{DAY 5} STAMPlorations Stamp Release Spotlight Week -- Final Day to Hop with the STAMPlorations Girls!

Hey, everyone! Welcome to DAY 5, the last day of our stamp release spotlight week!

If you missed any of the previous days, make sure to start with DAY 1 of the hop (with all the info on how to hop + prizes) by clicking here.

The STAMPlorations girls are back today and are putting the spotlight on A Girl and Her Shoes.

 

{DAY 4} STAMPlorations Stamp Release Spotlight Week -- Hop with the STAMPlorations Girls and Guest Designer Laura Bassen!

Hey, everyone! Welcome to DAY 4 of our stamp release spotlight week!

If you missed any of the previous days, make sure to start with DAY 1 of the hop (with all the info on how to hop + prizes) by clicking here.

The STAMPlorations girls and guest designer Laura Bassen are back today to spotlight two fun sets: The Bee's Knees Newlyweds Extras and Sentiment Builders: Love.

{DAY 3} STAMPlorations Stamp Release Spotlight Week -- Hop with the STAMPlorations Girls!

Hey, everyone! Welcome to DAY 3 of our stamp release spotlight week!

If you missed DAY 1 of the hop (with all the info on how to hop + prizes), click here.

The STAMPlorations girls are back and this time, they're putting the spotlight on Newlyweds, another set designed by our very own Shirley Bampton under her line, The Bee's Knees.

{DAY 2} STAMPlorations Stamp Release Spotlight Week -- Hop with the STAMPlorations Girls and Guest Designer Laura Bassen!

Hey, everyone! Welcome to DAY 2 of our stamp release spotlight week!

If you missed DAY 1 of the hop (with all the info on how to hop + prizes), click here.

The STAMPlorations girls and guest designer Laura Bassen are back and this time, they're putting the spotlight on Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic.

{DAY 1} STAMPlorations Stamp Release Spotlight Week -- Hop with the STAMPlorations Girls and Guest Designer Laura Bassen!

It's stamp release month again and we are back to showcase 6 new stamp sets! We hope you enjoy the parade of projects we have in store for you in the next 5 days as we put the spotlight on our fun new stamps.

Stamp release months are always an exciting time around here at the STAMPlorations HQ. I know the STAMPlorations girls are going to blow me away with their projects, but I'm never really prepared the first time I get to see what they've made. I tell you, nothing beats having a front row seat whenever stamp release month rolls around. These ladies are simply amazing. 

And this month's stamp release is made even more special because we have a rock star cardmaker as a guest designer joining us today, tomorrow, and on Thursday: the fabulously awe-inspiring Laura Bassen. Yep, the Laura Bassen! If you've been around blogland for a while now or if you've taken a class or two (or more) at Online Card Classes, you've no doubt have had the pleasure of watching Laura teach creative cardmaking techniques. Maria suggested we invite her to guest design so in November last year, she asked Laura and wouldn't you know...she said yes! 

But before I introduce Laura properly, let's get the deets of the hop out of the way first. Here's how it works:

• SIX (6) lucky hoppers will be randomly drawn from the designers' blogs to each win a $10 gift certificate to use in the shop.

• ONE (1) lucky hopper will be randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog to win a $30 gift certificate to use in the shop.

• There will be a few surprise prizes too!

• If you are picked as one of the winners, you have until Tuesday, February 10, to email us and claim your prize.

Ready to hop? Simply leave a comment on this post and on the designers' blog hop posts between now and Tuesday, February 3, 11:55 p.m. PST (GMT-8) for a chance to win. Only one comment per blog, please. We'll announce the winners on Thursday, February 5, right here on the blog. Become a follower of our blog or follow us by email to receive updates when we post something here. How easy is that? Have fun!

Introducing the Inspiration Design Team!

A couple of weeks ago, you met our fabulous new Challenge Design Team. Now I'm here to introduce you to the Inspiration Design Team.

The girls joining me in this team are no strangers to you -- you've seen their work in our challenges. This year we're making a few changes to the blog and fine-tuning things...all with the main goal of providing loads of paper craft inspiration to you: our loyal friends, followers, customers. I'm so happy they have decided to continue with STAMPlorations this year and share their creative talents here on the blog.

CORNELIA	DEBRA	DEEPTI
MARIA		MONIKA
SHIRLEY	VICKI	SHERY

Cornelia has a knack for using stamps in creative, unexpected ways, and Debra is one mean Copic coloring queen. Deepti never fails to create cards with well-executed designs, and when it comes to hip, modern, trendy, and/or chic cards, Maria is the girl to beat. Monika creates not just cards but all sorts of paper craft projects and shares her process and techniques in her awesome video tutorials. Shirley can turn any card into a work of art, and Vicki creates the most bold, vibrant, and beautiful layered cards I've ever seen on blogland.

