STB - august 5 2024

Welcome to August 2024 in my STB memory planner. 

Continued with those Basic Grey alpha stickers that were still on my desk for some titles. Added some strips of PP from my stash cuz the cup holding them happened to be in front of my face. What can I say? More journaling than photos this week. But that's fun too cuz I get to bring in more stickers. And labels - which I never think to use.

Don't think I mentioned it, but you can tell on this layout. This "planner" is actually intended to be used for something else. I'm not sure what. Its format is different. But I went through the whole thing drawing lines to create the spaces for days like the original planners from Heidi had. Call me thrifty ;)

Stopping the blur, I am.

STB - july 29 2024

Wrapping up July 2024 in my STB memory planner. 

It's usually a slow week as we recover from jet lag. Not a lot of photos. Some journaling which I chose to hide in those cute little file folder die cuts. Made it all pretty with complementary washi tape. And can we have a moment for that cool clipboard die cut? Wowzers. Love that I could even fit the larger one here in the slow week.

I added something new after seeing it in social media - glimmers. What sets off a glimmer in your soul in your everyday life? Write it down.

Stopping the blur. 

STB - june 24 2024

We're in June 2024 in my STB memory planner. 

Looking back on this now, I'm so appreciative of the concept of stopping the blur. So many of the little things I would have completely forgotten about!!! Slow postal systems. Giant tree trunks floating up onto the beach - and then, thank goodness, floating away again! Good conversations with people we met on the street. 

Played with old Basic Grey alpha stickers to match the beige of the planner pages. Added some fun PP squares to fill in white space and bring interest to the spread. 

 

STB - may 6 2024

We're in May 2024 in my STB memory planner. Lots of photos. And other stuff.

Played with old alpha stickers. And even older large sheet Basic Grey letter stickers.

One big flap housing a waterfall of photos made from a bit of a lovely card I received from a crafty friend ElisabethElisabeth. Doodled lines. And stamping and stickers. Three cheers for Heidi Swapp and stopping the blur.

This is actually the last spread in this memory planner. On to a new one.

 

STB - march 11 2024

Back home and a little bit of everything in this week's March 2024 of my STB memory planner.

Found some of those old sheets of alpha letters from Basic Grey in my stash. Man I loved that company's designs. Put the alphas to use here.

Circle photos. Circle stamps. STB stash. And some freehand lettering in my Heidi Swapp STB memory planner this week. 

 

simon says stamp - united we craft

So I gotta be honest. When the Corona virus came to town, my mojo just got up and went.

I know everyone has a load to bear during this. Mine is worrying about my Dad who I should be moving back to his house right now after his snowbirding for the winter. But that ain't happening. Instead he's hunkering down in his apartment in the senior living place. And I'm prayin' we make it through to the other side. Perhaps this is why I haven't been in my craft room.

But I was glad to get the kick in the butt to participate in this fabulous United We Craft Party Simon came up with. And getting a commission for a couple kids' Easter cards helped too. (Too funny, my friend texted me "Are you in home office? Could you make..." I'm always in home office ;)

Enter Faberge Egg die.  Which is from the recent Lucky to Know You release at Simon Says Stamp.

First up for a three-year-old. Can you spot the egg?!?

 SSS Faberge Egg die

SSS Happy die

fabric, thread, pom pom, googly eyes

Got the idea from Pinterest. Why not make the bunny's head with a nice big egg? Since I'd just been in a face mask sewing mode (here's where I got the pattern), I used some fabric scraps for the ears. And whiskers from all the threads I'd cut off while sewing! Even stitched the PP onto the cardbase. Sweet. Interactive (eyes) and tactile. (Inside reads "Easter" from the fancy part of the egg die.)

Then for the 7-year-old...

 SSS Faberge Egg die
Savvy grass die
Alexandra Renke rabbit die
Action Deutschland cloud die
Basic Grey PP, glitter CS, sequins

I thought she could have fun with the various layers (I glued two cardbases together to have three panels before die cutting). Even stamped some pink eggs all over the card so she could go on an egg hunt ;)

Of course for a girly card I couldn't not use some glitter cardstock and add some iridescent butterflies.

For more ideas using this fun die, take a look at this post.

