Christmas CUTplorations blog hop

Howdy folks and welcome to a quick little blog hop to share with you a couple more CUTplorations dies that STAMPlorations has come out with for the holiday season.

For my first card I wanted to use the Merry and Bright phrase die. So I figured I had to make something merry and bright to go along with it. I remembered this gold foiled PP pack I had and pulled it out. Ended up making this shaker card and another golden card too.

 STAMPlorations Merry and Bright die

STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die

I used chunky glitter (thanks Bev) for the shaker. The color in this next photo is a bit off, but you can catch all that golden goodness.

These dies are good sized so they pretty much carry the card design. I decided to die cut the stag head from a striped paper. Adhered it with foam tape at the top and glue at the bottom for added interest. TIP: Back a die cut sentiment with a black drop shadow to help it pop off a busy backgroud better.

 STAMPlorations O Holy Night die

STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die

Same goes here, lousy color quality on the photo, but lotsa festive gold shine.

Hop along and leave comments for a chance to win either one cover plate die & one word/phrase die from the new Christmas dies featured during the hop OR a $15 GC to the store. There was another mini hop yesterday - you can find it here. Commenting closes November 9 and the winner will be announced in the October Winners post.

And from October 29 to November 12 items in the Christmas Dies section are 10% off - no coupon needed. With my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA you can get an extra 20% off.  Just sayin' ;)

I'm taking these cards to:
Cards in Envy - Favorite Holiday (Christmas is mine, hands down)
Daring Cardmakers - Go Glitter
Happy Little Stampers - October AG with Dies

STAMPlorations inspiration #192

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers. Today's an anything goes bonus day and I've used one of Shirley's stamps. It's not new, but it's new to me!

This card was my inspiration for today's card. Had to try those watercolor stripes. Added some splatters too.

STAMPlorations And Coffee stamp

watercolors

I love the technique. I kept my repeated washes a bit lighter than Miriam's. I love the result. You should try it. And doesn't it pair well with the typewriter font?!?

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the October inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. And I'd love it if to get an extra 20% off your next order, you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA.

Have a great day :)

I'm playing at:
Happy Little Stampers - October Watercolor

spotlight on bloom doodles

I'm over at the STAMPlorations blog with a spotlight tutorial for this coffee-themed card.

I'm joining the fun at:
Addicted to Stamps - Autumn colors
Die Cut Divas - Autumn/Halloween
CAS Mix Up - October

pti october blog hop

I'm joining the Papertrey blog hop fun. Our perfect fall weather has become less perfect, but I'm still totally in the mood for pumpkins!

Here's my take.

  PTI Phrase Play 7 die

STAMPlorations Doodled Autumn Pumpkin Cover Plate die

patterned paper

Pretty much created itself thanks to a PP pad I had with lovely autumn color tones. I was inspired by the natural tones of brown and green in the photo, in addition to the pumpkins. I used a new cover plate die and topped it with sections of the Phrase Play die for my sentiment. Easy peasy.

I'm looking forward to seeing this month's gallery with all its autumn beauty. Thanks for coming by.

I'm stopping by at:
Die Cut Divas - Autumn
Happy Little Stampers - October AG with Dies

STAMPlorations inspiration #191

Welcome to a Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers.

Today we're showcasing Shery Russ stamps. Shery's designs are 10% off through October 29 (with an extra 20% off when you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA).

Today again I was inspired by a pin to my inspiration board. Meet my card.

STAMPlorations Homespun Christmas stamp
Altenew watercolors

Keeping the feel of the gray buildings with pastel touches from the pin, I masked and stamped the cozy cottage in the woods, then gave them each a watercolored cotton candy snow roof. Easy peasy, though again, not very traditional.

For more inspiration with this set, see this card.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the October inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. So happy you stopped by :)

altenew october challenge - mega succulent goes bold

You've probably seen that I've been creating with Mega Succulent, inspired by this month's Altenew challenge. I finally decided to give this daunting stamp a workout. After I headed to the interwebs ;)

Now I'm more about doing the unexpected than doing what everyone else does. So in this case, forget that succulents are green. Fergetabboudit! And maybe take a look at the amazing Erum T's messy watercoloring video...  Artsy fartsy here we come.

Altenew Mega Succulent stamp

Gansai Tambi watercolors
MFT By the Letters die
vellum

gold embossing powder

Used yellow, red, a spot of brown and green. Had a little bit of an issue with some old "gold" watercolor. What? No sparkle left after 15 years? So there are a few dull patches. But hey, after a good hour and a half I'm calling it good. I actually pulled out another gold I have to put a gold line along the top edge of each green leaf. But you can't really see the sparkle in the photo :(

At least you can see the gold mirrored cardstock effect for the alphas. And the shine of the gold embossing powder.

