STAMPlorations 8th Birthday Celebration...Day 3 Featuring Birthday Bundle #3

Hello, 

WHEW! We are having a major heat wave here in Alberta; the meteorologists weren't kidding when they described this as an *historic event*! I'm beyond melting...good thing I have crafting as a distraction!

Welcome to Day 3 of STAMPlorations' 8th Birthday Celebration! Happy Birthday, STAMPlorations! Wishing you an awesome birthday and many, many more birthdays to come! 

I'm delighted to share a quartet of cards using the Birthday Bundle #3 collection.

My first card, which Shery shared last week as a 'teaser', uses the XOXO (at least, that's what I see when I look at it) art border die, repeatedly cut on a piece of cardstock, to fill the heart aperture. I paired it with a new So Loved sentiment and ta dahhh...a little lunch box note.

  

Again, I used the Art Borders die and the same sentiment to create a bunch of XOXOs mini slimline.

I'm not skilled with colouring florals, so I left this beautiful arrangement 'as is' for my third card. Black and white, with a touch of gold...simple and, I hope, striking. 

My final card was an 'experiment' using one section of the Design Blox Template #7 that has two half circles with triangle edges.  Every time I looked at it, I saw a 'sun' so...I went with the muse! First, I inked one circle half on my panel and the corresponding edges, then rotated the stencil several times to create a halo of rays. A couple cloud die outlines and a sentiment from So Loved completes my sunny card. Now, to figure out what else I can see in this Design Blox!  

This bundle, along with the two previous, is such fun!

Hope you'll hop along to see all the creativity with these new sets. 

Prizes to be had; it is a celebration, after all! 

Thank you for dropping by!

Inkspirational Challenge #242~Word Promp...Maritime Happy Birthday

Hello,

Welcome to Inkspirational Challenge #242, where our word prompt for the next two weeks is Maritime. I've only been as far east as Montreal in Canada; traveling to and thru our Maritime provinces is on my wish list! Perhaps, at some point, a LONG road trip will happen. 

Maritime images cover such a range of choices: boats, water/waves, beaches, fish, coast lines, rows of pretty houses with colour roofs...and so on. Choices galore! While I have a few 'beach' themed stamps/dies in my collection, I recently found a great sale on some patterned papers, two of which were from Carta Bella's By the Sea collection. Then, I went on a search for ideas on ways to use said paper -and landed on Kristie Marcotte's blog here. My stars: she is some talented, especially in creating multiple cards (in this case, 26!) from one 6x6 pad! I *ahem* borrowed one of her designs to case - or rather, pretty much copy. I love her designs and I managed, using sections of one of my 12 x 12 papers and the same Whimsy slimline die as she did, to create something I really like. Hope you do, too! 

Please check out my teammates' Maritimes marvels, then play along with us!

Marina, Shauna, Pia, Marlena, Lindsey

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #590~Photo Week...It's Just A Phase (P13 New Moon and PFS Constellation)

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #590, where our lovely hostess, Vicki, has selected this photo as our inspiration. 

Today, we bid "see you later' to our fabulous June guest designer - Fran Wing - whose cards, all month long, were fabulous! The one for this challenge is certainly no exception. Thank you, Fran, for sharing your creativity with us!  My teammates are delightfully talented, too! If you have a chance to drop in at their blogs and leave them some love, that would be so appreciated.

Truthfully, I found this a challenging photo, because I had sooooo many ideas! That said, most just didn't pan out as I had hoped. Happy recycle bin. Finally, my eyes landed on the New Moon collection by P13, one of my favourite paper companies. Inside, a piece of 'phases of the moon' caught my attention; a wonderful fit for the planets and darkness in the photo. A sentiment from PFS's Constellation set, added to stacked PFS label dies, plus a couple of stars, finished it off. It's hard to see the dimension between the sentiment/background in the photo; in real life, the contrast is visible.

That's it from me; looking forward to seeing how the photo inspires you!

Thank you for dropping by!

Sticker Monday for STAMPlorations (Part 3)...Stickers, Ephemera and Layering Dies

Hello and Welcome,

I'm back to share my finale Sticker Monday post with you today; a great chance for you to see how versatile these stickers can be, regardless of your crafting style.

