Seize The Birthday - Pink and Brown

It's time for a new Seize The Birthday challenge, and this time it's a colour combo - pink and brown.

I stamped the Groovy Wedge Shoe onto a piece of white card, then with a bit of selective masking, coloured the various parts with Victorian Velvet, and used a flower from Groovy Shoes to stamp a pattern on the shoe.  Luckily I had some washi tape of just the right shade of pink.  The die-cut words are from the new CUTplorations range.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, and play along with us.  If you're not into pink and brown, any birthday project is eligible.
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STAMPlorations Inspiration #87

As this post goes live at 2pm UK time, I'll be lunching with the recipient of this card, the one and only Darnell, as she undertakes her Royal Tour, meeting and greeting bloggy friends around the country.  There'll be a few of us getting together in Liverpool for the lunch, and I can't wait!

So, this was Darnell's birthday card.  Sloshy, sploshy Distress Ink backgrounds, Winged Things butterfly, CUTplorations Birthday word die, and the 'girl' is from Party Time.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and don't forget to leave a comment there for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #86

Hi, and welcome to another Inspiration Tuesday at STAMPlorations.  For today's card, I've used pieces of Distress-splattered watercolour card.  On the blue piece I stamped the large butterfly from Winged Things and cut it out, and on the orange piece I drew a scribbly border with a black fineliner. A quick and easy way of using up scraps of card.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team.  Don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate.

I'm entering this into AAA Cards - One Stash Favourite challenge.  My favourite and most-used part of my stash is definitely Distress Inks!

Seize The Birthday - Bold and Bright

Time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday, and this week our topping is Bold and Bright.  I went for one big bold bright flower, and a bold sentiment to match.  The stamps aren't even floral - they're from the Hero Arts Brush Strokes set:

I stamped the images with Distress Inks, then lightly spritzed the watercolour paper to make the colours bleed out.  Once it was dry I scribbled some outlines with a fineliner and stamped the sentiment.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and play along with us.  You don't have to go bold and bright, you can do any birthday project.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #85

It's inspiration time at STAMPlorations, and you could be forgiven for thinking déjà vu.  While I had the Brusho powders and ARTplorations Happy Flowers stencil out last week I made another card, but in a different colour scheme.

I love the unpredictability of Brushos, and the different effects that you get depending on the level of saturation.  I think my favourite stage is when all the little powder specks have exploded but not quite mingled.

Again, on this card some specks of colour had got under the stencil, so all that was needed was a wet brush to create the background.  The sentiment is from Gone Postal.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration, and don't forget to leave a comment there for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate.

Craft Stamper Take It Make It Reminder

It's reminder time for Craft Stamper Take It, Make It - are you playing along?  This month it's Take a Stamp.  I've used just one stamp - Time To Wine Down by Woodware - and watercoloured it with Distress Inks.

This month's sponsor is Calico Craft Parts, who are offering this fab prize for one randomly chosen entrant:-

If your entry is chosen by the Design Team, it's published in Craft Stamper magazine, and you get to feature on the blog and in the magazine.

Please remember - only one project in your post! And make sure you link back to our challenge. Some gorgeous potential winners had to be discounted last month because they didn't meet the criteria. Don't let it be yours.

Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, then join in to win!

Playing with Brushos

I've got a couple of cards over at STAMPlorations blog tonight, made with Brushos and a stencil.  Pop on over for a closer look.

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STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop - Day 7

It's the final day of the STAMPlorations third birthday bash, and today we're showcasing Words from the CUTplorations range.  There are ten words being launched today, you can see them in the graphic:

I've been playing with 'happy' and 'birthday'.  On this second card I cut the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Die first, then cut the word out.  I love that you can use both the positive and negative cuts - watch out for the positives appearing soon!

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and if you comment, share, like, and/or link up here's what you could win:

PRIZES

All prizes will be randomly drawn using Random.org

Prizes for commenting on the STAMPlorations blog and STAMPlorations designers blogs:

• THREE (3) winners of $25 gift certificate
• SEVEN (7) winners (1 per day) of $10 gift certificate

Prizes for liking, commenting, sharing, and tagging a friend on the STAMPlorations Facebook page post: 

• TWO (2) winners of $15 gift certificate -- 1 for the commenter and 1 for the friend she tags in the comment

Prizes for creating and linking up a party/celebration/birthday project:

• ONE (1) winner of Kathryn’s Big Wishes stamp set
• ONE (1) winner of CUTplorations word dies (winner chooses 3 from 10 available)

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Happy Birthday Shery!

It's a busy day on the STAMPlorations blog today, especially with this little extra surprise to wish our fearless leader, Shery, a very happy birthday.

I thought the sentiment, 'Go After Your Dreams', was so apt for Shery.  She works tirelessly on growing her company STAMPlorations (are you keeping up with all the new products that are being introduced?); on keeping and growing the STAMPlorations family I mean Design Team; on her other day jobs; and on the most important job of all, being mummy to Kathryn.  Oh, and wife to David ;)

As a tribute to Shery I thought I would make a one layer mixed media card.  But I just couldn't break myself of the Distress watercolour habit, or the splattering.  (Technically, I did mix my media by using a white gel pen for the kingfisher's eye, but it's not really what you would call a mixed media card :-D )

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for more surprise birthday cards.  There'll also be a linky party for you to add your birthday wishes to Shery.

SmallBirds

Noteworthy

Frames & Flowers

Blooming Buds

Happy birthday, Shery, from all of us in the STAMP family.  Long may it continue!

