STAMPlorations Inspiration

Happy Tuesday! How are you? I am already thinking of spring, although we still have some more grey, cold and dark days ahead. But it's comforting to know we are already going towards lighter days ahead, and I keep imagining it's already lighter in the mornings and evenings. I know there isn't really a big difference yet, but it does change a little bit every day. That's why I was inspired by flowers and spring colours today for this week's STAMPlorations Inspiration post. As always, don't forget that by commenting on the post you are entering in a monthly draw for a $15 prize code for the STAMPlorations Store.

My card today is a emboss resist card - I started by stamping the beautiful florals from Bloom Doodles and heat embossed in white. I then used Distress Oxides to watercolour the card to bring out the florals, letting the colours bleed outside the embossed flowers. Last, I die cut the panel using Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies and added a sentiment in black using Hugs Word die.

Stamps: STAMPlorations  Bloom Doodles

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

Ink and colouring: 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 :) 

Birthday Mandala

I've enjoyed a week off work and am now approaching the Sunday night when I know I have to go back to work... I'm trying to spend some time in the craft room to take the edge off the anxiety. And nothing beats going back to work blues like a rainbow.

I used the gorgeous mandala stamp called Elizabeth Background Hey Love (there is a really great Pinterest board with some really gorgeous cards made with this stamp which make me swoon). I heat embossed the mandala in white and sponged Distress Ink on the card before die cutting it with the STAMPlorations Crazy Double Running Stitch die. I added a Lawn Fawn sentiment which I heat embossed in white on a strip of black card.

I'm also super excited to say that soon I'll be back to a more regular blogging schedule, more about that in a few days. 

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - S is for... (sponging ink in my case)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Daring Cardmakers - Resist

Crafty Gals Corner - Emboss it!

Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Elizabeth Background Hey Love, Lawn Fawn Holiday Party Animal
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting dies

Happy Mother's Day to Grandma

For once, I managed a really productive day today. Not only have I cleaned part of the house, done two loads of laundry, cleaned out Gary the Snake, did some gardening, did the weekly shop and rat shopping (the joys of having a snake), cooked dinner but on top of all of that even managed a bit of crafty time. I'm looking forward to an early night today and a deep clean of the craft room tomorrow along with some lazy slouching. 

Today's card was inspired by two images, one over at Inspired by All the Little Things and another over at Just Us Girls. I was also inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. The background is from my box of unfinished projects, and I was inspired by the flowers and the pink, green and turquoise colour scheme of the second image. I created the background by stamping and heat embossing in clear powder, and then inking using Spun Sugar and Milled Lavender Distress ink. I then used my new Lawn Fawn Scalloped Rectangle dies for the background, and Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners and Violet's ABCs to create the sentiment (which says "to grandma" in Finnish). I inked around the scalloped rectangle using Distress Ink, and attached everything onto white linen textured card. So happy to finally find a use for the background I made ages ago, it's always nice to make some room in the unfinished project box. I'm also linking up my card with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Make It Girlie.

Card: 300 gsm linen textured card, 160 gsm Hobbycraft white card, 160 gsm Hobbycraft Three Shades of Green card, scrap of turquoise card
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Spun Sugar, Milled Lavender and Peeled Paint
Stamps: Inkadinkado Floral Wood Cut, Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs
Other: Ranger Fine Clear Embossing Powder, Lawn Fawn Scalloped Rectangle and Everyday Sentiment Banners dies, Papermania Seafoam White Embossing Powder

Happy Birthday from Fox and Hedgehog

I really am good at procrastinating, so I spent a lot of time in the craft room this weekend as I really would have needed to clean the house. This is another card I made while feeling guilty about all the dishes piled up in my kitchen. I did end up cleaning a few rooms after making this card so fear not, I won't drown in filth. Just wishing the weekends would last longer so I would have more crafting time. I will do my best to leave work on time at least one day this week, so hopefully I will manage some more crafty time soon!

