February Theme & Sketch Challenge Reminder

Happy Friday, STAMPlorations friends! We're here with a quick reminder that you should be playing along in our February Theme & Sketch challenge because it's AWESOME! (And so are you!)

Just a heads up whether you're a new player or someone who's been playing in our challenges in a while now: we made a few changes to our challenge this year so please make sure to visit our updated Challenge Rules and Guidelines page so you're up to speed on the rules and the prizes.

Speaking of prizes...did you know that playing here or in our other challenges this month gives you a chance to win a $25 spending money to the store? We will randomly draw a winner from all the entries from 4 challenges (CAS Card Challenge, Mixed Media, CUTplorations, and this challenge) so the more you play, the better your odds are at scoring some spending money.

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 February to play :o)

Our theme is STAMPS & RETRO. It's easy to give projects that retro vibe. You can use colors reminiscent of the past or include retro or vintage images and elements. If you end up with a retro-inspired card that's also clean and simple, make sure to link it up to the February CAS Card Challenge.

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} Cornelia Puts The Spotlight On A Pop-up Card

Hi, Cornelia here today, showing you how to make a pop-up card.

You may already know how to do that, or perhaps you own special dies to make one. I have never made one and this was on my to do list now for quite a while.....So I gave it a try. It is quite easy.

My STAMPlorations supplies:

     

Tweet Love and coordinating dies and Party Time

I started out cutting a card base 5 1/2 by 8.5 inches  and scored it in the center to get an A2 card.

I laid my dies onto it to get an idea where to cut and how wide the cuts should be. I folded the card over and marked my cuts. The deeper you cut, the further away from the base your figures/animals or what ever you choose to put there will be.

I cut my marks with a scissor and then you fold the cut the opposite way your card is folded, so you get those squares to stick out.

I die cut and colored the giraffe, elephant and balloons and glued them to those squares.

That's how the card looks when it is folded.

I then stamped the sentiment inside - would be easier I you do that first.....

And I took a piece of PP from the same 6x6 block of papers and covered the outside to hide those cuts and indentations. Added another sentiment to make it look more like a card.

I hope you liked this and perhaps you'll give it a try!

Remember if you try out any of the techniques from our Spotlight posts, make sure to hook your project up at our Spotlight Project Showcase gallery.

See you in March!

February CAS Card Challenge Reminder

Hey, STAMPlorations friends! Here's to remind you that this month's CAS Card Challenge is in full swing. It's anything CAS goes with hot pink as the optional color twist. And if you were inspired by our sketch and/or theme this month, make sure you link up your creation to to our February Monthly Theme and/or Sketch Challenge as well. If your card has diecuts, has a STAMPlorations product, and was inspired by the photo here, link it up in the February CUTplorations Challenge gallery. And lastly, if your card has STAMPlorations products (stamps, stencils, and/or dies) as the main attraction, link it up to our Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge. Yep, more chances for prizes we have up for grabs :o)

LINK UP YOUR CAS CARDS HERE

The STAMPlorations girls are back with cards to inspire you. Check them out and we hope you'll come play!

{Spotlight Project} Monika Sends Sliding Letters

Hello Crafty Friends! It's Monika here today with a slider card idea using the current Stamp Club set Hello You in combination with the Lacy Edges And Border CUTplorations Dies from today's release and some other favourites which I'll name as I go along.

There are two cards for you today using a slightly different way of making the slider element with a video for each. First up are the two cards:

The slider element of the first one is slightly wider and it uses a tri-folded card as base and would require you to have a large die-cutting machine such as the Grand Calibur.

In the second card the slider element is contained in a large topper, which only requires a Big Shot or Cuttlebug size die-cutting machine. I also slightly modified the with for the envelope to slide out making it easier to attach the laptop over it.

The following photos demonstrate how the envelope slides out from behind the laptop once the tag is being pulled.

Here are the basic steps on how I made the cards:

1. create your base card, 20.5cm x 9.5cm (8" x 3 3/4") for the first and 21cm x 10cm (8 1/4" x 3 15/16") for the second one when folded plus a slightly smaller topper for the second one
2. cut aperture using one of the Lacy Edges And Borders dies and craft knife, the cut out piece will be used as tag for the slider
3. stamp the arrows from the Chevron And Arrows set on the slider tag, punch a hole and add the ribbon 
4. cut two borders using the same die as above from colored card leaving little tabs at each end as shown in the videos and attach
5. cut a spacer card as explained in video #2 (I only used it in card #2, but it could be used for either card)
6. stamp the flowers from the Groovy Shoes set to sit behind your aperture and on the front edge of your card
7. stamp and fuzzy cut the letter and laptop from the Hello You set
8. stamp the sentiments from the Hello You and Blossom Overture sets either directly into place or on copier paper
9. assemble cards as shown in the video

TIP!: When stamping the main sentiment directly onto the card make sure that it won't be covered by the laptop once this is in place. As a remedy you can always add stamped sentiment strips.

Here are the videos:

• card #1 using the tri-fold base card

• card #2 using the topper

That's it from me for today. I shall leave you with one last look at the finished projects.

If you like and try the slider card technique or any other technique used in the Spotlight Projects, make sure to link your project with our Spotlight Project Showcase. Hope to see you there.

Have a lovely day!
hugs
Monika xxx

here is what I used:
Hello You, Groovy Shoes, Chevron And Arrows,
  
Blossom Overture, Lacy Edges And Borders CUTplortaions Dies
 

CUTplorations Mini Release Blog Hop with the STAMPlorations Girls + Comment to Win!

Hey, STAMPlorations friends! We're back with a mini hop with the STAMPlorations girls. We have recently released these CUTplorations dies: Lacy Edges and Borders, Stitched Winter Landscape, and Stitched Spring Landscape. These dies were fun to design and I'm blown away by the cards that the girls came up with to showcase them!

Short and sweet, simply comment on this post and the designers' blog posts by Tuesday, February 21, for a chance at the prizes. We will be picking 2 winners: 

• ONE (1) winner of a $15 gift certificate to the store
• ONE (1) winner of her choice of either Lacy Edges and Borders OR the Stitched Winter & Spring Landscapes

We'll announce the winners in the February Challenges and Blog Hops winners post on March 10 so I encourage you to follow our blog or sign up for email updates so you don't miss the post.

Take a look at all these awesome projects! Visit the girls' blogs for a closer look and leave comments along the way. We hope you enjoy and will be inspired by this hop!

KAROLA

    

SHIRLEY

  

CORNELIA

  

TANJA

  

MONIKA

  


KIM

   

LAURAJANE

  

DEEPTI

    

Happy hopping! Remember to comment here and on the designers' blogs by Tuesday, February 21. We'll be drawing the winners randomly so you increase your chances of winning by leaving comments on all the blogs in this hop.

PS: The new dies featured in this hop are 5% off until February 21. No coupon needed -- discount is automatically applied on checkout. And you can save even more if you have a coupon code (a discount code for being a returning customer, a discount code from one of the STAMPlorations girls, or a discount code for being a premium stamp club subscriber.) Shop here.