STAMPlorations Release Week - Day 2

Why did the chickens cross the road?  To get to the recording studio.

Sorry.  But I just couldn't resist an Abbey Road-style tableau.  I couldn't keep them exactly in line, otherwise they would have been biting each other's bums - as it was, I've cut off John's nose and George's tail.  If you're familiar with the album cover, you'll realise that they're going in the opposite direction (on their way back to the studio).

Seeing as it's my turn to be showcased today in the STAMPlorations Release Week with my new set, Fowl Play, I thought I'd treat you to a couple more cards.

Mummy chick is feeding a worm to baby chick while daddy watches.  Blue daddy + red mummy = purple baby ;)  I accidentally smudged the mummy chick's beak, so I just drew in a worm to disguise it and added a hole in the ground.

This panel was left over from making my phone cover.  I just stamped the images then bleached the colour out with water, and scribbled in a bit of ground to er, ground the images.

Fowl Play

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team. It wouldn't be a release week without prizes, so here's what we've got for you:

• 2 winners of $25 gift certificates randomly drawn from comments left the STAMP blog and designer blogs
• 1 winner of her choice of 1 stamp set from the new release randomly drawn from our Facebook page
• 1 winner of her choice of CUTplorations die from the new release randomly drawn from our Instagram page

All the stamps and die plates in the new release are 5% off until 10 February, and if you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY at any time on stamps, stencils and dies, you'll get 20% off, even sale prices.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #117

It's Inspiration Tuesday at STAMPlorations, and I've got a little sneak peek of what's coming in an hour from now - my newest stamp set, Fowl Play!  I've paired my chickie with balloons from Becca's A Snarky Birthday To You.

I'm adding this to Darnell's NBUS #10.  Not only are the stamps NBUS, but the grass is too - it's a Sharpie Paint Pen which I've had for ages and never used.  No optional bubblewrap for me today, but I'm sure I'll be back to play again with bubblewrap.

And to Less Is More (I haven't played there in ages!) where the theme is one or more balloons.

While we're on the subject of balloons and bubblewrap, there's some popping to do.  Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for more fabulous inspiration from the design team, and leave a comment for a chance to win gift certificate.  Then pop back in an hour for more of my Fowl Play stamps.

Speaking of which, if you are thinking of buying any stamps, stencils or dies from STAMPlorations, you can get 20% off, even on sale prices, if you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY at the checkout.

STAMPlorations Release Week - Day 1

It's STAMPlorations release week, and we've got some fabulous goodies for you to drool over.  First up is Shery's latest stamp set, Noteworthy 2, packed with encouragement quotes.  I chose the 'jump' quote because I couldn't resist pairing it with this little guy, who you'll see again tomorrow.

Noteworthy 2

I scribbled the side of a house for him to jump off.  Hmm, might design a large house stamp, whaddaya think?  I'm trying a different approach with my photography this week.  I've always admired those people who can stage gorgeous photos without taking anything away from the card, so I thought I'd study them and see if I could attempt something similar.  Whaddaya think?

Anyway, there are prizes to be won at STAMPlorations this week.  Here's what we've got for you:

• 2 winners of $25 gift certificates randomly drawn from comments left the STAMP blog and designer blogs
• 1 winner of her choice of 1 stamp set from the new release randomly drawn from our Facebook page
• 1 winner of her choice of CUTplorations die from the new release randomly drawn from our Instagram page

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and get commenting for more chances to win!

Until 10 February, all the new release stamps and die plates are 5% off.  And if you want to use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY, you'll get another 20% off :)

STAMPlorations Inspiration #116 - Shery Russ Designs

It's Inspiration Tuesday at STAMPlorations, and this week we're featuring Shery Russ Designs, the stamps made by Shery, the creator of STAMPlorations.  There's 10% off all her range this week, with 20% off Oh So Grateful stamps and coordinating die set - no coupon needed.

I've used the frame and a flower from Floral Bliss, and a sentiment from Blossom Overture.  I found a panel in my stash that just had gold paint on it.  I'm pretty sure it's Tarnished Brass Distress Paint, and I can't remember if I used a mini brayer or credit card, but either way, it was smeared onto the card.  I dipped and smooshed the card in Distress Inks (Aged Mahogany, Pickled Raspberry, Fossilised Amber, Frayed Burlap).  The gold paint resists the ink.  I coloured the flower with Distress Ink, and again the paint resisted the ink, giving a nice mottled appearance to the flower.

