February STAMPlorations Challenge - Paint It Red

 

You might have noticed that there are some temporary changes to the challenges over on the STAMPlorations blog while Shery is taking a Winter break to enjoy being a new Mummy to her second adorable daughter, aptly named Winter. 

But keep calm and keep crafting as there is still a challenge for you! The individual challenges (CAS, mixed media, CUTplorations and Theme&Sketch) have been combined into one big super-challenge and will run that way for February, March and April. 

This month our super theme is Paint It Red which runs until the end of the month. We would love to see any love themed or red (or both) projects in our gallery. Go wild and create anything your heart desires - cards, ATCs, mixed media... or anything else you can think of - in any style you prefer! I decided to stick to CAS as that's what I know and love. You can use any products you like, but if you have any STAMPlorations crafty stash, we would love to see you use it!

I decided to go for both red and love (it is February after all...). I used watercolour pencils in pink, red and grey through the Zen Hearts stencil and then used a fine watercolour brush on the coloured parts. Colouring through a stencil is so easy, even if you wouldn't be very good at colouring, you can't fail this way. Then I simply added the hilarious sentiment from Funny Kinda Love and added a few adhesive pearls from my stash. Quick, easy and perfect for V-day. 

While you are busy creating, don't forget to keep checking in over at STAMPlorations as there will be some awesome new products coming there soon. Llama tell you, you might want to check in on Wednesday. Llama so excited already! That's all Llama say for now...

I'm also linking up over at these super-inspiring challenges:

House Of Cards - pink colours and Valentine's theme

Just Add Ink - Just Add Romance

Just Us Girls - Love

Card: 250 gsm white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Funny Kinda Love

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils

Stencil: ARTplorations Zen Hearts

Other: Adhesive pearls 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.

Love TAGplorations

I'm very excited to be part of STAMPlorations Love TAGplorations, seven days of Valentine tag making fun. We hope you will like the tags we have created with the DT to give to the important people in our lives and to showcase the gorgeous new Valentine's stamps, stencils and dies in the STAMPlorations shop. And as usual this wouldn't be half as much fun unless you could join us in the celebrations by commenting on the tags you see during the event and by linking up your own tags too which you can do between February 8th and 14th. And there are loads of prices:

• 3 randomly drawn winners from all comments left on the STAMP blog and participating designers blog will each receive a $10 gift certificate to the store
• 1 randomly drawn participant in the Love TAGplorations linky party will receive her choice of stamp set (Pocket Blooms, A Full Heart, or Two of Us)
• 1 randomly drawn participant in the Love TAGplorations linky party will receive her choice of any 2 of the new love-themed dies (Love, Always, XOXO, Forever, You & Me, Clustered Hearts)
• 1 randomly drawn participant in the Love TAGplorations linky party will receive her choice of tag set: Luggage Tags or ATC/Tag Builder

Also don't forget that you can use the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA to get 20% off your purchase in the STAMPlorations store if you want to, see the end of this post for further details.

For today's tag, I used Faber Castell watercolour pencils to colour through the Zen Hearts stencil onto a kraft tag I cut using the larges of the Luggage Tags Nesting Dies. I then traced the outlines of the coloured pieces using a white gel pen. To match my white outlined stencilled heart I die cut the Clustered Hearts Die from white card and also from a scrap of pink card from my UFO box - I think I created this with Tim Holtz Distress Paints. I then sprayed the tag with gold perfect pearls to give it a very subtle gold sheen - unfortunately I didn't manage to capture that in the photo.

I used another scrap of watercoloured card I created with Distress paints, this time in pink and blue to die cut the "always" using Always Word Die. I adhered the die cut pieces to the tag and stamped the first part of the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black using a stamp from the Pocket Blooms stamp set. For a finishing touch I added some stickles to the die cut sentiment, a few adhesive rhinestones and a white ribbon from my stash.

Pocket Blooms

Zen Hearts

Card: kraft card, scrap of white 250 gsm card, 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper

Stamps: STAMPlorations Pocket Blooms

Stencils: ARTplorations Zen Hearts

Dies: CUTplorations Always Word Die, Clustered Hearts Die, Luggage Tags Nesting Dies

Inks and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Paints, Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Faber Castell watercolour pencils, White Gel Pen

Other: Adhesive gems and white ribbon from my stash, Ranger Coffee 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!

February STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Anything Goes With Hot Pink

And so we have transitioned from January (was it Dry January? Sugar Free January? General trying to atone for your Holiday sins January?) to the month that will make all us crafters grab our pink paints, pens and watercolours. Bring out the heart stencils and the love sentiments because that's all you will see anywhere in blogland while we celebrate crafting for the most important people in our lives, whether it be our partners, family, friends or most beloved pets.

Anyhow, you have probably already guessed what the optional colour twist for this month's STAMPlorations CAS challenge is. But you don't have to use it if you don't want to. And you don't have to use STAMPlorations products either (although we always love to see you strut your STAMPloratons stuff if you do have it) - as long as you create something CAS you can link it up, and you can link up to 3 cards per challenge. The winner will receive a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations store and the top picks will each receive a $5 gift card.

If you are inspired to get something for your stash you can always get 20% off your purchase in the STAMPlorations store by using the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. For more information, see the end of this post.

My card today is another very easy way to create a card which looks very intricate. I used the gorgeous new Zen Hearts stencil and painted through it with Distress Inks and a watercolour brush. I used Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Mustard Seed. I love how you never quite know how it will turn out when you remove the stencil as some bits where you used more water will have run on the paper creating a really artsy effect. Then I simply die cut the sentiment using the Always Word Die and stamped the word love using a stamp from Pocket Blooms which is another new set. I added some Ice Stickles to the sentiment and added a few adhesive rhinestones for a finishing touch.

I'm linking up with the following challenges: 

Clean and Simple on Sunday - Hearts

Daring Cardmakers - I want more... simplicity

House of Cards - love theme and/or something pink

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - The colour of love

NBUS #10 - I haven't had a chance to play along with any of Darnell's recent NBUS challenges, I'm so sorry for that Darnell, I really wanted to play along but this stupid thing called work took up all my time!! Finally had the chance as every stamp, die and stencil in this card is NBUS. If you haven't checked out Darnell's blog you absolutely have to, it always brings a big smile to my face.

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper

Stamps: STAMPlorations Pocket Blooms

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Mustard Seed
Stencil: ARTplorations Zen Hearts
Die: CUTplorations Always Word Die
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles, 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!