{DAY 2} 2nd Birthday Blog Hop with the STAMPlorations Girls & Anni Lerche + Linky Party

QUICK LINKS
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5


As we celebrate our 2nd birthday, all orders of at least $22 ship free worldwide until July 7! Use coupon code HAPPYBIRTHDAY on checkout.
(If you're a stamp club subscriber, use your personal discount coupon code
to get free shipping on orders of at least $15.)

Howdy! We continue our birthday celebration today with more cards from the STAMPlorations girls and our special guest designer. For Day 1 and blog hop prizes, click here.

Partying with us today is one awesome cardmaker: ANNI LERCHE. She makes some of the most amazing and gorgeous CAS cards on blogland. 

"Hello, I am Anni and I’m from Germany. For 15 years now I've lived in the beautiful city Berlin and I am married. I work as a math teacher at a vocational college; to perform handicraft work is a perfect compensation for that. Into stamping I am since 2008, I love clean and simple cards, and yet eventually my cards often turn out to be somewhat more complex. I love the soothing of paper piecing and resist techniques. You can see all my projects at annikarten.blogspot.de."

For our birthday hop, she made not one, not two, not three, but four cards -- and they're done in her signature style! Wanna see them up close? Make sure to visit her blog!

     

(Note: There are 14 stops in the hop, including this blog. You're not required to visit every stop on the hop to be eligible to win, but commenting on all the stops will increase your chances of winning. In case you click on a designer's link and you get a page/post not found error, just go to her main blog and scroll down to find the post for DAY TWO of the STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop & Linky Party. You can also go back here to our main blog; we'll update the links throughout the day.)

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An InLinkz Link-up

After you've hopped, come party with us some more! 

• Use the mood board below to inspire you to create a project with a party, celebration, or birthday theme.
• Post it on your blog (or Flickr, Instagram, SCS gallery, etc.) and then link up below! Don't forget to display the mood board on your post and link back to this post! 
• You may enter up to 3 projects and you can use any product(s) you have -- not just STAMPlorations stamps and/or stencils!
• Link up by Monday, July 6, 11:55 p.m. Pacific (GMT-7).
• We'll randomly draw 3 winners to each win the party stamp sets.
• We'll randomly draw 1 winner to win a $25 gift certificate (if STAMPlorations products are used) or a $15 gift certificate (if non-STAMPlorations products are used)

An InLinkz Link-up

Pop by here again tomorrow morning for DAY THREE as yet another super-awesome guest designer parties with the STAMPlorations girls :o)

{Inspiration Project Post #25} Roundup!

Well now, June certainly whizzed by. I could swear that it wasn't that long ago when I was doing the May roundup inspiration post. Before we say sayonara to June, we've got one more round of Inspiration Projects. Missed any of the Inspiration Project posts this month? No problemo! Below is a handy dandy link list so you can easily see projects to CASE.

June CASEplorations

June 8 Inspiration Project Post #21

June 12 Inspiration Project Post #22

June 22 Inspiration Project Post #23

June 26 Inspiration Project Post #24

When you CASE a project (or two, or however many you want -- there's no limit), make sure to link them up by July 5, 11:55 p.m. Pacific (GMT-7) to get a shot at winning a $15 gift certificate or your choice 2 ARTplorations stencils.

{DAY 1} 2nd Birthday Blog Hop with the STAMPlorations Girls & Amy Tsuruta + Linky Party

QUICK LINKS
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5


As we celebrate our 2nd birthday, all orders of at least $22 ship free worldwide until July 7! Use coupon code HAPPYBIRTHDAY on checkout.
(If you're a stamp club subscriber, use your personal discount coupon code
to get free shipping on orders of at least $15.)

Hey, STAMPlorations friends! Have we got a fun week of partying in store for you! We are celebrating STAMPlorations' second year -- and how awesome the last two years have been, as we've grown significantly since then! My husband David and I (Shery) are so blessed to have a wonderful team of talented paper craft artists helping us grow STAMPlorations. The STAMPlorations girls play such a significant part in our success.

We are also so very thankful to be part of a blogging community of crafters and I have "met" so many creative cardmakers and paper crafters the past couple of years -- I'm awed at the tremendous talent I get to see nearly every day online. We owe so much of our success to each one of you. Thank you so much for your continued support of this blog and our little company. Whether you're a customer, a blog follower/reader, or a challenge participant --thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

And so we're here all week to PARTY! Our celebration blog hop starts right now. We're sharing projects featuring 3 party-themed stamp sets we released just for the occasion: Party Mates (by Deepti of Dee's Artsy Impressions), PartyGirl (by Shirley of The Bee's Knees), and Party Time (by yours truly of Shery Russ Designs).

And what's a blog hop without prizes for those of you who hop along? Here are the deets:

Prizes for commenting on the STAMPlorations blog, STAMPlorations designers blogs, and guest designers blogs:

• ONE (1) winner will be randomly drawn from all comments left to win a $25 certificate to the STAMPlorations shop.
• FIVE (5) winners (1 per day) will be randomly drawn from all comments left to each win a $10 gift certificate to the STAMPlorations shop.

