introducing STAMPlorations perfect pairs

If you'd like to take the guesswork out of cardmaking, there's a new product over at STAMPlorations just for you. It has the perfect name - Perfect Pairs - and it makes creating a card super simple. Shery has paired a sentiment and small background stamp with some beautiful ephemera cuts and all you have to do is add them to a card.

This is the first card that I made with the Blooms and Sunshine pairing. I literally chose the two ephemera pieces that first caught my eye and squeezed the wonderful sentiment in between them. A piece of washi along the right edge and voila. Bet this card didn't even take me 4 minutes ;)

Blooms and Sunshine Perfect Pair

washi tape

Here's my second make. Took me more than 4 minutes cuz all I knew was I wanted to use this piece of  ephemera and some lilac cardstock. It took me a little bit to figure out exactly how.

Blooms and Sunshine Perfect Pair

Double Running Stitch Rectangle die

Oval die

Frame die

There are so many beautiful pieces of ephemera included in this Perfect Pair collection. I'll be back with more makes soon. How fun is it to have pieces that go so well together right at your fingertips? Peruse the other fun collections here. I'm loving the holiday themed ones.

Don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should you be ready to do some shopping ;) And a little bird told me all dies in the store are 15% off during August.

 

i can make a card in 4 minutes (theoretically)

Just to be clear - it actually took me 8 minutes.

BUT... it should only have taken 4! About 4 of those 8 minutes were cuz I changed my mind halfway through. So... assuming you know what you want to do I bet you can make that card in 4 minutes! (Remember "I can name that song in 5 notes"? I don't remember the name of the TV show but I really enjoyed it. I digress.)

There is a new product over at STAMPlorations and it makes creating a card super simple. It's even named "Simple Expressions"!

Here's the formula. Sentiment stamp + card front = handmade card.

Wanna see how easy this is? This is the card that should have taken just 4 minutes, but in the process I decided to use a black cardbase rather than white and that cost me 4 extra minutes. Stamp the sentiment on the card front and adhere it to your base. Voila!

Artsy Abstract card front

Simple Expressions Inspire stamp

Here's my second make. Love this card front. Just spiced it up with an organic shaped die cut for my sentiment and some white gel pen marks.

And my third, using the solid stamp and an offcut black "frame".

Did I "inspire" you - maybe to add gel pen marks or scrap die cuts to your card fronts? Don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should I have convinced you to do some shopping ;) 

Let's do the math. 4 minutes per card. 8 card fronts per pack. That's 8 cards for your stash in 30 minutes. Not too shabby. Right now over at the store if you order one Simple Expressions stamp ($5) you get a Paper Goods Pack 40% off!!  Check out the deets here. 

 

STAMPlorations 13th birthday - day 5

Welcome back for the last day of STAMPlorations 13th Birthday Celebration! Don`t forget to visit the STAMPlorations blog to see all of today's gorgeous team projects AND to leave a comment letting us know which of the new products we`ve been featuring this week - Sanna`s Stencils, Focal Fronts, Colorables, Pocket Backdrops, Clear Stickers, Ephemera Cutouts - is your absolute favorite. You might just win it!

Today`s projects feature the Ephemera Cutouts again.  There are so many pretty images to choose from. You can check out all the designs in the store.

I created a couple more all occasion tags to have on hand for little gifts. I fussy cut the Ephemera Cutouts images, die cut tags from complementary cardstock and then added a strip of washi and a mini tag with a Clear Sticker sentiment.

also used Tags #1 die and Bloomfully Thankful stamp 

For the next note cards, I stenciled "hello" on the cardbase, attached a layer of vellum over it and then adhered an Ephemera Cutouts image on the vellum. Easy peasy.

also used Hello and co stencil

That was quite a birthday celebration! Please head over to the STAMP blog to leave a comment for your chance to win. And it`s your last chance for FREE US SHIPPING on all orders $25 or more! Thanks for celebrating with us. I`d love to know if you`ve been inspired to pick up any of these new products and what you plan to do with them. You can use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for 20% off if you`re placing an order.

