TP roll hearts galore

Hi there peeps! 

I was very inspired by a card Tiffany S. made recently and it actually moved me to hit my craft room and play.

Just grab some inks or watercolors, some water and a TP roll! First blue like Tiffany's, then neon rainbow.

The Stamp Market heart and hey dies, Tim Holtz words, SSS love phrases and you die,

mirror cardstock, embossing powder, Rico neon watercolors,

Provo Crafts thanks die, washi

That's it. Thanks for looking.   

STAMPlorations - gratitude bundle

Guten Tag. I'm back with some cards I made with another bundle being offered at a super price over at STAMPlorations right now. 

You're probably aware that Shery is going through cancer treatments right now, but she's still finding time to do some work in the shop. You can check out all the bundles on offer here.

In this post I worked with some dies included in the Gratitude Bundle (I love this bundle!) - 1 cover plate, 1 modern trees stand-alone die plus 2 phrase dies all for under $34!!  If you love ephemera, Shery's got a bundle for that too, check out this post.

First I had a play with the phrase dies. I'd picked a color palette of alcohol markers for some Christmas cards (coming soon) so since they were still out I decided to color some strips of paper and play with some stripes.

One on a stenciled BG.

One on PP.

Then I took one of the modern trees, colored more paper scraps with my alcohol markers and die cut the solid pieces from them. Die cut the outline pieces from black, adhered them all plus a sentiment and voila! Super CAS.

STAMPlorations dies

STAMPlorations sentiment

alcohol markers

I'm taking card #2 to Timeout challenge because of the "grateful heart" sentiment, Cut it Up Thanks or Thanksgiving as well as Double D where it's a Grateful theme.

Thanks for coming by.

letting my scraps inspire me

Continuing with my summer programming...

Still on a roll using up scraps , I let the scraps inspire my card design for these cards.

This first one... pretty funny. Those darn raffia strips were another too-fun-to-toss-but-constantly-being-moved-from-left-to-right-and-back. The lantern halves were leftover pieces from a rainbow die cut many moons ago. I was finally inspired to combine the two, just needed a stenciled BG to pull them together.

STAMPlorations stencil

Studio Calico sentiment die

MFT Magical Rainbow die (negative pieces)

More die cut scrap next. Why not put it over some scrap paper from an inking session and then dress it up a little with washi and Nuvo drops?!?

Ellen Hutson Many Thanks die

Nuvo drops, washi

Another piece of scrap paper from an ink smooshing session ended up peeking out of the slats of a cover plate die cut and topped with a stylistic bloom from my scrap bowl.

MFT Dienamics Stripes cover die

Happy weekend! Have you had a go at your scrap pile yet?

rainbows and holographic paper

I was having a play with more scraps, this time tearing them into strips. The scraps were actually the paper I had used when updating my ink swatches by swiping ink onto them (I used to just stamp an image onto the swatch).

I also wanted to give a new-to-me die a trial run. (Guess I've been under a rock cuz I only discovered A Pocket Full of Happiness recently.) Oh my goodness Zsoka has some fun and different designs.

So first I had this tag made out of rainbow strips. Then I die cut a rainbow out of (here I come out from under another rock) holographic paper. Just from my dollar store, but boy is this stuff cool.

That holographic effect! Get outta town. This card has more rainbow-y, fun colorful, shimmery, shiny, blingy happy stuff than I can handle!

Rainbow Background die

STAMPlorations Tags 1 Nesting die

MFT Slanted Sentiment Strips die 

CZ Clean Line Gratitude stamp

scraps, enamel heart, clear embossing powder

Hope you're enjoying this Super Bowl, Valentines weekend. Doubly whammy. Sugar high here we come! Thanks for visiting. I'm visiting the gals over at Happy Little Stampers - February AG with Dies.

STAMPlorations inspiration #335

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

 

I'm going for the heavy-loaded version today. Actually, I just took a look at my massive PP stash. Pulled out some fall-ish paper and let myself be inspired.

Art Flowers 1 stencil

Thanks die

 distress ink, gold embossing powder, fibers

I chose the olive green PP, chose Peeled Paint DI and stenciled some of Sanna's flowers over the PP. I adhered the PP to my cardbase and noticed the "iris bloom" on the strip I cut off. Decided that would look cool popped up on that vine and voila! The half heat embossed stacked die cut is a looker. The fibers behind it... let's just call it a flash of genius. Honestly, I tripped over the bucket I was saving the pieces in. (tee hee hee)

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 #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 #313

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

I have a theme this month - white on white. 

