren't in a relationship this Valentine's day don't think things would necessary be any different even if you were. I'm saying go out and buy yourself some chocolates (or wine, or whatever your favourite treat is). I will visit the chocolate shop in the weekend to see if they are selling their leftover Valentine's treats for half price, usually they do! If you are looking for a good deal on crafty stash, don't forget you get 20% off your purchase in the STAMPlorations store if you use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. More info at the end of the post.

For my tag, which I die cut using the largest die from Luggage Tags Nesting Dies, I created a background using Distress ink and the Retro Circles stencil. Then I stamped the delicious looking sundae on white card coloured with Copics and fussy cut. After adhering it to my tag, I added some Crystal Effects to the glass bowl to make it look more glassy and although you cannot see it well in the picture, I added some embossing paste to make the whipped cream look more foamy. Then I stamped the letters onto white card, coloured them with Copics, fussy cut and adhered them to the tag, adding some Ice Stickles for extra bling. Last, I used words from various sentiments to make the second part of the sentiment, sponged some pink ink around the edges of the tag and added a cute little ribbon from my stash. 

Card: 250 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sugar Rush, Sketchy Alphabet

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Copics

Dies: CUTplorations Luggage Tags Nesting Dies

Stencils: ARTplorations Retro Circles

Other: ribbon from my stash, Ranger Ice Stickles, Stampin' Up Crystal Effects, Wendy Vecchi Embossing paste

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!

Non-Traditional Christmas Wreath

I have been suffering from a weird sub-clinical cold for the last few weeks. I'm not sick enough to slow down, but I'm constantly tired and feel off. I've been thinking I will just shake it off but it keeps going on and on. So I decided to skip the gym last night and head home early from work. Heading home early came with the benefit of finally having a bit of time in the craft room. However as it was already dusk when I got home (despite being home early!) and pitch dark by the time I finished the card (although it was quite a quick card) so I had to wait for this morning to get a picture. 

This card is the amalgamation of inspiration from various places. First of all, I was inspired by the gorgeous inspiration image over at Daring Cardmakers. I was inspired by the colours (turquoise, purple, pink and black) the Christmas theme and all the gold and glitter. I was also inspired by the theme "Shine Bright Like a Diamond" over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which made me add a ton of glitter to the wreath. I was also inspired by One-Layer Simplicity Challenge where the theme is Peace. Last but not least I'm linking up with the CAS Mix-Up Challenge where the theme is Stamping + Masking + Your Choice (in my case heat embossing). 

I started by stamping the wreath from STAMPlorations Joyful and the sentiment from Framed Christmas: Peace, Love and Joy in Versamark and heat embossed in gold. Then I masked the wreath and edges of the card and inked Wilted Violet and Picked Raspberry Distress inks through the ARTplorations Retro Circles stencil. Last, I watercoloured the wreath using Picked Raspberry and Wilted Violet for the berries and Mermaid Lagoon for the leaves.

Card: 300 gsm Daler & Rowney watercolour paper

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful and Framed Christmas: Peace, Love and Joy

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Distress Inks Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Mermaid Lagoon

Other: Gold embossing powder, ARTplorations Retro Circles stencil

Stencil in soft pink

Happy Saturday folks! I had another crazy week, completely lost in work. So today I was going to just slouch - especially as I seem to have caught a bug from somewhere. Which is particularly vexing as I have tried to eat super healthily lately, and started to work out again. So much for a healthy lifestyle, eh? Anyhow, today has been devoted to a bit of spring cleaning. All that tedious stuff of dusting on top of the cupboard doors, wiping skirting boards, cleaning mirror and windows. I've only managed to do upstairs and the day is already gone, looks like downstairs will have to wait until tomorrow. I also managed a bit of a spring clean on my computer which has gotten slower and slower. I don't really want to splurge on a new computer right now, so I'm hoping that a little TLC will keep it running for a bit longer.

Before all this cleaning frenzy, I did manage to create a card first thing in the morning. It seems like my mojo is at it's best on a Saturday morning, and I enjoy a bit of crafting with my cup of green tea (even gave up coffee for this healthy life fad!). Today I was inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the colours over at Color Throwdown. I was also inspired by the CASology cue card which is stencil and the challenge over at Time Out which this time is the phrase "May all your weeds be wild flowers" and was inspired by the flower theme.

I started by stamping the dogwood from STAMPlorations Floral Bliss in Milled Lavender and then watercoloured it with the no line technique in Stampin' Up Melon Mambo and Basic Grey. Then I masked the flower and inked some Blushing Bride through the ARTplorations Retro Circles stencil. Last, I picked some sentiment stamps from Blossom Overture and stamped them in a lighter and darker grey. I thought the card needed just a little something, so I added Ranger Ice Stickles to the flowers. 