While they each have a distinctive style and approach to cardmaking, collectively they work so beautifully together and perfectly reflect the style and vision I have for STAMPlorations.

And so on the 2nd and 4th Mondays and Fridays of the month starting this February, the Inspiration Design Team will be providing inspiration right here on the blog through the Inspiration Project Posts. And we'd like you, our fellow paper crafters, to come play with us in the Inspiration CASE Playground. Each Inspiration Project Post will include an invitation to CASE any of the projects we make and link it up to the Playground gallery, which will be open for a whole month. Everyone is welcome to play using whatever supplies you have on hand. And oh yes, we will randomly draw one winner to win a prize, as well as highlight the best CASEs :o)

Not sure how CASEing works? We've got that covered! On the first of every month, the STAMPlorations girls will be sharing their CASEs of some of their favorite cards - maybe even one of yours. Be sure to stop by the blog on February 1st for the first installment. CASEplorations will serve as a starting off point for our Inspiration Project Posts. We show you how we CASE a card so you can, in turn, CASE the cards we share throughout the month. Fun, yes?

We can't wait for February to come! But we can't say goodbye to January until we've had our Stamp Release Spotlight Week blog hop! So stay tuned because this fun event starts Monday, January 26, at 6 a.m. PST (GMT-8) and will last all week! We hope to see you!

Sketch #25 Winner & Top Picks

Who won Sketch Challenge #25? Well, Debra had the fun job of picking the winner and top picks this time!

{Spotlight Project} Heat Embossing with Stencils

Hi, everybody! It's Monika back again with an interesting take on using stencils. My ARTplorations stencils, the new additions to the STAMPlorations shop, arrived in the post a couple of days ago and I had to have a play.

{Special Post} Take Time Out!

Hey, everyone! We've got a special post today/tonight. STAMPlorations is thrilled to be sponsoring the theme challenge over at TIME OUT Challenges! The challenge lasts for 2 weeks and yes, there are prizes!

Theme

VALENTINE'S DAY with the optional twist of HEARTS

All you need to do is create any type of project (you're not restricted to cards!) based on the theme and link it up here. Your project may or may not have the optional twist. However, if you do create a project with the optional twist, you can win a $15 gift certificate from the shop.

And here's another way to win: leave a comment in this post by February 4 and you can win a stencil pack (your choice of any 2 ARTplorations stencils)!

The Time Out design team has plenty of beautiful projects to inspire so be sure to check them out on the TO blog. The STAMPlorations girls are also joining in! Check out the drop-dead gorgeous cards they made just for this challenge! If you aren't in the mood for Valentine's Day yet, these cards are sure to get you inspired!

{Spotlight Project} Shirley's Shading Stencils

Hi, peeps! I've been playing with the new products in the Toyshop STAMPlorations store - ARTplorations Stencils. I've used the Bold Florals, which reminds me of frangipanis. When I lived in Australia, frangipanis were my favourite flower - I just loved their colour and the smell of them.

{Spotlight Project} Cornelia Keeps Calm

Hi! Cornelia here with a preview on one of the sets in the January release. I played with the A Girl and Her Shoes set. It's in the store already and you can grab it, before it sells out.

Inspiration Projects + Take Up the NBUS Challenge!

The STAMPlorations girls have been having a lot of fun with their stamps and inks the past couple of weeks. Have a look! (Each card is linked to their personal blogs so they'd be thrilled if you stopped by!)

   

   

   

Aren't those cards gorgeous? These talented ladies constantly put me in awe. Yep, they've been with STAMPlorations for a year and they still get me all excited whenever I see the cards they make using the stamps I designed! I count myself blessed to have an incredibly talented team.

Their cards are perfect reminders that there's still plenty of time for you to link up to the January Challenge, where the theme is STAMPS & INKS! A challenge can't get any easier than that!

And Sketch Challenge #26 has just started so why not use the sketch to create a card and link it to both challenges?

Aaaand...if you happen to use STAMPlorations stamps in your fab card, make sure to link it up to our Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge. The gallery is growing and being filled by super-creative projects. 

We're so happy about it we decided that when the 150th project is linked up, we'll be drawing not one but THREE winners -- one from each batch of 50 entries -- to win either a $10 gift certificate to the shop or 1 (3" by 5") stamp set! 

Yep, keep linking up those projects featuring STAMPlorations stamps (whether they're clear stamps or digis)! The more projects you link up, the better your odds are at snapping up a prize :o)

Lastly, most likely you've heard by now that the lovely and fabulous Darnell welcomed the new year with her super fun NBUS Challenge #3! 

