STAMPlorations january release - day 2

 

It's Day 2 with the STAMPlorations Inspiration DT. Ready to see 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. (And don't forget my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for an additional 20% off ;)

The star of today's post is Shirley's Fowl Play. Onc can never have too many birds, right?

So for today's card, I'm CASEing myself again.

And dating myself. I couldn't help myself when I saw the "poultry in motion" sentiment (I'm sure Shirley was singing it too) Remember this tune from the 80s? You're welcome.

Thought those chickies looked like they were on a mission, and trying to get there fast, so I copied my layout of the shoes card. This time I white heat embossed them onto blue CS. Added a red heat embossed sentiment which wasn't visible enough on the dark CS, so I heat embossed it onto a vellum strip cut with one of the Art Edges dies that reminds me of a film strip - like "motion" pictures. Get it?

Don't mind that that bottom chickie has some ruffled feathers. I dragged my hand through the no-yet-heat-embossed powder while stamping the other birds and had to do a touchup with a Verasmark pen. Oops.

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! You have til Feb 7th to comment. Winners will be announced in the winners post on the 10th.

STAMPlorations january release - day 1

 

It's hop time with the STAMPlorations Inspiration DT. Ready to see the new stamps and dies in action? Pull up a seat. You can check out the whole blog hop lineup in this post, BTW. Until February 10, all 4 stamps and 3 plate dies from the January release are 5% off automatically. (Don't forget the discount code in my sidebar ;)

The star of today's post is Shery's Noteworthy 2. (So excited to see some of the sentiments I'd suggested show up in this set!)

I CASEd myself for today's card. Maybe you remember this one.

When looking for a way to showcase a sentiment from Noteworthy 2, I thought about creating a BG with it. Or part of a background. Since I'd decided to try to work with red, orange, yellow and blues for this hop, I even kept the yellow and red color scheme the same.

After stamping the BG, I adhered a panel of PP and two alphabet plate (coming later this week) leftovers before adhering my circle die cut which I'd stamped with seven chicks and one "exception" from Fowl Play (coming tomorrow).

U be the judge. Does it get my "U be the Exception" message across? I don't know why but the whole things gives me some kind of galactic vibe...

Check out the rest of the inspiration from the DT here and see how and where you can comment to win some great prizes too!

spotlight on designing for color challenges

Up on the blog at STAMPlorations with a spotlight post about designing a card for a color challenge. Here is the challenge that inspired me.

And my card.

I'm joining The Heart Desires challenge #8. And Happy Little Stampers January Watercolor challenge. Hope you'll check out my tutorial at STAMPlorations.

STAMPlorations inspiration #116

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where all the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers. And there are sales ;)

Today we're using Shery's Shery Russ Designs stamps. From now until Jan 30 you can get any of Shery's line of stamps at 10% off in the STAMPlorations store! Don't forget, with my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA you can earn 20% savings on top!

So I recently got my hands on the sweetest little set, Coffee Petites, which even comes with that little stitched circle die. Had to ink it up for a dose of sweetness today.

Can you say "Plusterpen"? Cuz that's what I used to ice three of those white donuts and my coffee crema! The others got a bit of Copic coloring. The sentiment is a tiny little one from Birds of Paradise, BTW.

So from now until next Tuesday, Shery's stamp line is 10% off, Oh So Grateful is even 20% off. With the STAMPGIRLMARIA discount on top, now would be a good time to pick up any of Shery's great stamps on your wish list. Just sayin'.

And don't forget to leave comments on the DT's inspiration posts. One random commenter will be chosen each month to win a $10 GC to the store. Here's the lineup.

I'm lining up with lots of others over at Craft Stamper Take it Make it where it's Anything Goes with stamping.

trying zigs again with flower garden

Hi. Happy Saturday! I'm back again for more "slow-blogging" ;) Could almost make you think Spring had arrived in my front yard, eh?

If you saw yesterday's post, you saw my latest attempt at watercoloring florals with Zig clean color brush pens. I was way too heavy-handed and not happy with the result. I figured it was time to try, try again. So I googled. And came across this video gem from Kristina W. Oh to know where to put which colors to get such amazing results, which I admit may not be realistic, but oh so pleasing to my eye.

I happen to have NBUS Tim Holtz Flower Garden stamps too, so after I heat embossed some blooms onto watercolor paper I basically colored along with Kristina! So nice of her not to mind when I kept making her back up and color that middle flower just ONE MORE TIME ;)

Here's my finished card.

The center flower is exactly like Kristina's, colored with Yellow and Light Carmine. This is a great image to practice on cuz 1) the petals are large and 2) you can totally copy Kristina's method. On the left peony I used only Pink, using a second layer of it in some areas. On the right one I used Pink, Purple and a few touches of Wine Red. I actually used Light Blue and Pale Green on the stems.

