It’s me again, Isolde! I’m here with a new challenge for you. I love things clean & simple so here is my challenge: KEEP IT SIMPLE! Just use cardstock + 1 picture + title. That’s all.

This is what I came up with. I used the first picture I took on New Years Day @ 4 am.

For the title I used Friday Night Stencil. I’m addicted to that alphabet . For the dots on top of the page, I used Itty Bittys.

I hope to see some of your ‘clean & simple’ projects!

Life should be about challenging yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone to coin a phrase, so I gave it a go.

For the background, I glued on some old book pages then with my brayer I added gesso, pink acrylic paint and some more gesso.  I stamped the butterflies from the Colorful Companions set in sepia Versafine ink then brayered some more gesso over to dull them a bit.  I stamped flowers from The Garden Sketches set and embossed them in white.  I didnt like the shiny embossing so I sanded it down a bit for more distressing.  (If I’d had a good white ink pad I may have simply used that and not embossed at all).

I added the collage bits and some lace and wanted a large embellishment on the front. After much playing about I hit upon the old stamping on UTEE.  It’s been ages since I saw my UTEE and to be honest I’d forgotton I’d even got a black one.  After 2 layers of black UTEE on a chipboard heart I added a third layer and stamped the butterfly into it.  It was beautiful but too shiny so I wiped over with some gesso and a baby wipe and hey presto I  now had an embellishment which looked  like black stone or slate.

I’m pretty glad I was challenged to do something different. Why not challenge yourself to try something you’ve avoided before, you may surprise yourself.

Normally when I make a project and I want to include a bow I pull out my ribbons. Well not this time. This time I made a bow from patterned paper and I love how it turned out!!

Here is my card:

So my challenge to you today is to create a project with a paper bow on it and of course include some stamping too.

I’ve been collecting (washi) tape for a while now and I figured I’d better use it before my Mount Washi Tape turns into horribly outdated Mount Washi Tape. This is what I came up with:

For this card I adhered washi tape to a piece of card, stamped over it with StazOn and then cut the image out. myStamp BOX sets used: Lovely Houses, Itty Bittys, Cherry Blossoms and Border Lines.

I really liked the look of all the different tapes next to each other and thought they would make a great background:

myStamp BOX set used: Holiday Monkey. The hearts were colored with Faber-Castell Gelato and a wet brush.

And then I just wanted to get a little bit more messy and created this:

myStamp BOX sets used: Border Lines and Itty Bittys. The light green circles are also colored with a Faber-Castell Gelato and a wet brush.

OK… so now it’s up to you! I challenge you to get out your beloved (washi) tapes and favorite stamps and combine the two! Or, if you cannot bare even the thought…, dig up some of that old(er) stash that you have been saving forever and spruce it up with lovely stamped images!

Link up your myStamp BOX creations in the comments below. We would love to see them!

Have a great day! Use up some of that stash!

Here is what everyone made of it:

by Isolde Pyncket

by Agata Pfister, a simple and elegant card

by Janet Zeppa paired with green

by Els Brigé, just in blue

by Jill Hildebrand

purple exploration by Jaine Drake

by Linda Abadie using the new Warm Tweet set and Back to the basics

by Jolene Johnston, beautiful pairing of the colours

layout and detail by Jill Hildebrand

this beautiful little chest is by Marsha Valk, the colours just pop!

… and inside! The Itty Bittys fit perfectly on the cubes.

We hope you liked our challenge!

Stay tuned for our design team call coming up later this week!

Until then, happy stamping!

photo source.

Hi All!
Wendy here to share up a beautiful Color Challenge for you!

I find a lot of inspiration in color, patterns, and beautiful quotes….over at Pinterest.  This color challenge I picked up over there with some beautiful palettes & images linked up in this post.  I live near the beach (only 30 min+ to be exact) so the color of the ocean is just so soothing & relaxing. I also love purple and lilacs are one loveliest of flowers (in my opinion) along with orchids (I likey like too) and roses….ok, yep, I love flowers. (wink wink)

Here are a few more pics that inspired me for this challenge -

photo source.

photo source.

