STAMPlorations Challenges are BACK!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

You may have noticed over the summer that I took a little hiatus from regular blogging. That's because I was crazy busy with some of the art shows I'd signed up for, plus doing some community work. Stay tuned early next week and I'll share some of my summer hijinks with you. 

But for now, I'm here to tell you that STAMPlorations challenges are back, too! They also went on a little summer break. But now we've got a whole new crop of fresh challenges and great prizes. 

The sketch this month is:

And the theme this month is: 

You can play along with either the sketch or the them OR both! Options!

For my design, I decided to work with the theme. Believe it or not, we had our first snowfall last night and so I'm already wistful for Autumn. *sigh*

The first thing I did was to add a layer of prettiness to a sheet of mixed media paper. 

I used these Ken Oliver Color Burst Crystals and Liquid Metals to create a flowy, vibrant background. 

Over the top of that, I added a layer of Faber Castel Glitter Bead gel through the Botanical Lush stencil. Because let's be real here, everyone loves glitter. 

Once that dried, I speckled the background with green & red Distress Spray Stains. 

I double stamped a leaf from the Trendy Leaves stamp set, using Fired Brick Distress Ink and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide. 

Added a sentiment from the Buttercups & Butterflies stamp set, some ribbons, a little glue and BAM! One gorgeous Fall card. 

Pop on over to play along in the STAMPlorations theme & sketch challenge and to see all the other crafty inspiration. 

PSSStttt - if you're looking to add to your stamp collection, you can get 20% off anything in the STAMPstore using code STAMPGIRLBECCA

Elegant Autumn Leaves Thank You Card

Happy Thursday! 
This weekend, I'm off to a concert series down in the Twin Cities area and I can't wait! 

But before I go, I get to show off the design I made for the latest Fusion challenge. I loved the warmth of the inspiration image and I took a stab at the sketch, too. 

I've had these gold leaf stickers from Martha Stewart for so long. They're just so lovely and I haven't been able to bring myself to use them. I finally found the perfect design that would let me part with them. 

My little design is also going to go play along over at
Die Cut Divas - Autumn 
Little Red Wagon - Harvest Time

I hope you'll come play along at Fusion this fortnight! 

Cheers!

Distress Oxides + InkaGold + Autumn Leaves - Oh My!

Inky goodness happened in my studio earlier this week thanks to a super fantastic inspiration image from the Fusion Card Challenge. I almost couldn't wait to share it with you all because I squealed all over the place when I finished it.

The gorgeous inspiration image I referenced is this one from Fusion:

 

I just loved that blue bokeh background. If you have never played along at Fusion, you can choose either the inspiration image OR the sketch OR mash 'em together and create "Fusion" in your design.

For my card I chose to use both the sketch and inspiration image, because I'm an overachiever like that. 

I made my leaves by using the STAMPlorations Trendy Leaves stamp set. I love these artsy leaves, and I double stamped them, once with the solid base and then again in a different color with the text overlays. 

 I used a variety of red, yellow, and orange Distress Ink and Distress Oxides. 

 

 Then I splattered them with a coppery InkaGold and water slush.

I used a combo of blue Distress Inks and Distress Oxides along with the Distress Ink Double Dipping Technique to create a background filled with depth and vibrant color. 

As you can see, I also sprinkled the background with InkaGold. Oooo

I put it all together, along with some gemstone embellishments and funky bits and bobs. Charming, nontraditional Fall! All in one little card. 

I'm also going to join the fun of playing along in some bloggy challenges. 

Shopping Our Stash has a theme called "That's Sketchy" this week and wants you to choose a sketch challenge to play along with (I'm obviously using Fusion). 

Country View Crafts has a challenge all about Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues. 

I hope you all consider joining us for Fusion this fortnight!

Watercolor Autumn Leaves Card

CHALLENGES ARE BAAAACK!!!
At STAMPlorations that is. We may have taken a little summer hiatus, but we are back and better than ever!. 

This month our theme is Stamps & Two Colors and here's the sketch: 

 

If you want to play along, we make it easy peasy. You can use either the theme or the sketch OR both. And you can also use stamps from any company you want!

I chose to use the theme this go-round.

