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!  

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?

introducing STAMPlorations new spring ATCs

Are you a fan of the ATCs in the STAMPlorations shop? There are a few new spring-themed products (think floral, coffee, sweet little houses and some boss women!) and I've got a couple projects to share with you.

Let's start with the boss women, shall we? I loved this 70s looking leading lady, so paired her with some groovy stamps in the supporting role. I stamped with orange, yellow and brown inks of course ;)

Retro Femme ATC

Groovy Shoes stamp

For my next card the butterfly from the Color me Spring pack immediately spoke to me so I paired it with some watercolor PP and die cut Flutterby. The die cuts are nice and sparkly thanks to Wink of Stella but you can't see it in the photo. I distressed the edges of the ATC and PP on my card front. Seems like ages since I've done that!

Color me Spring ATC

Flutter Zen 1 die

World Birthday Cakes stamp

My last project today features an adorable birdhouse ATC and it immediately reminded me of one of Shery's older stamp sets so I paired the two. I also added some wispy leaves to the background and some washi.

Color me Spring ATC

Crazy Stitched Rectangle die

Country Rustic stamp

Life is Sweeter stamp

Be sure to stop by the STAMPlorations blog regularly to see what the other DT girls are making with the new ATCs as well as the recently released collage papers. Should you find yourself making a purchase from the STAMPlorations store, you can use my code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off. Have a lovely day.

introducing collage papers - analog grunge cards

There's another new kid in town over at the STAMPlorations shop and if you're a CAS cardmaker, you might be wondering if it's for you. Basically, it's patterned paper and who doesn't love patterned paper?  It also might stretch your creative muscles ;)

There's an amazing pre-order deal being offered right now so please go check it out. But then come back to see my makes using one batch, Analog Grunge, of the new papers!

My first love being cardmaking, I had to consider how to use this great paper (it's 70# quality). Some of the images lend themselves nicely to being fussy cut and used like ephemera. But I was feeling "torn into strips," especially because the motif is grungy.

So I considered which larger size die I could use as focal image on my card and settled on a bird. So I stamped some feathers and art marks on the collage paper before tearing it into strips and glueing the strips onto some scrap cardstock. 

Then I die cut the bird, backed it with a black shadow and decided to place it atop what was actually leftover after diecutting the bird from the scrap I had glued the strips onto. Kind of a hot mess but I think it works. Especially as a masculine belated birthday card.

Analog Grunge collage paper

Feathery stamp

Perched bird die

Double running stitch rectangle die

For my next card I contemplated what else to do with torn strips and remembered this fun card I'd made years ago. I thought Shirley's City Girl would work well with a nice taffeta skirt. I alternated torn book pages stamped with polka dots in between the collage paper strips. Did some coloring to make her top match her skirt. Cuz stylish ;)

Analog Grunge collage paper

City Girl stamp

So if the pattern on these collage papers speaks to you, in addition to using them as an easy card front or background for a stamped/die cut image, you can make them work for you in other ways as well. I'll be back with more ideas soon.

Be sure to stop by the STAMPlorations blog regularly to see what the other DT girls are making with the new collage papers - in addition to grungy there are botanical, coffee, travel, and bold texture themed papers.

And should you find yourself making a purchase from the STAMPlorations store, you can use my code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off. Have a fabulous day.

STAMPlorations anything goes february reminder

Stopping by with a quick reminder to join in over at STAMPlorations monthly Anything Goes challenge over at the STAMPlorations blog. 

Today's card warms my CAS-loving heart. What do you think?

Perched Bird die

World Birthday Cakes stamp

Design Blox stencil

Distress Inks

Die cut the bird from watercolor paper, watercolored it letting red, yellow and blue do the work of creating the oranges and greens. I stacked it on a couple layers of scrap cardstock for stability and dimension and adhered it to a cardfront I'd gussied up with some graphic images using the stencil. A classic sentiment in an unexpected location finished off my card.

CAS card tip: Rainbow + lotsa black and white = winner design every time.

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 even a $10 prize code chosen randomly from the entries (need not feature a STAMP product.) Please be sure to read all the challenge rules here.