I hope you are all doing OK with your "loads". Hang in there and craft away. An idea I thought I'd share with you... I put together packages of five hello/thinking of you/birthday cards from my stash (in recycled cellophane stamp set bags) and dropped them off in neighbors' mailboxes with a note saying "no time like the present to send a handwritten greeting to brighten someone's day".

United we got this!

STAMPlorations spring release - live love ride

Hi friends! I'm back from a wonderful week in the sun and snow in northern Italy and want to welcome you to day 1 of the STAMPlorations Spring Release. The four-legged friends are the star of the release and today it's all about those big, beautiful beasts. Meet Live Love Ride.

I immediately fell in love with that artistic, flowing beauty and its beauty reminded me in some way of a unicorn. So when this rainbow watercolored scrap fell into my hand while I was cleaning/organizing my craft room, I decided to pair the two for a dreamy look. Did some stamping in black and heat embossing in white.

And then on a completely different note...

How's that for polar opposites? But I had to color those blooms on the horse's head. So I thought... look for some rarely-ever-used-but-hoard-oh-so-much-of-it PP with blooms. When I saw this old Basic Grey design I decided that horse needed pink blooms and green leaves. I heat embossed the image and then used watercolor and colored pencil to color it too.

Opted for a wonky angle on the watercolored image so went with a wonky sentiment design too. Half-stamped and half heat embossed onto a pink scrap.

Shery's offering generous prizes during this release. Leave comments by April 2 on all the release posts this week on the STAMP blog and the DT blogs to be in the running for a $25 GC or all five new stamp sets from this release! Check out what my teamies created over at the STAMPlorations blog.

I'm joining the fun at:
AAA Cards - Use only One Third
Addicted to Stamps and More - CAS
Penny Black and More - Feature a Creature
Kreativtanten Challenge - Tiere
That's Crafty - Spring into Action

CAS for CASe this Sketch

Quick. One post. Three cards. Thanks to a new die and a cool sketch!

Charlie und Paulchen Alles Liebe die

Charlie und Paulchen Summer Trio die

Paper Smooches Get Well die

Little B Words die

Basic Grey PP

sequins

Happy Monday! I'm playing at:
CASe this Sketch - #260

AAA Cards Challenge - Die Cuts Only

STAMPlorations inspiration #144

Welcome to  our regulary scheduled Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team. Today we're showcasing Deepti's Artsy Impression stamps.

I'm on my mission to use patterned paper in my inspiration post cards this month so I've turned to a good, old technique to help me use up some patterned paper from my stash. Fussy cutting. First I stamped on patterned paper, like I did here and here.

Knowing I was going to turn this into a sympathy card with the sentiment about "memories" (BTW, that tiny "Thinking of You" sentiment in the set is gorgeous and perfect for when you need a small one - I put it on the inside of my card), I decided to subdue the fussy cut images behind a piece of vellum. To add interest I heat embossed the sentiment and the ripples (another cool image) onto it.

Lotus Love

From now until July 24th all of Dee's designs are 10% off in the STAMPlorations store! Use the code STAMPGIRLMARIA for an extra 20% off too!

And don't forget to leave comments on the July inspiration posts. One random commenter will be chosen each month to win a $10 GC to the store. Here's the lineup.

I'm linking up at:
The Flower challenge - Embossing

watermelon for winnie and walter

Oops. Nearly forgot to post this card I made for a couple challenges and of course one is closing soon, so here I am again. Know which color challenge inspired me?

I discovered an old Basic Grey stamp set with a watermelon slice (definitely the summer trend this year!) and that reminded me of the Color Throwdown.

There's also this ant in the set and I decided he was going to be carrying the slice through the woods. What? Yeah, I don't know either...

Colored the slice with markers, spritzed and stamped. Stamped the ant. Masked the slice and stamped two trees from Winnie and Walter Kindness. Cuz it's the stamp set over at the Rerun Challenge this month. And since Taheerah A. is all about fruit at The Gossip Column, I'm going there too!

The inside sentiment (notice the reference to "seeds") reads "kindness happiness grows". Sweet, eh?

