Seize The Birthday - Use Green As Your Main Colour

Hello!  We've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday, chosen by JoAnn, who wants us to use green as our main colour.

I've got a small collection of Lavinia Stamps so I thought I'd use them to make this sweet card.  Minni and Moo, the two little mieces (I love those mieces to pieces!), come as a pair.  The leaves are also from Lavinia.  The sentiments are from Altenew.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team and our surprise party guests, and join in the fun.

STAMPlorations Anything Goes March Challenge

Hello!  Ready to play along with the March Anything Goes challenge at STAMPlorations?  For my card I've used Sanna's Senecio1 stencil with PaperArtsy Infusions, my Dragonfly Layering Die set and Alcohol Inks, and the sentiment stamp from Shery's Brave One stamp set.  

I added standard and sparkle alcohol inks to a piece of mirri card, then cut out the solid dragonfly, and cut out a mirri outline die.  The iridescence is fabulous in real life!

We do hope you'll play along with us - there are prizes!

- winner of $25 prize code chosen by a STAMPgirl from entries that use STAMPlorations products

- winner of $10 prize code randomly chosen from entries (need not feature a STAMP product)

Simple rules:

- Anything goes, any type of project, any style

- use of STAMPlorations products not a requirement

- link back to the challenge post (if blog entry) or tag @stamplorations if joining via IG

- multiple entries per crafter allowed

- challenge ends 31 March.

Please do check the updated full challenge rules, particularly in relation to what images can and can't be used, and we hope to see you in the gallery!

When you're shopping in the store, you can get 20% off by using my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY (doesn't apply to subscriptions).

Happy stamping!

Visible Image - Love You

Hello VI fans!  I hope you managed to swag some of the Floral Grunge release?  Not only does it have some fab grungy flowers but also a great Grunge Greetings set, along with a couple of other non-florals.  I've used the Grunge Greetings, Spiralling, and Rotation stencil to make a card you could send to a loved one any time of year - why wait for Valentine's?

I started by blending Worn Lipstick Distress Ink on my card, then stencilled the same colour through the Rotation stencil.

I stamped the large image from Spiralling in Versafine Onyx Black over the stencilled circles.

I stamped out the heart and sentiments, and drew a border round the sentiments with a black Sharpie, following the grungy shape of the letters, and coloured in the background with Zig Clean Colour pens in shades of red.  I fussy cut around them, leaving a white border.

Having trimmed my panel to a square and matted onto black card, I adhered it to my card base, then added the heart and sentiments.

I love how the black spirals are offset to the stencilled dots.

You can find the whole release here on the Visible Image website.

Seize The Birthday - Anything With Wings

Hello!  Our latest challenge is up on the Seize The Birthday blog, it's Anything With Wings, chosen by Jenny.

I've been needing an excuse to use this Sizzix Vault Floral Wreath set by Tim Holtz, along with the ladybird from the Funky Insets.  The brickwork is also a Tim Holtz embossing folder.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog to see what the rest of the team and our Surprise Party Guests have created, and play along with us.  If wings aren't your thing, you can play along with our Anything Goes theme.  Hope to see you in the gallery!

 

Visible Image - New Release

Wow!  Visible Image have got a fabulous new release out, consisting of 3 flower stamp sets, a grungy greetings stamp set and two abstract imagery sets, and then there's 3 new stencils as well - cool!

I've used the Sunflower Dreams stamp set for my card, together with 'smile' from Grunge Greetings.

I stamped the flower three times in Versafine Onyx Black and watercoloured them with Distress Inks.

Once I'd fussy-cut them, I added Glass Bead Gel to the centres.  The gel is opaque when wet, but dries clear.

I coloured a piece of white card with yellow and green ink to use as a background for the sentiment, and stamped some leaves on green card, adding dabs of extra colour in places.

Then it was just a case of matting and assembling the card.

The background spats are from the Sunflower Dreams set, stamped in Gold Brilliance.

I like to watercolour loose and leave a bit of white background here and there.

I love the super shiny centres!

Pop on over to the Visible Image page to see the whole collection, and watch out for our DT makes throughout the week.

Seize The Birthday - CAS + Dies

Hello, time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday.  Glenda is hosting, and she's chosen CAS + Dies.

I went CAS/Mixed Media/Dies for this card.  Apart from the script background, which is a new-to-me Tim Holtz stamp, all the items are from my stash - my new year's resolution to actually start using what I'm stashing - hah!

The flower die is Penny Black Bashful, coloured with hot encaustic wax on an iron.  The snippets, I couldn't even tell you, they've been torn up in my stash for so long.  The happy birthday sentiment is from MFT.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog to see what the rest of the team and our surprise party guests have created, and play along.  If you're not a CAS/Dies person, you can still play along with our Anything Goes theme.

