Fern & Flora for Colour INKspiration 208

 

Welcome to the 208th challenge at Colour INKspiration! Thanks for all the gorgeous entries for last challenge. This time around, we're saying farewell to the 2024-2026 In Colors: Pretty in Pink, Peach Pie, Petunia Pop, Summer Splash and Shy Shamrock. For this challenge you can use any or all of these retiring colours.

This challenge runs for nearly three weeks and will finish on Monday 11 May, 5pm AEST.

If you haven't played with us before, we are a group of Stampin' Up Demonstrators from the South Pacific. Challenges are shown and entered via our Facebook Group page. If you don't belong, and would like to, click here. Don't forget to answer the three easy questions you'll be asked when you ask to join the group.

Each challenge, Top Picks and a winner are chosen by the crew and the winner offered a chance to Guest Design with us for a future challenge. We welcome Yvonne Spikmans - Van Bruggen as our Guest Designer for this challenge.

If you don't have an exact challenge colour, feel free to replace it with whatever you have that's closest, for example Shaded Spruce for Shy Shammrock. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

Today, I'm pairing up the retiring colours with a new bundle that will be available from 5 May. The Fern & Flora bundle is a lovely one with great leafy images and dies, along with some great sentiments. The embossing folder that is part of this suite is amazing too. 😀

The base of the card is Shy Shamrock. I embossed the white card front with the Fern & Flora embossing folder (gorgeous!) and cut some ferns from Shy Shamrock and Summer Splash. 

I used the dies to create the flowers from Petunia Pop and Peach Pie. The label and sentiment are in Petunia Pop and Shy Shamrock. The moths are stamped in Petunia Pop and brushed with Wink of Stella. The embellishments are Shy Shamrock flat pearls. 

The only odd thing about this card to me is that somehow I managed to not use Pretty in Pink -which is actually the colour I'll miss the most!

How will you say farewell to these retiring In Colors? Don't forget that if you want to stock up on any of them, do so ASAP as once they're gone, they're gone. 

You can see what the rest of the Design Team have done with these colours in the Crew Inspiration Album on the Colour INKspiration Challenge Facebook page.

If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. 

You can stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

A Blast from the Past for The Paper Players 782

Thank you to everyone who played along with my colour challenge last week. It seems lots of people enjoyed the bold colours because there were wonderful cards in the gallery and choosing my Headliner was difficult. 

Christy has a Clean and Simple theme for us this week at The Paper Players.   It's a double challenge: create something with a Baby Animal theme AND create in a Clean and Simple Style.

At The Paper Players, by Clean and Simple we mean minimal layering, minimal use of embellishments and lots of open space. 

As soon as I saw Christy's theme, I knew exactly which (retired) set I wanted to use. Little Elephant was such a favourite of mine, especially for baby cards. Maybe it was my need for a baby card that brought the set to mind but once I'd thought of it, I couldn't see my way to using anything else.  I'm sure a few of you will have it sitting in  your stamping library too. 😀

Anyway, I also thought it was a good chance to try out some of the new In-Colors that will be available 5 May. When I first saw them, I thought they'd make good baby cards so I gave four of the five a run. 

In each of the cards, the sponged grass line is in Peaceful Pine, which is a really useful green unlike any of our current greens. 

Then I went for a boy card, a girl card and a gender neutral card using Hydrangea Hue, Barely Blush and Golden Glow. Note the new ink pad design, which at the moment is only available for the new  In Colors but will coming to other colours over time. 

The little hearts in each card are in Barely Blush, and I used coordinating embellishments for each colour. 

Originally, I'd planned on just using the elephant scene and sentiment on a coloured base but I let myself be persuaded to add a strip of In Color Painted Patterns DSP to each one as well. CAS or not-CAS? What do you think? I think I'm on the CAS side of the cusp. 😀

The team are all looking forward to seeing what you do with the baby animal theme and in a CAS style.  You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your own entry at The Paper Players.

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:

1. Create a new paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
2. Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
3. Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL, including ours
5. Have fun, and thank you for playing with us!

Don't forget to check out the great inspiration from the rest of the design team.

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile (on leave)

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Christy Stanford

You can stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Rolling Waves for CAS Colours & Sketches 583

 I was taken by Deborah's sketch over at CAS Colour & Sketches this week, so made a bit of time to have a play with it. 

