STAMPlorations retro femme beauties

I love CAS, but sometimes I love overload. And I certainly love these retro chicas from Retro Femme ATC pack. Aren't these girls just beautiful?

Retro Femme ATC

Patches stencil

Feeling very Rosie the Riveter, I went red/white and blue. With a touch of yellow. Embossing paste on the cardfront, mat for her and a little swatch of red/white gingham ribbon. Ta da!

If you ever decide to pick up a pack of these beautiful gals, please use my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off, ok? Have a good one.

STAMPlorations simple expressions - inspire

Perhaps you saw my post using the Simple Expressions - Inspire stamp with some paper goods from the STAMP shop? Easy peasy.

Simple Expression stamp + card front = handmade card!

For today's cards I used the same stamp but paired it with other supplies from my stash too. For this first card I die cut those cool trees from one of the card fronts, stamped the sentiment (outline and solid) then added the little die cut birdie up top and washi along the bottom. I just love this kind of CAS.

Simple Expressions - inspire stamp

Artsy Abstract card front

Gratitude Tree die

Tweet Love die

My next project is actually to use in my Stop the Blur memory planner. I created a little orange folder to house photos/journaling. I stenciled a face onto a pocket backdrop then added the stamp and a few tidbits to grunge it up a bit.

Simple Expressions - inspire stamp

Old Letters pocket backdrop

Profile 3 stencil

Art Edges die

There are so many cool stamps to choose from in the Simple Expressions series. Have you checked them out? Maybe one speaks to you. I like "happiness is an inside job". And "find your peace". If you choose to shop the STAMP shop, please use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off your order. And right now you can get a paper goods item for 40% off to pair with your Simple Expressions stamp! Happy crafting!

more of STAMPlorations perfect pairs

If you'd like to take the guesswork out of cardmaking, there's a new product over at STAMPlorations just for you. It has the perfect name - Perfect Pairs - and it makes creating a card super simple. Shery has paired a sentiment and small background stamp with some beautiful ephemera cuts and all you have to do is add them to a card.

My first couple cards made using only the Blooms and Sunshine pairing, you can see here.

Today's cards combine that same pairing with other STAMPlorations products from my stash. First up is this card to cheer someone up. Wanna know how my brain works? Sending you "sunshine" hmmmm... sunshine...rain...cloud...sun rays...and even though I was originally going very CAS with this I then thought why not add a gorgeous yellow flower and wispy frame too? I actually really love this card.

Blooms and Sunshine Perfect Pair

Almost Shattered stencil

Make Marks stencil

cloud die

Did somebody say coffee? Actually I think it might be tea on the piece of ephemera. (I realized that as I decided to match my splatters to the color of the beverage in the cup. Oh well, maybe one day there will be tea beans...)

A thank you card. For a coffee or tea drinker.

Blooms and Sunshine Perfect Pair

Dots and Beans stencil

Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die

And then because I alway seem to be needing tags, I popped two of the ephemera pieces onto tags. One background I stamped with the sentiment stamp. The other with the splatter stamp.

Blooms and Sunshine Perfect Pair

Stitched Tag die

There are so many beautiful pieces of ephemera included in this Perfect Pair collection. Peruse the other fun collections here. I'm loving the holiday themed ones. Don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should you be ready to do some shopping ;) BTW... all dies in the store are 15% off during August!

 

STAMPlorations 13th birthday - day 5

Welcome back for the last day of STAMPlorations 13th Birthday Celebration! Don`t forget to visit the STAMPlorations blog to see all of today's gorgeous team projects AND to leave a comment letting us know which of the new products we`ve been featuring this week - Sanna`s Stencils, Focal Fronts, Colorables, Pocket Backdrops, Clear Stickers, Ephemera Cutouts - is your absolute favorite. You might just win it!

Today`s projects feature the Ephemera Cutouts again.  There are so many pretty images to choose from. You can check out all the designs in the store.

I created a couple more all occasion tags to have on hand for little gifts. I fussy cut the Ephemera Cutouts images, die cut tags from complementary cardstock and then added a strip of washi and a mini tag with a Clear Sticker sentiment.

also used Tags #1 die and Bloomfully Thankful stamp 

For the next note cards, I stenciled "hello" on the cardbase, attached a layer of vellum over it and then adhered an Ephemera Cutouts image on the vellum. Easy peasy.

also used Hello and co stencil

That was quite a birthday celebration! Please head over to the STAMP blog to leave a comment for your chance to win. And it`s your last chance for FREE US SHIPPING on all orders $25 or more! Thanks for celebrating with us. I`d love to know if you`ve been inspired to pick up any of these new products and what you plan to do with them. You can use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for 20% off if you`re placing an order.

STAMPlorations 13th birthday - day 3

Welcome back to the STAMPlorations 13th Birthday Celebration! Don`t forget to visit the STAMPlorations blog to see all of today's gorgeous team projects AND to leave a comment letting us know which of the new featured products is your absolute favorite. You might just win it!  