STAMPlorations 13th birthday - day 4

Welcome back to the STAMPlorations 13th Birthday Celebration! Don`t forget to visit the STAMPlorations blog to see all of today's gorgeous team projects AND to leave a comment letting us know which of the new featured products is your absolute favorite. You might just win it!  

More coffee coming at you in my post today. Yesterday I used the new Focal Fronts. Today I`ve used the Ephemera Cutout Sheets. They too make it easy to create cards. They are beautifully colored on 70# matt paper. You fussy cut the images using the nice white outline for guidance, then use them as you wish on cards, tags, journal pages, mixed media...

You can check out all the designs in the store.

It was easy as 1,2,3 for my first card. Collage paper for the BG. Coffee and beans for the focal point. A clear sticker from the new All Thing Coffee stickers for the sentiment. Whew, that was fast!

also used Analog Grunge collage paper 

Next I just love this image of a coffee cup on a stack of books so I went with it on a manila tag. Added a clear sticker sentiment from All Thing Coffee stickers  and a little stamping on the card front for interest. 

also used Artsy Tribal Doodles stamp

There´s soooo much going on with this birthday celebration. Please head over to the STAMP blog to leave a comment for your chance to win. And FREE US SHIPPING on all orders $25 or more - wowzers, what a deal! Thanks for celebrating with us. CU tomorrow (the last day of our celebration) with more. Hope you`re enjoying the new products and getting your creativity flowing on how you could put these products to use.

  

STAMPlorations 13th birthday - day 3

Welcome back to the STAMPlorations 13th Birthday Celebration! Don`t forget to visit the STAMPlorations blog to see all of today's gorgeous team projects AND to leave a comment letting us know which of the new featured products is your absolute favorite. You might just win it!  

Get ready for lots of eye candy. My projects introduce the new Focal Fronts. Boy do they make it easy to create cards. Already cut and colored, all you have to do is create a background. You can check out all the designs in the store.

I fell in love with the color palette on this first iced coffee so created a quick stenciled BG, stamped a sentiment on a little tab and voila!

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also used Just Squares mini stencil and Coffee Happy stamp 

Next I tore some strips of B/W PP to cover my card front and then chose a Focal Front that matched nicely. A stamped sentiment and voila!

also used Bloomfully Thankful stamp

For my next two projects (tags to have on hand for birthday or hostess gift bags) I chose a  Focal Front, die cut a complementary colored tag, added a strip of PP along the bottom and an oval sentiment up top. Ready to go.

also used Fluttery stamp

There´s soooo much going on with this birthday celebration. Please head over to the STAMP blog to leave a comment for your chance to win. And FREE US SHIPPING on all orders $25 or more - wowzers, what a deal! I`d love to know if you`ve been inspired to pick up any of these new products and what you plan to do with them. Remember to use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for 20% off if you`re placing an order.

Thanks for celebrating with us. CU tomorrow with more.

 

STAMPlorations 13th birthday - day 2

Welcome back to the STAMPlorations 13th Birthday Celebration! Don`t forget to visit the STAMPlorations blog to see all of today's gorgeous team projects AND to leave a comment letting us know which of the new featured products is your absolute favorite. You might just win it!  

More sweets on the agenda for day 2 of the celebrations. I had some fun with the Big Cupcakes and Big Birthday Cake Colorables. Colorables are printed onto heavy cardstock and already cut out for you. You just add the color. They held up great to loads of water for my projects. You can check out all the designs in the pack in the store.

I pulled out some water-based markers and scribbling them onto an acrylic block watercolored with yellow, pink and blue tones. Don`t you love how when they mix you also get some orange, green and purple tones?

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also used Hello and co and Make Marks 5 stencils

For the birthday cake I created a stenciled background and then stamped a frame for the cake using these great sentiment stamps.

also used Bubble Dance stencil

and Sweet Cravings stamp

There´s soooo much going on with this birthday celebration. Please head over to the STAMP blog to leave a comment for your chance to win. And FREE US SHIPPING on all orders $25 or more - wowzers, what a deal! I`d love to know if you`ve been inspired to pick up any of these new products and what you plan to do with them. You can use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for 20% off if you`re placing an order. Thanks for celebrating with us. CU tomorrow with more.

