STAMPlorations inspiration #324

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

Another colored digi coffee cup today. Let me tell you, these coffee cups are such fun to color!

Bloomdala Coffee Cup to Go digi stamp

Coffee and Mondays stamp

alcohol markers, patterned paper, washi, embossing powder

I colored and fussy cut the image. Heat embossed the fun sentiment (all three in the set fit perfectly on a die cut circle) and then added some PP from my stash and a strip of washi before adding the cup.

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 #323

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

I'm still playing with some Decotime Twinmarkers alcohol markers I picked up at the local "dollar store" and practicing my coloring. I colored another digi image today. I love this one. And since I'm always in need of a belated birthday card...

Bloomdala Coffee Cup to Go digi stamp

Oh Frap die

Stained Glass stencil

alcohol markers, Distress Ink

I colored and fussy cut the image. Die cut and stacked the sentiment. Before adhering the cup to my card I sponged some Antique Linen DI through a stencil onto my cardbase.

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 #235

Back with another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team.

I decided to make a masculine birthday card, this time using a leaf stamp to create a card full of birthday candles!

 STAMPlorations Bloom Doodles stamp

STAMPlorations Make a Wish die

Action Twinmarkers

I chose to keep the coloring of the candles very simple, following the lines of the image. And then I used the same color markers to color my white die cut sentiment. So easy to do (how come I never think to do it?!?)

For other ideas with this stamp set check out this card. I used the sentiment die on 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 I'd love it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off if you're ordering from the store.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'm back from my summer in MI, so vacation programming is over and you may be seeing a bit more of me around here soon ;)

STAMPlorations inspiration #234

Back with another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team.

Still sticking with those yummy fall colors, I decided to make a masculine birthday card...

 STAMPlorations Celebrate Big stamp

STAMPlorations Art Marks stamp
STAMPlorations Manila Tags die

Action Twinmarkers
Glossy Accents
patterned paper/twine

...and use up a teensy bit of PP in the process! Yay me. Gave the chocolate frosting some shine too.

For other ideas with this stamp set 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 I'd love it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off if you're ordering from the store. Thanks so much for stopping by.

I'm hooking up at:

spotlight on stenciled backgrounds for interest

Howdy peeps - I've a tutorial over at STAMPlorations showing you how I created this card.

spotlight on a victorian vibe

Howdy peeps! I'd love you to take a look at my tutorial for this card over at the STAMPlorations blog. I had some more fun with the new Stamp Club set, Bloomful, this time picking up on a Victorian vibe I got from that floral image.

I'm so happy to be taking this one-layer happy card over to:

Addicted to Stamps and More -CAS

The Flower Challenge - AG

STAMPlorations christmas release - day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of the STAMPlorations Christmas release parade.  Today we are showcasing the new dies in this release. You can check out what my teamies created in this post over on the STAMP blog.

Meet the latest in the lineup of cover plate dies, Doodled Christmas Candles. Well, parts of it.
I did some cover plate surgery.

Just kidding! I did some cover plate die cut fussy cutting to get just the candle ;) Colored with alcohol markers.

 STAMPlorations Doodled Christmas Candles

STAMPlorations Three Kings

alcohol markers

gold embossing powder

Then I colored some of the leftovers I'd trimmed from the candle and made this card with them.

 STAMPlorations Doodled Christmas Candles

STAMPlorations Joyful  

alcohol markers
gold embossing powder
gold thread

And then I used the cover plate die as a stencil and spritzed Distress Resist Spray through it onto old book paper. Rinsed the die immediately and it was fine. No sticky residue. When it was dry I applied some distress ink in various colors to the different areas where there was no resist spray. Tore the edges too.

 STAMPlorations Doodled Christmas Candles

STAMPlorations Joyful  

Distress Inks
Distress Resist Spray
gold embossing powder
vellum

Maybe you can see the textured shine to the white areas? I also applied some gold ink to a few of the baubles for some extra sparkle. Better IRL.

Next are cards I made to showcase the new Christmas phrase dies. First Christmas Blessings.

 STAMPlorations Christmas Blessings

STAMPlorations Christmas Icons Nativity
fun foam

Distress Inks

silver Delicata ink

I'll be honest. As CAS as it looks, this was not an easy card to make. I used the nativity die to create a mask. Adhered it and masked a rectangle with painter's tape. Inked an ombre sky and pounced some silver ink onto it too to lend a bit of sparkle.

Then I did the camouflage die cutting technique, saving all the tiny pieces to glue back into the holes after I'd adhered the die cut sentiment to one cut from fun foam. Kinda tedious. But I like the calm and solemn feel of the end result.

So for Making Spirits Bright, I just had to pull out the sleigh and stamp away, singing Jingle Bells the entire time ;) Don't you love those fancy one-horse-open-sleigh runners? They coordinate so well with the font.

 STAMPlorations Making Spirits Bright

STAMPlorations Joyful
vellum

gold embossing powder

Notice the fun detail of the gold embossed snow flakes? And the layer of vellum helps the sentiment stand out from the busy background.

I actually used my MISTI to stamp so I could be sure to get good coverage. And so I could make two at one time! Here's the green version.

Be sure to visit the STAMP blog for lots of inspiration and be sure to leave comments by Oct 5 and you might win a $25 GC to the store!  This release as well as the CHRISTMAS CUTplorations Dies section are 10% off automatically until October 8. Use my STAMPGIRLMARIA code for an extra 20% off ;) Hope you enjoyed today's lineup.

when the challenges align...

Don't you love it when your mojo is on overdrive?

There are so many challenges and cards that have caught my eye since I've headed back into my craft room after summer in MI. So this card happened. Do you know what aligned and inspired me?

 Essentials by Ellen Gordjus die

Spellbinders Barrel of Sentiments die

Hero Arts Life of the Party BG stamp

white embossing powder

Twin alcohol markers

There's a hard-to-photograph BG there too, heat embossed white on white. And an Ellie ;)

1. I saw that Ellen Hutson currently has a sketch challenge. Unusual, but hey, I can do that.

2. I saw this card at the Ellen Hutson blog and fell in love with the color combo.

3. I saw this photo at Just Us Girls #459 and it fits the Fall weather we're having too.

4. I saw the Background challenge at Stamp, Ink,  Paper - which brings me back to #1. How about using a BG stamp to create those three panels in the sketch?!?

And because it's good old AG over at Simon Says Wednesday challenge, I'm headed there too! Thanks for looking. Come back later today when I'll be sharing my takes with Shirley's newest layered stamp set, this time it's poinsettias!

simon says stamp diamond pattern - create a pattern 1

Thanks, Simon, for sending me a Diamond Pattern background stamp from the new release, Friendly Frolic, to play with. My next idea was to see what I could come up with in terms of patterns by moving/rotating the stamp. I must admit the simplicity and large empty spaces of the stamp daunted me a bit.

So I played.

Move the stamp to connect the lines.

Stamp as is, then turn 45 degrees.

Stamp randomly and make confetti.

Picked a pattern and stamped it just to create a barely there BG for some pretty blooms. I used SSS Fog ink. Then I colored the die cut pieces and built the flower. Added the sentiments and fell in love with the result :)

 SSS Diamond Pattern stamp

SSS Tattered Poppy die

SSS Wishing die

SSS Wishing stamp

Action Twinmarkers

white embossing powder

I'm on a mini-vacation before vacation (lucky me) but I'll have a couple more creations for you next week if you stop by again.

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:
SSS Wednesday - AG
Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies

ATSAM - Make your Mark

Always Fun Challenges - #68

testing action twinmarkers again

Yesterday I told you about my discovery of  Twinmarker alcohol markers at a nearby Action store!

I stamped this ginormous but gorgeous stamp (had to have but hadn't used yet - you know that kind?) onto some Neenah CS and pulled out the colors that most spoke to me from my new markers and just colored them in.

Now I'd stamped the image off the edge of the CS scrap. But cheapo me, couldn't bring myself to then throw it away after I'd colored it. So I came up with this design idea. I'm calling it a variation on spotlight stamping.

  Altenew Sketchy Floral stamp

Action Twinmarkers

I wouldn't call these markers the greatest on earth. They have only a broad and a fine tip. There are not many light colors. But they're nice and juicy. And I like the color tones. And, as you can tell, I'm not the greatest colorer, so I'm satisfied. I've decreased my price per marker average ;)

Added a coat of Wink of Stella to all the colored images before fussy cutting them and glueing them to a B/W stamped image creating this one layer card. The inside reads "to call you friend". The sentiments in the stamp set are gorgeous too. Just sayin'.

Come by on Friday. I've used this beautiful stamp again for some real spotlight stamping.

I'm playing at:
Craft Stamper - July Take it Make it AG
Paper Players - #402 (I'm thinking I've accentuated the negative space around my image with the simple stamped image, but I may be wrong)

testing action twinmarkers

So, have you ever set foot in an Action store? This may only apply to Germans. Or Europeans. Consider it a dollar store. Most likely full of goods made in China. Let's not talk about the likelihood of bad chemicals in the plastics... Or product knock-offs...

But, I stepped foot. (Actually called DH to tell him to eat leftovers without me cuz I was gonna be late for lunch due to losing myself in the craft aisle!!) And emerged with a bag of crafting goodness. Cheap. Including some Twinmarker alcohol markers at a dollar for a three pack! Now I was raised to always peruse the sale racks - remind me to tell you the popcorn story sometime. So I couldn't resist giving these markers a try. I know, I shouldn't have. But I did.

This stamp/die combo also fell into my bag BTW, so when I got home I had to give them a test drive.

 Craft Sensations stamp/die

Action Twinmarkers

Distress ink

Added a touch of DI before I arranged my bouquet. Used a little bit of foam tape to give some dimension. The sentiment is from an embossing folder/stamp set. Bought it just for that sentiment!

I'm happy with my new toys. Come back tomorrow for another test drive.

I'm playing at:
SSS Wednesday - Dies/Punches
Craft Stamper - July Take it Make it AG
Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies

ATSAM - AG

Always Fun Challenges - #68