So, using this inspiration & some fabulous myStampBOX stamps, here’s my color challenge project share -

“Go. Go. Go. See”

12×12 Layout

Now for some details…

A few months back, Canvas Corp so generously blog hopped with us on the myStampBOX design team.  Unfortunately, I was out of town on vacation to NYC and couldn’t do the hop but was itching to use these super cool mini canvas shapes on a project – i.e. hearts, circles, ATCs – so many possibilities!!  So, I used these with some Ranger Distress Stain + water to create the effect on these canvas shapes.  I just love the watercolor & splotchy effect to them.  Also, I used the myStampBOX set, Seal It, on the corner of the canvas heart.  I stamped it using Staz-On black ink.  The peek of embossed metal tin you see I embossed with my Big Shot Sizzix machine + embossing template + metal tin foil.

On a side note, these photos are inspired from my travels – NOLA (New Orleans), Italy (Torino), and Florida (Destin)….love travel and to “go go go see” the world…near & far.

Here I also used the Ranger Distress Stain + water again along with a heat tool and some parts of this I just allowed to air dry.  Such a beautiful & dreamy effect.  Stamped up with Seal It and Road Trip stamps.  Also, I accented with some coordinating bling, brads, and clear dewdrops.

Using some large chipboard letters (deep in my stash – ha!) along with some different colors of mist in blue & purple for the effect on this page.  Stamped (“you are here”) above the mini photo with the set Road Trip.  I repeated the “go go” with the alpha set, Rough Copy.  Such a fun alpha set you can leave as outlined or color/fill in.

Here are a few more close up pics…

Supply List -

myStampBOX Stamps

Road Trip

Rough Copy

Seal It

Others – Cardstock – DCWV, Paper – Advantus (Tim Holtz-Idealogy), Canvas Mini Shapes – Canvas Corp, Letter Stickers – American Crafts, Distress Ink, Distress Stain, Archival Ink – Ranger, Ink – Tsukineko, Mini Clothes Pins – Stampin’ Up!, Tags – Avery, 7 Gypsies, Metal Foil – Ranger, Mist – Clearsnap – Smooch Spritz (Majestic), Tattered Angels – Glimmer Mist (Purple Pansy), Studio Calico (Mister Huey Bonny Blue), Baker’s Twine – The Twinery, Cork Letter Stickers – Prima, Stickers – Creative Imaginations (Wildberry), Punch – Fiskars, Clear Dewdrops – The Robin’s Nest, Rubons – Making Memories, Brads – Basic Grey, Pearls & Bling – Basic Grey, Kaisercraft, Staples & Stapler – Advantus (Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher), Mini Paper Clip – Advantus (Tim Holtz).

Hope you enjoyed my Color Challenge project share!

Up until this week, anyways!  Brrrrr… temperatures have dropped and already, I can’t wait until summer!

So, to warm up our spirits and brighten up our days until it arrives, I have a bright and cheery colour challenge to share with you!

Doesn’t that make you feel warm and fuzzy?

Here’s a layout created with this colour palette:

I stamped images on patterned papers, using black ink and the Colorful Companions and Wishing You Sunshine stamps sets.

Hope this colour challenge inspired (and warms!) you, too!

I fell in love with the colours and wanted to create a layout with it. This is the result.

I used the stamp set Itty Bittys for the little dots next to the picture

So, my challenge for you is: let this print inspire you to create a layout, card, … Don’t forget to let us know what you created. We always love to see your work.

It’s all very well being able to cut your favourite shapes from patterned paper but with all the stash in the world, there’ll still be times when you won’t have the right colour or pattern for a project.  A piece of plain coloured card just won’t cut it (sorry for the pun, I couldn’t resist).

Try creating your own patterns on die cuts and using alcohol markers to colour them in.

I stamped using Memento ink from Tsukineko as it doesn’t react with alcohol markers.

Stamping on the die cut shapes also means you can tie everything together by stamping the same pattern on the background.

I’ve used Funky Circles and  Garden Sketches on my cards.

I always love the idea of taking some stamps and making something else with them. So this time I took the Abundant Blossoms set and stamped some flowers, then cut them out and arranged them to create a wreath.

Then I’ve added some smaller flowers to fill in the spaces, red Stickles to flowers’ centers and of course a sentiment!

While playing with my cut out flowers, I had another idea of a one layer card, perfect for mailing! Here it is:

You could stamp the same thing in blue and red to obtain the  Nordic look which is so popular right now.

OK, so here’s my challenge to you. Take some non-Holiday themed stamps and make something very Holiday-ish with them. And most of all, have fun!

I had a lot of fun putting this Santa together. To add to the magic of this character I put some Distress Stickles to his beard and hair, which unfortunately don’t show up very well in this picture.

How cute is this reindeer, ha? I just love it! I’ll definitely be using this one on a lot of my cards this year. I couldn’t resist adding a red gem to his nose. I stamped the reindeer onto the patterned paper first, and then started building layer after layer.

