July Challenge at Stamping Sensations

Well, it's time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations, and we have what I believe will be a very popular theme for you this month!

* * * * * ANYTHING GOES WITH A STAMP AND RIBBON * * * * *

Who doesn't like adding a ribbon or two to their creations?! We're sponsored by the fabulous Crafty Ribbons, who have a superb range of ribbons, buttons, lace and more for your crafting needs. They have given us a fantastic bundle of ribbons and embellishments for this month's lucky winner.

I recently acquired the gorgeous new Bigz Butterfly 1 from Inkylicious, and couldn't wait to ink it up! I stamped it on to watercolour paper and coloured it with Be Creative alcohol markers, then masked it and sponged, stamped and stencilled the background. I added some shading around the butterfly with coloured pencil to make it stand out a bit. All stamps by Inkylicious. Tim Holtz Mixed Media die used as stencil. I mounted the finished design on to the base card along with a strip of patterned paper (PDA), sheer and satin ribbons, and pearl embellishments which I coloured with the alcohol markers to match the ribbon.

The base card is 7" x 5", which gives you an idea of the size of the butterfly, which is simply stunning.

In the knowledge that people will be busy with holidays and summer activities this month we've kept the theme nice and simple, so I hope lots of you will find time to enter for a chance of winning that gorgeous prize! We look forward to seeing your projects!

Final challenge of the year at Stamping Sensations

We have a nice and easy challenge for you for December at Stamping Sensations! The theme is

* * * * * ANYTHING GOES WITH A STAMP AND RIBBON * * * * *

The subject of your project is entirely up to you, but we need to see a stamp and a ribbon (or ribbons!) somewhere on it. Who doesn't like ribbons?! So useful as pretty embellishments.  And we have a fab ribbon prize this month from our lovely sponsors Crafty Ribbons



And that's not all, as we also have an extra prize of two tickets to the February Hobbycrafts show in Manchester.



Anyway, on to my card, on which I have used stamps by Inkylicious, and ribbons from Crafty Ribbons.

First I cut the bauble with a Spellbinders die, keeping the diecut in the die until I had created the background using Inkylicious ink dusters and mountain and valley stencil. Next I stamped the Winter Cabin. The tiny trees in the background were made using just part of another Inkylicious stamp (from the Winter's Tale set). I inked up only the very top of the tree and stamped it over a torn paper mask. I used a white gel pen to add highlights to the cabin and trees, followed by some Be Creative glitter glue for the star and to define the snow banks.

The bauble was then mounted over some Be Creative DP and Crafty Ribbons grosgrain ribbon, with a bow of narrow satin ribbon to complete it. The deer and tree diecuts are part of a bauble die by Frantic Stamper.

There's plenty of inspiration over on the Stamping Sensations Challenge Blog, and my lovely teamies would really appreciate it if you visited their individual blogs too. We hope you enjoy creating your projects for our December challenge. We can't wait to see them!