three for grandma - altenew beautiful day

More commissioned cards.

Next request was for a card for boyfriend's Grandma who lives in England. She was a market lady and loves flowers. Hmmm. How could I not pull out an Altenew set?!?

I used Altenew Beautiful Day (I have the layering stamp plus the die so I decided to make multiple versions.) First up I put a NBUS impression plate (Altenew Dotted Swirls) to use for the cream colored background. And chose my other colors based on the January Inspiration challenge.

I stamped the layers with orange and green tones and spritzed the flowers and leaves with water to get that watercolored look. Added a bit of perfect pearls shimmer too but it's difficult to capture on camera. Oh, and pearls. Cuz pearls just belong on a Grandma card, don't they?

So for the second version I wanted to use reds and pinks. Decided to pair them with kraft. And I inked tone on tone through the Altenew Deco Wallpaper stencil. The heat embossed sentiment is Avery Elle Oh Happy Day. BTW, this is the card my friend chose.

Used the same ink-layers-with-light-to-dark-then-spritz-with-water method. There's shimmer on these too!

The third version ain't my favorite. But I thought, well how about a dark background. And then why not blue? Why not blue roses?  And how about contrast stencilling -  I used white pigment ink. Not sure if the dots are cool or weird? But I like the solid area at the bottom that left just a bit of space for the tiny Inkystamp Winzige Grusse sentiment.

I'm taking this last one over to Die Cut Divas where it's about New Things. The die to this stamp set is new to me and really makes creating with these lovely roses easy. Thanks for stopping by.

heute ist dein tag plant lady

Another one of my commissioned cards (love that this gal enjoys giving handmade cards!) I was asked to make cards for various occasions and asked her for little tips to make my creation process easier. Do you do this too?

Next up - a card for Mom. Should have to do with gardening. I knew there was a reason I added Essentials by Ellen Plant Lady to my stash!!! She came out to play.

Added a light dusting of Distress inks to the cardbase to hint at grass and sky and Glossy accents on her boots - cuz why not? A German sentiment from Klartext So Viele Kerzen for her garden sign completed my scene.

No multiples on this one. Copic coloring takes me forever. I used this card by Francine as my guide. And to watermelon the apron was Michele's genius, BTW.

alles gute - twice

Been busy with card production for some special requests (love that this gal enjoys giving handmade cards!) I was asked to make cards for various occasions and asked for little tips from her to make my creation process easier. Do you do this too?

First up - a card for Dad. Should have to do with books or printing. This happened.

I went with printing. Mainz is our next big city and Johann Gutenberg (of moveable type fame) is its favorite son. I had to go with the scrambled letters BG (Hero Arts Alphabet Soup) and then the die cut letters in red cuz that's the color of the city emblem. See how my brain works? Or scatters may be a better word!

Put a piece of torn vellum over the BG to help the shiny red letters shine better. Then added Altenew German Label Love secondary sentiment.

Remembering Jennifer M.'s prompt to always make multiples, I created this version too in case the red and gold are too much.

Wonder if she'll choose the red or blue version. Do you have a favorite?

I'm playing at:

A Blog named Hero - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations inspiration #252

Time for another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Hope you're enjoying my creations this month. I'm keeping it real simple. Easy to make. Easy to mass produce especially with a MISTI. Colored cardstock + heat embossing. Here's #4.

STAMPlorations A Ton of Fun stamp

My thought process on this simple design... I chose the stamp set because I thought it would make a cute new baby card. I could emphasize the "new addition" with a different color embossing powder. And the waves were a nice little feature to "ground" my swimming whales.

With such a simple design, I try to use colors that carry a lot of suggestive power. And go well together. So thinking "sea" and knowing I would add a little pink whale, I chose a very light aqua  cardstock. And then chose white embossing powder for all the elements except the little whale. She got bright pink so she'd stand out.

I know it's no work of art. No coloring. Nothing realistic about it. But I love one-layer cards, especially when they have a playful nature. The illustrated style of this set lends itself to a design like this. Hope you enjoyed my colored cardstock + embossing series.

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 as always, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order from the store - at no extra cost to you, just perks for me ;)

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week.

