Christmas Lute

Hi!  Yes, it's a Christmas card.  Yes, you'll be seeing these throughout the year again.  But, really, are you that surprised?  You all know my love of making Christmas cards.  :-). LOL.  By making them all year long I avoid the rush and scramble to get them done in December.  Somehow I still manage to have some I have to make last minute though.  This year I'm going to try and make two of the same card.  Just in case I need them or my Mom wants some again this year.  :-). Anyway, here's my card...

I stamped my lute (Inkadinkdo) and coloured it with my Spectrum Noir markers. I added some metallic gold gel pen for the strings and metallic red for the berries.  I stamped the sentiment (STAMPlorations) in black.  It's pretty simple but I like how it looks.

Thanks for visiting me today and I hope you have had a lovely weekend!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

Merry Monday Christmas Challenge - one layer card

Christmas Card Challenges - anything goes
Addicted to Stamps and More - holiday
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - anything goes

STAMPlorations Inspiration #58

Hello!  It's Tuesday and that means another Inspiration post over at STAMPlorations.  We hope to inspire you to create!  my card came about when I saw a card on Pinterest and got all inspired.  You can see the card that inspired me HERE.  Now here's my card...

(All stamps by STAMPlorations)

I took a panel of watercolour paper and stamped my flowers (Blooming Buds set) and embossed in white. Then using my magenta Spectrum Aqua marker and my broad waterpen, I created an ombré wash and let it dry.  I took a strip of vellum and embossed my sentiment (Fond Expressions 2 set) in silver, then wrapped it around my watercoloured panel.  I adhered this to my card base.  Its rather a cool effect, isn't it?  :-)

I hope you'll stop on by the blog and see what the other DT ladies made too.  Such amazing projects! Don't forget you could be entered to win the monthly random prize by commenting on the main blog.

Hope I inspired you to get creative today!  Thanks for stopping by!

I'd like to link up to the following challenge:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - anything goes

Inkspirational Challenge - Inspiration Picture

Hey everyone!  Its challenge time over at Inkspirational!  This time we've got an inspiration picture. It a nice one too. Check it out...

Isn't that lovely?  I thought I'd have no trouble coming up with something for this but I did.  However, I persevered and managed to cobble a Valentine's day card together.  :-). Take a look...

First, I stamped my woodgrain stamp (Heidi Swapp) and embossed it in white.  Then I sponged Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress inks followed by Grey Flannel Memento ink.  I die cut the love and heart and sponged grey flannel on the love and Victorian Velvet Distress ink for the heart.  I attached them to my card and stamped the You (STAMPlorations) in grey flannel.  I stamped the small hearts (STAMPlorations) in the Victorian Velvet.  I added some Wink of Stella to the hearts and added a few sequins as well.

I hope you'll all come on over and check out the DT projects. All of them are awesome!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

CAS-ology - cue word is Adore
Addicted to Stamps and More - Holiday

Hey Friend

Hi there!  Just popping in to share a card I made last night. I recently got some fun goodies from Paper Smooches and I finally got a moment to play with some of them.  Take a look...

I used the new set Curls & Swirls for this card.  I masked off the bottom of my card base and then I stamped (I almost used every stamp in the set for this!) my curls and swirls on watercolour paper and embossed in white.  Then I created a blended watercolour wash of four colours (red, orange, yellow and green) using my Spectrum Aqua markers and my broad waterbrush. Once this was dry, I added a strip of black houndstooth washi tape (Recollections) and stamped my sentiment (Paper Smooches, Calorie Free set) in black.  I love how easily the colours blended.

Well, I hope you are all having an awesome Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

Paper Smooches January Challenge - use four colours (I chose from the inspiration photo)

 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - anything goes

STAMPlorations Inspiration #57

Winter greeting, everyone!  I don't know what it's like where you live but here it's cold.  We still haven't had a ton of snow (there's less than a foot on the ground) but I'm sure that'll change.  I wish I could just hibernate for the next month or so.  Winter. Blah!

So, it's time for more inspiration over at STAMPlorations again!  I hope you'll all come on over and see what fabulous projects the DT has made. I'm always amazed at the diversity of styles and the amazing talent of out DT.  :-). Here's what I came up with this week....

I used the ink splotch stamp from the Mixed Media Elements set and coloured right on the stamp with my Spectrum Aqua markers in red, light blue and dark blue.  I spritzed with water and stamped in the corner of my card base.  I repeated this several times, sometimes just spritzing again without re-inking.  Once this was dry I stamped my feather (Trendy Feathers set) in versamark black and the sentiment (Trendy Feathers set) in the same black.  Lastly, I splattered some red and dark blue all over.

