STAMPlorations inspiration #206

Welcome to a Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers.

Today we're showcasing The Bee's Knees stamps. All stamps in this category are automatically 10% off this week and you get an extra 20% off if you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA when you order.

So this month I'm challenging myself to incorporate patterned papers cuz I just did a major reorganization in my craft room and discovered I've got enough PP for three lifetimes! Here's my card.

 STAMPlorations Pets stamp

Wow embossing powder
patterned paper

So CAS easy peasy. I stamped the sentiment and image and heat embossed them to add a bit more interest to the CAS design. Added a panel of PP and a strip of complementing PP and voila!

Looking for more inspiration with this fabulous set, see this card. I used it for a pet sympathy card.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the March inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. So happy you stopped by :)

I'm stopping by at:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes

altenew october challenge - rose filament

Been creating, inspired by this month's Altenew challenge, and here's my first creation.

Altenew Rose Filament die
Altenew Frosted Garden stamp

Altenew Super Script stamp
Altenew Golden Garden stamp

Distress Inks
gold embossing powder

So I happened to see this lovely graphic, recognizing Virginia's photo from her Iceland trip. AND. I happened to clean up my basket of "new goodies to use before putting them away" which held the rose die. So I painted some watercolor onto paper in roughly the shape of the die. Then I die cut the rose. Then I added another layer of color to the outline part of the die. Adhered it and the little pieces as inlaid die cuts to my card front.

I had heat embossed the Wow rich gold sentment, thinking it had enough body to hold all that richness. Not so sure it was the best idea. But a few of the little chunks blew and stuck to the card. So I went with it - embossed splatters rather than watercolor splatters! Heating from below is the trick to this technique.

I also felt the design needed a little more oomph, so added a few images inked with watercolor behind the rose. The secondary sentiment was heat embossed onto a snippet I gave a light wash of green and orange. Whew!

I also discovered the Altenew Mega Succulent in my basket. Had to have it. Hadn't seen ink yet. So I checked out a couple videos and had a play. Watch for those creations tomorrow.

I'm joining these challenges:
The Flower Challenge - Add Sparkle (all that shiny gold counts)

Happy Little Stampers - October Watercolor (got the gold!)

spotlight on prismacolors on dark cardstock

I'm over at STAMPlorations today with a tutorial for how I created these Prismacolored jewels on a dark gray card.

I'm playing at:
AAA Cards - Rainbow

Inkspirational - 10 Minutes (stamp straight from acetate sheet, heat emboss, color, done)

STAMPlorations inspiration #115

It's time once again for Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where all the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers. And there are sales ;)

Today we're using Deepti's Artsy Impression stamps. From now until Jan 23 you can get any of Dee's Artsy Impressions stamps at 10% off in the STAMPlorations store! Don't forget, with my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA you can earn 20% savings on top!

I saw this card in blogland, using a fun heat embossing technique and decided to use it with this set of Deepti's and its matching dies. Actually ended up with two versions. I'm calling them his and hers versions ;) Here you can see "his".

Tweet Love

Can you say easy peasy? Die cut the animal (Tweet Love) from a die cut (with Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting die) panel of CS. Stamp the sentiment from Tweet Love, curved to fit the line of the giraffe's neck. Trace through opening onto cardbase. Press Versamark ink over traced area. Apply various colors of embossing powder. Heat and then adhere the die cut panel.

Want more? Here and here are a couple older creations using Tweet Love.

So from now until next Tuesday, Deepti's Dee's Artsy Impressions stamp line is 10% off, Kathryn and Christmas is even 20% off. With the STAMPGIRLMARIA discount on top, now would be a good time to pick up any of Deepti's stamps on your wish list. Just sayin'.

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

camo heat embossing

I saw this card in blogland, using a fun heat embossing technique and decided to use it with STAMPlorations Tweet Love and matching dies. You can see another more girly version of this design later today in my inspiration post.

