Seize The Birthday - Ocean Colours

It's Seize The Birthday time, and our new challenge is all about ocean colours - blues, greens, aquas - but it doesn't necessarily have to be ocean-themed.  Having said that, this pup looks like he's already been in the ocean and he's shaking all the water off ;)

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

I'm adding my card to Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Guest Designer at Inkspirational

Hellooo!  I'm thrilled to be guesting for Inkspirational for this great challenge - Oldie But Goodie.  The idea is to use a stamp from when you first started crafting.  I'm not sure that I could lay my hands on my very first stamp purchases, but this butterfly by DeNami dates back to my very early stamping days, and I still love it.

Back in the day, I would gold-emboss the image onto vellum.  Nowadays I hardly ever heat emboss, and hardly ever use vellum.  I'm much happier sloshing and splattering, as you can see ;)  I've brought it up to date with washi tape, a bit of stitching and some grunge stamps.

Time to dig out your oldest stamps and give them some love, and join me in playing along at Inkspirational, where you'll find some fabulous inspiration from the design team.

Happy Hibiscus

It's ages since I've played along with a challenge just for fun, and today I'm playing along at The Curtain Call, where the challenge is Hibiscus.

A little while ago - well, it was back in May, actually - I shared this card, which had been inspired by Michele's card.

 

Today's card was inspired by another similar card by Michele that she had posted on Instagram here.  I made it around the same time, but I wasn't really happy with that version, it was a bit wishy-washy, so I put it to one side, and it's been languishing in there ever since.  Here's a photo of it before I revamped it.

I had the brainwave of inking up the stamp with a darker colour, spritzed and stamped to give it more of a focal point.  I also added some Pickled Raspberry centres.

STAMPlorations Release - Typografia Motivate

We've got a mini release at STAMPlorations today, with Shery's fabulous range of Typograpfia Motivate stamps.  I've made a couple of motivation hangings for my frame.

I used Distress Oxides for the background, with water bleaching, then stamped over the top.

For this one, I swirled Distress sponges loaded with Distress Oxides, stamped over the top but also stamped on white and cut out 'the best'.  I used a white pen to colour in the 'version' wording.

Here's a technique I've not done for a while - scoring card, smooshing Distress Inks across  to look like weatherboard, then stamping over the top.  The die cuts are from Trendy Spring Blooms Dies.

Leave a comment here, on the other designer's blogs, and on the main STAMPlorations blog for your chance to win your choice of 3 Typografia Motivate stamps.  You've gotta be in it to win it!

I'll be back on the STAMPlorations blog later today with my Spotlight post using the fab new Sweet Cravings stamps and coordinating dies.  Here's a peep:

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - CUTplorations Dies

It's the final day of the STAMPlorations Christmas release, and today we're showcasing the new dies. There are too many to show here, but you can see them all in the New Release section.

For my first card, I've used the Christmas Baubles #1 Layering Dies set.  I cut the base from a smooshy drippy Distress Ink background, and the detail from silver card.  I tied some yellow and blue cord together, then had to work out how to attach it to the top fold of my card.  Solution: threaded some fine thread through the knots and tied it inside the fold.  The sentiment is from Shery's Homespun Christmas set.

Another smooshy drippy Distress panel, this time using the Holiday Words Plate Die.  The black panel helps to accentuate the bright colours.

A more rustic one, using the Christmas Icons - Christmas Tree #1 die and some textured card, matted onto a kraft panel cut from the Crazy Double Running Stitch nesting die set.  A green twine bow and some Stickles on some of the bauble bumps, and it's done.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the team and don't forget to comment for your chance to win.  And if you feel like a spending spree, use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for an extra 20% off all stamps, dies and stencils in the store.

Seize The Birthday - Anything Goes

Time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday, and it's Anything Goes as long as it's birthday-themed.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the design team and our surprise birthday guest, Lindsey of Bashful Blogging, and play along with us.

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Shery Russ Designs

It's Day 4 of the STAMPlorations Christmas release, and today we're showcasing Shery's stamp set, Homespun Christmas.

Two great images, and lots of mixed-font sentiments.  Here's what I made:

I stencilled a background area on my card using the ARTplorations Crisscrossed stencil, stamped a sentiment, then adhered my image onto the card.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration, and don't forget to comment for your chance to win.  And if you're having a little spending spree, use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for an extra 20% off all stamps, stencils and dies in the store.