Inlaid Die Cutting...

Hi! Did you ever start a card that went in a completely different direction? That is exactly what happened to me with this card! I started with a watercolor card using inks and then the Simon Says Stamp Heart of Roses die just took over the whole thing! Here is the card that I ended up with.

I was very inspired by the current CAS(E) this Sketch challenge and used it as the starting point.

I started with a white card base and painted stripes on it with a flat paintbrush and my trusty Camlin Photo inks. 

I added some splatters with gold acrylic paint.

This was the point where I got stuck. My original idea was to use a die cut butterfly in gold foil paper. But it just didn't work. I kept trying different things till I picked up the Heart of Roses by Simon Says Stamp. And then everything seemed to fall into place. I used a dark green metallic paper to die cut the heart and then painstakingly popped the pieces back into place. It was rather like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. 

Here is a closeup of the inlaid heart.

The sentiment is from the Celebrate Artsy set by Stamplorations. I stamped it with Versamark ink and heat embossed with black EP.

Linking this card to the following challenges:

CAS(E) this Sketch #183

Allsorts Challenge Week 374 - A Touch of Sparkle.

I used metallic green paper and gold splatters

Less is More Two Week Recipe Challenge - 286 & 287

I used inlaid die cutting which definitely adds some interesting texture to an otherwise one layer card.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Fabulous Florals

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Celebrate

Love,

Nandini

ATSM Challenge #205 - Photo Inspiration...

Hi! The challenge #205 this week at Addicted to Stamps and More is Photo Inspiration.

The sponsors this week are

DRS Designs - a family owned company since 1950 - boasts hundreds of original rubber stamp designs. All images are available fully mounted, completely unmounted or mounted on cling cushion and are proudly hand crafted in the USA. 

Our rubber stamp collection includes a wide assortment of images including sentiments for all occasions, easy background designs and fun technique stamps such as our stained glass and plaid designs.

The DRS Designs website features a huge card sample gallery, online demos and tips, a secure shopping area and more. Be sure to visit our daily blog with posts from our fantastic design team for inspiration and ideas.

Website: http://www.drsdesigns.com

Prize: $10.00 gift certificate

There are so many ways to interpret this challenge! You must go visit the ATSM blog to check out the gorgeous inspiration projects by my teamies. 

I decided to concentrate on the beautiful watercolor wash and white lettering.

I used one of my favorite coloring mediums, the Camlin Photo inks to create the green panel. I put drops of yellow, blue and green inks on a large acrylic block, sprayed the whole thing with plenty of water and then placed a piece of white card stock over it. After the paper was dry, I dropped some water over it and blotted with a clean rag for a more textured and distressed look. The stamp is Joy! Crafts Hydrangea Silhouette. I staped with Hero Arts White Unicorn pigment ink and them heat embossed with some opaque white EP. I cut the panel with my Gina Marie Xcut Rectangles die and mounted it on a kraft card base with some fun foam. The sentiment is from The Big, The Bold and Extras set by Winnie and Walter. Here is a closer look at the card.

Hope you like my card and join in the fun at the ATSM blog. You can link your beautiful creations here.

Love,

Nandini

A Holiday Themed Card For ATSM Challenge #203...

Hi! The challenge #203 this week at the Addicted to Stamps and More blog is

Link up your entries celebrating your favorite holidays like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Diwali, Eid, Holi etc. You can also link up entries that celebrate a favorite holiday memory or destination.

Our Amazing sponsor this week is

Founded in June 2013, California-based STAMPlorations™ is owned and managed by husband-and-wife team, David & Shery Russ. From just a handful of stamps, we now have 100+ stamp designs, 4 stamp designers, our exclusive line of stencils, and 20 amazing crafters spread across 3 teams who constantly produce gorgeous projects featuring our products. Our clear stamps are perfect for creating CAS, one layer, and mixed media cards, and they can be combined to create a variety of paper crafts. All of our stamps are proudly made in the USA. Our clear stamps are made from the finest, non-yellowing photopolymer resin. Through our stamp line, we hope to encourage crafters of all ages and

experience levels to "Stamp with all your ART!" 

Blog: http://stamplorations.blogspot.in/

Prize: 2 digital images

I created a glittery, festive card with a technique using glitter and stencils by the ever wonderful Jennifer Mcguire. You can find her detailed video tutorial here.

Unfortunately I couldn't quite capture the shimmery effect of glitter and silver EP. It looks really gorgeous in real life!

I started with a plain piece of white cardstock, thin double sided tape and the Merry Go Round stencil. This stencil always makes me think of the colorful bursts of firecrackers in the night sky during Diwali!

One of the useful tips that Jennifer Mcguire gives is to cover the back of the stencil with Versamark ink. You can also use soap, apparently. Though I went with Versamark since it was the most handy. This prevents the stencil from sticking too strongly to the double sided tape.

I covered the piece of cardstock with the double sided tape, overlapping each layer slightly. This is important since the glitter will not stick to the cardstock and you will get patchy areas which look really bad and cannot be touched up later! Keep a few strips of the release paper handy and lay them over the seams before pressing firmly to get a smooth finish. Press down the stencil gently, but firmly onto the glued area.

I first added the pink glitter at the center, tapped it off on a sheet of paper and then added the peach glitter. I used a piece of old tshirt to really work the glitter into the glue. The excess went back into the bottle. I was actually surprised by the small amount of glitter I needed.

After I had carefully peeled off the stencil, I added the turquoise glitter generously and again worked it in. I was very happy that there was almost no contamination between colors and I ended up with a beautiful, shimmery panel of cardstock.

I die cut the stenciled panel and some pale turquoise hand made paper with Gina Marie x-cut rectangle dies. I mounted the turquoise panel on a top folding white card base. The stenciled panel was popped up with a piece of fun foam for some added dimension. The sentiment is from the Sentiment Builders: Celebrate set by STAMPlorations. It was stamped on a scrap of pink handmade paper with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Ranger Silver EP. Here is another look at the card.

I hope you like my card and are inspired to join the fun at the ATSM challeneg blog. You can link up you creations here.

I am linking this card to the following challenges:

Make My Monday Craft Challenge: Sentimental

STAMPlorations July Sketch Challenge:

STAMPlorations July CAS Challenge:

STAMPlorations Never-ending Anything Goes Challenge:

Love,

Nandini

Exciting announcement...

Hi! I am here today with a very exciting announcement that I have been sitting on for some time. I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to be joining the super talented Design Team at Addicted to Stamps and More! 

The challenge this week is very easy and a great favourite of mine...

You can create anything for this challenge, so go crazy and make sure that you link up your creations to Challenge #201.

This challenge is being sponsored by

Happy Little Stampers was created in 2015 by Kylie (owner of ATSM and ATCAS). Kylie wanted to bring out a line of stamps that were useful for every day crafters. From cute to whimsical images, from everyday to funky sentiments there is something for everyone!

Shop: Happy Little Stampers

Prize: $15 gift certificate

My first DT card for ATSM is very special to me because I made this card for my closest friend for her birthday this year.

I started with plain white cardstock and stamped the blooms from MFT's Mini Modern Blooms set with an assortment of Memento dewdrop ink pads. I used the matching dies to cut them. The circles were cut with the Gina Marie X stitched circle dies. The sentiment is from the Folk Sentiments set by Docrafts. I stamped it with Versamark ink and heat embossed with some WOW! Fluorescent Tickled Pink embossing powder. I used the beautiful Woven - Next Level Embossing Folder by WRMK to add some texture to the card. Here is a close up of the blooms. 

I am very happy with the way this card turned out. I hope it inspires you to create something wonderful for the ATSM Challenge #201. You can link up your creations here. 

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Love,
Nandini

Altenew June Challenge...

Hi! The photo inspiration for the current challenge at Altenew is absolutely gorgeous!

I was very inspired by the soft colors, the subtle texture of the dress and the sprinkle of crystals at the top. I also needed a special card for somebody celebrating her first wedding anniversary. So here is my take on this card.

I decided to combine a shaker with a circle easel card. Here is the card when open.

I started with a piece of some textured, translucent paper that I attached to some cream card stock. I really love that matte look! I stamped the blooms from the Painted Flowers set by Altenew and water colored them with distress inks. Once dry, I cut them out with the matching dies. The sentiment is from the Floral Fantasy set by Mudra Stamps. I stamped it with Versmark on a piece of acetate and heat embossed with black EP. Here is a close up.

I used the Gina Marie X-stitched Circles and Lifestyle Crafts Nested Circles sets to cut the circles and make the shaker. The sequins are from my stash.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Altenew June Inspiration Challenge

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Add Some Shimmer:

Stamps & Stencils June Challenge - Floral Frenzy

Fairy's Challenges:

Penny Black and More June Challenge - Flower Power

CASEplorations June Challenge

Stamplorations Theme Challenge:

Mod Squad Challenge - All That Glitters

Virginia's View Challenge #22

Edited – 10-06-2021

Creative Creases Challenge #8

Love,
Nandini

Stained Glass Technique...

Hi! I am back today with a technique that I have been wanting to try for a long time. I had seen this beautiful card using a stained glass technique by Sandy Allnock a long time ago. When I saw the Grungy Butterflies stamp set by Mudra Stamps, I knew it would be perfect for this fun technique!

I started with a plain white card stock. I stamped the butterflies with Versamark and heat embossed with black embossing powder. After the heat embossing was done, I used my Camlin brush pens to scribble colors randomly on the paper and sprayed with plain water. I allowed the piece to air dry completely. Here is a closer look at the panel.

There is a detailed video tutorial on Sandy Allnock's blog. You can check it out here.

Rest of the card was very easy. I used two nested circle dies by Gina Marie Designs to cut the thin frame out of black paper. The sentiment was also die cut from black paper. I used the Wplus9 Hand lettered Hello die, one of my all time favorites.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

CASEplorations June Challenge:

AAA Cards: Game #66 - Watercolours

Muse Challenge #170

CAS on Sunday Challenge #85 - Butterflies

Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge: June - Lets get Inky
I used several colors of watercolor brush pens.

CAS Mix Up June Challenge:
I used stamping, die cuts, heat embossing and watercolor.

HLS June Anything Goes with Dies

Virginia's View Challenge #22

Love,
Nandini

Shaker Card...

Hi! Some cards come together so easily that they almost seem to make themselves! This card is one of them.

The starting point was the left over scrap of paper from my layered embossed panel using the Floral Fantasy set by Mudra Stamps. You can check the original card here. The panel turned out so beautiful that I couldn't bear to throw it away. And then I had the idea of turning it into a shaker card!

I stamped the sentiment from the Hip Hip set by Kaisercraft with Versamark on a brown card base and heat embossed with some Seafoam EP by Ranger. Then I added a mix of sequins from my stash and adhered the shaker panel on top. Here is a close up of the shaker:

Entering this card in the following challenges:

CASEplorations June Challenge:

CAS on Sunday Challenge #84 - Sparkle


Addicted to CAS Challenge #89 - Petals

CAS-ual Fridays CFC149 - Florals:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Summer Garden

Love,
Nandini