We're thrilled that she is featuring STAMPlorations! She'll be picking 10 winners who'll each receive a $25 gift card from our shop! She is also giving winners the option to choose a gift card from a different domestic company. If you win a prize in Darnell's NBUS Challenge #3 and you opt for the STAMPlorations $25 gift card, you get to pick any 2 ARTplorations stencils free -- sweet bonus! :o)

So have you linked up your projects there yet? If you haven't, you still have time -- the challenge ends in just a little over 2 days!

How's your creative mojo now? Inspired? Ready to make something cool? Happy stamping!

PS: Get ready because next Monday is the start of our Stamp Release Spotlight Week! All week next week, the STAMPlorations girls will be treating you to a parade of inspiration projects featuring the January stamps! Not only that, we have a paper crafting superstar joining us as guest designer! We are over-the-moon she said yes! If you've been blogging and crafting for sometime now, you can't not know her ;o)

Bi-Weekly Sketch Challenge #26

Welcome to our 26th bi-weekly sketch challenge! Here’s the sketch for the next couple of weeks. It’s open to interpretation. Feel free to change the orientation of the sketch, use different shapes, add other elements to suit the type of paper craft you’re making, and so on — just make sure the sketch is recognizable in your submission(s). You can use stamps by other companies to create projects that you enter to our challenges but please do not use our challenges for the sole purpose of promoting another stamp company. If you have our stamps in your stash, we'd be tickled if you use them -- and we've tweaked the prize a bit to encourage you to use our stamps if you have them!

{Spotlight Project} Deepti's Watercolor Sugar Rush!

Hello, friends! Deepti here and welcome to another spotlight feature. The new stamp club set, Sugar Rush, continues to be on my hit list ;). This time I decided to go colorful :) So here's a look at the finished card...The idea is to use watercolors.

I've got a step-by-step photo tutorial to showcase the process of making this card.

{Spotlight Project} Shery Makes A One Layer Card Using A Creative Stenciling Technique

Hey there, STAMPlorations friends! I'm here with my first spotlight project post for the year :o). At the risk of sounding predictable, I've got a one layer card to share. I used a fun and creative stenciling technique -- one of my favorite techniques. You can see my card below -- it's pretty CAS but with a little bit of mixed media thrown in.

As a crafter, my favorite places to shop for supplies are home improvement stores like Lowe's and The Home Depot. They're my go-to places when I need to make my own wood and hardwood panels (they're cheaper and you can make any size you want!) and they're a treasure trove for mixed media supplies. In fact, I buy three of my favorite "art supplies" -- painter's tape, drywall tape, and sponge for inking -- from these places.

And so with some stamps (Sugar Rush and Hashtag Authentic), stencil (Bold Florals), inks, painter's tape, and drywall tape, here's how I made my card.

{Spotlight Project} Vicki Goes Reflective

I made a card here awhile back. I had more then one person ask me how I did it. Well, I am here to show you today how to make a reflective image. It's so easy you'll think, Duh!

Here is the finished card:

I used the newly released STAMPlorations set, Bold Sentiments: Hashtag Authentic. [I am loving this set for sure!]

Okay, to create the reflective look, here are the steps:

Introducing the Challenge Design Team!

We'd like to thank everyone who responded to the STAMPlorations Challenge Design Team call we put out back in November.

In order to come to a fair decision, we asked applicants to create a project using the images we provided and submit a photo of their project with no personal watermarks. We then did a blind voting to come up with the final roster. None of us knew who made which project. After I had narrowed down the list to 17, I asked the current design team members to vote on their top picks. Their votes, David's (the other half of STAMPlorations) votes, and my votes were tallied.

I'm proud to reveal the 6 talented ladies joining STAMPlorations! They officially start their term as challenge design team members in February, and I'm excited to have them sharing their creativity and talents here on the STAMPlorations blog. So here they are. Please welcome each one of them and I hope you can stop by their blogs!

{January 2015 Release} Inspiration Cards!

The January stamps are so fun that the STAMPlorations girls have started playing with them! Check out these beautiful cards that Maria, Shirley, and Vicki made this week! You'll find details on how they made their cards by clicking on their names -- while you're at their blogs, why not leave them some love and let them know how awesome they are? :o) 

MARIA

SHIRLEY

VICKI

More inspiration cards are coming soon! We're going to have a January Release Stamp Spotlight Week -- January 26 to 30 -- so mark those dates on your calendar because you'll get to see more inspiration cards from the STAMPlorations girls! And we have one incredibly talented guest designer joining us! Prizes? Of course, there'll be prizes! :o)

The January stamps -- all 6 fun sets -- are now available in the shop too! Until Monday, January 12, they're 10% off! Shop for stamps here.

Have a wonderfully crafty, artsy, stamp-y weekend, friends!