STAMPlorations Inspiration #50 - Fa-La-La-La-La

Time for more STAMPlorations inspiration.  How about a girly Christmassy card?  I've used the wedding dress from The Bee's Knees Newlyweds, sloshed some red Distress Inks over it, and embossed parts of it with Frantage embossing powder.  I stamped the fa-a-la-la-las (from Joyful) onto spare card, sloshed them, then cut them into pennant shapes.  Strung a length of red waxed cotton across the card, stuck the pennants on with red liner tape and popped a foam dot behind each one.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for more inspiration from the Design Team, and if you've not spent all your Black Friday money, there's still time for a little spree at STAMPlorations:

STAMPlorations Inspiration #49 - Ho Ho Ho

Time for some STAMPlorations inspiration.  I thought I'd have some fun with the little birdie from my stamp set, The Bee's Knees SmallBirds.  Today's he's a robin with his little Santa hat.  I stamped the image on white card, then drew a Santa hat on him, then sloshed some red and brown Distress Inks and fussy cut him.

The background is an inked embossing folder image, and I've added a sentiment from Joyful, then a little line of Star Dust Stickles to ground the robin.

Hmm - I wonder how the kookaburra and puffin would look with a Santa hat?  Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for more inspiration from the rest of the design team.

I'm entering this into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, Anything Goes,

and City Crafter Challenge, The Snow Queen.

Winnie & Walter Rerun No. 6 - Happy Christmas

I'm playing along with Winnie & Walter's Rerun No. 6 - Happy Christmas.  I stamped the poinsettia six times, sloshed Distress Inks over them and just used the centres from three of the stamped images to add extra layers in the centre.  For the background, I stamped three of the sentiments in Versafine Smoky Grey and splattered some Distress Inks over the panel.  Well, I would, wouldn't I?

I got the idea for my card from this card from Jenny from Crafting In The Country, where she'd used small sentiments for a background, and die-cut images.  (I fussy-cut mine.)

I'm also playing at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, Anything Goes,

and The Challenge, Create a Christmas card.

STAMPlorations Blog Hop - Giving Thanks

We're having a little Giving Thanks blog hop over at STAMPlorations, with a chance for one lucky winner to receive the 4x6 stamp set of their choice - just for commenting, how easy is that?

I've used a few images from The Bee's Knees FolkFlowers to create my flower and stalk from gessoed dictionary pages, and added a bit of colour with Neocolour II crayons.  The 'grass' is one of the stamps from the Mixed Media Grunge Elements and the sentiment is from Deepti's Frames and Flowers set.

Hop along to the STAMPlorations blog to see the full hop list, and leave a comment at each stop along the way before 11:55 pm pacific time on Friday 27 November for maximum chances to win!

I'm adding my card to Simon Says Monday Challenge, Thanks/Thanksgiving.

Bird In The Snow

I saw this inspiration photo for City Crafter Challenge, and just had to play along before it closes!

The little bird, top right.  The colours.  Love 'em!  I stamped the bird (Dina Wakley) in grey then sloshed some Distress inks, and added some splatters.  Added a sentiment from Clearly Besotted and matted onto the base card and finished off with some silvery grey knitted ribbon.

And I've just seen it also fits with this week's Merry Monday - blue, white and texture:

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.

Welcome, Baby!

Have you been playing along with The Mixed Media Card Challenge?  Our theme this month is Family with an option of arrows.

So, if we're talking family, how about a card for a new family member?  The background is textured gesso with Distress Paints applied after the gesso had dried.  I stamped three babygros from The Bee's Knees BabyBump and coloured them with Distress Ink, fussy cut them and pinned them onto some wire with white safety pins.  The wire is secured by brads.  The sentiment is from STAMPlorations Heaven Sent.

The challenge is open until 25 November, so you've still got a few days to play along.

Seize The Birthday with Acetate or Vellum

It's time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday, and our topping this time is acetate or vellum.

I've been playing with my Clearly Besotted Brushed Poppies stamp again, using oranges, then spritzing with water.  Love this technique!  I stamped the sentiment onto a vellum banner which I stitched into place.

Pop on over to the blog for more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.  If you're not into vellum or acetate, you can still play along, as long as it's a birthday theme.

Central Perk

 I'm playing along with The Challenge since I saw my lovely friend Geri's card:

Geri's card

The corrugated background on Geri's card got me thinking of the cup wraps you get around takeaway cups.  I stamped the image (STAMPlorations Coffee Cup Large) once on white and once on kraft, cut out the kraft wrap then fed it through the paper crimper.  

Spritzed some Distress Inks onto my craft mat and picked up the colour with a piece of mixed media paper, distressed the edges and mounted it onto kraft card, and added a sentiment (STAMPlorations Vignette: Eat Drink Be Merry).

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I'm over at STAMPlorations tonight comparing these two cards.  Hop on over to take a look!

STAMPlorations Inspiration #47

Quite often I'll put watercoloured cards under a pile of heavy boxes to flatten out overnight.  Or longer.... Quite often I'll forget all about them, until I come to put the latest card under the boxes.  So it was a nice surprise to find this card, which I'd made for the STAMPlorations October Release blog hop, promptly forgot about it, and made a different card for the hop.

