Friday 29 July 2016

Altenew July Release Blog Hop


***I have two posts to share with you today! If you're looking for my Paperbabe Stamps blog hop post, please click here. Thanks!***
Hey! 

I'm here today sharing the new Altenew July release with a good ol' fashioned blog hop! You should have arrived here from Evelyn Yusuf, but if you haven't then be sure to start out at the Altenew blog. :)

I really was spoilt for choice with what to play from the new release for this blog hop. So many lovely stamp sets to choose from! My Design Team parcel arrived in the nick of time so I couldn't spend too much time deliberating, but I'm a sucker for leaves so I knew that I'd have to ink up the Freeform Greenery stamp set. :)

Proud of your Strength

The background was stamped in no time now I've succumbed to the magic of the mini MISTI. I was able to stamp a few images at once and then stamp the smaller ones in between them to fill the spaces. Easy peasy!

Proud of your strength close up

The sentiment is from the new Bamboo Rose stamp set which contains many uplifting and encouraging sentiments in a beautiful font. I felt that the brush script nature of the font complemented the hand-drawn look of the Freeform Greenery leaves perfectly. :)

On closer inspection, you'll see a strip of Washi tape down the right side of this card. That's part of the new July release too! Wonderful Washi tape! Yay! :D

As always, there are prizes to be won along the blog hop. Altenew are giving away a $50 gift certificate to THREE lucky winners! Simply leave a comment on the Altenew blog by Friday August 5th 11:59pm EST and the winners will be announced the following day.

I'm also offering a $30 Altenew gift certificate on my blog post, so be sure to leave a comment on this post by Friday 5th August 11.59 EST and I'll announce the lucky winner next day.

Well, it's time to hop along and next on your blog hopping adventure is the fabulous Aga!

Happy hopping and have a wonderful weekend!

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Paperbabe Stamps 3rd Anniversary Blog Hop!

Foxy love
Hey!

Hooray for Friday! We could just celebrate the fact that it's Friday, but I'm here to join in the party as Paperbabe Stamps celebrate their 3rd anniversary AND a new release of fantastic goodies available to purchase from Saturday 30th July!

I'm so honoured that my extremely talented friend and owner of Paperbabe Stamps, Kim Costello, has invited me on board to join in the fun! I'm a HUGE fan of Kim's work and I'm feeling the pressure here to create something worthy of being included in this hop full of talent! Speaking of which, you should have hopped here from another dear friend of mine, Keren Baker! If you haven't then be sure to start out at Chris Dark's blog. :)

Foxy love close up

Kim kindly sent me some new wonderful whimsical woodland stamp sets from the release and if you know me, then it won't surprise you to know that I was inking up this adorable fox immediately! Each animal compromises of a number of separate stamps to build them including Mr Fox here. The sentiment is from the same set and fits perfectly with Mr Fox's posture. :)

I also added an MDF heart from one of the new substrate kit too. I love (pun not intended, but I'll take it!) the way it complements the literal meaning of the sentiment. I covered it with gold Stickles glitter glue, but you can customise these babies with a variety of different mediums from your stash, or simply leave them naked! ;)

A blog hop, wouldn't be a blog hop without some prizes, right? Paperbabe Stamps are offering two fabulous prizes along this hop:
  • The entire July release! 
  • £25 gift certificate to spend in the Paperbabe Stamps store
For your chance to win one of these prizes, you need to comment on the blogs along the blog hop by midnight Sunday 31st July (UK time) and two lucky winners will be announced on the Paperbabe Stamps blog on Monday 1st August.

Right, time to get hopping! Next on your hopping adventure is Katy Leitch! If you ever get lost, here's the full list of participants:

Happy hopping and happy anniversary, Paperbabe Stamps! Here's to many more! :D

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Tuesday 5 July 2016

Tickled pink...

Tickled pink
Hey!

It's release day today over at Clearly Besotted so all of these sneaky peeks we've been sharing with you over the past few days will be available to purchase from 10pm UK time tonight! :D

For my final card of this release, I've inked up the Tickle My Fancy stamp set. This fabulous set features both solid and linear feather designs with a variety of sentiments. It's ideal for both focal points and background stamping! I decided to put a bit of a literal spin on the tickled pink sentiment by playing with some pink ink and a sheet of pink bokeh BoBunny paper from the You're Invited collection.

