CAS cards challenge march

Hello there! After our little break we're back at it over at STAMPlorations with our challenges. 

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

As always it's anything goes. The optional color twist this month is light blue and my mind immediately went to baby boys.

STAMPlorations Tweet Love stamp
STAMPlorations Heaven Sent stamp

patterned paper

CAS card tip: Instead of just stamping an image or stamping and coloring an image, do some paper piecing. And take it up a notch by adding some color to the paper pieced image like I did here on the ear and tail.

Self explanatory me thinks. Stamp, stamp on PP, fussy cut, adhere, done. For more inspiration with this little ellie check out this card.

I'm looking forward to 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.

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)

hello baby tag

Like I mentioned yesterday, we've got new babes in the 'hood. To go with the card, I made this gift tag with more leftovers from my Easter egg dye dipping session and a touch of gold.

Little B Baby die

MFT tag die

STAMPlorations Hello word die
gold foil cardstock

gold metallic thread

Perhaps you can see how I dip-dyed the tag. Dipped the 2/3 in pink (now the top). And then I rotated the tag and dipped 2/3 in yellow (now the right). The upper right section is a bit orange from the mix of pink and yellow. Fun, eh?

For the stork I dipped the whole thing once. Then only 3/4. Then 1/2. And finally just the legs one last time to create the ombre effect.

I'm hooking this up at:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Animal Magic (how 'bout that stork's magic ;)
TAGplorations - Things with Wings

Happy Little Stampers - Watercolor (hope Easter egg dye-dipping counts too)

hello baby

We've got new babes in the 'hood. How about you? Think it's a spring thing?!? I made this card with more leftovers from my Easter egg dye dipping session and a touch of gold-foiled PP.

Little B Baby die

MFT tag die

Flora and Fauna Texture Two stamp

Winnie and Walter Big, Bold and Happy stamp

PP

cotton twine

I stamped the cardbase with triangles using Delicata gold ink. Die cut a tag from the PP and adhered the dip-dyed pieces on top. Voila!

I'm hooking this up at:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Animal Magic (how 'bout that stork's magic ;)

heARTful stamping - AG plus stamp

Challenge Up Your Life - Watercolor (hope Easter egg dye-dipping counts too)

Happy Little Stampers - Watercolor (hope Easter egg dye-dipping counts too)

winnie and walter 4th birthday - scraps for baby card

Back with more cards for Winnie and Walter's 4th birthday bash. Yep more. And get this - they're all baby themed.

Did you see Kelly's challenge - Use Your Scraps ? Well I tackled the tower of scraps that has been threatening to tumble off my cabinet for the past few months! And this mini pile was part of the giant pile. I dip-dyed these tags and die cuts in leftover Easter egg dye last year!

 Dienamics tag die

Little B Baby die

Winnie and Walter Spotty stamp

Winnie and Walter Confetti stamp

Winnie and Walter Big, Bold and Happy stamp

Cotton crochet thread

Beads

And the last little pieces made their way to a card along with the leftover letters from this card. Some ink around the edges of the dry embossed card front tied the colors all together.

Winnie and Walter Baby die

Little B Baby die

STAMPlorations Stitched Rectangle die

Distress Inks

Guess what? I'm done. My scraps aren't gone... but the mountain is much smaller! And I think I may have overstayed my welcome at Winnie and Walter ;) I sure love their challenges. Happy birthday, WW!

I'm joining the fun at these challenges too:
Winnie and Walter - Use Dies
Winnie and Walter - Anything but a Card

winnie and walter 4th birthday - b is for baby

Howdy peeps! Here to share my latest make for Winnie and Walter's 4th birthday bash.

This is one of those - took a turn during production - numbers. Was going to be a grid of four hearts with the letters atop the hearts. Basta. But because the CAS grid of b for baby struck me as b for boring when I looked at it.

Turned into a grid of four hearts lightly inked through a mask with cheap makeup brushes and distress inks then stamped with stars in the same color, then all masked and stamped repeatedly with the stars in all four of the colors, then topped with vellum which was then topped with the letters selectively cut from four "baby" die cuts and then topped with some sequins. Whew.

So here's the finished product for Shay's Four challenge (four hearts, four colors, four letters) and Keren's Grid challenge (again, I'm pushing the envelope, but there is a grid of hearts somewhere under all that!)

 Amuse Heart die

Winnie and Walter Confetti

Winnie and Walter Baby die

Just dawned on me you really can't see the hearts/stars action. So here's another shot. Pardon the green nails - it's Fastnacht time here in the 'hood ;)

Notice the yellow heart with yellow stars, the green heart with green stars. The pink and blue are the same and then the rest of the stars were stamped over the masked hearts. The vellum is loosely adhered, using matt medium underneath the letters.

I'm joining the fun at:
Papercraft Challenge - pastel colors
Always Fun Challenge - anything goes
Double D - sequins

doubly inspired to create

Quick post. So yesterday I saw Joan B's boutique-y card. At least that's how I refer to perfectly designed cards CAS I myself would gravitate to in an upperscale paper goods store. And I thought "Studio Calico! Those are the stamps I always buy when they're on sale but then forget to use."

