Thinking Stamping

Sunday 3 December 2023

Reach for the Stars for Freshly Made Sketches 614

Although it's technically the start of summer this week, the weather is not cooperating. It's wet and cold, so I'm in my craft room preparing for the end-of-year class party for my card makers. Somehow, I got distracted by the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.... don't know how that could possibly have happened! 😁

From the moment I saw the sketch, I saw a solar system of planets and stars. No matter how much I tried to make it be flowers, those planets just wouldn't budge. So I gave up and went with the flow - and I'm really glad that I did.

I ink smooshed a piece of Fluid 100 Water Color paper with Bubble Bath, Fresh Freesia and Coastal Cabana. When it was dry I cut some planets using the Reach for the Stars dies.

I stamped the astronaut in Smoky Slate and coloured her in with Fresh Freesia and Bubble Bath Stampin' Blends, along with some touches from the Coastal Cabana Stampin' Write marker. Even an astronaut needs her bling right, so her faceplate, gloves and boots have a coating of Wink of Stella.

Before I adding the planets, I added in a swoosh of ink splatters in Fresh Freesia and embossed the card front with one of the embossing folders from the Basics 3D embossing folders (Online Exclusive product).

The sentiment was cut using one of the dies from Something Fancy and has a shadow cut from some of the Adhesive Backed Silver Glimmer paper (also an Online Exclusive product).

A few Basic Rhinestone jewels and hey presto, our Glitter Girl Astronaut is done and dusted!

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 here.

Free Gifts with Orders

Any order of $90 will receive the Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle, with 13 projects based around the September - December Mini Catalogue, as a thank you gift.

And if you purchase the Joy of Noel bundle, you'll also receive a project bundle from 'Join in with Joanne and Jan' which will give you two project tutorials from me and two from my buddy Joanne James, aka The Crafty Owl.

Product List

Reach For The Stars Bundle (English)

[161186]

$112.50

Something Fancy Dies

[160424]

$59.00

Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate

[131291]

$21.00

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$22.25

Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper

[149612]

$19.00

Silver & Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Adhesive Backed Glimmer Paper

[162288]

$14.75

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad

[147113]

$19.00

Bubble Bath Classic Stampin' Pad

[161664]

$19.00

Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad

[155611]

$19.00

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

[147097]

$19.00

Bubble Bath Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack

[161675]

$21.00

Fresh Freesia Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[155518]

$21.00

Basics 3 D Embossing Folders

[161598]

$63.00

Brights Stampin' Write Markers

[161696]

$75.00

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$17.00

Rhinestone Basic Jewels

[144220]

$12.75

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$9.00

Friday 1 December 2023

Joy to You for AYSI 313

And just like that, another year passes by! It seems no time at all since the start of a new year and here we are at our last challenge for 2023. We'll be back on January 5 2024 with a new round of challenges for you.

At least we're finishing on an adrenalin rush. Literally. It's SPEED CHALLENGE week.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create us a project on the theme of 'stars' in TEN MINUTES OR LESS.

Before you decide that's impossible, let me tell you the rules.

Firstly, the ten minutes is actual creating time - thinking time and clean up are not included.
You can have your supplies out and ready to use. Your stamps can be blocked, the inks on the desk, the dies out of the packet and by the machine.
What counts as creating time? The clock starts at the moment you start using the supplies. So if you cut a piece of card, ink a stamp, make a die cut, emboss a piece of card - then the clock is on!

Over the years of doing these challenges, I've learned a couple of time saving tricks and one of them is that DSP is great for a speed challenge. If you choose well, it will do all the heavy lifting for you.

I have a packet of Merry, Bold & Bright DSP and it contains a sheet of cheerful, starry paper so that was my starting point. That, and a bright, bold sentiment from Joy to You is about all that's needed for a quick card.

Because the DSP did most of the work, I had plenty of time to use sponge daubers to get a multi-coloured sentiment.

Best of all, it was a quick project. All finished, including the inside in ....

We'd love to see how you see this speed challenge. Visit the As You See It page to see what the rest of the team have done and to link up your entry. You can play along with us until Wednesday 13 December, 11.59pm PST.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

Free Gifts with Orders

Any order of $90 will receive the Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle, with 13 projects based around the September - December Mini Catalogue, as a thank you gift.

And if you purchase the Joy of Noel bundle, you'll also receive a project bundle from 'Join in with Joanne and Jan' which will give you two project tutorials from me and two from my buddy Joanne James, aka The Crafty Owl.

Product List

Joy To You Cling Stamp Set (English)

[162090]

$51.00

Merry Bold & Bright 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[161945]

$26.25

Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry

[131288]

$21.00

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$22.25

Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock

[147006]

$21.00

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

[147087]

$19.00

Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad

[147095]

$19.00

Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad

[147088]

$19.00

Sponge Daubers

[133773]

$11.75

Nested Essentials Dies

[161597]

$72.00

Deckled Circles Dies

[162286]

$78.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$9.00

Wednesday 22 November 2023

Magical Meadow for Colour INKspiration 156

Welcome to the latest challenge at Colour INKspiration. I had the pleasure of choosing this bright and festive palette, so I'm especially interested in what you do with it!

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. This challenge is open for three weeks so closes on Monday 11 December 7pm (AEST).

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

The bright, strong colours spoke to me of Christmas and a clean design. The Christmas Tidings embossing folder made an interesting background without dominating the page. Since being involved in the Creativity Abounds Stamp Camp, which featured the Winter Meadow suite, I've been using the Magical Meadow set a lot. I've come to really love the foliage die cuts it offers.

You can follow along with how I made it in this tutorial.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

Free Gifts with Orders

Any order of $90 will receive the Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle, with 13 projects based around the September - December Mini Catalogue, as a thank you gift.

And if you purchase the Joy of Noel bundle, you'll also receive a project bundle from 'Join in with Joanne and Jan' which will give you two project tutorials from me and two from my buddy Joanne James, aka The Crafty Owl.

Product List