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 #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 march reminder

Have you played in the STAMPlorations March CAS Cards challenge? Get your green on! (Or not.)

As always the challenge is to create any CAS card, with an optional color twist - this month it's dark green and mint.

Meet my card.

Facets stencil

Baa Baa stamp

Altenew inks

Again I played with just a portion of a stencil, inking the masked off "heart" with light and dark green ink and getting a nice blend where the two overlapped. 

The sentiment continues inside "are my sunshine" where I also stenciled a sun for fun.

CAS card tip: Examine your stencils to find just a portion of one that you can ink or emboss onto a CAS card.

For more super CAS inspiration with this stamp set check out this post. I must say I love these sheep images with their bold black heads - they pair with bright colors so well.

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. I'm stopping over at Crazy 4 Challenges where it's about Stencils and ATCAS where the challenge is Shapes.

simon says stamp - slimline friends box card again

A bit ago I made a pop up box card in primary colors. DD actually asked me to make one for her friend and then another one for another friend! She loves the idea of all those kids showing love and support for each other. And I love that ;)

For this gal I decided to go with pastel colors. I love the result. So did she and DD. I hear it's displayed on her dresser :)

SSS Better Together Slimline Friends stamp

 Pinkfresh Live More puffy stickers

Pinkfresh Adore Alpha die 

Action Deutschland - PP, Copics, stickers

Cut and scored PP to make a 7x7x7 cm pop up box. Added more PP to inside flaps. Added puffy stickers to the box as well as the "K" for the gal's initial.

Then on to the gang. I stamped and colored them in colors to match the stickers. Fussy cut them. Adhered them to the box (or plastic strips which I adhered to the inserts inside the box). Also added balloons with the tiny messages. And finally some more puffy stickers in between the kiddos.

Adds such a fun factor to card sending, don't you think?

I'm joining the fun at:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Favorite Technique (lately pop up box cards!)

Pinkfresh Studio February Challenge - Alphas/Words

Just Add Ink - 542 (loved the pastel, tropical vibe)

Happy Little Stampers - Feb AG with Dies

playing with pinkfresh floral square frames

Hello. I'm joining the January challenge again, which is basically 2020 in review! There is a link in the post to a larger version of this photo if you want to see what strikes your fancy.

Nathalie's creation for the challenge post totally blew me away. Go check it out - hers is the first project in the post! She was inspired by the June Die Cuts and Cut Files challenge. So I guess I was too. Mostly I loved her color choices, keeping plenty of white too. And the cool stenciled texture in the BG. Hers is a LO. 

Mine is a card. Here's my first one.

Pinkfresh Folk Elements die (just $5 right now)

Pinkfresh Adore Alpha die

STAMPlorations X Marks Spot stencil

Distress Oxides, embossing paste

Well my intention was to have the white X pattern all over the card front to tone down the swipes of ink. What I got was embossing paste that picked up the color of the inks. Anyone know - was this cuz the ink wasn't totally dry or is that just a property of the oxides?

I went with it anyhoo. Die cut the little folk elements to match the ink swipes. Added the sentiment using those wonderful alphas. Voila.

But I was still intrigued. Wanted white X pattern all over the card front. So I created this slimline and stenciled white paint and got what I wanted!

See the white pattern all over the cardbase in this close-up?

Pinkfresh Floral Square Frame die

Pinkfresh Adore Alpha die

STAMPlorations X Marks Spot stencil

SSS You die

Distress Oxides, PP, sequins, acrylic paint

Otherwise pretty easy. Die cuts from ink-swiped CS. Little PP flags. Sequins. I pretended I was a scrapbooker and brought out all the embellies ;)

This card was not without an oopsie either though. Did you notice it???

I'm playing at:

Make my Monday - Hello (1st card)

Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies (1st card)

Die Cut Divas - Frame It (2nd card with those floral square frames)

Bastel Traum - #97 Love (2nd card)

Country View Challenges - Squares (2nd card)

 

simon says stamp - better together slimline friends

There's a new release from Simon Says Stamp called Love You, Too and there's lots to inspire cards to spread love around the world during these strange times. Check it out here.

One of the stamp sets in the new release is called Better Together Slimline Friends, although it's not just for slimline cards I must say. Had to think a bit on this one since I'm not a colorer. Here's what I did. First, a slimline.