I'd smooshed the card through some spritzed Distress Inks, and coloured the butterfly panel (Hope Blooms) with the same inks.  Stamped the sentiment (Hope Blooms) and the numbers image (Mixed Media Elements), then put it under the boxes to flatten...

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to check out what the rest of the Design Team have created for your inspiration, and if it moves you to CASE any of our cards, why not add them to the CASE playground for a chance to win prizes?

Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Reminder - Take a Stamp

Are you playing along at Craft Stamper Take It, Make It yet?  One lucky random entrant will win these gorgeous stencils and masks from Magenta:

Magenta are very kindly offering a $5 flat rate shipping deal to all UK CS readers on all stencils and cling stamps! Simply use the code: PromoCSUK at checkout. This offer is available from 7th-30th November.

The winner of this month's challenge as chosen by the Design Team will have their entry published in Craft Stamper magazine (so hold on to your entry in case it's you!), a feature on the blog, and will be invited to be a guest designer in a future challenge.

Decorated Jar

I'm over at A Sprinkle of Imagination today with a decorated jar.  Pop on over to see the finished product!

Purple and Magenta

I just got this fabulous Clearly Besotted sentiment set, and had to play with it straight away.  I die cut the Tim Holtz gift from Core'dinations, added the ribbon diecut in the same Core'dinations, then popped it up with foam tape.  No sequins.  No splatters (a rarity for me!).  No nothing.  I just liked it exactly how it was.

I'm entering it into Time Out where the challenge is Christmas with a twist of either pink or purple.

On another note, I took part in Magenta's ATC swap with the theme of Nature.  The full reveal is here, but here's a closer look at the ATCs I sent to Cassandra:

The poppy petals are covered in Glossy Accents, the centres in black and gold Stickles.

Watercoloured dragonflies on the background, white-embossed butterflies on the top panel which was mounted onto black card and doodled around.

I stamped and coloured the fox, masked it then stamped and coloured the background.  The red moon was inspired by the real red moon that occurred a few days before I made the ATC.

I just love this stamp!  Distress-smooshed background, stamped over, added extra colour, splattered with gold spray, distressed the edges then mounted onto black card.

Thanks again for organising the ATC Swap, Mariette!

STAMPlorations Inspiration #46

Time for another tag, I think.  When I was prepping for my guest design spot at Loll's Twelve Tags of Christmas, I prepped an extra tag by tearing some of the top layer off and smearing it with a light coating of gesso.

So today I covered it with Brushed Pewter Distress Paint, which dries to a lovely sheen, then stamped the bell from Holiday Sketches: Christmas Bells, coloured it in with Distress Inks, cut it out and added Wink of Stella, then took the clappers out of two metal bell charms and adhered them to the cut-out bells.  I added some diecut 'greenery' which I'd coated with Wink of Stella, then punched a hole and added some pewter-coloured ribbon.  Oh, and some Icicle Stickles to the centre of the poinsettia (after the top photo was taken).

I'm adding my tag to Loll's Twelve Tags of Christmas,

Inkspirational - Anything Goes with Silver (ok, technically, it's Brushed Pewter on the tag base, Iced Spruce on the bells, and metal for the clappers, but they're all in the spirit of silver :) )

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - Tag,

and Happy Little Stampers newest challenge, Mixed Media Challenge, which is also a Tag. (The challenge badge is the same as the one above.)

Craft Stamper Take It Make It - Take a Stamp

It's the first Friday of the month, which means it's time for a new challenge at Craft Stamper Take It, Make It. Easy peasy this month - Take a Stamp.  We're also starting the month off with some great news - sales/readership of Craft Stamper have hugely increased following the revamp of the magazine under new editor Trish's watch.  Congratulations, Trish!  If any of you haven't had chance to see the new-look magazine, I urge you to take a look.

For my card, I started with a piece of mixed media paper, and smooshed and soaked spritzed Distress Inks from a craft mat onto the paper, then I stamped images from The Bee's Knees Folk Flowers before tearing the lower portion of the paper and adhering onto my card.  The sentiment is from Dee's Artsy Impressions Balloons and Banners.

This month's challenge is sponsored by Magenta, who are generously providing these stencils/masks to one lucky random winner:

Magenta are very kindly offering a $5 flat rate shipping deal to all UK CS readers on all stencils and cling stamps! Simply use the code: PromoCSUK at checkout. This offer is available from 7th-30th November.

The winner of this month's challenge as chosen by the Design Team will have their entry published in Craft Stamper magazine (so hold on to your entry in case it's you!), a feature on the blog, and will be invited to be a guest designer in a future challenge.  What are you waiting for?  Come on in!

Seize The Birthday - No Topping

It's time for another Seize The Birthday challenge, and for this one, there's no topping, so as long as it's a birthday project, you're in!

I've used The Bee's Knees Folk Flowers to create a folk flower card, stamping the images in Versafine Onyx Black, then colouring them with Distress Inks, adding some splatter (of course!) and mounting the panel onto some patterned paper.

What will you create?  Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for more inspiration from the design team, and add your project to our gallery.

Bloom

This is my second post today - click here for my Twelve Tags of Christmas With Loll and Friends.

I'm over on the STAMPlorations blog today with a short tutorial on this card.  It's short because I forgot to stop and take photos along the way!

I'm entering this into Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes.