Vintage Blossoms ATCs

The talented and creative Shery has released some new "paper goods". There are card fronts, colorables, and ephemera -- all created for artsy crafters to play with and create fab projects. These lovely designs are professionally printed on 120# (325 gsm) matte white cardstock. 

This month, the DT has been working with 14 new products in the paper goods section: three (3) A2 card fronts, six (6) ephemera tiles, and five (5) ATC/journaling cards. Over the next few weeks, the STAMPgirls are sharing projects featuring the paper goods and today is my turn! 

I have been playing with the Vintage Blossoms ATCs, and my first instinct was to give some colour to the blossoms. Some of them are left blank, but even the others can be enhanced with the medium of your choice.

From left to right I tested pencils, alcohol pens and watercolours (both pens and pans watercolours).

I found the card excellent for pencil, the alcohol pens did not go through to the reverse (although I kept my layers and blending to the minimum just in case)  and it did accept water well enough for a quick colouring.

With my coloured pencil I made this card:

The background has been stencilled with the Slimline stencil Stitchings with Distress Oxide in Antique Linen and the sentiment is a die-cut from the Everyday Sentiments

Then another card with the watercoloured ATC:

The sentiment is from the Shine Bright - Clear Stickers set placed on a die-cut label. The die-cut border is included in the 8th Birthday Bundle #1.

Finally the size of the ATCs lends itself to become gift tags, so I played with the media in my stash and my bits and bob accumulated overtime. I was pleased to set an eyelet (butterfly shaped) that I don't think I have used for over 5 years! Same with butterfly stickers and the gems, I have plenty but never think of them!!!

You might recognise, enamel accents, gold foil and pearlescent colours (13@rts -  Metallic Color Glow)  although that last one is difficult to see on the photos (sadly the weather turned to rain for days on end):

and a closer look at the foiling:

These ATC's are perfect as journaling cards and don't even need any embellishment but if you want to add that personal touch... plenty of things you can add! 

You can see more inspiration on the STAMPlorations blog where Vicky shows her makes with the Vintage Blossoms ATCs alongside mine .

Thanks for coming by,
My Happy thoughts card is joining the Allsorts challenge.

     

New products at STAMPlorations

Ahead of STAMPlorations 8th Birthday and celebration posts planned, Shery has made available 3 bundles at a very special price AND with free worldwide shipping... can't say better than that! 

I will give you a peek of one of the product included in Bundle #1 , the Art Border Die #1. 

Why die-cut once when you can repeat... This die hasn't got a cutting edge so you can die-cut only part of the die, all of it or many times as I did on this card. 

I place the die the same way each time but by flipping the die every time or other time you will get a different look. I like the idea of versatile dies... 

There you have it, a quick view at this die and what it can do, but hurry if you want to take advantage of the pre-order offer (pre-order price (34% OFF! + Free Worldwide Shipping))... you have until tonight only! 

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

   

Textured Frangipanis

Welcome to the second inspiration post for the STAMPlorations Theme and Photo Prompt challenge where the Theme and Photo are:

For my card I used the theme choosing pink and green as my 2 colours:

I fancied using coloured pencils on textured cardstock and picked green cardstock as my base. Not sure I like the result yet... What do you think about the texture, yeah or nay??

The image is Fancy Frangipanis. 

The Best Wishes die-cut sentiment is from the Everyday Sentiments set.

The STAMP girls are showing inspiration for all the challenges on the STAMPlorations blog so pop by and don't forget you still have 2 weeks to join our challenge for a chance to win!

***

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

***

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Monday and We Love Chocolate Baroque challenge.

   

100 years of ageing

We are halfway through June and only 2 weeks left to enter our Country View Challenge and special blog hop. The theme is "100", taking inspiration from one of the DT makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif. Don't forget to include  100 (or One Hundred) and to specify in your post which member of the Design Team's project inspired you.
Fo my second inspiration make I created a tag with an aged look

I prepared my base with Gesso and applied a layer of Vanilla with Pumpkin soup Fresco paints.  Then I added grunge with Distress Oxides spray in Walnut stain.
I stencilled Grunge paste mixed with a bit of DecoArt Mixed Media in Burnt umber acrylic paint with the  Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Set #39.

Finally a few drops of Distress Oxides in Patina, sprayed with water add a touch of "copper rust".

