spring summer coffee lovers hop

Know how I've been playing with fantasy watercoloring this month? I kinda carried on with that inspiration for today's projects which are a part of the Spring Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. STAMPlorations is a sponsor and in addition to the four STAMP prizes being given away on the hop, you could win a prize for leaving a comment over at the STAMP blog today too.

For my first project I used the new set, Sweet Kindness. This set arrived just in time as that floral spray (not coffee related, I know) was perfect for a tag to accompany a birthday present!

 Sweet Kindness stamp

Lowercase Alpha Plate dies
Tag #1 Nesting dies

Gansai Tambi watercolors

Watercolor paper.  Tag die cut. Water. Watercolors. Dabbing and voila! I love how those little half-embossed alphas fit perfectly to personalize the tag for my friend. Here's the tag in action ;)

And then I went all "fantasy watercolor" again. Made this next card with Bloomin Coffee and You.

Bloomin Coffee and You stamp
Just Caffeinate clear stickers

Gansai Tambi watercolors

I printed a digi version of the stamp (cuz my postman hasn't delivered this set to me yet) onto watercolor paper. FYI, my image is larger than the stamp in the set. But if you're interested in digi stamps, this collection of digi stamps has a similar image and many more.

So. Fantasy watercolor. Wet-on-wet technique. I wouldn't call it "sloshed" cuz only Shirley can do that. And it's sure not realistic. It's kinda dabbed. Kinda pushed around. But I stuck to a more limited color palette and even kept the coffee brown!

I fussy cut the image and adhered it to a cream colored cardbase since my watercolor paper is creamy. A sticker sentiment tops off the cup.

Hope you're enjoying the hop with a nice cuppa. Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week and remember to "Be kind, be calm and be safe."

I'm joining the fun at:
Spring Summer Coffee Lovers Hop
I pulled my colors from ATSAM - Photo Inspiration

STAMPlorations inspiration #268 - new coffee stamps

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration post of the month from the STAMPlorations inspiration team! Today we have something special for you, an introduction to two new coffee stamp sets available in the store. Just in time for the upcoming Coffee Lovers Blog Hop too!

Know how I've been playing with fantasy watercoloring this month? I kinda carried on with that inspiration for today's projects.

Meet #1. I've used the new set, Sweet Kindness.

 Sweet Kindness stamp
5 Love Words dies
Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle dies

Gansai Tambi watercolors

Watercolor paper. Water. Watercolors. Dabbing and tipping. Voila! Doesn't that graphic image make for a great focal point?

And then #2. Made with Bloomin Coffee and You.

Bloomin Coffee and You stamp
5 Coffee Phrase dies

Gansai Tambi watercolors

Again, watercolor paper. Onto which I printed a digi version of the stamp cuz my postman hasn't delivered this set to me yet. FYI, my tag is actually somewhat larger than the stamp itself. I chose to dab watercolors onto the background, leaving the image uncolored. I did add some grays to the bloom however. I think the die cut sentiment works well over the image.

I hope you are doing well in these crazy Corona times. As the health officer in British Columbia says, "Be kind, be calm and be safe."

You could win yourself a $15 GC to the store OR one of the new sets by leaving a comment on the inspiration girls' posts and over at the STAMP blog! 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 ;)

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week. I'm stopping over at:
Stamping Sensations - Flowers
Happy Little Stampers - May Watercolor

STAMPlorations inspiration #267

Welcome to May the second Tuesday inspiration post of the month from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

With my mojo taking a break during these Corona dayz, I decided this month my theme for my inspiration cards was going to be fantasy watercoloring. No pressure about getting the shading right, ya know. Just pick up and place some color. Here's #2.

 Blossom Spray #2 stamp
Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle dies

Gansai Tambi watercolors

Watercolor paper. Stamping. Watercolor dabbing. Voila!

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 beautiful spray of flowers? Check out this post.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week. I'm stopping by at:
Craft Stamper - Take it Make it May
Happy Little Stampers - Watercolor Challenge

STAMPlorations inspiration #266

Welcome to May, friends.  It's time for the first Tuesday inspiration post of the month from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Corona has me less enthusiastic about card designing. Has it sparked or stunted your mojo? I decided this month my theme for my inspiration cards was going to be fantasy watercoloring. No pressure about getting the shading right, ya know. Just pick up and place some color. Ready for #1?

 Blossom Overture stamp
Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle dies

Gansai Tambi watercolors

Pretty simple. Watercolor paper. Stamping and masking. Watercolor dabbing. I turned it into a sympathy card... well you can guess why.

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 these roses? Check out this post.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week. I'm stopping by at:
Craft Stamper - TIMI May
CAS on Sunday - Use your favorite flower stamp

simon says stamp - never quit swimming rainbowed

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.

You know 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

So when I saw that striped fish I had to rainbow him. Actually a bunch of him. A school. Drew myself a guide line, stamped the sentiments and fish in a row and then the rest of the school using Antique Linen Distress Ink. Then I did some simple watercoloring.

