November Stamp Release Blog Hop at STAMPlorations!

Welcome to Day 2 of the November Stamp Release Blog Hop here at STAMPlorations! For complete info on our hop, including how you can win stamps, click here.

Today, we're putting the spotlight on VIGNETTE: Eat Drink Be Merry. Plus we've got a special guest designer joining us, the talented Amy Tsuruta! We'll be picking one commenter to win this set so leave a comment here and on the rest of the STAMPlorations girls' posts for a chance to win the set.

And here's my project! I had some designer paper that made me think of newspapers... And that made me think about reading newspapers in some nice cafeteria... And obviously this stamp set is just perfect for anything coffee-related! I went with classic black and white look: I heat embossed my chosen images and sentiments with white powder on black card and combined them with my "love-themed newspaper". :)

Now I'd like to send you hopping! Enjoy!

*** The stops in the hop*** 

STAMPlorations Blog

Debra | Deepti | Kylie | Maria | Monika | Nonni | Shery | Shirley |Vicki

Special Guest Designer: Amy Tsuruta

November Blog Hop at STAMPlorations!

It's stamp release month at STAMPlorations! Every day in the next 5 days, the other STAMPlorations girls and I will be sharing projects we created featuring the new stamps. Visit and leave a comment on all the stops on the hop for a chance to win.

FIVE (5) lucky hoppers randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win a stamp set from the November release and ONE (1) lucky hopper randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win a $25 gift certificate to use towards products in the STAMPlorations shop. You have until Tuesday, November 25, 11:55 p.m. PST (GMT -800) to comment here and on my fellow designers' posts for a chance to win. Winners will be announced on the STAMPlorations blog on Friday, November 28.

Today, we're putting the spotlight on Rosebuds, the stamp set designed by Shirley Bampton. We'll be picking one commenter to win this set so leave a comment here and on the rest of the STAMPlorations girls' posts for a chance to win the set.

And here's my project! I've been obsessed with blue this fall and wanted to use the beautiful Rosebuds set for another blue card... I love the way this turned out! I colored the flowers with Copics and used also white gel pen for highlighting. 

Now I'd like to send you hopping! Enjoy everyone's work!

*** The stops in the hop*** 

STAMPlorations Blog

Debra | Deepti | Kylie | Maria | Monika | Nonni | Shery | Shirley |Vicki

Pinecones... Leaves... And a TIME OUT Reminder!

Hi guys!

I have two simple Christmas cards for you today, both stamped with the same Simon Says Stamp Holly Berries stamp set. I tried this stamp set from Milla and nowadays also have it in my own collections -what a beautiful and versatile set! And no one paid me to say this. :)

My first card is inspired our current Home Sweet Home Photo Inspiration Challenge at TIME OUT here. The photo has so many elements to be inspired by and this time I chose only the pinocones and went to a different direction with the color palette. I hope you'll join us, there's still about a week to play along! I've used a pretty large sentiment stamp in Finnish in both of my cards today -it says "Warm Christmas Wishes and Happy New Year".  I'd like to enter this card to CASology: Festive.

Here's the TIME OUT inspiration photo:

Then my second card! No pinocones or frozen branches now but leaves and berries in a very traditional colored Christmas card. The inspiration comes from the photo at Festive Friday: my leaves and berries mimic the wreath in the photo. 

Festive Friday inspiration photo:

Thanks for popping by everyone, I hope you liked my cards today! 

Shine at Inkspirational!

Hi friends!

We have a new challenge for you at Inkspirational! It's "Shine", a very cool word prompt! "Shine" is perfect for Christmas cards or feminine birthday cards isn't it... So do play along! If you need more inspiration, check out the wonderful DT cards in the challenge blog. Our guest designer this time is Rocky and I'm sure she'd love you to pop by at her blog too! 

