forgotten but not gone (3)

 A few more cards that seem to have been forgotten in my photo file...

Today I'm sharing two techniques you might want to revisit. The first is one of my faves learned from the oh-so-talented Yana S. - random stamping. And while you're at it, make a whole sheet and turn it into four cards. I shared a spotlight tutorial on this over at STAMPlorations if you're interested.

First stamp all over keeping in mind where the four card panels will be.

Cut and adhere your panels.

Add sentiments and you've got a set.

Hero Arts Bird and Branch stamp

floral stamps

Stempelkueche sentiment stamp

Speaking of sets. Here's one made with a solid stamp image using selective inking and spritzing to achieve a truly watercolored look.

Altenew Watercolor Wonders stamp

Altenew Super Script sentiment stamp

Distress Inks

Happy weekend!  

STAMPlorations inspiration #344

Welcome to today's inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

Lately I'm making Christmas cards with ephemera pieces. There are lots of ephemera options in the STAMP store.

Meet today's card. 

Christmas Ephemera 1

Festive stamp

Merry Go Round stencil

 embossing paste, glitter, washi

This card was not necessarily quick and easy, but I love the design elements. That VW bus is just the cutest darn thing. Picking up on the light green color I randomly stamped my background. Picking up on the hood ornament I chose my stencil. Masked off all but two of the "candies" and applied embossing paste, sprinkling glitter on them while they were still wet. A little strip of washi along the bottom upped the fun factor don't ya think?

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.  Have a great day!       

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.   

STAMPlorations introducing spring coffee kit

There's a new product in town. Over at the STAMPlorations shop. Have you seen it? Shery is putting together kits at a great price point.

Today a few of my teamies and I are sharing our makes with the new Spring Coffee Kit. Ready?

The kit contains an image stamp, sentiment stamps and stencils (2 patterns each in large and mini). All you have to decide is...

Do you want to color? Then go for it. Color and fussy cut the image and pop it up on a background created by randomly stamping one of the sentiments.

Spring Coffee Kit

alcohol markers, washi tape

In case you're interested, I watched this video before coloring my coffee (yes I was intimidated by that big expanse of brown!) Easy peasy.

If you're not into coloring, use the mini stencil and a circle mask to "color" the coffee. I added some blue touches with alcohol markers but you wouldn't even have to. I heat embossed one of the kit sentiments in blue but didn't like it so I then stamped over it in black and clear embossed it.

Spring Coffee Kit

circle die, Distress Inks, alcohol markers, embossing powder

And then there's this method for getting color onto a B/W stamped image. Check out this post for the deets. Basically it involves stamping, applying embossing paste and then sponging ink.

Spring Coffee Kit

Just Caffeinate clear stickers

clear embossing paste, Distress Inks, enamel dots

So, that's a wrap. Are you a fan of kits? Be sure to check out all the DT's creations over at the STAMP blog. And be sure to leave a comment, Shery's giving away a kit.

Please remember to use my STAMPGIRLMARIA code if I inspire you to place an order. You'll get an extra 20% off!

Appreciate your visit. Have a great day. I'm hooking up card #1 over at SSS Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

STAMPlorations release - softly

There's a new release in town. Over at the STAMPlorations shop. Have you seen it?

We're inspiring you today and tomorrow with two new sets from Shery R. If you love floral arrangements you're gonna love Softly and Sweetly. Meet Softly.

Love how this arrangement is long rather than round. Lots of possibilities. Ready for card #1?

Softly stamp

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
washi

Pretty straightforward actually. Some random stamping of a wonderful sentiment "think happy" on my cardbase. A fussy cut watercolored flower arrangement and a strip of washi ;)

I did no-line watercoloring with my Zigs for the flowers. Let myself be inspired by the stamp set name for my color choices - soft. TIP: Bristol Smooth is a dream to work on with Zigs directly to paper. Add some pigment then take a waterbrush to it.

