A New Challenge at TIME OUT!

Hi friends!
It's time for a new challenge at TIME OUT Challenges, yay! We have one of our theme challenges for you and it is "celebrations" with the optional twist of butterflies. As always, if you follow the twist, you have a chance of winning the sponsor prize... And our current sponsor is STAMPlorations! Shery from STAMPlorations is giving away two stamp sets for the draw: one set is drawn between those who follow the twist and one between those who use STAMPlorations stamps in their entry (with or without the twist). How cool is that!

In my DT card I used several STAMPlorations stamps: Distressed Floral Swirls, Sentiment Builders: Celebrate and one sentiment out of the sentiment block of VIGNETTE: It's Your Day . I also used a splatters stencil inking through it lightly with a make up brush (a big bronzer/blusher brush). This was a tip from Monika and it works with stencils a lot better than a normal ink blending tool I think! Thank you Monika!

I hope you'll now head on over to TIME OUT challenge blog for checking out the rest of the DT cards -they are stunning as always. We are also enjoying of the talent of Sarah G: she is our guest designer for the second time, winning two challenges is a row! Well done Sarah. :) Have a great day everyone and I hope to see you at TIME OUT!

STAMPlorations Spotlight Project: DIY Card Bases and Heat Embossing

 

Hi guys!
Nice to be back blogging: I've been on holidays and have missed our crafty internet community! Today I'm back with a Spotlight Project for STAMPlorations using Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments. I made the card bases myself using card scraps -I'd love you to head on over to STAMPlorations Blog where I'm sharing my tips on how I made them. There's lots of other spotlight inspiration there too... Together with our current challenges. Don't miss all the fun! :)

I'd like to enter the purple card to Less Is More: Anything Goes -Happy Birthday Chrissie! And the shabby brown card is for House of Cards: Use a bow. Thanks for popping by... I hope to see you at STAMPlorations!

New Sketch Challenge at STAMPlorations!

Hi friends!
It's time for the second sketch challenge of July at STAMPlorations! We have a versatile sketch with plenty of room for interpretation -do check out the inspiring DT samples by our regular DT and our talented guest designer Sue here!

The stamp set I've used is Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments, one of my current STAMPlorations favorites! I also stamped text borders with word stamps from Sentiment Builders: Celebrate. I colored one of the images with Copics. The sentiment is heat embossed with white powder. I hope to see you playing a long at STAMPlorations -don't forget our monthly challenge, Stamps and Glitter, is also still running here! Feel free to combine the two current challenges. Happy crafting!

Spash!

Hi friends!
We have a fun new challenge at Inkspirational: it's a word prompt, Splash! I immediately thought about a splatter stencil I have and created a quick CAS card with stencil, ink, STAMPlorations sentiment (from the set Sentiment Builders: Celebrate) and some green rhinestones. Linen textured base card adds a sophisticated touch I think!

The design team at Inkspirational never fails to inspire... Do check out their cards from the challenge blog! As always, we also have a guest designer: this time it's Cinni with her creative feathers card. Don't miss it! See you at  Inkspirational!

Photo Inspiration Time at TIME OUT!

Hi friends!

Already challenge #10 at TIME OUT Challenges... Time flies! :)

This fortnight we have our Home Sweet Home Challenge for you: it's a photo inspiration challenge with a homely twist -our photos gain influence from interior design. The photo this time is especially fun and versatile -check out all the DT cards from the challenge blog for getting good ideas! In my own card I used a stamps from Papertrey Ink and STAMPlorations (the sentiment).

Our guest designer this time is Sarah G from Funky Fossil Designs, we are thrilled to have her as our guest -she has actually won 2 challenges in a row! :) Welcome to TIME OUT, Sarah.

This is a super quick post, as I said in the beginning, time seems to fly these days... I hope to see you playing along at TIME OUT!

Combining Contemporary and Vintage Elements!

HI friends!

I'm sharing my first spotlight project for STAMPlorations: I'm playing with a sentiment from Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments, a floral border from Distressed Floral Swirls and a silhouette stamp from VIGNETTE: Ever After. My goal in this card was to combine contemporary and vintage elements for a fun, young result. I'm sharing some additional photos + tips and tricks in STAMPlorations blog, here. I hope you'll head on over there and leave a comment on what you think about my card! :) Thanks for popping by! 

Happy Birthday, Monika!

