Floral Congrats

Does a run cancel out eating your body weight in chocolate? I've done both today and I decided I will believe one cancels out the other... I was also supposed to be cleaning, but true to myself I made a card instead. As one does. Our house is a mess and my craft room the worst mess of all!

Today's card is inspired by the beautiful colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up over at CAS on Sunday and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is die cuts.

I used Distress Oxides to create some coloured panels, one green and one purple and used these for die cutting using STAMPlorations Trendy Spring Blooms dies, along with some grey card for the "outlines" of the flowers. I absolutely love these dies and I particularly love to piece the die cuts with coloured card. It's a bit fiddly but all you really need is a good pair of tweezers and some patients. I think it's better than meditation! The background card was a piece I dabbed some leftover ink onto when I was making my coloured cards - waste not, want not and all that stuff. I heat embossed a sentiment from Trendy Feathers 2.

Card: shimmery white card, grey shimmery card, light grey card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2

Dies: STAMPlorations Trendy Spring Blooms, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover, Tsukineko Versamark

Twofer Feathers

Have you already played along with the most fun new challenge in craft-land, Darnell's Twofer challenge? If not, you may want to check it out! I'm not quite sure how Darnell finds the time to run a very active blog, leave the best comments in Blog-land and now also run her own challenge. Darnell, do you ever sleep? And everyone in the DT are crafty names you are sure to recognize, all super talented crafters, so it was a joy to pop over to see the inspiration for the first challenge. Anyhow, I love the idea of the twofer challenge - to use the same stamp/die to make two different cards for two different occasions. You might as well, when you have your stamps/dies out. The theme of the first Twofer challenge is Feathers.

I decided to do a sympathy card and a birthday card. The first one is a bit of a mixed media CAS one, with some cling wrap inking in blue in the background and added brown ink splatters. The background was created using Distress Inks which give a more translucent look than Oxides (I tried the Oxides first but didn't like the look for this, hence justifying owning both Distress Inks and Oxides - the right tool for the right place). The feathers are stamped, heat embossed and fussy cut. The layout for this card was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches and the colours by Color Throwdown.

My second card is a celebration of the new Distress Oxides I very recently received and many of them are NBUS. I inked up the feathers in rainbow colours and stamped away to my heart's content. The card I used is a slightly shimmery white card, it's really smooth so it took much longer than usual for the inks to dry. Luckily I didn't smudge them too much. I just added a very simple sentimen with white heat embossing and some die cut stitching around the edges. I'm linking this up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is Birds of a Feather and Just Add Ink where the theme is Something new (the Distress Oxides) and they also have a fun blog hop.

Card: light grey card, white shimmer card, scraps of light blue, light brown and black card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2 (out of stock), Blossom Overture
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Distress Oxides, Distress Ink Broken China, Vintage Photo
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Border dies, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, 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.

Feathered Heartfelt Thanks

I've been having a bit of a clear out of the craft room - selling some stamps and punches I no longer used (and in some cases had never used at all...).  I made some thank you cards to go with the stamps. I had some backgrounds from when I started practicing with Distress Oxides which weren't good enough to use as backgrounds but felt like I didn't want them to go to waste so I stamped some feathers and heat embossed them in white. I will have to say fussy cutting 18 feathers wasn't the best of ideas - in hindsight I should have picked a stamp with a matching die. But I love these gorgeous feathers, so it was worth the fuss(y cutting).

After I had all my feathers embossed and cut, I die cut a square mask to ink through to create the backgrounds. I used different combinations of Oxides and splattered some water to create those gorgeous water splatters. Then I added some of my new washi tape before attaching the feathers and stamping the sentiment in Versafine black.

I'm linking up with Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is Birds of a Feather and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Add a Sentiment. I'm also linking up with CAS(E) This Sketch.

Card: 350 gsm white card, 

Stamps: Trendy Feathers 2, Fond Expressions 2
Ink: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Distress Oxides Fossilised Amber, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Wilted Violet, Worn Lipstick
Other: Papermania Seafoam white embossing powder, Washi tape 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. 

Just Us Girls GD - Photo Week

Time flies when you are having fun, and this is my last week guest designing for the wonderful Just Us Girls. It's been so much fun, thank you so much ladies for having me and all the hard work you do to keep the challenge going! I'll see you soon again in the link-up for future challenges. 

This week is Photo inspiration, and you can see a bigger version of the image below. Just look at those gorgeous colours and fun texture. I was inspired by the beautiful background, and I used Brushos to re-create the spotty look and using similar colours to the inspiration image. I then added a feather and sentiment in white heat embossing using the STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2 stamp set.

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

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2

Ink and background: Tsukineko Versamark, Brushos

Other: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

March STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Anything Goes With Sky Blue

It's March. Where did February go? Is it just me? Didn't we just fall asleep on the sofa at 11 pm on New Year's eve? I need to get onboard with the whole "accepting things you cannot change". Anyhow, I hope you have been crafting your way through 2017 so far? The pink gallery for our February challenge was aaah-maaa-zing! Thank you so much for all the inspiration.

Our March optional colour twist for the STAMPlorations CAS challenge is Sky Blue, can't see what you create with that colour! And don't forget, STAMPlorations products are optional but if you have them we always love to see how you use them. The only rule is to make your card CAS. And to add the below challenge graphic to your post, linking back to the main CAS post on STAMPlorations. And the prizes are a $10 gift card for the winner and a $5 gift card to the top picks. And don't forget you can always use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout to receive a respectable 20% of your shopping in the STAMPlorations store.

For my card, I started by using my most favourite ever stencil - Two Feathers and inked it using three shades of blue Distress ink and a foam applicator. I then used a piece from my UFO (UnFinished Objects) box, a card background I created using blue Distress paints or watercolours (I can't remember) and stamped two feathers from Trendy Feathers 2  in Versamark and heat embossed in silver. I fussy cut the feathers and adhered to to the background, finishing the card with a sentiment from the same stamp set in black. I love the "You're on my mind" sentiment as it would work for many different situations. 

Card: 250 gsm white smooth card, 160 gsm watercolour card

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2 

Stencil: ARTplorations Two Feathers

Other: Papermania Silver 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!

Love TAGplorations Day 6

Welcome to day 6 of Love TAGplorations. I'm sure you know the drill by now and hopefully you are having as much fun as we are with all these gorgeous tags. For my day 6 tag I used another piece from my UFO box - a piece of blue and pink coloured card I had created with Distress Paints way back when. I decorated it with the gorgeous Trendy Feathers 2 stamps which I heat embossed in white onto another piece of leftover card I created with Distress Paints. I used gesso with the Some Birds stencil - I always feel like I'm doing proper mixed media when I dig out the tube of Gesso. I die cut the sentiment using the Hugs Word Die from the same piece of leftover card as the feathers and finished everything off with loads of Ice Stickles and a ribbon. 

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Paints, Tsukineko Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2

Stencils: ARTplorations Some Birds
Dies: Luggage Tags Nesting Dies, Hugs Word Die
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, gesso, ribbon 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!

Think Pink

Today's card is dedicated to everyone whose life has been touched by breast cancer and particularly to all the brave men and women who have been through the long and rocky road of being diagnosed and treated for the disease. October is breast cancer awareness month as you probably know if you are playing along with any crafting challenge - there is pink all over the challenge-o-sphere (yes, of course that's a word, why are you looking at me like that?). In the last year, I have seen someone very close go through the harrowing journey of having a mastectomy and the tough follow-up treatments of chemo and radiation. I have seen how a positive attitude is so important when going though that rough journey and will probably make a big difference. I've also seen how important it is to have peer support, and it's fantastic to see how much info and peer support can be found online, it's everything from tips about the best skin care products and diet to help your body get through the ordeal to just sharing experiences and encouragement. All this has also made my work so much more meaningful to me - I'm working on a project which is aiming to help target cancer treatment based on patient's genetic make-up in the NHS (among other things). Hopefully in the not too distant future we will know what treatment works for a specific patient's cancer instead of giving everyone the strongest possible chemo which on the good side works on most things, but at the same time can come with really tough side effects. 

Today's card was inspired by quite a number of challenges, like I said there are a lot of challenges with a pink theme this month. Hopefully they will inspire you too to create something for someone who needs some pink thoughts right now. Fist, the colours for the card were inspired by Colour Q and the sketch is from CAS(E) This Sketch. I'm also linking up with the CAS Mix Up where the theme is Stamping+Ghosting+Your Choice (embossing), CASology where the Cue card this week is Support, Shopping Our Stash where the theme is Duck, Duck, Goose (use a bird or feathers), Time Out where the theme is Breast Cancer awareness with an optional twist of pink and/or embossing (used both), The Alphabet Challenge where P is for Pretty in Pink and Brown Sugar where the theme is Think Pink.

Card: 250 gsm white card, black 300 gsm card, 300 gsm Daler&Rowney card

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2 

Other: Papermania silver embossing powder, pink ribbon from my stash, pink rhinestone from my stash

October STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Anything Goes With Black

And so we are back to dar evenings followed by dark mornings. But the air is crisp, it's the time for apple pie and warm soups with lots of chunky bread. Can you tell I have food on my mind? Welcome to our STAMPlorations CAS challenge for October. October?!?! When did that happen? I'm sure someone stole August and half of September. Oh well, not long now to go until Christmas. Is it too early in the year to use the C-word? 

This month our optional colour twist is black. Use a bit of black or lots of black, or even no black at all as it's just an option. You can use any crafting products you want, but if you have STAMPlorations products we would of course love to see them used (and in that case you can also link up with The Never Ending Anything Goes Challenge also!). Just don't forget to include the challenge graphic in your blog post to ensure you are eligible to win the prizes. The winner who is voted by the DT get a stamp and stencil pack and a randomly chosen winner will receive a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations shop.

For my card I used a panel I found when rummaging through my UFO box. I made it by smooshing blue and silver Tim Holtz Distress Paints onto watercolour paper. I die cut the panel using the  Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle. I stamped the gorgeous Trendy Feathers 2 in Versamark onto black card and heat embossed in white. I then fussy cut the feathers and die cut the main word for the sentiment. Last, I stamped the additional words for the sentiment using stamps from Blossom Overture and attached everything onto a base of black card.

I can't wait to see all your wonderful creations, an in the meantime, I'm linking up with the following challenges:

Make My Monday - No patterned paper

Shopping Our Stash - Duck, Duck, Goose (use birds or feathers)

Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple

Card: Stampin' Up Black card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm watercolour card, silver card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2, Blossom Overture

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress paints 

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle, Amazing word die 

Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder