Thinking Stamping

Saturday, 17 April 2021

Forever Fern for CASology 388

I saw the current challenge at CASology. It made me really want to dig out one of favourite of all time sets, Forever Fern because I've often used the 'hello' stamp from it. Plus, I just haven't used it for a while and was missing it. 😀

I enjoyed making this card, especially the challenge of keeping it clean and simple. I realise that over the years, I've got a bit more layered in my crafting, so it was good to pare things back again.

I started by stamping the gorgeous DistINKtive leaf stamp in Just Jade, which I then lightly coloured with Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends. I stamped the berries in Flirty Flamingo and fussy cut them out and place them over the leaves. I added in some Soft Sea Foam splatters as well.

The sentiment is stamped in Shaded Spruce, cut using one of the dies from Tasteful Labels and popped on dimensionals. Three Champagne rhinestones complete the deal.

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 shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or clicking on any of products below.

Product List

Just Jade A4 Cardstock

[153084]

$18.50

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$20.50

Forever Fern Cling Stamp Set (English)

[152559]

$50.00

Just Jade Classic Stampin' Pad

[153115]

$15.75

Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' Pad

[147102]

$15.75

Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad

[147052]

$15.75

Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154902]

$19.00

Stitched Rectangles Dies

[151820]

$74.00

Tasteful Labels Dies

[152886]

$65.00

Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels

[151193]

$12.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Friday, 16 April 2021

Quiet Meadow for AYSI 248

I was delighted by the great entries we had in our last challenge, the Speed Challenge. It's amazing what you can do in ten minutes with a bit of planning, isn't it?

That brings us back to the start of our cycle of challenges: a sketch.

With a box of pre-ordered items from the 2021-22 Annual Catalogue, due for release on 3 May, on my desk I couldn't help but dip into it for this challenge card. In fact, everything except the Stitched Rectangle die, is new - even the colours!

This card uses three of the 2021-23 In Colours: Evening Evergreen, Soft Succulent and Pale Papaya. The card base is Evening Evergreen and I've used a piece of Evening Evergreen DSP from the new In Colour 15cm x 15cm DSP stack for the front. There are new DSP stacks for all the colour families - and they're gorgeous.

Everything on the front panel (except the Stitched Rectangle die cut itself) is new and uses elements from the Quiet Meadow bundle. This bundle has a set of eclectic floral images and sentiments plus the most wonderful floral die cuts, as well as labels for the sentiments. The background stamping here is in Pale Papaya and Soft Succulent, as are the flower die cuts while the fern is cut from Evening Evergreen.

I opened the packet of In Colour jewels to create the flower centres and I can tell you that they are magical. I can see more of these being added to my future orders, that's for sure! The colours are truly gemlike and they catch the light really well.... just gorgeous to use. I dabbed a little Pale Papaya ink on the flowers to add some colour variation. You can see the other card I've made with this set here.

We'd love to have you join us with this sketch challenge and have you show us how you see it. You can see what the rest of the Design Team have done and link up your entry by visiting the As You See It Challenge site.

Wednesday, 14 April 2021

Very Versailles for Around the World on Wednesday Monochrome Rainbow

As you know, Around the World on Wednesday hops on the second Wednesday of the month with an inspiration theme. This time, our theme is Rainbow Monochrome. What's that, you ask?

Each of the team was assigned a colour of the rainbow based on our time zone, so as you follow the hop through you will see a rainbow as you move through the time zones. Since New Zealand is in the first time zone, I've been given red. So, we each work in monochrome and you get to see a rainbow. 😀

In addition to using our monochrome colour, we were also allowed to include some neutrals: black, white, Kraft/ Crumb Cake and metallics.

I chose a colour I seldom use: Real Red. Then I added a favourite set - Very Versailles - to the mix along with some gold.

The foliage is stamped on the Real Red, in Real Red, on the diagonal, which is picked up on the main Whisper White panel. By re-stamping without re-inking, I've created an illusion of depth.

