STAMPlorations 8th Birthday Celebration

Hello, can you believe that STAMPlorations is eight years old?  Where did that time go?  (Well we all know where last year and half of this year went!)

We're celebrating with three birthday bundles (the other two were showcased yesterday and the day before). Each bundle contains a 4x6 floral stamp, a 3x5 sentiment stamp, a border die and a stencil.  Here's what I made with today's bundle:

For this first card I stamped the floral image in fadeout ink, then watercoloured it with Distress Inks and added a few highlights using coloured pencils.  I've not decided what sentiment I'll use, if any.  It could just be a notelet. Or I might frame it.

For the second card I sponged Distress Inks through the bundle stencil, fading the colour out at the bottom.  I added a very apt sentiment from the 3x5 set, a fussy-cut car and added another appropriate sentiment from Classic Shoes.  I diecut a strip of striped card and cut a piece off then stapled it to the top left corner of the card.

So - ways to win:

- one (1) winner of a $75 prize code randomly drawn from current store mailing list subscribers
- one (1) winner of a $25 prize code randomly drawn from comments left on the birthday hop posts (STAMP blog and designers' blogs)
- one (1) winner of her choice of birthday bundle randomly drawn from the birthday linky
- several surprise prizes in the form of prize codes and products

Get yourself off to the STAMPlorations blog and get commenting, and good luck!

Playing Cards With A Friend - Again

I've been cards with my friend Michele aka I Card Everyone again, and this time our challenge was still to use the split four technique, but also to incorporate cover plates and to use my set Layered Citrus.

Well, you knew we wouldn't be making lemonade, didn't you?

I started by building my split four sheet using the solid images from the set.  The leaves and stalks were made using the rind and peel stamps (I stretched the rind slightly to make it straighter).

(apologies for the poor quality of the photo!)

Having cut the sheet into four, I set about making my cards.  For this first one I added a sentiment from Happy Birthday in the same colour as the whole flower and trimmed the panel so that strips of the coordinating base card showed at the top and bottom.

On the next one I chose the other words from the Happy Birthday set in colours that matched the flowers on this section, then centred the panel on matching card.

Time to use the cover plates - this first one is Wonky Stitched Grid Texture Cover Plate.  I used a crease mat so that it got a quilted effect rather than a cut effect.  It actually feels as 'quilty' as it looks!

I added Feel Better Soon die cut in coordinating card.

My final card uses Circles All Over Cover Plate for soft circles on the background.

In order to get second-generation images, I stamped off first on spare card.  By thinking about how I was stamping off, I ended up with panels that I'll be able to use to make even more cards - win, win!

I hope this helps you to look at some of your stamps in a different way, to see how you can stretch your supplies.

Layered Citrus

Happy Birthday

Feel Better Soon

Wonky Stitched Grid Texture Coverplate

Circles All Over Texture Coverplate

Pop on over to Michele's blog to see what she made of all those lemons and limes :)  I'm off there now to take a look!

When you're shopping in the store, don't forget to use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for a 20% discount.  Happy stamping!

Seize The Birthday - Use an Embossing Folder

 

Hello, birthday-partygoers!  We've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday, and this time Ashwini is asking us to Use An Embossing Folder.

I inked up the flat side of the embossing folder and ran my card through the machine for a fab textured panel.  The llama is from PaperArtsy, the doodle line is from STAMPlorations and the birthday disc was in my stash.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for more fabulous examples of using an embossing folder from the rest of the design team and our Surprise Party Guest, Melanie, and play along with us.  If you don't want to use an embossing folder that's fine, you can play along with any birthday-themed project.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #323

 

Hello!  Some floral inspiration for you at STAMPlorations today.  I love using mop-up panels as backgrounds for my cards.

I stamped some text from Mixed Media Elements on the panel, then stamped Helenium Large in Versafine Onyx Black.

Adhered the panel to my base card, stapled some fibres to the corner (and glued them halfway down as well) and called it done.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous designs from the rest of the team, and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a $15 gift code to the store.  Whenever you're shopping at STAMPlorations you can get 20% off by using my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY.

Happy stamping!

STAMPlorations Inspiration #322

 

Hello, it's Inspiration time at STAMPlorations, and today I've got some Christmas inspiration for you.  When I CASEd Michele to make this set of cards I had a spare panel left, so I turned it into a Christmas card.

Well, they are poinsettias, after all :)

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 $15 prize code.  When you're shopping in the store, you can bag yourself 20% off by using my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY.

Happy stamping!

STAMPlorations Ephemera

 

I've been playing with some of the new Ephemera Tiles from STAMPlorations.  Shery has a growing range of colourable, ephemera and card fronts in the store, with plenty of fun designs.  They're printed on really good quality card and they're a joy to work with.

This set is called Newsprint Blooms, and you get 6 identical sheets in the pack.

I sliced them up in various ways.  For the first card I sliced the panel in half horizontally, then sliced each half in half again, then re-arranged them and stuck them onto my card.  I added a 'thanks' using Skinny Sentiments.

I'm adding this one to the Just Us Girls gallery - no stamping.

For the next card I cut the three white tiles, then added a fourth tile with a sentiment from Succulently and a couple of squiggly lines, and mounted them all onto a black card.

With the three remaining black tiles I painted some red and pink stripes on my card base, then added the tiles and a sentiment from Baa Baa.

And for the final card, I sliced down the centre of each flower then re-arranged them to make new flowers.  I stamped an Artsy Doodled Border on the card base, and used a sentiment from Trendy Feathers 2.

I'm adding this to Simon Says Monday challenge, Beautiful Blooms.

Seize The Birthday - Nautical

Hi, and welcome to our latest challenge at Seize The Birthday, where the theme is nautical.  (Or you can play along with our Anything Goes theme as long as it's birthday related.)

I was short of some children's cards, so it was a good excuse to get out the Yellow Submarine (apologies for the ear worm) and add a few underwater creatures.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog to see what the rest of the design team and our surprise party guest Melanie Hungerford have created with the theme, and play along with us.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #321

Today's STAMPlorations inspiration is brought to you by Carved Flowers, following my Playing Cards With A Friend session with Michele F, aka I Card Everyone.

I was wowed by the pretty cone flowers on one of her cards, so I made this card using a colour combination that Michele uses so well, and I hardly ever use - yellow and grey.

All images and sentiment are from Carved Flowers.  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 $15 prize code to the store.  Whenever you're shopping, you can get 20% off by using my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY.

I'm adding this to the gallery at The Flower Challenge - CAS

and AAA Birthday Card Challenge - Flowers.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #320

 

It's Inspiration Tuesday at STAMPlorations, and today I've got numbers mixed with psychedelia for you.  I used the Rolls standard stencil for my background, then cut the Numbers Plate die through the panel.  

I backed the die cut portion with black card to make the numbers stand out, and added a sentiment from Groovy Shoes, which fits nicely with the psychedelic theme, and mounted it onto orange card for a groovy look :)

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 $15 prize code.  When you're shopping in the store you can bag yourself 20% discount by using my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY.  Thanks for popping by!