I liked the clean look of the sketch and the endless possibilities for the horizontal trio of elements. Since I'm still having an early acquisition romance with the Rolling Waves bundle (Online Exclusive) it seemed natural to go to that.

I've played quite a lot with the sea shell dies and the wave building stamps and dies but had yet to really try out the beach umbrellas. Here's where that ended up....

I stamped the water with Pool Party ink, daubed with some bits of Coastal Cabana. Then I sponged very lightly along the waterline with some Pecan Pie ink to suggest the sand. I stamped the sentiment in Basic Gray, saving the 'Happy Birthday' for the inside of the card.

The bit I enjoyed the most was die-cutting and assembling a trio of sun umbrellas from Flirty Flamingo, Pool Party and Daffodil Delight. There's a trio of rhinestones atop the umbrellas to simulate the end of the support pole and a tiny starfish as embellishment. 

In the bottom photo, if you squint your eyes just right, you might be able to detect the 'seafoam' on the wave - a band of Wink of Stella. Clear in real life, less so in the photo! Isn't that always the way?

If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. 

You can stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Simply Beautiful for The Paper Players 781

Hello everyone! It's time for a new challenge at The Paper Players and this week, I'm your hostess. I've chosen a bold colour combination for us to play with this week: Basic Black, Smoky Slate and Daffodil Delight. Of course, white is a free colour.

I did have a brief moment when I wondered what I'd been thinking when I chose these colours but very quickly settled into creating and really enjoyed the challenge of combining them. 

Yellow had me thinking of roses, as I had a beautiful yellow rose at my old house called Yabadabadoo. So I stamped the gorgeous bloom from Simply Beautiful in Tuxedo Black and coloured it loosely with Daffodil Delight and a small blending brush. I stamped the foliage in Tuxedo Black and coloured them with Smoky Slate, again with a small blending brush. Then I die cut them.

I embossed a Basic Black card front with the Forever Plaid folder then splattered it with some diluted White Craft ink and some Wink of Stella. 

After attaching the card front to a Basic Black card base, I arranged the flower and leaves. The flower is popped up on dimensionals.

The sentiment is from Rolling Waves and cut with a banner from Stylish Shapes.  The 'Happy Birthday' is on the inside.

I hope you take up the challenge of using these colours - and that you enjoy them. The whole team would love to see what you do. You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your own entry at The Paper Players.

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:

1. Create a new paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
2. Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
3. Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL, including ours
5. Have fun, and thank you for playing with us!

Don't forget to check out the great inspiration from the rest of the design team.

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile (on leave)

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Christy Stanford

You can stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Flowers Fair for AYSI

It's time for a fill in the blank challenge at As You See It. This is the challenge where we ask you to complete a sentence then show it to us in craft. 

I did have to wonder to begin with whether or not it was Christmas cards I sent the most of. It certainly is the most I send in one hit - I feel as though I need to remortgage the house when I go post my overseas cards! Birthday would surely be the next largest in number for me. 

My design team card for the last challenge was inspired by (enabled by) Joanne James and it's true again this week. After the things she'd made with Flowers Fair made me buy it myself, I set about emulating a card that she had made for Colour INKspiration, where I also design. 

Her lovely card made me realise that it had been many years since I'd attempted colouring on dark card, so there was something of a re-learning process involved in getting here.😀

I started by white embossing the image onto Basic Gray card. Then I painted the interior of the flowers and leaves with diluted Basic White ink with a water painter.

Once the white ink was dry - and it takes a little while - I painted over the white with the colours I wanted: Melon Mambo, Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight and Granny Apple Green. I used re-inkers and a water painter for this. Because I diluted the white ink, rather than using it at full strength, the final painted effect is translucent. 

I mounted the panel on a piece of Melon Mambo, then onto a Basic Gray card base. The sentiment is from Rolling Waves, stamped in Basic Gray and cut with a banner from Stylish Shapes with one end trimmed. The sentiment is popped up on dimensionals. The Melon Mambo embellishments are from the retired Glossy Enamel Dots assortment.

Thank you, Joanne for the impetus to get this gorgeous background stamp. 😀

So what kind of card do you mail the most, after Christmas cards?