I'm playing at:
AAA Cards - One Layer (and polar animals - I've got both this time)

coloring digital stamp with distress inks

Howdy. You may remember I was over on the STAMPlorations blog  with four digital stamp projects, coffee-to-go cups turned into tags.

Just a reminder that digital stamps from the STAMPlorations digi store are 30% off til end of January! I've used Microsoft Word and my Canon ink jet printer to print the digi stamp, Bloomdala Coffee Cup to Go.

You may also remember that I had a mishap with one of the cups and wanted to try it again... I had printed a cup on colored cardstock and wanted to apply some quick color with distress inks...

...but there was some "smearing" with the water-based inks. I salvaged it by heat embossing all over it with hologram embossing powder.

I mentioned that I would try the distress ink coloring technique again on Neenah solar white and be sure to let it dry thoroughly before applying the inks. I'm happy with the result. I turned this cup into a belated birthday card.

STAMPlorations Bloomdala Coffee Cup to Go

STAMPlorations Stained Glass stencil

STAMPlorations Just Caffeinate clear sticker

distress inks

STAMPlorations inspiration #251

Time for another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Hope you're enjoying my creations this month. I'm keeping it real simple. Easy to make. Easy to mass produce especially with a MISTI. Colored cardstock + heat embossing. Here's #3.

STAMPlorations Beautiful You stamp

My thought process on this simple design... I chose the stamp set because I wanted to make a card with the sentiment in the center and floral (in this case herbs/wildflowers) images coming in from the top and bottom. This set offered both the images and a sentiment with a bit more "weight".

The trick? Stamp the sentiment in the middle. Arrange the florals (I actually first aligned them along the top edge so they could extend off the card which was in the corner of my MISTI) and stamp. Then just flip the card over and stamp the florals again. So quick!

With such a simple design, I try to use colors that carry a lot of suggestive power. And go well together. So thinking "nature" I chose a deep green cardstock. And then paired platinum embossing powder with the deep green to soften it up a bit and add a feminine touch. I think it turned out quite elegant thanks to the stamp set style and colors I chose.

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 as in the past, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order from the store - at no extra cost to you, just perks for me ;)

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week. I'm stopping over at Craft Stamper's Take it Make it January challenge and AAA Cards challenge where it's all about one layer cards.

simon says stamp - (snowflake) star mandala

Snowflakes aren't just for Christmas anymore. Right? See that die in the lower left of the graphic above? It came to live at my house. It's part of the recent Hey Bestie release at SSS. Thanks, Simon.

For my card today I turned the snowflake into a star for an encouragement card! Paired it with heart PP and some red and pink and I'm thinking it can lose the snowflake vibe. Maybe even work for Valentines.

SSS Snowflake Mandala die

STAMPlorations Shine Bright stickers

patterned paper

I chose the PP and a coordinating scrap to back the sentiment sticker. Die cut the "snowflake" from gold (to "shine" like the sentiment says, ya know!) and trimmed off the little tidbits from the tips that really made it look snowflake-y.

Can't really see all the shine above. Check out this photo.

You'll find all the makes with the products from the release in the gallery here.

Thanks for visiting.

simon says stamp - snowflake mandala

Snowflakes aren't just for Christmas anymore. Right? See that die in the lower left of the graphic above? It came to live at my house. It's part of the recent Hey Bestie release at SSS. Thanks, Simon.

My card today definitely leans toward Christmas (I used snowflake PP) but I actually intended it to be an encouragement card to be sent in the winter. Heck, add a couple hearts and it could even work for Valentine's Day!

SSS Snowflake Mandala die

SSS Reverse Love Sentiment Strips

MFT Circle die

patterned paper

washi tape

I was actually going to make a shaker card but took the lazy way out. This is a one layer card. Sorta.

I die cut the circle from the front of the cardbase, adhered acetate behind it and a piece of PP behind that. Then I glued the die cut snowflake on the front of the acetate and added the sentiment. There's a little bit of extra depth thanks to the adhesive between the layers. Kinda cool.

Check out all the makes with the products from the release in the gallery here.

I'll be back tomorrow with another non-Christmas card...

