Tutorial for Stamping Colorful + Monochrome Chevrons

Hi friends!

I posted a monochrome chevron card yesterday and as promised, I'm back today with a tutorial on how to stamp the look... Along with a colorful sample.  

Before heading to the tutorial I want to mention about the sentiment used in today's card: it's from a new STAMPlorations set that will be released in May. See the image above? Don't you think the sets look fab! :)

So, onto the tutorial. I'm sorry the quality of the photos is maybe not that perfect... But I hope you are able to get the idea anyways! 

Let's start with the monochrome chevrons. This is the card from yesterday in case you missed it: 

Monochrome Chevrons

You'll need: 

*a chevron stamp by STAMPlorations (get it here) 

*a pad of ink

*card for stamping

*some patience and good working light!

Ink your stamp and stamp the first chevron. The stamp has 3 chevrons so this is what you get with your first stamping:

Without re-inking the stamp, stamp the next chevron on top of the bottom chevron of your already stamped image. You'll now get 2 new chevrons in a lighter shade. You are able to do this because the stamp is see-through: by hovering the stamp on top of your already stamped image (good light is essential) you'll see where to stamp. When you press down the stamp, do it slowly -if you move slowly you can still work on the placement on your way down. :)

Again, without re-inking the stamp, stamp the "3rd generation" on top of the bottom chevron on your card. This is what you see after that:

Now ink your stamp again and stamp on top of the bottom chevron on your card. You now have one complete pattern: 3 dark chevrons, 2 medium blues and 1 light blue. Continue stamping until you are happy with the amount of chevrons! 

That was the monochrome chevron! Then to the colorful one...

Colorful Chevrons
You'll need:
*a chevron stamp by STAMPlorations (get it here)
*several pads of PIGMENT ink
*card for stamping
*some patience and good working light... Yep... Those again! :)

The way you stamp the chevrons is exactly the same as in stamping the monochrome chevrons: the new stamping is always on top of the last, already stamped chevron. This time you must clean the stamp between the colors. See how the use of pigment inks creates new color shades when they are stamped on top of each other? Fun, right!

That's it! I hope my tutorial made any sense: sometimes it's difficult to find a good way to explain things in English. Anyways, please ask if there's any questions and thanks for popping by!

I'd like to enter today's card to Fusion Card Challenge (my 2nd entry).

Belated Birthday Wishes for Cornelia!

Hi friends!
Shery, the owner and designer of STAMPlorations has organized a little belated birthday happening for our DT member Cornelia, she celebrated her birthday last weekend. Did you think we forgot, Cornelia? We didn't! :) You can see the cards the DT members have made for Cornelia in STAMPlorations Challenge Blog. I hope you like the cards, Cornelia!

I've used  VIGNETTE: Chevron and Arrows in my card. The stamping technique I used for creating these monochrome chevrons is quite fun and I'll have a little tutorial on how to achieve this look in my blog tomorrow... Along with a colorful chevrons card. I hope you'll pop by to check it out!

I'd like to enter:
http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.fi/2014/04/cfc131.html Three of something in 1/3 of my card: Three shades of blue in my chevron panel.
http://fusioncardchallenge.blogspot.fi/ Photo Inspiration

Have a great weekend everyone! And I hope your birthday was fab, Cornelia! :)

Color Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hi friends!

Time for a new Inkspirational Challenge! We have a color challenge for you:

 Pink and Green

 You may use all the shades of pink and green + neutrals and realistic colors for hair/fur.

Since I've had the luxury of spending a bit more time for crafting lately I chose to color in a detailed image for a Mother's Day card: "Äidille" is Finnish for "For Mother". The beautiful girl stamp comes from Whiff of Joy and I colored it with Copics. I wanted to keep the layout really simple and added only a doily as a backdrop for the image. I've got the patterned paper as a gift from a good stamping friend, either from Sandie or Milla -both girls have given me pretty papers and they are now in the same pile. :) 

There's some fabulous DT cards in the challenge blog, do check them out! We also have a guest designer: Alycia from  Happy Chick Designs. She has a very fun blog, don't miss it! I hope see you joining us with your pink and green projects... See you at Inkspirational! 