That's all from me today ;)

CUTplorations November

November's here! Halloween over. Election Day upon us. And we're heading toward Thanksgiving and Christmas. Wow! I think this month's CUTplorations inspiration photo captures the weather mood of November perfectly. Still pretty in some ways. But often wet. Here in Germany at least.

image source: Smashing Magazine

OK - what do you see? Playful? Grim? Autumnal colors? Rain? Cartoon images? Even the numbers along the bottom or the faint leaf veins in the gray BG? SOOOOO much to work with. I was overtaken by the colors which reminded me of an old Basic Grey PP - Indian Summer - which I bought cuz I loved the colors.

I started with a panel of PP. Heat embossed leaves from Trendy Leaves onto it in white. Then I took Seedless Preserves, Spiced Marmelade and Vintage Photo Distress Inks and applied them around the leaves where those colors were prevalent in the PP design.

A stamped sentiment from Vignette: Chevron and Arrows and a die cut Birthday Word finished off my card.

I hope you'll join us this month - our only requirement is that you use a die cut and one STAMPlorations store product on your project. (There's always a free digi here.) You can read the challenge guidelines here and find the gallery to link your project here.

I'm linking up at The Artistic Stamper where November's challenge is Autumnal. Cuz it is!

charming purple graduation

Squeak, squeak. Hear me squeakin' in under the buzzer for this week's Curtain Call challenge?

Time for a graduation card. The gal's colors are purple and white. Her mom is a seamstress. So when I saw that Curtain Call photo, I knew I had to give it a go. Various PPs (mostly Basic Grey), an MFT die and a PTI sentiment die played the main roles. Used a Lil Inker stitched rectangle die on my cardbase and a Winnie and Walter scalloped rectangle (which I then dry embossed with some dots) for the background elements. Doesn't it have a comfy, fabric-y touch?

Thanks for looking. Hope your week's off to a good start. Mine is after a fabulous, sunny weekend which even included a wine wagon ride!

guest designing at muse: ChristmasVisions

Welcome, friends! Today I have the honor of playing the role of the muse over at Muse: ChristmasVisions. Inspired by the logo above and the desire to use red and green (my all-time favorite Christmas colors), this is the card I created.

I pulled out some Basic Grey PP and sponged red and green Avery Elle pigment inks through the ARTplorations Christmas Trees stencil.  TIP: Use scrap paper snippets to protect the areas around the circle you are sponging from stray ink ;)

When done inking, I applied gold metallic embossing paste through a couple circles to add dimension and shine to this geometic card.

The final touches included a stem (STAMPlorations Retro Mod Shapes), a star atop the tree (STAMPlorations Art Marks) and a repeat-stamped sentiment (Winnie & Walter Comfort and Joy), all in brown ink.

Would love to see your interpretation of my card over in the Muse: ChristmasVisions gallery. And an added bonus - your card stash for Christmas 2016 will have grown too!

I'm stopping by at Winnie & Walter Join in to Win too.

STAMPlorations inspiration #55

Another STAMPlorations inspiration for you today. Can you say "use up your PP stash"? Seems at the beginning of every year I tell myself I'm gonna do that this year. Hmmm. My stash ain't any smaller. Maybe that's cuz I use everything. Every piece. Can you spot my thriftiness on this card?

 I stamped the sentiment from the incredibly versatile new set Big Greetings onto a die cut piece of vellum. Stamped the bunch of flowers from Hope Blooms onto watercolor CS with Hero Arts shadow ink and then watercolored the flowers with Distress Inks. Made a frame for the flowers using pinking shears. And then had to figure out what to do with those pieces!

PP, I thought. So out came some 6x6 pads and Basic Grey Fiction won. Since the piece of orange PP had already been die cut from prior, I thought I'd cut that part off and make the bottom section yellow PP. (Maybe you noticed the little tags and stitching on the left side of the orange PP - didn't want to lose that.) Then I thought, what the heck. I'll just back the "holes" in the orange with yellow. Voila!

A couple three pieces of washi added to the confusion and my card was finished!

This card was born of the colors in this amazingly spring-y inspiration photo from Addicted to Stamps and More #175.

Since I'd definitely call this a "girly" card, I'm playing at Penny Black and More January too.

