STAMPlorations digital stamps with patterned paper

I'm over on the STAMPlorations blog today with five digital stamp projects. You could win a $15 GC to the store for comments left here and there. Just sayin...

So as I mentioned in my last Digital Wednesday post, I'm a newbie to digital stamps, but there are definitely some benefits to digi stamps - no smudges, perfect coverage without a MISTI, image resizing, even layering images (though I've yet to give that a try).

My technology tools are limited to Microsoft Word and my Canon ink jet printer. I watched this video for a great intro to digi stamps.

For today's projects I used a pad of patterned paper from the dollar store. The pastel colors caught my eye. The paper is thin however, so to print on it I used cellophane tape to attach the 6x6 sheets to a normal sheet of copy paper. This went through my printer without any problem.

TIP: First I print the image onto copy paper and then hold that up to the light with my 6x6 PP in front of it to see where I would like the image to be. (See how I lined up the flower on the floral PP so that one of the red roses was in the center of the bloom?)

Here's a look at the PP pad and some of the images I printed.

Another TIP: I use Photoscape to edit photos. I'm no pro. But since I knew I was only using the bloom from the latte-cup-with-bloom image, I cropped the image to remove the top portion of the to-go cup. This was then what I printed to waste less PP. (As if I don't already have enough PP to last 300 years...)

Let's get to my cards, shall we? First up, I used a cup of blooms image and thought I was going to mix and match cup and blooms - paper piece just the mug from PP onto the image printed on white cardstock and then give the white blooms just a little dab of color. But I liked the look of the image on the watercolored-look PP so much I couldn't cut it apart! So these two cards happened.

For the first, I fussy cut the image printed on Neenah solar white, added dabs of color to the flowers and adhered it on a floral PP.

Cupful of Blooms digi stamp

Just Caffeinate clear stickers

alcohol markers

patterned paper

Then for the second card I added color to the centers of the flowers on the image fussy cut from the pretty watercolored-look PP and added it to a shimmery, linen texture cardbase.

TIP: Look for pencil colors fairly close to your PP colors to keep the contrast minimal. I used a pink, a purple, a blue, a gray and a green cuz they were closest to the tones of the watercolored-look PP.

Cupful of Blooms digi stamp

World Birthday Cakes stamp

Prismacolor colored pencils

patterned paper

embossing powder

For my next card I used an image that covers the front of an A2 card. I printed it once onto white cardstock and once onto PP. When fussy cutting the blooms from the PP to paper piece on the other panel, I carefully cut out the frame too.

TIP: When I fussy cut the flowers touching the frame on the PP panel, I made sure to leave the thick black line around the frame intact. This enabled me to use the frame for a second card. In general when paper piecing, fussy cut on the black line. Since you will be adhering the fussy cut piece to a stamped or printed image, those outlines will show.

I lightly applied some Spun Sugar and Squeezed Lemonade to the Neenah panel before adhering the PP flowers. Then I stamped the sentiment and added some sequins.

Coffee Blossoms digi stamp

Dream the Impossible stamp

Distress inks

PP, sequins

To accompany the fussy cut PP frame, I shrunk one of the other coffee cup images, printed it onto contrasting PP (twice so I could see which size I preferred) and fussy cut just the flowers to use to embellish the second card. (This was when it dawned on me to use Photoscape to crop the image so only the part I need would print and I wouldn't waste PP ;)

Added a sentiment in the form of a clear sticker to the frame. And colored the leaves of the flower spray and added gems too.

Coffee Blossoms digi stamp

Birthday Word Art clear stickers

This last card was such fun. I printed the image (sized to my liking) onto four different patterned papers, felt like I was back in kindergarten as I fussy cut the flowers and then arranged them on my cardbase.

TIP: Use the bits and pieces you trim off around the edges to fill some of the white space on your cardbase. I only had four flowers but it looks like I used seven.

I did not add adhesive to the outer edges of the petals so there's some dimension. I love how the sequins fit perfectly in the flower centers. Adds dimension. And that sentiment die with the drop shadow adds even more dimension.

Holiday Lattes digi stamp

Skinny Sentiments die

sequins

Whew. That was a lot. Don't forget to leave me a comment. And on my Digital Wednesday post here too, for another chance to win.