STAMPlorations 13th birthday - day 1

Welcome to the STAMPlorations 13th Birthday Celebration! Be sure to visit the STAMPlorations blog to see all of today's gorgeous team projects AND to leave a comment letting us know which of the new featured products is your absolute favorite. You might just win it!

What better way to start a birthday celebration than with a fun birthday card? How about a Comic Pop Pocket Backdrop paired with a Big Birthday Cake Colorable (now that´s a mouthful!) Both can be found in the store here. And although that birthday cake certainly can be colored, I chose to keep it B/W since that backdrop had all the colors going on.

also used XOXO die

Next up I had some stenciling fun with Sanna`s new Profile 1 stencil. I first stenciled the profile in yellow. Then I used the leftover yellow ink on my dauber to tone down the stark white in the positive space. I laid the next stencil over the girl and stenciled the sentiment in orange. The last step was to ink the little squares (over the girl stencil) with pink. And it`s still a one layer card!

also used Hello and co and Just Squares mini stencils

There´s soooo much going on with this birthday celebration. Please head over to the STAMP blog to leave a comment for your chance to win. And FREE US SHIPPING on all orders $25 or more - wowzers, what a deal! Thanks for celebrating with us. CU tomorrow with more.

STAMPlorations new release - layered poppies

Hi again peeps! Back today with another beautiful set from the new release from Shirley B. over at the STAMPlorations shop. Today we're introducing Layered Poppies.

First I used my Altenew red inks to stamp the two layers of each of the three blooms onto sky blue PP. Then I stamped the outlines in black.

Layered Poppies stamp

Bloomdala Bliss stamp

Bloomdala Bliss: Felicity die

 inks, green embossing powder

To complete my design I did some tone-on-tone inking through a Felicity scrap paper die cut (using it like a stencil) to represent three clouds up top. Then I drew stems with a Versamark marker and added some texture by heat embossing them.

For my next card I went with more white space, and my fave, random stamping.  Hope you'll forgive me that I didn't use the set as a "layered" stamp here, but I have to tell you, when I first received the set the first thing that I saw was a butterfly. Do you see it too?

Layered Poppies stamp

Layered Watermelon stamp

 embossing powder

I considered adding pattern or at least antenna to the butterflies but then decided that the entire design was so abstract I'd leave it as is. The pops of color and texture make sure your eyes go to the images and I'm pretty sure your eye (brain?) sees a butterfly.

Don't you love Shirley's artistic designs? I just love her sketchy outlines, regardless the theme!

That's it from me today. Check out all the DT's creations over at the STAMP blog. Leave comments all around and you might be the lucky winner of one of Shirley's new stamp sets (to be announced on 6/29 on the STAMP blog.)

Thanks for coming by.  CU soon for the STAMPlorations 13th Birthday celebrations!

STAMPlorations new release - layered stars

Hi there peeps! Before we get to the 13th birthday celebrations over at STAMPlorations, there's a new release from Shirley B. debuting over at the STAMPlorations shop.  Today we're introducing Layered Stars.

Hope you'll forgive me that I didn't even use this set as a "layered" stamp, it was so much fun to use as... well, you'll see.

First off I inked up a distress ink BG (a la Robin C.) and heat embossed the sketchy stars, outline and solid, randomly all over it. Don't ya love it?

Layered Stars stamp

Distress Inks - Festive Berries, Carved Pumpkin, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Prize Ribbon

 platinum embossing powder, sequins

For my next card I went with more white space, but still lots of random stars. I heat embossed a few for more interest.

Layered Stars stamp

 circle die, embossing powder

That's it for today. Check out all the DT's creations over at the STAMP blog. Leave comments all around (at the STAMP blog and on the design team blogs) and you might be the lucky winner of one of Shirley's new stamp sets. Winner will be announced 6/29 on the STAMP blog.

This is such a fun set. Thanks for coming by today!  

easy peasy milestone birthday card

First off - Happy Memorial Day weekend to my US peeps.

OK, this one was easy. Like real easy. Needed an 80th bday card. Absolutely LOVE the Boho Landscapes card fronts. Just pulled out a couple dies and voila!

Boho Landscapes card front

Ellen Hutson Essential Rectangles die

MFT number die

washi

There. Easy peasy. Did I mention that this set of card fronts is absolutely my fave? 