Then I saw Shery R's precious little one in the cutest sleeper and I literally ran to my craft room to see which SC animal stamp set I could randomly stamp (cuz I love to do that ;) in pastel colors. This happened.

Studio Calico Party Animals stamp

Studio Calico sentiment stamp

Altenew inks

Stamped the sentiment. Used my MISTI so I could stamp each of the animals with two shots of ink. Then I added a little heart from the set with two more layers of the same ink (used a darker yellow actually for the heart). That's all folks!

I'm taking this card to:

Color Throwdown - #478 (though my pink's not hot!)

 Less is More - Cute

Simon Says Stamp Wednedsday - Anything Goes

avery elle storybook critters

I don't own many critter stamps since I don't tend to create too many "cute" cards, but these critters from Avery Elle caught my eye when they came out. I like that they are not über-cute.

As for my card design, ehhh. I had this idea to use my new wreath die and hide the critters in it. Didn't work as I envisioned. So this happened. Would probably confuse the heck out of the baby boy recipient (if he wasn't a baby)! And certain to give the 'rents something to think about (a deer hanging from the ceiling...) I'm callin' it artistic license. So here it is.

 Avery Elle Storybook stamp

Avery Elle More Stories stamp

Spellbinders wreath die

Stamped, watercolored and fussy cut the animals. Die cut the wreath. Stamped some dots in beige on my cardbase before stamping the sentiment. Adhered all the elements, leaving some parts loose (like the mouse's tail ;) Added some gold glitz glitter to the three stars. Artistic license.

I hope you likey. I was inspired to work with these animals by Inspired by all the Little Things.

I'm also hooking up at:
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Winter Blues
Simon Says Work it Wednesday - December New (my die)
Allsorts Challenge - New (my die)
Fusion Card Challenge - 4th Anniversary! (went with the blue/brown color combo)

extreme cas baby card again

Ready for another extreme CAS baby card? This time it's one for the boys.

Went with the trendy, block of letters style and used a fantastic alpha stamp, Emmett from Studio Calico. Neon pigment ink. And a rubber ducky from Klartext Karten.

See ya next week for lots of fun with the STAMPlorations Christmas release. Hope you're ready for some Christmas in August ;)

extreme cas baby card

Ready for an extreme CAS baby card? Don't blink or you might miss it.

Went with the trendy, block of letters style and used a fantastic alpha stamp, Emmett from Studio Calico. Neon pigment ink. And a rubber ducky from Klartext Karten.

See ya tomorrow!

STAMPlorations inspiration #100 and giveaway

Welcome to the DT's 100th inspiration post for STAMPlorations! Time flies when you're having fun!

Here's my totally CAS card to welcome a sweet new baby. I've used Tweet Love and a sentiment from Heaven Sent.

Tweet Love

Heaven Sent

Simply stamped the elephant onto a white cardbase and rainbow watercolored it with Worn Lipstick, Squeezed Lemonade and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks!

Be sure to leave some comments on the inspiration posts today - in celebration of our 100th post Shery will be drawing a random winner to win her choice of one of the 4x6" stamp sets used by the DT in today's inspiration post!

babies, die cuts and Easter egg dye

Feeling guilty about my last entry to the Little Tangles challenge

not using any Neat and Tangled product ... And seeing all these happy little baby die cut bits I had dip-dyed in my leftover Easter egg dye ... And just loving this card by Therese C. ...

I made this!

Quite simple, but so soft and lovely for a baby card, don't you think? I randomly stamped the heart from Jump Start My Heart in yellow, blue and green pigment inks cuz I think they have a softer look than dye inks. Stamped the sentiment from Just for You in gray nestled in between the hearts.

Then I strung my Little B Baby die cuts which had been colored by dipping them in leftover Easter egg dye (yep!) on cotton crochet thread and voila!

I'm sharing this card at:
Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday - Pastels
Cards and More - Focus on Die Cuts
Time Out - Celebration and die cuts

winnie walter leading lady - take three - stripes

I'm so happy to be back for Take Three as Leading Lady over at Winnie & Walter and I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for your lovely comments. You've really made my day! Don't forget to leave a comment on this post too to have a chance at my $30 GC giveaway!

Today we're talking STRIPES.

I must admit I love 'em. And I must admit, they're not new. Stripes are classic actually. Maybe it's the three different variations of daughter's Breton shirts that I've been seeing every week in the laundry... but methinks stripes are "in" again. Just google "stripes fashion trend 2016". Wow. Big, bold, loud, flashy. Any way you like 'em apparently. Best of all mixed with something else!

Did you see Take Two where my theme was the ILLUSTRATED trend? Well these first two cards use a little of that, in the totally trendy "uncolored" style, but mixed with some big and bold stripes.

Card #1 and #2

So where did those stripes come from? I die cut the solid True Multifaceted Border from craft foam and inked it up with Squeezed Lemonade, Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon, Broken China and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks, spritzing it with water before stamping. After scrubbing the leftover Chipped Sapphire off the foam before re-inking it, it dawned on me to spritz the leftover ink and stamp off on another piece of CS. And that's how Card #2 was born! TIP: Attach your die cut foam to an acrylic block with temporary adhesive. Distress Inks work well for a watercolor effect. Pigment inks work best for more thorough coverage.