Pieces of Tim Holtz Tissue tape and AALL & Create Washi Tape #13 - Fasteners by Bipasha, and a die-cut frame back my focal point, a moulded figure head (Prima Imaginarium Fairy garden mould). I aged the plaster by spraying with the Distress Oxides spray in Walnut stain and rubbing off the top layer with a tissue.

And finally the "100" spelt out with rub-ons, and which, in mind, stands for how long this piece has been suffering the effects of time and weather. 

I hope I will inspire one of your entry in our June Country View Challenge. If you do enter the challenge you will have a chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop. You may also have another chance at winning a voucher by commenting on the blog post and the DT posts. 

Thanks for coming by,

Boat trip

Welcome to our new STAMPlorations Theme & Photo Prompt challenge!
This month the Theme and photo prompt are:


You can choose to follow either Theme or Photo and of course both to qualify for the prize.
I chose the theme for this "postcard":

The background is coloured with several shades of blue dye ink for the sky and green for the water. I used both brayer and brushes to apply the inks (Memento and Distress).

I stamped the boat from the Born to Roam set onto my base card and also on a separate piece of card which I fussy cut before gluing in place

I stamped the sentiment from the same set in black Versafine to finish.

Clean and simple... wish I was there!!! 

Check what my teamies did on the STAMPlorations blog and link up your  creations!

***

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

***

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Casology (I have tried to make my card look like a photo) and Addicted to Stamps challenges.
 

A glass of Cheer

The end of Covid restrictions is in sight, the sun is shining and we are mid way through the year... but wait... today is also the day our Country View Challenges reach a momentous milestone and we celebrate the 100th challenge!

Naturally, our theme this month is "100" and we want to see 100, one hundred, 

or 100 "things" on your make AND we want you to take inspiration from one of the DT makes. 

Here's my inspiration:

For a 100th cocktail one needs glitter... so I used Sizzix TH Alphabet to die cut it from glitter cardstock. I also added waste from previous die-cutting, the small pieces in the shaker part of the glass, and the stars on the background paper. I can't remember where the design of the paper comes from but I printed it when my printer cartridge had run out of all colours but blue!

The glass, umbrella and Cheers sentiment is from a magazine freebie. I cut 4 layers from cereal boxes, one layer from a white iridescent paper and traced around the shape onto acetate to create the shaker. 

To glue the layers sandwiching the acetate I used gel medium as I have found that glue sometimes will just peel off. 

Over to you now... Take a look at what the DT made on the Country View Challenges blog and link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Remember you must take inspiration from one of the DT makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif for your make to be in with the chance to win and of course include "100" (or One hundred in any language). Do explain if it's not obvious!!!

This month there is also a second £20 voucher for a commenter 

on todays'  CVC and DT blog posts, drawn randomly. 

Hop to it!!!

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

Roses are pink

Another floral for you today.... 

If you are a follower of mine you will know I love photographic images...  and I just had to crack open the lovely Rose Layers stamp set by Paperbabe that I recently won .With 4 layers and an outline (which I didn't use on this make) the sense of depth is fabulous, provided that you have the right colour inks!

It turns out that I have the same colour in different type of inks (pigment, Archival, Distress Oxide, Memento, Versafine) but not several shades (lighter/darker) of that pink. As I progressed through the stamping, I tried several inks combination and also resorted to 2nd generation stamping.

The stamping did take some time... consider there are 10 roses, and 4 layers per roses and even the cropped ones take as long... but, I think, well worth it!

 

I made this into a birthday card by adding a sentiment (Everyday sentiment stamp set and Layers Frame & Banners die set both by Julie Hickey Designs) but it would be perfect for Mother's day too (still to come for some countries).

I hope you will like this one do let me know in your comments!

I am entering the Allsorts,  Paperbabe, Stamping Sensations and We Love Chocolate Baroque challenges.

More wings and feathers

Already mid month? If you haven't entered our STAMPlorations Theme & Photo prompt challenge now is the time... 
The theme and photo prompt are: 

 

I explored the same theme and techniques as for my first inspiration make, but changed things around. 

For my background instead of inks I used acrylic paints, mainly Deco Arts but some Paper Artsy chalk paints too with the Gelli plate and the Shower of Flutters stencil (I know the butterflies are difficult to see but they are the lavender blobs...) 

I added some coloured Grunge paste through the Bamboo Slimline stencil and stamped some Art Marks images.

My focal point is a trio of feathers (Trendy Feathers) with a piece of muslin, a Bloomdala Felicity die-cut and some gems.

