Wednesday 31 August 2016

Color Blooms Blog Hop


Hello Crafty Friends, welcome to the Color Blooms Blog Hop & Linky Party over at STAMPlorations.

My teamies and I are having an in depth look at what you can do and make using pages from Shery's Color Blooms colouring book.

colorbloomscover

I coloured about four of them before I finally decided to cut into one. Before doing so I had to throw out any rule books and go with an 'I wonder if ...' moment to try something a little off beat.

Here is the finished page:


Looks messy .... it wasn't nearly as messy to create ... I simply removed the page from the Color Blooms book and placed it on a layer of kitchen roll. As my page was going to get very wet, I felt it was a good way of drawing excess water out of the paper. I then sprinkled various coloured Brusho powders in different places, approximately where I wanted them to be of course, sprayed with water and left to dry on a fresh layer of kitchen roll. Once dry, I added some subtle shading using Cool Grey 1, Pastel Beige and Pastel Blue Promarkers. Here is the page after I cut off the messy edges:


Looks a lot neater, which helped me decide on what I wanted to do. I simply cut along the black lines rather than tearing, which was my initial thought, layered on white base cards, added a stamped border using the circle line from the Art Marks set and added some die cut sentiments, Hello and Hugs CUTplorations Word Dies ... quick and easy, here they are:





It's over to you now ....

  • Leave a comment on my blog, pop over to the Stamplorations Blog for the links of all the participating blogs, have a look at what my teamies created and leave comments as you go along.
  • The linky for the Linky Party will be on the STAMPlorations Blog. To participate, download the Color Blooms Sampler from there, colour it using whatever medium you chose, create a project using your coloured sampler and link up here.
  • On Facebook, like the STAMPlorations Page and comment on the Color Blooms Blog Hop post tagging a friend.
  • Commenting closes Tuesday, 6th September at 11.55 Pacific Time, so will the linky for the Linky Party.

As always there are prizes to be won, a list of which can be found here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

I shall leave you with one last look at my projects, all made using parts of one coloured page ....



This was meant to be all ... that's until I decided that the off cuts had to be used too ... which meant another four cards using the same page ...



... in combination with the sunflower stamp from The Birds And The Blooms set for the sunflower cards. I simply masked off a matching strip, stamped the sunflower in black masking as I went along, tore a little piece off each off cut and attached them in place. All I had left to do was add my die cut sentiment, Hugs CUTplorations Word Die, and two more cards were finished.



For my last two cards, I layered my cut offs on a piece of black card, die cut 2 black and 1 green Hello CUTplorations Word Die, shadow layered the green on one of the blacks, layered my cards as seen, added sparkle to my sentiments using my glittery gel pen and finished off with matching glitter enamel dots.

I am entering my first card at:
Darnell's NBUS Challenge #7 - anything goes as long as there is at least one item that is 'Never-Before-Used-Schtuff', my Hello die had it's first outing when I made it


One last thing before I go .... my sincere apologies, I had to uninstall the members gadget. It was buggy from the start and now has stopped working altogether. I truly appreciate you popping by. Thanks so much for your continued support.

That's it from me. I shall be back soon.
Have a lovely day!
Happy Hopping and Good Luck!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Color Blooms, Art Marks, CUTplorations Word Dies: Hello and Hugs
colorbloomscover preview-SheryRuss_ArtMarks1 hello-worddiehugs-worddie
The Birds And The Blooms
thebirdsandtheblooms-web-preview

Tuesday 30 August 2016

Leave Your Fears Behind

Hello Crafty Friends!

I have been in the Brusho cupboard again and couldn't resist making an almost monochromatic card with a hint of turquoise ...


I sprinkled some purple Brusho with a little turquoise on my craft mat, spritzed with water and picked it up with a piece of watercolour card. Once dry, I trimmed it to size and stamped both the image and sentiment from the Leave Your Fears set by Visible Image in Elegant Eggplant (SU ink), added 2nd generation stamping using the same ink and the script stamp from the Revolution set.

I am entering my card at:
Cardz 4 Guyz - something beginning with F, went for Fears
Darnell's NBUS Challenge #7 - anything goes as long as it is 'Never-Before-Used-Schtuff', Leave Your Fears was used for the first time


This is it from me for today. I shall be back tomorrow with lots of inspiration.
Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx




Bird-Day Tweet

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's Tuesday, and this means it's Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations. My DT project today features a very excitedly tweeting bird on a somewhat splattery background ...