I seriously doubt that I'll ever be swimming with a school of fish, but if I did I'd want them to look like these.

Then I had the idea to run a line of fish and a line of sentiments across a card front. The "rainbowing" took a slightly different turn for this one. But you get the idea.

  SSS Never Quit Swimming stamp

Sakura Gelly Roll pen

watercolors

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

I'm playing at:

STAMPlorations inspiration #203

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

We're showcasing Big Grins by Becca stamps. Becca's stamps are 10% off automatically this week (with an extra 20% off when you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA).

This month, I 'm creating CAS cards incorporating stamps, dies and stencils!

 STAMPlorations Buttercups and Butterflies stamp and die

STAMPlorations Broken Glass stencil

embossing paste

distress ink

I thought the die of the buttercups would work stand alone, so stamped a couple more on my cardbase. Brushed on a light layer of Mowed Lawn and then stenciled the embossing paste on. I chose the Broken Glass stencil cuz I thought it underscored the sentiment, and supported the idea of plants working to break through tough ground. Die cut one buttercup from a previously watercolored background and sketchily stamped the outline onto it. This bright green sure makes me ready for spring!

I've used this set here too if you'd like more inspiration.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the February inspiration posts. Check out today's post for more inspiration here. Thanks for coming by :)

I'm joining the fun at:
Craft Stamper - Take it Make it February
Snippets Playground - #345 (thrilled to be putting a dent in my artsy backgrounds pile)
CAS Mix Up Card - February

altenew october challenge - mega succulent goes bold

You've probably seen that I've been creating with Mega Succulent, inspired by this month's Altenew challenge. I finally decided to give this daunting stamp a workout. After I headed to the interwebs ;)

Now I'm more about doing the unexpected than doing what everyone else does. So in this case, forget that succulents are green. Fergetabboudit! And maybe take a look at the amazing Erum T's messy watercoloring video...  Artsy fartsy here we come.

Altenew Mega Succulent stamp

Gansai Tambi watercolors
MFT By the Letters die
vellum

gold embossing powder

Used yellow, red, a spot of brown and green. Had a little bit of an issue with some old "gold" watercolor. What? No sparkle left after 15 years? So there are a few dull patches. But hey, after a good hour and a half I'm calling it good. I actually pulled out another gold I have to put a gold line along the top edge of each green leaf. But you can't really see the sparkle in the photo :(

At least you can see the gold mirrored cardstock effect for the alphas. And the shine of the gold embossing powder.

OK, I'm finished. Unless I decide to try this with blues ;) Thanks for visiting. Have a lovely weekend.

I'm joining:
Craft Stamper - Take it Make it October AG
Country View Challenge - Plant-tastic
Time Out - Colorful

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

STAMPlorations inspiration #185

DH and I are currently in the US and today just happens to be our anniversary. Happy 25th to us!

We've another inspiration post from the inspiration DT today and I've got a happy rainbow creation for this happy day. This month, I'm creating with the latest Stamp Club set, Art Expressions. What a selection of images!

 STAMPlorations Art Expressions stamp
Crazy Double Running Stitch rectangle die

Gansai Tambi watercolors

Recognize this design? I've CASEd this card by Ashley T.  Love her video. Watercolored a panel of Bristol. Die cut it (and a vellum panel and a white CS panel). Randomly stamped the artsy images. No coloring necessary cuz they have those nice solid areas within the images. Yippie!!! Splattered with white paint and black spray ink. Added spots of color to the sentiment and voila! A rainbowed artsy mess!

A reminder that during the STAMP summer break, every Tuesday all stamps, dies and stencils in the shop are 15% off. Use my code STAMPGIRLMARIA to get an additional 20% off. One random commenter will win a $10 GC this month too.

trying to be escher-esque

Another pre-vacation creation for you today. This was to test drive a new die. And give Escher-esque a try. I love optical illusions, don't you?

Sizzix Diamond Cluster die

Amy Tangerine Associate die

recycled envelope liner

Know how in her blog posts Joan B. says "mood when finished..." Well on this baby I'd have to say "mood when creating: experiment friendly", "mood when finished: what the heck did I think I was doing?".

If I recall correctly, it all started with a green watercolored piece from this project. Then I sorted through my watercolored background stash for a contrasting piece. Now I know that solid color CS would have had a much better effect ;)

On these illusion thingies, the eye will go to the darkest first - thus you see the leaf green and recognize those as the tops of the stacked squares. And I wanted the two left rows of cubes to appear to be "facing right" - in other words I used the purple pieces to fill the right sides of the cubes since that was the next darkest color I had. Then I used the orange/reddish pieces to fill the left sides of the remaining rows of cubes. But the gradient nature of the non-green watercolored piece made this difficult to achieve! If you want to see what originally inspired me, check this out.

Since things were already pretty outta control, I went with some funky envelope liner for the background and then a plain white die cut sentiment. No idea who I'll ever send this to!!!!!

Thanks for looking though. You're a real trooper ;) I'm actually going to take this over to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Texture
Die Cut Divas - Anything Goes

summer's in the air!

OK. Not really. But my venture into spring cards has led me right down the road to tropical cards. Actually it was the palm PP in this kit that gave me the idea.

There's the perfect palm branch stamp in Flora and Fauna's Flamingo Pool Party. The rest just happened! Boy, did I have fun creating these...

  Flora and Fauna Flamingo Pool Party stamp

Flora and Fauna VW Van die

Waffle Flower Greenery die

Technique Tuesday Hello die

STAMPlorations Bold Florals stencil

Tonic Moonstone embossing paste

Studio Calico PP

Versamagic Pink Grapefruit ink

printed acetate

washi

Randomly stamped the palm branch. Then I added some Moonstone embossing paste through the hibiscus stencil at the top for extra oomph. Since things were sparkly I decided to add shiny too. The negative from the sentiment die was a leftover so I filled it with a positive cut from PP. Added the gold polka dot washi strip at the bottom too. I sure love dressing up this VW Van!!!

Then I upped the fun factor.

 Flora and Fauna Flamingo Pool Party stamp

Flora and Fauna Under the Sea stamp

Flora and Fauna VW Van die

Waffle Flower Greenery die

Studio Calico PP

Distress ink

Gansai Tambi watercolors

sequins

Used PP for the VW van. Stamped and no-line watercolored the pool toy then masked it and brushed on some Tumbled Glass before adhering the van. Watercolored a sheet of paper green and then cut the leaves from it. Sequins as headlights cuz why not?!?

I'm cruising over to:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Create your own BG (card #1)

Danipeuss Kartenchallenge - #63 Dots (#1)

Seize the Birthday - AG Birthday (#2)

Crafty Calendar Challenge -2 or more Layers (both)

Catch the Bug - Color Challenge (#1)

spotlight on negative space again

I've another project inspired by the 2018 trend of negative space over at the STAMPlorations blog today...

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)

CUTporations december - reminder

image source: weihnachtstrend

Popping in with a reminder about the December die cutting CUTplorations challenge over at STAMPlorations. I've another project for you today. See a resemblance to that cute little tree above?

Sizzix Christmas Words embossing folder, Merry Christmas phrase die, Gone Postal

Some dry embossing. Two die cuts, one watercolored with Gansai Tambi offset layered over one from silver mirror CS. A heat embossed secondary sentiment on a watercolored snippet. And a messy nest of silver thread.

Have you joined us yet? Check out more inspiration from the DT and the CUTplorations December gallery here. Look forward to seeing you there. Thanks for coming by my blog today.

tags for 25 days of christmas - part 4

Well I went and missed the deadline, but here are four more tags to top my neighbor gift Christmas card sets. Inspired by Tracey M's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. So much inspiration in gallery to check out if you haven't yet.

For Day 21 with Uniko I was inspired by Bev's simple but oho red tag and Tracey's holly leaves.

WPlus9 Timeless Tags, MFT Hand Lettered Holiday

MFT Tag, STAMPlorations Layered Holly, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

For Day 22 with STAMPlorations maybe it's not surprising that I was inspired to make two tags - first inspired by Lynne's, then Tracey's.

 STAMPlorations Luggage Tag and Christmas Flower, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

(Used Gansai Tambi watercolors to color it, shading where the darker areas of the image are. Easy Peasy!!)

MFT Tag, Charlie und Paulchen Kleiner Weihnachtsgruss, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

I'm taking this last one over to Addicted to Stamps and More - notice the deer peeking in at the right side of the photo? Once again, thanks for the wonderful inspiration from Tracey and all her guests!

CUTplorations October

image source: marmaladebleue

Adios summer. Hello autumn. Our summer break over at STAMPlorations is over and we're up and running with loads of new challenges, including a new CUTplorations challenge. This one could lead you in many design directions...you tell me. What does this photo bring to mind? Picking apples? Ombre? Needlepoint?

I was inspired by the color scheme and autumn in the form of stenciled leaves and pumpkin spice lattes (I usually buy myself one per year!). And out came a thank you card.

I used Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting dies to cut a panel of watercolor paper I'd watercolored with Gansai Tambis through the Leaf Prints stencil. Notice how I flipped the inner "frame" to mess up the stenciled panel a bit and make your eye work a bit more ;)

I added a Thanks a Latte phrase die cut backed with brown fun foam to give it a bit of a shadow.

I sure hope you'll jump in and join us for some die cutting fun this month over at the CUTplorations challenge. Just make a project using die cuts based on our inspiration graphic. Be sure to use at least one STAMPlorations product and hook up to the gallery. As always, Shery is being generous with prizes for the winning projects. Check out the great ways the new CUTplorations DT was inspired by this month's photo. Here's the link.

Don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code for 20% off in the sidebar if you're in a hurry to get your hands on some new goodies like this great-for-fall phrase die ;)

Hooking up at these fun challenges:
NBUS #9 cuz it was my first time using that Thanks a Latte die

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes

CAS Watercolor (not sure this is truly CAS but got the leaves and colors going on)