Using the Stash 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, we're doing something a little different. It's five years since Around the World on Wednesday started up, so we're doing some close-up looks at the team. In this, our final team close-up, we're looking at Kim Gibbons Fee. Kim is a returning Artisan team member (2022, 2024 and 2026). Kim loves to create with whatever she has on hand in her craft room... she is creative with her outside of the box thinking and if she feels a need to use something that is not current, she doesn't hesitate to use it. 

So our mission was to CAS(E) a project of Kim's and to do so using our stash.

I found this on Kim's Instagram and it became the starting point of my project. It evolved along the way!

I didn't need a second invitation to get out a favourite retired bundle, Notes of Nature. I stamped two images in Smoky Slate onto a piece of Basic White then had fun doing some ripping. I layered it over a piece of Granny Apple Green that had been embossed with the Exposed Brick embossing folder. (Not retired but it's been around a while and is an absolute staple of my craft room).

I wanted to give the card front some subtle texture so what could be more perfect than the retired (but ever so wonderful) Subtle embossing folder? Don't you just love to #useyourstash?

I used the Notes of Nature dies to create a focal point around the sentiment. They're cut from Basic Black (to tie in with the card base), Granny Apple Green and Azure Afternoon. 

The sentiment was cut using Stylish Shapes - the most used item in my craft room. They've been around for a few years, and when they eventually retire, I'll still be using them. 😀

For embellishments, a used a trio of rhinestones coloured with the dark Azure Afternoon Stampin' Blend. 

So, there are quite a few differences between my card and Kim's but I think you'll agree that the parentage is clear!

Next up on the hop is the lovely Leonie Stuart in Australia. I'm sure she'll have a gorgeous creation to share with us.

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 - You are here

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Marga Bultena - DE

Ximena Morales - DE

Aurélie Fabre - FR

Annette Ball - CA

Angie McKenzie - US

Kelly Taranto - US

Bree Renwick - US

Cheryl Hamilton - US

Simply Beautiful for Colour INKspiration 205

 

Welcome to the 205th 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 me! I picked it so long ago, I'd actually forgotten it was my pick. I hope you enjoy playing with it. 

This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday 23 March, 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 Joanne James, AKA The Crafty Owl 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 Lemon Lime Twist for Granny Apple Green. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

Well, it was hard to go past florals with these colours and my go-to floral at the moment is Simply Beautiful. I stamped the flower and leaves in Stazon Black on Fluid100 Watercolor paper and used diluted Berry Burst and Granny Apple Green to colour them. Once dry, I die cut them. 

To complete the floral cluster, I cut one of the flower petal die cuts in Gold Foil, then took the centre pieces out of the flower to use as fronds in this little bouquet. They tucked in easily since the flower had been popped up on dimensionals.

The sentiment is stamped in Basic Gray, then cut with the largest stitched banner from Nested Essentials.

The card front is embossed with the Stone & Vine 3D embossing folder. For embellishments, I used some gold Flower Accents.

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.

Colours of the Rainbow for The Paper Players 776

Welcome to the latest challenge at The Paper Players. We had such wonderful entries last week for Christy's Mythological Creatures theme - even Easter Bunny made an appearance! I'm sure you'll love this week's colour challenge from Joanne - Colours of the Rainbow. Of course, you can use rainbows if you would like to but all you need to do is to use the colours of the rainbow in some way.

I looked forward to playing along with this challenge when I saw it coming up on our team page. Then I suffered some creative paralysis, mainly because I had too many ideas and they were all screaming for attention.

I often think that when in doubt, start ink blending. So that's what I did. I made me a rainbow page! I blended down a Basic White card front, moving from Real Red through Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Blueberry Bushel and finally Highland Heather.

So, next question. What to make with the paper? Well, probably my favourite dies of all time (at least today) are the Brilliant Wings dies. Sadly, they're retired but it's not like they disappeared in a puff of smoke. So I got them out and cut three butterflies making sure to get some on each colour. Then I cut out a matching one from Basic White and layered them together at the abdomen so the wings were free. 

Next question. What will they sit on? That was easy since one of the loveliest die cuts in the current product range is the leaf die from Nature's Symphony. I cut it twice from Basic White then adhered it to the Basic White card front, cutting off the overhanging bits. I used some of those leaves to fill gaps.

The butterflies were added to the leaves in order to preserve the layers of the rainbow. Because I attached the white underlayer to the card front, the wings of the coloured butterflies are floating. I added in some small rhinestones along the abdomens to give them some shine. 

Final question. What's the sentiment going to be? As the card progressed, it felt like it should be either a sympathy, thinking of you or get well. I'd had in mind from the start this sentiment from the new Online Exclusive set, Delicate Whispers. After testing out a few other sentiments, I came back to this idea. I stamped it in Basic Gray, as that's a bit warmer than Tuxedo Black, and used the smallest rounded rectangle die from Nested Essentials. I wish now that I'd popped it up on dimensionals so it could compete more with the other half of the card - but I didn't. Next time!

How will you play with the colours of the rainbow? You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your 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.

Nature's Symphony for Freshly Made Sketches 726

 I love those autumn days where it's cool in the morning and evenings but then we're treated to a brilliant warm, blue day in between. That's what happened today and, as an added bonus, I found that I had the house to myself for a few hours this afternoon. Hmmm... start some jobs... or escape to the craft room? No contest really! 

I turned to the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for inspiration. 