Get ready for lots of eye candy. My projects introduce the new Focal Fronts. Boy do they make it easy to create cards. Already cut and colored, all you have to do is create a background. You can check out all the designs in the store.

I fell in love with the color palette on this first iced coffee so created a quick stenciled BG, stamped a sentiment on a little tab and voila!

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also used Just Squares mini stencil and Coffee Happy stamp 

Next I tore some strips of B/W PP to cover my card front and then chose a Focal Front that matched nicely. A stamped sentiment and voila!

also used Bloomfully Thankful stamp

For my next two projects (tags to have on hand for birthday or hostess gift bags) I chose a  Focal Front, die cut a complementary colored tag, added a strip of PP along the bottom and an oval sentiment up top. Ready to go.

also used Fluttery stamp

There´s soooo much going on with this birthday celebration. Please head over to the STAMP blog to leave a comment for your chance to win. And FREE US SHIPPING on all orders $25 or more - wowzers, what a deal! I`d love to know if you`ve been inspired to pick up any of these new products and what you plan to do with them. Remember to use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for 20% off if you`re placing an order.

Thanks for celebrating with us. CU tomorrow with more.

 

STAMPlorations 13th birthday - day 2

Welcome back to the STAMPlorations 13th Birthday Celebration! Don`t forget to visit the STAMPlorations blog to see all of today's gorgeous team projects AND to leave a comment letting us know which of the new featured products is your absolute favorite. You might just win it!  

More sweets on the agenda for day 2 of the celebrations. I had some fun with the Big Cupcakes and Big Birthday Cake Colorables. Colorables are printed onto heavy cardstock and already cut out for you. You just add the color. They held up great to loads of water for my projects. You can check out all the designs in the pack in the store.

I pulled out some water-based markers and scribbling them onto an acrylic block watercolored with yellow, pink and blue tones. Don`t you love how when they mix you also get some orange, green and purple tones?

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also used Hello and co and Make Marks 5 stencils

For the birthday cake I created a stenciled background and then stamped a frame for the cake using these great sentiment stamps.

also used Bubble Dance stencil

and Sweet Cravings stamp

There´s soooo much going on with this birthday celebration. Please head over to the STAMP blog to leave a comment for your chance to win. And FREE US SHIPPING on all orders $25 or more - wowzers, what a deal! I`d love to know if you`ve been inspired to pick up any of these new products and what you plan to do with them. You can use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for 20% off if you`re placing an order. Thanks for celebrating with us. CU tomorrow with more.

STAMPlorations 13th birthday - day 1

Welcome to the STAMPlorations 13th Birthday Celebration! Be sure to visit the STAMPlorations blog to see all of today's gorgeous team projects AND to leave a comment letting us know which of the new featured products is your absolute favorite. You might just win it!

What better way to start a birthday celebration than with a fun birthday card? How about a Comic Pop Pocket Backdrop paired with a Big Birthday Cake Colorable (now that´s a mouthful!) Both can be found in the store here. And although that birthday cake certainly can be colored, I chose to keep it B/W since that backdrop had all the colors going on.

also used XOXO die

Next up I had some stenciling fun with Sanna`s new Profile 1 stencil. I first stenciled the profile in yellow. Then I used the leftover yellow ink on my dauber to tone down the stark white in the positive space. I laid the next stencil over the girl and stenciled the sentiment in orange. The last step was to ink the little squares (over the girl stencil) with pink. And it`s still a one layer card!

also used Hello and co and Just Squares mini stencils

There´s soooo much going on with this birthday celebration. Please head over to the STAMP blog to leave a comment for your chance to win. And FREE US SHIPPING on all orders $25 or more - wowzers, what a deal! Thanks for celebrating with us. CU tomorrow with more.

STAMPlorations new release - layered poppies

Hi again peeps! Back today with another beautiful set from the new release from Shirley B. over at the STAMPlorations shop. Today we're introducing Layered Poppies.

First I used my Altenew red inks to stamp the two layers of each of the three blooms onto sky blue PP. Then I stamped the outlines in black.

Layered Poppies stamp

Bloomdala Bliss stamp

Bloomdala Bliss: Felicity die

 inks, green embossing powder

To complete my design I did some tone-on-tone inking through a Felicity scrap paper die cut (using it like a stencil) to represent three clouds up top. Then I drew stems with a Versamark marker and added some texture by heat embossing them.

For my next card I went with more white space, and my fave, random stamping.  Hope you'll forgive me that I didn't use the set as a "layered" stamp here, but I have to tell you, when I first received the set the first thing that I saw was a butterfly. Do you see it too?

Layered Poppies stamp

Layered Watermelon stamp

 embossing powder

I considered adding pattern or at least antenna to the butterflies but then decided that the entire design was so abstract I'd leave it as is. The pops of color and texture make sure your eyes go to the images and I'm pretty sure your eye (brain?) sees a butterfly.

Don't you love Shirley's artistic designs? I just love her sketchy outlines, regardless the theme!

