May STAMPlorations CAS Challenge

 

Hi fellow crafters! Happy best month of the year, May is finally here!! I love May. It's spring, there are flowers, TWO bank holidays in a month (if you are in the UK), nature is back to life, it's warm(er), and of course it's my birthday month so I may be a bit biased.

Anyhow, the first day of the month means the STAMPlorations challenges turn over a new leaf. The STAMPlorations May CAS challenge has a really great colour combo which I feel really challenged me - yellow and copper. How gorgeous are those roses in the challenge inspiration pic above? So I definitely wanted to create something with yellow roses myself. I started by stamping In Bloom: Radiant Roses in Versamark and heat embossing in copper. I then watercoloured the roses in Distress Inks and splattered some watercolour on the card front for good measure. Last, I matted the card front on copper card, and die cut a sentiment in the same copper card using  Everyday Sentiments Dies.

I hope you feel inspired to join the challenge, and as usual, there are great prizes to be won, a $20 prize code to the winner and three $7 prize codes to randomly picked entries.

Stamps: STAMPlorations In Bloom: Radiant Roses

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments Dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Inks

Note that I have received some of the stamps and other craft supplies for free as a member of the STAMPlorations Design Team, therefore this blog post has to be identified as an ad. I have been using STAMPlorations products for years before joining the Desing Team at which time I paid for all my STAMPlorations products and I love them as much today as I did then. 

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. And if you use my code you also get to pick a freebie to the value of $7 (for details see the badge below).

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 :) 

Reminder STAMPlorations CAS January Challenge

 

We have already managed to get through half of the most depressing month of the year and to celebrate that it's time for more inspiration from the STAMPlorations challenge design teams in the challenge reminder post!

If you were planning to play along with our monthly challenges but haven't had time to do so yet, or if you haven't linked up the maximum allowed 3 projects, you can still play along. Our January CAS Challenge colour twist is pink, red and orange. I used these colours to ink up a background for my card using Distress Oxides. I heat embossed the beautiful Blossom Sprays #3 in white on the background and added a die-cut sentiment using Everyday Sentiment Dies.  

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Sprays #3

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiment Dies

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Oxides

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. And if you use my code you also get to pick a freebie to the value of $7 (for details see the badge below).

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

 

Welcome to this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post. I have entered November with hardly any Christmas cards made (I can hear you gasping all the way here...). I'm proud to say I have finished most of my (mainly knitted or crocheted) Christmas presents but cards... not so much this year. Last year was the total opposite - lots of cards, but hardly any presents. Luckily I have made a few cards during the year, but I think from now until Christmas, all my Inspiration projects will be Christmas themed to bulk up the Christmas card stash. 

I thought I would do something a bit different from my usual Christmas card by creating a slimline card. I started by inking brown and red Distress Ink through the Flair Slimline Stencil, I really love this stencil, it's super versatile and will adapt to so many different designs depending on colours and other elements. Here I combined it with the wreath from Joyful and the deer from Yuletide Deer, both heat embossed in copper on kraft card and coloured with Distress ink. Last, I attached a sentiment from Simple Christmas Clear Stickers. I think it turned out quite nice with a rustic feel.

As always, don't forget that by commenting on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post you are entering into a monthly draw for a $15 prize code. And there are so many offers in the STAMPlorations store at the moment, check below for info, including a code which, in addition to a discount will also give you a freebie! 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Yuletide Deer, Joyful

Stencil: ARTplorations Flair Slimline Stencil

Other: Simple Christmas Clear Stickers

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Vintage Photo and Festive Berry, Tsukineko Versamark

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. And if you use my code you also get to pick a freebie to the value of $7 (for details see the badge below).

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 :) 

This month there are oodles of discounts, for which you can find codes here, including 30% off word/phrase dies, 25% off square stencils and 40% off clear stickers. There is also a Christmas Special Sale and Coffee Lovers Sale.

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Hi, happy Tuesday and happy STAMPlorations Inspiration day! We have a new Inspiration Post over on the STAMPlorations blog. Don't forget that by commenting on the post over on the STAMPlorations blog you will have a chance to win a  $15 gift code to the new fabulous STAMPlorations store.