I also wanted to take part in the first birthday shindig for CAS Watercolour Challenge. So I stamped and clear embossed some leaves from the Trendy Leaves stamp set and used my Kuretake Gansai watercolors to add a splash of vibrant color.

 I've loved playing along in this challenge throughout the year. Happiest of birthdays! 

Their theme this month is watercolours and fall leaves.

I finished my card by stamping a sentiment from the Holiday Expressions: Thankful For Autumn onto a thin strip of vellum. I splashed the leaves with some red Distress Spray Stain and added a little bit of glimmer using some clear sequins. 

There's so much gorgeous inspiration over on the STAMPlorations blog so pop over and have a peek!

Card Concept - White Pumpkin

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! 

At least over at The Card Concept it is, anyways. We've unrolled a new challenge with a nontraditional, but still very cozy take on Fall! 

When I first saw this image, I new right away that I wanted to pull out my Wendy Vecchi Sunburst Stencil to mimic that rusty little pinwheel wall hanging thing-a-ma-bob (I'm pretty sure that's the technical decorator's name for it). 

Speaking of non-traditional, I was really wishing that I had some metallic silver embossing paste and then I remembered I had some Nuvo enamel drop stuff. I squeezed a bunch of it into my stencil opening and then sccchmeeeared it all around with a palette knife. 

Over the top of that, I added some Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain and then I dried it with a heat tool. Because I heat dried it, it began to crackle and crinkle and bubble and create all sorts of yummy textures. 

I stamped a pumpkin from the STAMPlorations Holiday Expressions: Thankful for Autumn stamp set and colored it in using a white gel pen. For my leaves, I used some Forest Moss Distress Oxide Inks and a damp paintbrush. 

Put it all together and what do you get?
A graphic, funky nontraditional Fall card. 

This card is going to play along in the following challenges: 

Addicted to Stamps and More: Make Your Mark

The Card Concept is such a great challenge because our designers all work in different styles. While I used a Mixed Media style f, there's a whole gallery of inspiration ranging from Clean and Simple to Shabby Chic. Go check it out and play along with us! 

Giving Thanks Blog Hop

Hold on to your turkeys, ladies and gentlemen, because this is one BIG hop and linky party with some BIG prizes.

STAMPlorations is hosting its annual Giving Thanks blog hop and featuring 38 designers - 15 of whom have been sponsored by STAMPlorations in the past year.

Prior to showing off my card, I'm going to get a little misty eyed and talk about Shery Russ, the owner of STAMPlorations. When we talk about things (or in this case people) to be thankful for, Shery tops the list. She was the one who gave me my first ever design team assignment from an official company. She's given me the opportunity to design stamps (a dream I never even knew I had until she asked) and she's sponsored causes that are so important to me (The Hop to Stop Domestic Violence).

I'm also SOOOO thankful for my STAMPteamies, who are constantly inspiring me with their creativity, uplifting me with their comments, and being all-around badass people. (pardon my French).

Ok - I know you've got some hopping to do, so that's my reverie.

Now here's my card.

I made this sweet shaker using the brand new Be Thankful Bundle (stamps and coordinating die cuts). 

I watercolored my apple basket and turned the card into an adorable little shaker with some fall leaves and shimmery sequins.

I'm going to link this card to the Dragonfly Dreams Autumnal Colors challenge and Fashionable Stamping Autumn or Winter challenge.



I love the brand new bundle sets being released for this hop. Each bundle includes a stencil, die cut, and harvesty stamp set.

And just because Shery is thankful for YOU, her customers, she's giving you all a 35% off discount in the STAMPstore.

Go wild and get to shopping!!

But before that - get to hopping and/or link up to the linky party below- because for all the hoppers and linkers there are 

>>>9 BIG PRIZES<<< 

up for grabs.

You are Amazing - Winnie & Walter Rerun Challenge

I'm really excited to participate in the Winnie & Walter Rerun challenge this go-round because I actually own the stamp set they're featuring for once! Wooo! (Not that you need the stamp set to play along in this awesome challenge - you can also CASE one of the designers cards, so get your butts over there to play!)