The STAMP girls are showing inspiration for all the challenges on the STAMPlorations blog so pop by and don't forget to enter a make following the Theme, the Photo Prompt or both of course, for  a chance to win prizes...

***

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

***

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Allsorts, Addicted to stamps, SSS Wednesday and We Love Chocolate Baroque challenges.

       

Seeds of hope

I am in a flower mood... they are an easy theme to give for any occasion so having a stock of cards ahead of time is a good thing.

I used 2 stamps on this card, the sentiment is from the Life is so much better set and the image is Movie Strip Collage both by Chocolate Baroque.

To stamp the image, I inked the flower with coloured markers and used black on the film strips and tag. I then used watercolours to colour in the petals and background.

Thanks for coming by,

I am entering the Allsorts,  We Love Chocolate Baroque, Stamping Sensations , SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday  challenges.

Sightseeing in Paris

I am back as promised for more inspiration for our Country View Challenge where the theme this month, chosen by yours truly is "We will always have Paris".

Today I made a mini album to show you the sites... 

The album is simply constructed with one long piece of cardstock where the pages are accordeon folded. 

The front cover has been embossed with one of the Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folder- Eiffel Tower and French Script Set and over embossed with several colours of embossing powders. 

Inside I have stamped and embossed in white directly on the cardstock the words, "il était une fois" from the French Lace set and "Paris" from the Made in France set, both from Crafters' Companion. 

The first page has an old map of Paris (Scripted Streets, Visible image) followed by a description from the A4 stamp sheet KTZ-50 by Katzelkraft . All other stamps are from this same sheet, which is not available anymore. 

I added colour with Distress inks, either as a wash using an acrylic block or with Distress foam.

There you have it, Paris in a nutshell, real and fantasy... don't you love this undulating Eiffel Tower? Your turn now to create something that reminds us of Paris or la douce France for a chance to to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop. 

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Addicted to stamps, Paperbabe and SSS Wednesday, challenges.

Birds of a feather

Also starting today is our STAMPlorations Theme and photo prompt challenge. 

This month the theme and photo are:

I took inspiration from both theme and photo and used my Gelli plate to remove ink with feather images from the Trendy Feathers stamp set (unfortunately not available at the moment). Of course you can use the real thing instead! 

Then I stamped the same feathers with ink as a second layer before taking the print.  [If you want more details on this technique you will find a step by step here]
I added birds die-cut from multi-coloured paper with the For the Birds CUTplorations, a doily from Bloomdala Bliss: Felicity Dies the sentiment from the matching stamp set and some sequins from White Frost - ShakerBlends .

To finish I stencilled the tag border with the Stitchings Slimline stencil.

For more inspiration hop to the  STAMPlorations blog and check what my teamies made. Don't forget there are prizes if you play with us and mid month we will be back with more inspiration for you...

***

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

***

Thanks for coming by,
 

         

Paris, here we come!

Spring is in full swing and my mind turns to thoughts of holidays and travel... Well, between Covid 19 and Brexit those trips, which so often includes our nearest country and gateway to Europe, have been put on the back burner.

Still... We will always have Paris!

And this is the theme I chose for our Country View Challenge, which this month I am hosting, so take me to Paris and show me the sights!
Don't worry, if you don't have any Paris themed supplies, you can use anything that says "France". Think fashion, wine, lavender fields of Provence, old adverts etc...  Just make sure that the theme is obvious and not a tiny bit of French script or fleur de Lys lurking in a corner of your make.

To kick off the theme, I made a fictional scene where all the major Paris 

landmarks feature together.

This is a Crafter's Companion stencil set, where you can use the 3 layers separately or together, but beware, if you want the front layer to be really in front you will need to mask areas or use an opaque medium. I used Distress Oxides for my front layer and regular Distress inks for the other 2. The landmarks are at the front are from left to right the Sacré Cœur, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. In the next layers are the moulin rouge, the Invalides (that's my best guess), Monpartnasse, Notre Dame and the July column. The back layer...hmm I don't recognise the buildings but of course it's an artist impression not a photograph!

Over to you now, have a look at what the DT made on the Country View Challenge blog - Spoiler alert - my DT mates rose up to the challenge brilliantly - and link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

I will be back in 2 days to give you more inspiration...

Thanks for coming by,

[1] BTW this is a famous line from the 1942 movie Casablanca)