With card #1 I'm playing over at:
The Flower Challenge - Anything Goes
SSS Wednesday Challenge - Whatever the Weather (card's going to girlfriend who combats stress with coffee)

STAMPlorations digital stamp bloomdala coffee-to-go

I'm over on the STAMPlorations blog today with four digital stamp projects. You could win a $15 GC to the store for comments left here and there. Just sayin...

So. I'm pretty much a newbie to digital stamps. I love getting inky with actual stamps. And I'm a pro at ink smudges. But there are some benefits to digi stamps - no smudges, perfect coverage without a MISTI, image resizing, even layering images (though I've yet to give that a try).

I grabbed me a couple digital stamps from the STAMPlorations digi store (where all digi stamps are 30% off til end of January) and used good old Microsoft Word and my Canon ink jet printer to give them a try. I recommend this post for a great intro to digi stamps. It's where I figured out how to print them using Word.

Today I have printed from Bloomdala Coffee Cup to Go four cups in their original size, colored them using different techniques, fussy cut them and turned them into tags. Ready to learn more?

1.  My first thought was I had to "rainbow" a cup. Cuz... why not?

Since I knew I would use alcohol markers, I printed the cup on Neenah Solar White cardstock. My markers are from Action Deutschland, they're similar to Touch markers. Though I did try to keep within the lines, I noticed no problems with the printed image bleeding.

I added a purple gem to the center to add a spot of bling to the tag.

2.  For my second cup I chose kraft cardstock and colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Here I also used Neenah kraft, it's nice and smooth and the Prismacolor pencils work great on it.

3.  My third cup nearly ended up in the garbage can. I thought I'd be clever and print on colored cardstock and then just apply some quick color with distress inks...

...not so pretty. Here's where my lack of experience with digis comes in. I think somehow there was some "smearing" with the water-based inks

Could be a cardstock issue. I used Hero Arts Arctic. The surface is more grainy.

Could just be the result of using distress inks on colored cardstock. (The photo you see above is after I decided to try to make it work and applied even more ink and some darker colors. I had originally hoped to just put down some pink tones on that bloom that comes in on the left. That really didn't work.)

Could be the ink wasn't completely dry. I've read you should use your heat gun to dry the printed images, or let them dry 24 hours before coloring. Don't know. (All I know is after this I did dry my other printed images with a heat gun!) It was, as I've heard many cardmakers say, a hot mess. Maybe I'll try distress inks again, on a heat-dried image printed on Neenah white to see what happens. (And to think I was just trying to save myself some time using an "easy coloring method"!)

But my perserverance paid off. After adding more ink and darker tones, I masked the lid, applied Versamark and holographic embossing powder and voila!

The image is still there. Tough to capture on camera however!

4.  My last cup is watercolored. I love the result - makes me feel all Debby Hughes-ish for some reason ;)

It's funny, I had no plan for the coloring. Only knew I wanted browns and blues. Pulled out my Altenew watercolors. I started at the left edge and worked my way right, deciding on the colors and color placement as I went along.

BTW, I printed the cup in light gray onto Derwent watercolor paper. In Word, in the Picture Tools "Format" tab, under the "Color" tab there is a "Faded" option. I used this and it printed in a light gray. Thought this would be good for this technique, similar to stamping in a pale color ink before no-line watercoloring. No problem with the image smearing or fading, even with the addition of water.

Don't forget to leave a comment here.  And here too, for another chance to win.

May your coffee be strong and your work week short!

I'm playing over at:

Always Fun - One Layer

ATSAM - Make your Mark

The Flower Challenge - Shaped Cards (this coffee cup could easily be turned into a shaped card)

   

spotlight on a bloomful rainbow

Hi peeps! I had some fun with the new Stamp Club set, Bloomful, and you can check out my tutorial for this card over at the STAMPlorations blog.

I'm so happy to be taking this one-layer happy card over to:
30 Day Coloring Challenge 

AAA Card Challenges - One Layer

Addicted to Stamps and More - Make your Mark (I used colored pencils)

Happy Little Stampers - CAS Challenge - Friends (What better than a flowery rainbow to encourage your BFF to just go for it!)