See you in the gallery!

STAMPlorations Anything Goes February Challenge

Hello and welcome to the February Anything Goes challenge at STAMPlorations!  For today's card I've used images from The Bee's Knees Little Monsters, and wording from Big Monsters, and sloshed some Distress Inks over them.

We do hope you'll play along with us - there are prizes!

- winner of $25 prize code chosen by a STAMPgirl from entries that use STAMPlorations products

- winner of $10 prize code randomly chosen from entries (need not feature a STAMP product)

Simple rules:

- Anything goes, any type of project, any style

- use of STAMPlorations products not a requirement

- link back to the challenge post (if blog entry) or tag @stamplorations if joining via IG

- multiple entries per crafter allowed

- challenge ends 28 February.

Please do check the updated full challenge rules, particularly in relation to what images can and can't be used, and we hope to see you in the gallery!

When you're shopping in the store, you can get 20% off by using my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY (doesn't apply to subscriptions).

Happy stamping!

Visible Image - Masculine Birthday

Hello!  My brief for today's post at Visible Image is Masculine Birthday.  I decided to use Grunge Birthday Words for my background and Rock Out for my main image.

I picked out a mop-up piece from my stash and stamped the large Grunge Birthday Words in Versafine Onyx Black.

Then I stamped the rock star straight onto the panel, again using Versafine Onyx Black.

I decided not to use a Happy Birthday sentiment - it's pretty obvious from the background that it's a birthday card, so to break up that background I stamped the 'Rock Out' sentiment on black card using Versamark Ink and Stampendous white embossing powder.

I wanted the hand coming in from the side, so I stamped that and watercoloured it with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

For the base card, I stamped the stars all the way round the edges to create a border.

Then it was a case of sticking everything down.  First, I adhered the hand at an angle.

Then I adhered the 'Rock Out' sentiment on an angle to resemble a 'sold out' label slapped on a poster.

That was all matted onto gold card, then onto the base card.

And there you have my funky masculine card.  Stamps available here at Visible Image - check out the full range!

Seize The Birthday - A Rainbow of Colours

Hello!  We've got a new challenge flor you at Seize The Birthday, and this time it's A Rainbow of Colours, chosen by Cathy.

I used Haven Girl by Unity Stamp Co, and coloured the image in using rainbow colours, then went one further by creating a rainbow background, swiping Distress Minis across the card.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog to see how the rest of the team and our surprise party guest Helen have created their rainbows, and join in the fun.

If rainbows aren't your thing, you can still play along with any birthday-themed project.

See you in the gallery!

Visible Image - Vibrant Colours

Hello!  My brief at Visible Image today is Vibrant Colours!  Well, a Tequila Sunrise is pretty vibrant, and I decided to give it a splash in keeping with the vibrant theme.

I've used Happy Hour and Fluid stamp sets, and Frosty stencil for the background.  I started off with the Fluid stamp, and inked it up with Distress Inks a couple of times.

Then I stamped the glass, orange slice and cherry with Versafine Onyx Black, then flooded them with colour using Distress Re-inkers.  The re-inkers give a much richer colour than you can achieve with the ink pads.

There is a die set to accompany these stamps, but I didn't want the white outline today, so I fussy cut the stamped images.  You can see a little smudge line at the top of the drink, which was totally accidental, but worked out perfectly for the design. 

I sponged some Salty Ocean around the top edges of the panel, and Tea Dye around the lower edges to indicate sky and sand.

Moving on to the base card, I slipped a sheet of copy paper between the folds of the card then sponged around the top third with orange and yellow distress inks.

Then I stencilled over with Salty Ocean Distress Oxide, and added a touch of Stickles in the unstencilled areas.

Here's a close-up of the cocktail - cheers!  That little smudge lines up perfectly with the Fluid image.

And here's a look at the finished card with the Visible Image products used.

You can find these and the rest of Visible Image's range of fabulous goodies here.

Seize The Birthday - Make Your Own Snowflake Background

Hello, and welcome to the first Seize The Birthday challenge of 2026!  Barbara is hosting, and she's asking us to make our own snowflake backgrounds.

I rollered an embossing folder with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide then added my card panel and sent it through my Big Shot.  The cat and his accessories are by Tim Holtz, and the Happy Birthday is from The Stamp Market.

Pop along to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous snowflake inspiration from the rest of the team, and our Surprise Party Guests, Helen and Stephanie, and join in the fun. If you don't want to play along with the snowflakes theme you can still play along with our Anything Goes them as long as it's birthday-related.