Don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should I have convinced you to do some shopping ;) 

Speaking of shopping...  take a look at the Spring Cleaning Sale going on now. And instead of the monthly challenges, STAMPlorations is going back to the Never-ending Anything Goes using STAMP products as the focal point. Check out the deets here.

STAMPlorations anything goes may reminder

Joining in on the fun over at STAMPlorations monthly Anything Goes challenge over at the STAMPlorations blog? There's still time.

Anything goes. I went coffee and snark.

Retro Femme ATC

Coffee Happy stamp

Hot Mess stamp

I chose this beauty with an attitude and paired a coffee theme with her. The touch of red outlining the ATC really shows off her lipstick. And don't you love the snarky sentiment?

Check out the card creations this month! There will be prizes ;) a $25 prize code for a chosen card using STAMP products and two $10 prize codes chosen randomly from the entries (need not feature a STAMP product.) Please be sure to read all the challenge rules here.

Don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should I ever inspire you to do some shopping ;)  See you over at the gallery. 

STAMPlorations spring fling

Spring is in the air! Gotta love it. And gotta love how the newest ATCs over at STAMPlorations help celebrate that spring has finally arrived.

Join us for a hop and linky party with the chance to win some prizes!

I could not resist pairing Shirley B.'s tiny houses with this ATC.

Houses stamp

Whimsical Homes ATC

New Day clear stickers

distress ink, washi

Used an old technique to create the watercolored row of houses. Anytime you have a fairly symmetric stamp shape you can use the reverse (flat side) of it to stamp your color layer and then use the outline side of the stamp to stamp the crisp image. Added a spritz of water to the inked reverse side gives you the desired watercolor effect.

Other than that, the ATC is the dreamy star of the show. Added a sticker sentiment and a thin washi strip and called it good.

Get creative and be a part of the linky party. Or hop around and leave comments to win. Join us, won’t you?

STAMPlorations anything goes may challenge

Joining in on the fun over at STAMPlorations monthly Anything Goes challenge over at the STAMPlorations blog? Shery is so generous with prizes why not play along?

Anything goes. OK, how about I clean up my desk a bit. What do you think?

Color me Spring ATC

Analog Grunge collage paper

Feathery stamp

I love these ATCs with a spring-y feel, but more neutral colors. I chose the ATC with the basket of flowers and paired it with a torn scrap of the collage paper. Added a couple punched hearts and a heat embossed sentiment. Voila!

I'm looking forward to your seeing your card creations this month! There will be prizes ;) a $25 prize code for a chosen card using STAMP products and two $10 prize codes chosen randomly from the entries (need not feature a STAMP product.) Please be sure to read all the challenge rules here.

And watch the STAMP blog for our Spring Fling event coming up. Lots more ideas with these ATCs.

Don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should I ever inspire you to do some shopping ;)  See you over at the gallery.  

a favorite design for those tough sympathy cards

Death is a part of life. I get it. But sometimes it totally sucks.

There's an older product that I find myself using to create a sympathy card for those situations where a person is taken from this earth. Way. Too. Soon.

MFT You mean the World to me die

As a sentiment I usually create something along the lines of "it's hard to imagine a world without..."

You could use any world image you have. I enjoy inking up the die cut pieces for this one.

Thanks for visiting. Hope your day is a good one.

 

STAMPlorations anything goes april reminder

Joining in on the fun over at STAMPlorations monthly Anything Goes challenge over at the STAMPlorations blog? There's still time.

Anything goes. I went coffee. Again.

Tag o Coffee die

Retro People ATC

All you need is Coffee stamp

Coffee Tiles ephemera

I used the Coffee Tiles from the Paper Goods section of the store and die cut latte cups from them (even with shiny black straws!) and used them to add interest to the retro ATC gal. I thought the snarky sentiment fit perfectly with the telephone theme.

Check out the card creations this month! There will be prizes ;) a $25 prize code for a chosen card using STAMP products and two $10 prize codes chosen randomly from the entries (need not feature a STAMP product.) Please be sure to read all the challenge rules here.

Don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should I ever inspire you to do some shopping ;)  See you over at the gallery.