STAMPlorations digital stamp bloomdala coffee-to-go

I'm over on the STAMPlorations blog today with four digital stamp projects. You could win a $15 GC to the store for comments left here and there. Just sayin...

So. I'm pretty much a newbie to digital stamps. I love getting inky with actual stamps. And I'm a pro at ink smudges. But there are some benefits to digi stamps - no smudges, perfect coverage without a MISTI, image resizing, even layering images (though I've yet to give that a try).

I grabbed me a couple digital stamps from the STAMPlorations digi store (where all digi stamps are 30% off til end of January) and used good old Microsoft Word and my Canon ink jet printer to give them a try. I recommend this post for a great intro to digi stamps. It's where I figured out how to print them using Word.

Today I have printed from Bloomdala Coffee Cup to Go four cups in their original size, colored them using different techniques, fussy cut them and turned them into tags. Ready to learn more?

1.  My first thought was I had to "rainbow" a cup. Cuz... why not?

Since I knew I would use alcohol markers, I printed the cup on Neenah Solar White cardstock. My markers are from Action Deutschland, they're similar to Touch markers. Though I did try to keep within the lines, I noticed no problems with the printed image bleeding.

I added a purple gem to the center to add a spot of bling to the tag.

2.  For my second cup I chose kraft cardstock and colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Here I also used Neenah kraft, it's nice and smooth and the Prismacolor pencils work great on it.

3.  My third cup nearly ended up in the garbage can. I thought I'd be clever and print on colored cardstock and then just apply some quick color with distress inks...

...not so pretty. Here's where my lack of experience with digis comes in. I think somehow there was some "smearing" with the water-based inks

Could be a cardstock issue. I used Hero Arts Arctic. The surface is more grainy.

Could just be the result of using distress inks on colored cardstock. (The photo you see above is after I decided to try to make it work and applied even more ink and some darker colors. I had originally hoped to just put down some pink tones on that bloom that comes in on the left. That really didn't work.)

Could be the ink wasn't completely dry. I've read you should use your heat gun to dry the printed images, or let them dry 24 hours before coloring. Don't know. (All I know is after this I did dry my other printed images with a heat gun!) It was, as I've heard many cardmakers say, a hot mess. Maybe I'll try distress inks again, on a heat-dried image printed on Neenah white to see what happens. (And to think I was just trying to save myself some time using an "easy coloring method"!)

But my perserverance paid off. After adding more ink and darker tones, I masked the lid, applied Versamark and holographic embossing powder and voila!

The image is still there. Tough to capture on camera however!

4.  My last cup is watercolored. I love the result - makes me feel all Debby Hughes-ish for some reason ;)

It's funny, I had no plan for the coloring. Only knew I wanted browns and blues. Pulled out my Altenew watercolors. I started at the left edge and worked my way right, deciding on the colors and color placement as I went along.

BTW, I printed the cup in light gray onto Derwent watercolor paper. In Word, in the Picture Tools "Format" tab, under the "Color" tab there is a "Faded" option. I used this and it printed in a light gray. Thought this would be good for this technique, similar to stamping in a pale color ink before no-line watercoloring. No problem with the image smearing or fading, even with the addition of water.

Don't forget to leave a comment here.  And here too, for another chance to win.

May your coffee be strong and your work week short!

I'm playing over at:

Always Fun - One Layer

ATSAM - Make your Mark

The Flower Challenge - Shaped Cards (this coffee cup could easily be turned into a shaped card)

   

CAS cards challenge january reminder

Hello there! It's time for a reminder about the CAS Cards challenge at STAMPlorations. First, the inspiration...

As always it's anything CAS goes. This month the optional twist is Anything Metallic.

STAMPlorations Oh the Places stamp
STAMPlorations Car-Large stamp

washi tape

Metallic... how about a car, watercolored with shimmery blue? And how about some silver heat embossing?  Here's a closeup of the dimensional metallic touch.

CAS card tip: One of my favorites. Add a strip of washi tape (or cardstock) along the bottom edge of your CAS card. A perfect way to ground an image with a little bit of texture.

