Did You Hop?

Did you hop along to the STAMPlorations November Release blog hop?  If you didn't get chance there's still time - you have until 11:55pm PST to comment and be in with a chance of winning one of the new stamp sets or a $25 gift voucher to the STAMPlorations shop.  Click here to start hopping.

Today CityGirl gets her Christmas outfit on.  (It's like having dressing-up dolls again!).  I gave the skirt and top different colours, used a Versamark pen and white powder for the collar and cuffs, gave her some trendy boots and added white fur trim.  She makes a great Ms Christmas!

The background paper is old stash from the bottom of my Christmas paper box.  Trying to use it up...

Here's another card using the Rosebuds set:

If you have hopped (and commented), good luck in the draw!

STAMPlorations Sketch #24

It's the last STAMPlorations sketch of the year, and it's running until 28 December, so you've got loads of time to play along.

Because it's an extended challenge, you can enter this one more than three times, and Shery's throwing in a couple of extra prizes - a $5 gift certificate to one participant, and a $10 gift certificate to a participant who uses a STAMPlorations image, both randomly selected.

I saw baubles in the sketch, so I stamped and white-embossed the text on a piece of card, sponged Pickled Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean and Dusty Concord all over, then cut out three circles.

I added some silver parcel string (took me ages to tie those tiny bows!) and a silver die-cut sentiment.  You could make a masterboard with this design, then cut out loads of circles for quick card makes (maybe without the bows!).

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for loads of fabulous inspiration from the team, and from our guest designer, Julie of Handcrafted by Jules.

Twelve Tags of 2014 - November

Time for a Timmy Tag.  Tim's November tag features a beautiful embossed leaf which unfortunately I don't have, so it's another month of improvisation.  Here's Tim's version:

I managed to get most of the techniques in, apart from the embossed image.  I thought I did well to get a die-cut of the flower - not easy when there are three other images on the die!

STAMPlorations Blog Hop - Vignette: Trendy Leaves

Welcome to Day 5, the last day of the November Stamp Release Blog Hop here at STAMPlorations! For complete info on our hop, including how you can win stamps, click here.

Today, we're putting the spotlight on Trendy Leaves. We'll be picking one commenter to win this set so leave a comment here and on the rest of the STAMPlorations girls' posts for a chance to win the set.

I just love autumn leaves, all those rich tones.  I stamped these the same way I did them on Wednesday for the background to my Typografia card.  Put them all on one acrylic block, inked them with Distress Ink Minis, spritzed and stamped.  I fussy cut each leaf, stamped the HB2U sentiment (Vignette: Celebrate Artsy) in the same colours on a white panel which I then adhered to a maroon card base.  I need to go and kick some leaves... :)

*** The stops in the hop*** 

STAMPlorations Blog

Debra | Deepti | Kylie | Maria | Monika | Nonni | Shery | Shirley |Vicki

The November Release stamps are available to buy now at 15% off.  Take a look here for full details.

Seize The Birthday - Leaves

Click here or scroll down for my STAMPlorations Blog Hop Post.

Welcome to another challenge at Seize The Birthday!  For this challenge our topping is leaves (although you can still play along with any birthday project).

We're having an incredibly mild November in the UK and the colours of the autumn leaves are glorious.  I got the inspiration for the leaf skirt after seeing this creation by Ruth.

I inked up some Trendy Leaves from one of the new STAMPlorations sets, overstamped some of them with the text stamp from Live Love Laugh, fussy cut the leaves and teamed them with Julie Nutting Prima Doll Phoebe (chopped her skirt and legs off).  Sloshed some Distress inks on the bodice, fussy cut her and made the leaf skirt and layered it all onto maroon card.  The sentiment is made up from Sentiments Builders: Thank You and Sentiment Builders: Happy.

I'm entering this into Papertake Weekly - Soooooo Girlie.

STAMPlorations Blog Hop - CityGirl

Welcome to Day 4 of the November Stamp Release Blog Hop here at STAMPlorations! For complete info on our hop, including how you can win stamps, click here.

Today, we're putting the spotlight on CityGirl, another stamp set designed by me.  We'll be picking one commenter to win this set so leave a comment here and on the rest of the STAMPlorations girls' posts for a chance to win the set.

I stamped my CityGirl on white card, sloshed Distress Inks on her coat, then masked the image and used the snowflake block from Vignette: Christmas Block to create the floral burst around her, stamped the sentiment, chopped up so that I could substitute 'fabulous' for 'stylish' (but she's both!), then smudged black Gelato around the outline and mounted the white panel onto red card.