Can you say easy peasy? Here's how. Die cut the animal (Tweet Love) from a die cut (with Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting die) panel of CS. Stamp the sentiment from Tweet Love, curved to fit the line of the giraffe's neck. Trace through opening onto cardbase. Press Versamark ink over traced area. Apply various colors of embossing powder. Heat and then adhere the die cut panel.

BTW: The yellow and orange Wow embossing powders worked fine, but turquoise and magenta did not "hold up" on the black CS! Gotta love that bit of shine and texture though.

I'm joining the fun at:
A Blog Named Hero - New to me is this cool heat embossing technique.

Stempelkueche - # 60 Anything Goes

ultra CAS christmas duo

Needed two more Christmas cards and found more inspiration in the current PinSights Challenge - mega eye candy here.

See that last photo on the right. I love the black fireplace and that white with the bold touches of red and green. I translated that to this ultra CAS design. I did some selective inking and heat embossing with Essentials by Ellen Holly Jolly and WOW embossing powders.

Don't know why, but the style of this stamp set reminds me of the Grinch. So I decided to make a second card with a little more oomph. Ready for some ultra CAS oomph?

tee hee hee - I added a banner from PTI Birthday Style! Do you get a Grinch-y feel? Which version would you prefer to receive? I'm happy both are so mailable!

I'm hooking up at WOW embossing powder's December challenge. So thankful for the fun colors I won over there a few months ago.

Thanks for visiting today. I appreciate it.

ARTplorations stencil blog hop - day 1

Welcome to the blog hop featuring some of the fantastic ARTplorations stencils from the shop over at STAMPlorations. Today is day number one, but there will be inspiration coming at you for the next week, so be sure to check it out.

If you're not hopping, but would like to, you can find all the info here. SOOO much inspiration. You really should check it out.

I used Stained Glass for today's project and let the name itself inspire me. On a side note, we have some gorgeous Marc Chagall stained glass windows in Mainz and I love them. If you come visit me, chances are good I'll take you there.  Just sayin'. They definitely influenced my project today.

This stencil has large open areas for a maximum burst of color. I took advantage of that. Inked with blues, turquoises and purples and then applied Versamark ink. Removed the stencil and applied clear embossing powder and heat set it. Then I applied Delicata gold pigment ink to color the remaining white spaces. Emboss resist, ya know? And did it look like stained glass? Not so much.

Not about to do it all again, I pulled out MFT black hybrid ink and sponged it on over the gold. Which didn't turn it black, but it toned down the yellow tint. Pure black from the get go might have yielded the best results, but I kinda like the pewter effect I achieved - even the "highlighted" areas where I applied less of the black. So meet my stained glass panel!

I chose the sentiment from Christmas Flower, keeping with the stained glass windows in a church feel of my project. Heat embossed it onto a black strip with WOW Metallic Gold Rich Ultra High. Amazing stuff as long as your image/sentiment isn't too detailed.

Adhered a tiny strip of gold foil CS below the sentiment strip and adhered the panel askew on my black cardbase. Because Chagall. Flying goats, ya know?

Thanks for visiting. I hope you'll check out more stencil inspiration over at STAMPlorations.

spotlight on multi-colored heat embossing

Drop by the STAMPlorations blog later today for my tutorial on creating a card with a whole bunch of different embossing powders. Inspired by fall/winter fashion again, I was ;)

STAMPlorations inspiration #86

Summer slump got you down? Check out the inspiration from the DT over at STAMPlorations to get your mojo moving again. You might want to don your sunglasses for my project...

I planned my design, where the focal image would be, and then die cut Word Dies Birthday from the black panel. Then I used Texturized Big Numbers to heat emboss (in multiple colors of WOW embossing powder) the focal image. Lastly I selectively inked "happy" from Big on Words Mom and heat embossed it silver.

Added a strip of washi across the bottom of a gray cardbase before adhering the panel. I glued the little bits and pieces of the word die back in place and voila!

Funny thing about this card... the middle embossing powder is actually hot pink. But the "hot" kinda disappeared on the black I guess. So my card took a turn from feminine and now I think it's got a masculine vibe!

Remember to leave a comment over on the blog after you've checked out my teamies' projects. You could win yourself a $10 GC to the STAMPlorations shop ;) Have a good one.