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.

Then pop over to the STAMPlorations store to browse Shery's stamps.  If you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY you'll get 20% off any stamps, dies or stencils in the store, even on sale prices!

Oh, Dear, What Can The Matter Be?

...
This old lady was locked in the lavatory
I was there for two hours actually
Nobody knew I was there.

But before I tell you about that, a card.  I'm playing along with Darnell's 5th blogaversary NBUS party, where the prompt is twofold: use some NBUS, and coloured pencils on kraft.

My NBUS stamps are The Bee's Knees Winter Mug and Shery's Coffee For All Seasons.  These were released in November, but because I was away I didn't get to play with them until now.

*****

So.  Back to the bog.  DH was going out to do a bit of shopping and take the dog for a walk.  I'd gone into the bathroom, and as I turned the door handle to come out, the spring broke, and the handle was turning nothing.  I climbed on the bath to shout out of the window only to hear the car driving off.  B*gger!  So I emptied the bathroom cupboard looking for anything that I could improvise with, but surprisingly there were no screwdrivers, lock picks or hammers in there.  DH could be gone for a couple of hours, so I cleaned out the now empty cupboard and sorted the contents.  Did some exercises.  Cleaned a bit more.  More exercises.  Only half an hour had passed....  Fortunately for me, Florence isn't too good on her pins right now, so DH was back fairly soon.

Me (shouting through door):  Can you come up here?
DH: What, now?
Me: NOW!!!
...
Me:  Can you open the door please?
DH:  It won't open ...

B*gger again!  I'd just thought it would open from the other side.  Cue tool box, shoving screwdrivers under door, sliding credit cards down door frame, resorting to big hammer.  During all this:

DH:  Well, I had my mobile on me, you should have rung.

Bless.

Currently there is no handle on the door, but there is a screwdriver in the cupboard.

I wouldn't care, but this is the second time it's happened to me.  A few years ago we were in Thailand, we'd checked out of the hotel earlier, but used the shower facilities before our journey to the airport.  DH went first while I sat with the hand luggage, then I went.  There was a changing room and separate shower room, so I got undressed, showered, went back to the changing room, and it had locked me out.  There was an English lady drying her husband's underpants under the hand dryer (I kid you not) and she offered to get the receptionist to sort it out, but there was obviously a language problem (or she'd run off laughing, not sure which) and nobody came.  So out I go into the hotel lobby, draped in two towels, trying to attract DH's attention.  I certainly attracted attention, but it took a while to get DH to look at me ;)  Eventually one of the hotel porters was sent around the back with a ladder to climb through the changing room window and unlock it from the inside.  Meanwhile, another porter had loaded our bags onto the wrong minibus, and our suitcases were already on their way to the airport... fortunately I had my change of clothes in the hand luggage.  Then, when I got to the airport, I went to the loo and realised I had my knickers on inside out.  But there was no way I was jinxing things and changing them!!!

Too much information??

Seize The Birthday - Dashes and Doodling

Welcome to Seize The Birthday, where our theme for this challenge is Dashes and Doodling.

This is another card for my great-nephew's stash of birthday cards for his classmates.  The little monster is from a PaperArtsy set by Elina Zinski.  I watercoloured him with Distress Inks and fussy cut him, added a pre-printed sentiment circle that already has dashes on it, then adhered it to a base that I had in my stash.  I stamped the brushstroke then added some doodling above it to make it look like the monster is jumping or bouncing.  Some glossy accents on the eyes and a die-cut 5 complete the card.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and join in with us.  If you don't want to use dashes or doodling, you can still play along with any birthday project.

It's Not A Card!

Just a quickie.  I treated myself to a new phone, and thought it deserved a pretty, artsy, colourful cover (so that I've got half a chance of finding it in the bottom of my bag!).  The cover is clear, so I can just change out the artwork whenever I want :)

If you want to see how I made it, pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for a picture tutorial.

I'm entering this into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything But A Card.  (I can't display the new graphic for the challenge because it links to the winner's badge instead of the challenge badge.)

STAMPlorations Inspiration #115 - Dee's Artsy Impressions

It's Inspiration Tuesday at STAMPlorations, and this week we're featuring Dee's Artsy Impressions stamps, with 10% off any of Deepti's stamps and 20% off Kathryn and Christmas set - no coupon needed.