Tickled pink close up

You'll see that I also couldn't resist some pops of gold in the form of glitter Washi tape, gold foil Washi tape and a cute BoBunny mini clip. :)

Well my sneak peeks are over and Stephanie will be sharing a full reveal of all the new CB goodies, so be sure to pop over and get your shopping list ready! In addition to the full reveal, there's links to the rest of the Design Team sharing their final sneak peeks, so be prepared for some serious enabling! ;)

Thanks so much popping by here today, your visits are always appreciated!

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Monday 4 July 2016

A panda pyramid...

Go go go
Hey! 

Happy Monday and a happy 4th of July to anyone celebrating Independence Day today! Today's card is a little nod towards the special occasion and gives you sneak peek of the new Cheering for You stamp set from Clearly Besotted. All new CB goodies are available to purchase from 5th July 10pm BST. :) 

So what do you do when you're faced with a cutie patootie stamp set full of cheerleading pandas? Stamp yourself a cheerleading pyramid of course! I wanted to keep things pretty simple and flat for postage and you can't get much flatter than a one-layer card. ;) 

tips and tricks
  • The pyramid was easy to stamp once I'd marked the centre of the card front and stamped the top panda first. It would also work if you started by stamping the bottom-centre panda too, I just preferred to stamp from the top to the bottom. 
  • It helps to test this design first on a piece of scrap paper so you can see how big the final design will be, and then create an approripately sized card blank. 
  • There's a a bit of space in between the pandas, so I stamped stars in them (from the same stamp set) to fill them and add a fun feel to the pyramid. :) 
  • I added a little shadow the bottom row of pandas using a grey alcohol marker. It just helps to ground them a little bit on the white space. 
Well that's enough cheerleading for me today, but it's time to wave those pom-poms and celebrate the amazing sneak peeks that Stephanie is sharing today along with links to everyone else teasing you with inspirational ideas. :) 

Happy 4th of July, peeps! I'll see you tomorrow with a final card before you can make your shopping list for the release at 10pm! 

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Sunday 3 July 2016

Trouble...in a tutu...

Trouble in a tutu
Hey!

Well it's July and although it might be grey and soggy outside, it's time to inject a little sunshine and happiness with sneak peeks of Clearly Besotted's July release!

It's a well known fact that no-one quite does cute like Clearly Besotted, but somehow they've even managed to excel themselves this month with what can only be described cuteness overload. This, combined with their humour, is a recipe for some seriously fun stamping. :)

Today's card features the hilariously titled, 'Trouble in a tutu' stamp set and I just couldn't resist using that sentiment. I know a number of friends who would love this sentiment paired with the images in the set and I'm pretty sure that if I ever found myself in a tutu, I'd certainly be in trouble...LOL!

I decided to pop my stamped hippo and sentiment onto a tag from BoBunny's You're Invited collection. I also used the mini star cluster stamp from the same stamp set to fill the spaces in between the fun dots on the tag, then used 3D foam tape to mount it onto a card front covered with paper from the same collection. A mini peg and twine bow was added to finish the design. :)

For this month's sneaky peeks, Clearly Besotted have the amazingly talented Laura Bassen and Kay Miller on board! I just know that they're going to create inspirational and fun projects for the release so be sure to check them out. Pop across to Stephanie's (CB HQ) to see more from this month's release including links to the rest of the Design Team sharing more sneaky peeks!

I'll be back tomorrow with another card, so I hope you can join me then! As always, thank you so much for stopping today. :)

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Copyright/Disclosure

I am on various design teams and receive free product to use and promote. I geniunely love the products of the companies and all opinons are honest and my own.

I'm flattered if I've inspired you and you want to CASE anything of mine, but please don't enter it for commercial publications or competitions.
Thank You!
All designs, text, and photographs on Crafting Confessions are ©2009-2016 to Amy Gray unless stated otherwise.