STAMPlorations inspiration #322

Time for another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

Still playing with some Decotime Twinmarkers alcohol markers I picked up at the local "dollar store". I actually colored this during Kathy Rac's last coloring challenge.

For today's card I turned the panel into a card. Just added some Wink of Stella over the colored images and some doodles around the sentiment.

Sweet Cravings stamp

alcohol markers

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. 

I'm joining in at:

Chocolate Baroque - Color or Paper Piece

Stamping Sensations - I Love... (I've been loving coloring with my new alcohol markers)

STAMPlorations inspiration #314

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

Again I have a theme for you this month. I got my hands on some of STAMPlorations Flexi Templates, so I'll be playing with them. Fun stuff. 

So I pulled the rectangle templates out of the cellophane and a couple corners got stuck together. That gave me an instant inspiration. This happened.

 Rectangle Flexi Templates

Bloomfully Remember stamp

Distress Oxides - Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral, Aged Mahogany

Intrigued by the Flexi Templates? Just keep watching...

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 ;)

I'm joining the Anything Goes fun at SSS Wednesday Challenge and The Flower Challenge - Pastels.

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

spotlight on taking cas design up a notch

I'm over on the STAMPlorations blog with a tutorial for taking your CAS design up a notch. Check it out here. 

making valentines - part 2

During the pandemic I've dropped some little gift packs of homemade cards into people's mailboxes - my way of doing something in these weird times and I hope maybe they do something and send them on to people who could use a smile.

I recently had the urge to put together some love cards for my girlfriends since Valentine's Day is approaching. It's not nearly as popular in Germany as in the US, but people know what it is. I'll be sharing some not-your-typical-valentine cards the next couple days.

I don't actually have much in the way of Valentine's Day supplies, though I do have lots of "love" themed items. For my first design I pulled out a heart stencil  and some red and pink distress oxides. That's enough to scream "Valentine", right? 

STAMPlorations Hearts All Over stencil

STAMPlorations Romantic Expressions 1 stamp

Then I remembered a stamp set with a punny sentiment. Figured it could work for a Valentine too. I masked the edges and a circle in the center, stenciled some waves, stamped the whale and sentiment and added a little red heart. Cute.

Action Deutschland stencil

STAMPlorations A Ton of Fun stamp

distress oxides, heart punch

Here's a shot of my card packs packaged up (in recycled stamp packaging) and ready to go!

I'm playing at:

Colorhues Challenge - red/pink

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Love is in the Air

Crazy 4 Challenges - Put a Heart on It

Challenge up Your Life - Hearts

The Card Concept - Sweetheart Sweets (luscious red/pink)

having the right stencil - part 2

Have you ever picked up an item and thrown it in your shopping cart without knowing when or how you were going to use it? Silly me, you're a crafter, of course you have! Well meet another stencil I picked up at my local dollar store a while back.

Mr. Bear. Had to go cool and wintry with him.

Action Deutschland stencil

Distress inks

Poppystamps You Melt my Heart stamp

SUPER easy. But having "the right" stencil helps too I guess.

Inspiration came from two places. I watched Channin P. ink up some layering stencils in a video and it got me thinking how I could incorporate gradient inking on normal stencils. Then I saw the Perfectly CAS challenge - use 1/3 of the card + stencil - and off I went.

I'm joining these challenges:

Poppystamps - Monochromatic (the sentiment is from Poppystamps)

Addicted to CAS - Snow (hope a snow bear is OK)

Perfectly CAS - Stencil

having the right stencil helps

Have you ever picked up an item and thrown it in your shopping cart without knowing when or how you were going to use it? Silly me, you're a crafter, of course you have! Well I picked up a pack of geometric animal stencils at my local dollar store a while back.

Meet Mrs Bunny.

Action Deutschland stencil

Stamp Market inks

Papertrey Ink Easter stamp

gold embossing powder

SUPER easy. But having "the right" stencil helps too I guess.

Inspiration came from two places. I watched Channin P. ink up some layering stencils in a video and it got me thinking how I could incorporate gradient inking on normal stencils. Then I saw the Perfectly CAS challenge - use 1/3 of the card + stencil - and off I went.