Card #1 was finished off with a layered In a Word: Hello and a fussy cut tweetie bird and sentiment from So Tweet. I die cut the panel for Card #2 using Essentials: Audrey Cutaways and washi taped and stitched it onto my cardbase. Using So Tweet, I gave this birdie a fussy cut, heat embossed sentiment cloud over his head and some whimsical leaves from In Bloom: Maggie's Roses Cutaways, a fabulous set of dies thanks to its positives and negatives.

Card #3

On a whim I cut the faceted border from True Multifaceted Border from foam too. TIP: Add adhesive to your block and use it to pick up the die cut from cutting plate keeping all the pieces intact.

Thinking this geometric pattern might be good for a masculine card, I inked it up with olive dye ink and stamped it five times onto Neenah white cardstock. Trimmed the sides, stapled it to a kraft cardbase and added a layered In a Word: Hello. which I cut from an olive-inked CS scrap. Heat embossed a "happy" from The Big, The Bold and the Party onto it to add a touch of color. 

Continuing with the "stripes are good for masculine cards" line of thinking...

Card #4

... trimmed some strips of white CS, swiped yellow and rust ink pads over them and stamped secondary sentiments from Wishing You onto them. I heat embossed the main sentiment and three stars from the set in gold and adhered the strips with dimensional adhesive. Easy. And easy to change up the colors for a girly card too.

A design that always catches my eye is stripes paired with florals. Think Kate Spade. I decided to take some elegant gold foil striped PP (Pink Paislee and Me and my Big Ideas) and pair it with illustrated florals.

Card #5 and #6

Stamped floral images from In Bloom: Addie's Garden, Elsa's Flora and Anna's Flora in navy (Memento) and coral (Radiant Neon) pigment inks on white CS for Card #5. Cut In a Word: Hi and adhered it on a layer cut from foam. Card #6 was made by stamping the second generation images from Card #5 onto cream CS. The striped die cut was offset on a coral (Amuse) one. Do you make multiples when creating cards? I'm a slow crafter so it really helps me reduce the average time I need to make a card!

Whew! Stamping. Using patterned paper. I didn't even talk about painting watercolor stripes to create a background! So many ways to incorporate stripes into your cards. Hope I've inspired you to hit your craft room this weekend. Leave a comment on all four of my Leading Lady posts - today telling me what your current favorite trend in cardmaking is - and you'll be in the running for this.

Next Saturday I'll be exploring METALLICS in Take Four...

winnie walter leading lady - take two - illustrated

Guten Tag! I'm back with Take Two as Leading Lady for Winnie & Walter.  Today it's all about the ILLUSTRATED trend. Just think handwritten fonts. Or children's books. The latest w&w release is perfect for this trend!

Card #1 

Simple. The large handwritten sentiment from Kindness is the focal point of my card.. Then I chose an image from the set that looks hand-drawn and gave it an imperfect look by coloring it outside the lines. Achieved this by using the "wrong side" of the stamp, inking it up with two green Distress Inks and a brown and spritzing it with water before stamping. TIP: For this technique of stamping with the reverse side, symmetrical images work best.

The tiny red heart dotting the "i" adds a pop of color, a bit of texture and underscores the message.

Card #2

You've seen me do this before, in this tutorial perhaps. Not so simple, but definitely worth it cuz you get four whimsical cards from stamping one piece of cardstock. The sweet birdies and their accessories from the adorable set So Tweet lend themselves perfectly to this style. And to baby cards.

I stamped the images with gray ink and kept my Copic coloring to a minimum using sweet baby colors. Varied the design a bit and added some sequins from Lucy's Sparkly Shaker Selection mix. Those precious little inlaid hearts on the circle sentiment panel are from Audrey Cutaways.

There are cowboy hats and ties and spectacles in So Tweet too... just imagine a version in little boy colors!

Card #3

Source: Shannon Kirsten

I ran across this card perfectly reflecting the trend of handwritten-font-nestled-in-a-wreath-of-illustrated-images at Print and Pattern and figured I could create my own version of it using the incredibly versatile In Bloom: Eva's Favorite Flowers stamp set. TIP: Use pigment inks to get opaque images; dye inks soak into cardstock and the colors will mix.

I used cream cardstock, heat embossed my sentiment in gold and added a strip of washi along the bottom to add some shine to this one-layer card. You could achieve a completely different, just as fun look by using bold, bright colors and a black sentiment on white cardstock.

So that was Take Two! Maybe it's cuz I collect children's books (ones with great illustrations, of course), but I really love this trend with its whimsical, carefree and imperfect nature. Do you? Thanks for coming by today. Next Saturday we'll be talking STRIPES...

Remember to leave a comment on my four Leading Lady posts (this time I'd love to hear what your all-time favorite children's book is) to be in the running for the w&w gift card. I'll announce a lucky winner on April 6th. Thanks for visiting. You make my day with your lovely comments.