Creative Stamps - A Lovely Surprise...

Last week I tuned in to the Craftstash Facebook Live as I started to do several weeks ago, they broadcast live every Friday at 10am and they show new products that are unique to Craftstash and they do giveaways, share tips, ideas and lots of inspiration. Whilst I was watching I fell in love with the new range of Creative Stamps background stamps that they were show casing last week and whilst watching I added the four stamps above to my basket ready to check out when I'd finished watching the show.

During the live broadcast the lovely Janette from Craftstash announced a competition to win all 10 background stamps, all you needed to do was write a comment telling the team how you got in to crafting. So I had a go and imagine my surprise when Eleanor picked me as the winner, I was THRILLED, I didn't get round to checking out, I didn't need to, thanks ladies :)

So I waited patiently and my goodies arrived yesterday morning, as soon as I got time I started stamping. I've made 5 cards so far and I've stamped more backgrounds to make lots of cards over the next few days. The stamps are brilliant quality, nice and thick, they stamp like a dream and are A6, dye inks do stain them but that's a sign of a good stamp, they clean up really well.

I love all the stamps, but the bottom row are my favourites and I know that they are going to get a heck of a lot of use over the years. This 'Floral Sketch' stamp is so delicate and has lots of detail but it stamps like a dream, they all do and what you see on the stamp is the image you get.

For this purple and gold card I stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder, then I used Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink to colour the white card. The flower came from my stash and was made from craft foam that I got from the kids crafting section, I did a post about making those a while back (Creating Craft Foam Flowers).

The leaves were die cut from card and I'm proud of my Hello sentiment, because its made from offcuts and recycled Christmas cards! I'll do a post on that soon, but I have lots of sentiment toppers ready to go to put on cards. Having elements like that and fab background stamps means you can put together a card in no time at all.

The Rainbow card in the main photo that I also made with the 'Floral Sketch' stamp was done in the same way, except I used Distress Inks to create a rainbow background (Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron. Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Candied Apple). I trimmed the stamped and inked panel down and stuck it to the front of an A6 card blank and all I added was a simple stamped sentiment panel using a die from another fab product from Craft Stash they brought out the Wonky Stitches Collection last year and I love them. In these cards I've used dies from the Nesting Rectangles, Circles and Ovals, I also have the Squares and  the Stitched Borders.

This card again was really quick to put together, I used Distress Inks again on the 'Watercolour Wash' stamp stamping the top first with Wilted Violet, then Picked Raspberry and the final layer I used Spiced Marmalade, at the end I ended up with a super wash effect on my card, something I'm not very good at doing by hand, I can now achieve with a stamp WHOOO HOOO!

The cute purple monster comes from the Monster Madness set that Si got me for Christmas, sentiment is from the same set and I added them both with 3D foam squares to give a little dimension. I coloured the monster with my Zig Clean Color Brush markers and added a dab of Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ebony Black.

The 'Woodgrain Planks' stamp is going to be such a useful stamp, I love making cards with a nature vibe to them and this background stamp is going to make it so easy to create my own wood effect backgrounds. This panel came together so simply like the others, I stamped the image in Caramel Hero Arts Hybrid Ink (a pigment and dye fusion).

I then die cut the panel with the largest Wonky Stitches Nesting Rectangles die and used Tea Dye Distress Ink to colour the white card. The pots with herbs in, I made a while back using my Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Home Life 'Herb Garden' set, the herbs and pots were also coloured with Distress Inks, you can find out more via the link Herbaholic By Name.

Again the pots were in my Maybe Someday box, I love making extra elements when I'm playing and I leave them waiting for the right project to come along in the future. This card was finished with another Wonky Stitches panel, the sentiment was a freebie but I can't remember which magazine off the top of my head.

The final card I want to share for now is one I used the 'Brushstroke' background stamp on, I stamped the image 6 times, each time adding a new colour, I used my Zig pens to create a bright bold rainbow effect, and I think it came out fabulously.

Again I've tried using an actual brush to create a brushstroke effect and failed epically, but this stamped makes it really easy. I want to play with this stamp with other mediums and add some water to the mix to see what I end up with and also want to use shades of one colour to make an Ombre effect. The Unicorn and sentiment are from a Neat & Tangled set called 'Magical Day' and the unicorn was another image from my maybe Someday box. I used most of the same colours of Zig pens to colour the unicorn so the image and the background stamp worked well together.

If you fancy expanding your stash and want to get some background stamps that will enable you make some super quick cards then I highly recommend the stamps from the Background Collection, and at only £4.99 not only are they are affordable, but they are superb quality and give amazing results. I'm hoping they will expand the range to include some more florals, autumn and maybe some animal/cat backgrounds. That's all from me for now, I'm off to play with the other stamps I haven't used yet. Happy crafting!