CASEing Virginia Lu at TIME OUT Challenges!

My card

Virginia's Card

Hello friends!
Time for another challenge at TIME OUT Challenges! This time we have a CASE challenge for you: we are CASEing the fabulous Virginia Lu. If you are not familiar with Virginia's blog Yes, Virginia I hope you check it out asap -you'll be very inspired! I love the card Virginia created for our inspiration -the colors really make me think of tropical summer... Something we only dream of here in Northern Finland. :)  Needing more ideas on how to CASE this particular card by Virginia? Check out TIME OUT challenge blog for many fun DT cards and all the challenge details.

I used the Doodlie-Do stamps from Papertrey Ink to create my dimensional flower. I stamped the leaves several times and made a 3d "bed" out of them for my flower. All the coloring in is done with Copics. I also added dots with a white gel pen to the flower. The papers are from Graphic45 -I love them and this was the second time I was able to use them -I've had the pad for 2 years soon! The papers are too beautiful to cut. :) I can't wait to see all the CASE cards that you guys make -see you at TIME OUT Challenges!

I'd like to enter the following challenges:
http://ablognamedhero.blogspot.fi/2014/04/challenge-42-layer-cake.html Layers

Card for Mom!

Hi friends!
Here's a card I made for some challenges... So great to have time to craft again! My layout was inspired by a tutorial at Online Card Classes Clean and Simple 3 -awesome class, I highly recommend it. I used Mom Subway Art Builders by STAMPlorations in creating my card. I think I mixed 4 of the stamps sets in making this layout -it was a lot of fun! The colored inks I used are Memento and my black ink is Versafine, it's my favorite black and gives beautiful coverage. The Mom Subway Art stamps are only 6,50 $ each and very versatile -not only for moms but for friendship and love themed cards too!

The challenges I'd like to enter are:
http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.fi/: "Makes me smile". Mom makes me smile -most of the time!! ;) and so does this color scheme and the new layout I tried. I hope I have enough white space for LIM... I couldn't resist on the yellow matting layer either! Just remove my card if it's not CAS enough. :)
http://musecardclub.blogspot.fi/ I was inspired by the beautiful color scheme of Marion's card
http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.fi/ Say it with words

Muse inspiration card:



Thanks for popping by and have great week everyone! I'll see you on Thursday with the new TIME OUT Challenge.

New Sketch Challenge at STAMPlorations!

Hello friends!
This is my first post for 1,5 weeks... I think this is my longest blogging break since I started! Anyways, all good here, have just been busy with work and visiting family. Now I'm back to my normal routines and you can expect to see some cards from me again!

Above is my DT make for the new sketch challenge at STAMPlorations. I think the sketch is super cool and I hope to see you playing along! The design team has created fab samples for you... And so has our talented guest designer Carol. Carol is a regular player at STAMPlorations and has a very fun card making style. Congrats on your GDT spot and welcome to STAMplorations, Carol!

My card follows the sketch almost exactly. I wanted to play with fun colors and the pouches photo at CASE Study provided great inspiration: I tried to go for the same, colorful look of the filled pouches in the photo. I'd also like to share my card at  A Blog Named Hero/Layered Cake: my card has not only layered cardstock but layered stamping too! :) The stamps sets I've used are Retro Mod Shapes and VIGNETTE: Chevron and Arrows.

Before I go I'd like to remind you of the April Prize Pack at  STAMPlorations (photo below). If you have played along in the two previous challenges in April (the monthly challenge is still running) and now enter the current sketch challenge, you have a change to get the April Prize. There's prizes in all our individual challenges too... So there's many changes to win! Happy crafting!

Birthday Theme at TIME OUT Challenges!

