Rainbows!!

Rainbows are a sign of hope and a signal of all things happy. So sometimes, if I'm feeling blue, I paint a little rainbow or two. 

I got the STAMPlorations Art Marks 2 set in the mail this week and fell in insta-love with it. I looked at the scribbly little stamps and immediately was drawn to one that looked like a rainbow. 

I know they are just a bunch of innocuous little marks, but all I see are possibilities!

So I stamped this one, and masked it, then started a stack of rainbows. Please don't mind the messy stamp block - that's my real life. ;) 

I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors on these because I wanted a nice vibrant color. I looooooove how saturated these watercolors are!

After I finished my rainbows, I stamped an equally graphic retro sentiment (STAMPlorations Big Greetings).

I'm linking this up to STAMPlorations Anything Goes CAS challenge with the optional twist of Lemon Yellow. 

I also had this piece of rainbow watercolor paper I'd created earlier, and couldn't resist throwing together this scrappy, bright card with the xxxx stamps!

Paper Shelter has a Happy Colours challenge going on and I definitely think this applies!

Clean and Simple Rainbow Watercolor Card + PRIZES

Water water everywhere - at least here in Grand Forks. We're getting some super high river crests and I'm very thankful for the flood wall our city built nearly 20 years ago because tomorrow they have to close down bridges! 

But spring is also a time for celebrating because this winter brought historic snowfalls - the 3rd snowiest winter on record! 

At STAMPlorations, we have a Spring Fling hop going on  and today we are giving away a stamp set of your choice from the Bee's Knees line.  For my card, I decided to make a rainbow in reminder of the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I stamped a rainbow from the Wonderful Life stamp set and colored it in with Dina Wakely Scribble Sticks. 

If you've never used Scribble Sticks - they are awesome! You can go over them with a little bit of water and they create these vibrant, gorgeous colors. 

I stamped a sentiment from the same set below it, and then also added three little rows of watercolored rainbow strips. 

Perfectly Springy - there are still 5 whole days of the Spring Fling with a brand new prize EVERY day! So come play along!!

I'm going to link this up to AAA Cards - Made in Minutes challenge (23 minutes! - a record for me!) and CAS on Sunday - Spring challenge.

New Big Grins by Becca Cruger Stamps + Giveaway!

Hello my wonderful bloggy friends! I'm so excited to share this post with you because I have three brand new stamp sets available at STAMPlorations under my Big Grins by Becca Cruger line!! And good news! You could win ALL of them. Just leave a comment on this blog and then hop over to STAMPlorations blog to leave a comment there, too!


You all know I love me a good snarky stamp set, and both Sweet and Sassy Dad & Snarky Cap and Gown deliver on those fronts. 

  

Sweet & Sassy Dad | Snarky Cap and Gown

I don't know about you, but I have a Papa who is the KING of dad jokes. You know the kind... knee-slapping groaners. This sentiment definitely "celebrates" those terrible puns. 

But never fear! I also brought on a plethora of sweet sentiments to go along with the snark.

I also drew some inspiration from Time Out Challenges and cased the layout of Cornelia's lovely card for my own design.
Cornelia's Card:


My Design 
 

Next up is a design for Snarky Cap & Gown. When I was going through grad season this year, I realized I didn't have one (not a single one) graduation set in my stash and it was really hard to find something that was exactly what I wanted. So I made one!

 Snarky Cap & Gown has some tame sentiments, like the one used above, but it also brings on a little bit of the sass.

Lastly, I want to show off Wonderful Life. It's filled with beautiful sentiments that are perfect all year round, but I love the summery potential this set has and can't wait to play around with it!

Wonderful Life

I watercolored up some of the sketchy rainbows and used the big ol' sentiment to create a bright and cheery design. When it was all done, I added a paper butterfly that came from my hoard of embellishments that were given to me by my grandma.

I'm going to let this card play along in the Cards Und More Holidays/Summertime Fun challenge. And the CAS Watercolor Challenge - Butterfly.

Perfection.

Pssssttttt... If you're thinking about it, now is TOTALLY the time to head on over to the STAMPlorations shop and use the code STAMPGIRLBECCA to snag them for 20% off the price.

Make sure to leave a comment on the STAMPlorations blog for double your chances to win! :)

It's my NEW STAMP RELEASE: Funny Kinda Love + GIVEAWAY

AAAAAhhhhh! I'm beyond excited to share my latest stamp set release for STAMPlorations with you all today!

I wanted to design something with a little bit of snarky attitude (who me?!) and I also was lacking in the love department. Well... let me rephrase that... my stamp collection was lacking in the love department. With all of the weddings I've attended recently and with Valentine's Day on the horizon, I thought this would be the PERFECT set.

Introducing: A Funny Kinda Love!

The great thing about this set is that you can choose to have nice, elegant cards, or you can choose to add a little spunk to your sentiments with the sentiment builder format.

Here are some examples:

Nice, elegant design:

This card is going to the Try it on Tuesday: Handmade by You challenge 

To snarky and sassy design: 

This card was made using the DCWV stackaholic challenge card sketch, the Violet Leaf and Foiled Vellum paper stacks.

I also had fun playing with rainbow splashes of color: 

 

This card is going to Come and Get It's Make Um Laugh challenge

 And this card is going to: Tuesday Throwdown: Add a Border challenge. 

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!
Want a chance to win this set for your very own OR a $20 gift certificate? Leave a comment below AND a comment on the STAMPlorations blog by November 1 for an entry to win!  

While you're at it - check out the other 3 AWESOME stamp sets being released this week and - hey! - if you purchase this set this week in the STAMPlorations store, you get 10% off your order which means it's only $10.80. Can't get much better than that!