April Challenge - Theme and Sketch

Happy Friday, STAMPlorations friends! It's the first Friday of April and you know what that means -- we have a new theme and sketch! Thank you to everyone who played in last month's challenge. There were 74 amazing entries! We're going to announce the winner and top picks next on Monday, April 10, together with all of last month's challenge and blog hop winners.

We'd love for you to create and link up your projects based on this month's theme, sketch, or both -- you've got the whole month of April to play :o)

Our theme is STAMPS & WINGS. Think butterflies, birds, dragonflies, bugs, moths, fairies, flying lizards...basically anything that has wings! If you end up with a card that's also clean and simple, make sure to link it up to the April CAS Card Challenge. And hey -- in case you haven't heard...we've got a month-long Things with Wings Blog Hop & Linky Party so make sure you link up there as well for a shot at some fab new spring-themed stamps and dies :o)

And here's our fun sketch to get inspired by as well:

Have a look at the STAMPlorations girls' projects inspired by this month's theme and/or sketch!

    

    

{Spotlight Project} Deepti Combines Different Stamp Sets!

Hello, friends! Deepti here and welcome to another spotlight feature. Today I am making a card by combining different elements from various stamp club sets. I love to combine my stamps from different sets to come with new fresh unique designs. Here is one example, hope you will like it :)

April CAS Card Challenge

Can you believe that a quarter of the year is already over? Pretty soon it'll be Christmas! But first, there's spring. Thank you to all of you who played in our March CAS Card Challenge. There were 81 CAS-ilicious cards in the gallery. Stay tuned because we'll announce the winner and top picks on Monday, April 10.

Our CAS Card Challenge is pretty simple: it's straightforward anything CAS goes with the optional color twist. Create a clean and simple card with or without the color we've picked to include. For April, our optional color is any pastel color -- so if you choose to do the color twist, pastel colors would be pink, mauve, baby blue...basically any soft or washed out color. Of course, you can use other non-pastel colors too!

Check out the beautiful cards the STAMPlorations girls made to inspire.

      

    

    

{Spotlight Project} Shirley Cuts Some Roses

I've been playing with the fabulous new stamp club set for April/May 2017 and its coordinating dies - Trendy Spring Blooms and Trendy Spring Blooms dies.

{WEEK 1} Things with Wings Spring Blog Hop and Linky Party!

Hey, stamping friends! Are you ready to celebrate spring with us all month? We've got the perfect event for that here on the blog: the Things with Wings Spring Blog Hop and Linky Party!

For the next 4 Wednesdays, we'll be sharing our winged-themed spring projects. You're sure to be inspired and we would love for you to join us by creating and linking your own spring projects -- anything is welcome as long as there are wings in it -- butterflies, dragonflies, birds, fairies, bugs, bees, pterodactyl...anything that flies, really! :o) 

Commenting and linking up is from today until Sunday, April 30, 11:55 p.m. Pacific. We'll announce the winners on May 10 in the April Challenges & Hops winners post so be sure to follow our blog if you aren't already.

We'll be drawing EIGHT lucky crafters to win these prizes:

• THREE (3) randomly drawn winners from all comments left on the STAMP blog and participating designers blog will each receive a $10 gift certificate to the store
  
• ONE (1) randomly drawn participant in the Things with Wings Spring linky party will receive Trendy Butterflies 2 + either Flutter Zen 1 or Flutter Zen 2 layering dies
  
• ONE (1) randomly drawn participant in the Things with Wings Spring linky party will receive Sweet Spring Wishes stamp set + Dragonfly layering dies
  
• ONE (1) randomly drawn participant in the Things with Wings Spring linky party will receive the Trendy Spring Blooms dies
  
• ONE (1) randomly drawn participant in the Things with Wings Spring linky party will receive the Sweet Spring Wishes phrase dies
  
• ONE (1) randomly drawn participant in the Things with Wings Spring linky party will receive a $20 gift certificate to the store.

*If winner already owns the product/s offered as her prize, she may substitute a different product of equal or lesser value.

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Oh, and before we really start with the hop, we have a winner to announce. Already? Yep! Thank you to all of you ladies who linked up in this post here and displayed the Things with Wings event graphic on your blogs! Mr. Random picked: 

#45 Christi Conley

Congratulations, Christi! You won a spring-themed package ($30 value): your choice of (1) 4x6 stamp set, (1) layering dies, and (1) word/phrase die from our spring release. Please claim your prize on or before April 15 by sending an email to sheryruss@gmail.com. If I don't hear from you within 10 days, I'll draw another winner and announce who it is on the Week 3 Things with Wings post on April 19.