Hi guys!
July is a busy month at STAMPlorations because many of the DT girls are celebrating their birthdays! Today we are celebrating Monika, Happy Birthday you lovely lady! I hope you are been spoiled today... Enjoy the cards you'll find in blogland!

I used two STAMPlorations stamp sets in my card: SENTIMENT BUILDERS: Celebrate and VIGNETTE: Eclectic Florals. Adding both enamel dots and pearls is inspired by my good friend Sandie: You started a trend, girl! I wanted to make a very feminine card so both ribbon and lace was needed... It all started to look a bit too girly girly but a grey card base saved me I think! :)

I hope you like your card, Monika. Enjoy your day!

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Darnell!

Hi guys!

I'm finally having a chance to enter Darnell's Linky Party at Ardyth's blog here. Darnell is an inspiring card making and a fantastic blogger: her posts are always very entertaining and funny! I hope you like the simple tag card I made for you although it's a couple of days late, Darnell! 

I made my first tag card last week and fell in love with the style... So I believe the new challenge blog Tag You're It! is going to see me playing along quite a lot! :) This tag card was inspired of the first challenge at Tag You're It where we are CASEing tags by Virginia Lu. I chose kraft, colors and stripes as my starting point. The stamps I used are STAMPloration sets VIGNETTE: It's Your Day and SENTIMENT BUILDERS: Celebrate.

Virginia's tag inspiration


I hope you like your card, Darnell! I'll end my post with some new photos of my schnauzer puppy Rafa. He seems very innocent doesn't he... Just scroll down to the last pic! :)

The size of those paws... He looks so funny! 

Behind him is one of his favorite toys: he loves chasing those sausages!

Too much play with the "blowfish", a nap is needed!

I'll eat you and that camera! :)

New Sketch Challenge at STAMPlorations!

Hi friends!
The second challenge in July at STAMPlorations has started, you'll find it here! It's a sketch challenge with a chance to win a GDT spot and some digital products from All About Scrapping. This sketch is very simple, versatile and easy to work with: I went very literal but do check out the other DT projects from the challenge blog. We are also glad to have the talented, always very friendly and supportive Monika Reeck as our guest designer this time. Welcome to STAMPlorations, Monika!

The girl image in my card is a STAMPlorations stamp but it's not released yet -this is sort of a teaser! :) I colored her with Copics and used sentiments from Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments  and VIGNETTE: Tree Silhouettes. I think she is super cute and it was fun to practice on coloring a pleated skirt with her. I added a flower with some punched leaves for embellishments. Black sentiments looked too dark so I chose dark brown for my ink color. A very simple card... But this girl will look fab in more layered cards too... When she is out on the market. :)

Don't forget the twist in in our challenges:

Participate in all 3 challenges we host this month and you'll be in the running to win this prize package courtesy of our sister shop, All About Scrapping. I hope to see you playing along at STAMPlorations! 

Happy Birthday Kylie!

So many birthdays in July, wow! This time I'm congratulating Kylie who is a very, very talented lady from Australia! She owns several challenge blogs and is a member in other DT:s too: we are teamies at STAMPlorations. I wanted to use my new STAMPlorations favorite Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments (paired with a sentiment from SENTIMENT BUILDERS: Celebrate) for Kylie's card and create a feminine look with pretty colors. My ribbon and bow seem to be all crooked in the photo but I'll make sure it looks pretty when I send it -sorry Kylie, this will be a belated birthday wishes card when it's in Australia... But hopefully it doesn't travel that long time than the card I send you some time ago! :) I sent Kylie a card some months ago and it was on it's way for one month or something... You can't always rely on post! Anyways, Loll has a linky party for Kylie in her blog and I'm joining in the fun of course... Thank you Loll for organizing! Happy Birthday Kylie!

Happy Birthday Shery!

Hi!
If you've come here from STAMPlorations blog then you know what this post is about: STAMPlorations design team is celebrating the birthday of our wonderful leader Shery, the owner and designer of STAMPlorations. We've all made cards for her and are also sharing thoughts about our favorite STAMPlorations stamps + our favorite literature! Shery is not only a stamp designer but does writing too so we thought she might want to hear what we like to read. :)

 I've created my card with stamps from two latest releases: Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments  and VIGNETTE:It's Your Day. The size of the Boxed Blooms flowers is a perfect match with the VIGNETTE sentiment block! I colored the flowers in with Copics and for me this didn't need anything else. I hope you like your card, Shery!

So, what's my favorite STAMPlorations stamp?
My favorite set has for a long time been Chevron and Arrows: I love stamping backgrounds with it and it's great for masculine cards too. However, Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments is becoming a new favorite: I love coloring in the flowers of this set and the font of the sentiments is just so COOL!

How about my taste for literature... I must confess that lately I've been mainly reading Craft Stamper and (slightly boring...) books related to my profession but I love books by John Irving, Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt and Donna Tart for example. I actually just found out they've translated Donna Tart's latest to Finnish -I must get that to my hands! :)

I'll end my post by telling Shery that she is an awesome, awesome girl! One of the greatest things that has happened to me in blogland has been to get to know her. I'm very proud to be in STAMPlorations design team and happy to be friends with this talented, creative, artistic girl. Happy Birthday Shery, I wish you a wonderful day!

Photo Inspiration at Inkspirational!

Hi guys!
It's time for a new challenge at Inkspirational. We are inspired by the fabulous painting above: it's by an 20th century American artist Ralph Cahoon. I just love the inspiration photos our Inkspirational leader Marina chooses for us! Very inkspirational! :) The design team has made stunning projects, don't forget to check them out.

I've used Avocado Arts stamps in creating my nautical scene. The blue designer paper is the same paper I used in my previous Inkspirational card: if you remember that one you'll notice it looks very different this time (view the card here!) I love how this one turned out -I'm always happy when I find a way to incorporate designer paper to a pretty much clean and simple card. I did some distress inking here too so the card has a sort of retroish color palette. That's all from me now... I hope you'll play along at Inkspirational this time! Happy crafting!

I'd like to enter:
http://www.4craftychicks.blogspot.fi/  Nautical

Stamps and Glitter at STAMPlorations!

Hello friends!
It's July and that means we have a new monthly challenge at STAMPlorations! Our theme this month is Stamps and Glitter, click here for all the challenge details. I like glitter but it's a pain to capture it to a photograph... I have used 2 different shades of Stickles in my flower from Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments but of course none of the shine is showing in the picture! You'll just have to believe me it glitters! :) This stamp set is one of my new favorites from STAMPlorations and it's on sale now -check it out here!  I found a black tag from my scraps box and decided to make a tag card -I think I haven't made one before but this was so much fun I'm pretty sure there will be more of these! The sentiment is heat embossed with white powder and the flower is colored with Copics before it got the Stickles coat. :)

Head on over to STAMPlorations challenge blog for being inspired of the fantastic DT projects by our guest designer Kimberly Wiener and our regular DT members. Play along and you might end up winning stamps or becoming a guest designer! If you play along in all 3 STAMPlorations challenges this month, you have a chance to win the monthly prize pack, check out the photo below... But all the individual challenges have prizes so there's many ways to win! See you at STAMPlorations!
I'd like to enter the following challenges:

http://stampinroyalty.blogspot.fi/ Keep It Simple
http://ablognamedhero.blogspot.fi/ Color In (I used Copics in my flower)

July Prize Pack at STAMPlorations

Fun in the Sun at TIME OUT Challenges!

Hi friends!
It's time for a new TIME OUT Challenge. Summer goes so fast... Especially when you have a little guy like this at home:

Hee hee! That's my puppy Rafa! He is a lot of work... But so funny and cute!

Okey, I'll resist the urge to tell funny Rafa-stories and tell you about our challenge and my card instead. :) This time we are inspired by words "Fun in the Sun": you can use the whole phrase as your inspiration or just some words like "fun" or "sun". My card is inspired by the whole phrase since wearing a bikini usually means having fun in the sun in the beach! :) The stamps I used come from Avocado Arts. I heat embossed the sun image with gold powder, stamped the owl with Memento and colored her with Copics. I know the color palette of this card is pretty wild but I guess fun in the sun can be wild! It was fun to make a card with many layers for a change.

As always, the DT at TIME OUT has made stunning cards for your inspiration. We have a guest designer too, Carol, and I know you'll love the cute tag she created with sponging and stamping. Play along at TIME OUT and you could be a guest designer too! Happy crafting!

I'd like to enter the following challenges:
http://pdelinkyparty.blogspot.fi/ Many Layers
http://citycrafter.blogspot.fi/ Let's Go to the Beach
http://sparklesforumchallenges.blogspot.fi/At the Beach/ Summer Fun