golden stamptober

Yep you read that right. I missed Stamptember when it was live but I'm here to share three makes with the Circle Sayings stamp set from Simon Says Stamp Stamptember release in what at least in Germany is a golden October. 

Well they had me at circles. Geometric makes me happy. 

Here's the first.

SSS Circle Sayings stamp

MFT Dienamics circle die

 inks, white embossing powder, pearls

But add an organic touch and my new Pigment Craft luscious autumn colors... be still my happy heart. Look what happens when you use the reverse of the stamp to get those organic circles. A fall birthday card for a guy.

SSS Circle Sayings stamp

Pigment Craft inks

clear embossing powder and washi tape

So I'd been watching some scrapbooking videos and saw this one from Shimelle.  Do you ever try to transfer a scrapbooking layout to a card? I loved her approach to stacks of PP. I gave it a try and topped my stack with a circle die cut, inked and heat embossed with a Circle Sayings sentiment.

SSS Circle Sayings stamp

The Stamp Market Framed Floral stamp

patterned paper, white embossing powder, Pigment Craft Eucalyptus ink

Quite the different approaches. Do you have a favorite? Thanks for coming by. I'm enjoying being back playing with my supplies. I'm hooking up at the SSS Wednesday Challenge where it's about Washi and also the Stamptember Gallery where you can get your fill of Autumn card inspiration!

STAMPlorations inspiration #357

Hello friends. Back for another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration gals. I've got another kinda groovy project for you today. Think this would work for a guy?

Almost Shattered stencil

What's up ephemera tiles

I inked three colors through the stencil from left to right, removed the stencil and added the ink that was left on the brushes over the white areas to tone them down a little. Also inked around the outside edges (remember when we used to do that ALL the time?!?)

Kept two ephemera tiles together as the "sentiment" on this card to compliment the horizontal orientation.

As always, you could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, if you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code you receive an additional 20% off your order.  Appreciate your visit! 

STAMPlorations inspiration #328

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

I've had a play with the card fronts paper goods available in the STAMP store. I like that the words/messages printed on these card fronts can be used for multiple occasions. Today and next week I've got masculine birthday cards to share with you.

Wish Big A2 card fronts

Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die

Birthday Wishes die

To give the background a little oomph, I die cut the card front into three pieces, each with the wonky stitched edge. The middle one (like a frame) I popped up on fun foam for more interest. The die cut sentiment I backed with a black shadow. Easy peasy.

As always, you could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order.    

STAMPlorations inspiration #327

Time for another Tuesday inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team girls. 

I've had a play with the card fronts paper goods available in the STAMP store. I like that the words/messages printed on these card fronts can be used for multiple occasions. Today and next week I've got masculine birthday cards to share with you.

Wish Big A2 card fronts

Art Marks 2

Party Time

Skinny Sentiments die

You can hardly see it but I stenciled a circle of aqua in the area where I adhered the heat embossed/die cut sentiment. Added a little bit of stamping in black along the edges to bring in more black. Voila!

As always, you could win yourself a $15 prize code to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I should ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order.   

masculine birthday with birthday block die

I'm guest designing at Addicted to Stamps and More where the theme is Birthday.

For my guest designer project I made a card using the Birthday Block die. For this card I used the positive die cuts that were leftover and made a masculine birthday card. I recently picked up some more alcohol markers from the "dollar store" and wanted to have a play. I used various gray tones (warm, cool, blue gray) to color the Neenah white die cut letters.

MFT Happy Birthday Block die

Action Deutschland Decotime alcohol markers

Pop over to the Addicted to Stamps and More blog for more birthday card inspiration. I'm hooking up at Always Fun Challenges where it's about Pastels.

using up gelli prints

Needed a masculine 25th birthday card (for DS's friend). Enter my gelli print stash. And a cover plate die. I revisited a design I really like.

Neat and Tangled Inlaid Squares die

Klartext Herzlichen Gluckwünsch stamp

STAMPlorations Numbers Plate die

Kelly Purkey Follow Your Heart die

gelli print, vellum, silver embossing powder

I love these geometric patterns. And I love them paired with artsy, fartsy gelli prints. What do you think? And you can't beat silver embossing powder for masculining up a card.