I told you last Tuesday that my card was made with leftovers from my last Spotlight card cuz I couldn't throw the little circles away. Today's card uses up some white papers from my paper scraps. I think it's a fun way to add interest to a white background. And I happen to love wispy threads ;)

 Skinny Sentiments die

That wraps up my month of white on white. Hope you enjoyed it.

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 ;)

 

STAMPlorations release - art marks 3

It's been a little while but there's a new release in town. Over at the STAMPlorations shop. Have you seen it?

Today we have a new set from Shery R. She's added another to her Art Marks line. Art Marks 3.

Where does your eye go first when you see that set? Apparently my eye goes to the leaves first...

I did some two-toned inking with my Misti.

And I couldn't help notice how the two stamps at the top of the set worked so well together. Continued with the same color scheme and gold embossing.

Art Marks 3 stamp

Trendy Spring Blooms stamp

Catherine Pooler Spa inks, vellum, gold embossing powder

What else I saw? I saw Kaa. From Jungle Book. Proving that even with art marks you can create a scene ;)

Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die

Uppercase Alpha Plate die

So, that's a wrap. Have you enjoyed this week's posts? 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 $25 prize code and a stamp set from the release.

If you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA code when you order you'll get an extra 20% off!

Appreciate your visit. Have a great day.

I'm playing over at:

use those scraps

I was cleaning up my paper scraps mess from last week's cardmaking sessions and decided to actually make cards with some of the scraps rather than put the scraps back into my scrap storage. Makes sense, right? How come I never do it?

I took a look at the Distress Ink mop up scraps which were red and realized I needed an anniversary card ... soooo, why not die cut lots of little hearts? This card was born.

Amuse Studio Heart die

Hero Arts All Occasion Messages stamp

Heidi Swap spray ink

The next scrap was from this card way back when. It was pulled out of scrap storage for my pop up box card bouquet making but didn't get used cuz of the blue. So was it to go back to scrap storage? Again? Nope. The negative of the bloom got backed with a portion of it and I even managed to get the sentiment out of skinny little areas of the scrap! That, folks, makes me happy!

Pinkfresh Studio Floral Square Frames die

Penny Black Many Thanks die

The leftover little hearts from the first card had to go somewhere ... four of something isn't the easiest to design with. So I added a sentiment as the fifth element and voila! A birthday card.

Amuse Studio Heart die

Inkystamp Geburtstagsgruesse stamp

I'm joining these challenges:

Use Your Stuff - Out with the Old (YEP! All three cards!)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - AG with option of  "Something New" (card #2)

The Cat's Pajamas - January

 

STAMPlorations inspiration #260

Back with  another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

This month I've been creating cards all inspired by a card I saw last month that just took my breath away - the central design idea being "something framed on an inked background". Today ... I gotta say this card took my breath away.

Trendy Spring Blooms stamp

For the Birds die

Zig clean color real brushes

Distress inks - Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch

So there I was following the same design process, though trying to make it more masculine. I decided to go with the bird die cut and use blues and greens to watercolor them. The first WOW moment came when I spritzed the watercolored birds with perfect pearls mixture. Look at that lovely texture that happened!

So I'd seen Laura B create with her favorite cool DI colors so thought I'd give them a go on my BG. Well HELLO! May I just say there should be more Twisted Citron in the world!

You've heard me say this before, but when I had that BG inked, I just couldn't dry emboss it or splatter it or cover it up too much with a frame and sentiment. Adios this month's design!

So my creative session went from my first card totally CASEing TaeEun's card to this! This is my favorite this month.

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 over at STAMPlorations. And if you're placing an order at 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 ;)

For a different way of using these birds, check out this card.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week.

I'm stopping over at:
Die Cut Divas - Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday - Masculine twist
Bastel Traum - Spring

Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies

Pinspirational - Spring

guest designing at time out #156

Posting today as a guest designer to join the talented ladies over at Time Out for this fortnight's challenge. It's a photo challenge. I always love the photos Sandie picks. Don't you just want to eat these yummy colors?