I'm looking forward to seeing 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 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 joining the fun at:
Challenge up your Life - Anything Goes
CAS Watercolor - Cool Colors

STAMPlorations inspiration #250

Wowzers! 250! Welcome to our 250th Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

I'm keeping it real simple for this month's inspiration projects. Easy to make. Easy to mass produce especially with a MISTI. Colored cardstock + heat embossing. Ready for #2? Needing a card for a little guy's birthday...

STAMPlorations Big Robots stamp

Thought I'd share my thought process on this simple design. I chose the stamp set because of its playful nature, perfect for a little guy. I like the punny sentiments and chose one of the larger ones to go with the larger bot.

With such a simple design, I try to use colors that carry a lot of suggestive power. And go well together. So thinking "robots" and "R2D2" (cuz this bot reminds me of him) I chose blue cardstock for its association with the galaxy/sky. And, well, what says "robot" and "stars" better than silver embossing powder, right (although it looks white in the photo, doesn't it?) And it goes well with blue.

Randomly stamped the stars (from Three Kings) around the bot to make it appear that he's floating through the galaxy and voila! Doesn't get much CASer than that!

You know the routine. 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 as in the past, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order from the store - at no extra cost to you, just perks for me ;)

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week.

I'm joining the party at:
Always Fun - One Layer
Basteltraum - Himmel/Sky

simon says stamp - sentiment strips reverse love

I know. I'm way late to the party. Y'all know there was a LOVEly release over at Simon Says Stamp, just in time for Valentines making. They've got all styles covered - from cute to graphic.

I got to play with a relatively new product to the SSS line, Sentiment Strips. And that's just what they are. Various sentiments printed white on black that you can cut apart and use however you wish. They'd be great paired with die cut sentiments, but I went in a different direction with my cards.

Today's cards are all about the big love day. First up one for DH. BTW, I was somewhat inspired by the new PP line at Pinkfresh Studio ;)

And then I saw "chocolate" and had to make one for DD too ;) I used the solid strip stamp from Peaceful Christmas to add a few blocks of color to the BG. And voila!

SSS Sentiment Strips Reverse Love

SSS Plank stamp

SSS Large Holiday Shapes die

Altenew inks

Pretty simple. Pretty one layer (with the exception of the larger font sentiment which I adhered with foam adhesive). But fun. And cheeky. Thanks to Cathy Z.

Thanks for looking. Sorry I was late to the party, Simon. Christmas was just too much fun ;)

You can check out all the new products in the Love You More release here and all the lovely makes with the products in the gallery.

I'm popping by:
Time Out - #152

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Something New

STAMPlorations inspiration #249

Welcome to our first Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team in the new year. Hope your holidays were wonderful. And that you're excited to get back to your craft room again.

I'm keeping it real simple for this month's inspiration projects. Colored cardstock + heat embossing. Ready for #1? In honor of Three Kings' Day (which is actually a holiday in some German states)...

STAMPlorations Three Kings stamp

Thought I'd share my thought process on this simple design. I chose the stamp set because of the holiday. Then thinking "kings" and "regal" (and knowing how I enjoyed the black and gold Christmas trend) I chose black cardstock. And, well, what says "regal holiday" better than gold embossing powder, right?

Randomly stamped the stars (thanks for including them in the set, Shirley) up top and swiped a little Versamark along the bottom edge to ground the kings.

You know the routine. 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 as in the past, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order from the store - at no extra cost to you, just perks for me ;)

Thanks for stopping by. Here's to a wonderful new year for all of us. 

CAS cards challenge january

Hello there! Wasn't it just Halloween??? Man did that last quarter of 2019 buzz by. I hope your holidays were wonderful. Ours were.

It's time for a new CAS Cards challenge at STAMPlorations and here's what I made. First, the inspiration.

As always it's anything goes. This month the optional twist is Anything Metallic - I added a little touch of metallic to my very clean card.

STAMPlorations Numbers Plate die

Hero Arts cardstock

Self explanatory me thinks. Here's a closeup of the dimensional metallic touch.

CAS card tip: Add a bit of oomph to your clean design by dry embossing or die cutting a pattern into an otherwise plain mat.

I'm looking forward to seeing 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 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.

Or over at Layer It at Seize the Birthday.