I'm hooking up at:
Papercraft Challenges - Heat or Dry Embossing

Always Fun Challenges - Card for a Friend

SSS Wednesday - Love is in the air (card #2)

STAMPlorations inspiration #264

Howdy #stayathome peeps. It's time for another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Remember my theme for April? Masculine CAS cards. Here's #3.

 Baa Baa stamp
washi tape

Going for something spring-y and punny, Shirley's sheep came to mind. The thick lines on the image, and the solid areas add a lot of interest on their own. Stamp him off the edge, and add a sentiment in an unexpected spot and I think you've got yourself a cool card. I used washi for grass to ground him. You could use a PP snippet too.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd really appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order - at no extra cost to you, just with perks for me ;)

Looking for more inspiration with this punny stamp set? Check out this post.

I'm joining the Animal fun over at Addicted to CAS.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a peaceful week. I'm still doing my part to stop the virus spread. And you?

STAMPlorations inspiration #263

Hope you and yours are hanging in there. It's time for another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

Remember my theme for April? Masculine CAS cards. Ready for #2?

 Tweet Love stamp
Tags #1 die

Altenew Inks

white embossing powder

No idea where this idea originated. I was in the mood for more watercoloring. Grabbed my set of blue Altenew inks. Decided to heat emboss the balloons off the edge and watercolor them with four blue tones (hard to tell in the photo).

Then I decided the strings of the wafting balloons could be pulling a sentiment tag. And I kinda like aqua and red as a color combo. It doesn't actually have to be masculine I guess.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd really appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order - at no extra cost to you, just with perks for me ;)

Looking for more inspiration with this stamp set? Check out this post.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week.

STAMPlorations inspiration #262

Happy April! It's time for the first Tuesday inspiration of the month from the STAMPlorations inspiration team!

I finished up last month with masculine cards and that led me to a theme of masculine CAS cards for this month. Ready for #1?

 Birds of Paradise stamp and die

Zig clean color real brush markers

bronze embossing powder

So the Birds of Paradise were out cuz I'd considered using them for my cards last month. And I was feeling all Ziggy. So I heat embossed and colored a fun bird. What to do with him? How about plop him onto the middle of a white card? Opted for a sketchy sentiment on a punched blue circle and Voila!

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post over at STAMPlorations. And if I ever inspire you to order something from the store, I'd really appreciate it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off your order - at no extra cost to you, just with perks for me ;)

Looking for more inspiration with these fun birds? Check out this post.

Thanks for stopping over today. Have a great week. I'm stopping by at:
Craft Stamper - TIMI April
Die Cut Divas - Animals
AAA Cards - Made in Minutes

CAS cards challenge march reminder

Hope you're having a good day. I'm popping in today with a reminder about the STAMPlorations 

CAS Cards challenge. First, the inspiration.

It's anything goes with the optional color twist of light blue.  I though Vespa and this happened.

STAMPlorations Born to Roam stamp
MFT Radial Stitched Circle die

patterned paper
Copics

CAS card tip: "White space", so crucial to CAS designs, doesn't necessarily have to be white. Here I've used white for the circles but PP for the cardbase.

Stamped the image and sentiment. Die cut them and a PP circle. Adhered. Voila. I've also used this stamp set on this card.

I'm looking forward to your CAS card creations this month! Your project might be chosen as the winner of a GC to the shop. Check out how the DT was inspired by this month's photo here.

And don't forget about my STAMPlorations discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA for 20% off should you find yourself shopping ;)  Thanks for stopping by.

I'm stopping by:
CAS on Sunday - Boys and their Toys
ATCAS - Circles

ATSAM - #380

hero arts layering waves for the beach

Another one of my commissioned cards for a gal who truly enjoys giving handmade cards. And she claims the recipients enjoy receiving them too! Yaaaaay.

Today's card - a birthday card for boyfriend's father who has a place at the beach. Don't have to ask me twice to make a beachy card. Out comes the fabulous Hero Arts Layering Waves and Layering Sea and Sky. Added the "hello" sentiment from the set and one from STAMPlorations Party Time  on a strip of vellum.