Once again I am blown away with how creative my teamies have been with this set!  You girls rock!

*** The stops in the hop*** 

STAMPlorations Blog

Debra | Deepti | Kylie | Maria | Monika | Nonni | Shery | Shirley |Vicki

STAMPlorations Blog Hop - Typografia

Welcome to Day 3 of the November Stamp Release Blog Hop here at STAMPlorations! For complete info on our hop, including how you can win stamps, click here.

Today, we're putting the spotlight on TYPOGRAFIA. We'll be picking one commenter to win this set so leave a comment here and on the rest of the STAMPlorations girls' posts for a chance to win the set.

I love all the mixed fonts on these quotes.  I paired the quote with some leaf images (you'll see more of those on Friday), and I actually used some patterned paper from my paper mountain!

The November Release stamps are available to buy now at 15% off.  Take a look here for full details.

Hop, hop, off you go :)

*** The stops in the hop*** 

STAMPlorations Blog

Debra | Deepti | Kylie | Maria | Monika | Nonni | Shery | Shirley |Vicki

STAMPlorations Blog Hop - Vignette: Eat, Drink, Be Merry

Welcome to Day 2 of the November Stamp Release Blog Hop here at STAMPlorations! For complete info on our hop, including how you can win stamps, click here.

Today, we're putting the spotlight on VIGNETTE: Eat Drink Be Merry. Plus we've got a special guest designer joining us, the talented Amy Tsuruta! We'll be picking one commenter to win this set so leave a comment here and on the rest of the STAMPlorations girls' posts for a chance to win the set.

I went Warholesque with my card.  I inked up a one-inch square acrylic block with Distress Ink, spritzed it then stamped it onto card, repeating with each colour, then stamped the place setting in Versafine Onyx Black.  I stamped the sentiments around the edge of a card, trimmed the image panel and mounted it onto the card.

The November Release stamps are available to buy now at 15% off.  Take a look here for full details.

*** The stops in the hop*** 

STAMPlorations Blog

Debra | Deepti | Kylie | Maria | Monika | Nonni | Shery | Shirley |Vicki

Special Guest Designer: Amy Tsuruta

STAMPlorations Blog Hop - Rosebuds

It's stamp release month at STAMPlorations! Every day in the next 5 days, the other STAMPlorations girls and I will be sharing projects we created featuring the new stamps. Visit and leave a comment on all the stops on the hop for a chance to win.

FIVE (5) lucky hoppers randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win a stamp set from the November release and ONE (1) lucky hopper randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate to use towards products in the STAMPlorations shop. You have until Tuesday, November 25, 11:55 p.m. PST (GMT -800) to comment here and on my fellow designers' posts for a chance to win. Winners will be announced on the STAMPlorations blog on Friday, November 28.

Today, we're putting the spotlight on Rosebuds, the stamp set designed by me! We'll be picking one commenter to win this set so leave a comment here and on the rest of the STAMPlorations girls' posts for a chance to win the set.

I've used the bouquet for the background, masking and adding leaves as I went round, then stamped the single rose, added the leaves, coloured and fussy cut.  The sentiment comes from Sentiment Builders: Happy.

Wanna see where on earth I got my inspiration from for this set (and that funny-shaped vase)?  

I'm absolutely blown away by the fabulous cards my teamies have produced using my designs - if you haven't already visited their sites, go take a look!

*** The stops in the hop*** 

STAMPlorations Blog

Debra | Deepti | Kylie | Maria | Monika | Nonni | Shery | Shirley |Vicki

The November Release stamps are available to buy now at 15% off.  Take a look here for full details.

A Twofer And A Show & Tell

I meant to post one of the cards below yesterday, but I got sidetracked, so you've got two cards today.  But first, my Show & Tell.  

One of my birthday presents was a Take & Make session at a glass fusion workshop.  I went on the workshop last weekend and chose to make four coasters.  Most of the other students were creating recognisable images (flowers, snowmen, angels, trees, Christmassy stuff) but I just wanted to do random/abstract.  Having got the four coasters ready for firing (or whatever), I had some time to spare so I also made a bowl.  To keep conkers in.  Because conkers are supposed to keep spiders out of the house.  (One spider didn't get the message... maybe I need to refresh the conkers.)  Anyway, yesterday, I went to collect my masterpieces...

I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Here's a before shot of the bowl.

So, here's card No. 1.