I've made a trio of mini slimlines, featuring 'mini' stickers that, in my view, can have mega impact, particularly when placed on smaller canvases and simple designs.  The recipe for my three cards is the same: kraft+white base; a rectangle 'grounding' panel, a piece of a Watercolour ATC Journaling Card, cut into a square, a butterfly/dragonfly and, of course, the sticker sentiment. In all cases, the stickers were placed atop a coloured cardstock before cutting.  Truly, these cards - once I had an idea in place - were super easy and quick to make...and I LOVE how they turned out. Hope you think so, too.

Card 1

Hey, Sunshine

STAMPlorations Products:

Hey Sunshine - Clear Stickers

Flutter Zen 2 Layering Dies

Watercolor ATC Journaling Cards - Ephemera

Card 2

Yes, You Can

STAMPlorations Products:

Hey Sunshine - Clear Stickers

Flutter Zen 2 Layering Dies

Watercolor ATC Journaling Cards - Ephemera

Card 3

Be Amazing

STAMPlorations Products:

Hey Sunshine - Clear Stickers

Watercolor ATC Journaling Cards - Ephemera

Dragonfly Layering Dies (holographic paper...so pretty!)

I hope my cards have given you ideas for using your STAMPlorations stickers! 

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #589~Colour Week...Rainbow Sending Hugs Your Way (orange, poppy red, hot pink)

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #589, where Cécile, our Queen of CAS, invites us to use this lovely palette - orange, poppy red and hot pink - for our cards/projects this week. Vibrant and fresh...love it! 

Our guest designer for June, Fran Wing, along with my teammates, have created wonderful cards! If you have a chance to drop in at their blogs to leave them some love, that would be ever so appreciated. 

My sweet rainbow dies have come out for another play; I love that it works for a wide range of colour comboinations. If you need a hug, consider this one yours! 

That's it from me; looking forward to seeing how this trio of colours inspires you!

Thank you for dropping by!

The Color Hues Challenge #20~Aqua and Black...I'm Only A Phone Call Away (Sugar Pea Designs Vintage Phone)

Hello,

Welcome to Color Hues Challenge #20, where our lovely Sheri invites us to use hues of Aqua and Black as inspiration for the next two weeks. Such a pretty combination!

Time for my Sugar Peas Vintage Phone to make a debut...and oh, what a fun die set it is! The sentiments come from Call Me; together, these make a delightful 'old-fashioned' phone collection. 

The cute card frame dies also come with dies (separately) for creating a fit-to-size envelope...so I made one. Matchy-matchy!

Please visit the rest of the team, along with our guest designer, Trina; they've created quite the array of dazzling delights with Aqua and Black:

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

Karen

The challenge is open until 9:00 AM (EST) on June 29th.

 The winners will be posted an hour before our next challenge goes live (June 16th). 

The overall winner will have the opportunity to be a 

future Guest Designer!

Thank you for dropping by!

STAMPlorations Reminder Post June 2021 CAS Challenge~Anything Goes (optional colour twist: LIght Blue + Cream)...Succulent Thank You

Hello,

Welcome to my reminder post for the STAMPlorations June 2021 CAS Challenge, where Anything CAS Goes, with an optional colour twist which, this month is Light Blue and Cream.

My card features the Ovals Flexi-Template for the background, paired with an image from Thankful & Blessed and a sentiment from Thank You Coffee. I added some pencil colouring to the succulents, with the hope of giving them more depth. I think it worked!

That's it from me; time for you to play along.

• You can find Challenge details here. PLEASE READ as they've been updated.
• If you decide to purchase some of the products I - or other designers have used - head over to the STAMPlorations Online Store (always great deals to be had!)
• To receive an additional 20% off your purchases, I invite you to use my discount code: STAMPGIRLCAROL.

Thank you for dropping by!

Perfectly CAS June 2021 Challenge~One Corner...Woof Woof Happy Birthday (Waffle Flower)

Hello,

Welcome to the Perfectly CAS June 2021 Challenge, where this month we're inviting you to keep your design to ONE CORNER of your card. 