BTW, check out Shery's blog post about the new collage papers in the store. Can't wait to give this new product a try. How about you?

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. 

 

STB march 2024 in a nutshell

Here's a peek at my March month-at-a-glance in my 2024 STB memory planner. 

People use them as a calendar. I decided to do a glance back at the end of the month and do a month-in-a-nutshell. Just having fun with all the things that somehow stuck out to me as having been important in that month. What a fun exercise that is.

However... note to self... don't use wet glue to adhere vellum!

May I introduce March-in-a-nutshell.

 

forgotten but not gone (4)

I've been sharing cards this month that seem to have been forgotten in my photo file. Oops.

Today I'm sharing two Autumn-y creations in case you're in the mood...

First a wine-themed birthday card. It's harvest time ya know? Gave the wine a Merlot-y inked tone and added a mist of perfect pearls for fun. See the sparkle in the closeup?

Spellbinders Wine Country die

Klartext sentiment stamp

And then lovely falling leaves (a bit early I know). I love to make these pocket shakers (idea from Kristina W.) using recycled cellophane packaging. First stamp (and heat emboss) your images on vellum.

Add your fillers and stitch up the pocket. See how I added a sentiment?

You've got yourself an attractive, interactive card.

STAMPlorations stamps

vellum, embossing powder, sequins, sewing machine

Enjoy your weekend!

  

STAMPlorations inspiration #366

Hi there STAMP friends. Time again for a Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration gals. 

One more make with the "chicks and carrots" Easter vibe ...

Fowl Play stamp

 Tweet Love die

Distress Oxides

Super CAS here. I wanted to use up the strips I'd used when masking this card, so I die cut some little chicks from it. Found a mama hen and a fitting sentiment in Fowl Play and voila. Of course, washi up top is always a good idea.

You could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should inspire you to order something from the store, if you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code you receive an additional 20% off your order.  Appreciate you stopping by. Enjoy your Tuesday. 

STAMPlorations inspiration #362

Hello again. Time for a Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration gals.

Still inspired by the style of Lagom, organic graphic/color blocking, I pulled out more scraps...

Stitched Winter Landscape die

Stitched Spring Landscape die

Super Hero stamp

Pocket Blooms stamp

I die cut various scraps with the landscape dies in various angles. Then I played until I had the "rays" the way I liked them around the stamped scene.

As always, you could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, if you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code you receive an additional 20% off your order.  Appreciate you stopping by. Enjoy your Tuesday. 

STAMPlorations cas cards challenge march

Did you miss us last month?!? Welcome to the March STAMPlorations CAS Cards challenge!

As always the challenge is to create any CAS card but we always give you an optional color twist. This month's is pink and green (takes me right back to my preppy college days in the 80s!)

The furniture in the inspo stumped me at first, but then I thought pink... flamingo...and my card went from there. OK, so not a flamingo ;)

Birds of Paradise stamp and die

ATC Tag Builder die

gold embossing powder

Stamping, heat embossing, die cutting and a spot o' washi.

On a side note: Did you see Yana S. smearing ink on Yupo? Oh how gorgeous. I decided to give distress on cheapo photo paper a try. Guess what? It doesn't work! That's what my bird is made of. Pink DIs pounced onto photo paper after smearing didn't work :)

CAS card tip: Use multiple layers, like these two banners I created with the versatile ATC Tag Builder die, to add some extra pattern or texture without taking up more white space.

I'm looking forward to your CAS card creations this month! Your project might be chosen as one of the prize winners. 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 I ever inspire you to do some shopping ;)  Thanks for stopping over today. See you in the gallery. 

STAMPlorations inspiration #351

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. I'm continuing on my mission to use created backgrounds.

Thinking of You die

Layered Poinsettias stamp

Bloom Happy die

Die cut four "rectangles" from two backgrounds, adhered them to my cardbase, heat embossed some stylistic leaves and added a gold die cut sentiment. Isn't this a great multi-purpose sentiment? 

As always, you could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, if you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code you receive an additional 20% off your order.  Have a great day! And let's all have a great year!     