I'm squeaking in over at Stempelkueche where it's about alphas and numerics.

And at WOW Embossing powder - these colored powders were part of a set I won last year.

STAMPlorations inspiration #22

Take a kingfisher. Plop him on a Polaroid frame cut from printed vellum. Random stamp a BG and splatter. Add a heat embossed sentiment and washi and what do you get?

Here come the deets. Used Jenny Bowlin Robin's Egg for the BG. Stamped the bird from STAMPlorations The Bee's Knees Smallbirds multi-inked with Salty Ocean and Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks. Watercolored and fussy cut. The frame is Amy Tangerine. The embossing powder is WOW!. The vellum is age old from Aldi, just happy I remembered I had it!

Feeling inspired? Why not CASE this and hook up at the June Inspiration CASE Playground over at STAMPlorations? Check out the other inspiration from me teamies while you're there.

Do you get a summery vibe? Hope so cuz I'm entering WOW! Embossing Powder's Summer challenge.

And the Summer Colours challenge at Addicted to Stamps #106.

Also joining AAA Cards #41 with my birdie

Enjoy your weekend! Any of you in Germany know The Queen Kings (a Queen cover band)? They are amazing and a blast to see live. They're in town this weekend and they're gonna rock me!

STAMPlorations inspiration #11

Did you use to get a new outfit for Easter every year? I didn't. But my BFF always did. Today's card reminds me of new Easter outfits.

Blogger has once again puked on the colors, but I used my neon pigment inks for this, stamping the various pairs of shoes on my cardbase. Then I heat embossed the smaller pump in white randomly too.

I stamped some polka dots onto the reverse of a piece of vellum. When it was dry I die cut the circle and heat embossed the sentiment in white. I used some glue dots hidden behind the polka dots to adhere the vellum to the card.

Thanks for looking. Have you CASEd a card for the Inspiration CASE Playground yet? Check it out here.

And mark your calendars. The April STAMPlorations release blog hop will be starting on April 20th. Lotsa inspiration and lotsa prizes.

I'm playing at WOW! Embossing Powder April Challenge

and squeaking in at AAA Card Challenge Game #36 too.

bring on the tulips

A few challenges caught my eye and inspired me to create a card. And, well, these beautiful tulips adorning my dining room table - first batch I bought this year.

Three layers. I adhered the glossy remnant from a heart sticker pack to my cardbase and then stamped and inked randomly with Spun Sugar DI with the fabric-looking stamp from WPlus9 Sweet Nothings. Good thing about the glossy paper is that you can wipe the ink right off of it so that it only stays in the negative areas.

The next layer was a scrap of watercolor paper which had been sloshed through yellow, blue and pink Distress inks. I left it as it was with that "chunk" cut out of it. Tore the bottom edge. And white heat embossed some WPlus9 hearts randomly on it. See 'em through the vellum?

The top layer was what started the card. I heat embossed Sketched: Tulips from STAMPlorations and the WPlus9 sentiment onto vellum with pink embossing powder. Tore the edge. Added a strip of fabric washi and then stitched the panels onto the cardbase.

And voila!  And cuz I thought something was missing (the "chunk" - duh!), the tiny striped PP scrap and glitter heart were adhered on the corner of the cardbase.

These are the challenges which caught my eye:

WOW! Embossing Powder UK - Spring (Hello pink tulips!)

WPlus9 - Throwback Thursday #2 (pull out an old WPlus9 stamp and give it some love)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Pinterest Inspiration (Hello pink tulips!)

ETA: Late to the party, but I must join the Embossing fun at gracious Virginia's challenge #13:

And you still have a couple days to hook up at The Mixed Media Card Challenge #9 where the theme is "Spring" with the optional element of "Bird". Remember, it's all about stamps and ink with some texture, dimension and technique thrown in for good measure. Join us, won't you?

So this is what Lake Huron was looking like when I left it - notice the open water? Mom tells me the melt is continuing. Yay! Let's hear it for Spring before July 4th in the Midwest too.