I love the cursive script stamp from Very Versailles and have used it to complete the panel, along with a lace edge gold embossed over it.

The sentiment is popped up on dimensionals and backed with some more Real Red. Originally, I gold embossed the sentiment straight onto Real Red but I decided it lost impact that way so re-did it like this.

The gold foil mat has been embossed with the Tasteful Textile folder. I really like the effect that comes from embossing foil.

I added in some tiny butterflies from the retiring Butterfly Beauty dies to help lead the eye to the sentiment.

Next up on the rainbow hop is Tatiana Tobin in Australia.

Should you get lost on the hop, or want to revisit a post, here's a list of the participants with links.

Product List

Very Versailles Cling Stamp Set

[149275]

$48.00

Real Red A4 Card Stock

[106578]

$18.50

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$20.50

Gold Foil Sheets

[132622]

$10.50

Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

[147084]

$15.75

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$20.00

Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109129]

$12.50

Butterfly Beauty Dies

[151819]

$82.00

Tasteful Textile 3 D Embossing Folder

[152718]

$19.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Heat Tool

[129056]

$60.00

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

[149653]

$252.00

Quiet Meadow for CI 97

Welcome to a new challenge at Colour INKspiration! This pretty combination is the pick of crew member, Denita Wright-Smee. The photo was taken in New South Wales by a friend of her husband. Gorgeous photography!

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 two 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.

If you don't have an exact challenge colour, feel free to replace it with whatever you have that's closest. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand and metallics are free colours, as are flesh toned Stampin' Blends.

As it happens, this is the second card I made for this challenge. The first one is fine - and I might even post it later in the challenge - but yesterday my box of pre-orders from the 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue arrived and I just HAD to play!

Out of the box came the Quiet Meadow bundle. The cling stamp set is fabulously eclectic: sentiments, flowers in different styles, splatter and a wonderful partially obscured text stamp. Some of them you can see in the over-stamping of the ink-smooshed background.

The Meadow dies are absolute showstoppers: outlines of various flowers, just perfect as silhouettes or coloured to make realistic images, some butterflies and lovely labels that fit the sentiments. I couldn't wait to get cutting and stamping!

We'd love to see what you make of these sunset colours.

You can add your project, see the other entries and look at the Design Team inspiration by clicking here.

Product List

Note: The Quiet Meadow bundle will be available 3 May.

Basic Black A4 Card Stock

[121688]

$18.50

Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock

[108601]

$18.50

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock

[121717]

$21.00

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$20.50

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad

[147086]

$15.75

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

[147101]

$15.75

Rococo Rose Classic Stampin’ Pad

[150080]

$15.75

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

[147087]

$15.75

Tuesday, 13 April 2021

Beautiful Moments for Retro Rubber

This week at Retro Rubber, we have a colour challenge for you. Make us something that uses pastel colours. Easy, right? Of course, since this is Retro Rubber, you need to use at least one stamp that's a year or more old and tell us the approximate age of it.

I've been charmed of late by Jacque Williams' Million Dollar sales set, Beautiful Moments. It's sat on my shelves for over a year with just a couple of uses until this last fortnight where I've rediscovered its beauty.

This card shows the third of the three main images of the set. You can see the others here and here.

The pastel colours I've used are Petal Pink, Seaside Spray, Mint Macaron and So Saffron. I used Basic Grey to stamp the images as it's just a bit softer than Tuxedo Black.

This is a pretty straight-forward card. I've masked the figures so I could stamp in the horizon line and I paper pieced the dresses but other than that, there's nothing hard happening.

I wanted the sentiment to stand out but using Petal Pink card stock was just too strong, so I stamped the sentiment (from Dressed to Impress) in Basic Grey and then coloured it with a Petal Pink Stampin' Blend.

You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your entry by visiting the Retro Rubber Challenge site.

Product List