STAMPlorations inspiration #348

Ready for another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls?

As we roll along towards Christmas, I've been making cards with ephemera pieces. Lately I'm working with ATC backgrounds. There are lots of ephemera options in the STAMP store.

Here's today's card.

Christmas Backgrounds ATC 1

Reindeer die

Festive stamp

 Simply Graphic frame dies, watercolors

Like on my last cards, I picked an ATC from the package and let its style and colors drive my design.

Since Santa was so colorful I decided to give him a couple colorful friends. I die cut the reindeer and added splotches of watercolor to them. I opted to give Santa a couple skinny black frames, so gave the reindeer a black shadow and used the playful "Merry" outline from that wonderful stamp set for my sentiment. "Christmas" is stamped on the inside of the card.

Again, not a very traditional creation, but it was fun to challenge myself to turn this ATC into a Christmas card. 

As always, you could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order.  Have a great day!    

spotlight on mass producing CAS Christmas cards

Howdy friends! In my latest Spotlight Project over at STAMPlorations I produced a batch of CAS Christmas cards, letting ephemera do the hard work for me. I just stamped a couple images and added fun sentiments. Check out the tutorial here. And below you'll find all the cards I made in the process. (I mentioned in my tutorial that I'd run out of daylight to photograph all my cards - it's a December thing around here, ya know?!?)

Enjoy! And thanks for looking. I wonder if you have a favorite?

I shared this card in the post over at STAMP...

But actually made this card in my tutorial... still using black ink but relocating the design elements.

Then I decided to change up my ink color and pick up on the yellow from the ephemera...

And then green...

And finally some Christmas red. Even filled in the berries on these. The last one is my favorite piece of ephemera - driving home for Christmas, ya know? Just makes me smile :)

STAMPlorations inspiration #334

Hi Friends! It's time for another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

 

Another fun CAS card today.

Folk Flowers stamp

So Loved stamp

Trendy Spring Blooms die

 Zig markers, washi

I revisited a previous card of mine for this design and pulled out Shirley's Folk Flowers. In contrast to the stark B/W I colored the die cut blooms with pink and orange and KAPOW! A strip of washi with some gold dots never hurts either. Do you prefer CAS or heavy-loaded designs? Which do you prefer to make?

As always, you could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order.     

STAMPlorations inspiration #333

Hello there September! Hope you're all well. It's time for another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

 

Today's card is a fun CAS one.

Art Marks 2 stamp

World Birthday Cakes stamp

 Zig markers

Sometimes ya gotta take a closer look at the images in a stamp set, right? I love the art marks series and decided to give that little rainbowish mark center stage as a rainbow in all its glory! I used my Misti and markers to color the individual arcs. Stamped once with color, spritzed the stamp and stamped again. I like this trick to soften up the image a little. Repeated for each color.

I added a birthday sentiment and adhered the little rectangle to a random stamped cardbase.

As always, you could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order.    

STAMPlorations inspiration #330

Welcome to another summer Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls.

 

I've had another play with the ephemera tiles from the paper goods section of the STAMP store. This time I die cut one of the tiles into a circle for this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink card...

What's Up Ephemera

Art Marks 2 stamp

Birds of Paradise die

Art Border 3 die

Design Blox 7 stencil

I die cut the tile, a bird and another circle from inked scraps. I inked the edge of the cardbase using the stencil. Added some black stamping to the bird and larger circle and a little tidbit of die cut border and washi up top. Eclectic. But fun, right?

Thanks for looking.  As always, you could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order. 

STAMPlorations inspiration #321

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

Playing with my new Decotime Twinmarkers alcohol markers again. I actually colored this image during Kathy Rac's last coloring challenge.

For today's card I turned the colored digi image into a card.

Fluttery Garden digi stamp

Patches stencil

World Birthday Cakes stamp

alcohol markers, Distress Inks

I fussy cut the image, took a black marker to the cut edges and popped it up over a panel I'd inked through a stencil. Added the perfect sentiment and voila!

You could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order - at no extra cost to you.