I'm joining in at Perfectly CAS - Stencil

STAMPlorations inspiration #302

Welcome to a new Tuesday inspiration posts from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

Remember this tissue box? Rescued from the trash to inspire my cards this month...

Meet my next project to illustrate easy ways to add color to B/W stamping.

 Bloom Sketches 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. Here's another easy idea. I took it up one notch by heat embossing the black stamping.

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. And this time I did stamp outline blooms all over the card like my inspiration tissue box ;)

I'm feeling a need to put sentiments in unexpected places lately. Hope you likey.

Note: My bad. It appears this stamp set is only available as a digital stamp now. But you'd get a similar look with The Birds and Blooms or Pocket Blooms.

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 ;)

Thanks mucho for visiting today. Have a happy day!

I'm visiting the gals over at The Flower Challenge.

STAMPlorations inspiration #255

Time for another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

This month I'm creating cards using a design I love but rarely remember to use. It's great for one layer cards. Recognize it? The split design with a sentiment in the middle area.

Today's card was a combo of two ideas. Use a stencil to create the images and make your own stencil using a cover plate die! Stretch your supplies, ya know!

Bloomtangled Cover Plate #1 die

Sweetly stamp

Distress inks - Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Old Paper, Iced Spruce

I die cut the cover plate. Then fussy cut the portion I wanted to use to ink above and below my masked area on the card. Then added the sentiment. Voila!

For more inspiration using only a portion of this cover plate 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 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 stopping over at:
Allsorts - Dies/Punches
Cuttlebug Mania - Flower Power
CAS Mix Up - Die Cut a Stencil

fun with funky fossil designs scandi home

Happy Tuesday! I had more fun yesterday 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. Check those cards out here.

For today's cards I was playing with such a fun set - Scandi Home. You had me at Scandi. This first one just had to happen. IMO, nothing says Scandi better than red and white.

Red cardstock. White embossing. A fun rectangle die from Charlie und Paulchen. I put the message on the inside - a red heart and the sentiment "home is where the heart is" which is also from the stamp set.

My second card... well, the coffee and tea pot stamps reminded me of the kitchen art you see. Kind of 50s retro. So I grabbed some Altenew inks, masked the outside edges of the card front and did some stamping. Just mixed and matched the images and colors as I moved my way from bottom to top.

The colors are truer below - yellows and oranges.

Fun, fun, fun. Sarah is having a sale at Funky Fossil. 15% off until midnight tonight. Just sayin!

Thanks for stopping by. I'm stopping by at:
Your Next Stamp - Create your own Background (home my second card counts - yesterday's cards certainly would have counted!)

ATSAM - AG

Color my Heart Color Dare - #381

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

STAMPlorations inspiration #254

Welcome to February's first Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

This month I'm creating cards using a design I love but rarely remember to use. It's great for one layer cards. Recognize it? The split design with a sentiment in the masked middle area.

You can achieve this look in multiple ways. Today I've used the classic - mask the center and stamp above and below it.

Softly stamp

alcohol markers

I masked the center, stamped the image above and below it, then colored the blooms with alcohol markers. Nice and simple.

This image is perfect for this design. It's a newly released set over in the shop.

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 stopping over at:
Stamping Sensations - Feminine
Craft Stamper - Take it make it February
The Flower Challenge - Add Leaves (well, they were already in the design, does that count?)

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)

STAMPlorations inspiration #251

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 #3.

STAMPlorations Beautiful You stamp

My thought process on this simple design... I chose the stamp set because I wanted to make a card with the sentiment in the center and floral (in this case herbs/wildflowers) images coming in from the top and bottom. This set offered both the images and a sentiment with a bit more "weight".

The trick? Stamp the sentiment in the middle. Arrange the florals (I actually first aligned them along the top edge so they could extend off the card which was in the corner of my MISTI) and stamp. Then just flip the card over and stamp the florals again. So quick!

With such a simple design, I try to use colors that carry a lot of suggestive power. And go well together. So thinking "nature" I chose a deep green cardstock. And then paired platinum embossing powder with the deep green to soften it up a bit and add a feminine touch. I think it turned out quite elegant thanks to the stamp set style and colors I chose.