STAMPlorations hey love hop

Red and pink. Yep, it's almost that time of the year. Valentine's Day is approaching fast and Shery has created a few fun digi images you can download for free over at STAMPlorations. Just for fun, some of us have whipped up some LOVE cards using the digis and other LOVEly products from the store. Check out the hop here and be sure to leave comments for a chance at prizes.

I had some fun with one of the digis. First with colored pencils. And inspired by this milk carton! You know messy watercoloring. Well I'm calling this messy pencil coloring.

STAMPlorations digi stamp

Prismacolor pencils

pearls (WHAT? when was the last time you used pearls???)

 And how's this for a non-coloring coloring option? Color with gilding flakes! I added some glue to various areas of the blooms with a paintbrush and added the flakes when the glue was tacky. TIP: Avoid covering any of the black lines with glue/flakes to not lose definition.

STAMPlorations digi stamp

STAMPlorations City Girl stamp

gilding flakes

To make the bouquet stand out more from the background, I masked it and added some black splatters. I also added a shadow around the entire bouquet with a C1 Copic marker. I love how this digi can easily parade as a stylish birthday card. 

Sorry this close-up looks gray rather than bright white. But you can see all that attention-grabbing shine from the gold gilding flakes...

I'd love to see what you do with the free digi stamps. There's a linky party where you can hook up your creations. There are prizes to be won there too.

All products in the Love/Spring section of the store are 15% off until Valentine's Day. Use my code STAMPGIRLMARIA for an extra 20% off!

Happy Tuesday! I'm heading to:
A2ZScrapbooking - January AG
Just Add Ink - Something New (adding gilding flakes as a coloring medium)

spotlight on bloom doodles

I'm over at the STAMPlorations blog with a spotlight tutorial for this coffee-themed card.

I'm joining the fun at:
Addicted to Stamps - Autumn colors
Die Cut Divas - Autumn/Halloween
CAS Mix Up - October

spotlight on rainbowing bloom doodles

I'm over at the STAMPlorations blog with a spotlight tutorial for this fun card - check it out!

I'm joining the fun at:
Pinspirational - #226 (I think my card captures the bright, colorful, fall feel of the gorgeous photo)

STAMPlorations inspiration #184

Back with one more inspiration post from the inspiration DT using a set from the latest release in July.  Today's card uses the wonderful Big Dreamer .

 STAMPlorations Big Dreamer stamp

Prismacolor colored pencils

washi and PP

You may recognize this design. Consider today's card the little sister to this one. I'd had the stamps on my MISTI so stamped it again, this time heat embossing the sentiment pink. I decided on the strip of floral washi for the bottom edge so colored the flowers accordingly. Decided to add the strip of B/W PP to pick up the black outline of the images.

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.

I'm going over to Stamping Sensations cuz I'm using my favorite current blooms and sentiment stamp.

I'm stopping by at Kathy Rac's Coloring Contest (beginner category).

Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes

spotlight on prismacolors on dark cardstock

I'm over at STAMPlorations today with a tutorial for how I created these Prismacolored jewels on a dark gray card.

I'm playing at:
AAA Cards - Rainbow

Inkspirational - 10 Minutes (stamp straight from acetate sheet, heat emboss, color, done)

simon says stamp diamond pattern - create a pattern 3

Thanks, Simon, for sending me a Diamond Pattern background stamp from the new release, Friendly Frolic, to play with. Continuing my search to see what I could come up with in terms of patterns, I came up with this idea to fill those empty spaces. This time with more stamped images.

SSS Diamond Pattern stamp

Sweet Stamp Shop Sparkle and Shine stamp
MFT border die
WPlus9 hello die
Lifestyle Crafts diamond die

Prismacolor colored pencils

Heat embossed the diamond pattern with sparkly powder. Stamped some solid sequins and embossed them too. Stamped the jewels and embossed with silver powder. Colored the jewels. And since I definitely had a sparkly, jewel thang going on, I die cut a sparkly border and sentiment and popped the sentiment onto a diamond shaped die cut!

Bling, bling!

Hope you've enjoyed my makes with this simple BG stamp. Check out the Simon Says Stamp blog for all the products in this release and tons of inspiration too. Thanks for visiting.

I'm playing at:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - AG
Just Add Ink - Twist (I've combined a BG stamp and small stamps to create my original background)