To hint at a sky I inked up sentiments from STAMPlorations Vignette: Artful Flutters (top half with Tumbled Glass, bottom with Broken China) and stamped them over the flower which I masked. Added a hint of edgy Scrapbook Werkstatt So ist das Leben PP to tie in with the blue tone.

What I learned about watercoloring with Zigs? Don't start with a tiny image to practice this technique. Don't work on the entire flower at one time; only on smaller areas. Use a light hand - multiple light layers is the key. Let layers dry. Use a rag to dab up wet color if you feel you've been too heavy handed.

I did even more playing with my Zigs after this project, making a whole set of cards. You'll be seeing them soon. Just keep watching!

I'm going over to the playhouse to play with Darnell's NBUS #8. She's got lots to celebrate and is actually challenging us to give colored pencils on kraft a try, but I'm translating that to watercolors on watercolor paper ;)

Oh, and one more question for you. Don't worry, it's an easy one today ;) Anyone ever had a Pentel Aquash waterbrush that leaks where the tank screws into the barrel? I get a blob of water on the outside of the brush when I squeeze the tank. The blob eventually drips onto my project. Not good. (I had had to take mine apart to unclog it - which worked - but after putting it back together I ran into this problem.) I did my watercoloring of these flowers with a number 4 brush and water!

Enjoy your weekend.

slow-blogging or fast-blogging?

I've a card for you today, cuz that's what I do, but before I get to it I've got something on my mind.

If you're reading this post, chances are you're a blogger too. And chances are you've asked yourself this question. Are blog readers becoming extinct?

If you're a blogger AND a blog reader, you'll definitely want to read this post I stumbled across. It's why we read blogs. For the good stuff like this post "The Death of Blog Comments".

I'm pretty new at it but loving Instagram - all those pretty pics - but I'm not contemplating giving up the blog. Yet. Though I've seen some are doing that, going strictly IG. Fast-blogging. Cuz slow-blogging does take more time.

But I enjoy binging on your blog posts. And I assume you like reading mine.

Therein lies the potential problem. One should never "assume" anything, remember. Do you actually read my posts? We'll see ;) So a request for my readers today. All seven of you.

Why do you come here? What do you like about my blog? What don't you like/need?

Do you come here only for the photos? Would you like more? Do you actually read my paragraphs about what the steps were and supplies I used? Are step by steps necessary or just tips about the tricky stuff? Do you like the personal stuff? Since you're the ones reading my blog, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

So did anyone come here looking for a card?!? First some (more) words. See, this is why I slow-blog, so I can blab to you about my cardmaking process ;) The onslaught of beautifully colored flowers in cardmakingland lately finally moved me to get out some flower stamps and some markers. Zig clean color brush pens to be exact. And face my demons. Cuz I can't color like the pros. And the demons won. Meet my card.

 I was inspired by the sketch at Seven Hills Crafts and the colors at House of Cards.

Used Wplus9 Beautiful Bouquet Ranunculus and Hello die, which are wonderful. As is the sparkly embossing powder. My watercoloring, not.

But. I'm not giving up. Come back tomorrow for my next attempt with the Zigs. And have a great weekend. I really do appreciate your coming by here. Let's hope slow-blogging might go the way of slow-food...

And that President Trump will slow it down a little before hitting "Tweet"...

STAMPlorations inspiration #115

It's time once again for Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where all the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers. And there are sales ;)

Today we're using Deepti's Artsy Impression stamps. From now until Jan 23 you can get any of Dee's Artsy Impressions stamps at 10% off in the STAMPlorations store! Don't forget, with my personal discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA you can earn 20% savings on top!

I saw this card in blogland, using a fun heat embossing technique and decided to use it with this set of Deepti's and its matching dies. Actually ended up with two versions. I'm calling them his and hers versions ;) Here you can see "his".

Tweet Love

Can you say easy peasy? Die cut the animal (Tweet Love) from a die cut (with Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting die) panel of CS. Stamp the sentiment from Tweet Love, curved to fit the line of the giraffe's neck. Trace through opening onto cardbase. Press Versamark ink over traced area. Apply various colors of embossing powder. Heat and then adhere the die cut panel.

Want more? Here and here are a couple older creations using Tweet Love.

So from now until next Tuesday, Deepti's Dee's Artsy Impressions stamp line is 10% off, Kathryn and Christmas is even 20% off. With the STAMPGIRLMARIA discount on top, now would be a good time to pick up any of Deepti's stamps on your wish list. Just sayin'.

And don't forget to leave comments on the DT's inspiration posts. One random commenter will be chosen each month to win a $10 GC to the store. Here's the lineup.