Prizes for creating and linking up a party/celebration/birthday project:

• THREE (3) randomly drawn winners of the party stamp sets (1 winner of Party Mates, 1 winner of Party Time, 1 winner of PartyGirl)
• ONE (1) randomly drawn winner of a $25 gift certificate (if STAMPlorations stamps/stencils are used) or $15 gift certificate (if non-STAMPlorations stamps/stencils are used)

Extra prizes for commenting on Deepti's, Shirley's, and Shery's blogs throughout the blog hop:

• ONE (1) winner of Party Mates randomly drawn from all comments left on Deepti's blog
• ONE (1) winner of PartyGirl randomly drawn from all comments left on Shirley's blog
• ONE (1) winner of Party Time randomly drawn from all comments left on Shery's blog

Winners have one week to claim their prize. (Anyone who is drawn as a winner and fails to claim her prize within the allotted time forfeits her prize. We want to be fair to those who do keep up with our blog and claim prizes on time. So you don't miss any of our posts, follow our blog by email or follow us via Google Friend Connect -- you'll find links to both on the right side bar.)

Ready to hop and win? You've got two ways to win:

• Simply leave a comment on this post and on the designers' blog hop posts between now and Monday, July 6, 11:55 p.m. Pacific (GMT-7) for a chance to win. Only one comment per blog, please. 

• Create a party/celebration/birthday-themed project (any kind of project, not just a card) based on the mood board and link up in the linky below. You may link up to 3 projects and you can use whatever products you have -- STAMPlorations products are not required, although if you have them and use them in your projects, you can win the bigger prize! 

We'll announce the winners on Tuesday evening, July 7, right here on the blog. How easy is that? Have fun!

(Note: There are 16 stops in the hop, including this blog. You're not required to visit every stop on the hop to be eligible to win, but commenting on all the stops will increase your chances of winning. In case you click on a designer's link and you get a page/post not found error, just go to her main blog and scroll down to find the post for DAY ONE of the STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop & Linky Party. You can also go back here to our main blog; we'll update the links throughout the day.)

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Partying with us today is one uber talented cardmaker: AMY TSURUTA!

"Hi! My name is Amy and I'm a huge fan of STAMPlorations! I'm thrilled to help in celebrating their 2nd birthday! I love all things crafty and have been blogging for almost 8 years. I feel so fortunate to be part of this Paper Crafting Community!"

An InLinkz Link-up

After you've hopped, come party with us some more! 

• Use the mood board below to inspire you to create a project with a party, celebration, or birthday theme.
• Post it on your blog (or Flickr, Instagram, SCS gallery, etc.) and then link up below! Don't forget to display the mood board on your post and link back to this post! 
• You may enter up to 3 projects and you can use any product(s) you have -- not just STAMPlorations stamps and/or stencils!
• Link up by Monday, July 6, 11:55 p.m. Pacific (GMT-7).
• We'll randomly draw 3 winners to each win the party stamp sets.
• We'll randomly draw 1 winner to win a $25 gift certificate (if STAMPlorations products are used) or a $15 gift certificate (if non-STAMPlorations products are used)

An InLinkz Link-up

See you tomorrow for DAY TWO. We have another fabulous guest designer partying with us!

{Reminder} Have you played in our challenges? + Get ready for our birthday party blog hop!

Hey, artsy stampers! Popping by to remind you guys that there's still time to play in our current challenges:

The June Challenge: STAMPS & WASHI ends Monday, June 29. Link up by 11:55 p.m. Pacific (GMT -7).

Tenia's got a card to inspire you (using the STAMP Lab stamp Beach Life)

Sketch Challenge #35 ends Tuesday, June 30. Link up by 11:55 p.m. Pacific (GMT -7).

Wei Wei and Shery are sharing their cards based on the sketch:

Wei Wei used Blooming Buds stamps.

Shery used stamps from Trendy Birds, Trendy Butterflies, Mixed Media Grunge, The Birds and the Blooms, and Hashtag Authentic.

And if you're into CASEing, the June CASEplorations is still open for another week! Link up to the the Inspiration CASE Playground by Sunday, July 5, 11:55 p.m. Pacific (GMT -7).

Have you checked out this month's Spotlight Projects? We shared plenty of fun techniques this month. Comment on the spotlight project posts by June 30 and you could win a $10 gift certificate or your choice of ARTplorations stencil :o)

And last...the STAMPlorations 2nd Birthday Blog Hop & Linky Party starts tomorrow, June 29, at 7 a.m. Pacific (GMT-7) and we'll be celebrating all week! Joining the STAMPlorations girls are 5 awesome guest designers. And we'll want you to party with us so get ready to create celebration-themed projects and link up! We'll be giving away over $100 in prizes -- gift certificates and stamps -- to those who'll hop along and play along!

See you back here tomorrow! :o)

{Inspiration Project Post #24}

Happy Friday, fellow creatives! Where has the week gone? We're ending the week with yet another fresh helping of inspiration projects and we've got a flower theme going here -- easy enough to CASE, right?