I used Altenew inks for the sky and sea. Brushed on some Tea Dye DI for the beach. And used my embossing ink pen to add some spots of heat embossed frothy waves for some texture too.

I'm joining the Anything Goes fun at SSS Wednesday Challenge and the Blog named Hero Anything Goes challenge. Thanks for visiting.

happy camper in the alps

Another one of my commissioned cards for a gal who truly enjoys giving handmade cards. And she claims the recipients enjoy receiving them too! Yaaaaay.

Today's card - a birthday card for her boyfriend who owns and operates campgrounds. So glad I picked up the little Papertrey Happy Camper set years ago! It pairs so well with Essentials by Ellen Alpine Windows die. Added a crisp, clean sentiment from Hero Arts Birthday Hugs and Kisses and voila!

The die does all the work for you to create this great scene with depth. All you need to do is stamp and a little fussy cutting.

I'm taking it over to The Card Concept, where the winter color scheme inspired me to go with kraft on this design and heat emboss snow onto the mountains.

alles gute - twice

Been busy with card production for some special requests (love that this gal enjoys giving handmade cards!) I was asked to make cards for various occasions and asked for little tips from her to make my creation process easier. Do you do this too?

First up - a card for Dad. Should have to do with books or printing. This happened.

I went with printing. Mainz is our next big city and Johann Gutenberg (of moveable type fame) is its favorite son. I had to go with the scrambled letters BG (Hero Arts Alphabet Soup) and then the die cut letters in red cuz that's the color of the city emblem. See how my brain works? Or scatters may be a better word!

Put a piece of torn vellum over the BG to help the shiny red letters shine better. Then added Altenew German Label Love secondary sentiment.

Remembering Jennifer M.'s prompt to always make multiples, I created this version too in case the red and gold are too much.

Wonder if she'll choose the red or blue version. Do you have a favorite?

I'm playing at:

A Blog named Hero - Anything Goes

simon says stamp - celebrate you for him

Howdy! I'm back from Michigan. Dad did a great job of getting as-healthy-as-possible after his hospital stay and now it's up to him to keep up the good work. I'm happy to be back in my craft room playing with this versatile and snarky stamp set from the Simon Says Stamptember release. It's called Celebrate You.

OK. So first off, let's celebrate him.

 SSS Celebrate You stamp
colored pencils

Distress oxides

So simple. Mask the card front. Blend oxides (Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain). Stamp image and sentiment (don't ya love it?!?). Color flames for interest.

TIP: To make coloring flames easier, use damp paintbrush to remove color from area. Let dry before coloring with colored pencils.

Check out the release if you haven't, and all the makes with it in the Stamptember gallery at Simon Says Stamp. I'll have a few more makes for you with this stamp set. Thanks mucho, Simon.

I'm playing at:
SSS Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday - Occasions
AAA Card Challenge - Up to one third

STAMPlorations inspiration #235

Back with another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team.

I decided to make a masculine birthday card, this time using a leaf stamp to create a card full of birthday candles!

 STAMPlorations Bloom Doodles stamp

STAMPlorations Make a Wish die

Action Twinmarkers

I chose to keep the coloring of the candles very simple, following the lines of the image. And then I used the same color markers to color my white die cut sentiment. So easy to do (how come I never think to do it?!?)

For other ideas with this stamp set check out this card. I used the sentiment die on this card.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post here. And I'd love it if you used my STAMPGIRLMARIA discount code for an additional 20% off if you're ordering from the store.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'm back from my summer in MI, so vacation programming is over and you may be seeing a bit more of me around here soon ;)

simon says stamp - never quit swimming dude!

Happy weekend! There's a new Believe in You release in town from Simon Says Stamp. I got to play with Never Quit Swimming. Talk about putting you in a good mood.

OK. So I think being in the company of these little cuties took me back to those good old Finding Nemo days. What a great movie! One of my favorite parts was the turtles riding the East Australian Current. I had to run with it...