My new Waffle Flower Birthday Puppies set - specifically a die, stencil and a sentiment - got a test drive for this challenge. While the stenciling proved to be a tad more fiddly than I initially thought, once I figured out a 'how to' that worked for me - namely, die-cutting first, then stenciling - the results were much better.. The puppies in this collection are definitely cute...and you'll see more of what I made with them down the road.

Please be sure to pop by my teammates' blogs, leave them some love, then bring your Perfectly CAS One Corner creations to the gallery.

• A friendly reminder: For this challenge, we're asking you to use one-third (aka: the rule of thirds) or less on your card designs, leaving plenty of scrumptious white space (two-thirds of your panel) to draw our eyes to to your focal image. Kylie has included an easy-to-follow explanation on the challenge blog here.

Hope you're staying safe and healthy!

Thank you for dropping by!

Inkspirational Challenge#241~Designer's Choice: Slimline...Primarina Speech Bubbles Hello

Hello,

Welcome to Inkspirational Challenge #241, where Marlena has selected SLIMLINE as her Designer's Choice. So right up my alley! LOVE slimlines...full size, mini and everything in-between!

Yep...yet another of my Missees. I've used the Primarina collection and tried my hand at creating a speech bubbles background. She makes me smile. I'm not sure what I'll do with alllll the Missees I have in stock but...I'm sure I'll come up with something! Love them, I tell you!

Please check out my teammates' slimlines, then play along with us!

Marina, Shauna, Pia, Marlena, Lindsey

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #588~Trend Week: No Stamping...Assorted Missees Rub-ons and Die-Cuts

Hello,

Welcome! I'm delighted to be your hostess for Just Us Girls Challenge #588 where I've selected, as this week's theme: NO stamping. Instead, I invite you to use dies, stickers, ephemera, mixed media techniques, watercolouring..anything and everything that does *not* include stamping. Give your inks a well-deserved break *grin*

I'm sharing two cards that, yes, are once again Missees-themed and were inspired by members of Karin Joan's design team. The first uses only die cuts...

the second, rub-ons! Seriously..rub-ons! I haven't played with those in forever! Such fun - and they rub on super easily!

That's it from me; looking forward to your "NO Stamping" creations!

See you in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

HLS June 2021 Anything Goes with Dies Challenge...Brunette and Plaid Missees Hi

Hello,

Welcome to Happy Little Stampers June 2021 Anything Goes with Dies Challenge. Let's give our fabulous dies some star-billing on the stage!

I'm sharing another one of my Missees which I created to kind of-sort of look like me...hahahahahh. The hair style is about right, but mine is far shaggier and peppered with grey...a LOT of grey! Except for her face, everything is die cut! I LOVE Missees!

That's it from me! Check out what my talented teammates have created, then bring out 

your dies and join us in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

HLS June 2021 Stencil Challenge~Anything Goes...PFS Slimline Stencil and Floral Hey You

Hello,

Welcome to Happy Little Stampers June 2021 Stencil Challenge, where we have free rein to show off our stencils in whatever fashion we choose. Anything goes!

From the stencil, to the flowers (ephemera), to the circle, to the sentiment, to the background panel, I've used all things Pinkfresh Studio. Even the ink is PFS!  Love it when a collection makes creating cards super simple! 

What stencils will you dazzle us with this month?

See you in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #587~Word Week...Thank You for being so Kind

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #587, where our lovely hostess, Lisa Kind, has selected *Kind/Kindness* as this week's word prompt. Seems rather fitting, given her last name!

 New month means a new guest designer. We're delighted to have Fran Wing joining us for June. Her card is ever so sweet, as are those by my teammates. If you have a chance to drop in at their blogs to leave them some love, that would be ever so appreciated. 

 Kindness and expressions of gratitude are always in style, so I paired both for my card. Once again, a Concord & 9th turnabout for the background and one of their (now retired, I believe) stamps for the sentiment.  Simple to make; the hardest part was selecting ink colours!

That's it from me; looking forward to how *Kind/Kindness* inspires you!

See you in the gallery!

 Thank you for dropping by!