STAMPlorations Inspiration #84

Time for some STAMPlorations Inspiration for you.  I've been playing wish Brusho powders and my ARTplorations Happy Flowers stencil.  I laid the stencil on the card, sprinkled on the Brushos, spritzed on the water, and watched the magic happen.  Tiny specks of powder escaped under the stencil, which gave me the colour for the wash around the image.  The sentiment is from Gone Postal.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate.

CASEplorations with Elina Stromberg

Hi peeps, here we are with a new CASEplorations challenge, and our muse this month is Elina Stromberg with this gorgeous card:

These are the elements that I took:
the coloured background, paler in the centre; subtle background stamping; strong focal image; black mat; black diecut sentiment.  And this is what happened:

I stamped the Large Platform Shoe onto mixed media paper, sloshed Distress Inks around it, then watercoloured the shoe with Fossilized Amber and Ground Espresso.  Reminds me of another craze for antique-leather shoes ;)  Stamped the large flower from Groovy Shoes, and diecut the sentiments using the new CUTplorations Happy and Birthday.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see how the rest of the Design Team CASEd Elina's card, and for details on how to play along.

STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop - Day 6

It's Day 6 of the STAMPlorations blog hop, and today we're showcasing these Crazy Double Stitched Rectangles from the newly launched CUTplorations line.

You got a sneak peek on Day 4 when I made a similar panel but using the sentiments from Deepti's set.  Today I've changed the orientation and colour scheme, and used a sentiment from The Bee's Knees Rosebuds.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and if you comment, share, like, and/or link up here's what you could win:

PRIZES

All prizes will be randomly drawn using Random.org

Prizes for commenting on the STAMPlorations blog and STAMPlorations designers blogs:

• THREE (3) winners of $25 gift certificate
• SEVEN (7) winners (1 per day) of $10 gift certificate

Prizes for liking, commenting, sharing, and tagging a friend on the STAMPlorations Facebook page post: 

• TWO (2) winners of $15 gift certificate -- 1 for the commenter and 1 for the friend she tags in the comment

Prizes for creating and linking up a party/celebration/birthday project:

• ONE (1) winner of Kathryn’s Big Wishes stamp set
• ONE (1) winner of CUTplorations word dies (winner chooses 3 from 10 available)

STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop - Day 4

It's Day 4 of the STAMPlorations third birthday hop and linky party - are you playing along?

See that dotty stamp image inside the balloon?  Makes a great splodge stamp with spritzed Distress Inks!  For my central panel I used one of the new CUTplorations dies, which you'll be seeing on the STAMPlorations blog from tomorrow onwards, and an ARTplorations Bold Florals stencil.  The flower centres are punched from scrap gelli print paper.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and if you comment, share, like, and/or link up here's what you could win:

PRIZES

All prizes will be randomly drawn using Random.org

Prizes for commenting on the STAMPlorations blog and STAMPlorations designers blogs:

• THREE (3) winners of $25 gift certificate
• SEVEN (7) winners (1 per day) of $10 gift certificate

Prizes for liking, commenting, sharing, and tagging a friend on the STAMPlorations Facebook page post: 

• TWO (2) winners of $15 gift certificate -- 1 for the commenter and 1 for the friend she tags in the comment

Prizes for creating and linking up a party/celebration/birthday project:

• ONE (1) winner of Kathryn’s Big Wishes stamp set
• ONE (1) winner of CUTplorations word dies (winner chooses 3 from 10 available)

The Mixed Media Card Challenge - Sparkle

Time for a new challenge at The Mixed Media Card Challenge, and this month it's all about Sparkle, with an optional element of Gems.

I started with a Gelli plate print which I'd made with purple, blue and green paints and a stencil, mask and bubblewrap.  I stamped the flower in Versafine Onyx Black, then stitched along the base.  The stitching wasn't great so I just pulled the threads around and glued them down.  A few blobs of Stickles on the flower heads, and if you look closely you can see three tiny AB gems.  I mounted the panel onto sanded and distressed Core'dinations card, then onto the card base.

Pop on over to the Mixed Media Card Challenge blog to see more fabulous inspiration from the design team, and join in.

Craft Stamper Take It Make It - Take A Stamp

Hi folks, it's time for a new challenge at Craft Stamper Take It, Make It!  This month, it's Take a Stamp - easy peasy :)

I'm trying to use up bits and bobs of backgrounds that have been collecting on my desk.  The back panel was a leftover from a set of cards I'd done.  The next layer was waste from a larger panel, but it fit the Tim Holtz Tattoo You stamp exactly :)  I added some white gel pen highlighting.  The butterfly was cut from a piece of waste mixed media paper and dipped into Distress Inks.

I stamped some text on the kraft card base with Picket Fence Distress Ink.  I wasn't impressed because it just sat on top of the card, dried very chalky, and most of it rubbed off after the ink had dried.  So I flicked some Dylusions white ink on the card base.

Anyway, enough of that - what can you win?  Well, this is for our randomly chosen winner, courtesy of sponsor Calico Craft Parts:

And if your entry is chosen by the Design Team, it's published in Craft Stamper magazine, and you get to feature on the blog and in the magazine.

Please remember - only one project in your post!  And make sure you link back to our challenge.  Some gorgeous potential winners had to be discounted last month because they didn't meet the criteria.  Don't let it be yours.

Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog for more fabulous inspiration from the team.