which one would you choose?

Been meaning to share this post for a while. A bit ago I was asked to make two cards for guys' 60th birthdays. One for a winemaker I actually know. The other for someone I don't know - except my friend said he's with the police and likes meat! Um. OK.

Should you have any questions to supplies, just ask.

Winemaker was easy.

Grateful for wine labels I got from Jacqueline years ago, I put one to use and carried on the gold theme with grapes and various collage elements.

As for the other guy, I was pretty clueless. So I searched the internet for milestone card ideas. Made several so she could have a choice. Which one do you think she chose? Which would you choose?

I kinda carried on the wine feel for this one.

And then gave a gatefold card a la Jennifer M. a try. Great way to stretch your cover plate dies too!

Next up, gave another cover plate die a shot. With kinda police colors ;)

And then I grabbed an alcohol-inked BG from my stash and turned it into a more playful card.

How about a deluge of confetti to celebrate?

Then there's the party props to support the giant "60".

And finally, the only "meat" stamps I owned...

So which one did my friend choose? Yep, the hot dogs! Though I'm happy to report she bought the blue geometric cover plate version and the alcohol-inked one too ;) Do you have a favorite?

Hope your Thanksgiving is/was wonderful. We celebrated last Sunday and I must admit I'm happy the preparations are over, though I'm still eating leftovers ;)

I'm joining the fun at:
ETA: Did someone say Circles? I'm hooking up at Day of the Month Card Club.
SSS Wednesday Challenge- Anything Goes
AAA Birthday - Number

STAMPlorations inspiration #243

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team.

I've got a Christmas card for you today, had some fun with a couple techniques.

 STAMPlorations Oh My Stars stencil

STAMPlorations Santa is Here stamp
Nuvo Glimmer paste

Copic markers

First up, glimmer paste through a stencil. But... can we talk? Have you looked at your glimmer paste (Nuvo Moonlight) lately? Mine was nearly dried up! Didn't expect that. And didn't want to accept that.

So I added water, mixed, repeat. The result is OK. Still sticks to the card. But there is a bit of a smear around the stars and I assume it's due to the excess water. Bummer.

So the other technique - spotlight stamping. Love this for a pop of color on a CAS card. And cuz it requires less coloring ;)

For other ideas with this stamp set check out this card. And this one.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post here. And I'd love it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off if you're placing an order from the store.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

STAMPlorations inspiration #242 and christmas redux blog hop

Hello there and welcome to our regularly scheduled Tuesday inspiration post which this week also happens to be this year's Christmas Redux Blog Hop.  We're having some fun with STAMPlorations Christmas dies and you have a chance to win some too!

Today I have two cards for you. I made a shaker card with the trendy black and gold Christmas colors I'm seeing this year.

STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die

STAMPlorations Christmas Sentiments die

STAMPlorations Crazy Double Stitch Rectangles die

sequins

And since I had a cool stag head die cut left over...  I decided to make this a twofer.

STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die

STAMPlorations Bloomdala Bliss Festive die

STAMPlorations Joyful stamp

I stenciled three geometric shapes tone-on-tone on my cardbase, die cut what I'm calling a poinsettia even though it isn't ;), heat embossed a smidgen of it to match the heat embossed sentiment and voila!

Thanks for looking. See how you can win some fun prizes and see what the other gals have created in this post.

CAS cards challenge november reminder

Hello there! Did you join us for the STAMPlorations the CAS Cards challenge in October? Check the winners post on the 10th to see if you were a winner. Today I've another make for our November CAS Cards challenge and here's the inspiration.

So the brown twist is purely optional, but I chose to go with kraft this month and doesn't kraft work well with autumn designs? How about a Thanksgiving card.

STAMPlorations Many Blessings stamp

washi tape, button

Polychromo colored pencils

I stamped the image with Antique Linen Distress Ink and then did some no-line coloring with my Polychromos. Not art, but relaxing.

CAS card tip: Add a bit of interest to your CAS design by including a spot of washi tape or a button (or both) as an unexpected addition to your CAS card.

Looking forward to more of your CAS card creations this month! 

Hope you join us! Your project might be chosen as the winner of a GC to the shop. Check out how the CAS Cards DT was inspired by this month's photo here.

And don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should you find yourself shopping ;)  Thanks for stopping over. See you in the gallery.

I'm heading to the gallery at:
SSS Wednesday Challenge - Thanks/Thanksgiving
Inkspirational - One Layer (hope buttons don't count!)
ATSAM - Make your Mark

25 days of christmas tags - STAMPlorations

Today is Day 12 of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. Today STAMPlorations is guesting over at Tracey's blog and I've made this tag to join in with the fun. Hope you'll go over and check out what the rest of the DT has made.

STAMPlorations Luggage Tag dies

STAMPlorations Christmas Icons - Nativity die

STAMPlorations Christmas Sentiments die

distress inks - Wilted Violet, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot

I was inspired by that sweet little "Noel" sentiment die. I decided to create a tag capturing the wonder of that Christmas night and I think this iconic manger scene is perfect. All I needed to do was ink up a starry, starry night.

Have you seen all the wonderful sponsors for this fun event? If you're looking for inspiration for your Christmas tags this year, this is the place to go. What a gallery!