I need more male birthday cards, so I used the three frames from the Frames and Flowers set to create a masculine background on white card, then watercoloured with Distress Inks in blues, purples and greens.  I matted this onto a black panel then mounted it to my card base.  Diecut the sentiment from silver card and black card, slightly offsetting the black underneath - it's much more visible IRL.

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.

Then pop on over to browse Deepti's stamp collection.  If you my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY you'll get an extra 20% off these or any other stamps, dies and stencils in the store, even on sale prices, yay!

CUTplorations - Are You Playing Along?

As promised, I'm back with my happy accident, another version of the perched bird.

I was cleaning the stencil by laying it on scrap paper and using kitchen paper to wipe all the paste to the open areas of the stencil.  And it looked very artsy!  So I quickly got some more black card, dabbed the kitchen paper into the paste and proceeded to wipe and scrub it through the stencil.  Some kitchen paper stuck onto the paste (giving extra artistic texture!!).  I dabbed some more paste at the top of the card as well.  Here's a close up or two.

Finished off with a CUTplorations Word die cut, which is the aim of the game, and mounted it onto gold card.

Here's a side-by-side of both versions.  (The black card is the same size on each, but they're in different sized frames.)

 

If you want to play along for a chance to win a prize, create a project that is inspired by the graphic and includes die-cut/s, and link it up to the challenge. Don't forget to include the graphic and link back to the CUTplorations post to be eligible for a prize.

Craft Stamper Take It Make It Reminder

Are you playing along at Craft Stamper Take It, Make It?  All you need is a stamp, and anything goes!

This is another 5th birthday card for my great-nephew's stash of cards for classmates.  The little monster from a PaperArtsy set by Elina Zinski is sitting on a wall of numbers (Textured: Big Numbers by STAMPlorations) and I outlined the 5 with Stickles.

So, what can you win if you play along?  This!

That's the random prize.  The winner chosen by the Design Team gets instant fame.  A profile post on the blog, a two-page spread in the mag, and a guest design spot on a future challenge  Fabulous!

Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created, and play along for your chance to win.

To Someone Special

It seems like ages since I played along with a challenge just for the sake of it.  This one at Altenew caught my eye - love that graphic!

I used the Christmas Rose stamp and die set which came free with a magazine before Christmas.  I stamped, coloured and die cut the image three times, and used a background panel that was in my stash.  The sentiment came in the set, and the background text stamp is from STAMPlorations.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #114 - Becca's Big Grins

It's Inspiration Tuesday at STAMPlorations, and this week we're spotlighting Becca's Big Grins stamps, with 10% off (no coupon needed) and 20% off her Bunnies 'n Beans set.  Scroll down to the end for even more discounts!

Today's post is brought to you by the number FIVE.  I've been commissioned to make several birthday cards for five-year-olds, the classmates of my great-nephew, so the pressure's on (purely self-imposed!) to come up with something different each time.

For this one, I stamped the pterodactyl from Becca's Dino Things and watercoloured it with Distress Inks and fussy cut it.  I already had the background in my stash.  I diecut the Happy and Birthday and swiped Stormy Sky Distress Ink over them, then arranged them so that they were in the pterodactyl's claws.  I stamped the Texturized Big Numbers in VersaFine Onyx Black, then cut out the 5 and popped it in the pterodactyl's beak.

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.

Then pop over to browse Becca's stamp collection ;).  If you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY (not case sensitive - I just wanted it to catch your eye ;) ) when ordering, you'll get an extra 20%! You can use the code any time to get 20% off any stamps, dies or stencils that you order - even on sale items!  Happy spending :)

Craft Stamper Take It Make It!

It's our first Craft Stamper Take It, Make It of 2017, and we've got a little change for you.  It seems more of you play when it's Take A Stamp month (i.e. Anything Goes with a stamp) than you do when it's a set theme.  So we've abandoned the themes and from now on it's Anything Goes with a stamp every month.

This month's sponsor is Rubber Dance, and one lucky random winner will get this fabulous stamp plate.

The stamps are featured in the February edition of Craft Stamper Magazine.