 SSS Never Quit Swimming stamp
Waffle Flower Cutaway Letters die

Distress inks

So that's supposed to be little Squirt (maybe you need to go watch the clip and then come back ;) I had to incorporate "dude" so I die cut it and colored it with some leftover ink and water. 

Check out the release if you haven't, and all the makes with it in the Believe in You gallery at Simon Says Stamp. I'll have a few more makes for you with this stamp set. Thanks mucho, Simon.

I'm playing at:
AAA Card Challenge - One Image + positivity (optional)

STAMPlorations inspiration #224

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team.

Although things are quiet on the STAMP blog, the inspiration girls and I will continue to share projects with you throughout the summer and I have a theme for July - inking with stencils.
  

I love me some ink blending. But I'm keeping the ink blending CAS today.

 STAMPlorations Oh My Stars stencil
STAMPlorations Little Love Birthday Wishes stamp

Distress inks
makeup brushes

First I stamped the image and masked it. Then I tore a "circle" out of scrap paper and used the negative to cover my card. Then I put down the stencil and inked Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers and Mermaid Lagoon through the stencil. Removed the stencil and masks and voila! Stamped the sweet little sentiment making this a truly one-layer card!

I've used this stencil here and here too.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on this month's inspiration posts! Check out today's post here. Thanks for looking.

I'm playing at:
Addicted to Stamps - CAS Summer card (this was for a July birthday boy)
Always Fun - AG
SSS Wednedsay - Stars and/or stripes
Basteltraum - Summer

so raise your glass...

Someone in our household turned 60. And it ain't me. But it's still shocking!

The kids and I got DH tickets for Pink in Frankfurt. This is the card I made, inspired by the line in Pink's song AND the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. (OK, I missed the challenge due to a busy weekend) but still inspired by the sketch...

Spellbinders Bottle Tag die

Essentials by Ellen Hands die

Memory Box Parker Numbers die

patterned paper

nail polish
Dymo label maker

Pretty self explanatory. But did you notice the polished nails? Yep, used red nail polish ;)

I'm joining the fun at:
Tuesday Throwdown - AG
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Any Occasion

STAMPlorations inspiration #218

Welcome to another Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team. Hope you'll forgive me. Today our theme is Things with Wings. Well. A space shuttle has wings, doesn't it? I guess I'm actually showcasing the line of Typografia stamps available in the store though.

Just so you know, til May 31, products in the Things with Wings section of the store are 15% off  and with my STAMPGIRLMARIA code you can get up to 35% off.   

And also til May 31, products in the Typografia section of the store are 15% off instantly + with my STAMPGIRLMARIA code you can get up to 35% off! There are so many great ones to choose from. Since I needed a graduation card I chose one that always brings a Dr. Seuss induced smile to my face...

 STAMPlorations Oh The Places stamp

 STAMPlorations Wanderlust Hipster Icons stamp

So darn easy. Especially with a stamping tool to ensure good coverage on the solid areas. His school colors are black and orange. Hope he "gets" it ;)

I've used Typografia sentiment stamps in this post too.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on today's inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. Thanks for looking.

STAMPlorations inspiration #214

Welcome to an extra inspiration post from the STAMPlorations inspiration team. Since May has arrived (not really yet here in chilly and wet MI), it's time for our annual Things with Wings event. This month, all products in the Things with Wings section of the store will be 15% off instantly. Which means... if you use my STAMPGIRLMARIA code, you can get up to 35% off!
  

Remember April's CUTplorations challenge? It was my inspiration for today's card. Actually it was the inspiration for this card, and today's was made using up leftovers ;) I just love this die.

STAMPlorations For the Birds die 

STAMPlorations  For the Birds stamp
cardstock scraps

The colors are more true in this close up. I wanted to pick up on the dark blue so stamped the sentiment in dark blue too. It's a nice change from black. I think this will work as a masculine birthday card.

If you'd like to see a completely different use of this bird die check out this card.

So with our Things with Wings event you could win yourself various prizes by leaving a comment and/or playing along with us. Check out today's post here for the details and the link up. Thanks for coming by today. Happy May Day!

I'm joining the fun at:
Addicted to CAS - Contrast (what a cool challenge)

AAA Cards - #139