Spring fling

Today I am joining my teammates at STAMPlorations on Day 12 of a special series of posts celebrating the spring season. Starting on the 1st of April there have been be tons of inspiration and a prize everyday for commenting on the DT and STAMPlorations blog posts.

If you missed my first post it's here.

Now, here's something you don't see often here... a no stamp card! Frequent visitors to my blog know that I don't usually make die-cuts only cards, not because I don't like them, but because it feels like cheating when all the work is done for you!

My project is a twofer (2 for 1) as I used a letter press technique that gave me a positive and a negative image from one die-cut.

I haven't got any step photos for this (so excited I forgot to take any!) but here is the process:

1. Ink up a piece of card at least 4"1/4 by 5"1/2 with your choice of Distress or Distress Oxide, blending smoothly between colours on the long side. Here I use Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean.

2. Die-cut your cover plate, mine is the gorgeous Dragonfly Cover Plate Die, from the inked piece of card.

3. Apply a piece of tape to the back of the die-cut as a hinge, then attach to your card base. Make sure the tape doesn't show through the die-cut. In my case I stuck it to the very thin frame at the top of the die cut.

4. Spritz the coloured side of the die-cut, protecting the card base from the water, close the hinge and run through your die-cut machine as an embossing sandwich.

The die-cut will have both debossed the design and transferred (some of) the ink to the card base.

Next finish your card with your choice of sentiment and embellishments. I used the CUTploration phrase - Life is Good and a piece of ribbon.

You have now a left over die-cut, perfectly usable on another card, which you can finish in the same way as the previous one as I did for mine:

I hope you like my project and enjoy those spring months!

Don't forget to leave a comment here before hopping to the STAMPlorations blog. You can comment on all the designers posts and the STAMPlorations blog for each day of the event, to be entered for the chance to win each day's prize.

 

Today's prize is a $15 gift certificate. You have until the 19th of April to comment.

***
All throughout April, products in the SPRING FLING section will be 25% off instantly + with my code STAMPGIRLCRAFTY you get an extra 20% off!
***

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Allsorts challenge.
   

Blooming woman

Spring is the time when nature blooms everywhere, and with the warming weather and brighter daylight, I bet people bloom too! Well, that's my inspiration for this card to fit the Country View Challenge theme, chosen by my teamie, Monika.

For my background I used the Shabby Roses stamp (Blue Fern Studios) which I inked with Distress Oxides in Picked Raspberry and Wilted Violet and stamped on watercolour card.

I stamped the focal image, Flora woman (Cheery Pie) in Versafine Clair Fantasia.

I added the sentiment from the ELB03 stamp set (Paper Artsy) stamped in the same ink and mounted on a maroon card base.

I hope you are inspired to enter the Country View Challenge, if you do you could win a £20 voucher to the Country View Crafts shop!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Wednesday, Uniko Studio, Lost Coast Designs , The Artistic Stamper, Addicted to stamps challenges.

Blooming wild

Today I am joining my teammates at STAMPlorations on Day 10 of a special series of posts celebrating the spring season. Starting on the 1st of April there has been be lots of inspiration and a prize everyday for commenting on the DT and STAMPlorations blog posts. 

For my background, I used a piece of Gelli printed paper which I made with Chalky finish acrylic paints and stencils. I cut a piece with the largest die in the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies.

I stamped one of the larger flower of the Blooming Buds set, both buds and 3 sizes of leaves using orange and green inks. I coloured the image with coloured pencils.

To finish I used one of the sentiment from the same set and embossed it in Midnight Blue powder (a dark navy blue with a hint of shimmer).

Don't forget to leave a comment here before hopping to the STAMPlorations blog. You can comment on all the designers posts and the STAMPlorations blog for each day of the event, to be entered for the chance to win each day's prize, today's prize is a 4x8 stamp set ($20 value) of your choice. You have until the 19th of April to comment.

***
All throughout April, products in the SPRING FLING section will be 25% off instantly + with my code STAMPGIRLCRAFTY you get an extra 20% off!
***

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Craft Stamper TIMI, Lost Coast Designs, Penny Black and more challenges.
   

Song bird

Welcome to the STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch April challenge

This month the theme and sketch are:

Following the Watercolour theme I created a background for my bird by pouring several colours successively on a piece of thick watercolour card. I let the colours dry between each application so they didn't mix into mud.
I stamped and embossed the bird from the Trendy Birds 2 set and the sentiment from the For the Birds set with white embossing powder, then added accents with violet and red powders.

I hope I have inspired you to join for the STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch April challenge, remember that you have to follow either the Sketch OR the Theme but you can use both if you're up for a challenge! If you do play with us you could win a prize...

***

Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

***

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Casology and SSS Wednesday challenges.
   

Breath of Spring

I can't believe it's already April! But no, it isn't an April's fool trick, it really is the 1st of April and we have a new challenge at Country View!

 

My teamie Monika chose Easter or Spring and I decided to create a card with a Spring vibe.

For the background I sprayed blue and dark pink inks through a stencil (Tando - Leaves) . I die cut the card with a stitched frame die (STAMPlorations - Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle)

I stamped and embossed in green powder (WOW Embossing powder Olive) the sentiment from the Breath of Spring stamp set (Chocolate Baroque)  and added a frame die-cut (Studio Light So Spring - No.78 Hearts).

Do pop over to the Country View Challenges blog where you can see more inspirational makes from the DT and link your own Easter/Spring creations for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View shop.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Wednesday, Uniko Studio challenges.

Flower in a jar

Hello crafters, today I am sharing a card I made for the Crafts U Love inspiration day.

This month the DT has been testing some of the latest PolkaDoodles supplies.