This card was inspired by the tag over at Tag You're It. I loved the cute fox and hedgehog on the inspiration tag, so I thought I would make my own tag with a cute Lawn Fawn fox and hedgehog. My other inspiration was the sketch over at Retrosketches which worked perfectly with the tag theme and the colours over at Chocolate Baroque challenge. I'm also linking up with Daring Cardmakers where the theme is to use a resist technique. 

Card: 300 gsm textured card, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Bokeh In the Snow, Let's Polka

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Sending Hedgehugs, Party Animal and matching dies

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Festive Berries, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade

Colouring: Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn Tag You're It and Stitched Rectangle dies

More pastel Easter

Looks like my theme for this year's Easter cards are pastel colours and Distress ink backgrounds. For Grandma's card, I used an adorable Easter digi from Bugaboo stamps, which I coloured with Copics. I created the background by embossing resist, I stamped the ornate Easter egg and heat embossed with clear powder before inking with just three colours, yellow, turquoise and pink. Where the colours overlap they create such wonderful, vibrant greens, purples and oranges as well, so it looks like there was much more colours used. This is such a great tip especially if you are new to crafting and haven't built up a big stash yet, by choosing smartly you can get so much more out of your stash. I die cut the image and background vellum using Lawn Fawn dies, and printed the sentiment as I have a very limited supply of Finnish sentiments (my Grandma doesn't speak a word of any other language than Finnish). 

The card was inspired by the sketch over at STAMPlorations. I was also inspired by the wonderful inspiration board over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge. I'm also playing along with the Catch the Bug March Bingo Challenge (my Bingo is Spring/Easter Image, Player's Choice = vellum and Die Cut), Addicted to Stamps where Anything Goes, Just Add Ink "Eggs or Ovals", Shopping Our Stash "Make your own background" and Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers "E is for Easter".

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Inspiration Board

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: Personal Impressions Easter Set 1, Bugaboo Scene It Easter
Colouring: Copics of many colours (I might have forgotten to make a note of which ones I used, but it was pretty much all Copics I own)
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz disterss ink Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade
Other: Ranger Super Fine Detail Embossing Powder, Lawn Fawn Stitched Journal card die, Stitched Rectangle dies

Leftover stash card

I have a stash where I put all sorts of leftover bits and pieces of carstock, designer paper, any backgrounds I have made but don't quite know what to do with. I keep them in a little box which I have covered in silver paper and decorated with punched flowers. And sometimes I just go through everything that has accumulated in the leftover box to see if I can get inspired. And sometimes random things just come together, like for this card. Everything except for the gems and white cardstock came right out of the leftover stash. I always feel very proud when I manage to create a beautiful card from random bits and pieces.

I made the card main motif using the Floral Wood Cut stamp from Inkadinkado. I stamped it onto white cardstock using embossing ink and heat embossed using clear embossing powder. I then used Chipped Sapphire and Seedless Preserves distress paints for the colour, which was resisted by the embossing powder. I matted the motif onto white cardstock. Also the background panel was created using Distress Paints (Picked Raspberry, Victorian Velvet and Picket Fence onto watercolour paper. The banners are created using scrap papers and cardstock from the stash, I added a few adhesive gems and attached onto Kraft card.

The technique I used for both the stamped image and background panel involve Distress Paints and water spritzer. I dotted Distress Paints onto my craft mat in random swirls, and spritzed with water from a mini mister until there was small droplets of water on the craft mat. I then swirled the cardstock around in the colour and water mix until the whole paper was covered. I let the paper air dry, but you can speed up the process using a heat gun. You can see the amazingly talented Tim demonstrating this technique in this video here. I really enjoy playing with the distress paints, it's so much fun, although I tend to end up with dozens and dozens of backgrounds which I don't quite know what to do with in the end. But it's all about the creative process and about playing with the colours and that's what counts.

Distress paints: Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Chipped Sapphire, Victorian Velvet, Picket Fence
Stamp: Inkadinkado Floral Wood Cut
Cardstock: Daler & Rowney 190gsm watercolour paper, Hobbycraft white 160 gsm cardstock, Kraft card (and leftover scraps from Papermania Sizzling Red Hot set, Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry and the DSP Sycamore Street)
Other: Papermania adhesive gems, Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink, Ranger super fine detail embossing powder