And last but not least, Santa’s sleigh all geared up. In case you were wondering about it, the bells of the reindeer and of the sleigh are also paper pieced. All papers are from Prima’s North Country 6×6 paper stack.

Now it’s your turn!  If you make something with paper piecing, link your creation up, so we can come and take a look at it.

Here’s the outgoing wall-hanging mailbox that she found. As we say in the altering world, it had “good bones” and a great structure for this project.

I recovered the back of the box and the front pocket using papers that match the other new items in her office. A simple stamped “MAIL” using my very favorite myStampBOX alphabet, Royal Flush, was the bold and simple choice for the front. A final strip of ribbon on the top edge of the front pocket helps break up the patterns that coordinate without being too matchy-matchy.

I was able to stamp directly on the striped ribbon using StazOn ink and the swirled leaf from He Loves Me. I love the extra little detail it adds in an unexpected place. I hope you get a chance to upscale something for your home or office decor using stamping!

myStampBOX stamps: Royal Flush, He Loves Me; StazOn ink; Autumn Leaves papers; Mod Podge; Nestabilities die; Sizzix Big Kick; Bazzill cardstock; Basic Grey Precision Files; unknown ribbon.

I want to share a COLOUR COMBO with you today that I used when creating my latest Halloween layout:

It’s not your traditional colour combo when it comes to Halloween — maybe, instead, you think of birthdays, the beach or the backyard pool.

Yeah……well…….I’ve mixed things up a bit and brought these colours into my layout.

(“Pumpkins and black cats.  Halloween must be just around the corner”).

With a combination of teal, light blue & a mix of oranges, this layout has a little more colour than the typical black, orange & purple Halloween layout that I’ve created in the past.  I added some black & grey elements to keep the “mysterious” Halloween theme, but the main colour palette is more fresh & light.

Here are some close-ups of the mSB stamp sets I used — a combination of the circles from Symbols & the little dots from Itty Bitty’s.

I challenge you to think outside-the-treat-bag with your COLOUR COMBOs this Halloween as you create layouts that will burst with colour.

keep stampin’,

I buy this magazine, even-though my French is not very good and I never actually make any of the projects that are featured… But there are truly wonderful ideas in there and one of my very favorite things to do is to take a few hints from the magazine before I create a lay out!

Let me show you:

These are just a few random things that caught my eye on the first few pages. I used them to inspire me for this lay out:

I used the myStampBOX Colour Me alphabet to mimic the fabric alphabet, some Funky Flowers, Abundant Blossoms and the buttons from the Border Lines set to recreate the flowers from the fabric pouches and a checkered Graphic Border just because I liked the green and white checkered fabric button.

And this green display:

Inspired me to create a card:

Here I used the leaves from the Abundant Blossoms and Funky Flowers sets to recreate the background in the picture. The branch is also from the Abundant Blossoms set and the little vase is actually an Itty Bitty.

Now are you up for the challenge? Today’s challenge is to grab your favorite magazine and look at it in a different way. Use it to find ideas for your next stamp project. Look for color combinations, patterns, even lay outs and see what you can come up with!

Link up your creations in the comments below. I can’t wait to see them!

Now the eye is taken right to those elements that have been stamped and given that “wow” factor that I was looking for.

Here is a closeup of the banner that I randomly stamped with a little flower from the Funky Flowers set.

I stamped the heart shaped chipboard piece with a butterfly from the Colorful Companions set. One of my new favourites.

My challenge to you is to use your stamps and some embossing powder on your next project and I hope that you will share it with us.

I started with a piece of paper from Tim Holtz’s Resist Kraft Stash notepad and clear-embossed the dots using the myStampBOX Backgrounds set of stamps. It adds a subtle texture and shine that’s wonderful to see in person.

Here’s a closer look at the background. I love the tone-on-tone pattern! The sentiment was stamped using the Sigh Gush Gasp sentiments. I just adore this set of stamps! The funky hand-scribbled look is fresh and fun. This time I paired the sentiment with a new Lifestyle Crafts layered die that looks like it was made just for these stamps. I love it when that happens! I hope you try using kraft as the main color on your craft projects. Be sure to link us up if you do. Happy stamping!

Supplies: myStampBOX Backgrounds and Sigh Gush Gasp stamps; Ranger Archival ink; Karen Foster Scrappers Spools, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Tim Holtz Kraft Resist Paper Stash, Lifestyle Crafts dies, American Crafts Foam Adhesive Dots, Sakura gel pen.