I'm continuing my Christmas in July theme from last week. This time I did some white heat embossing in white on kraft using the wreath from Joyful which I watercoloured with Distress Oxides, and splattered with white watercolour. I cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and inked the edges of the panel with Vintage Photo. I used the sentiment stamps from Joy to create the sentiment. This was actually quite a quick card to make so I might make a batch of these to get seriously started with my Christmas card stash.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful, Joy 

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Oxides

If you feel like shopping in the STAMPlorations store, 

you will get 30% off all products in the main store!

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Hi and welcome to the first STAMPlorations Inspiration post for July. I am going to devote my July projects to some Christmas card ideas as I think July is a good time to start thinking about designs for Christmas cards so that once you get a bit closer to Christmas you have multiple cards and designs done and if needed, you can mass-produce one or a few of them. 

Another exciting thing for July is that the brand new STAMPlorations store is now open! All the STAMPlorations stamps, dies, digis and other crafting supplies are now available in one shop and you can also find the Outlet store in the same place. Don't forget to use the code RELAUNCH at checkout to get 30% off your first order in the new store and for subsequent orders, you can use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout for 20% off. And there is even a freebie you can get for FREE if you pay for shipping. And if you leave a comment on the STAMPlorations Inspiration post over on the main STAMPloratios blog you can win a $15 gift code to the STAMPlorations store!

For my first Christmas in July project involves one of my all-time favourite Christmas stamp sets, Joyful. I heat embossed the Christmas present image in gold on white card, watercoloured with Gansai Tambi watercolours and fussy cut the image. I used the Dream Flower stencil with Distress Inks to create the background for the card, which I think looks a bit like poinsettias. Last, I added a sentiment from Joy heat embossed onto kraft card. 

Note that if you use any of the affiliate links in this post I will get a small compensation from your order without any additional cost to you!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Joyful, Joy

Stencil: ARTplorations Dream Flower 

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Distress Ink, Gansai Tambi watercolours

STAMPlorations June CAS Challenge - Reminder

Hi, how are you? Thanks for popping by today! So many things are different this summer compared to other summers, but one thing stays the same. It's going past way too quickly. How can we already be in the middle of June? However it happened, today I get to share my card for the STAMPlorations June CAS Challenge Reminder. 

For my card, I created a purple watercolour background using Distress Inks. Then I stamped the beautiful Layered Vase and heat embossed it in gold. Last, I added a lilac die cut sentiment using one of the dies from Everyday Sentiments. This is a very quick and easy way to create a beautiful card, and you can literally do it in a few minutes.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Layered Vase
Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments
Ink and colouring: Distress Inks, Tsukineko Versamark

Don't forget the STAMPlorations Birthday Sale as some products are 40$ off with the code 7YEARS. And if you want to shop for products which are not in the Birthday selection, you can get 20% off by using my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout.

 

Products in the BIRTHDAY MONTH SALE section are 40% off with code 7YEARS

Spring Fling Blog Hop Reminder

Hi all, this is a very quick post to remind you of the ongoing STAMPlorations Spring Fling Blog Hop and Linky Party. The STAMPlorations design team has a whole post full of more spring-themed inspiration over on the STAMPlorations blog. There are many ways for you to play along with us and win some great prizes too.

There are 2 parts to this fun event, and you can find them over on the main STAMPlorations blog Spring Fling post:

1. a blog hop with 23 stops where you can leave comments; and
2. a linky party for linking up your spring-themed projects -- you're free to use non-STAMPlorations products but if you do use our products (stamps, stencils, dies, clear stickers, coloring pages) and you're randomly picked as a winner, you get a bonus prize + we've got a digital stamp you can download and use. 

I made a card using the new Sweet Kindness stamp. I stamped the flowers from the set multiple times over the front of the card and heat embossed in gold. Then I used pretty much all of the colours in my Gansai Tambi watercolour set to colour the image. I heat embossed one of the sentiments from the same stamp set in gold on a yellow scrap piece of card and added it onto a green 

I hope you will join us for the blog hop and linky party too over at the Spring Fling post. Also, don't forget the two sales campaigns over in the STAMPlorations Store! And if you feel like shopping for non-sale items, you can get 20% off using the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA.

Products in the SPRING FLING section are 15% off instantly. Discount is applied automatically when you add qualifying items in your cart.

Products in the COFFEE/TEA LOVERS section are 40% off with code COFFEE40.

STAMPlorations Inspiration Post - New Coffee Stamp Release

Today we have a special STAMPlorations Inspiration post as we get to share two new stamp sets with you. These new stamp sets, Bloomin' Coffee and You and Sweet Kindness, are designed by the wonderfully talented Shery. If you love flowers, coffee, cupcakes and lovely sentiments, these stamp sets are for you. And my fellow design team members have loads more inspiration over on the STAMPlorations blog. 

