Thursday, January 31, 2019

Seize The Birthday - Black And White Only


Hello, and welcome to a new challenge at Seize The Birthday.  For this challenge, we're using black and white only, but if you're not comfortable doing that, you can join in with any birthday project, any colour!

I've used a Tim Holtz blueprint stamp to make a masculine birthday card.  Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog to see what our guest designer, Julie Beech, and the rest of the team have made, then play along with us.

STAMPlorations Hey, Love Hop and Linky Party - Reminder




Just popping by with a little reminder about the STAMPlorations Hey, Love hop and linky party.  There are loads of ways to win, both by commenting and by uploading your creation to the linky  - check them out here.  If you haven't got any suitable stamps, Shery has even provided three fabulous free digi images for you to use.

I made a gift tag to go with these wooden coasters:


I used my new Carved Flowers set to create a flower in the corner and a border down the left-hand side.  The sentiment is from one of my first sets, Rosebuds.  That should have been it, but I managed to smudge the Distress Oxide inks so I took a wet paintbrush and spread the colours around.  I also touched along the border with the wet brush to allow some of the ink to bleed.  Then I grunged it up with a credit card that had been dragged through Distress Ink.

I do hope you'll find the time to hop along and link up - you'd be mad to miss it!

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

STAMPlorations Spotlight


I'm over on the STAMPlorations blog with a couple of cards.  Pop on over to find out what my inspiration was.


STAMPlorations Inspiration #201


It's STAMPlorations Inspiration Tuesday, and today I've got a butterfly for you, but it's made from flower and leaf petals from my new set, Carved Flowers.


I stamped the images in Distress Oxides, then watercoloured the background with Distress Inks.  I used a black fineliner to draw the body and antennae.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate.  When you're shopping in the store, don't forget to use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for 20% off stamps, stencils and dies.

Monday, January 28, 2019

STAMPlorations Release Week - Final Reminder


Have you been commenting on the blog posts for the STAMPlorations Release Week?  Here's a card to remind you of my Carved Houses set.


Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for more fabulous inspiration from the team, and get commenting for a chance to win a $15 coupon to the store.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

STAMPlorations Love Hop & Linky Party


Hello!  We're having a Hop and Linky Party over at STAMPlorations, and there's $100 worth of prizes in the form of products, gift certificates and coupon codes.  Check out all the details on the STAMPlorations blog here.

I've used my new set, Carved Flowers, to make another bouquet.  I used Distress Inks direct to the stamps, spritzed then stamped onto mixed media paper, dragged the edge of a Distress Ink mini pad for stalks, and watercoloured the background.  Then I just added the XOXO diecut (two layers, top layer inked and spritzed).


Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog, and don't forget to follow directions to maximise your chances of winning.  Good luck!

Monday, January 21, 2019

STAMPlorations Release Week Reminder


Have you commented on all the blog posts for the STAMPlorations Release Week?  Here's a reminder from me of my set, Carved Flowers.


Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and don't forget to leave your comments before 31 January for your chance to win a $15 coupon to the store.

Friday, January 18, 2019

Twofer Birds


I'm playing along in another challenge, I can't believe it.  I'm surpassing my expectations already.  These Dyan Reaveley stamps (and a stencil used on the grass area) were a magazine freebie, and are perfect for Darnell's Twofer challenge.


The sentiment on the left-hand card is from one of my sets, Birds of Paradise.  All the other stamps are from the freebie set.


I'm entering this second one into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Clean and Simple




Other freebies in the same magazine included stamps and stencils from Ranger Letter It, Dina Wakley and Wendy Vecchi (great haul!!).  Watch this space....

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Seize The Birthday - Stamping Only


Time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday, and today our optional topping is stamping only.  If you're not comfortable with this and want to add diecuts, embossing, embellishments or whatever, you can still play along with any birthday-themed project.

I've used Inked Flora from Altenew on a smooshed background.

Pop on over to the Seize TheBirthday blog for a look at some fabulous inspiration from our guest designer, Julie Beech, and the rest of the design team, and play along with us.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Bokeh Butterfly


I've got another card for a few more challenges (yay!)

I've had this Tim Holtz butterfly for ages but never got round to inking it up, and seeing as one of my sort-of-New-Year's-resolutions is to tackle Mt NBUS, I thought it was high time it got an inking.  The bokeh circles were achieved by twizzing mini spongers round on the spot.  I then spritzed the circles with water, dabbing it off quickly to reveal - distressed bokeh.  The sentiment is from Altenew.

So, I'm playing along at:

CAS Mix Up - Bokeh (plus stamping and sponging)


Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Clean & Simple


Fusion 5th Anniversary challenge - inspiration photo
Less Is More - water (spritzed onto distress inks)


Tuesday, January 15, 2019

STAMPlorations Special Release Week - Day 2


It's Day 2 of STAMPlorations Release Week, and today we're featuring my other new stamp set, Carved Houses.

Carved Houses
For my first card I stamped the tall house in Candied Apple Distress Oxide, adding the heart on top, then stamped the rest of the images using Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide.  Even though I was using the MISTI, I liked the uneven stamping on the red, and decided at that point it was going to be a grungy card.  I dragged the edge of a credit card through my Versafine Onyx Black inkpad and made marks, and added the sentiment.