OK, I'm finished. Unless I decide to try this with blues ;) Thanks for visiting. Have a lovely weekend.

I'm joining:
Craft Stamper - Take it Make it October AG
Country View Challenge - Plant-tastic
Time Out - Colorful

Happy Little Stampers - October Watercolor (got the gold!)

a tribute to melissa lane

It's incredibly sad. To be taken so "young". They'd finally gotten away from military life, back to the US and settled down to start their farm life. And now a year later Melissa, my STAMPlorations teamie, is gone. Much too soon.

I know how much she loved nature - flowers, fruits, veggies, beautiful snowfalls, sunrises... I'm sure she's very happy to know that those things all continue on as if nothing's changed. Baffling, isn't it?

I can't even begin to imagine how much has changed for Melissa's family. But they share an amazingly strong faith in God and I trust this will help them get through.

To help all of us "get through", Shery from STAMPlorations has organized this tribute today so we can share our sadness but also celebrate Melissa's love for this vibrant, colorful life.

I chose a card of Melissa's from a recent post of hers which I think is incredible. I don't claim to understand how she created this beauty, but I decided to try my best to create something similar.

Here is my version as a sympathy card for her family but also in celebration of Melissa's life.

 STAMPlorations Shower of Flutters stencil

STAMPlorations Honeycomb Delight Reversed stencil

STAMPlorations With Sympathy die

Artemio Insekten stamp

acrylic paint

Distress inks

I started with a gelli plate background I'd created with orange and yellow acrylic paints. I put the butterfly mask down and applied red ink. I also applied dark blue ink up top but then switched to blue acrylic paint to get the vibrancy I wanted. When all was dry and in a nod to Melissa's blog name "Honeybee Lane" I used the honeycomb stencil and applied white pigment ink. I also stamped the bee in the lower right. A die cut sentiment backed with a white shadow finished my card.

I hope you like it. I hope Melissa would like it. I hope it captures nature's beauty and vibrancy that she so appreciated. To appreciate the hard work and passion Melissa and her family put into their new farm as well as the beauty they were already able to reap, check out their instagram grid.

And if you'd like to join our tribute, you will find the details here. (As well as 15% off  stencils thru Oct 21 should you feel like getting inky.)

I'm sharing this card at:
STAMPlorations Mixed Media - October
Hiding in my Craft Room - Super Scraps Saturday
Tuesday Throwdown - Missing You
Love to Create - Anything Creative/Mixed Media
Inkspirational - Comfort

altenew october challenge - subtle

Been creating, inspired by this month's Altenew challenge, and here are my next two creations. You might have caught my mention of the Mega Succulent stamp sitting in my newly-purchased-to-be-used-before-putting-away basket. A fantastic stamp (which appears to be on sale at Altenew right now ;) but daunting too. So I headed to the interwebs.

Jennifer M. made this version scribbling Zigs and spritzing lots of water. Her video explains it all so I'll skip that part. Here's my version, using the orange, yellow and green tones of the challenge. And some perfect pearl/water spritzes on top for lots of shimmer.

Altenew Mega Succulent stamp

Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens
vellum

white embossing powder

The inside reads "happy". The sentiments in the stamp set work perfectly with the image too, BTW. Love that perfect pearls shimmer! And this is definitely the quickest way to get that stamp colored. I spent a little time adding some shading, but in total it probably took about 20 minutes.

So then I made a version inspired by Therese C's version which you can watch her make here. I used two yellows, two oranges and a green Zig (and more than three times as many minutes as for the first one ;) But that was OK with me cuz I had some "me" time in my craft room ;) I did decide to not cut this one down but rather leave it square. I like the aesthetic of the total image.

Altenew Mega Succulent stamp 

Altenew Super Script stamp

Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens
vellum

bronze embossing powder

Shading. Highlighting. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm glad I gave it a try. Love how the glitter bronze embossing powder is carried through from the outline of the bloom to the sentiment embossed on vellum.

I'll be back with one more version. Don't know if this second one counts as subtle, but the next one? Definitely not subtle ;)

I'm joining:

Moo Mania - Autumn
The Flower Challenge - Add Sparkle

Happy Little Stampers - October Watercolor (got the gold!)

Stempelkueche - Leaves (cuz succulents have leaves!)

Time Out - Colorful

MFT Sketch Challenge - #407 (no MFT products, but inspiration for sentiment placement!)

altenew october challenge - rose filament

Been creating, inspired by this month's Altenew challenge, and here's my first creation.

Altenew Rose Filament die
Altenew Frosted Garden stamp

Altenew Super Script stamp
Altenew Golden Garden stamp

Distress Inks
gold embossing powder

So I happened to see this lovely graphic, recognizing Virginia's photo from her Iceland trip. AND. I happened to clean up my basket of "new goodies to use before putting them away" which held the rose die. So I painted some watercolor onto paper in roughly the shape of the die. Then I die cut the rose. Then I added another layer of color to the outline part of the die. Adhered it and the little pieces as inlaid die cuts to my card front.

