playing with pinkfresh again

Back with three more cards inspired by Lea L.'s Christmas Creating All Year and Pinkfresh's January Challenge (which I've missed the deadline for - argh!) and the desire to actually pull out and play with my all time favorite Christmas paper pad. Oh Joy. Do you know it?

 Pinkfresh Oh Joy 6x6 paper pad

Pinkfresh Oh Joy stamp
Pinkfresh Oh Joy acrylic stickers
Reverse Confetti Round Top Tag die

STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die
STAMPlorations Angel Icon die

Spellbinders Treasured Tags die

Do you have a favorite in this card lineup?  I'd love to hear which.

It's so exciting to pull out stash and have a go. I let the papers lead my way ;)  Thanks for looking.

I'm sneaking in at:
ABC Christmas Challenge - A for Anything Christmas Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - #422

playing with pinkfresh

Did I ever have fun last night! Inspired by Lea L.'s Christmas Creating All Year and Pinkfresh's January Challenge (which I've just missed the deadline for - argh!) and the desire to actually pull out and play with my all time favorite Christmas paper pad, I pulled out a bunch of stash and created six cards. Here are the first three. Recognize the paper pad?

Pinkfresh Oh Joy 6x6 paper pad

Pinkfresh Live More 12x12 paper

Pinkfresh The Mix stickers

Pinkfresh Oh Joy stamp

STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die

Right at Home Holidays are on the Way die

Spellbinders Untamed Fleur die

Do you have a favorite paper pad? Do you actually use it?  I'd love to hear which. It's so exciting to pull out leftover die cuts and old stickers and have a go. I let the papers lead my way ;) Thanks for looking.

I'm sneaking in at:
ABC Christmas Challenge - A for Anything Christmas Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - #422

spotlight on combining stamp sets

Do what makes your heart happy! I did. Random stamping and messy watercoloring!

I've chosen stamp sets with similar designs and styles for this card. Learn more about it over at STAMPlorations in my spotlight tutorial.

STAMPlorations inspiration #201

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

Today I've chosen one of Designs by Shery Russ stamps to add a little something to my cardbase.  You can get 20% off when you place an order for this stamp if you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA.

 STAMPlorations In Bloom: Precious Plumerias stamp

STAMPlorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die

STAMPlorations Love Words die

STAMPlorations Uppercase Alpha Plate die

STAMPlorations Trendy Blooms die

STAMPlorations Pocket Blooms die

washi tape

After inking up a portion of the Plumerias stamp on my cardbase (inspired by Hannelie B.), I adhered a die cut PP rectangle. On this I arranged my pockets and then decorated them with the word and alpha die cuts. Added that sweet bloom to the center pocket. A couple washi strips balance the design and add a spot of gold.

Have you seen our CUTplorations inspiration photo for January? It was my inspiration for this neon design ;)

For more inspiration with the plumerias, check out this card.

Remember, you could win yourself a $10 GC to the store just by leaving a comment on the January inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. So happy you stopped by.

Cuz I tried out Hannelie's B/W stamping of the cardbase I'm hooking up at Die Cut Divas - Something New challenge. And I'm going to Papercraft Challenge - Bright Colors.

STAMPlorations special release - another extra post

Hello peeps! Have you been following the special release over at STAMPlorations? Shirley and Dee have brought out some new sets. Today I've had one more play with one of Dee's - Sweet Surprise.

Using sketch to spark my mojo, (the last AAA Cards Challenge), here's an über-CAS for you.

STAMPlorations Sweet Surprise stamp

distress inks

black Sharpie

I masked off the strips with masking tape and brushed on Aged Mahogany, Milled Lavender and Victorial Velvet (I'm loving this combo lately) then stamped the image and sentiment. Easy peasy. The tiny sentiments are fun to add to small areas. And even with those colors, I would consider sending this to a guy. What do you think?

I hope you'll check out all the creations from my teamies today over at STAMPlorations. And as usual, there are goodies. The four new stamps released this week are automatically 10% off until Jan 31st. (If you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA code when shopping you'll get an additional 20% off.) And four random commenters from all release week's blog posts will win a $15 coupon code!

I'm going to:
Addicted to Stamps and More - Photo Inspiration

Addicted to CAS - Friends

spotlight on warm colors

Check out my spotlight on this card over at STAMPlorations to see how I created it.

kraft red and blue i love you

I was on a roll yesterday. Ready for some cards?

So I'd seen this color combo. Then I ran across kraft leftovers from Christmas tag creations. So I decided to try to use up the negative piece...

 Spellbinders Iron Works Motif die

Poppystamps You Melt my Heart stamp

Prismacolor colored pencils

white embossing powder

Adhered it at a wonky angle on a kraft cardbase I'd heat embossed with two sweet snowmen. TIP: Used my MISTI. Stamped. Colored. Stamped. Heat embossed. Gives a nice clean finish. Decided to work a snippet of PP into the design too.

So then, having these colors on the brain and wanting to play with some new stamps, I remembered the current AAA Cards challenge to only use one third of your card. The stamps are Inkystamp Retro Chic, Winzige Gruesse and Chic Chicks. The inks are Adirondack Red Pepper, Pool and Latte - still some of the best colors out there ;)

And because this "tree" image reminded me of one of my long ago designs, I revisited it too!

Unfortunately, the color challenge has closed but I'm heading over to:
Daring Cardmakers - Just Stamping
Poppystamps - Starry Night (my snowmen are nestled in stars... close enough?!?)
AAA Cards - Up to one Third

Just Add Ink - New (my Inkystamp stamps)

STAMPlorations hey love hop

Red and pink. Yep, it's almost that time of the year. Valentine's Day is approaching fast and Shery has created a few fun digi images you can download for free over at STAMPlorations. Just for fun, some of us have whipped up some LOVE cards using the digis and other LOVEly products from the store. Check out the hop here and be sure to leave comments for a chance at prizes.