So, hop on over to the blog and check out all the inspiration!  Don't forget to comment on the main blog to be entered in for the monthly random prize drawing too.

Hope you enjoyed your visit!  Have a lovely day!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

Less is More - silhouette
Craft Stamper Magazine, Take it, Make it January Challenge - use a stamp

STAMPlorations Inspiration #56

Good morning everyone!  Its cold and windy here in Jemseg this morning.  Yuck.  However, it's also another Inspiration day over at STAMPlorations!  We've got some lovely cards to share with you.  Remember to leave a comment at the main blog so you're entered into the random monthly prize drawing.  Here's my card....

(All stamps by STAMPlorations)

This card took a while to materialize.  It was one when my mojo was la King and nothing I tried was turning out right.  I kept trying with this card and this was the final result.  I'm still not sure I like it. I like elements of it but not sure about it as a whole. Anyway, what I did was take my rose stamp (Blossom Overture set) and, using my Spectrum Aqua markers, I coloured directly onto the stamp and spritzed with water before stamping onto watercolour paper.  I cut my panel into two strips and attached it to my card base with a small space between them.  I coloured thus space in with my green Spectrum Aqua marker I had used on the rose.  I added a strip of gold glitter tape (Recollections) and stamped the sentiment (Blossom Overture set) in black.  I really like how the roses turned out but not sure about the design. Oh well.

I hope you'll come on over to the STAMPlorations blog and check out the other DT projects. Fabulous as usual!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Inkspirational 100th Challenge! Blast From The Past

Hi there!  It's an exciting day today!  It's the 100th challenge over at Inkspirational!!  We've decided that we are doing a colour challenge but with a bit of a twist.  You get to choose a colour challenge from all the ones we've done in the past!  There's a list of them all on the blog.

And helping us celebrate this milestone is Kylie of Kylie is Addicted to Stamps.  Kylie used to be a member of Inkspirational so it seems only right to have her Guest Design for us this challenge.  Plus, she's putting up prize of a $30 gift certificate to her stamp store Happy Little Stampers!  How cool is that?!  So, what was the colour challenge I chose for my card?  Well, I got the honor of using the very first colour challenge Inkspirational ever had!  Black, Dark Pink, and Kiwi.  What fun!  Check it out...

I stamped my large peony (Stampendous) in black and coloured it in with my Spectrum Noir markers (PL1, BP2, BP6, CG2, DG3).  I masked off my flower and stamped the flourish (Stampendous) in Pear Tart Memento ink.  I removed the mask and stamped the sentiment (STAMPlorations) in black.

I hope you will all join us for this special 100th challenge.  And I hope you go check out all the amazing projects by the DT.

Have a fantastic day and thanks for visiting!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

Spectrum Noir January Challenge - anything goes
Uniko Studio - Anything Goes with optional twist of love.
Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
Curtain Call - Girly

STAMPlorations January New Release!

It's time!  It's STAMPlorations January New Release Blog Hop!  Our designers, Shery, Shirley, Deepti and Becca have come up with some amazing new sets!  The Inspiration Design Team has created some cards showcasing these new stamps and we hope you'll come hop with us and check them out!

 

Aren't the new sets fantastic?!  All so different, all so versatile, all so fun!  I think these sets brought all my mojo back that was missing after the holidays. They are just so inspiring!  I had a blast creating with them. Take a look...

(Since this is a picture heavy post I'm going to be as brief as I can with how I made each card. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!)

Here I stamped the reindeer and sentiment in black ink (Reindeer Games set) and coloured the reindeer with my Spectrum Noir Markers. I stamped the hearts (Anchored set) in red and pink and added some Wink of Stella to them. You can kind of see it in the detail picture.
***I'm linking this card up to Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes***

I stamped the sunrise circle (New Beginning set) on kraft cardstock (I had originally intended to do this card as a one layer but I made an error and rather than starting over I cut out my image and adjusted my design) and coloured it with my prismacolor pencil crayons.  I die cut some clouds and arranged them and the sunrise circle on a kraft card base and then stamped my sentiment (New Beginning set).

I stamped the butterflies (Winged Things set) and embossed in white. I sponged Peacock Feathers Distress ink overtop of them.  I splattered water to create water droplets in the ink then splattered white acrylic paint and watered down Peacock Feathers ink.  The detail picture shows the splatters better.  I stamped the sentiment (Party Time set) in black.
***I'm linking this card up to the Craft Stamper Take It, Make it Challenge for January - use a stamp*** 

I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment (Big Greetings set) in black on a strip of watercolour paper.  I coloured the happy in with my Spectrum Aqua markers in rainbow colours. I attached it to my black card base and then added a few white enamel dots.  I decided to let the big sentiment stamp shine on its own so kept the card design simple. 