I stamped the flower and jar image from the Hello Friend set with Memento Fog Grey ink before colouring with watercolour brushes.
I coloured each petal applying the colour close to the center and pulling the colour with a second brush (clean of colours) to the edge of petal. I touched the tip of the petals with colour too, as it helps define the shape of the flower and added more colour between the petals.

I coloured the buds in the same way and finished by adding yellow to the center of the large flower and green to the stems. For the jar, I followed the stamp design and applied more colours where there are more lines, finishing by a soft grey shadow at the base to give the jar somewhere to stand on!

For the sentiment, I stamped the big Hello from the same set, and hand-cut it so it would not cover a lot of the image.

I matted the image onto 2 papers from the Colour of Spring pack (Polkadoodles) and assembled the card.

Supplies:
Polkadoodles A5 Paper Pack - Colour of Spring
Polkadoodles Clear Stamp Set - Hello Friend
Memento Dew Drop Inkpad London Fog
VersaFine Onyx Black

I thought the Hello Friend was a good selection of images and sentiments and the quality of the stamps is great, stampers will know this, but not all clear stamps are created equal... I can report that have been able to get a good impression without resorting to my stamping platform and several passes!



Should you purchase any of the products I have used on this card, select  'Design Team'  in the 'where have you seen us' drop down so we know we have inspired you!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Polkadoodles, Addicted to stamps, SSS Wednesday, Uniko Studio and We Love To Create challenges.

Men of numbers

Welcome to my second inspiration post for the Country View Challenge, where our theme of Letters or Numbers has been chosen by the lovely Evelyn.

Today I have another journal page, yes mine are like buses... and this one is focusing on numbers, since my first was all about letters.

It's about the journey

This is my second inspiration make for the STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch Challenge for March,
 the theme and sketch are:

As usual, you can either follow only the Theme or the Sketch, or use both!
This time I used the sketch for this tag:

I made the background by layering 2 blue acrylic paints, one light and one mid-tone, spreading with a silicone brush. I added a little bit of Bistres powder (a walnut and pigment mix) on top of a thin acrylic glaze and sprayed water to create drips.
Around the tag I used brown paint and then a layer of crackle paste. To reveal the crackles I used white paint.
On the left hand side I added some embossing with Frantage Aged Aqua.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment from the Born to Roam set in Vanilla white directly on the tag and stamped the globe and boat from the same set in black on a separate piece of card before colouring with alcohol ink pens.

Come by the STAMPlorations blog for more inspiration from the DT!

***

Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

***

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Craft Stamper TIMI, Vintage Journey, Creative Artiste, Addicted to stamps challenges.

 

Floral card with Polka doodles

This was meant to be a quick make and as long as you do what I say and not what I did (…) it will be.
Most of the work is done by the papers, all from an already colour matched selection by Polkadoodles with a stamped image.

I kept the focal image simple by just stamping and not colouring, applying the colour to the stamps instead.

I combined 3 stamps from the Polkadoodles Clear Stamp Set - Hello Friend to build my image and this required to mask both the leaves and the big bloom, as I wanted them on top of the smaller flower.

If you are prone to distraction and/or forgetfulness (ahem!) it might be a good idea to write down the stamping sequence as otherwise you will end up with a flower head in the background but its stem in the foreground...

To finish I added a stamped sentiment from the Everyday Sentiments by Julie Hickey Designs and embossed it in white.

 

 

For an even quicker make, cut or tear the papers (rather than die-cutting) and place on the card base at an angle, then you don't have to worry about keeping everything straight!

Supplies:
Polkadoodles A5 Paper Pack - Colour of Spring
Polkadoodles Clear Stamp Set - Hello Friend
WOW! Embossing Powder - Bright White
Julie Hickey Designs I Need It Stamp Set - Everyday Sentiments
Memento Dew Drop Inkpad Dandelion
VersaMagic Dew Drop Inkpad Eggplant
VersaMagic Dew Drop Inkpad Hint of Pesto



Should you purchase any of the products I have used on this card, select  'Design Team'  in the 'where have you seen us' drop down so we know we have inspired you!

 

I hope you will like this, if you do let me know in the comments...

Thanks for visiting today!
I am entering the SSS Monday, We Love To Create, Craft Stamper TIMI and Polkadoodles challenges.

Healing herbs

Welcome to the special STAMPlorations release! 2 new sets are making their debut, Healing Herbs and Wooded.

 

I have had the pleasure of trying out Deepti's Healing Herbs stamp set
 

 

All is revealed

This is my second post of the day as this month the first day of the month also happens to be a Friday! Welcome to our STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch Challenge for March,
 the theme and sketch are:

As usual you can either follow only the Theme or the Sketch, or use both!

My card is all about the Finding Coffee stamp. If you love playing with pen, pencils or watercolours this image is great fun to use. Little by little the flowers and coffee cups are revealed and in turn reveal what lies next to them. Not something you should hurry up but enjoy at leisure. I coloured this one with watercolours, using both waterbased markers and pencils with a water brush.

Once I had finished the image I didn't want to cover it or distract from it in any way, so I just allowed a little bit of trimming to bring the image to the proportions of my mats and card base. For the card base I used the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies.

To finish I added a sentiment from the After Coffee set, white embossed on vellum, again with the aim of hiding as little possible of my Finding Coffee image...

Check out what my teamies did following the Theme or Sketch on the STAMPlorations blog and do join us by linking to the challenge. If you do you could win a prize...

Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Wednesday Challenge challenge.

     

Woman of letters

You know the drill, the 1st of the month is the kick off for the Country View Challenge and Evelyn has chosen Letters & Numbers as the theme.

For my first make I went with letters and made a journal page.