Card: 300 gsm textured white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Floral Bliss, Blossom Overture
Stencil: ARTplorations Retro Circles
Ink: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo, Basic Grey, Smokey Slate, Blushing Bride
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop - Day two

Welcome back to day two of the ARTplorations stencil hop where we celebrate all the grogeous projects that can be created with stencils. If you missed it, you can find all the DT inspiration from day one here, along with the chance to win by commenting on the DT blogs. And the DT is more than happy to inspire you again today, with more projects using the fun ARTplorations stencils, on the STAMPlorations here. We wanted to remind you that you still have two days to link up with our Stencil Linky Party. You don't have to use ARTplorations stencils to join, but if you have them, we would love to see what you create with them.

Today I created two bookmarks using ARTplorations stencils, STAMPlorations stamps and Tim Holtz Distress inks. I started by creating a 5 cm wide slip of textured white card, and used the Stampin' Up Tag topper punch to create the top. I used a corner of the Distress ink container to draw the outline of the rounded corners and fussy cut them. 

For the first bookmark, I started by inking the card using yellow, orange and red Distress inks. I then inked through the Retro Circles stencil in Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso inks. To finish off the tag, I stamped two sentiments from Literary Caffeine-ations and some cups from Coffee Happy in Versamark and heat embossed in white. I added some twine to finish off the bookmark.

For my second bookmark, I started by inking the card using purple, green and blue Distress ink. I then inked through the Tribal Weave stencil in Versamark, and heat embossed the pattern in clear powder. The to the fun and messy part - inking the whole bookmark in black Distress ink. The embossing will resist the black ink showing the bright colours underneath. I used a tissue to wipe off the excess black ink from the embossed pattern. I also splashed some water around for a distressed look. Last, I stamped the sentiments Live, Love, Enjoy from Trendy Butterflies onto white card and added some faux stitching around the edges. A bit of ribbon to finish it off!

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card
Stencils: ARTplorations Retro Circles, Tribal Weave 
Stamps: STAMPlorations Literary Caffeine-ations, Coffee Happy and Trendy Butterflies
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress inks Mustard Seed, Abandoned Coral, Rusty Hinge, Fossilized Amber, Festive Berries, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet, Cracked Pistachio, Black Soot, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black and Versamark
Other: Papermania Seafoam white embossing powder, Ranger fine clear embossing powder, ribbon and twine from my stash

Morning Glory and stencilling

What a difference an hour makes! I know everyone tends to get all bent out of shape when the clocks go back, and yes it's annoying to lose a whole hour but the light in the evening is wonderful. I got home, caught up with reading the blogs I follow, had time to make a card and even photograph it in daylight. How wonderful is that! 

Today's card was inspired by a bunch of challenges. I was inspired by the circle theme over at Make My Monday, the stencil theme over at AAA Cards and the Celebrating Spring theme over at Daring Cardmakers. Last but certainly not least I was inspired by the colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at Paper Play Sketches. I'm also linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes this week.

I started by stamping the gorgeous Morning Glory Large stamp from STAMPlorations in black Versafine ink and coloured it with Distress Ink and a watercolour brush. Then I masked the flower used the Retro Circles stencil and stencilled Twisted Citron and Mermaid Lagoon ink. Next, I inked another piece of card using the same stencil and ink. I die cut both cards using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Journalling Card die, and die cut the little chevrons using another die from the same set. I inked some card to create the ombre sentiment, and last I splattered some Distress Ink onto the background card before attaching everything and adding some Crystal Effects to the sentiment. 

Card: 300 gsm textured card, 160 gsm Hobbycraft white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Morning Glory Large
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, BluePrint Sketch, Mowed Lawn
Other: Lawn Fawn Scripty Hugs and Stitched Journal Card dies, STAMPlorations Retro Circles stencil, Stampin' Up Crystal Effects

Deepti Popped - blog hop

Today we are having a special blog hop to welcome another STAMPbaby! Deepti has had a precious baby boy and we all want to send lots of love and congratulations to her and her family. You can join the hop on the here and link up your card if you want to join us in wishing Deepti all the best, or just to hop along to see what the talented STAMPlorations ladies have created.

For my card I started by watercolouring through the STAMPlorations Retro Circles stencil using Tim Holtz distress inks in Chipped Sapphire, Blueprint Sketch, Broken China and Tumbled Glass to create an ombre effect. Then I die cut the panel using a stitched rectangle die. I stamped the rose from the Blossom Overture set on Neenah Solar card, coloured using Copics and fussy cut it. Note to self, this is not the stamp you want to fussy cut as it's rather intricate, but I got there in the end. After attaching the rose I finished the card by stamping a sentiment from the same stamp set in Memento black ink and attached the panel onto white card.

I am linking up my card with the following challenges:
Just Add Ink - Just Add Nature
Sketchy Colours - Blue, Green, White
Just Us Girls - Tic Tac Toe (Flowers, Stamps, Die cuts)
Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Card: 300 gsm textured card, 190 gsm watercolour card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture
Stencils: STAMPlorations Retro Circles
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Blueprint Sketch, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire and Tumbled Glass. Colouring Copics YG11, YG13, YG17, B00, B04, B06, B29
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies