forgotten but not gone (2)

I've got a few cards to share this month that seem to have been forgotten in my photo file. Oops.

Let's continue with pink, shall we? "Hello"I think I made this for a publication call way back when. I like the use of the repetitive negative die cut on the right. And can you say "brad"?!!!

Mama Elephant Hello stamp

Papertrey Ink Hello die

cloth brad, sequins

And hey. I can't rememeber what this one was for either :) Test driving some new product I think. Along with using up some scraps. Love the preppy pink and green combo. Takes me right back to my college days ;)

circle and triangle dies

The Stamp Market Hey die

floral stamp

glitter gold washi

Happy weekend!  

STAMPlorations inspiration #364

Happy April friends. First time this month I'm popping in for a Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration gals. We had a lovely two weeks in South Tyrol in the snow and then apparently brought Covid home with us so it took me a while to get back into the swing of things. Hope you are well.

I'm feeling the "chicks and carrots" Easter vibe around here. That's reflected in my cards this month ;)

Circular Two stencil

Bloomdala Bliss Festive die

Skinny Sentiments die

Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die

Distress Oxides

Inspired by Nicole W, I'm having fun with stencils. Today I masked off portions of the stencil while inking to get the yellow and orange stripes through the design. Added a die cut and a negative die cut sentiment and called it busy enough ;)

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. 

altenew november inspiration - take 6

Today I have two more cards that were born as a result of the current November Altenew Inspiration Challenge. 

I still had some die cut leaves left from yesterday's cards, so I pulled out a paper/sticker pack from Action (my dollar store) and let it inspire this sweet card.

Altenew Sketchy Floral stamp

Altenew Virginia Rose 3D die

chipboard, embossing powder

I adhered a piece of notebook paper /that I'd cleaned a stencil off on) to my cardbase. Added the leaves down the edge, added the sweet fox and a strip of CS along the bottom edge and then chose a sentiment that would fit on another scrap - the little circle.

And then a chipboard balloon fell out of the pack and I decided to make myself make another card before putting the pack away. No Altenew here. And I'm done with the November challenge, BTW. Also bummed cuz the hook up doesn't seem to be working over at Altenew :(

It's sure been fun to be creating again. And using up some pieces laying around my craft room. I'm actually starting to dream about moving out of the basement and into DD's empty bedroom... We'll see if that ever happens. 

Seems like blogs don't get much attention these days. Thanks for visiting.

  

STAMPlorations inspiration #336

It's time for another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

 

As we head towards autumn, I've got another heavy-loaded creation today. Again I pulled out some fall-ish patterned paper from my stash and let myself be inspired.

Patches stencil

Hello die

 Nuvo paste, bronze embossing powder, scrap, vellum

I chose a PP with leaves on it. Instead of inking over it through a stencil I opted to use my seen-better-days Nuvo paste to give the feel of morning frost on top of the leaves. I added water to the dried paste a while back and the consistency changed. As you can see, where it went on thick and clumpy I got snow instead of frost!

Anyhoo, I topped it off with a heat embossed stacked die cut. To differentiate from the busy background, I used a scrap frame, backed it with vellum and adhered the die cut on top of it. Artsy fartsy beauty. Kinda like autumn itself...

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 #332

Back with one more summer Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. Adios August! 

 

Today's card uses the inlaid die cut technique on a heat embossed panel.

Art Marks 2 stamp

Perched Bird die

Hello die

 Forest Moss, Peacock Feathers, Fossilized Amber distress inks

green embossing powder

First I randomly stamped a panel with art marks and green heat embossed them. Then I die cut the bird from the panel, inked him and inlaid him back into the panel on my cardbase. A die cut "hello" finished off my card. Do you like the result? Or do those heat embossed images on the bird bother you like they do me?

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.   

new paper goods - ephemera tiles

Hi friends. Dropping in today to share something new with you. There's a new kid on the block over at STAMPlorations and it's pretty exciting.

Meet "paper goods" - card fronts, colorables and ephemera. Shery has a wide variety of designs from florals to coffee to graphic. Today I've had a play with some graphic ephemera tiles.

There are six tiles (1.75 in) to a sheet of 120 lb paper, and six sheets to a package. For my first card I used a sheet as is.

What's Up Ephemera

Art Edges die

Skinny Sentiments die

Patches stencil

PP, distress inks, sewing machine

I stenciled around the edges of my cardbase since the sheet is a bit smaller, added the B/W edge die up top, stitched the sheet onto the card and topped it off with a die cut sentiment.

I used the sheet as is for my second card, but can you tell what I did differently?

What's Up Ephemera

Art Marks 2 stamp

I used a circle die to cut the messages and then turned the sheet vertically and adhered it to my cardbase to which I'd added a couple black art marks to pick up on the style of the tiles. And then for fun, I popped the circles up on foam tape and adhered them haphazardly on the colored squares. No risk, no fun ;)

My last card is CAS. Yep.

What's Up Ephemera

Tags 1 die

 Art Border 3 die (coming soon)

Heidi Swapp black color shine spray, PP, washi, enamel star

I used a tag die to cut two tiles from a sheet as well as from PP. Used a coming-to-the-store-soon border die to spice up the bottom of the card front. And keeping with the splatter style I added a strip of washi along the bottom edge. Adhered the tags and voila!

Keep watching the STAMP blog for more sneaks of these fun, new, paper goods. I'll be back with some of the graphic card fronts soon.

I'm going over to the gallery at:

Crafting Happiness - AG with option tag

Just Us Girls - #588

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.

CAS cards challenge march

Welcome to the STAMPlorations March CAS Cards challenge. Ready to get your green on?

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

Here's my card.

Facets stencil

Fowl Play stamp

Altenew inks

Perhaps not as simple as you'd think due to quite a bit of masking in order to get just the parts of the stencil that I wanted for each color. But I like the result. 

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 inspiration with this stamp set check out this post. These birdies are perfect for perching on something.

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 joining in at:

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Addicted to CAS - Animal

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)

 

STAMPlorations release - reprise

Hope you're all having a sweet Valentine's Day. No Valentine for you here today. There's a new release in town over at the STAMPlorations shop. Have you seen it? And did you see all the DT makes this past week?

Remember Leafy?

And this card I made with it?

I mentioned the leftovers I had after die cutting those tags from the light and middle blue panels...

Leafy stamp
Manila Tags die
Winnie and Walter Hello die

sequins, washi, PP snippet

I took those panels, layered them over one another and adhered a snippet of PP behind. Stitched the panel onto a cardbase and added a strip of washi along the bottom. Added a die cut sentiment and sequins.

Gotta love leftovers ;) There's still time to check out all the DT's creations over at the STAMP blog. And leave comments, there are prizes to be won - a $20 gift code and a stamp set from the release.

In addition, the four new stamp sets being released are 10% off automatically until February 19. If you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA designers' code you'll get an extra 20% off too!

Thanks for stopping by.

STAMPlorations inspiration #233

Back with another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team.

Still enjoying fall colors, I decided to do some inlaid die cutting...

STAMPlorations Bloomdala Bliss Festive die
STAMPlorations Helenium stamp

WOW embossing powder

For other ideas with this die check out this card.

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 I'd love it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off when ordering from the store. Thanks so much for coming by.

STAMPlorations inspiration #231

Welcome to another summer Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team.

I've got another Zigged creation for you today. Remember this shower curtain? It inspired my last two cards and today's too. I wanted a colorful background with a B/W focal image.

STAMPlorations Layered Snowman stamp
STAMPlorations Helenium large stamp

STAMPlorations Color Blooms coloring book

Zig Clean Color Brush markers

So I pulled out that wonderful organic circle from the snowman stamp, scribbled on it with the Zig marker, spritzed with water and stamped. Love the result. A fussy cut bloom from the coloring book added just the right sized focal image and the B/W sentiment finished it off.

I love this stamp set. I used the snowman unconventionally here and here too if you need to be convinced of this set's versatility ;)

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. Thanks so much for coming by.

spotlight on stenciled backgrounds for interest

Howdy peeps - I've a tutorial over at STAMPlorations showing you how I created this card.

STAMPlorations inspiration #228

Welcome to another summer Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team.

So remember when there was a birthday bash happening at CAS Watercolor Challenge in honor of the one and only Darnell K. BTW, if you don't know her... you absolutely should.

Well I'd made a watercolor bouquet for the belle of the ball, but I wasn't at all pleased with my attempted shading around the outside of the bouquet. So I gave the Plumerias another go.

STAMPlorations Precious Plumeria stamp

STAMPlorations Hello die

STAMPlorations Just Squares stencil

Zig Clean Color Brush markers

Distress ink - Milled Lavender

On my first card I totally CASEd Erum T.'s amazing no-line watercoloring card, right down to splatters and some attempted shading. For today's card I chose different colors and used the stenciling behind the image, but skipped the splatters and shading. I really like today's result.

I've used this stamp on this card and this card too.

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. Thanks for looking.

CUTplorations february

One down, eleven to go! Welcome to February and to a new challenge over at STAMPlorations CUTplorations! Here's the inspiration for February. How could I not go with a heart, right?

image source: Magrikie

I hope there is something in this photo to inspire you. I could not help but go totally literal with my creation. (You'll see that several of the DT also chose a literal interpretation ;) But it was a great way to use up some of those gelli plate or inked pieces in my stash! 

STAMPlorations Trendy Spring Blooms die
STAMPlorations Hello Sunshine die
Sizzix Heart die

I started by die cutting the heart twice for my shaped card. Then I die cut a bunch of blooms. Took my heart and my pile of blooms and had fun arranging them on the heart. I let them overlap each other for additional dimension.  I used spray adhesive and trimmed the overhang off with scissors.

TIP: Trace around your shaped die with a pencil onto white CS. Adhere the blooms and then die cut the shape. This would yield a perfectly clean edge and press the blooms onto the white CS. I didn't do this cuz I first thought I'd leave some of the die cuts hanging over the edges. But I ended up not liking the look!

I hope you'll join us for some die cutting fun over at the CUTplorations challenge.  Create a project based on the inspiration using at least one die cut and at least one STAMPlorations product. Your project might be chosen as the winner of a $15 GC to the shop. Check out how the CUTplorations 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;)  Speaking of which, have you seen the new Bloomdala series??? Thanks for coming by. See you in the gallery.

I'm headed to the gallery at:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes
Die Cut Divas - Love is in the Air
Challenge up your Life - Love

Bastel Traum - Die/Stencil
Allsorts - Love

hello gorgeous

So there's this "dollar store" in town - I basically go there to get hangers! - and wouldn't you know it, the craft supply aisle is the first one you enter when you enter the store.

Needless to say it takes me 20 minutes to get to the back of the store to the hangers ;)

You may recall my pastel washi tapes that just fell into my basket. So there was this embossing folder too. I'm not really a flamingo girl. BUT. Give me a 3D geometric flamingo and I'm in. Today I had a play with both.

3D embossing folder (Action)

Papertrey Ink Tipped Tops die

 Hero Arts Layering Flamingo stamp

Altenew inks

washi (Action)

Look at this... isn't this cool?

A few washi strips. A few stamped grasses along the bottom and the sentiment on a leftover. The bird. And three teensy Nuvo drops. Me likey.

Happy Sunday. I'm joining the fun at:

A Blog Named Hero - Crafter's Choice

A2Z Scrapbooking - January AG

Just Us Girls - Pastels

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - CAS

Addicted to Stamps and More - CAS

altenew october challenge - subtle

Been creating, inspired by this month's Altenew challenge, and here are my next two creations. You might have caught my mention of the Mega Succulent stamp sitting in my newly-purchased-to-be-used-before-putting-away basket. A fantastic stamp (which appears to be on sale at Altenew right now ;) but daunting too. So I headed to the interwebs.

Jennifer M. made this version scribbling Zigs and spritzing lots of water. Her video explains it all so I'll skip that part. Here's my version, using the orange, yellow and green tones of the challenge. And some perfect pearl/water spritzes on top for lots of shimmer.

Altenew Mega Succulent stamp

Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens
vellum

white embossing powder

The inside reads "happy". The sentiments in the stamp set work perfectly with the image too, BTW. Love that perfect pearls shimmer! And this is definitely the quickest way to get that stamp colored. I spent a little time adding some shading, but in total it probably took about 20 minutes.

So then I made a version inspired by Therese C's version which you can watch her make here. I used two yellows, two oranges and a green Zig (and more than three times as many minutes as for the first one ;) But that was OK with me cuz I had some "me" time in my craft room ;) I did decide to not cut this one down but rather leave it square. I like the aesthetic of the total image.

Altenew Mega Succulent stamp 

Altenew Super Script stamp

Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens
vellum

bronze embossing powder

Shading. Highlighting. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm glad I gave it a try. Love how the glitter bronze embossing powder is carried through from the outline of the bloom to the sentiment embossed on vellum.

I'll be back with one more version. Don't know if this second one counts as subtle, but the next one? Definitely not subtle ;)

I'm joining:

Moo Mania - Autumn
The Flower Challenge - Add Sparkle

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

Stempelkueche - Leaves (cuz succulents have leaves!)

Time Out - Colorful

MFT Sketch Challenge - #407 (no MFT products, but inspiration for sentiment placement!)

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!)