Stenciling using a Die Cut for the CAS Mix Up Challenge ....

Hello there ......

Me again! 
The beginning of a new month is always busy, with the start of all the new Blog challenges. 
First up for me this month is the CAS Mix Up Challenge. 
Joanna is our Host this month and she has a great theme for you  ....... Stenciling from Die Cuts 

We all have lots of dies these days, background dies, word dies, dies of all shapes and sizes, and it's always fun looking for new ways to use them. 
Well, why not create a stencil from your favourite dies .... using either the positive (the actual die cut shape) or the negative (the bit that's left behind)

As it's February, and Valentine's Day is not that far away, I thought I'd go for a little love themed card

The die I used is a bunch of entwined hearts from MFT (My Favourite Things)
I simply cut it from white cardstock and then used the die cut to create my background by brushing over the top with Distress Oxide ink .......

Once I was happy with the colour I removed the die cut and splattered a little bit of water over the design, mopping up the excess with a paper towel, to give a little bit more interest to the background.

I used another die to cut part of my sentiment ...... cut once from black cardstock and once from black glitter card then layered together to add a bit of dimension.

The 'love you' part was stamped onto a snippet of white card and attached underneath ..... job done!
And ..... I also have a lovely coloured die cut left over, to use on another project!

Need some more inspiration ....... then check out the CAS Mix Up Blog and see what the rest of the DT have created. 
We've also got a fabulous Guest Designer this month, the lovely Ina from Little Bits of Craft is joining in the fun so please pop by and say Hello!

Looking forward to seeing you in the gallery ........ happy stenciling!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cheerio until next time .....

Products used:
Stamps: Labeled Messages (Mama Elephant);
Inks: Distress Oxide Ink - Picked Raspberry; Versafine Clair - Nocturne;
Others: Hearts Entwined Die (MFT); XOXO Word Die (CUTplorations by STAMPlorations); Black Glitter card

Happy 5th Birthday STAMPlorations! .......

Happy Wednesday ......

I hope you're having a good week.
We're off on our annual family get together on Friday so things are a little busy here at the moment getting everything ready.

June's a busy month for the STAMPlorations team too.  Why? ...... because it's our birthday.  STAMPlorations is 5 years old!!!  WOW! ....... that's 5 years of amazing stamps, stencils and dies, and a whole load of inspiration from the brains behind it all ..... Shery, and of course the STAMPgirls (sounds like a band!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

As you can see we're having a little bit of a celebration ...... and you can join in with the fun too!

There's prizes up for grabs, special offers in store, a Flash Sale EVERY Monday during June and, Freebie days EVERY week ..... told you we were celebrating!

The prizes are ......

• For the Link up CASE project ....... $50 Gift Certificate each to 5 randomly drawn players
• For commenting on the Blog posts .......  $25 Gift Certificate each for 5 randomly drawn commenters
• The Wishlist Linky Party ......  5 randomly drawn participants will each win products, upto the value of $25, from their wishlists

 All you have to do to join in is ......

• visit and comment on the designers blogs
• CASE one, or more, of the STAMPgirls designs and join the linky party
• link up your STAMPlorations Wishlist (check out here for all the details)

** CASEing, commenting and linking up to the Wishlist Linky party ends on July 3rd**

Winners will be announced on July 10th

As I said we're celebrating, with something a little bit special.  If you've been following the STAMPlorations blog you'll already know that each day in June, Shery is showcasing one of the STAMPgirls ..... today it's my turn!!

I've been having fun recently with the Faux Bleaching Technique using Distress Oxides and water.  I love how these inks react with even the smallest amount of water, and the colours are amazing.  If you haven't already tried this technique, why not give it a go ....... feel free to CASE

Simply stamp your favourite floral image onto a piece of white card, heat emboss in white, then add your colours over the top ..... easy.  Rub away any ink left on the embossed lines to make your images really pop

I've used the gorgeous Blossom Sprays #1 .... it's such a pretty design.
I applied two colours of Distress Oxide ink over the top of the embossed flowers, blending them together in the centre (Twisted Citron and Squeezed Lemonade)
Once I was happy with the coverage I took a paintbrush and some clean water and 'painted' some of the flowers and the leaves.  The water reacts with the ink and can then be removed with a paper towel giving this bleached look ....