For my first card, I was inspired to showcase the tasty cupcakes from Sweet Kindness. I heat embossed the image in copper, watercoloured it with Distress Inks and fussy cut the image. To create the background, I used Spun Sugar and Vintage Photo inks through the  Oh My Stars! Mini stencil, and after attaching the cupcakes, added the final touch with the sweet sentiment.

For my second card I used the delicate floral frame from Bloomin' Coffee and You. I started with a Distress Oxide blended background. Then I stamped the floral frame and a sentiment from Bloomin' Coffee and You in gold on vellum. For that extra touch, I added a strip of patterned paper (it also helps attach the vellum) and three adhesive pearls. 

I hope you enjoyed this showcase of the new stamp sets!

  
Bloomin' Coffee and You | Sweet Kindness

I also used the Oh My Stars! Mini stencil for my cards in addition to the new stamp sets.  

There are two great sales going on in the STAMPlorations store and for normal priced products you can use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA for 20% off.

Products in the COFFEE/TEA LOVERS section are 40% off with code COFFEE40.

Products in the SPRING FLING section are 15% off instantly. Discount is applied automatically when you add qualifying items in your cart.

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Happy May, my favourite month of the year! How are you coping? I'm looking forward to a long weekend this week as we have a bank holiday on Friday and I'm taking a day of annual leave on Monday, enjoying four lovely days away from work. I'm planning to... well, stay at home, but not work, hehe. Maybe take a few long walks and work in the garden. It will still feel like a holiday, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather. And today is Tuesday, and that means there is a new STAMPlorations Inspiration post too.

For today's card, I started with one of my Distress Oxide blended backgrounds. I made a big batch of them a few weeks back. I then stamped the lovely Sweetly bouquet of flowers in white heat embossing on vellum. I die cut the sentiment using Everyday Sentiments. Last I added a strip of patterned paper both for the decorative effect and to secure the edge of the vellum to the background. I'm really chuffed about how this card turned out.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sweetly

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Oxides, Tsukineko Versamark

We are soon going to start the Spring Fling blog hop and linky party, so don't forget to check in on May 6th.

 

Products in the SPRING FLING section are 15% off instantly. Discount is applied automatically when you add qualifying items in your cart.

Happy International Women's Day!!

Hi everyone! Happy International Women's Day!! I want to dedicate today's post to all the amazing women out there who make the online crafting community such a wonderful space. Thank you all of you for being there for each other and for sending wonderful and supportive comments to each other. In all the horribleness that is the Internet and the world in general today, I find it encouraging that we can have this community where we focus on supporting each other and sharing our creativity. I fully welcome all and any men into our community as well, don't get me wrong. I'm so happy we have strong male crafty role models too like the amazing Tim Holtz who clearly has done a lot to also introduce men to the crafting world. But I still think it's amazing that at large, we are a community of women who spend time not on criticizing each other or putting each other down but lifting each other up!

So I admit today's card isn't specifically a Women's Day card, it's, in fact, a wedding card. I used the snowy backdrop stamp from snow cool to create the background for the card, stamping the snow at the bottom and top of the card, heat embossing in gold. I then stamped more of the snow on another card, adding the glasses, bubbles and little heart from Happy Wedding and heat embossed everything in gold again. Then I used the Stitched Rectangle dies to cut the panel, attached it to a doily and finished everything with a die-cut sentiment from STAMPlorations Everyday Sentiments.

I think we should raise a glass in honour of all the wonderful women out in the world, doing their thing whether it be being business leaders, politicians, stay-at-home mums, students, artists or whatever else they feel is their calling in life. I hope you'll join me and send love to as many wonderful women as possible today!

And now I'm off to visit the blogs of wonderful crafty women bloggers out there, and I hope you will do the same!!

I'm playing along with  Lawn Fawnatics - Inspired by a book, movie or a song (Champagne Supernova by Oasis, and how is it that this song is from 1995? how old am I? :) and
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - B is for Booze (sorry no snark this time...)

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Happy Wedding, Snow Cool

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Stackables, STAMPlorations Everyday Sentiments

STAMPlorations Inspiration

Happy Tuesday crafty peeps! I hope you are ready for some crafting inspiration, as we are back with the ladies from the STAMPlorations DT over on the STAMPlorations blog for this week's Inspiration post. Comment to win - you know the drill by now, right? And don't forget our short winter break from the STAMPlorations challenges is almost over and we'll be back with the March instalment the day after tomorrow, all refreshed and rested!

