STAMPlorations Inspiration #112

It's the final STAMPlorations Inspiration Tuesday of the year.  I ran out of Christmas cards in the lead-up to Christmas, so I had a look in my stash and found this robin that I made from the Small Birds set.  I'd already drawn a hat on him and fussy cut him, so he was good to go.

Also in my stash was this fab word die, Jingle Bells, and this pre-embossed card, so it was one of the quickest cards I've ever made!  Just what you need before Christmas :)

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a $15 gift voucher.

And Happy New Year!!!

STAMPlorations Inspiration #111

Hello, and welcome to STAMPlorations Inspiration Tuesday.  Did you have a good Christmas?  Ate plenty?  Drank plenty?  Me too ;)  And now, are you ready to party? (Nope!)

I've used Party Girl and Party Dresses to make my party girl.  The balloons and streamers are from Deepti's Balloons and Banners set, and the sentiment is from Shery's Party Time set.

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 gift certificate.

I'm entering this into Simon Says Monday Challenge - Party Time!

Ho Ho Ho and a Wedding

I'm over on the STAMPlorations blog tonight with a selection of Christmas shoes.  I'm entering this one into Simon Says Monday Challenge, Party Time.   My younger self would have worn party shoes like this, but now my knees are aching just looking at the image!

Well, it's two weeks since we arrived back from Australia where we'd been for our son's wedding, and although the mojo has caught up with me and I've been making cards, the inclination to get on the computer has been slow to return.  But now I'm back!  There's no way I'll catch up with everything I've missed, but I just want to wish you all a merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy new year.  Here are a couple of pics from the wedding, which was just magical.

A rare photo of the four of us together.  Only happens every few years. 

The bride and groom

STAMPlorations ARTplorations Blog Hop - Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the STAMPlorations ARTplorations blog hop!  I've used the same positive/negative stencil technique as Days 1 and 2, this time with Peony Number Two.

Here's the negative, with added coloured pencil shading.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for full details on the hop and how to win prizes.

STAMPlorations ARTplorations Blog Hop - Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the STAMPlorations ARTplorations blog hop!  I've got a couple of masculine cards for you today, using the same techniques as yesterday.  The stencil I've used is called Broken Glass.

This was the positive stencil, with a Happy die cut, and a 'birthday' from Sentiment Builders: Happy.

This negative print reminds me of one of those steel structured glass buildings - an atrium or glass dome or something.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for details on the hop and how to win.

STAMPlorations ARTplorations Blog Hop - Day 1

We're having an ARTplorations stencil blog hop over at STAMPlorations, and you're invited!  I've used my newest favourite technique (positive/negative stencilling) with my newest favourite product (Infusions) and my newest favourite stencil (A Bloom And Three Buds), to create these two cards.  You can see the technique in detail in this Spotlight post on the STAMPlorations blog.

I added some coloured pencil highlights/lowlights on the flowers and leaves, then added a wash around the negative area.  The water picked up the stray colours.

This was the negative print.  I replaced the stencil and sponged colour, then added pen lines to define the images.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for details about the hop, and how you can win prizes.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #110

Time for some last-minute Christmas inspiration at STAMPlorations.  Faerie Door has gone festive, with its own tiny wreath hanging on the door.

I had the background in my stash - Distressed Damask Background stamped with Brushed Pewter Distress Paint, then dribbled with Twisted Citron Distress Paint and sponged with Peeled Paint.  Matted that onto red card, then stamped, coloured and cut two poinsettias from Holiday Sketches: Christmas Flower.

The wreath is from Joyful.  I stamped it onto white shrink plastic, added a hint of colour, then shrank it, and added it to the stamped/coloured/fussy cut door.  Here's a closer look.

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

Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Reminder - Snow and Ice

Are you playing along with the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It challenge?  This month's theme is Snow and Ice.  If our flight back from sunny Australia was on time, we've landed back in the UK an hour before this post went live.  I hope we haven't landed into a snowy, icy landscape!

I remember when we were kids, in the days before double glazing and central heating, my dad would sometimes wake us up saying, "Jack Frost's been!", and we knew that the windows would be iced up with patterns just like on the card - on the inside!!

So, for today's card I sponged Stormy Sky, Evergreen Bough and Tumbled Glass distress inks onto white  card, then stamped a wet Stampendous snowflake stamp on it to produce that lovely icy watermark.  The sentiment is an oldie but a goodie by Inkadinkado.

Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog for all the info on prizes and sponsor, and play along!

STAMPlorations Inspiration #109

It's Inspiration Tuesday at STAMPlorations, and today I've gone for some festive footwear!  I stamped the Groovy LaceUp shoe, coloured it with Candied Apple and Mowed Lawn, angled some baker's twine over the stamped shoelace and added a couple of festive pompoms.  Ready to hit the town.  (If I wore those now, I'd be hitting the floor face first, more like.)

Here's a close-up of the laces and pompoms.  The sentiment comes from the Joyful STAMP Club set.

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

CUTplorations December Challenge

Look at this inspiration graphic for the CUTplorations challenge.  How can you not play along to this??  All you need is diecuts (any brand) and at least one STAMPlorations product.  And if you haven't got any STAMPlorations products (at all?  Seriously??  Get writing that list to Santa!) you can use a free digi from the Never-ending Challenge.

Pretty easy to see how I was inspired, and pretty easy to make too.  You could rustle up some of these in no time.  I used the large standing reindeer from Christmas Reindeer Dies, and the sentiment from the co-ordinating stamp set, Christmas Reindeer.  A couple of dots for the eyes, a red gem nose, a snuggly velvet ribbon scarf, and Rudolph is all ready for Christmas!

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and play along for your chance to win.

Craft Stamper Take It, Make It - Snow and Ice

Hello, and welcome to a new challenge at Craft Stamper Take It Make It.  This month, it's take a theme, and the theme is Snow and Ice.

Never mind Snow and Ice, I'm in (hopefully) warm and sunny Australia for our son's wedding tomorrow - exciting times!

So, for our theme you could go with the obvious Christmas/winter theme, or if you've finished all your Christmas cards (eh??) or don't make them, you can use white textures in your creation - gesso, embossing paste, paint, powders, glitters, you get the picture.

I created a starry night background using the stencil mono print technique with a Winnie & Walter stencil, die cut some stitched snow hills with the CUTplorations Stitched Snow Hills.  Then I stamped my reindeer from The Bee's Knees Christmas Reindeer and diecut him with the coordinating dies, and perched him on top of the snow hill.

Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog for all the info on this month's sponsor and random prize.  The winner chosen by the design team will get a two page spread in the mag, a profile post on the blog, and a guest design spot on a future Take It, Make It challenge :)

The Mixed Media Card Challenge - Gold

We've got a new challenge for you at The Mixed Media Card Challenge, and it's Gold, with an optional element of Star.

I started by stamping the stars (from STAMPlorations Christmas Reindeer) around the edges of my base card, then splattered some drops of gold mica spray over it, and stamped the sentiment in the centre of the card.  I diecut a star shape out of gold card, then made a shaker panel to place over the sentiment and painted the centres of the stars with Gansai Tambi White Gold watercolour paint.

Pop on over to the Mixed Media Card Challenge for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, then join in with your gold creations.