My card is stamped with a beautiful Peny Black stamp I got to try out from Milla when we met IRL a couple of weeks ago. She challenged me to go all wild with Stickles... This to me means using the Stickles straight from the bottle and not over-cautiously applying it with a brush or a needle... And that's what I've done here with red Stickles. :) The silver matting card adds a bit more shine to the card. The sentiment is Finnish and means "Christmas Peace". The Stickles has a beautiful, glittering shine... It's a shame these things are so hard to photograph! 

Have a fun weekend everyone and I hope to see you playing along at Inkspirational.

Stamps and Layers at STAMPlorations!

Hello friends! 

November... The dark, gloomy, nobody's favorite month... But another great month at STAMPlorations! :) Our first sketch challenge of this month is already running here and now it's time for the monthly challenge: Stamps and Layers. Remember that if you play along in all our 3 challenges this month you have a chance to win a monthly prize pack in addition to winning at all individual challenges... So don't miss any of the fun! Our winners get a chance to guest design at STAMPlorations and this time the guest designer is Lee-Anne. I'm sure she'd love you to pay her a visit and leave her some love! Welcome to STAMPlorations, Lee-Anne! 

In my card I've used the soon to be released VIGNETTE: Trendy Leaves stamp set. We are having a blog hop from 17th to 21st of November where we'll introduce all the new stamps... Have a look at the image below so you'll see how they look like! I'm sure you've already seen our wonderful DT use these stamps in blogland... And soon you can buy your own stamps! In fact, the stamps can be bought as a set already, they are on bundle sale -read all about it here. 

I stamped the leaves using two different shades of Memento ink in all of them. You can find instructions to the technique I used for stamping my layers by typing "triple stamping" to google. To be exact my stamping is only double though! :)

Have a good weekend everyone and I hope to see you at STAMPlorations! 

Home Sweet Home Photo Inspiration at TIME OUT!

Hi guys!

We have a new challenge for you at TIME OUT! It's our Home Sweet Home photo inspiration and I just LOVE the photo this time -there's so much to be inspired by! I went with the color palette and earthy, natural feel and texture. I'm normally a very, very slow card maker but this card came together in 5 minutes... I had previously cut the burlap paper (DCWV) to size and heat embossed the Finnish Christmas sentiment with white powder on vellum... I also had some die cuts I've got as a gift from Loll on my desk and before I knew it, this little card was all ready! I'm quite pleased how this turned out. Yay! Magically, when adhering the doily's edge just where the edge of the vellum is, you can't see any border or overlapping -it looks very pretty and neat.

I hope you will be as inspired by our inspiration photo as I was! We have lots of beautiful DT inspiration in our challenge blog so do head on over there... And don't forget to visit our guest designer Toni -I love the pinecone card she made, you don't want to miss it! After some internet surfing... take TIME OUT and join us! :)

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Thanks to Shauna's suggestion I'm entering my card to Mod Squad Challenge: Doilies. Thanks Shauna! :)

New Sketch at STAMplorations

Hi friends!

We have a new, fun sketch for you at STAMPlorations! The Design Team along with our talented guest designer Ingrid has made fab samples -don't forget to check them out and leave the girls some love! 

In my card I've used VIGNETTE: Trendy Feathers for stamping the background. VIGNETTE: Trendy Feathers is one of the new stamps to be released on November 15th and the stamps are now on a bundle sale -buy them all for just 42 dollars! Read more about the offer here... And this is how the stamps look like:

I inked the leaves with two different Memento inks using the "rolling technique" -no idea actually if it's called that or not... But you roll the edges of stamp on top of a darker ink pad after first inking the whole stamp with lighter ink. I also used a falling snow stencil with embossing paste and some vellum in my card. The sentiment (from Sentiment Builders: Dare) is stamped with Versafine and heat embossed with clear powder: thank you everyone who gave me this tip a few weeks ago when I messed up Debra's birthday card with vellum and ink that didn't dry! :) 

Okey, time for me to dare to go out with the dog now -the weather here has been disgusting for some days... Snow, rain, minus degrees, plus degrees, WET snow, rain... We are in the rain-mode now. I'll imagine the impossible -in November in Finland- the Sun. :) Have a fun day everyone and I hope to see you at STAMPlorations!