For examples of CASE projects, check out the projects that the STAMPlorations girls created earlier this month. They CASEd Virginia Lu's gorgeous card in this post. You can CASE Virginia's card, CASE the cards made by the STAMPlorations girls (CASE the CASE), or CASE one (or all) of the cards in found in this post, this post, this post, and the ones below.

    

    

{Spotlight Project} Deepti Colors on Kraft!

Hello, friends! Deepti here and welcome to another spotlight feature. Today I am showcasing coloring a kraft card base. I haven't colored with markers on a kraft card base, so I thought I will give it a try and I like how it turned out. Here's the finished card:

{Spotlight Project} Shery Has Some Mixed Media Fun with Stamps, Stencils, and Tissue Paper

Howdy, creative peeps! Sorry this spotlight project is a few hours late. I fell asleep editing the photos and writing up the tutorial. Seems to be the story of my life the last few weeks since I hit the third trimester. I feel all energetic one moment and then the next I'm zonked out in front of my desk. Thankfully, I haven't fallen asleep at the craft table holding scissors or with open ink pads and paints! :o)

Anyway, I had some mixed media fun earlier today in my brand spankin' new craft area (woohoo!). Yesterday Maria shared the fun sloshing technique for coloring images. It's a cool technique if you're not really into coloring with markers (or you're not that confident about coloring). Today I thought I'd share another technique on working with outline images and giving them color without really coloring them. (Besides, I wasn't up to playing with my markers today.) Here's the card:

{Spotlight Project} Maria Sloshes a Spotlight

Greetings! Nice to be back. Today I am using the spotlight technique and "sloshing" (to quote my teamie Shirley) with watercolors. Ready?

I love artistic, outline stamp images. But I'm not a colorer. So I have to come up with other ways of using them. That's where the spotlight technique came in. And some masking.

{Inspiration Project Post #23}

It's a wonderful Monday, STAMPlorations friends! We're starting off the week with a fresh batch of inspiration projects from the STAMPlorations girls. Do you enjoy CASEing? Then make sure you link up your CASEs of any of the projects below.

New to CASEing? Have a look at how the STAMPlorations girls CASEd Virginia Lu's gorgeous card in this post. You can case Virginia's card, CASE the cards made by the STAMPlorations girls (CASE the CASE), or CASE one (or all) of the cards in found in this post, this post, and the ones below.

    

    

{Spotlight Project} Monika Makes a Mixed Media Style Card

Hi, everybody! It's Monika back again. Today I am making a mixed media card with lots of layers built into a single layer working with the Mixed Media Grunge and The Birds And The Blooms sets, both of which are sets available through our stamp club. I chose the black hooded oriole as my main image, a bird native to India hence my colour scheme. There is also a lovely story from Bengal about this bird which I found when doing some research. It too inspired my card and can be found here.

{Spotlight Project} Shirley Tries A Spot of Pointillism

Hi guys! I was looking at the different stamps in the current stamp club set, The Birds and The Blooms, and picked out the hummingbird. Now, we don't get hummingbirds in the UK, so I checked online for the colouring of their plumage, and it seems they come in every shade and colour! In some of the photos, you could see the individual feathers, so I thought I'd try a bit of pointillism to represent the feathers. See what you think.

{Spotlight Project} Cornelia Makes an Ombre Birthday Card

Hi, Cornelia here today. You all know that I love stencils. They are so easy to use, don't use up all your time and give you stunning results.

I decided to go for ombre and birthday.

Party Inspiration from Deepti, Shirley, and Shery

Hey, STAMPlorations friends! It's a brand new week and we hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Our birthday blog hop starts in 2 weeks and to help get you in the mood to celebrate (and have you rarin' to make those party-themed projects), Deepti, Shirley, and I are sharing cards we made recently that feature the 3 stamp sets we designed exclusively for the birthday hop! Check them out :o)

BIRTHDAY WISHES

featuring Party Mates

PARTY TIME

featuring PartyGirl and Party Time

BIRTHDAY GIRL

featuring PartyGirl and Party Time

AMAZING BIRTHDAY

featuring Party Time

+ Bloom Factory stamps, coordinating ARTplorations Bloom Factory stencil, Artsy Border Maker

The fun stamps:

    

These stamp sets are now available in the shop at 10% off until June 19 only! (If you're a stamp club subscriber, don't forget to use your 2 personal discount coupon codes to get an extra 15% off and free shipping!)

SHOP STAMPS HERE

Happy stamping!

Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop Blog Candy Winners + Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge Winners

It's time to announce the winners of the blog candies we offered for the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! Thanks so much to everyone who shared what they love summer, liked and commented on our Facebook page, and followed our Pinterest board!

Plus we've got winners of the STAMPlorations Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge!

{Inspiration Project Post #22}

Happy Friday, artsy folks! The Inspiration Team is back with another round of beautiful projects to inspire. Up to CASEing one or a few of them? We'd love for you to share and link up!

New to CASEing? Have a look at how the STAMPlorations girls CASEd Virginia Lu's gorgeous card in this post. You can case Virginia's card, CASE the cards made by the STAMPlorations girls (CASE the CASE), or CASE one (or all) of the cards in last Monday's Inspiration Project post and the ones below.