I'm entering this into Festive Friday.  I don't think I've ever entered this challenge before, probably because I don't usually start my Christmas cards till mid-late-November ;)

Here's card No. 2.  The patterned trees are made by creating patterns on a Gelli Plate, then once it's DRY(!!!), pressing sticky tape down over the pattern, burnishing and lifting it off.  The bonus is a clean Gelli Plate - yay!  Then you just die-cut shapes out of the strip.  I saw the video on the Gelli Plate website, but it was Jenny's butterfly that prompted me to have a go.

I'm entering this into Muse, where Therese has provided this lovely inspiration.  Suddenly one tree is a whole forest.

Also entering it into Inkspirational - Shine

Artist Trading Post - Stencil Mania.  (I used a stencil to make the pink dots.)

Less Is More - More Than One Tree

Come back tomorrow for a fabulous blog hop!

Craft Stamper Reminder - Use a Non-Christmassy Stamp For Christmas

Are you playing along with the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It challenge?  We want you to use non-Christmas stamps to create a Christmas image.

I used four of the border stamps from Neat & Tangled On The Strip.  I inked them with Distress Inks, spritzed them and stamped them onto white card, then cut them up to fit.  I doodled the white border around the edge of the card - which is chocolate brown although it looks more like black in the photo - and hand-wrote the sentiment.

Why not play along?  Use your circle stamps, star stamps, border stamps.  Make snowmen, trees, wreaths.  Make Christmas shapes from non-Christmas background stamps - the possibilities are endless.  Think beyond cards - make 3D items for the tree or mantlepiece.  As long as you've used stamps, you're in!

If yours is the winning entry, you get to be published in the mag (hold on to your entry!), a guest design spot in a future challenge, and this wonderful prize - you could make some great Christmas trees with this set!

 The Artistic Stamper

The Artistic Stamper is a shop full to bursting with fabulous stamps, stash and ideas galore!

The prize this month is this set of stamps..

Filigree Christmas Star

I'm playing along with Fusion, inspired by this fabulous photo:

And with Tag You're It:

I washed some Tumbled Glass with a touch of Broken China and Peacock Feathers over two pieces of mixed media paper, white-embossed a filigree star stamp (magazine freebie) on one piece, and sprinkled some Frantage Shabby White over the second piece and heat-embossed it.  I die-cut the sentiment (Simon Says) and coloured the Merry silver and the Christmas aqua, then mounted everything onto white card.  Oh, and a bit of ribbon :)

ETA: Also adding it to Simon Says Wednesday - Seeing Stars

Barbed Wire and Bling

So I got this grungy stamp set and thought the barbed wire circle would make a great funky punky Christmas wreath.  And I still had the metallic hammered paper out from making my tag for my guest spot on Loll's Twelve Tags of Christmas so I die-cut some stars, silver-embossed a sentiment, added some gems and some gorgeous black and silver striped handmade paper.

I'm entering this one into the following challenges:

Virginia's View - All Things Metallic

CAS(E) This Sketch (slightly rearranged)

Pan Pastel - Add Some Bling

So then I made a gold version using black/gold patterned paper, sequins, washers and gems.

I'm entering this second one into the following challenges:

TIME OUT (wreath, gold overtones)

Inkspirational

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking November Gallery Challenge - Gold.

I got my Flickr Knickrs in a knot a couple of months ago when Yahoo spat the dummy and I had to create a new Yahoo ID.  I ended up with multiple personalities, and they weren't all talking to each other.  But I'm glad to say we are now all one happy family, and I've been able to start using Flickr again :)

Leafy Thanks

When I was a kid I used to love kicking through autumn leaves - wet or dry, didn't matter which.  I still do it when we're out walking the dog.  I also used to chase pigeons in Trafalgar Square.  I'm proud to report that I resisted the urge (just) on my most recent trip to London ;)

Playing along with a few challenges with this card.  I've used the new Trendy Leaves set from STAMPlorations.  I wet a piece of mixed media card, then stamped the leaves using Big & Juicy Spice inkpad and let the colours blend and run.  It must be at least 10 years old but there's still plenty of ink in it, even though there aren't as many different shades as there used to be!

The sentiment is from the latest Winnie & Walter release, Winter Woodland.  The panel is mounted onto chocolate coloured card which has a hint of pearlised sheen to it.

I'm entering it into the following challenges:

The Card Concept, but what style?  They might think it's a bit too grungy for clean and layered, so maybe I'll be shabby chic.

Papertake Weekly Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash - Leaf Me Alone!

Simply Create Too - Thanksgiving/Thank You

AAA Cards - Play With Watercolours