Paper craft project no. 455: Bloom Happy stamps and dies

  

All week on the STAMPlorations blog, we're putting the spotlight on 4 new stamp sets designed by Shirley, Becca, Deepti, and me. Our stamp sets come with coordinating CUTplorations dies too! We're celebrating with a blog hop and there will be some lucky crafters who'll win their choice of stamps and dies and gift certificates. Yesterday, Shirley kicked off the hop in this post with her fun Birds of Paradise stamps and dies. Today it's my turn to share a couple of cards I made with my set, Bloom Happy, and coordinating Bloom Happy dies.

Here's card #1: Sending happy thoughts. I went very CAS with this one and was inspired to use some of the tags I die-cut using the luggage tags dies during my monoprinting session a couple of weeks ago. I simply stamped the framed helenium on the card base and then eyeballed it and stamped onto my tag. I stamped the sentiment and then adhered the tag with foam tape. Oh, I also lightly sponged spun sugar Distress ink through the Tribal Triangles stencil.

And this here is card #2: Flowers bloom where your feet touch the ground. I stamped the framed helenium three times and then die-cut those. I colored one with Zig Clean Color brush pens. I had a completely different idea for the background but I got distracted by the hubby. He was putting the finishing touches to the desk organizer he built for me and was asking me questions so my brain sort of went on auto-pilot and I started reaching for my supplies without thinking about what I was doing. I placed the Big Bloom Factory stencil on my card base and brayered different Distress inks over it. I rather liked the grungy, worn out look. I simply layered my die-cuts on the card base, stamped the sentiment, rounded the bottom corners, and the card is done.

So there you have it. If you'd like to win the Bloom Happy stamp set and dies (or any of the new stamps and dies we're featuring this week), leave a comment here and on the STAMPlorations blog. Leave comments on the designers posts all week and you'll have more chances of winning. Come back to the STAMPlorations blog tomorrow to see Becca's projects featuring her stamps!

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

Paper craft project no: 454: Life is an adventure

It's the start of a brand new challenge at Time Out. For the next two weeks, it's a Theme Challenge with the optional technique twist. The theme is holidays and the optional twist is no stamping.

I initially was going to make a Christmas card but I wasn't really in a holiday mood yet so I switched gears: I channeled my inner Brit and went with the other meaning of holidays (as in vacation; as in I need to go on a holiday soon or I'm going to go nuts.). And I had the perfect stamp for it (skipping the twist). So I die-cut the stitched rectangle panel (CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangles) and stamped the stack of suitcases and sentiment (Born to Roam). I masked the suitcases before stamping some grungy artsy background (Mixed Media Grunge). Then I colored the suitcases with Inktense pencils and a waterbrush, mounted the panel to my card base, and the card is done. I'm dead chuffed with this card! (I learned that word from Sandie three years ago and love using it whenever I have the opportunity.)

Check out the cards the team + guest designer Aileen made and then link up your own project. Our generous sponsor for this challenge is Uniko. We can't wait to see your creations!

Linking up my card to these fun challenges:

• CAS(E) this Sketch #183
• AAA Cards #70 - Stitching
• CASology #209 - Watercolor
• 613 Avenue Create #187 - Anything Goes

      

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

PS: I hope you'll check out this post where I shared some pages from my new book, Color Blooms: Coloring Book for Cardmakers, Crafters, and Mixed Media Artists. (Now available on Amazon.) There's a link in my post where you can download the Color Blooms page sampler that you can color :o)

Happy National Coloring Book Day!

  

August 2 is National Coloring Book Day! I have just come out with my first coloring book mainly for cardmakers, crafters and mixed media artists: COLOR BLOOMS. The STAMPlorations girls are celebrating today in a fun coloring event on the STAMPlorations blog. 

We are sharing pages in the book that we colored using our favorite coloring mediums and we are inviting everyone to join in! There is a Color Blooms page sampler that is free to download. Print it out, color, and then add it to the linky by August 7, Sunday, for a chance to win a copy of Color Blooms.

Here's the sampler I colored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens. I printed it on mixed media paper.

    

For the page below, I used BIC Marking permanent markers. I was pretty surprised at how well the markers blended on the page. As expected, the markers bled on the back of the page (which is why I recommend either placing a thick cardstock underneath or tearing out the page before coloring), however, they colored the flowers beautifully.

I dusted off my Chameleon pens and colored the seashell cosmos.

And here's a fourth sample. I cut out 2.5" by 5.5" inches off the page with the large zinnias and decoupaged it onto balsa wood. I applied clear gesso and then started coloring the blooms with Cretacolor Aquarelle oil pastels. (I have a tutorial on this one posted here.)

I hope you'll join us in celebrating National Coloring Book Day! Happy coloring!

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

Paper craft project no. 453: Hello mixed media card

New month, new challenge theme over at The Mixed Media Card Challenge. Rainbow's the word with dragonflies as the optional element(s).

To make my card, I applied clear gesso on the card base and then colored with Gelatos. The panel is from a second-generation monoprint (gelli plate, acrylic paints, and Artsy Tribal Doodles stamps) that I then die-cut with the CUTplorations rectangle die with the crazy stitching. The "hello" is die-cut from the first-generation monoprint. I stamped the framed coffee pot in black, cut it, and then left is uncolored.

Hope you'll come check the mixed media cards the rest of the team made and then join in! The challenge is open until August 25 so plenty of time to get artsy and messy!

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

Paper craft project no. 452: Seriously amazing

Someone seriously amazing recently turned 30 and she's throwing a party! I may not be a party animal, but I made sure I joined in on the celebrations because she's never going to let me hear the end of it a darn special girl :o) So here's my little contribution to your birthday bash, dear Becca! 

With that mood board, how could I not take out my acrylic paints, brayer, Gelli plate, and go crazy? After I scared myself for about 15 minutes when I couldn't find my Gelli plate, I pulled these two prints:

I brayered acrylic paints then stamped with the Artsy Tribal Doodles stamps. The one on the right is the first print. The one on the left is the second (obviously!) print I pulled. When monoprinting, I usually like the second print mainly because it often looks more artsy/grungy/distressed than the first print that it hardly needs anything else done to it. So as soon as I saw the super cool second print, I die-cut the A2 panel with the CUTplorations rectangle die with the crazy stitching. Then I die-cut "seriously" and "amazing" twice each: on plain card stock and on the first print. Because I'm not one to really fiddle-diddle with layering die-cuts (and I don't have the patience for it), I simply dipped my fingers into my jar of matte gel medium (I couldn't find the paint brush I use for this) and slathered it all over the panel before layering the words on it. That takes care of keeping the words stuck onto the panel and to each other as well as sealing the card front.

That's pretty much it -- phew! And this card's now on its way to a seriously amazing woman. I already sent her a birthday card, but since I made this one for her party, it would be pretty silly if I kept it in my stash or sent it to someone else on their birthday ;o)

Linking this up to:

• Seize the Birthday (I skipped the toppings of Pink and Brown)
• Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
• Time Out Challenges #62 - Home Sweet Home inspiration photo (I took my cue from the colorful painting on the wall)

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)