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I hope you enjoyed my cards today and I hope you'll join us in the hop. Comment along the way and you could win a prize!

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

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Prizes:

• ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMP blog and designers' blogs (January 15/Day 5 post) wins a $25 gift certificate to the shop
• TWO (2) commenters randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMP blog and designers' blogs each win a $15 gift certificate to the shop
• FOUR (4) commenters randomly drawn from Designer & Stamp Spotlight posts (Days 1 to 4) win the stamp set featured for that day

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

STAMPlorations Inspiration #55

Hello!  It's Tuesday and that means another Inspiration post over at STAMPlorations.  We hope to inspire you to create!  I've been having mojo problems lately as I mentioned the other day. I've had so much scrap from disaster attempts at cards.  I think it's starting to get back into the groove though. The card I'm sharing today took three tries to get right.  But I love how it turned out in the end.  Take a look...

(All stamps by STAMPlorations)

I was playing with my new Spectrum Aqua markers again.  Have I mentioned that I love these markers!  So much fun to experiment with.  What I did here was stamp my balloons (Balloons and Banners set) using Versafine black ink (won't run with the watercolours) on watercolour paper and I dampened the balloon areas first with my water pen.  Then I took my watercolour markers and coloured the balloons blending light to dark.  I went over again with the water pen to smooth it out.  I stamped the sentiment (from same set) in black and mounted my panel on a black card base.  I quite like this card.

I hope you'll stop on by the blog and see what the other DT ladies made too.  Such amazing projects! Don't forget you could be entered to win the monthly random prize by commenting on the main blog.

Hope I inspired you to get creative today!  Thanks for stopping by!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

TIME OUT Challenges - Happy Birthday with optional twist of sponging (I didn't do any sponging this time)
Craft Stamper Magazine, Take it, Make it Challenge for January - anything goes/use a stamp

Watercolour Snowflakes

Hey all!  Just popping in to share a card and link up to some challenges.  Check it out.....

I had recently made a watercolour wash on some watercolour paper using my new Spectrum Aqua markers and decided to die cut some snowflakes (Echo Park) from it.  I attached the snowflakes to my white card base, trimmed them along the edges and added a strip of silver glitter tape (Darice).  I attached some new chipboard letters to spell joy.  I had won these not too long ago from Jingle Belles from Lauren's Etsy shop, Just Enough Stuff.  They are made from vintage sheet music which I thought was pretty cool.  Anyway, the last thing I did was add some sequins (Neat and Tangled).

Well, I hope you are all having a warmer Monday than we are here!  Thanks for stopping by!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

Christmas Card Challenges - anything goes
Jingles Belles - use something new and something old
ABC Christmas Challenge - A is for anything goes

Chevron Birthday

Hey everyone!   Yikes! It's been a while since my last post.  I'm afraid my mojo isn't quite up to par yet this year.  I want to create but when I'm trying to things aren't working out right.  I think it's starting to turn around now though.  I spent some time yesterday making some cards and I've got some to share over the next few days.  But first I should get some Blogger business out of the way.

Some of you may have already seen this on other blogs:

Effective January 11, 2016 only Google account holders will be able to follow blogs with Blogger. In addition, Blogger will also remove any followers without a Google account from the blogs they are following.

If you are reading my blog via Google Friend Connect you have the following options:

• You can create a Google Account.  Then you would need to become a Follower again because all previous Followers who did not have an account will be permanently removed from my Follower lists by Google.

• If you choose not to open a Google account, you can still follow my blog via email or bloglovin.

So, I hope you'll choose to keep following me by either getting a google account or email/bloglovin. :-)

Okay, back to cards!  Take a look...

So, for this card, I kept it pretty simple.  I stamped my chevron stamp (STAMPlorations) several times in Canary yellow Memento ink, Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks.  I stamped my sentiment (STAMPlorations) in black and then attached my felt bow (got this from Michaels $1.50 bin a long time ago).  Loving those colours together.  :-)

Well, I hope you've enjoyed your visit today and will come back again soon!  Have a lovely day!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

TIME OUT Challenges - Happy Birthday with optional twist of sponging.

Fusion Card Challenge - I went with just the inspiration photo this time. I was inspired by that awesome chevron table runner and those bright colours and all that white.

CAS-ology - cue card is simple.  My card is clean and simple in style.