A few splatters of water and a sentiment finishes the card ..... with a few sequins for added sparkle

Same stamp ..... same technique ..... but different colours (Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch)

This time, instead of a stamped sentiment I used one of the CUTplorations thin metal dies and inlaid it into the stamped panel,

 
layering it with two cut from white cardstock to add dimension

I'm so happy, and very proud to have been a part of such a wonderful Design Team ....... I say 'have been'  because this is my last STAMPlorations post (sigh) 
After a little over two and a half years being part of the STAMP family, on both the CAS Card team and the TAG team, I've made the hard decision to step down at the end of this month.

It's been an amazing journey.  A BIG Thank You to Shery for having me on the team and giving me the chance to be part of such a talented DT ..... I'm going to miss you all but, I will still be following all the blogs (you don't get rid of me that easy!) and you know I love my STAMPlorations products!
Here's some of my favourite makes from my time here ......

Another beautiful floral image ....... Blossom Sprays #2 and the pretty split colouring technique

Masculine designs ..... always difficult to create I find, not with STAMPlorations products though ...... Good Books and Coffee did the job perfectly.

And finally, florals again ...... this time a tag using the Blossom Sprays #1.  How different does it look when coloured in.

Well that's it from me.  I hope you've enjoyed reading my posts as much as I've enjoyed writing them and I hope you feel inspired to join in with our birthday celebrations.

I'd like to wish Shery, and the team, many, many more years of success, and hope that STAMPlorations continues to go from strength to strength.

Don't forget, CASE any of the above designs or your favourite design from one of the other STAMP girls and link it up here to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off to make a start on the packing now .... only two more sleeps!

Cheerio until next time ......

Day 17 ..... the STAMPlorations Things With Wings Blog Hop

Happy Thursday ......

We're over half way through May already ..... doesn't time fly!  That also means we're half way through our month long Things With Wings Blog Hop and Linky Parties over on the STAMPlorations Blogs.  Have you played along yet?

All through May, the STAMPlorations girls are showcasing projects with the theme ..... Things With Wings 
Today we have a reminder for you from the CAS Card Challenge girls .......  pretty Clean and Simple designs featuring of course, Things With Wings.

Here's a really quick and easy design using one of my favourite techniques ..... inlaid die cutting/hidden sentiment .....

I stamped my butterflies onto a piece of white cardstock using Distress Oxide inks ...... I love how these inks stamp, they pick up all the detail, great coverage too!

This is one of the images from the STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies set.

Using the CUTplorations 'happy' word die, I cut the sentiment across the butterflies.  I also cut it from plain white card and a co-ordinating purple card.
The plain white one was inlaid back into the stamped card along with all the bits you would normally throw away, from the word cut out of the stamped card (the little bits inside the p's)

Next I layered the purple happy on top of the white one, followed by the one cut across the buttlerflies as the top layer.
This completes the stamped images again and also adds a touch of dimension

A few dots of  Nuvo Crystal Drops here and there add the finishing touch.

Check out the STAMPlorations Blog for all the details of the hop, how to play along and link your projects, and of course lots more amazing inspiration from the rest of the DT girls.  Don't forget there are prizes along the way too!

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
It's been lovely here .... we've got blue skies and the sun is shining.  Lets hope it lasts, because this time next week final preparations will be underway for the start of this years Isle Of Man TT
Yes there's only 8 days to go before the excitement begins!

Cheerio until next time .....

Day 15 of the STAMPlorations Things With Wings Blog Hop .....

Happy Tuesday ......

I hope your week is off to a great start .
It's time for a quick reminder of this months STAMPlorations Things with Wings Blog Hop and Linky Parties.

The STAMPlorations girls have all got together for a month long celebration of Spring and Things with Wings.

Today its the turn of the TAGplorations team.  To play along here you need to create a project that is a tag or, has a tag/s on it. Don't forget the Things With Wings part either.