Sometimes, it's good to get outside of your comfort zone. Today, I revelled in being well inside mine! I think most of my crafty friends would look at this card and suspect it was mine before they even saw the watermark. 😀

Starting with the choice of bundle. Nature's Symphony is right up my alley with glorious leafy images and die cuts. I even like the coordinating Nature Walk DSP and have used my favourite sheet for the vertical elements of the sketch. I tore the pieces rather than cut them to give a more rustic feel. 

The Basic White card front was embossed with the Exposed Brick folder - a favourite of mine. 

The big leafy foliage die from the bundle is glorious and, thinking of autumn, I cut if from the coppery piece from Textured Metallic Specialty Paper. 

I stamped the large foliage stamp using a mix of inks applied with a sponge dauber: Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and some touches of Cherry Cobbler. After die-cutting it out, I popped it up on dimensionals. 

The sentiment, from the set, is stamped in Early Espresso (to tie in with the card base) then cut using Stylish Shapes. I've layered it with a matching banner in Early Espresso.

For embellishment, I've added a triple bow of Linen Thread and some Faux Bronze Pentagons.

Update: Delighted to be chosen as a Perfect Princess at Freshly Made Sketches.

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.

Friendly Gnomes for The Paper Players 775

The lovely Christy is our hostess this week and she has a great theme for us - Mythical Creatures. More on why that caused me problems later because first I want to thank everyone who entered my sketch challenge last week. What creativity came from that one sketch! It was a pleasure to tour the gallery and a headache to choose the Cut Above!

Now Christy's challenge caused me a wee problem because, although I am a big fantasy fan possessed of a large fantasy fiction library, it seems this does not translate into the acquisition of stamps! Not a single dragon, unicorn, orc, troll, giant or harpy was to be found. I did find my Dalek stamp set but that wasn't quite in the ball park.... 

In stepped one of my downlines who lent me her Friendly Gnome bundle (retired). It was fun to play with, so maybe I'll have to do something to remedy my lack of fantasy inspired stamp sets soon!

It turned out that the dies that come with this set are awesome. I had fun playing around with some stamped gnomes (there's one on the inside of the card) but it was that die cut bearded beastie that I kept coming back to. So he has a Cherry Cobbler had, shaded with some White coloured pencil, Secret Sea boots and a Petal Pink nose.

I also cut some toadstool caps, where I coloured the impressions with more White colouring pencil, some Crumb Cake stems and some Old Olive grass.

I stamped the sentiment in Secret Sea at the base of the card front then embossed the rest using the Beautiful Pattern embossing folder. After masking off the sentiment section, I stamped in some grass along the base and sponged on some Old Olive with a blending brush.

After that, it was just a matter of arranging the gnome, the toadstool and die cut grasses into the background scene. Once that was done, I added in some Sparkle Dot Essentials in Secret Sea to lead the eye down to the words. Mission complete!

What mythological creaturs will you bring out to play? You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your 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.

Friendly Foliage for As You See It 367

Well, you either love it or hate it but it's SPEED CHALLENGE this week at As You See It. Every sixth challenge is one of these and if you've never played one before, they're interesting. All you have to do is create a project that uses the theme and complete it in UNDER TEN MINUTES. This time, the theme is PURPLE.

You'll be pleased to hear that set up and clean up are not included in your ten minutes. The rules are simple. There are things you can do before the clock starts:

• You can plan out what you're going to  make
• You can get out your equipment and have it set up to go. For instance you can get out your stamp set and block the stamps you intend to use. Your inkpads can be on the table as can things like embossing folders, dies or embellishments.

BUT 

once you cut anything, ink anything or emboss/die cut anything then the timer is on. 

I had my babywipes and ink bottles to hand and  quickly made a temporary ink pad using Gorgeous Grape, Petunia Pop and Fresh Freesia ink. I stamped the image from Friendly Foliage, making sure to be across all the different purples on the baby wipe. 

Then I die cut it out. 

Then I embossed the card front with the Beautiful Patterns folder and adhered it to my Gorgeous Grape card base. Then I centred the die cut foliage and adhered it to the card front. 

Next I stamped a sentiment in Gorgeous Grape, cut it using a banner from Stylish Shapes and popped it up on dimensionals over the foliage die cut.

The finishing touch was the addition of a trio of Purple Gems. 

The Basic White inner got a quick foliage stamp before I attached it to the inside.

With racing heart, I stopped the timer....

Anyone who says stamping isn't an adrenaline sport has obviously never done a speed challenge! What will you do?

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.

Rolling Waves for Colour INKspiration 204

Welcome to the 204th challenge at Colour INKspiration! Thanks for all the gorgeous entries for our first challenge of the year. We have another pretty combination for you this time around, chosen by crew member Lou Kitzelman.

This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday 9 March, 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 Mariel Altamirano 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 Melon Mambo for Flirty Flamingo. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

Although I was tempted to go floral for these colours, instead I wanted to play with my new bundle, Rolling Waves. I thought they could pass as beach colours too. 

I started by stamping a wall of water in a mix of Soft Sea Foam and Lost Lagoon. I added a lacy die cut at the top to suggest a foamy wave and a different lacy die cut to suggest the water running in to the sand. The sand was stamped in Crumb Cake. Once the scene was set, I cut out a flag using one of the Party Banner dies. 

Then I cut another set of the lacy die cuts to create horizontals across the card front. Then I popped the flagged beach scene over the top of them.

 

I used the dies to cut some seashells in Petal Pink and Flirty Flamingo. Then I added some to the beach to complete the scene. 

I added a sentiment to the top of the banner, then stamped a 'Happy Birthday' on the inside. 

The finishing touch was a trio of Pearlised Faceted gems. 

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.