Visit the As You See It page to link up your entry and to see the rest of the team's inspirations.

If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. 

You can stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Help Me Grow for Around the World on Wednesday

 

Welcome to the latest hop for Around the World on Wednesday. I hope you're all feeling ready to create!

On the second Wednesday of each month, the team put together a thematic hop to give you some inspiration for your own crafting. We love it when you try out something new or CAS(E) one of our projects. The team is truly international, with members from each time zone of the world that Stampin' Up! operates. You're with me, in New Zealand - the first place in the Stampin' Up! world to change the date. 😀

This month, our team leader Angie gave us this sketch to play with. 

I do love a sketch challenge and I have just received the Help Me Grow bundle from the March Online Exclusive drop so was up for experimenting with that. 

I used a base of Early Espresso and added a woody piece of DSP from Country Woods - what a great DSP collection that is!

After working out the sizings for the Basic White blocks, I embossed them with the Exposed Brick 3D embossing folder, to keep in with the garden theme. Then I spaced them out as shown in the sketch. Initially it threw me that the gaps between blocks in the sketch is not even - some gaps are wider than others. Probably that was the most difficult thing about this card for me! 😀

I enjoyed using the dies from the Help Me Grow bundle to create the focal point. I cut a rectangle using a die from Textured Notes. To ground the pot, I sponged some Daffodil Delight ink, with a blending brush, over the rectangle. I used one of the stamps to stamp in the illusion of ground with Early Espresso ink.

I cut a pot and saucer from Crumb Cake, then inked in some shading with Pecan Pie. I cut foliage and tiny flowers (thankfully, they cut in bunches) from Basic White. I cut one set of the tiny flowers with the Basic White backed with Foam Adhesive to get more depth. The foliage was brushed with Granny Apple Green and the flowers with Pretty in Pink. I like that by inking, you get pleasing variations in colour.  I had fun assembling the floral pot before adhering it to the rectangle. 

The sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso on Basic White and the back of the label die cut from a scrap of DSP that matched the card front. 

To finish off, I added a trio of Pretty in Pink gems.

Next up on the hop is the wonderful Leonie Stuart, who is sure to have another gorgeous take on the sketch for you.

If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. 

You can stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Here's a blog roll in case you get lost, or want to revisit someone.

Jan Clothier - NZ

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Marga Bultena - DE

Aurélie Fabre - FR

Kelly Taranto - US

Lori Willcox - CA

A Beach Theme for Colour INKspiration 207

 

Welcome to the 207th challenge at Colour INKspiration! Thanks for all the gorgeous entries for last challenge. We have another pretty combination for you this time around, chosen by Crew Member Cheryll Miller. Soft and pretty. 

This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday 22 April, 5pm AEST.

If you haven't played with us before, we are a group of Stampin' Up Demonstrators from the South Pacific. Challenges are shown and entered via our Facebook Group page. If you don't belong, and would like to, click here. Don't forget to answer the three easy questions you'll be asked when you ask to join the group.

Each challenge, Top Picks and a winner are chosen by the crew and the winner offered a chance to Guest Design with us for a future challenge. We welcome Rochelle Blok as our Guest Designer for this challenge.

If you don't have an exact challenge colour, feel free to replace it with whatever you have that's closest, for example Petal Pink for Bubble Bath. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

Winter is starting to make himself felt today, so I fancied a little bit of tropical in protest! I wanted to be transported to somewhere warm and beachy. I started by randomly blending some Daffodil Delight, Bubble Bath and Pool Party over a piece of Basic White. I then sponged some Coastal Cabana around the outside edge to kind of fence the colours in.

So the next question was - what next?! Well, a collaboration between two sets is what happened next. Shell Collecting meets Rolling Waves. I stamped some shells from Shell Collecting in Pool Party ink over the card front.

What's the beach without some water? So I splashed a little Wink of Stella over the surface like water splashing on skin.

The sentiment is from Rolling Waves and cut using a die from Textured Notes. Then I die cut some palm fronds and sea shells and arranged them under and over the popped up sentiment. 

So there's my little piece of tropicana done and dusted. What will you do with these colours?

You can see what the rest of the Design Team have done with these colours in the Crew Inspiration Album on the Colour INKspiration Challenge Facebook page.

If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. 

You can stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.