I created my background using red Brusho powder with a touch of golden shimmer paint and splashes of water. I stamped, coloured and die cut my bird (Birds Of Paradise stamp set and Coordinating CUTplorations Dies), die cut my crazy stitched red mat (CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies), stamped and cut my sentiment and layered everything up rounding some corners to finish.

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog to check out the fabulous projects my teamies created and to leave a comment for your entry in the monthly prize draw. All the details can be found here on the STAMPlorations Blog.

That's it from me for today. I shall be back soon.
Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
STAMPlorations Stamps: Birds Of Paradise
preview-BirdsofParadise

CUTplorations Dies: Birds Of Paradise Coordinating DiesCrazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies
cutplorations-BirdsofParadise preview-CrazyDoubleRunningStitches-Rectangle

Sunday 28 August 2016

A Little Die Cutting

Hello Crafty Friends!

I hope you're enjoying the sunshine wherever you are. Here in the UK something very special has happened... we are having a Bank Holiday weekend AND the sun is shining!!!!

Well I'm keeping this one short.I made two cards out of one die cut, here they are:
  

My First card uses a die-cut brusho background, one I made at the Happy Little Stampers Craft Retreat at the end of July in combination with the Joyful Bouquet Memory Box Die, brand new and never used before, with a little sentiment from the Doodled Flowers set by Happy Little Stampers.

Next up is the card I made using the negative of the Joyful Bouquet die on a dark background ...


... with a sentiment from the Thinking Of You set by Happy Little Stampers. Two quick cards out of one die cut.

I am entering my first card at:
Allsorts - use at least two dies, stitched rectangle and joyful bouquet
Darnell's NBUS #7 - at least one item must be 'Never-Before-Used-Schtuff', joyful bouquet is mine

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with dies
Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes using Happy Little Stampers stamps

That's it from me. Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx


Friday 26 August 2016

Practical Art

Hello Crafty Friends!

It's my turn today for a Mixed Media Tutorial over at STAMPlorations. I had been meaning to make a storage case for my tablet for quite some time now. Finally I bit the bullet and got on with it.

As I don't use the tablet for taking photos neither do I watch videos on it, I decided not to go for the inclusion of a camera hole. Neither was it necessary to use the case as a stand for watching videos or films. This made it a lot easier, and I opted for a simple sleeve design. Here it is from the front ....


If you want to know how I made it, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog using the link here.


That's it from me for today, I shall be back after the Bank Holiday with more Inspiration, actually I have quite a few posts planned for next week.

Have a lovely Weekend!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
ARTplorations Stencils:
Big Bloom FactoryFearless
preview-stencil-069-BigBloomFactoryLARGE preview-web-stencil-042-FearlessLARGE

STAMPlorations Stamps:
Artsy Tribal DoodlesMixed Media Elements
preview-Shery_Russ-ArtsyTribalDoodles SheryRuss_MixedMediaElements

Thursday 25 August 2016

More Brusho Escapades

Kylie ... Kylie ... What have you started!!!!

Hello Crafty Friends!

Since the HLS Craft Retreat in Swindon, I've had so much fun using my Brushos hence I shall be sharing some more of my makes.

I have been a fan of Visible Image stamps for a while .... and finally I dared picking them up and started to create ....


Using careful sprinkling of brushos and spritzing, I created my background and, once dry, stamped the Tall Grass, one of their retired stamps, in Wild Wasabi  and Create With Your Soul in Elegant Eggplant (both SU inks). All I need to do to finish my card, was to layer it on my white base card.


This one, using Butterfly Incognito, was even easier to make ... I sprinkled my brushos directly on the stamp, spritzed with water and stamped. I combined it with a simply stamped sentiment from the Doodled Flowers set by Happy Little Stampers.

I am entering this card at:
Addicted to CAS - Silhouette

Next up is a card I made using the 2nd generation stamping of the butterfly from my previous card ...