Get your copy here:

Subscriptions: www.craftstamper.com
Single copies: www.mags-uk.com
Digital copies: www.pocketmags.co.uk

If your creation is chosen as the winner by the Design Team, you get your name up in lights! - a two-page spread in the mag, a profile post on the blog and a guest design spot in a future challenge.  What's not to like?  Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and get creating!

Seize The Birthday - Anything Goes

Welcome to the first Seize The Birthday challenge of 2017!  It's Anything Goes for this challenge, as long as it's birthday-themed.

For my card, I used a Distress Ink background from my stash and Tim Holtz crazy cat and fishbone die-cut images from my stash, so it was a really quick card to pull together.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, and join in with your birthday-themed project.

CUTplorations January Challenge

Welcome to our first STAMPlorations CUTplorations challenge for 2017!

We've got a suitably celebratory graphic to inspire you.  An obvious interpretation is around the black/gold colour scheme and the new year/celebration theme, but I went a bit off-piste.

Well, I kept the black/gold colour scheme, and the dotty background, and the script font.  I stencilled the Perched Bird with Cosmic Shimmer Gold Pearl texture paste on black card, and let the spatula kiss the wet paste to add texture.  Once the paste dried, I added some gilding flakes to some of the textured lines.

Because the paste was quite thick in the centre, the card dried warped, so I trimmed the stencilled image and mounted it onto another sheet of black card, that I'd flicked Gansai Tambi paint over.  Added the diecut word and then mounted the piece onto gold card.  I had to remove the glass from the frame because I couldn't get a photo without a reflection showing!

When I was cleaning up the stencil I had a happy accident, which you'll see in a couple of weeks ;)  In the meantime, pop on over to the CUTplorations post for some more fabulous inspiration.

If you want to play along for a chance to win a prize, create a project that is inspired by the graphic and includes die-cut/s, and link it up to the challenge.  Don't forget to include the graphic and link back to the CUTplorations post to be eligible for a prize.

Inspired by ...

Can you guess which architect inspired this card?  Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see if you're right...

STAMPlorations Inspiration #113

It's our first Inspiration Tuesday of 2017 over at STAMPlorations, and the new year brings changes.  Each Tuesday we'll focus on one designer's stamps, and this week it's me!!  Now pay attention, because Shery will be offering great discounts on each featured designer's stamps, with a special discount on one stamp set.

So, from 3-9 January, all of my stamp sets (The Bee's Knees) are 10% off (no coupon needed).

Plus, World Birthday Cakes is 20% off (no coupon needed).

But that's not all.  If you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY (not case sensitive - I just wanted to draw your attention to it ;) ) when ordering, you'll get an extra 20%!  You can use the code any time to get 20% off any stamps, dies or stencils that you order - even on sale items!  

And as if all that wasn't enough, there'll be a monthly random drawing - 1 commenter wins a $10 gift certificate.  So when you pop over to the STAMPlorations blog, don't forget to leave a comment before you pop on over to look at The Bee's Knees stamps.

Oh, my card.  I stamped Folk Flowers images onto mixed media paper, then watercoloured with Distress Inks.  Rather than apply solid colour, I painted some loose petal shapes within the flowers.  I drew around the images with a Stabilo All pencil then smudged it with a wet brush.  Added a few white pen dots and called it done.

The Mixed Media Card Challenge - Change

Happy New Year! And welcome to a new year of challenges with The Mixed Media Card Challenge. To kick off 2017, our theme is 'Change', with an option of 'Water'.

My interpretation of 'change' is a change in the seasons.  We were in the Australian summer last month for our son's wedding, then back for a northern hemisphere Christmas, so we literally changed seasons in December!

The background of my card panel is sponged Distress Inks.  I placed the STAMPlorations Bold Florals stencil over the panel and spritzed with water, then dabbed the colour away - it's only faint, but it is there!  Then I drew round the outline with my Stabilo All pencil, and smudged it with a wet brush.  I stencilled some dots using acrylic paint through the Dots All Around stencil, then added some glass bead texture gel to the centres of the flowers, and finished off the card with a die-cut sentiment.

Pop on over to The Mixed Media Card Challenge blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and add your interpretation of the theme to our gallery.

Incidentally, if you were thinking of ordering any STAMPlorations products, I've got a discount code you can use to get 20% off all regular and sale priced stamps, stencils and dies (yay!).  The code can't be combined with any other offer codes.  Just enter STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY (it's not case-sensitive) at checkout to get your discount.