STAMPlorations Giving Thanks Blog Hop

I'm super excited to be part of the 3rd annual STAMPlorations Giving Thanks Blog Hop and Wishlist Linky Party. If you are following the hop, you should have arrived here from the wonderful Sarah Platt of Sazzle Dazzle Crafts. You can see all the hop stops in the linky below.

It wouldn't be a linky party without a lot of prizes! There are way too many prizes to list here, but you can find all the info over at STAMPlorations Giving Thanks Blog Hop and Wishlist Linky Party. You can win prizes by commenting and sharing on social media.

There is a bunch of new STAMPlorations products which are showcased along the hop. You can find them all in the New Releases category in the STAMPlorations shop. I got to play with the Words of Gratitude stamp set which has six wonderful sentiments, perfect to use on your cards or other crafting projects.

For my first card, I started by stamping the frame from STAMPlorations Floral Bliss (retired) in Versafine Onyx Black. Then I masked the frame, and stamped plenty of sweet goodies from Sweet Cravings and Sugar Rush, which I coloured with Copics. Then I inked the inside of the frame in a rainbow with Distress Inks and stamped the wonderful sentiment. All in one layer. 

For my second card, I inked yellow, orange and red Distress ink through the Fall Floral Trio stencil. I used the same inks with some more red and some brown thrown in to ink up a scrap piece of card and then die cut the leaves using the Trendy Leaves 2 coordinating dies. For the sentiment, I used a ombre blue piece of card, stamped the frame and sentiment and fussy cut it all. 

For my last, bright, rainbow card, I started by inking Distress ink through the Layered Petals stencil. Then I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black, and added some die cut flowers and leaves cut from coloured card using Trendy Spring Blooms Dies. A few small rhinestones completes the card.

If you got inspired to do some shopping, now is a perfect time as Shery is having a Thanksgiving Sale over in the STAMPlorations shop. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, scraps of coloured card, blue ombre card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Words of Gratitude, Sweet Cravings, Sugar Rush, Floral Bliss (retired)
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Copics
Stencils: ARTplorations Fall Floral Trio, Layered Petals
Dies: CUTplorations Trendy Leaves 2 coordinating dies, Trendy Spring Blooms Dies
Other: Adhesive rhinestones from my stash

Shining White

When I saw the current inspiration image over at Inspired by All the Little Things, I immediately knew the card I wanted to make. Which was this card, except I thought I had some white glitter card. Which I didn't. So I made my own instead, by inking white card with Versamark and adding holographic glitter embossing powder and then die cutting the background and the Christmas tree. I popped it all up with 3D foam dots. Last, I used some silver glitter card to die cut the sentiment and added some adhesive gems to the tree.

 I'm also linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Snow White, ABC Christmas Challenge where the theme is W for white and Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge where Anything goes with an optional twist of Christmas.

It was hard to capture the gorgeous glitter of the tree and the background in the pictures but this gives an idea of the beautiful shimmer. 

Card: White 250 gsm card, silver glitter card

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark

Dies: STAMPlorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Nesting Dies, Christmas Icons - Christmas Tree #1, Lawn Fawn Scripty Merry die

Other: Papermania holographic embossing powder, Stampin' Up adhesive gems

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.

Christmas Wreath Tag

Just popping in quickly to show the tag I made today as I was procrastinating on some work stuff. Crafting truly is the best form of procrastinating, and now I have another tag ready for Christmas. And I got to use my NBUS Lawn Fawn Knit Picky paper and Mini Wreath die, both of which are super adorable.