I tried to get another use immediately after stamping the butterfly for my previous card, but had to simlpy spritz the stamp with water again to make it work. I then stamped VI's Large Butterfly (think it is now part of the Butterfly Beginnings set) in black Versafine over my silhouette image and added my sentiment (Bold Sentiments: Create by STAMPlorations) to finish.

That's it from me for today, I shall be back tomorrow with a piece of Practical Art to share.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

Tuesday 23 August 2016

A Little Encouragement

Hello Crafty Friends!

It is Inspiration time over at STAMPlorations, and this means ... it is time for another Brushos installment ... this time using the background I created before taking the print off the stencil I used (see my project here for the tag I made using the print). The stencil I used is an ARTplorations stencil due to be released soon, Bold Florals Mini from their upcoming tag shaped range. Something to look forward to.


I placed my stencil on a piece of watercolour card, sprinkled with Brushos and lightly spritzed with water. I stamped and die cut my butterflies using the Buttercups And Butterflies stamp set and coordinating CUTplorations dies. Once my Brusho background had dried, I added some more spritzing using marker pens and spritzing tool, stamped my sentiment from the Buttercups and Butterflies set, added some more interest using stamps from the Art Marks set, doodling, glossy accents and sequins before distressing the edges, layering on my base card and attaching my butterflies and gems to finish.


Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog for more inspiration from my teamies and to leave a comment for your entry in their prize draw.

I shall be back soon. Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
STAMPlorations Stamps:
Buttercups And ButterfliesArt Marks
preview-Buttercups & Butterflies preview-SheryRuss_ArtMarks1

CUTplorations Dies:
Buttercups And Butterflies Coordinating Dies
cutplorations-ButtercupsandButterflies

ARTplorations Stencils:
Bold Florals Mini - due to be released soon

Sunday 21 August 2016

Shine

Hello, Crafty Friends!

Welcome to another Stencil Sunday in August. I would also like to use this as a reminder that there is still time to play along at the Mixed Media Challenge over at STAMPlorations. As you know anything Mixed Media Goes as long as it is not a card and you use at least one stencil.

For today's project I created a tag using one of their new, soon to be released, tag shaped ARTplorations Mini Stencils, Bold Florals Mini to be precise, plus a few additions from the Art Marks stamp set ... here it is:


I started off using a print from the Bold Blooms Mini stencil which I took when playing with my Brushos and cut it into shape. I outlined the flowers and leaves, added some dotty doodles, some stamped details using stamps from the Art Marks set, heat embossed a couple of sentiments from the same set, doodled an outline border and distressed the edges of my tag. Next I added my golden glittery touches using eyeliner, added gems and glossy accents to the large flower, popped the word shine up and finished with sequins and fibers.

I would like to enter my tag at:
Craft Stamper Make It Take It - Technique: Stencils and Masks
Allsorts - Fabulous Florals

I hope you feel inspired to create something different .... why not link it up with the Mixed Media Challenge over at STAMPlorations. The theme is always Anything Mixed Media Goes except cards which means projects such as tags, ATCs, canvases, layouts, art journal pages etc,are perfect for entering, and you must have used at least one stencil (any brand) in your project. The challenge will close at the end of the month. You can find the full challenge details plus more Mixed Media inspiration here on the STAMPlorations Blog.


That's it from me for today.
I shall be back soon with another project to share.

Have a lovely day!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
ARTplorations Stencils:
Bold Florals Mini - soon to be released
STAMPlorations Stamps: Art Marks
preview-SheryRuss_ArtMarks1

Tuesday 16 August 2016

Chirrup

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today I would like to share another card I made using a Brusho background. As my DT contribution to today's Inspiration Post over at STAMPlorations, I decided to team it up with the Birds of Paradise stamp set, their Coordinating CUTploratiosn Dies plus the middle die from the CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies.


It's a pretty easy card to make ... stamp, colour and die-cut your bird and layer on your die-cut brusho background, attach to your base card and add your little sentiment strips.

For more inspiration and to check out the fab creations my teamies made, pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog.

That's it from me for today, I shall be back soon. In the meantime enjoy the sunshine!

hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Birds Of Paradise, Birds of Paradise Coordinating CUTplorations DiesCUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies
preview-BirdsofParadise cutplorations-BirdsofParadise preview-CrazyDoubleRunningStitches-Rectangle