For today's card, I combined one of my all-time favourite stencils, Sanna's gorgeous Evolution with my favourite cute critter set Woodland Friends. I used Distress Inks on the stencil, die-cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and inked Vintage Photo around the edges. I stamped the fox on white card, coloured him with Copics and fussy cut him. I attached him onto a panel of vellum I die cut using the smallest one of the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies. I heat embossed the sentiment in copper using Bold Sentiments: Fabulous and die cut the word fabulous from copper card using Fabulous Word die. Last, I added some Ice Stickles to the sentiment for that extra little bling! 

Don't forget, if you want to do some crafty shopping, you can use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout for 20% off normal priced products in the STAMPloration store. 

Stamps: STAMPlorations Woodland Friends, Bold Sentiments: Fabulous

Stencil: ARTplorations Evolution

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, Fabulous Word die

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Copics

STAMPlorations New Release Leafy

Welcome to day two of the STAMPlorations February 2020 release week! Did you get a chance to check out our release of Shirley's Layered Vase? Today we are showcasing Dee's new Leafy stamp set which contains pretty much every single leaf you could ever need. 

For my first card, I stamped the different leaves all around the edges of a card. I started by stamping the solid leaves in lighter green Distress Inks and then added some of the outlined leaves in darker colours. I finished by adding Typografia Motivate: Quitting in black Versafine ink.

For my second card, I started with an ombre background panel. I stamped one of the leaves multiple times in Versafine and heat embossed them in copper. I die cut the sentiment using Skinny Sentiments using copper card and some more of the ombre card I used for the card panel.

For a chance to win a $20 gift code or one of the new stamp sets, comment on the blog post over on the STAMPlorations blog and the participating designer's blogs. You don't have to comment on all blogs, but every comment will be entered in the random draw. Commenting is open until February 19th and the randomly drawn winners will be announced on February 21st. Also, the new stamps are 10% off automatically until February 19 in the STAMPlorations store and if you use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA you will get an extra 20% off.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Leafy, Typografia Motivate: Quitting

Dies: CUTplorations Skinny Sentiments

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

STAMPlorations Inspiration

And so it's Tuesday again! Welcome to this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration Post. This time I wanted to create a quick wedding card and my favourite stamp set for that is Funny Kinda Love. It's so quick to heat emboss the stamp and it took me less than two minutes to add some stylized watercolour - all you need to do is add a little bit of colour but don't be too particular about getting an even coverage of the colour. Just a few brush strokes give a lovely, artsy look. I simply love this stamp, you can just adjust the colour scheme to match your favourite couple. I added a die-cut sentiment using Everyday Sentiments in copper card to match the copper heat embossing. 

Stamps: STAMPlorationsbFunny Kinda Love

Dies: CUTplorations Everyday Sentiments

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Gansai Tambi watercolours

If you want to do some crafty shopping, head over to the STAMPlorations store to enjoy discounts such as:

 

Products in the LOVE/SPRING section are

 

20% off instantly from January 22 to February 10

 

No code needed! Simply add products to your cart and the discount is automatically applied.

STAMPlorations January CAS Challenge - Metallics

Happy New Year! Can you believe it, a new year and a new decade? I still feel like the millennium wasn't too long ago when in fact it's now 20 years ago! I guess that makes me really old, right? But new decade or not - a new month means it's time for a new CAS challenge. I can't wait to see the 2020 colour twists and to see your interpretations of them. I'm not making any New Year's resolutions, but I would like to try to make a bit more time for crafting this year. I'm extremely excited to share my creations with you and I can't wait to be inspired by the projects you link up. I love seeing the projects and drawing inspiration from them!

Our first colour twist of the year is metallics. I decided to do some gold and silver heat embossing on black card using the Bloomdala Bliss stamp set. I added one of the sentiments from the same stamp set on deep red card for a splash of colour and started the new year, nay, decade, with an uplifting sentiment. 

I hope you will join us over on the STAMPlorations blog and play along with our challenge!

Stamps: STAMPlorations Bloomdala Bliss

Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark and Versafine Onyx Black

If you want to find some great bargains on STAMPlorations products, check out the WINTER SALE section in the STAMPlorations store.