STAMPlorations Inspiration - Christmas Dies Redux

This week we have another fun blog hop for you as part of the STAMPlorations Inspiration Post. Did you already play along with our Giving Thanks Giveaway? If you haven't you have to check it out, the prizes are fantastic!

This week we are getting ready for Christmas by creating Christmas crafts with CUTplorations dies. For my project, I used three dies - Stitched Winter Landscape for the snowy landscape, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies to die cut the front panel and Christmas Sentiments dies for the shimmery blue sentiment. I created the starry night sky using Distress Inks. I stamped the stars using a stamp from Art Marks and heat embossed in white before splattering the whole night sky with white gouache paint. Last, I couldn't resist adding some stickles to the landscape.

For your chance to win some Christmas dies, you can hop along to all the designer's blogs and leave comments. All the details you need are over on the STAMPloratios blog in today's Inspiration Post. You have until December 8th to comment!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Art Marks

Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Winter Landscape, Christmas Sentiments, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks

There are so many different events going on over at STAMPlorations, Shery has kindly summarised them all at the top of the STAMPblog! They are:

Win a 1 year supply of STAMPlorations products (ends 12/8) 5th Giving Thanks Blog Hop (ends 12/8) 25 Days of Christmas Tags (ends 12/8) Christmas in the Air with Nancy and Monika + comment to win (ends 12/8) Sticker Monday with Terri Koszler + comment to win (ends 12/8) Stencil Sunday with Helen Gullett + comment to win (ends 12/8)
Last but not least, don't forget to use the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout in the STAMPlorations store for a little extra discount!!

January STAMPlorations TAG challenge - Winter

Happy New Year! I hope 2019 will be a very crafty year for you. Last year was full of things which kept me from my craft room. I hope 2019 will bring me more time to continue to develop my crafting skills and to simply enjoy creativity. 

On the first day of the year, we also launch of first STAMPlorations challenge of the year - January TAGplorations challenge. The theme is Winter, and there is an optional twist of using texture paste, which I didn't take this time. I wanted to create a wintery scene using the adorable fuzzies from Woodland Friends. I hope you are inspired by this wintery scene and share your creations with us!

I die cut my tag using Stitched Tags Nesting Dies and used the Oh My Stars Mini stencil with Distress Inks to create a monoprint to create the night sky. I then inked in yellow inks through the stencil to create the stars. I used a white gel pen to create the snowfall. I die cut the snowy landscape using Stitched Tags Nesting Dies and Stitched Winter Landscape. I stamped the cute critters from Woodland Friends, coloured with Copics and fussy cut. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Woodland Friends,
Dies: Stitched Snow Hills, Stitched Tags Nesting Dies, Stitched Winter Landscape,
Stencils: Oh My Stars Mini stencil

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Homespun Christmas

How time flies when you are having fun. I can't believe we are already at day four of the STAMPlorations Christmas Release. Today we are showcasing two stamp sets by our fearless leader, the boss-lady Shery Russ herself. I hope you get inspired by all the designs from the STAMPlorations DT. Don't forget to comment for your chance to win! 

For my first card, I stamped the adorable log cabin from Homespun Christmas onto watercolour paper in Versafine and watercoloured the image with Distress Oxides. Then I added some blue colour to the sky through the ARTplorations Dots All Over stencil to look like snow falling. Then I die cut the hillside using CUTplorations Stitched Winter Landscape and added some colour to the snow. Last I adhered the layers and cut the panel using the middle sized Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die. Last, I stamped the sentiment in Versafine and attached the panel onto light blue card.

For my second card, I was inspired by the second house in the stamp set, which totally reminded me of a gingerbread house. So I stamped the image in Versamark onto light brown card and heat embossed it in white. I then watercoloured the image using Distress Oxides which really work well on coloured card as the colours of the inks will still be really vibrant. All the card needed was one of the sentiments in that beautiful font in white heat embossing and we are done.  

Card: 350 gsm Daler&Rowney Watercolour paper, 250 gsm light brown and light blue card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Homespun Christmas
Dies: CUTplorations  Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle, Stitched Winter Landscape
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Oxides
Other: 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.