I had heat embossed the Wow rich gold sentment, thinking it had enough body to hold all that richness. Not so sure it was the best idea. But a few of the little chunks blew and stuck to the card. So I went with it - embossed splatters rather than watercolor splatters! Heating from below is the trick to this technique.

I also felt the design needed a little more oomph, so added a few images inked with watercolor behind the rose. The secondary sentiment was heat embossed onto a snippet I gave a light wash of green and orange. Whew!

I also discovered the Altenew Mega Succulent in my basket. Had to have it. Hadn't seen ink yet. So I checked out a couple videos and had a play. Watch for those creations tomorrow.

I'm joining these challenges:
The Flower Challenge - Add Sparkle (all that shiny gold counts)

Happy Little Stampers - October Watercolor (got the gold!)

STAMPlorations inspiration #190

Back for a Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers.

We're showcasing Dee's Artsy Impressions stamps. Dee's stamps are 10% off automatically from now through October 22 (with an extra 20% off when you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA).

This month, I 'm creating easy peasy one-layer Christmas cards inspired by images I've pinned recently. Check out my inspiration for today's card. And my card.

STAMPlorations Kathryn and Christmas stamp
STAMPlorations Beautiful Ride stamp

Copic Markers

Keeping my inspiration piece in mind I laid out the stamps and stamped them in gray. Then using watercolors I added some color. I added a few touches of silver with my gel pen and then a washi strip along the bottom.

This is the first time I've used this Christmas set, but if you're looking for more inspiration with this sweet girl check out this card. 

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the October inspiration posts. Check out today's post for more inspiration here. Appreciate that you stopped by :)

I'm joining the fun at:
Addicted to Stamps and More - Holiday

Allsorts - Christmas
Cards in Envy - Holiday

pinkfresh studio october challenge

You may have heard the sad news that one of our STAMPlorations DT gals, Melissa L., passed away unexpectedly a week ago. We will be having a tribute to Melissa on Oct 18 (you can join us if you'd like) and will be CASEing Melissa's colorful butterfly creations.

This post from her blog kinda sums up Melissa as I "knew" her. Sweetkobylkin and I tried to meet up with her while she and her family were stationed in Germany, but unfortunately it never came to fruition:(  Anyhoo, in that blog post I'm in awe of Melissa's card (lower left corner in the photo of all 11 butterfly cards) and though I don't know exactly how she achieved that amazing look, I decided to pull out artsy backgrounds I'd made and go from there.

While I was creating my card for the tribute, I pulled out another background from my supply - this time scrap paper I'd stamped an inked stencil off onto - and created this for the Pinkfresh Studio October challenge to use die cuts.

STAMPlorations X Marks the Spot stencil

STAMPlorations Senecio stencil

Pinkfresh Walk by Faith stamp

Simon Says Stamp Clustered Leaves die

Hero Arts white pigment ink

Distress Inks

Over the scrap paper piece I'd stamped the X stencil off onto (mostly pinks and yellows), I first stenciled white pigment ink through the vine stencil. Shifting the stencil slightly I applied Chipped Sapphire, Shaded Lilac and Victorian Velvet inks. Then I die cut and watercolored (with Distress inks) the vine. Stamped the flowers and sentiment. Colored in the open letters of the sentiment with gel pen. Oh, and I sprized the die cut with Perfect Pearls for more shimmer. See?

Stop by on Thursday for the tribute to Melissa. I'm stopping by at

STAMPlorations Mixed Media Challenge - October
SSS Flickr Challenge - #108 AG
Always Fun - Lots of Layers
Craft Stamper - Take it Make it October

spotlight on rainbowing bloom doodles

I'm over at the STAMPlorations blog with a spotlight tutorial for this fun card - check it out!

I'm joining the fun at:
Pinspirational - #226 (I think my card captures the bright, colorful, fall feel of the gorgeous photo)

simon says stamp fun and festive and retro

Have you seen the fun (and festive) new release over at Simon Says Stamp? There's a blog hop happening today and tomorrow.  If you're in the market for new Christmas goodies or picture book animals you definitely need to check it out!

Today's card has a story too. I was inking up Winter Scene to play around and  I tried one image upside down on top of the normal one to create two sets of snow slopes. Well, looking at it I also thought it looked like a groovy retro pattern. So I pursued that a bit more...

SSS Winter Scene stamp

Copic markers

white embossing powder

Just thinking outside the box a little ;) There are many beautiful little scenes created with this stamp set over on IG. And don't forget the blog hop over at Simon Says Stamp too.

I'm playing at:
Tuesday Throwdown - Anything Goes
Happy Little Stampers - Christmas October

Addicted to Stamps and More - Holiday