Seize The Birthday - No Topping

It's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday, and this time there's no topping, so you can join in with any birthday-themed creation.

I got this Banksy-inspired Ghetto Rat (Bee Crafty) at the Port Sunlight show, and this is its first outing.  The sentiment is from Swedish House and the background stamps are from Dina Wakley.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the design team, and from our surprise party guest, SonjaK, and play along with us.

STAMPlorations 5th Birthday Spotlight

Hello!  Today it's my turn to share some oldies but goodies with you and a couple of new cards with old and new stamps as part of STAMPlorations 5th Birthday Celebrations.  You can join in the fun by CASEing any of my cards from this post, or indeed any of the cards from STAMP team members' June posts.  There are over $500 worth of prizes to be won - you can find all the details on the main blog post here.

So.  The brief was, show your top three STAMPlorations cards.  How do I choose?  I have so many favourites!  But I've got to say, one of my all-time favourite stamps is the kookaburra/kingfisher from the Small Birds set, and this card is my favourite (you can see the post here).  Actually I've got more favourites from this stamp set, which you can see on my Pinterest board here.

Small Birds

I love this party dress - I'd love to have worn one in real life, back in the day!

Party Dresses CityGirl

This next one reminds me of so many mediterranean holidays.  I made it for an artist-inspired series that I did as spotlight posts for STAMPlorations

Houses

So, those are the oldies, and here are a couple of newbies.  First up is a card using the new birthday stamp and dies on a smooshed background:

Birthday Bash Make A Wish

And my next card is using my oldie but goodie Party Dresses set.

Party Dresses Mixed Media Grunge

Hope you're enjoying these designer posts during the STAMPlorations birthday bash, and if you decide to play along, good luck!
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Seize The Beachy Birthday

It's time for a new Seize The Birthday challenge, and this time our optional topping is Beachy Birthday.  Or you can just play along with any birthday-themed project.

I used a piece of cartridge paper from my stash that I'd brayered some turquoise Dylusions acrylic paint over.  For the sand, I smeared Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxides.  The 'fence' is a Carabelle Studio stamp from the 'Edges in My Journal' set was inked up with Frayed Burlap.  Once I'd heat-set all that I overstamped in Peacock Feathers and heat-set that.

The poster stamp is by Tim Holtz.  Having coloured it, I'd put it to one side while I made the background - not far away enough, it seems, because I ended up stamping over the top bit while I was stamping the background panel.  Tried to remove it with a wet brush, but then changed my mind and overstamped that too.  And splattered the card base.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team and from our surprise party guest, SonjaK, and join in the fun.

STAMPlorations 5th Birthday Bash!

It's STAMPlorations' 5th birthday, and we've got a month-long celebration for you with loads of inspiration and three ways to win great prizes!

The Inspiration team have the pleasure of kicking off the proceedings, and we're all using the new birthday stamps and dies.  I've used pieces of a masterboard as my backgrounds for those yummy cakes, and added die-cut sentiments.

Once you've made a masterboard, you can cut it down to various sizes and you've got instant background or collage pieces.

You can use contrasting or complementary colours for your diecuts.  Believe it or not, the diecut on the first card is bright purple.  Somehow the camera doesn't like purple.  I like how it captures the different colours the mirri card diecut on the second card, though.

The birthday cake images make a great focal point.

And if you don't want to use diecuts, there are some fab coordinating sentiments in the stamp sets.  And before you know it, you've got a little stash of birthday cards :)

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for bucketloads of inspiration from the rest of the team, and all the details on how to link up and win prizes.

Craft Stamper Take It, Make It

It's a new month and a new challenge at Craft Stamper Take It, Make It.  As always, it's Anything Goes as long as you use physical rubber or polymer stamps.

I've used a new-to-me set, Amazing Daisy, by Stamps By Me, along with a sentiment from Swedish House.

Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Uniko, and they are offering these three stamp sets and a stencil for one lucky random winner:

Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the design team, and play along for your chance to win.  You might get the random prize, or your entry might be selected by the design team as the winner - in that case, you'll get a profile on the blog and in the magazine, your entry will be published in the magazine and you'll get the opportunity to guest design in a future challenge with us.  Yay!
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