STAMPlorations simple expressions - inspire

Perhaps you saw my post using the Simple Expressions - Inspire stamp with some paper goods from the STAMP shop? Easy peasy.

Simple Expression stamp + card front = handmade card!

For today's cards I used the same stamp but paired it with other supplies from my stash too. For this first card I die cut those cool trees from one of the card fronts, stamped the sentiment (outline and solid) then added the little die cut birdie up top and washi along the bottom. I just love this kind of CAS.

Simple Expressions - inspire stamp

Artsy Abstract card front

Gratitude Tree die

Tweet Love die

My next project is actually to use in my Stop the Blur memory planner. I created a little orange folder to house photos/journaling. I stenciled a face onto a pocket backdrop then added the stamp and a few tidbits to grunge it up a bit.

Simple Expressions - inspire stamp

Old Letters pocket backdrop

Profile 3 stencil

Art Edges die

There are so many cool stamps to choose from in the Simple Expressions series. Have you checked them out? Maybe one speaks to you. I like "happiness is an inside job". And "find your peace". If you choose to shop the STAMP shop, please use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off your order. And right now you can get a paper goods item for 40% off to pair with your Simple Expressions stamp! Happy crafting!

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. 

 

support for shery

Hi there friends. I'm sharing a card I made with a couple challenges in mind. 

Over at Timeout Challenges they are having their cancer awareness challenge. And to quote:

"We want to give a special shout out to our friend Shery at STAMPlorations. She has been fighting a cancer battle this year and she has been heavy on our hearts here at Time Out. Thank you Shery for all the years of support and creativity.  We stand with you as you walk through this journey." 

My sentiments exactly. Of course I had to jump right in. Lots of virtual hugs and prayers headed Shery's way as she fights the fight. I know the quote is "hope is the thing with feathers" but in my head it always translates to "the thing with wings" and thus...

Ali Edwards stamp

 STAMPlorations Fluttery Zen and MFT label die

Altenew stencil

inks, embossing paste, embossing powder, foil, washi

I was following the sketch at FMS #557.

Super CAS over here.  Used the stenciled area to represent the large square and the butterfly cluster to represent the small square. Of course, a touch of washi is always a good idea. Did you notice it?

I tried  technique I'd seen Heidi Swapp do on my butterfly. I dabbed a glue pen around on it once I'd inked it. Let it get tacky and then rubbed a foil scrap over it with my finger. Ta da. No laminator. No Minc. But foiling!

Appreciate you stopping by. Enjoy your week.  

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 cas cards challenge april

Welcome to the April STAMPlorations CAS Cards challenge and that ain't no joke ;)

As always the challenge is to create any CAS card but we always give you an optional color twist. This month's colors are blue and purple.

Must have been the flowers in the inspo that took me down a sympathy card route. And it seems I'm always needing them :(

Blossom Overture stamp

Tag 1 nesting die

gold embossing powder

Got those perfect little rectangles cut from stash backgrounds using the tiniest tag die. Gold embossed and fussy cut the rose and mounted it over the tags. Voila!

CAS card tip: I ignored the sweet spot rule here but I think putting all the design items in the middle third of the card works too .

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 over at the gallery.  

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 cas cards challenge january

Happy New Year 2022!!!

And welcome to the STAMPlorations January CAS Cards challenge!

As always the challenge is to create any CAS card, with an optional color twist. What better to start off this new year than with this month's optional twist which is "rainbow."

When I thought rainbow I thought rainbow bridge so I decided to replenish my stock of doggie sympathy cards...

Mini Art Marks 1 stamp

Blossom Overture stamp

Concord and 9 ink 

The sentiment continues onto the inside with "sorry for your loss."

CAS card tip: Use multiple colors (in this case "rainbow") with only one image.

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. 

 

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 cas cards challenge december

Welcome to the STAMPlorations December CAS Cards challenge!

As always the challenge is to create any CAS card, with an optional color twist - this month the twist is metallic plus one color.

On the slim chance that you haven't started your Christmas cards yet, here's a super easy design for you.

Comfort and Joy stickers

Merry Go Round stencil

gold embossing paste, Festive Berries distress ink 

CAS card tip: Extend your image off the edge for more interest. Include 3 or 5 of something to please the eye (I've used four pinwheels + one good sized sentiment).

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 #345

Welcome to today's inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

Lately I've been making Christmas cards with ephemera pieces. There are lots of ephemera options in the STAMP store. And lots you can do with them. I tend to like CAS designs.

Meet today's card. 