 SSS Better Together Slimline Friends stamp

 SSS Holiday Shapes die

STAMPlorations Clouds stencil

distress ink, Copics, white embossing powder

Stamped the gang, colored small sections of each kid to bring in color, die cut matching balloons and heat embossed them with tiny sentiments and added "strings" and added a spot of distress ink to hint at grass and sky. Voila!

And since I've been bit by the pop up box card bug lately (check this out), I figured I'd make one with this gang.

 SSS Better Together Slimline Friends stamp

 SSS Holiday Shapes die

SSS Balloons die

SSS Dachshund die

SSS Love die

PP, Copics, herb scissors

Adds such a fun factor to card sending, don't you think?

Cut and scored white CS to make a 7x7x7 cm pop up box. Stamped it with a couple of the sentiments from the set. Added PP squares to the inside flaps, as well as a couple die cut elements to add to the love/fun factor.

Then on to the gang. I stamped and colored them like for my slimline card. Fussy cut them. Adhered them to plastic strips which I adhered to the inserts inside the box. Also added balloons with the tiny messages. And finally some "grass" (so glad I bought the herb scissors at Aldi last year! ;))

Check out all the makes with the products from the Love You, Too release in the gallery here. And don't miss the blog hops this weekend. Thanks for visiting.

I'm adding my card to:

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Layer it Up 

Time Out - You (one thing about me... I'm really not afraid to try any technique, even though I'm not always the first on the bandwagon)

STAMPlorations inspiration #301

Welcome to a new year and a new "hundreds" of Tuesday inspiration posts from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. (Not sure if there's actually a word for 100 of something. We just hit 300 inspiration posts, now we head to 400. What would you call that???)

As I was taking out the paper trash I spied this tissue box.

Talk about finding inspiration in the most unexpected places! Meet my theme for this month's inspiration projects - B/W stamping.

 Big Dreamer stamp

 Layered Snowman stamp

Stamp Market inks

Know how sometimes it's gotta happen quick? Like, the card needs to be in the mail yesterday? No coloring possible. Well here's an easy idea.

Stamp some color using the reverse of a larger stamp (I used the great organic ovals of a snowman) and then do the black stamping over it. I really had the intentions of stamping outline blooms all over the card using Big Dreamer. But I placed the sentiment and those cute butterflies first and loved it as it was. Just added the trail for movement and put the blooms back in the package :) 

Super CAS. Hope you likey.

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 ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd really 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 ;)

Appreciate your visit. Here's to a happy 2021!

STAMPlorations inspiration #265

It's time for our last April Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Here's my last masculine CAS card.

 Wonderful Life stamp
Copics and washi tape

Is it actually masculine? I think with the primary colors and the B/W it could be. I was thinking about my DS when making it and would definitely give it to him. But it could be for a gal too. Guess I can't stick to the masculine theme for too long ;)

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 over at STAMPlorations. And if I ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd really 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 ;)

Looking for more inspiration with this stamp set? Check out this post.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week.

CAS cards challenge march reminder

Hope you're having a good day. I'm popping in today with a reminder about the STAMPlorations 

CAS Cards challenge. First, the inspiration.

It's anything goes with the optional color twist of light blue.  I though Vespa and this happened.

STAMPlorations Born to Roam stamp
MFT Radial Stitched Circle die

patterned paper
Copics

CAS card tip: "White space", so crucial to CAS designs, doesn't necessarily have to be white. Here I've used white for the circles but PP for the cardbase.

Stamped the image and sentiment. Die cut them and a PP circle. Adhered. Voila. I've also used this stamp set on 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 by.

I'm stopping by:
CAS on Sunday - Boys and their Toys
ATCAS - Circles

ATSAM - #380

spotlight on using up scraps

Howdy peeps! I just realized that I never shared these projects here on my blog!

Rainbows. Using up scraps. Getting a threefer out of a twofer.

If you'd like to learn more, check out my Spotlight tutorial over at STAMPlorations.

fun with funky fossil designs adventure

Happy Monday! I had some fun this weekend with some new stamps from Funky Fossil Designs (I won a GC at Time Out and of course I had to pick up a few things while I was at the store ;).

My first play was with the Quirky Owls. Check them out here.

I also picked up Adventure and made two cards to share with you today.

