STAMPlorations - Stamps and Layers

Deck the halls with boughs of holly....

This month's STAMPlorations challenge is Stamps and Layers.  I've layered a watermarked panel made with the word block from Vignette: Christmas Block (instructions for making the watermark panel can be found here) onto my card and edged it with a black Gelato stick and added white dots with a Uniball Signo white pen.

I stamped three sets of bells from the same set, coloured them and cut them out, added Glossy Accents to the clappers and holly berries, stuck them onto the black fibre then onto the card, then stamped my sentiment (from Joyful) to follow the line of the bells.  I drew in the hyphen with a 0.5 pen, and added the dashes with a 0.1 pen to mimic the font of the sentiment.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the team, and from our guest designer, Lee-Anne.

And don't forget to include your entry into our never-ending Anything Goes challenge if you're using STAMPlorations stamps:)

Craft Stamper Take It Make It - Use a Non-Christmas Stamp for Christmas

We've got a great challenge for you this month at Craft Stamper Take It Make It!  We want you to use a non-Christmas stamp to create a Christmas image.

I've made a Christmas tree from a sketched heart stamp.  Starting at the top of the tree, I stamped the heart upside down.  That's the heart upside down, not me.  Then two hearts on the next row, then three, etc. etc.  Then I sloshed some Distress Inks over it, and sloshed some blue for the sky, flicked some water for snow, and added some Frantage Shabby White embossing enamel across the base of the panel.

This month's sponsor is The Artistic Stamper, and you could win this fab stamp set:

Not only that, if you win you also get your winning entry published in the magazine (so hold on to it!) and a guest design spot in a future challenge.

So get thinking outside the box and come and join us - there's some fabulous inspiration over on the blog to kick-start your imagination!

Seize The Birthday - Monochromatic Orange

Time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday.  This time our optional topping is Monochromatic Orange.  This theme would be great for pumpkins and autumn leaves, but I went for golden sunshine glinting off palm fronds.  See it?  See all the pollen floating round in the air ;)

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for more orange inspiration.  If you don't fancy orange, you can still play along, as long as it's a birthday themed project.

I'm entering my card into AAA Cards - Play With Watercolours (I love playing with watercolours!)

Twelve Tags of Christmas

I'm delighted to be today's guest for Twelve Tags of Christmas, a mixed media tag event hosted by the supremely talented Loll, who has invited twelve crafters to join her as guest designers.  Each day Loll will post her own mixed media tag along with one from that day's guest.  So over the course of the event, you will see 24 mixed media Christmas tags - how's that for inspiration?  And better still, you get to play along too!  Link your mixed media tag to Loll's post and you could be in with a chance of winning a $40 gift certificate from STAMPlorations.  (For the purposes of this event, Loll has defined mixed media on her post.)



For my mixed media tag I sponged Distress Inks through a TCW Winter Wonderland template, then sponged over the whole tag to soften the contrast.  I die-cut two snowflakes from hammered handmade paper using Uniko Designer Snowflake dies.  This paper is really textured, and although it flattened slightly through the Cuttlebug, there's still plenty of dimension.

I dragged Brushed Pewter Distress Paint around the edges of the tag, stamped the sentiment (STAMPlorations Sentiment Builders: Christmas) then doodled a border around the edges to create a frame.

I added some Shabby White Frantage embossing powder across the bottom, added a couple of gems in the snowflake centres, and some fibre and ribbon, and it's done!  Here's a close-up of the Frantage detail and the texture of the snowflakes.

Pop on over to Loll's blog to see the tag that she has made for today, and don't forget to visit her blog every day until 14 November to see who is guesting with her.  And don't forget to play along!

Thanks, Loll, for inviting me to be a guest designer!

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I'm over at STAMPlorations later tonight with a spotlight post on my Rosebuds stamps.  Pop on over and take a look.  Here's a sneak peek.

Twice The Tag

I'm playing along with Tag You're It where the inspiration comes from Leigh Penner with this delightful pair of tags:

For the tag on the left, I inked the Scenery: Classic Diagonal Creative Screening with Distress Inks and applied it to the tag, then added splatters (of course!) and spritzed with diluted Brushed Pewter Distress Paint, then added the die-cut sentiment (Simon Says Stamp).

For the tag on the right, I sponged Distress Inks through Scenery: V for CheVrons Creative Screening and added the die-cut sentiment.  A rummage through my stash produced some co-ordinating fibres.

I'm also entering this into Simon Says Wednesday - Anything Goes

Inspiration Emporium - Happy Holidays

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

And Pan Pastel UK - Add Bling (brushed pewter spritz, tiny gems, glitzy fibres)

STAMPlorations Sketch #23

Time for a new sketch at STAMPlorations.  Rather than interpret the pattern as diamonds, I chose to interpret it as mesh.  I sponged some Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky Distress Inks through a TCW stencil (Fence Frame), then stamped the gorgeous Christmas tree and sentiment from Oh, Christmas Tree! in Versafine Onyx Black, and added some turquoise Stickles to the tree.  Simples!

So pop over to STAMPlorations to have a look at the fabulous inspiration from the team, and from our guest designer, Ingrid, and join in the fun.  You don't have to use STAMPlorations stamps, but if you do, you can also add your entry to the ongoing Anything Goes challenge for more chances to win.

There's a fabulous pre-release deal on the newest STAMPlorations stamps.  Click here for details.

Birthday Brights

Sunglasses on, girls!  I'm playing along with Curtain Call, where this is the inspiration:

The image in the background is a quarter of one stamp.  The stamp is so large, it comes mounted on its own acrylic block.  I first saw it on Hermine's blog here where she made four different cards using each quarter of the stamped image.  I just had to have it ;)

I inked the full stamp with various colours of Distress Ink, spritzed it then stamped it onto one large sheet of card.  (I got three further prints by re-spritzing and stamping off onto more card.)  I stamped CityGirl onto spare card, watercoloured her raincoat with Distress Inks and fussy cut her.  The sentiment is from the same CityGirl set.

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

Carabelle XXL Histoire du Temps
The Bee's Knees CityGirl