Then, of course, I had to think outside the box. If I've got a bunch of flowers and I've got a newly released flower vase and leaves, why not combine them? More Zig coloring (bold and bright this time) and this happened.

Softly stamp

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

Have you enjoyed today's post? Be sure to check out all the DT's creations over at the STAMP blog. And leave comments all around, 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. I'm stopping by at Stamping Sensations where this month's theme is Feminine. And The Flower Challenge where the theme is Add Leaves.

And Happy Little Stampers Watercolor where it's AG plus bling (does glitter tape count?)

STAMPlorations inspiration #208

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 Dee's Artsy Impressions stamps. Dee'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 cards incorporating PP I found during my craft room organization!

 STAMPlorations Frames and Flowers stamp

Altenew inks
Studio Calico Snippets PP

sequins

This was so easy. I was in the mood for random stamping. I chose the solid rose stamps from the set and randomly stamped the blooms and leaves. I used a snippet from the PP pad for my sentiment and added a die cut circle behind it to complete the half circle on the snippet. Added some sequins and voila!

I used this stamp set here too if you're in the mood for more inspiration. 

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the March inspiration posts. Check out today's post for more inspiration here. Appreciate that you stopped by :)

I'm stopping by at:
Creative with Stamps - Friends
The Flower Challenge - AG #30
Shopping our Stash - Friendship

spotlight on combining stamp sets

Do what makes your heart happy! I did. Random stamping and messy watercoloring!

I've chosen stamp sets with similar designs and styles for this card. Learn more about it over at STAMPlorations in my spotlight tutorial.

STAMPlorations inspiration #188

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers.

Today we're using The Bee's Knees stamps.  From October 2-8 all of Shirley's stamps are 10% off - no coupon needed.

This month, I 'm creating easy peasy one-layer Christmas cards inspired by images I've pinned recently. This was my inspiration for today's card. And my card.

STAMPlorations Layered Poinsettias stamp

Altenew inks
gold embossing powder

Pretty straightforward, although certainly not very traditional. A touch of gold heat embossing and some random stamping with the outline images from Shirley's new set.

See more of my cards using this new layered set here.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the October inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. And I'd love it if to get an extra 20% off your next order, you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA.

I'm hooking up at:
Addicted to Stamps - Christmas comes Early
Stempelkueche - Christmas in Sept

Have a great day :)

STAMPlorations inspiration #180

It's summer break time over at STAMPlorations through September, but we're popping in today with an inspiration post from the inspiration DT .

This month I'm creating with the Stamp Club set Succulently. I was inspired during the Daily Marker 30 Day challenge to color. Meet today's creation.

 STAMPlorations Succulently stamp and die
Twisted Citron Distress Oxide

Zing pink embossing powder

Polychromos

Did you see my card last week - randomly stamped. Well today's is nearly the same design but withe the images stamped in green, the light touches of green and yellow on the leaves and the pink sentiment, the feel is totally different. This definitely has a femine twist to it, don't you think?

Just a reminder to make multiple cards when you're creating. Even if you switch out the colors, it's an economy of scale thing. Saves brain time and reduces your average time spent on a card ;)

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.

STAMPlorations inspiration #179

It's summer break time over at STAMPlorations through September, but we're popping in today with another inspiration post from the inspiration DT .

This month I'm creating with the Stamp Club set Succulently. Meet today's creation.

 STAMPlorations Succulently stamp and die

white embossing powder

Copics

You know I love to random stamp. So I did. Gave the succulents a touch of color with some simple Copic coloring and then added the heat embossed sentiment on that die cut. Crisp. Clean. Maybe even masculine, right?

Come back next Tuesday for a very similar design with a completely different feel to it.

A question for you... See those purple blobs on the leaves in the lower right corner? As I was adding the bits of purple, those blobs of ink dropped out of my Copic sketch marker! What up with that, anyone know?

