A little reminder for the STAMPlorations CAS card challenge ......

Happy Thursday ......

It's time for a quick reminder about this months CAS Card challenge over at STAMPlorations.  As always Anything Goes ..... CAS (Clean and Simple) that is, with the Optional Colour Twist of Magenta for the month of May .......

You don't have to use the colour twist .... you don't have to use STAMPlorations products, but it would be fabulous if you did!

I've gone for both .......

I've used the STAMPlorations stamp set City Girl from the Bees Knees collection
I simply stamped the lady onto a piece of white card, uisng black Versafine ink.  I added colour to her coat using the Adirondak ink Soft Plum, and then I fussy cut around her.

I added a touch of black to her hair, and the belt on her jacket and then gave the belt and her sunglasses a thin coat of Glossy Accents to give a touch of shine.

For the background I used the acetate technique for smooshing the ink onto my card ...... I applied some ink onto a craft sheet, spritz with water then used a piece of acetate to pick up some of the ink. I then dabbed the acetate onto a piece of white card applying the ink randomly to create my background.

Once this was dry I used another of the stamps from the City Girl set to add some extra detail to the background, and embossed with a white detail embossing powder

I then attached the lady onto my card using foam pads to add dimension .....

and finished everything off with a sentiment, again from the same stamp set

More smooshing and another fab stamp from the City Girl set inside

Have you entered the challenge yet ..... there's still plenty of time.  Pop over to the STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog for more inspiration from the Design Team and full details on how to enter .... Happy stamping!

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

Cheerio until next time

Take a Stamp .... any stamp

Good morning!
Happy Friday folks ......

I'm still across in the UK and having a ball!!.  There's been the craft retreat, an SU workshop, we've done some sewing.  We've lunched out, there's been a spot of retail therapy, had a fantastic Indian meal out last night ...... and there's still more fun to come. I don't go home until Monday so roll on the weekend.

But .... as it's the first Friday of the month there's also the launch of May's Craft Stamper challenge.
This month it's the turn of Take a Stamp .... so that means Anything Goes as long as there's rubber stamping on there somewhere.
Don't forget .....

• you can enter up to three projects ......
• linkyour entry back to your actual challenge post not just your blog
• include a link to the Craft Stamper Challenge blog
• and please ...... only ONE project per post

This month the challenge is sponsored by ....... Designs by Georgina

And the lucky challenge winner will receive this fantastic bundle ......

Three fabulous stamp sets AND three brand new release stencils ...... great prize!

As always there's the Design Winner too ..... chosen by the DT.  Full details can be found over on the Craft Stamper blog

I've been playing with one of the new  Eclectica stamps set from PaperArtsy,  designed by the very talented Kim Dellow ...... EKD02

I just love these little birds!

I've kept things reasonably clean and simple ..... a nice quick and easy background made by smooshing Distress Inks onto a piece of acetate, spritzed with a little water and then transferred the ink to my piece of card by gently dabbing the acetate onto the card, building up the depth of colour as I went along

I stamped the branch for the birds to sit on, directly onto the card and coloured it using Distress Inks.
I also stamped the birds directly onto the card ..... sat on the branch ...... and then stamped them again on a separate piece of card, added some colour and fussy cut around them (minus the legs!!)

I layered  the coloured birds onto my card using foam pads for a bit of dimension .....

And then finished off  with  a few words ...... all the stamps I've used for the front of my card are from the same stamp set ......... EKD02

As always I've added a little something on the inside ......

More acetate smooshing .......  a Tim Holtz sentiment which I thought went quite well and more of those cute little birdies ....

Now it's over to you ..... Happy stamping!!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day and have a fab weekend.
I'm off to Port Sunlight tomorrow for the Happy Stampers Art Festival ..... my first craft show of the year!!

There's a whole group of us going so it should be a fun day. Hopefully I'll see some of you there.

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

STAMPlorations CAS Challenge ......

Happy Thursday ......

Welcome to the STAMPlorations CAS Challenge for the month of March.  It's a busy week for challenges this week!
This month, as always the theme is Anything Goes ...... with an optional colour twist of .....

YELLOW

nice and bright, well ....... spring is just around the corner!

Here's a little inspiration piece for you ...... using the lovely Winged Things stamp set from the Bees Knees range at STAMPlorations

I've done a little bit of smooshing for the background, using a piece of acetate to apply the ink.  This is so much fun to do, and a little bit more controllable than the regular way of smooshing. You can actually see where the colour is going, and you can use the acetate to place the ink just where you want it.
There's a fab, simple tutorial over on YouTube by Laura Bassen ..... pop over and take a look and then why not give it a go ...... I'm hooked!!

I swiped Squeezed Lemonade and Mustard Seed Distress Inks onto my piece of acetate, spritzed them with water then smooshed them onto the centre(ish) of a piece of white cardstock

I kept dabbing the acetate onto the card to give darker patches of colour here and there ..... see what I mean, much more controllable.
Once this was dry I stamped those cute little butterflies on the top using a black Versafine ink.

Using a clean paintbrush I applied some water over the wings of the butterfly and then using the tip of the brush I added in some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.  Because the card was already wet, the ink just spread itself around giving this lovely shaded watercolour effect .... so simple!
 
I kept adding a little bit more colour to the centre, letting it spread, until I was happy with the shading.

The sentiment is from Noteworthy and is simply stamped with the Black Versafine ink

I finished off with a few spatters of Picked Raspberry Distress ink here and there .....

I smooshed a little on the inside too ....... and added some more butterflies.

You don't have to use the Colour Twist and you don't have to use STAMPlorations products to enter the challenge ..... although it would be lovely if you did.

Check out the Challenge post for all the details and you'll also find lots more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team...... happy stamping!

As this is the first outing that my Winged Things have had (another stamp set that's just had it's first inking!) I'm going to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #6

It's already Day 3 over there and there's some fabulous entries.  Just goes to show we're all the same when it come to NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) ..... we've all got loads!!!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
We've got blue skies and sunshine over here ..... a huge change from yesterday.  Let's hope it lasts over the weekend ..... did I mention it's my birthday on Saturday (sorry!!) and we've got Mother's Day on Sunday.  Guess who's looking forward to their weekend!!!

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx