STAMPlorations Inspiration #321

Today's STAMPlorations inspiration is brought to you by Carved Flowers, following my Playing Cards With A Friend session with Michele F, aka I Card Everyone.

I was wowed by the pretty cone flowers on one of her cards, so I made this card using a colour combination that Michele uses so well, and I hardly ever use - yellow and grey.

All images and sentiment are from Carved Flowers.  Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a $15 prize code to the store.  Whenever you're shopping, you can get 20% off by using my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY.

I'm adding this to the gallery at The Flower Challenge - CAS

and AAA Birthday Card Challenge - Flowers.

Happy Birthday, Bev!

The lovely Bev, owner of Uniko, has just had a milestone birthday and her sneaky DT organised a little surprise blog hop and linky party for her.  What better way to use my brand new Uniko stamps that I got from Port Sunlight.

Hope you're still celebrating, Bev ;)

I'm also entering this into AAA Birthday Card Challenge

STAMPlorations Inspiration #212

Hey peeps, it's time for Inspiration Tuesday at STAMPlorations, and we're still in a Spring mood and the Spring Fling sale lasts all through April, and all stamps in the Spring Fling section are automatically 25% off, no code needed.  If you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY you'll get a further 20% off, so go grab yourself a bargain!

I've used Folk Flowers for some vibrant blooms.  I coloured them with Zig Clean Colour brush pens, edged them with grey, then masked them while I sponged Distress Oxides through the Broken Glass stencil.  I stamped the border on the card base then trimmed the panel to fit.

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

I'm entering this into Just Us Girls - Off The Edge.

and AAA Card Challenge - Along The Edge

and Simon Says Monday Challenge - Beautiful Blooms

Butterfly Twofer

This month's Twofer challenge is all about butterflies, so how could I not play along with my Layered Butterflies set??

I made the first card for the CAS Watercolour Challenge - Rainbow, then realised I hadn't watercoloured, I'd sponged and spritzed.  Duh!  But I am entering it into AAA Cards - Inspired By Nature. The inspiration came from something I found on Pinterest.

ETA: Apparently it does qualify for CAS Watercolour Challenge, so I'm in there!

My second card came about from using one of my new toys from my trip to Port Sunlight on Saturday, an 8x11 Stampendous Creative Palette (basically a gel plate, thinner than the Gelli Plate, and crucially at half price).  I used Dylusions paints on the palette, and also stencilled with them using STAMPlorations stencils.  I stamped the butterfly then coloured it with coloured pencils, making a pattern on the wings as I went.  The sentiment is also from STAMPlorations.

I'm adding this one to the Simon Says Monday challenge - Stencil It.

SaveSave

Fancy A Cuppa?

I've been playing with my Paper Artsy Infusions powders again, this time in autumnal colours.  I started by stamping the Tea Cup Row, then masked it while I sprinkled some Infusions powders around and spritzed with water.  I removed the mask immediately (it was already disintegrating with being so wet), then added a hint of shading with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.

I'm adding this to the Fall Coffee Makers' Blog Hop

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Powder Power

AAA Cards - Masking

CAS on Sunday - One Layer Card

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!

Everything In The Garden ...

... is lovely, and growing like crazy in all this lovely warm sunny weather we've been having.  The stars have aligned for a few challenges with this card.  The leaf background (Penny Black - Fronds) had been sitting in my stash patiently waiting to be used, and I thought it would make a nice background for my new Poppystamps die.  I'm adding it to the following challenges:

AAA Cards -Watercolour (watercoloured background and die cut)

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - Summer Garden.  The team are showcasing Paper Artsy stamps, and although it's not a requirement, I did manage to use a Paper Artsy stamp (the text stamp on the background).

And because I've used a text stamp on the background, I'm entering it into Inkspirational where the word prompt is 'text'.

My first time playing along at Poppystamps - this month's challenge is Tic Tac Toe.  I've gone for the diagonal - flower, yellow, twine.

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies

And last but by no means least, CAS Mix Up where the challenge is stamping, dies and your choice.  I've used watercolouring, sponging (round the edges of the petals) and twine.

Creative Chemistry Revisited

I'm doing my homework for the Summer of Creative Chemistry, in preparation for Tim's new class, Creative Chemistry 103.  The challenge was to use four or more Distress Inks (I think I've used about seven!), and any of the techniques from Days 1 and 2.

Don't you think my background looks like a colourful summery garden?  I do, so I'm entering it into Simon Says Monday Challenge, Summer Garden.

I'm also entering this into AAA Cards - Watercolours.

I'm back tomorrow with some groovy inspiration ;)

ETA:  Also playing along at Inkspirational, where the word prompt is Text.  Thanks, Carol ;)

Best Foot Forward

I've got some new stamps out next week - Groovy Shoes - so retro!  This wedge shoe is just one of the images in the set - check out the others below.  (The sentiment on this card is from the STAMP Club stamp set for April, Born To Roam.)

On white card I stamped the shoe in Black Soot (masking the far side of the shoe and the back of the ankle strap), then lightly drew in a leg and watercoloured the image with Black Soot and Candied Apple for the bow. Then I painted out the whole background with black gesso.  I love how it's turned out :)  The sentiment is stamped on a spare strip of white card, then the whole thing mounted onto white card base.

I'm entering this card into The Card Concept, Simplicity

and AAA Cards, Anything Goes.

You'll be seeing a lot more of these stamps over the next few days ;)

Happy Anniversary

I'm over at A Sprinkle of Imagination today with this card - pop on over for the details.  There are plenty of heart/love-related challenges at the moment, so I'm entering it into the following:-

Inkspirational - Photo inspiration

Time Out - 'Love Is A Flower You've Got To Let Grow'

AAA Cards - Love Me Like You Do

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Have a Heart

ETA:  I'm also entering it into Pixie's Snippets Playground Week 215.  Having introduced ourselves over a couple of emails, I admitted to lurking outside the railings occasionally, so I thought it was high time I came into the playground and played along nicely. (I have played before, but a while back.)  Oh, my snippet is the heart, die-cut from a leftover piece of inked/dry embossed/heat embossed grungepaper.

An Un-traditional Christmas Tree

I'm over at STAMPlorations today with a Christmas tree card made with non-Christmas stamps.  All the details of which stamps I used are on the blog.

I'm entering this into The Challenge - Make a Non-Traditional Christmas Card

Christmas Card Challenges - Anything Goes

and AAA Cards - Anything Goes

I'm off to see what other non-Christmas stamps I can use...

STAMPlorations Inspiration #48 - A Flower-filled Barrow

I've been playing with Deepti's set Friends and Flowers, and this pretty little flower-filled barrow image was calling out for a bit of watercolouring and splattering.  I stamped the image onto mixed media paper and painted the images using Distress Inks.  I added a sentiment from The Birds and The Blooms, a bit of splattering, a bit of machine stitching, and it's done.  BTW, I only ever machine stitch through one layer before I mount it onto the base card: (a) it's easier and (b) there's less damage if it goes wrong!

Pop on over to the blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the team, and why not play along at our CASEplorations challenge if you fancy CASE-ing this card or any of the design team's inspiration cards.

I'm playing along at AAA Cards - Anything Goes.