They are showing off the In Bloom: Renee's Leaves stamp set and I got wicked excited to pull it out and play. I maaaaaay have mentioned this a time or two before but I LOVE Fall and thought these leaves would be the perfect chance to get my autumnal coloring skills on. 

 I began by stamping one leaf, cutting a mask and then masking and layering and masking and layering. 

Whole lotta masking. Whole lotta stamping. 

I colored my image in using various tones of Spectrum Noir markers and then layered some circular shapes, used some hints of gold foiled paper and added teensy sequins. 

The sentiment is from my Strong Women stamp set.

I'm also going to play along in 

Just for Fun Challenge - Fall and

Pink & Main Challenge - Autumn

 

Thanks for popping by! 

Sunflower Gorgeousness Card

My favorite flower is a lilac, but my favorite flower to COLOR is a whole different story. When it comes to that category, the sunflower has no close seconds - it is by far my favorite bloom to ink up. 

So when I saw the sketch for this month's STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch challenge, it immediately gave me a chance to think Fall and pull out the gorgeous Large Happy Sunflower stamp.

To play along in STAMPlorations challenges you can use ANY products/stamps you want!!

Choose to play with the challenge theme

Choose to play with the challenge sketch

Choose to play with both! 

The possibilities are endless! (ok... there's really only 3 but still...)

Here's the theme and sketch for this month -

So I inked up my stamp using Vintage Photo Distress Inks and then I started coloring it in with Fossilized Amber Distress Markers. 

I used a waterbrush to get the color to blend nicely. Then I stamped a sentiment from the VIGNETTE: Chevron and Arrows set onto a piece of vellum. 

Finally, I made my center panel by using the Crazy Double Running Stitches Nestable die and I added some drips of Fossilized Amber Reinkers and Vintage Photo Reinkers to the card. I added some drips of water to my Reinker drips and let them flit down the page. 

***Please note - I tried the reinker bit as an experiment and I would NOT recommend it. I felt like I wasted a lot of ink and it didn't run smoothly. There are so many better ways to get drips/splatters***

Anywho - here's the finished product, which is very sunflowerlicious and therefore makes me very happy. :) 

I'm going to enter this baby into Virginia's View Spray, Mist & Splatter challenge. (It's not using Altenew - I hope that's ok).

I'm also going to play along to Addicted to Stamps CAS challenge, and Shopping our Stash Try something New Challenge.  


Thanks for popping by! I hope you'll go give some love to these challenges this month!

Mixed Media Harvest Blessings Card

Ahhhhhhhh September. Pumpkin Spice Lattes return to the land of all things good. The smell of apples is in the air. You can take deep breaths and inhale.... Cough* Cough* OUCH! That was a wasp. 

Seriously - up here in North Dakota, you can't walk 2 steps without encountering one of the stingalicious flymobiles - and breathing deeply is done at your own peril. 

Autumn is my most favoritest season, though, and I can't wait to become a boots-sportin', PSL-guzzling, sweater-wearing gal again. 

Over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge, we are celebrating Autumn in fine fashion with our new challenge. 

 

Our theme this month is Harvest Basket with the optional element of Fruit. 

For my creation, I inked up a stamp that has been beckoning me since I bought it last Fall. It's a gorgeous autumn basket from the STAMPlorations HOLIDAY EXPRESSIONS: Thankful for Autumn set. 

I'm sorry I don't have my usual process photos to show off - I actually made this background a while ago when I was just putzing around having some messy fun in my room. 

I can tell you the process, though. 

1. Sponge a mixture of Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber Distress Inks on a sheet of cardstock
2. Ink up a grungy-looking stamping with Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks and randomly plop that baby onto the sponged paper.
3. Apply gold texture paste through a stencil in random areas around the edges. 

My image was colored with Spectrum Noir Makers and Distress Markers and then I embossed the sentiment on a sheet of vellum. 

I'm going to link my Harvest beauty up to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes
Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon - Lets Get Inky

___________________________

In other BIG and super cool news! I'm so excited to announce that I was invited to be a part of the 2016-2017 Fusion Challenge team!

 WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 

I love the Fusion Challenge and the seriously talented design team they've always seemed to gather so I was uber chuffed when I got the email! Hope you'll pop by & check out my new teamies!