On this next card I tore a page out of a mini dictionary, circled the 'home' word, stamped the image with Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide and added some scribbled images.


This was a Distress Oxide background that was lurking in my stash.  I gave it a layer of Micro Glaze before stamping the images in Versafine Onyx Black - took a few attempts in the MISTI to get full coverage but I'd rather do that than use Archival inks (I don't like it when my stamps get stained.  Silly, I know.)  Added a bit of washi tape to finish.


I stamped a whole host of images onto rainbow watercoloured patterned paper and cut them all out.  Stuck this one in the centre of the card, then stamped and watercoloured a couple of images from my set Houses using Memento inks.  I added shading around each image with a grey Tombow pen.


Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog where teamie Cornelia is also playing with this set.  Don't forget to leave a comment on all three blogs before 31 January for your chance to win a $15 coupon (four up for grabs).

The new stamps are already in the store and discounted by 10% until 31 January.  If you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY you can get an extra 20% off.


STAMPlorations Inspiration #200


Hello, and welcome to our 200th Inspiration post at STAMPlorations!  (We hope these posts do actually inspire you in your cardmaking ;)

You're getting a sneak peek of one of my new stamp sets which is being launched in an hour's time, so I won't say too much about it now.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and don't forget to comment on our blogs for your chance to win a $20 coupon to the store.

See you in an hour!

Monday, January 14, 2019

STAMPlorations Special Release - Day 1


Welcome to the first STAMPlorations stamp release of the year, and we're kicking off today with one of my new sets, Carved Flowers.  I've designed the elements so that some of them can be used as flowers or leaves, giving you a fair bit of flexibility for creating your own carved floral arrangements.


You can create a large bold flower using any of the round images as a centre, and any of the oval or triangular shapes as petals.  I used Memento inks, then sponged Distress ink around the edges and in the centre of the flower.


If you don't fancy bold, you can use softer colours.  Here I created an all-over pattern using all three larger round stamps and the two oval stamps.


You can create your own bouquet and let everyone know that you picked stamped them yourself!


Or you can go for a bold but simple look.


Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog where you'll see some more gorgeous inspiration from teamie Monika.  Don't forget to leave comments on all three blogs between 14 and 31 January for your chance to win a $15 coupon to the store (four up for grabs).

The four new stamp sets in this release are automatically 10% off until 31 January, but if you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY you'll get an extra 20% off.

Saturday, January 12, 2019

Beer Cheers


I'm always in need of male birthday cards, so I made a quick one-layer card using Tim Holtz blueprint stamps to fit with a couple of challenges.  The first one is Colour Throwdown - black, brown and white:


and The Male Room - Anything Goes with an optional twist of beverages:


The sort-of-New-Year's-Resolution is getting off to a gathering steam!

Friday, January 11, 2019

Pink Rose


My sort-of-New-Year's-resolution is to enter more challenges.  Last year I hardly got round to entering any, compared to previous years.  So I'm making a start with this one layer card, which is totally inspired by Erum Tasneem's faux dimension card on her guest appearance on Jennifer Mcguire's blog on 8 January.

I'm not getting off to a very good start, because one of the challenges I made this card for have already closed!  So I'd better get on with it.  I'm entering this into:-

The Flower Challenge - Pink & Grey


Loll's new challenge CAS Stencil - Sponging


Watercooler Wednesday - All About Occasions


and The Card Concept - Pink Party

ETA:  The flower stamp is Inked Rose from Altenew.

Craft Stamper Take It, Make It


Craft Stamper's Take It, Make It challenge is underway, and you can play along with any stamped creation.

I've used a large flower stamp from Marianne Designs, and a couple of stencils on smooshed card.  The happy birthday sentiment is from my set Baa Baa.

We have a fab prize for one randomly selected winner:


And the winner chosen by the design team will get their entry published in the magazine, have a profile in the mag and the blog, and a guest design opportunity in a future challenge.  What's not to like?

Pop on over to the Take It, Make It challenge and play along for your chance to win.

Tuesday, January 08, 2019

STAMPlorations Inspiration #199


It's Inspiration Tuesday over at STAMPlorations, and today we're having an anything goes kind of theme, using whichever stamps take your fancy.

I'm short of a few girly cards, so I reached for one of my favourite images, the frilly dress from Party Dresses, and a sentiment from City Girl.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate to the store.

Thursday, January 03, 2019

Seize The Birthday - Confetti


Hello, and welcome to the first Seize The Birthday of 2019!  Our topping for this challenge is Confetti, quite appropriate for early January!

I used a Zinski mini cake stamp from Paper Artsy, a sentiment from Altenew and confetti shapes from Winnie & Walter.  The background is a print from an ARTplorations stencil.

We are welcoming a new member to the team, Cathy Roffey, and our surprise party guest is Julie Beech.  Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog to see what they and the rest of the Design Team have made, and play along with us.  If confetti's not your thing, you can still play along with our anything goes birthday theme.