Hello friends!
Wow, what a fortnight we had at TIME OUT Challenges! We were amazed by the amount of entries and happy that so many of you have found us. Now it's time for our theme challenge: Birthday with an Optional Twist of Masculine Birthday! The DT has made brilliant samples of both variants: head on over to the challenge blog to check them out. We also have our first ever GDT joining us: very talented Bev from the Sweetest of Peas is with us this fortnight. Congratulations and Welcome, Bev! :)

My card follows the optional twist and is a birthday card for one of my colleagues that I work very closely with. I hardly ever talk about anything else than crafting here in my blog but this time I thought I'd share little something with you. This was the second time I made a card for a co-worker and I was SO nervous about it again... It might be because of the field where I work at: I'm a classical musician working in a symphony orchestra and since what we do is to try to reach for "the perfect results" all days long, presenting a home made card with personal touch is really scary -I tend to think my crafting should have the same professional level than my playing! I know I shouldn't take it so seriously but I get very self conscious about my card making... There's only one lady at work that knows about my blog -some others know that it exists but I've refused to give the web address because I feel so shy about it! I wonder if anyone else is the same as me? However, my colleague loved his card, he asked who had made it and when he heard it was me he was stunned saying he had no idea I was artistic in this way too... Yep, a secret stamper, that's me! He has a green beetle so the stamp was perfect for him and he is sort of a retro guy so that was the look I was after.

Anyways, enough blah-blahing about my self-esteem issues and back to TIME OUT Challenges! We have 2 prizes on offer from Uniko Studio. We are very proud to have the Uniko Studio's owner and designer Bev in our DT! You are great, Bev! 

We'll draw one random winner between those who make a masculine birthday card: that winner will receive a 15 £ gift card to Uniko Studio. The DT will also select one winner from all the entries and that winner will receive Today, Tomorrow & Always Time  stamp set along with Graphic Flowers die set (images below). Great prizes, right? I hope to see you joining us! Thanks for reading this long post all the way to the end... And happy crafting!

I'd like to enter:
http://www.withoutwordschallenge.blogspot.fi/ Gentlemen Only (I used Copics for my beetle)
http://thecraftingcafe.blogspot.co.uk/ One for the boys

New Sketch Challenge at STAMPlorations!

Hi friends!
Time for the first sketch challenge of April at  STAMPlorations! The sketch is very versatile and there's fab DT inspiration in the challenge blog -very inspired interpretations. We also have a new guest designer: Kathy from Stamps At Play. Do visit her fun blog!

A you see, I have been a naughty DT member and placed my sentiment wrong -that's what happens when you check the sketch 2 weeks before making your card and then don't make sure you remember the sketch right... Luckily our lovely leader Shery said my take would do. :) The STAMPlorations stamps I've used are: Vignette: Eclectic Florals,  Distressed Floral Swirls and sentiment from PATCHWORK FRENZY: Graphic Squares. 

Our April Challenge is running for the whole month -the theme is Stamps and Techniques. The current sketch challenge runs until April 18th and then it's time for the next one -if you play along in all 3 challenges, you could win the April prize pack of great inks -photo below. The sketch challenges are sponsored by our sister shop All About Scrapping and the winner of monthly challenge gets to pick 2 stamp sets from STAMPlorations store. Plenty of fun for offer at STAMPlorations... And great prizes too! Happy crafting!

Stamps and Technique Challenge at STAMPlorations!

Hi guys!
April is here and the new challenges start at STAMPlorations! We have a very cool theme in our monthly challenge: techniques. The DT has made brilliant samples so do check them out. We also have a talented guest designer: Sian. Do visit her blog and leave her some love! :) As every month, STAMPlorations has 2 sketch challenges in addition to the monthly challenge... And if you play along in all 3 you could win the fab ink package you see in the photo above this text. All the individual challenges have prizes too so there's many possibilities to win.

I've used 3 STAMPlorations sets in my card: Vignette: Eclectic Florals,  MOM SUBWAY ART BUILDERS #3 and Distressed Floral Swirls. My techniques are masking and heat embossing. I did the background first (see the photos below) and heat embossed the sentiment on top -that really makes the sentiment pop from the background. I measured the stamp and used a pencil and ruler for sketching it's place in my card, stamped the background and then stamped the sentiment with black Versafine (my favorite black ink by the way) and heat embossed with clear powder. Very shiny IRL!

Okey. time to go now. I hope you liked my little card! See you at STAMPlorations!