STAMPlorations inspiration #266

Welcome to May, friends.  It's time for the first Tuesday inspiration post of the month from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Corona has me less enthusiastic about card designing. Has it sparked or stunted your mojo? I decided this month my theme for my inspiration cards was going to be fantasy watercoloring. No pressure about getting the shading right, ya know. Just pick up and place some color. Ready for #1?

 Blossom Overture stamp
Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle dies

Gansai Tambi watercolors

Pretty simple. Watercolor paper. Stamping and masking. Watercolor dabbing. I turned it into a sympathy card... well you can guess why.

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 I ever inspire you to order something from 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 ;)

Looking for more inspiration with these roses? Check out this post.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week. I'm stopping by at:
Craft Stamper - TIMI May
CAS on Sunday - Use your favorite flower stamp

CAS cards challenge may

Hello there peeps! How's it going these days? Hope you and yours are staying healthy. We're back with a new CAS card challenge at STAMPlorations. 

Here's the May CAS Cards challenge inspiration.

As always the challenge is anything goes with an optional color twist - this month is baby pink.

As my mojo went when Corona came along, I went to my craft room with no idea what I wanted to make. I saw watercolors and decided to make things really easy on myself. How about a pink rainbow?

Today's card.

STAMPlorations Birthday Word Art clear sticker
Altenew watercolor

Grabbed a flat brush. Painted some curves. The sticker sentiment reminded me of a cloud, so I cut it into a cloud shape and adhered it. Voila!

CAS card tip: Although the card is full, thanks to the monochromatic color scheme and the big pop of black it's still very clean and simple. All the attention goes to the font of the sentiment.

For more inspiration with this sticker set check out this post.

I'm looking forward to your CAS card creations this month! Your project might be chosen as the winner of a GC to the shop. Check out how the DT was inspired by this month's photo here.

And don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should you find yourself shopping ;)  Thanks for stopping over. See you in the gallery.

STAMPlorations inspiration #265

It's time for our last April Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Here's my last masculine CAS card.

 Wonderful Life stamp
Copics and washi tape

Is it actually masculine? I think with the primary colors and the B/W it could be. I was thinking about my DS when making it and would definitely give it to him. But it could be for a gal too. Guess I can't stick to the masculine theme for too long ;)

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 I ever inspire you to order something from 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 ;)

Looking for more inspiration with this stamp set? Check out this post.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week.

simon says stamp - mum die

It may not be the easiest to shop and get delivery of goodies these days, but Simon Says Stamp has some newly released items that we are sharing with you today. And according to Heidi, owner of the store, as of yesterday shipping has now resumed, albeit at a slower pace!

The new release is called Sunny Days Ahead. One of the products in the new release is the Mum Word and Shadow die and lucky me, I got to have a play with it. Clearly, this would be a great product for creating Mother's Day cards, but I lost my own "mum" about three years ago. You can bet I had her in mind as I was in my craft room playing with this word die.

Rainbow colors happened...

 SSS Mum Word and Shadow die
Altenew Watercolor Pan
SSS Sentiment Strips Reverse Love

I painted the rainbow with a wide, flat brush and then adhered the gold, stacked "mum" and a sentiment strip. Simple. But true.

For my second card, I used up the leftover watercolors from the rainbow to paint some die cut roses. I started with the most watered down tone on the top layer and then added more pigment for each subsequent layer. The sentiment was die cut from glitter cardstock and I stamped a "wishing you only the best" sentiment from an older SSS stamp set, Apothecary Labels, inside.

SSS Mum Word and Shadow die
Altenew Rose Flurries die
Altenew Watercolor Pan
vellum 

I have one more card for you, this was the result of wondering which other word dies I had that could work with "mum". I chuckle about this card - it's a mixing of British and American English at its best ;)  How dare I, eh?

SSS Mum Word and Shadow die

SSS You Da Best die

SSS Large Hearts Set die

The only question was a color scheme (I had some recycled pink cardboard in my hand and chose black to show it off) and where to place the die cut heart! 

Check out all the makes with the products from the release in the gallery here. And watch for the hops this weekend too.

I'm adding my second card to the SSS Wednesday Challenge where it's all about Flowers this week. The perfect theme!

STAMPlorations inspiration #264

Howdy #stayathome peeps. It's time for another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Remember my theme for April? Masculine CAS cards. Here's #3.

 Baa Baa stamp
washi tape

Going for something spring-y and punny, Shirley's sheep came to mind. The thick lines on the image, and the solid areas add a lot of interest on their own. Stamp him off the edge, and add a sentiment in an unexpected spot and I think you've got yourself a cool card. I used washi for grass to ground him. You could use a PP snippet too.

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 I ever inspire you to order something from 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 ;)

Looking for more inspiration with this punny stamp set? Check out this post.

I'm joining the Animal fun over at Addicted to CAS.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a peaceful week. I'm still doing my part to stop the virus spread. And you?

CAS cards challenge april reminder

Hello there! I'm back with a mid-month reminder about the CAS card challenge at STAMPlorations.

Here's the April inspiration.

The challenge is anything goes with an optional color twist - this month is lemon yellow and I just had to go with the lemon yellow color (as I create these cards in Feb and am really ready for bright and sunny days). And lemons too. Though like I said before I must admit both my cards this month are pushing the definition of CAS a bit...

Today's card, using white embossing. If you missed my black embossed lemons click here.

STAMPlorations Layered Citrus stamp
watercolors
embossing powder

CAS card tip: You could use this idea but keep it super CAS by embossing one image only (maybe in the middle or in the lower left sweet spot) and adding the watercolor around it.

So I heat embossed the images from the set which are actually meant to be used to color in the outlines. Then I applied a light wash of watercolor in a triangular area in the middle of the panel. I added some green splatters in a nod to foliage and let it all dry. I came back in with a bit more yellow color around the heat embossed images, added my sentiment and called it good.

The torn edges? Not very CAS but I found them fitting for this artsy (and definitely summery) take on lemons :)

I'm looking forward to your CAS card creations this month! Your project might be chosen as the winner of a GC to the shop. Check out how the DT was inspired by this month's photo here.

And don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should you find yourself shopping ;)  Are you doing a lot of that during this #stayathome?
Thanks for stopping over. See you in the gallery.

STAMPlorations inspiration #263

Hope you and yours are hanging in there. It's time for another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Remember my theme for April? Masculine CAS cards. Ready for #2?

 Tweet Love stamp
Tags #1 die

Altenew Inks

white embossing powder

No idea where this idea originated. I was in the mood for more watercoloring. Grabbed my set of blue Altenew inks. Decided to heat emboss the balloons off the edge and watercolor them with four blue tones (hard to tell in the photo).

Then I decided the strings of the wafting balloons could be pulling a sentiment tag. And I kinda like aqua and red as a color combo. It doesn't actually have to be masculine I guess.

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 I ever inspire you to order something from 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 ;)

Looking for more inspiration with this stamp set? Check out this post.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week.