I'm linking up with a couple of challenges:
House of Cards - holiday and/or colours

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes, optional twist tags

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With dies

Paper: Lawn Fawn Knit Picky paper, scraps of green and red card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Christmas Unicorn

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Dies: Lawn Fawn Tag You're It, Mini Wreath, Scripty Merry Christmas Die, Extra Sentiment Banners

Other: Red adhesive pearls from my stash

North and South Pole Tags

I've been working on my stash of Christmas cards, but not really on any gift tags yet. So today, I thought I would change that as I was inspired by the cute bear tag over at Tag You're It challenge and the Clever Gift Packaging Challenge over at Lawn Fawnatics (not sure if tags really count as gift packaging or not, but I saw a few other tags in the gallery so I thought why not!). I'm also linking up with the Christmas Gift Tag challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and Anything but a card over at Make My Monday.

I started by die cutting the tags in Neenah Solar white card, and inking the sky with Tim Holtz Distress inks, splattering with water mixed with some Perfect Pearls (which gives the sky a nice, subtle shimmer which I wasn't able to capture in the photos). Then I die cut the mountains in kraft card, and the snowy mountaintops, the snowy hillside and the forest border in white card. Last, I stamped the cute critters, colouring them with Copics and die cutting with the matching dies. After assembling the tags, I added some twine for attaching the tags to the gifts. I will stamp a greeting on the reverse of the tags.

Card: Neenah Solar white, kraft card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Snow and matching dies
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Copics
Dies: Lawn Fawn Tag You're It, Forest Border, Stitched Mountain Borders, Stitched Hillside Borders
Other: blue and white twine from my stash

November STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Anything Goes With Brown

Welcome to the November STAMPlorations CAS challenge. November? How can it be November already? Thank you for playing along with our October challenge, it was great to see so much amazing inspiration in the gallery. Make sure to check in over at the STAMPlorations blog in a few day's time to see the lucky winners. Hopefully, you'll be playing along with us again this month. Our optional colour twist this month is brown. 

What else could the colour brown mean than choooocolate! For my card I started by stamping the yummy cake and pie from Sweet Cravings, coloured with Copics and die cut with the matching dies. Then I stamped the Bold Sentiments: Sweet in an ombre pink pattern, attaching the cakes to the background. 

Card: Neenah Solar white card, 300 gsm white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sweet Cravings and matching Sweet Cravings Dies, Bold Sentiments: Sweet, Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride, Regal Rose, Strawberry Slush, Melon Mambo, Copics

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.

Autumn Leaves

The colours of the leaves are stunning outside, so I can't stop creating inked leaves and using all leaf dies I can find in the craft room. I've been so much into die cutting lately, much more than stamping to be honest. Today I made a bit of a mess with Distress Inks and STAMPlorations dies with a very strong CAS flair. It's just so much fun getting that ink everywhere and then splattering with water and some more ink. 

Today's card was inspired by the blue background and beautiful fall leaves in the inspiration image over at Fusion Card Challenges. I was also inspired by the ink blending themes over at AAA Cards and Daring Cardmakers.

Card: Neenah Solar white card

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Broken China, Blueprint Sketch, Faded Jeans, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries, Barn Door, Aged Mahogany, Vintage Photo

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 1 (retired)

Dies: STAMPlorations Trendy Leaves 2 coordinating dies

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.

Cozy Autumn Cuppa

Today was the first morning this season I had to scrape the windscreen of my car. Or to be perfectly honest, the boo did it for me. I'm a feminist, but I have to say I love it when the boo does the stuff that involves getting cold hands... And what a heart-warming gesture to realise when you get your car that the windscreen has been scraped! He has his moments.

We need a hot cup or two when the weather turns icy, don't we? I had to wait for a train for quite a long while out in the cold this morning, and would not have managed without my huge vat of hot latte to keep me warm. Today's card was inspired by that steaming mug of comfort as well as the cozy image over at Inspired by All The Little Things and the sketch over at Fusion Card Challenge. I'm also linking up over at Shopping Our Stash where the theme is to use a sketch and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes this week.

Card and paper: 250 gsm brown card, Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Christmas, Perfectly Plaid Chill, Knock on Wood, Neenah Solar white card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Love You a Latte and matching dies

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress marker, Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Nesting dies, Stitched Leaves, Tag You're It, Big Scripty Words, Everyday Banners