Distress Oxides in da House

I can't believe it's been 10 days since my last post! I'm suffering from a bit of mojo gone AWOL... But I've been busy reading which has been wonderful as it's been a long time since I've found the peace of mind to just sit down and focus on a book. So that feels good. Not sure if it's just a coincidence that my reading streak started on the same day as I removed the Facebook app from my phone. 

Anyhow, I had a parcel arrive today, full of the Distress Oxides I've been waiting for ever since I saw the videos and beautiful cards start to appear a few months ago. I have to admit I was playing around for a while, and not really being able to re-create those gorgeous water splattered grunge-y backgrounds I've seen in the video where the King of Distress himself, Tim Holtz was demoing them, or this video where Jennifer McGuire creates gorgeous cards with the inks. But I guess it's all a learning process. I was going to discard all my attempts but then I thought I should make something out of at least one of the panels - it should be all about the fun of creating and not trying to achieve perfection. And I was inspired by the new colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch so I ended up creating a new home card using STAMPlorations dies, inspired by the Home Sweet Home theme over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. I also added some stickles to the sentiment inspired by Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is A Bit of Sparkle.

Card: 250 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm watercolour paper
Ink: Distress Oxides Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Fossilized Amber
Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Stitched Snow Hills, Stitched Winter Landscape, Happy Word die
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Claire's ABCs
Other: Ranger Mint Ice Stickles, 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!

CUTplorations Mini Release

It's been a busy week here in the InvisiblePinkCraftRoom. First we had the Love TAGplorations event with amazing creations from you all. And now I'm thrilled to be part of the new CUTplorations mini release. The amazing Shery has created three new die sets which me and some of the other STAMPgirls have got our hands on to play with and show you our creations. I got to play with the two new landscape dies, and they are just screaming for colourful skies. 

And it wouldn't be a STAMPlorations release if there wasn't some great prizes for you. By commenting on the STAMPlorations blog and the linked designer blogs by Tuesday February 21st you are in the random draw to win:

• ONE (1) $15 gift certificate
• ONE (1) choice of either Lacy Edges or the Winter & Spring Stitched Landscape dies

The winners will be announced in the February Challenges and Blog Hops winners post on March 10 so to make sure you don't miss out on the announcement, make sure you follow the STAMPlorations blog.

You can find the new products in the STAMPlorations store here

• Lacy Edges and Borders - http://stamplorations.com/lacyedges/
• Stitched Winter Landscape - http://stamplorations.com/stitchedwinterlandscape/
• Stitched Spring Landscape - http://stamplorations.com/stitchedspringlandscape/

And if you got inspired to order the new products or anything else from the STAMPlorations store, don't forget you can get 20% off your order by using the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. More info at the end of the post.

First I played with the Stitched Spring Landscape. This die reminds me so much of our summer house, so I wanted to create a gorgeous sunset in the background. I used my Gansai Tambi watercolours for one card and Distress Inks for the other. I think my favourite is the one with the Distress inks as our summer house is also by a lake. I also used the Stitched Snow Hills dies and the Awesome Word die to create the sentiment from gold mirri card.

Next I had a play with the Stitched Winter Landscape die. I started by trying to create a northern lights background using watercolours, but I didn't like the way it looked so I made another one using Distress Inks. I added multiple layers of stitched wintery hills and some Ranger Ice Stickles along with a silver sentiment to create a Christmas card. 

After finishing the card, I thought maybe I could use the watercolour background after all and decided to use it to create a page for my journal. Very simply I just die cut the watercolour background using the largest Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die. Then I simply die cut the Stitched Winter Landscape from white card. I coloured the sentiment stamp using Distress markers in the same colours as the night sky and lightly sprayed with water before stamping. Then I traced the outline of the letters using a black marker and added some highlights using a white gel pen. I also added some stars using the white gel pen and some small die cut snowflakes. I used some yellow Distress Ink and the Oh My Stars stencil to create a background in my journal before adhering the winter scene. Although it started with a background I didn't like at all it actually became my favourite scene in the end! 

Card: White 250 gsm card, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm card, scrap of gold and silver mirri card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Life In Full Colour, Bold Sentiments: Discover, Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Markers, Gansai Tambi Watercolours, White gel pen
Dies: CUTplorations Stitched Winter Landscape, Stitched Spring Landscape, Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle, Stitched Snow Hills dies, Awesome Word die, Merry Christmas Phrase die,
Stencils: ARTplorations Oh My Stars
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles 

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!