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 joining these challenges:
SSS Wednesday - Use a Die or Punch
Sunday Stamps - #183

doubly inspired to create

Quick post. So yesterday I saw Joan B's boutique-y card. At least that's how I refer to perfectly designed cards CAS I myself would gravitate to in an upperscale paper goods store. And I thought "Studio Calico! Those are the stamps I always buy when they're on sale but then forget to use."

Then I saw Shery R's precious little one in the cutest sleeper and I literally ran to my craft room to see which SC animal stamp set I could randomly stamp (cuz I love to do that ;) in pastel colors. This happened.

Studio Calico Party Animals stamp

Studio Calico sentiment stamp

Altenew inks

Stamped the sentiment. Used my MISTI so I could stamp each of the animals with two shots of ink. Then I added a little heart from the set with two more layers of the same ink (used a darker yellow actually for the heart). That's all folks!

I'm taking this card to:

Color Throwdown - #478 (though my pink's not hot!)

 Less is More - Cute

Simon Says Stamp Wednedsday - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations inspiration #160

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers.

Today we're using Shery's Shery Russ Designs stamps. Her stamps are 15% off this week  - with an extra 20% off when you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA !!!

Here's the last of my "Urban Tribe"inspiration post projects using this image from my Pinterest inspiration board. That bold necklace in the lower left corner caught my eye.

image source

Stamped a sentiment from one of my most used sets Party Time as a background. To capture the essence of the necklace I trimmed strips of scrap CS, adhered them to scrap paper and die cut Congrats. In order for it to stand out from the busy BG, I adhered it to a strip of black CS cut slightly thinner than the die cut itself.

Wanna see more with the sentiments ... check out this cool card here.
Here is another card using the Congrats.

Remember, you could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the January inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. So happy you stopped by :)

I'm stopping in at:
Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies
Daring Cardmakers - B/W with a Pop
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Add a sentiment
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - week 317 (this card is all about snippets!)

are you a fan of organic circles?

Well I certainly am. I love me some good polka dots, but get those circles a bit imperfect and a whole nother world opens up. IMO.

Take these snowmen stamps, for example. The newest in a lineup of layering stamps from The Bees Knees over at STAMPlorations. I have been having so much fun - and not of the snowman sort - with the circle shapes.

Meet card #1.

Somewhere, sometime I saw a B/W poster of Twiggy with rainbow polka dots in the BG. So I chose some Adirondack "natural" ink colors and stamped the dots after I'd stamped the sentiment and image from One Cool Chick.

Taking #1 to:
Rubber Dance - November (got a chick instead of a bird here ;)

Sparkles Forum - Autumn Colors

Decided the cool chick was going to go to a 14-year-old. Then I decided to make a card for her younger brother.

Meet card #2.

Now I must admit I had no plan when making this one. I stamped the outlines, deciding to do the top two rows in the opposite direction of the bottom two to stir things up a bit. Well, when I was done I felt eight pairs of eyes looking at me!

So then I decided to be tricky with my sentiment. It's layered. Get my drift? Do you know what I made the card say? Try reading from the bottom to the top (layer, that is!)

Used the You word and Essentials by Ellen Folk Hearts dies too.

Taking this card over to:
613 Avenue Create - Anything goes with optional masculine twist
The Color Sisters - #48

STAMPlorations january release - day 3

It's Day 3 with the STAMPlorations Inspiration DT. Ready for more new stamps and dies in action? Pull up a seat. You can check out the whole blog hop lineup in this post.

Until February 10, all 4 stamps and 3 plate dies from the January release are 5% off automatically. (Plus you can use the 20% discount code in my sidebar ;)

The star of today's post is Dee's Just Because.

I saw a card of Nicole H.'s that I really liked so made my own variation of it with Deepti's new set. Doesn't that little bend in the one leaf really lends itself to "wafting"?

The sentiment (great for all occasion cards) is heat embossed onto a strip of navy CS and then wrapped at the right end with a layer of red and yellow crepe paper! Why? Why not?

You can check out what the rest of the DT made here. And there are prizes up for grabs for comments on our blogs, and the STAMP facebook and Instagram pages!