I've gone for butterflies today ....... on a simple tag

I cut the tag from smooth watercolour card, using the largest size of the TAGplorations Manila Tags Nesting dies

I then applied various colours of Distress Inks (blues and pink shades) to the back of the ARTplorations Shower of Flutters stencil, spritzed over the ink with water and then laid the stencil, ink side down, onto the tag

I gave the stencil a quick press down using a paper towel ....... this also mops up any excess ink and water ....... and then gently lifted the stencil off the tag, leaving the butterflies in this pretty watercolour effect behind

Once it was dry, I stamped the words over the top using Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink   I left my tag to dry naturally but, you could use a heat tool to speed things up if you don't like waiting 

I also heat embossed the sentiment with a clear powder ..... this makes the ink colour a little more intense.  This fab sentiment is called All Your Heart from the STAMPlorations Say it Big series

A few ink splatters here and there, and a couple of shimmery sequins and a few dots of glitter glue adds some sparkle to the tag ......

And to finish off, I inked around the edges with a little Wilted Violet Distress Oxide and added a bow from ribbon dyed using the same inks I'd used to colour the butterflies.

Hop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more Things With Wings inspiration and all the details on how to play along and join in with the Linky party ..... there's prizes up for grabs!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off back to the craft room, finding room to put my new goodies that came home with me from the Happy Stampers show at Port Sunlight last weekend.
What a fab day we had ...... we laughed and chatted all day.  It was so nice to catch up with everyone, some I only see once a year at this event!  I even managed to find time to shop ......

Now I need to find time to play with it all.

Cheerio until next time ......

Things with Wings Blog Hop and Linky Party

Hello again .....

I said it was going to be a busy month ..... what with new releases, the usual Blog challenges, a workshop, trip across to the UK for my favourite craft show and of course we've got the Isle of Man TT in a little over 3 weeks.   Get all that over with, and we're off on holiday again!

But first it's time to get this month's Blog challenges underway.
This is going to be fun. We're starting May with the STAMPlorations Things With Wings Blog Hop and Linky Parties
All of the STAMPlorations girls are joining forces for ONE, month long Blog Hop.  That's 31 days of Blog hopping fun, celebrating Spring and Anything with Wings!

Why not join in the fun, it's easy ....... create a winged-themed project and link it up to one, or all of the STAMPlorations challenges.
All the challenges are back to their usual launch dates, it's just we'll all have the same theme .... Things with Wings
The TAGplorations team are getting things started,  and to play along here you need to create a tag, or a project with a tag (or tags) on it somewhere, and don't forget those 'wings'

I put my tag on a card ....... a simple tag, cut from plain white cardstock using the CUTplorations Manila Tag Nesting Dies.
I then coloured the tag using Distress Oxide inks ....... swiped directly onto the tag then blended with a baby wipe, before stamping with the STAMPlorations Trendy Leaves using the same colours of Oxide inks, to create the look of layers.

I added some splatters to the background and used the edge of an old credit card to put a little more detail on there with some lines of white paint

The birds were cut from a snippet of coloured card from my scrap box, using the CUTplorations For the Birds dies  and again from plain white cardstock.

I cut the branch off the coloured version leaving just the birds, and I coloured just the branch on the white one.
I brushed around the edges of the birds with a little Vintage Photo Distress ink to give them a bit more definition, before layering them onto the white die cut, sitting them back on their branch.

The sentiment is from the co-ordinating For the Birds stamp set 

Now it's your turn .... what will you create?
If you link up a project you'll be in with a chance of winning some fab prizes ......

• $15 Gift Certificate for the winner, voted for by the Design Team and
• two randomly chosen winners of a $5 Gift Certificate each.

You can link up as many projects as you like, just remember to follow the rules for each challenge. And make sure that each entry has it's own Blog post. You don't have to use STAMPlorations products by the way ..... but it would be great if you did!

Happy hopping!

We're definitely celebrating Spring here at the moment, the weather has been beautiful for the last few days and we've been making the most of it.  Well we did get some new garden furniture at the weekend so it would have been a shame not to use it ........

It's been BBQ every evening ......... it's great, hubby won't let me near to do any cooking, all I have to do is brush it clean when he's finished ....... pity it doesn't work like that in the kitchen!

I did do this though ........

Spicy bourbon marinated beef rib ..... slow cooked on a low heat. Yum!!!

There's no cooking for me tonight either ....... we're on the leftovers this evening, after a nice G&T in the garden I think ......

