Seize The Birthday - Travel

Hellooo!  Welcome to another Seize The Birthday Challenge, with an optional topping of Travel.  Ive used this fab image from Tim Holtz, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black onto a smooshed background. The sentiment is from Swedish House and the chevrons are from STAMPlorations.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team, and from our surprise party guest, Marianne, and play along.

I'm entering this into Shopping Our Stash - Use The Smooshing Technique.

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Day 3

Helloooo!  We're back with Day 3 of the Christmas Release mini hop, and today we're looking at my final set, Layered Poinsettias.

So we've got a full bloom, a side bloom and two leaves, all in solid and line images and a couple of dot clusters to use as the centres, along with a few words.  Don't forget, the images won't align properly, because they're not meant to.  We're being artsy here ;)

I think poinsettias are stunning in the coral and cream colours, as well as the vibrant reds, so I've started with coral.  I cut out the stamped images and mounted them onto a sloshed background.

After I'd stamped the images on this card I painted in the background colour, adding depth near the flowers, then I masked the flowers and stamped the words in Old Paper for a subtle background.

How about a clean and graphic style?

On this one I stamped the outline images in complementary colours rather than black, and stamped the stamens in yellow.  Added a bit of torn Washi tape to finish.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see what the other designers have created, and don't forget to leave a comment on each designer's blog and the STAMPlorations blog every day for maximum chances of winning a $25 gift certificate to the store.

If you can't wait, stamps and dies (including new release) in the CHRISTMAS CUTplorations Dies section are 10% off automatically until 8 October - use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for an extra 20% off!

See you tomorrow when we're playing with Shery's CUTplorations dies!

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Day 2

Helloooo!  Welcome to the second day of our mini blog hop featuring my newest stamps, along with some fab dies from Shery.  Today we're focusing on Layered Mistletoe.

There's a solid image and line image for the bunch of mistletoe, a couple of berries in different sizes, a twine bow and some words to make your own sentiments.  Don't forget, the two images for the bunch won't align properly, because they're not meant to.

For my first card, I've used a piece of mixed media paper ripped from a comb-bound pad.  I stamped and spritzed the solid image stamp repeatedly until I got the desired effect, then once it was dry I overstamped with the line image.  The twine bow was stamped on spare and trimmed.  I used Nuvo drops for the berries.

How about a little monochrome for an understated card?

Or stamp the outline image then slosh a little Distress Ink on.  I'm a messy worker, and I ended up with some red Distress Ink on the side of my hand, which transferred onto the card so I turned it into a big slosh across the bottom :)

For this last card I stamped in Bundled Sage for a bit of no-line watercolouring.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see what the other designers have created, and don't forget to leave a comment on each designer's blog and the STAMPlorations blog every day for maximum chances of winning a $25 gift certificate to the store.

If you can't wait, stamps and dies (including new release) in the CHRISTMAS CUTplorations Dies section are 10% off automatically until 8 October - use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for an extra 20% off!

See you tomorrow with my final set.

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Day 1

Christmas is starting early at STAMPlorations!  I've got three new stamp sets out this week so we're having a mini blog hop, and today we're focusing on Layered Lights.

There are three shapes with coordinating solid and line images, but remember, they won't align perfectly because they're not meant to.  Here's what I've been doing with them.

For this first card, I stamped the line images and string.  If the string doesn't join where you want it to, just use a fineliner pen to draw some extra loops - I also drew some extra lines on the hanging loops because I had a gap.  Go on, you've got my permission to add extra scribbles where you need to!  I dry-brushed the wet distress inks to give a hazy look.

I had a piece of spattered Distress Ink background so I stamped the images where they took best advantage of the colours, and added a bit of grey shadow under each light.  This is actually half of the panel, the other half will appear in due course on another card.

This one is on mixed media paper, playing around with Distress Inks again and spritzing.

You don't have to join up the strings, just stamp them wherever you want for an implied tangle.

It wouldn't be a hop without prizes, would it?  Leave a comment on each designer's blog and the STAMPlorations blog every day for maximum chances of winning a $25 gift certificate to the store.

If you can't wait, stamps and dies (including new release) in the CHRISTMAS CUTplorations Dies section are 10% off automatically until 8 October - use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for an extra 20% off!

See you tomorrow with my next set :)

Tis The Season

Found time to play along in another challenge - Muse Christmas Visions, where Chriss provided this inspiration:

Chriss

Snowy background - check.
Scribbly sentiment - check.
Die cuts - check.
Cute animal face - check.
Holly - ch... erm, antlers, anyone?

The antlers and nose are from The Cat's Pajamas, the sentiment from Tim Holtz, and the eyes from my pen :)

See you tomorrow with my new stamp release.

A Sneak Peek And A Couple of Challenges

Helloooo!  I've not been playing much in challenges lately, been a bit busy with one thing or another, including making samples for my new release of The Bee's Knees Christmas stamps.  Here's a little sneak peek of what I've been up to.  You'll get to see them in full next week:

I've managed to find time to make some cards for challenges this week.

My first card uses a tree from a NBUS Tim Holtz set, and a star from Technique Tuesday, all coloured with Distress Inks (of course!).

I'm entering this in CAS Watercolour Challenge - Tree:

and Simon Says STAMPtember Tim Holtz:

The second challenge is Twofer - Leaves:

I used the larger stamp from the Leaf Canopy set by Altenew to create a watercoloury birthday card using Distress Inks and spritzing (sentiment by Stamps By Me), and also a wedding card, which was totally inspired by this card of Karen Dunbrook's.  This time I stamped in my much-neglected Distress Oxides then die-cut the image.  The background was created with a 3D embossing folder (Crafters Companion Ornate Lace).  The sentiment is a peel-off (gasp!).  Don't judge, I've got a boxload of them to use up :D

STAMPlorations Inspiration #187

Little Monsters

Big Monsters

It's time for some more inspiration at STAMPlorations, and today I'm using one of the images from Big Monsters and pinching a word from Little Monsters to complete my sentiment.

We've got some more fab inspiration for you on the STAMPlorations blog, pop on over.  And don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a gift voucher to the store.  

If you're shopping, all stamps, dies and stencils are 15% off today (no code needed) and if you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY you can get an extra 20% off.  Happy shopping!