STAMPlorations Inspiration Post #54

Hey everybody!  Well, 2016 is here and with it come some changes.  I stepped down from one of my design teams (OLCCC) to reduce the amount of card making demands. I'm hoping I get back into the Christmas craft fairs this year so I need to start working on my crafts really soon.  Just waiting for my son to go back to school (on Tuesday) and get back into a routine.  I've got some new craft ideas and I'll be sure to share them with you. :-)

Now, it's time for our first STAMPlorations Inspiration post of the year!  We've got some changes there as well.  The inspiration posts are no longer linked up with CASEplorations.  We are here now just to inspire you to create!  There is an opportunity to win a prize too. It's a random monthly prize if you comment on the main blog posts each Tuesday. The more you comment the better chance of winning!  You could win a $10 gift certificate to STtAMPlorations!  So, I hope you'll come on over and check out the amazing DT projects!  Here's what I made...

I have been playing with my new Spectrum Aqua markers again.  :-)  I coloured straight onto my butterfly stamp (Trendy Butterflies Set) with my markers (in Crimson, Orange, and Yellow) then spritzed with water before stamping onto watercolour paper.  Some of the time I would spritz with water again without re-inking the stamp.  I then stamped my flourish (Anchored set) with Dove Gray StazOn ink.  I stamped my sentiment (Fond Expressions 2 set) in black ink.  Lastly, I added a few sequins.  Love my new markers so much!  You'll be seeing me using these lots in the next while.  :-)

I hope you'll come over to the main blog and see all the other fantastic DT projects.  Maybe leave some love too.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fantastic day!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - "Something New"

Inkspirational Challenge - Designer's Choice - Thanks/New

Hello!  It's a new year so let's have a new challenge!  Well, over at Inkspirational we are starting a fun one!  It was designer's choice this time and it was my turn to choose a theme. I thought it's that time of year we send out thank you cards to those who gave us lovely Christmas surprises so I thought Thank You cards would be a good theme. But wait, there's an added twist!  You also have to use something new!  A new stamp or ink or paper, whatever!  I'm sure you'll all have gotten some new crafty goodies from Santa under the tree.

This year I got some Spectrum Aqua markers from my parents.  Plus, my husband gave me some watercolor paper cards so I was all set to test the markers out.  I went pretty simple at first by testing out the blending capabilities of the markers.  They blend so nicely!  Take a look....

I took a panel of watercolor paper and created an ombré wash background with my markers using the colours Aquamarine, Teal and Navy.  I put some colour down on an acrylic block and using my new wide water brush I blended the colours on the panel.  I was liberal with the water making the colours lighter and more soft.  Once that was dry, I trimmed my panel to the size I wanted and added a die cut flower (Memory Box) overtop.  I stamped the sentiment (STAMPlorations), added a silver bow, and some dewdrops.  Lastly, I attached my panel to my card base with foam dots.

I do hope you'll join us in all the fun!  You definitely need to check out the other DT members projects too.  They are awesome as usual!  Plus, we have an amazing Guest Designer too. It's Maaike from Cards by Maaike!  She's awesome and you really need to go check her out.  :-)

Well, I hope you've enjoyed your visit!  Have a fantastic weekend!

STAMPlorations CASEplorations January

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope this year brings you all happiness and good health!  And lots of crafty time!  :-)  Well, it's time for a new CASEplorations over at STAMPlorations. We are CASEing an amazing card artist this month. She's one of my favourite designers. It's none other than Laura Bassen of Doublestick Heaven!  The card we are CASEing is so awesome too. Take a look...

(Click HERE to visit her original post)

Now CASEplorations has a few rule changes this year.  It runs from the first day to the last day of the month.  We'll only be CASEing the guest designer for the month as the Inspiration posts are separate now.  The best CASE will win a $15 gift Certificate to STAMPlorations (or a 3x5 stamp set) and the two Top Picks will win a $5 gift Certificate.  So, I hope you'll join us and CASE Laura's card.  Here's my CASE...

(All stamps/stencils are by STAMPlorations)

I took the Shower of Flutters stencil/mask and spread my dimensional snow (it's what I use instead of embossing paste. I just haven't gotten around to buying some) overtop. I left some texture around the edges.  The dimensional snow has a lovely subtle sparkle to it which is hard to see in the photo.  Once dry, I watercoloured the Distress inks (Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed) where the butterflies were.  Then I stamped the sentiment (Hope Blooms set) on a strip of paper cut into a banner in black ink.  I attached this to my card with foam dots and then added a few dewdrops.  I loved Laura's use of the stencil and paste, the bold black sentiment on white and the colours she chose.

So, come on over and see what Laura and the DT have come up with for their CASEing projects! Believe me, they are all fabulous!  Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful day!