Lauren brought us this back from her trip to the Lake District ..... Grasmere Gingerbread (possibly THE best gingerbread in the world!) and a new gin to try ...... cheers!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time ....

Let's start the week with a challenge ......

Happy Monday ......

And big Hello to all you STAMPlorations fans!
Thank you to all who played along with our January challenges.  Don't forget to check back on Feb 10th to see if you are one of our lucky winners. And get ready, because there's a whole load of brand new products on their way over the next three months.  But ... we also want to let you all know that for the next couple of months we are going to do things a little bit differently here on the Blog.

You've probably heard that there's been a new addition to the STAMP family.  Sherry's gorgeous little girl ... Winter, came into the world back in December.  So in order to give Shery a little time to catch her breath after the birth, and to adjust to daily life with two little ones, as well as running the store, we're going to take a little 'Winter' break.

Instead of all the different monthly STAMPlorations challenges, there will be just one challenge each month.  It will have a theme, and as long as you follow the theme, any type of project is welcome!
We will return to our regular challenge program in May.

The rules are simple ......

• create any type of project .... cards, mixed media, tags etc. as long as you follow the theme
• STAMPlorations products are not a requirement .... but we would love to see them
• Enter as many times as you like as long as each entry has it's own blog post
• You must display the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge page to qualify for the prizes
• You must comment on the entry before yours in the gallery ...... lets spread the love
• And for an extra chance to win, comment on the challenge post AND the Designers Blog posts throughout the month.

Prizes ......
TWO (2) winners of a $25 Gift certificate .... randomly drawn from all the entries
ONE (1) winner of a $25 Gift Certificate ...... randomly drawn from all the comments left on the Designers Blogs throughout the month.

Shery is also offering a generous 10% (no coupon code needed) off all stamps, stencils and dies in the store from February through to April.
Go on .... why not play along.

So .... the theme for February is ..... PAINT IT RED
Create a project with a love theme .... or the colour red in it!

Now normally it would be the CAS Card Challenge for me so I've stuck with that and,  as it's February, it had to have a love theme for Valentine's Day,  and the red bit was easy

I've used the pretty CUTplorations Clustered Hearts Die ....... and cut it from, Pink and Red Glitter card and again from a beautiful matte Red Mirri card

I then cut the hearts from a piece of white cardstock and stamped the words underneath (from the STAMPlorations Pocket Blooms)

I then mixed and matched the various hearts from my coloured die cuts and inlaid them into the cut out in the white card ..... gorgeous!

Now it's your turn to join in the fun.  Create your project and link it to the challenge blog.  Follow the simple challenge rules and you could be one of our winners.

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.

I'm off to pack the last of the boxes ready for the move tomorrow.  Removal men arrive first thing and we should be in the new place by late afternoon ..... can't wait!

Cheerio until next time ....

STAMPlorations CAS Challenge .......

Happy Thursday ......

The weekend is almost here ..... have you got anything nice planned?  Me ..... I'll be spending most of it packing I think.  Just a few bits and bobs to finish off in the craft room, then it's time to pack it all into boxes ready for the move.

Today, it's time for a quick reminder of this month's STAMPlorations CAS Card challenge ......

The theme, as always, is Anything Goes with the optional colour twist this month of ..... SILVER

I've used the colour twist for my sentiment ...... heat embossed one the stamps from the STAMPlorations  Typografia range
I do love these stamps, there's some fabulous words and phrases suitable for all kinds of projects.  The one I've used here is called Plan A ........

I stamped it onto white card, heat embossed in silver and then die cut around it with a stitched circle die from my stash.

Leaving the die in place I added a touch of colour over the words using Distress Ink.  Leaving the die means that you get this crisp white edges around the design ...... it gives the look of layering without having to use the cardstock.

I used the CUTplorations Upper Case Alphabet Plate Die to cut the letters for the background and attached  them randomly around the edges of a piece of white cardstock.  I love doing this, it gives such a great effect, it looks like embossed card almost

I also added a few to the inside too ......

You can find all the challenge details over on the STAMPlorations Blog along with lots more inspiration from the rest of the DT .... why not pop over and take a look.

Happy stamping!

Thanks for stopping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time ......