I just love how that fresh yellow pops off the aqua, especially with those touches of white. (BTW, you can see a larger version of the photo over at Time Out.)

Well, since the challenge is being sponsored by Altenew, I headed to my stash and had a looksee. I also headed to my stash of backgrounds looking for something nice and aqua and amazingly enough I found what I needed!

Altenew Persian Motifs stamp and die

Altenew German Label Love stamp

In the inspiration photo, that painted yellow piece really popped out at me. I knew I wanted to place a yellow die cut "something" on an aqua background. Well I had my background, a piece made by cleaning up some metallic gelato-y messes awhile back. Perusing my Altenew dies, I chose Persian Motifs, cut it from lemon yellow and heat embossed the outline in white on it.

Then in a nod to the pile of books in the photo I inked up my Label Love sentiment with four blocks of color. I tore the edges of the background and adhered it. Stitched my sentiment down and adhered the yellow motif with foam adhesive. A few shiny sequins finished my card. Wish you could see the metallic sheen of the aqua BG, it really makes the card.

I'm looking foward to seeing your entries in the gallery, and how you choose to interpret the photo.

Many thanks to Sandie and the design team for having me. It's such fun to be part of the inspiration post for this month's photo challenge. I'll be back with a second make later...

I'm joining the Anything Goes fun at SSS Wednesday Challenge as well as the Hearts and Flowers Challenge over at Die Cut Divas.

fun with funky fossil quirky owls

Happy Sunday folks! I had some fun yesterday with some new stamps from Funky Fossil Designs (I was a lucky winner 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. They couldn't be more perfectly named.

I also picked up two stencils, 3D Cubes and Retro Starburst. Gave them a try.

First up, Mr Spectacled. Cuz, c'mon, isn't he the greatest? Decided to perch him on a 3D cube.

And Glossy Accent his specs. The sentiment die is STAMPlorations Skinny Sentiments.

So then I grabbed a soon-to-be released STAMPlorations stencil, inked up a cloudy night sky, added some starbursts to it with gold embossing paste and let Mr Bow Tie soar through the night sky.

I cannot get enough of that gold shimmer...

Then I figured I better try to be a bit more girly with the owls and used distress oxides for a background. When I inked through a STAMPlorations Hearts all Over stencil over the inked background, you can barely see the tone-on-tone hearts. Either my BG was too heavily inked. Or maybe it's an oxide thing.

Since the owl and sentiment (5 Love Words) seem to be just floating through that dreamy sky, I opted for a hint of a nest with some black thread. The sentiment continues inside.

Fun, fun, fun. I just noticed Sarah is having a sale at Funky Fossil. 15% off until midnight Feb 17.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm stopping by at:
Creataive Friday - Valentine/Hearts (the hearts are stencilled onto the BG of card #3)
Penny Black and More - Animals, Birds, Butterflies
ATSAM - AG

STAMPlorations inspiration #241 and giving thanks blog hop

Howdy peeps. Welcome to our regularly scheduled Tuesday inspiration post which also happens to be this year's Giving Thanks Blog Hop celebration!  Be sure to check it out because there are tons of prizes to be won.

Today I have a card made with a phrase die that I just love. I truly try to start each day with a grateful heart. Do you?

STAMPlorations Art Flowers 1 stencil

STAMPlorations Grateful Heart die

STAMPlorations Crazy Double Stitch Rectangles die

Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink

Altenew inks

I stenciled some of the flowers onto the kraft panel with white pigment ink. Flipped the panel and stencil and added some more up top. Then I repeated the process, offsetting the stencil a tiny bit and using dye inks and sponge daubers this time.

Added a bit of the central color (purple) to the bottom of the stacked die cut and then some white and pink acrylic paint splatters too.

Hope you'll celebrate thankfulness with us.  To see how you can win some fun prizes and also to see what the other gals have created check out this post.

Hope this works for the Thanks challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania and Thanks at Die Cut Divas.

stamping with real leaves

Have you noticed the stamp-with-real-leaves trend lately? I first saw it here and finally gave it a go today. I was also intrigued by the current challenge at AAA Cards.

Here's what I did.

Leaves

Catherine Pooler Spa inks

Right at Home Be Thankful stamp

Liquid Platinum embossing powder

Isn't this just so cool? It's addicting. I'll be back with more...