And if you head over to the STAMPlorations blog, you could win yourself the same sentiment die I used on my tag.

spotlight on a quick and easy Christmas card 4fer

Check out my tutorial over at STAMPlorations. I pulled together and quick and easy set of Christmas cards with die cutting. Here's one of 'em.

STAMPlorations inspiration #241 and giving thanks blog hop

Howdy peeps. Welcome to our regularly scheduled Tuesday inspiration post which also happens to be this year's Giving Thanks Blog Hop celebration!  Be sure to check it out because there are tons of prizes to be won.

Today I have a card made with a phrase die that I just love. I truly try to start each day with a grateful heart. Do you?

STAMPlorations Art Flowers 1 stencil

STAMPlorations Grateful Heart die

STAMPlorations Crazy Double Stitch Rectangles die

Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink

Altenew inks

I stenciled some of the flowers onto the kraft panel with white pigment ink. Flipped the panel and stencil and added some more up top. Then I repeated the process, offsetting the stencil a tiny bit and using dye inks and sponge daubers this time.

Added a bit of the central color (purple) to the bottom of the stacked die cut and then some white and pink acrylic paint splatters too.

Hope you'll celebrate thankfulness with us.  To see how you can win some fun prizes and also to see what the other gals have created check out this post.

Hope this works for the Thanks challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania and Thanks at Die Cut Divas.

pretty in pink

Not that I intended it, but today's three projects all ended up pink-y.

First off I needed a 50th card for a friend. I CASEd myself (you haven't actually seen the male version yet) and for some reason I chose RV63, RV66 and RV69 for my color scheme. So this happened.

Neat and Tangled Inlaid Squares die

Klartext Herzlichen Gluckwünsch stamp

Waffle Flower Cutaway Numbers die

Copics

 I like how the minimalistic sentiment on vellum doesn't take away too much of that fun geometric design.

Then I had a play for the current Altenew challenge. Have you seen Aga's card? Lovely. As usual.

I should preface these next two by pointing you in the direction of Keren T's whose video I had just watched - mesmerized.

So then I sat down with the new-to-me stamp set and dies and for whatever reason, pulled out my collection of gelatos and gelato-like things. I think it was the video that made me think I needed to use my fingers to smear some color around ?!?

This happened.

 Altenew Engagement Wishes stamp and die

Altenew Deco Wallpaper stencil

Gelatos

Altenew Morning Frost ink

I did not actually smear the gelatos on the bloom on the card. Cuz I had smeared the gelatos on another bloom and it was not a good idea. Just left the haphazardly applied strokes of color and then treated my leaves the same way. Added a hint of stenciling to the kraft cardbase, "happy birthday" to the inside and called it good.

 In an attempt to save the smeared bloom I mentioned, I just added more gelato over the smeary mess. And left it unsmeared. Inked up two more leaves with green ink and made a tag.

Altenew Engagement Wishes stamp and die

MFT Dienamics Radial Stitched Circle die

Cuttlebug With Gratitude die

Gelatos, Nuvo drops

Altenew Morning Frost ink

I'm going over to The Flower Challenge with this too, where it's about adding spots or stripes. Added "stripes" of color to the bloom on the card. And "spots" of Nuvo drops to the tag ;)

STAMPlorations inspiration #240

Welcome to the first Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team for November.

When I was playing with the clear stickers for our birthday bash, I also made this freestyle collage card. Spot the stickers?

 STAMPlorations Tag o Coffee die

STAMPlorations Faith Expressions stamp
STAMPlorations Art Marks stamp
STAMPlorations Mixed Media BG #1 clear stickers

Must admit I had no plan for this design. I took a piece of PP and adhered a sticker to it (pink). Did some stamping with Antique Linen Distress Oxide. Adhered another sticker to a piece of PP and die cut the tag from it. Added some bits from my extras cup (that "sun" up top is the center of a Bloomdala Bliss die cut) along with enamel dots and raffia.

For further inspiration with this stamp set check out this card. I used the tag die here.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post here. And I'd love it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off if you're placing an order from the store.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'm stopping by at:
SSS Wedsneday challenge - Anything Goes

CAS cards challenge november

Hello there! Hope your Halloween was a good one. We got about 20 trick-or-treaters at our house. Happy to take part in this US tradition here in Germany. I give out full size candy bars ;)

So, did someone say cards. Did you join us for the STAMPlorations the CAS Cards challenge in October? Watch for the winners post on the 10th to see if you were a winner. Today we're introducing our November CAS Cards challenge and here's the inspiration.

So the brown twist is purely optional, but I chose to go with kraft this month and created this CAS get well card.

STAMPlorations Healing Herbs stamp

Altenew inks

colored pencils

I stamped the crate and masked it. Stamped the herbs in various green shades. Colored the crate with a white pencil and finished the card off with a punny sentiment.

CAS card tip: Add a bit of interest to your CAS design by using a bit of colored pencil with your stamping. Adds some texture to your CAS card.

I cannot wait to see what inspires you and your CAS card creations this month! Your project might be chosen as the winner of a GC to the shop. Check out how the CAS Cards DT was inspired by this month's photo here.

And don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should you find yourself shopping ;)  Thanks for stopping over. See you in the gallery.

I'm heading to the gallery at:
SSS Wednesday - Anything Goes
Papercraft - Get Well