Thinking Stamping

Saturday, 14 March 2026

Delicate Dreams for CAS Colours & Sketches 580

This afternoon, I joined in with the latest colour challenge from CAS Colours & Sketches. Joanne has given us a bright, cheery palette to play along with.

On my desk was the new Delicate Whispers bundle, fresh from the March Online Exclusives drop so I thought I'd give it a run with these colours.

I stamped a couple of the floral images and some small flowers in Blueberry Bushel, then coloured them with Stampin' Blends: Granny Apple Green and Daffodil Delight. Then I die cut them with the matching dies. I also cut a pair of foliage pieces from Granny Apple Green.

To let more of the Blueberry Bushel card base show, I cut the card front using the largest die from Perennial Postage. Note: if you are doing this with metric cardstock, you'll have to trim down the standard card base to get an even border around the postage stamp piece.

Then I arrange the die cuts into a corner spray before adhering with liquid glue and dimensionals. The sentiment is stamped in Blueberry Bushel ink. The flower centres were filled with the smallest Iridescent Pearls.

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.

Friday, 13 March 2026

Nature's Symphony for As You See It 368

We're back to a sketch challenge on the roster this week at As You See It Challenge. I love a sketch - they're my favourite kind of challenge.

I had to think about this one though. Initially I couldn't decide whether I needed to have something circular as my main element or just something large that the sentiment could be centred over. Clearly, I've come down on the latter!

I've used the wonderful Nature's Symphony as my bundle of choice for this card. I inked up the foliage stamp in Old Olive and added in some generous daubs of Shaded Spruce, then die cut it out.

I also die cut a leafy spray in Silver Foil from my stash. Together, these made up my focal point.

The sketch seemed to be asking for a matted frame, so I've used Basic White as a 'separator' between the Secret Sea card base and the Secret Sea DSP from Nature Walk.

Before adhering the DSP to the Basic White matte, I ran it through the die cutting machine using the dotty die from Nature's Symphony, just to add a little more interest. Then, even though I was thinking masculine for this card, I added a white twine bow, using the white Baker's Twine from the Twine Essentials pack.

The sentiment is stamped in Secret Sea and cut with a die from Textured Notes. I've added the 'Happy Birthday to the inside, although it's from Rolling Waves.

I added a trio of green Sparkle Dots (retired) to finish off.

What will you do with this sketch?

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

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

Wednesday, 11 March 2026

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.

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

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.

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

Sunday, 8 March 2026

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:

Create a new paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL, including ours
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.

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.

Saturday, 7 March 2026

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.

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

Sunday, 1 March 2026

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:

Create a new paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL, including ours
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.

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.