Christmas Ephemera 1

Comfort and Joy stickers

Oh My Stars stencil

 embossing paste, die cut stars

It's CAS that's for sure. The ephemera piece needs something to anchor it so I added some stenciled stars in the corner of my card front and added a couple gold die cut stars too to create a threesome with the ornament. Three is always a good design idea, right? 

A sticker sentiment made this card super quick.

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!        

STAMPlorations inspiration #341

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

As we head towards Christmas, I'm going to take a look at making Christmas cards with ephemera pieces. I recently got the Christmas in the Air Kit #1 (which is sold out at the moment) but any holiday ephemera will do. There are lots of ephemera options in the STAMP store.

Meet today's card.

Christmas Ephemera 1

Festive stamp

Christmas Joy stamp

 silver embossing powder, pom pom

Another pretty quick CAS. I chose a large piece of whimsical ephemera which could "stand on its own," stamped a background for him with sentiments and added a heat embossed sentiment too. A fun pom pom added to the whimsical factor.

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!     

STAMPlorations cas cards challenge november

Welcome to the STAMPlorations November CAS Cards challenge!

As always the challenge is to create any CAS card, with an optional color twist - this month the twist is comfy cozy neutrals.

I decided to use beige, gray and black for a Christmas card.

Christmas Joy stamp

Holiday Trees stencil

Design Blox 4 

CAS card tip: Use multiple or ombre colors with your stencil and extend your image off the edge for more interest.

I'm looking forward to your CAS card creations this month! Your project might be chosen as one of the prize winners. Are you cranking out Christmas cards? 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 #340

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

 

As we head towards Christmas, I'm going to take a look at making Christmas cards with ephemera pieces. I recently got the Christmas in the Air Kit #1 (which is sold out at the moment) but any holiday ephemera will do. There are lots of ephemera options in the STAMP store.

Christmas Ephemera 1

Christmas Joy stamp

 black marker, washi tape

Calling this one QCAS - quick CAS. I chose a large piece of ephemera which could "stand on its own," stamped a couple sentiments and incorporated them into a doodled frame and added a strip of washi before popping the ephemera up on foam tape. Ta da! Don't you love the simple font and versatility of sentiment options in the stamp set?

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 #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 #329

Time for 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. I like that the words/messages on these tiles work for multiple occasions. I've die cut one of the tiles for this CAS all encouragement card.

What's Up Ephemera

So Loved stamp

Gift Builder 2 die

Design Blox 7 stencil

I die cut the tile and created my present. I stamped the sentiment through the circle portion of the stencil onto my cardbase. Then I adhered the present and some washi strips.

Thanks for visiting. Hope your summer is going well. 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.     

cas cards challenge june reminder

Welcome to our reminder about the STAMPlorations June CAS Cards challenge, folks!

As always the challenge is to create any CAS card, with an optional color twist - this month the twist is light blue and cream.

As I mentioned with my first card this month, those colors would normally take me down the baby card road, but alas I needed several sympathy cards. Here's my second card.

With Sympathy phrase die

Leaf prints stencil

Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die

alcohol markers

For this clean card I die cut and dry embossed (with the stencil) a rectangle of cream cardstock and adhered that to my cardbase. I colored strips of cardstock in blue tones with my alcohol markers and die cut the sentiment. Stacked the die cuts offset and adhered them to the card.

CAS card tip: Add interest with some dry embossing. Adds no extra color, just a little bit of pattern/texture.

For more inspiration with this die check out this post. 

I'm looking forward to your CAS card creations! 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.  

I'm going over to the gallery at:

Just Us Girls - #588

Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies

STAMPlorations inspiration #318

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

I recently picked up some Decotime Twinmarkers alcohol markers at the local "dollar store" and decided to play with them for my inspiration posts in May.

First up, an oldie but goodie design and a great way to either use up cardstock scraps or create your own colors of cardstock.

Bloomfully Wonderful stamp

Trendy Spring Blooms stamp

alcohol markers

Trim strips of white cardstock. Color them with markers. Stamp image on cardfront using stamp positioner and leave stamp on positioner. Adhere strips. Line card up in positioner and stamp image again. Add sentiment.

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, just with perks for me ;)

cas cards challenge may reminder

Hi there! Have you played in the STAMPlorations May CAS Cards challenge yet? 

As always the challenge is to create any CAS card, with an optional color twist - this month it's an interesting one - copper and yellow!

Here's my second card.

See all that lovely sparkle and shine of the embossing?

Art Marks 3 stamp

Bloomin Coffee and You stamp

Catherine Pooler inks, copper embossing powder

Some masking, stamping and heat embossing, that's it!

CAS card tip: Go wild with stamping, but only stamp a portion of your card panel

For more inspiration with this stamp check out this post. 

I'm looking forward to your CAS card creations! 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.