Bi-Weekly Sketch Challenge #27

Welcome to our 27th bi-weekly sketch challenge! This challenge is a super special one because we have the STAMPlorations girls in our brand-spankin' new fabulous Challenge Design Team taking over the challenges starting today! Can we have some fist-pumps and cheers going for these ladies? Their projects will blow you away -- and already I'm excited to see what they'll create for future sketch and monthly challenges!

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!

January Spotlight Project Random Draw Winner

Hello, STAMPlorations friends! Thank you so much to all of you who regularly check out our spotlight projects and take the time to leave comments! We are always happy to read your thoughts and we get even happier when we see projects you've made that have been somehow inspired by our projects!

Tomorrow, Cornelia has a really fun project to share to kick off the spotlight projects we've got in store for you this month :o) But before that, we've got to announce last month's random draw winner. We had a combined 200+ comments left on the 9 January spotlight projects so I turned to Mr. Random.org for help in picking our winner:

Winner

ROBYN OLIVER

Congratulations, Robyn! You win 1 ARTplorations stencil or a $10 gift certificate to the shop -- your choice! Please claim your prize by sending an email to sheryruss@gmail.com with the subject "January Spotlight Project Random Draw winner" and let me know your choice of prize. [Note: it is important that you include the subject line, as it will be filtered to a special folder on my inbox. This will ensure that I get your email.]

CASEplorations February

Happy first of the month and welcome to the first installment of our new feature at STAMPlorations! It's time for fun. It's CASEplorations time.

You  may recall reading about CASEplorations when Shery introduced the Inspiration Design Team. Since we are going to be inspiring you to play with your stamps, CASEing our creations, we decided we should do some CASEing too. So on the first of every month you will see this feature, a CASEplorations post, where some of the STAMPlorations DT girls CASE a card and share it with you. You never know - it might even be your card we choose to CASE!

Ready? Here we go.

{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!