That's it from me today. Check out all the DT's creations over at the STAMP blog. Leave comments all around and you might be the lucky winner of one of Shirley's new stamp sets (to be announced on 6/29 on the STAMP blog.)

Thanks for coming by.  CU soon for the STAMPlorations 13th Birthday celebrations!

STAMPlorations anything goes challenge february

Well hello again STAMP friends! It's time for another monthly Anything Goes challenge - the 6th of every month over at the STAMPlorations blog. Did you join the fun in January? Here's my card for February.

I actually used some Christmas product for this card. I saw the die cut with the bloom and just felt like rainbow-ing it. 

Just Caffeinate clear stickers

Just Squares stencil

alcohol markers, embossing paste, Nuvo drops

Colored an image and added Nuvo drops to the berries, added some transparent paste through a stencil to the cardbase, added a sticker sentiment and voila!

CAS card tip: Think a black background is too dark? Try using a stencil to add paste or black ink to add interest to your black for your CAS design.

I'm looking forward to your seeing your card creations this month! There will be prizes ;) Please be sure to check out all the challenge rules here.

And don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should I ever inspire you to do some shopping ;)  See you over at the gallery. 

 

STAMPlorations new release - card fronts

Welcome peeps! Perhaps you've been watching? There's a new release in town. Over at the STAMPlorations shop. There are 14 new sets of card fronts to make your cardmaking easier. There are even now several paper goods subscriptions available, including card fronts - a new pack every month. Sound enticing? Or pick up 4 packs of card fronts for the price of 3 in a special deal Shery is offering right now!

May I introduce Touch of Spring? 

I've used each of the card fronts (there are 2 of each design in a pack) - one even yielded a twofer.

First off I die cut a heart from it, heat embossed a few grunge marks in black onto it, took a black marker to the edges and then backed the heart negative with a PP scrap heat embossed with the word "love".  A bow finished off this valentine.

Mixed Media Elements stamp

Trendy Butterflies stamp

satin ribbon, heart die, embossing powder

I used a cover plate to die cut the next card front and get a twofer. In order to make placement of the strips easier I kept the pieces together, flipped it over and applied glue to the strips only. Flipped it back over and adhered only the strips to a card, carefully pulling the non-glued die cut up and off. Then I adhered the die cut strips with frame to a second card.

The strips with frame card first got some messy stamping on it to peek out from behind and then a vellum butterfly and die cut leaf to house my sentiment.

Flutter Zen 1 die

Trendy Leaves 2 die

Thank You Coffee stamp

Mixed Media Elements stamp

vellum, embossing powder

The twofer was this card using the strips. I added a giant sentiment and strip of washi along the bottom as well as lots of translucent Nuvo drops.

Happy Everything die

Nuvo drops, washi

For this next card I first applied pearl embossing paste through a stencil to the card front. Then I die cut a large heart from it and adhered a heat embossed sentiment on vellum to it. Both hearts were adhered to a card I inked using the same stencil. Pink overload? Blame it on those pink tulips ;)

Faerie Door stamp

These card fronts make it so easy. This one was so beautiful I just added a die cut butterfly and sentiment strip.

Flutter Zen 1 die

white embossing powder

That's it for today but I'd also like to mention there are a couple paper goods subscriptions being offered at the STAMPlorations store. Paper goods, card fronts and ATCs. Be sure to check out all the DT's creations with these new card fronts over at the STAMP blog. And should I ever inspire you to purchase some STAMPlorations products for your creations, please remember to use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for 20% off.

  

more milestone cards

Seems like some of the only cards I actually sit down and create lately are for lovely ladies turning 70, 80 and 90.

 STAMPlorations Gift Builder 1 die

STAMPlorations Celebrate die

STAMPlorations Peony number 2 stencil

MFT numbers die

Papertrey hello die

Thanks for stopping by today.

STAMPlorations - christmas bundle (2)

Guten Tag. I'm back with more Christmas cards I made with another bundle being offered at a super price over at STAMPlorations right now. Check out all the bundles on offer here. Shery's put them together and is offering them at a great price.

In this post I worked with a cover plate included in the Christmas Bundle - 2 cover plates and 8 phrase dies for $65 and got a threefer out of my crafting session!

So first I die cut the cover plate from black CS, added it to a black card and filled in a few colored pieces. These were from a cover die cut from Neenah white and colored with alcohol markers.

Then I took the white piece (the positive) and used it as a stencil to make this card. I first traced the main images with my alcohol markers again and colored them in, then pounced Antique Linen oxide through the other areas.

So after I'd pounced the oxide through the "stencil" for the previous card I decided I kinda liked the look of it so I took my markers to the main images again to add the pops of color, then softened them a bit with some oxide left on my dauber and voila! Card number three.

STAMPlorations dies

Little B dies

Flora and Fauna sentiment

alcohol markers, embossing powders, gold thread

I'm taking card #1 to Happy Little Stampers November Christmas AG challenge as well as Die Cut Divas November AG challenge.

Appreciate you stopping by. Have a great day.