Please visit the STAMPlorations blog to see the DT's colorful creations. Remember, we've changed things a bit and will be posting every Tuesday. If you leave a comment on the Tuesday post on the STAMPlorations blog, you're in the running for a monthly random draw for a $10 gift certificate.

CASEplorations April

If you're looking for my mixed media projects today, they're here and here.

Have you been fooled yet today?  It's CASEplorations time over at STAMPlorations today and that's no joke. We've got a bold and beautiful orange beauty up for the CASEing this month and you're going to love what the STAMPlorations gals have done with it. Check out the post here.

We're CASEing Kimberly Wiener of wienerhoneymooners. If you haven't visited her blog you definitely should. Kimberly is on multiple design teams and is constantly creating and sharing colorful, gorgeous, expressive cards for them. Check out this beauty we've chosen to CASE.

source: Kimberly Wiener

I've used one of the oldies but goodies from the Subway Art series, Mom Subway Art Builders #2 for a Mother's Day card. Or just to let Mom know she's a great lady.

Orange? Check. Blue? Check. Light and airy die cuts? Check. I used a spray of roses in the BG instead of a rabble of butterflies! But doesn't the blue ribbon kinda resemble a butterfly? And the circles on it mimic the water spots on Kim's Distress inked BG.

I added a strip of washi along the bottom of the tag to fill the empty space and chose gold/black striped from MME Nob Hill in a nod to the striped and gold ribbons Kim used as banners.

Remember, if you feel like CASEing this card, or any of the DT Inspiration Projects coming up during April, you can hook up your creations here.

I'm playing along at Cards and More (just ordered a Gelli plate from them!) where the theme of #129 is "Tag". And I'm hooking up at A Sprinkle of Imagination's Anything Goes challenge (you can get the washi tape there).

STAMPlorations inspiration #8

It's inspiration time over at STAMPlorations today. I've pulled out one of the oldies but goodies from the Subway Art series, Mom Subway Art Builders #5 for a Mother's Day card. Or just to let Mom know she's a great lady. I, for one, am still working on the "unconditional love" thing.

Dang, it ain't easy!

I used a spray of posies from Basic Grey in the BG, but the beautiful rose bud from Blossom Overture would look great peeking out from behind the tags too!

I revisited a technique and design you might remember from teamie Vicki's birthday card! Stamped the posies in SSS Stone on the creme cardbase and the sentiment on the tag die cut with a MFT tag STAX die.

I applied yellow, orange and blue gelatos to a second die cut tag, swiped them with a baby wipe and then dry embossed the tag with a Cuttlebug polka dot folder. Adhered it peeking out a bit behind the sentiment tag. Added a strip of envelope liner along the bottom of the card. A few MME enamel dots as flower centers finished it off.

Remember, if you feel like CASEing this card, or any of the DT cards from March's Inspiration Project posts, hook your card up in the gallery here and you're in the running for a $15 GC or two stencils of your choice. The winner is chosen randomly.

day 4 of STAMPlorations november release hop

Welcome to Day 4 of the November Stamp Release Blog Hop here at STAMPlorations! For complete info on our hop, including how you can win stamps, click here.

Today, we're putting the spotlight on CityGirl, another fabulous stamp set that Shirley Bampton designed. We'll be picking one commenter to win this set so c'mon fashionistas, leave a comment here and on the rest of the STAMPlorations girls' posts for a chance to win.

I made two cards. Challenged as I am when it comes to coloring, I went B/W on the first one.

Only added Glossy Accents to her shades and some pink lips. I think it works well with the doodled frame. For some pizazz I added a sentiment die cut from stamped vellum and the secondary sentiment from the set. And that smidgen of Freckled Fawn thin washi? I think it's so cool ;)

TIP: Make a dot in the corners of your card before doodling a frame. Gives you a starting point and destination for your eye/pen when you draw the lines.

More B/W on the second one, but I added some paper piecing with PP from Basic Grey's PBJ. And a heat embossed sentiment and two black gems.

Remember to comment on all the stops to increase your chances of winning stamp sets. Good luck.

*** The stops in the hop*** 

STAMPlorations Blog

Debra | Deepti | Kylie | Maria | Monika | Nonni | Shery | Shirley |Vicki