I had some fun with one of the digis. First with colored pencils. And inspired by this milk carton! You know messy watercoloring. Well I'm calling this messy pencil coloring.

STAMPlorations digi stamp

Prismacolor pencils

pearls (WHAT? when was the last time you used pearls???)

 And how's this for a non-coloring coloring option? Color with gilding flakes! I added some glue to various areas of the blooms with a paintbrush and added the flakes when the glue was tacky. TIP: Avoid covering any of the black lines with glue/flakes to not lose definition.

STAMPlorations digi stamp

STAMPlorations City Girl stamp

gilding flakes

To make the bouquet stand out more from the background, I masked it and added some black splatters. I also added a shadow around the entire bouquet with a C1 Copic marker. I love how this digi can easily parade as a stylish birthday card. 

Sorry this close-up looks gray rather than bright white. But you can see all that attention-grabbing shine from the gold gilding flakes...

I'd love to see what you do with the free digi stamps. There's a linky party where you can hook up your creations. There are prizes to be won there too.

All products in the Love/Spring section of the store are 15% off until Valentine's Day. Use my code STAMPGIRLMARIA for an extra 20% off!

Happy Tuesday! I'm heading to:
A2ZScrapbooking - January AG
Just Add Ink - Something New (adding gilding flakes as a coloring medium)

STAMPlorations special release - extra post

Hello peeps! Have you been following the special release over at STAMPlorations? Shirley and Dee have brought out some new sets. Today I 've had another play with one of Dee's - Sweet Surprise.

I used a sketch to spark my mojo. 

Took some liberties with the sketch cuz I wanted to incorporate that "sweet" PP... Actually, stamped in blue those sweets look like vases rather than cakes, don't they? I masked off the triangular areas before random stamping, then added the PP.

STAMPlorations Sweet Surprise stamp

patterned paper

I hope you'll check out all the creations from my teamies today over at STAMPlorations. And as usual, there are goodies. The four new stamps released this week are automatically 10% off until Jan 31st. (If you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA code when shopping you'll get an additional 20% off.) And four random commenters from all release week's blog posts will win a $15 coupon code!

I'm heading over to:
A2Z Scrapbooking - January AG

hello gorgeous

So there's this "dollar store" in town - I basically go there to get hangers! - and wouldn't you know it, the craft supply aisle is the first one you enter when you enter the store.

Needless to say it takes me 20 minutes to get to the back of the store to the hangers ;)

You may recall my pastel washi tapes that just fell into my basket. So there was this embossing folder too. I'm not really a flamingo girl. BUT. Give me a 3D geometric flamingo and I'm in. Today I had a play with both.

3D embossing folder (Action)

Papertrey Ink Tipped Tops die

 Hero Arts Layering Flamingo stamp

Altenew inks

washi (Action)

Look at this... isn't this cool?

A few washi strips. A few stamped grasses along the bottom and the sentiment on a leftover. The bird. And three teensy Nuvo drops. Me likey.

Happy Sunday. I'm joining the fun at:

A Blog Named Hero - Crafter's Choice

A2Z Scrapbooking - January AG

Just Us Girls - Pastels

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - CAS

Addicted to Stamps and More - CAS

neon for the win

Warning: you need sunglasses for this one. This is definitely neon overload. It happened as a result of having leftovers from another card I'd made and rather than add them to my stash I added them to a card...

STAMPlorations Love Words die

STAMPlorations Sketchy Alphabet stamp

STAMPlorations Trendy Blooms die

STAMPlorations Pocket Blooms die

washi tape

I do love me some B/W with neon.

If you haven't yet, check out our January CUTplorations challenge and give neon a go!

STAMPlorations special release - sweet surprise

Hello peeps! Have you been following the special release over at STAMPlorations this week. Shirley and Dee have brought out some new sets. Today I 'm playing with one of Dee's - Sweet Surprise.

First up, I was inspired by a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Love the simplicity of the sketch and the little centered sentiment, something I would not normally do. So I did this.

STAMPlorations Sweet Surprise stamp

distress inks

First I distress inked a panel with Aged Mahogany, Milled Lavender and Victorian Velvet  (I'm loving this combo lately), splattered it with water and perfect pearl mixture then adhered it to my cardbase. Then I stamped the sentiment and images. Gotta love my MISTI stamping tool for designs like this.

And then inspired by this card as well as my bokeh infatuation this month, here's an über-CAS creation for you.

STAMPlorations Sweet Surprise stamp
STAMPlorations Art Marks stamp

distress inks
white pigment ink
circle die

I stamped the cupcake and masked it. I die cut a circle from scrap and used the negative as a mask over the cupcake mask. Using the blobs stamp I stamped around the edge of the circle mask with  Aged Mahogany, Milled Lavender and Victorian Velvet then stamped the image with white pigment ink to subdue the colors and for more bokeh effect. Easy peasy. The tiny sentiment nestles in nicely under the cupcake.

I hope you'll check out all the creations from my teamies this week over at STAMPlorations. And as usual, there are goodies. The four new stamps released this week are automatically 10% off until Jan 31st. (If you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA code when shopping you'll get an additional 20% off.) And four random commenters from all this week's blog posts will win a $15 coupon code!

I'm playing at:
Stamping Sensations - Fabulously Feminine
A2Z Scrapbooking - Anything Goes

The Card Concept - Pink Party

CAS Mix Up - Bokeh