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 in the past, 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 stopping over at Craft Stamper's Take it Make it January challenge and AAA Cards challenge where it's all about one layer cards.

STAMPlorations inspiration #250

Wowzers! 250! Welcome to our 250th Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

I'm keeping it real simple for this month's inspiration projects. Easy to make. Easy to mass produce especially with a MISTI. Colored cardstock + heat embossing. Ready for #2? Needing a card for a little guy's birthday...

STAMPlorations Big Robots stamp

Thought I'd share my thought process on this simple design. I chose the stamp set because of its playful nature, perfect for a little guy. I like the punny sentiments and chose one of the larger ones to go with the larger bot.

With such a simple design, I try to use colors that carry a lot of suggestive power. And go well together. So thinking "robots" and "R2D2" (cuz this bot reminds me of him) I chose blue cardstock for its association with the galaxy/sky. And, well, what says "robot" and "stars" better than silver embossing powder, right (although it looks white in the photo, doesn't it?) And it goes well with blue.

Randomly stamped the stars (from Three Kings) around the bot to make it appear that he's floating through the galaxy and voila! Doesn't get much CASer than that!

You know the routine. 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 in the past, 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 joining the party at:
Always Fun - One Layer
Basteltraum - Himmel/Sky

simon says stamp - sentiment strips reverse love

I know. I'm way late to the party. Y'all know there was a LOVEly release over at Simon Says Stamp, just in time for Valentines making. They've got all styles covered - from cute to graphic.

I got to play with a relatively new product to the SSS line, Sentiment Strips. And that's just what they are. Various sentiments printed white on black that you can cut apart and use however you wish. They'd be great paired with die cut sentiments, but I went in a different direction with my cards.

Today's cards are all about the big love day. First up one for DH. BTW, I was somewhat inspired by the new PP line at Pinkfresh Studio ;)

And then I saw "chocolate" and had to make one for DD too ;) I used the solid strip stamp from Peaceful Christmas to add a few blocks of color to the BG. And voila!

SSS Sentiment Strips Reverse Love

SSS Plank stamp

SSS Large Holiday Shapes die

Altenew inks

Pretty simple. Pretty one layer (with the exception of the larger font sentiment which I adhered with foam adhesive). But fun. And cheeky. Thanks to Cathy Z.

Thanks for looking. Sorry I was late to the party, Simon. Christmas was just too much fun ;)

You can check out all the new products in the Love You More release here and all the lovely makes with the products in the gallery.

I'm popping by:
Time Out - #152

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Something New

STAMPlorations inspiration #249

Welcome to our first Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team in the new year. Hope your holidays were wonderful. And that you're excited to get back to your craft room again.

I'm keeping it real simple for this month's inspiration projects. Colored cardstock + heat embossing. Ready for #1? In honor of Three Kings' Day (which is actually a holiday in some German states)...

STAMPlorations Three Kings stamp

Thought I'd share my thought process on this simple design. I chose the stamp set because of the holiday. Then thinking "kings" and "regal" (and knowing how I enjoyed the black and gold Christmas trend) I chose black cardstock. And, well, what says "regal holiday" better than gold embossing powder, right?

Randomly stamped the stars (thanks for including them in the set, Shirley) up top and swiped a little Versamark along the bottom edge to ground the kings.

You know the routine. 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 in the past, 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 by. Here's to a wonderful new year for all of us. 

CAS cards challenge december reminder

Just in case you're in a pinch for some easy Christmas cards... I've got another easy peasy idea for you inspired by our December CAS Cards challenge. You can find more ideas from the DT. Here's our inspiration.

As always it's anything goes. This month the optional twist is Christmas colors. I went with red.

STAMPlorations Christmas Flower stamp
STAMPlorations Homespun Christmas stamp

white embossing powder
Nuvo drops

Self explanatory me thinks. I just added a few Nuvo drops to the center of the poinsettia for a little more interest. Still mailable ;)

CAS card tip: Stamp off the edge!. Add Nuvo drops to the flower center! Round a corner! All ideas  for more interest on CAS cards.

Enjoying your CAS card creations this Christmas 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. 

I really appreciate it when you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA to get yourself an additional 20% off when you shop the STAMP store ;)  Thanks for stopping by. And have yourself a merry little Christmas...