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Now have a look at the projects the STAMPlorations girls made and be inspired! Take a peek at our blogs and leave us some love while you're there :o)

An InLinkz Link-up

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Done hopping and commenting? Share your own projects in the Things with Wings linky party!

• Create a new winged-themed spring project project (any kind!).
• Post it on your blog (or Flickr, Instagram, SCS gallery, etc.) and then link up below.
• Display our event graphic in your blog post and link back to this post to qualify for the prizes.
• You may enter as many projects as you want, but each project must be in its own post (1 project = 1 blog post = 1 entry) 
• Use whatever product(s) you have; STAMPlorations products are not required. 
• Link up by Sunday, April 30, 11:55 p.m. Pacific (GMT-7). 

Display the graphic above in your post and link back to http://stamplorations.blogspot.com/2017/04/things-with-wings-spring-hop.html

An InLinkz Link-up

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CUTplorations April Challenge

image source: Alexas_Fotos pixabay.com

Hello, STAMPlorations Friends! Welcome to our April CUTplorations Challenge, where we want you to use die-cuts and take inspiration from the photo provided. What can you see in this month's photo? You could say for example chicken, eggs, stripes or name the colours. Coloured eggs make me personally think of Easter as it is custom to give each other coloured eggs at Easter in Germany where I (Monika) grew up. For you, they might have a completely different meaning. That's the fun of an inspiration photo. It will be fun to hear how you felt inspired by our photo.

Wherever your imagination takes you, we have a little bit of inspiration from the DT and three prizes to be awarded to the winners chosen by the DT at the end of the month. We hope you'll play along.

Use our inspiration photo (and include it in your post) and any brand of die cuts. Just be sure to use at least one STAMPlorations product on your project. Don't have any STAMPlorations products yet? There is a free digi here, you can use. Cards, tags, scrapbook pages, mixed media projects ... all are welcome.

Let's see what the Inspiration DT has done with the inspiration and the wonderful line of CUTplorations dies.

  

 

{Happy Spring!} New Spring-Themed Stamps & Dies + A Giveaway!

[Note: This post will appear on top of all other blog posts until April 4.]

Hey, STAMPlorations friends! Happy, happy spring! With flowers a-bloomin' and ice a-meltin' we've got a few things cooking here on the blog. 

In this post, I'm sharing the new spring-themed stamps and dies that were recently added to the store, as well as giving you a heads up on our upcoming Things with Wings Spring blog hop and linky party. 

Plus, I've got a special giveaway/blog candy ($30 stamps and dies prize package) for those of you who blog so make sure to read through the end of this post for all the deets :o)

{Spotlight Project} Becca Goes for the Gluestick

There comes a point in every girl's life when she realized that so many things are made better with a gluestick.

Ok. Ok. I might be a little dramatic (if you're no stranger to STAMPlorations, you'll be able to attest to that statement). But this card was definitely helped along by a big dose of gluestick action. I'll show you how I made this graphic collage.

{Inspiration Project Post #127}

Hello STAMPlorations Friends! This week the Inspiration girls have created a variety of fun projects showcasing stamps designed by our very own Shirley under her label The Bee's Knees.

All of Shirley's stamp sets will be on sale for the week - no coupon needed; the discount is automatically applied. And if you happen to have a coupon code, such as a personal discount code for being a stamp club subscriber, you can use the code to get an even better deal.

Shirley's sets will be reduced by 10% except for Party Girl, a very girly set used by Kim in her card, which will be 20% off until April 10.

We'll still randomly draw a winner from all the comments left on our Inspiration Posts, so have a look and leave a comment for your entry to win a $10 gift certificate to the store.

  

 

{Mixed Media Tutorial} Bloom & Grow - Monochromatic ATC by Monika

Hello, crafty friends! It's Monika here today sharing a little ATC with you.

Stencil Sunday #90 + April Mixed Media Challenge

Welcome to another edition of Stencil Sunday with the STAMPlorations girls in the mixed media design team. So...it's the first Sunday of the month, which means it's time for a new Mixed Media Challenge!

Thank you to everyone who linked up to the March Mixed Media Challenge! We'll announce the winner and top picks on April 10. So here are the fabulous mixed media projects made by the awesome girls in our mixed media team!