Today I’m going to show you a quick way to reuse a fun packaging product in your everyday life.

My 6 year old son, Spencer, just lost his very first baby tooth and I promised him I would make him a fun way to present the Tooth Fairy his tooth so I grabbed one of the Maya Road packages like the one’s shown below and set off in making something fun for him to present his tooth to the Tooth Fairy.

I decided to use the plastic slip off front on the front of a card.

Dear Tooth Fairy

Stamps used: Wishing You Sunshine, Graphic Borders, Mini Pennants and Deck the Halls

As you can see below, I designed the plastic piece to slide off the front of the card so you can not only put your tooth in the box but reuse for the next tooth!

To finish off the card, I decorated the inside too!  I figured he could leave a sticky note for the Tooth Fairy so the inside can be used again and again.

So I challenge you today to come up with a fun project where you reuse or re-purpose a piece of packaging from your crafty stash.  It may be a simple as reusing a piece of plastic backing, a piece of the package backing or even some of the cardboard that your supplies get delivered in.

Good luck!  I can’t wait to see what you creating using some recycled packaging!

Wishing You Sunshine Stamp (myStamp BOX)

Graphic Borders Stamp (myStamp BOX)

Deck the Halls Stamp (myStamp BOX)

Mini Pennants Stamps (myStamp BOX)

Rebecca and Agata are here to put some color into your world! We’ve teamed up for this challenge and chose to make some layouts using a great stamp set: Colorful Companions which is all about butterflies! Here’s Rebecca’s beauty:

She took only one stamp from that set, stamped it numerous times in colors that matched her patterned papers. Then she cut out all those butterflies and pop-dotted them on her layout for some dimension. Rebecca has purposely chosen the butterfly with a simple shape as she knew she would be cutting out a lot of them!

As for me I used almost all stamps from the set to create a patterned paper of my own. I used some chalk and pigment inks which was useful since I’ve embossed two images with an iridescent embossing powder.

Depending on ink’s color this technique gives different effect. Here are some close-ups:

Hopefully those layouts will inspire you to take out this beautiful stamp set and get inky!

&

I remember watching in my childhood a TV show called Beyond 2000. My English was sort of in its beginnings back then so I was puzzled by the word “beyond”. Plus year 2000 seemed so far away!

Today I believe I understand better the meaning of this word and scrapbooking-wise it means for me going for a bigger project. We’re all running after time trying to get the most of it but let’s be honest: sometimes it’s not possible so we go for those small projects that offer us a short creative escape. The result is that some memories get lost in the process. So today I’m challenging you to add up those short periods of time and create something bigger: a layout if usually you make cards, or a mini album if you make layouts etc.

Personally, I do make cards and layouts quite often but I do envy my friends who create mini albums all the time! So here’s one that I offered to my in-laws with pictures of their grandchildren.

It’s an accordion style album with a fabric covered front and back. Here it’s open.

And here it is page by page. Sorry for the fingers that are holding it down! I’ve chosen the best pics of my in-laws grand-children and adorned each page with myStamp Box stamps. Snapshot and Seal it! on this one:

Repeat after me and Snapshot again:

As you can see I tried to keep the same colors as on the cover for the unity of the album.

I used Funky Flowers and Mention it sets for the last page.

As for the detail on the cover, I stamped the frame from Snapshot set on a piece of cardstock, added a sentiment from Itty Bittys set and glued to fabric using a product from our partner company, Helmar Adhesives, Liquid Glue Dots.

So my today’s challenge for you is this: go beyond the size of your usual projects and make something bigger. Maybe it will cost you some effort but it will be a very rewarding experience! Happy stamping!

And here is my bright, colourful take on the sketch:

Stamps used:  Mini Alphas, Wishing You Sunshine, Just Add Notes

Using the Wishing You Sunshine stamps, I stamped various cloud shapes in bright ink colours on white cardstock, embossed them and fussy cut them out.  I attached them to my layout using various levels of foam adhesive.  I also stamped and embossed the memories button with the Just Add Notes set and used my scalloped punch.  I then inked around the edges using the same colours of the chipboard letters, stamped letters and clouds.

I stamped the minor words in the title/quote using the Mini Alphas stamp set.  First I stamped the letter block in a bright colour, then I quick stamped my alpha in black.  I then heat embossed both layers at once and fussy cut the blocks out.

If you play along with this challenge, please leave a comment with a link to your project so we can admire it!

Cheers,