First one turned out exactly as I'd hoped. I think this image is so cool.

Stamped it in black on PP and then heat embossed the sentiment in white onto vellum that I stitched loosely to the front. I'm thinking this could make a good card for a graduate or someone starting a new job or moving to a new city.

My second card... well, a good idea but lousy execution.  I'm sharing it anyhoo.

I was going for a sunrise feel. DH says it looks like the forest's on fire. Oops. Next time I'd use sponge daubers to apply ink to the stamp rather than the ink pads. Or maybe mask the image and apply ink behind it? I heat embossed the sentiment over the hot mess to hide a bit of it ;)

Fun, fun, fun. I just noticed Sarah is having a sale at Funky Fossil. 15% off until midnight tonight.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm stopping by at:
Daring Cardmakers - Something you Love (that image of mountains/trees)
Creative with Stamps - Red

simon says stamp - (snowflake) star mandala

Snowflakes aren't just for Christmas anymore. Right? See that die in the lower left of the graphic above? It came to live at my house. It's part of the recent Hey Bestie release at SSS. Thanks, Simon.

For my card today I turned the snowflake into a star for an encouragement card! Paired it with heart PP and some red and pink and I'm thinking it can lose the snowflake vibe. Maybe even work for Valentines.

SSS Snowflake Mandala die

STAMPlorations Shine Bright stickers

patterned paper

I chose the PP and a coordinating scrap to back the sentiment sticker. Die cut the "snowflake" from gold (to "shine" like the sentiment says, ya know!) and trimmed off the little tidbits from the tips that really made it look snowflake-y.

Can't really see all the shine above. Check out this photo.

You'll find all the makes with the products from the release in the gallery here.

Thanks for visiting.

simon says stamp - snowflake mandala

Snowflakes aren't just for Christmas anymore. Right? See that die in the lower left of the graphic above? It came to live at my house. It's part of the recent Hey Bestie release at SSS. Thanks, Simon.

My card today definitely leans toward Christmas (I used snowflake PP) but I actually intended it to be an encouragement card to be sent in the winter. Heck, add a couple hearts and it could even work for Valentine's Day!

SSS Snowflake Mandala die

SSS Reverse Love Sentiment Strips

MFT Circle die

patterned paper

washi tape

I was actually going to make a shaker card but took the lazy way out. This is a one layer card. Sorta.

I die cut the circle from the front of the cardbase, adhered acetate behind it and a piece of PP behind that. Then I glued the die cut snowflake on the front of the acetate and added the sentiment. There's a little bit of extra depth thanks to the adhesive between the layers. Kinda cool.

Check out all the makes with the products from the release in the gallery here.

I'll be back tomorrow with another non-Christmas card...

simon says stamp - never quit swimming jelli

Have you seen the latest SSS release, Believe in You? I was so excited to receive a super cute set of adorable sea creatures to play with, Never Quit Swimming. Talk about putting you in a good mood.

As I mentioned yesterday, I seldom "do" super cute. But there's something about these creatures. They are smaller then the typical "cute" images and for some reason I think they're just perfectly illustrated. The sentiments are a riot too and in a fresh font style.

SSS Never Quit Swimming stamp

watercolors

There's a story behind this one. I'm a beachcomber. A few years ago I was walking along a beach on the Atlantic coast of France. Barefoot. There was this thing on the beach - bluish, purplish, plasticy, squishy. I nudged at it with my toes. Couldn't really define it (thank God I didn't pick it up) so walked on.

Later that evening I couldn't feel my toes. Turns out I'd nudged a dead Portuguese Man of War. After googling, my kids were certain I was going to die. I didn't. But this Great Lakes girl learned her lesson. Trust me, if you see a bluish, purplish, plasticy, squishy thingy on a beach at the ocean, don't touch it.

So, in a nod to that bluish, purplish, plasticy, squishy encounter I merely stamped the image with waterproof ink, sloshed on some water, dabbed some Blueprint Sketch, Wilted Violet and Picked Raspberry into it and then restamped the jelli with rich Versafine black.

Check out the release if you haven't, and all the makes with it in the Believe in You gallery at Simon Says Stamp. I'll have a few more makes for you with this stamp set. Thanks mucho, Simon.

I'm playing at:
AAA Card Challenge - One Image + positivity (optional)