Saturday 29 December 2018

Global Design Project 170

The sketch at Global Design Project this week was inspiration for the next round of playing with my pre-order box of Stampin' Up! goodness.


As soon as I saw the Crackled Paint background stamp, I knew that it was a must-have item, as was the Well Said bundle. Here's my first go with both of them.


I picked subtle colours: Petal Pink and Soft Sea Foam. The Well Said bundle is a double stamp set of words and saying that mix and match with a huge set of die cut words along with flowers and foliage. I've stacked the die cut 'birthday' and stamped the HAPPY and WISHES. The gorgeous stems of leaves are part of the framelit set. I think this set is going to be a staple of the stamping shelf so put it on your wish list.

These sets will be available on 3 January in the new Occasions catalogue.

If you live in New Zealand and don't already have a demonstrator, I'd love to help you out with ideas and Stampin' Up products. Visit my Facebook page by clicking on the link in the sidebar of this blog and message me, or leave me a comment if you'd like an Occasions catalogue or any other Stampin' Up product.


Friday 28 December 2018

Fab Friday 153

The second card I made yesterday, featuring Geared Up Garage, was inspired by the sketch at Fab Friday.


It so happened that I needed a birthday card for a friend who loves trips on his motorbike.
The Classic Garage DSP was perfect - a quick fussy cut and voila - a motorbike!


The great sentiment is from Itty Bitty Birthdays - another new set from the upcoming Occasions catalogue.

Thursday 27 December 2018

Freshly Made Sketches 368

With Christmas over, it was good to get back into my craft room to have a play with some of pre-order items.

The sketch at Freshly Made Sketches was inspiration for my first card of the day.

I'd pre-ordered the Geared Up Garage bundle: a gloriously masculine set of stamps with matching dies. Ever since I'd seen the gears die-cut, I'd been desperate to give it a faux rusted metal treatment. I first saw this technique about three years ago on a video by Canadian demonstrator, Allison Okimitsu at Nice People Stamp.

It's magic watching the plain card transform into rusted metal. After happily playing with that, I added in some of the co-ordinating  Classic Garage DSP for the rectangular panels.


Here you can see just how realistic the faux rusted metal looks.


The Geared Up Garage bundle and Classic Garage papers will all be available on 3 January 2019 when the Occasions catalogue goes live. Is it on your wish list yet?

Forever Lovely - Onstage Auckland 4

When I presented the Forever Lovely bundle at On Stage Auckland last November, we were allowed to show a maximum of 10 items on the display board. Naturally, I did a lot more experimenting with the set than that! For my 10 cards, I chose ones that showed off the set's versatility and included cards that suited beginners, casual and avid crafters. You can see those cards here, here and here.

Today, I'm going to show you some of the ones that missed out hitting the display board at On Stage.

This one is a 4"x 4" card where I repeat-stamped the single rose, layered with gold and used some of the die cuts in gold and Soft Sea Foam for the cluster on the sentiment strip, which is also gold embossed.


The decorative corner die-cuts make a nice variation for the inside panel of the card too.


 I like the clean lines of this card along with the layering of stamping and die cuts. With these beautiful distINKtive stamps, it's best not to use a really juicy ink pad or else you just get blobs. If your ink pad is new, try adding the ink with a dauber instead. Or you can even stamp off and use the second generation stamp.


This one is not my usual style at all but I so loved that two-step floral spray that I wanted to use it twice! The Soft Sea Foam makes a good neutral background. The two-step spray has had some die-cut flowers added in.


I'm not a big user of DSP but this floral frenzy pattern was so appealing that I had to try to use it!


Finally, I played around with this fancy fold. I used my Take Your Pick tool to make the inlaying of the die pieces easy.


This is how it looks opened. 


So, these are the ones that stayed at home.

The Forever Lovely bundle will be available when the Occasions catalogue goes live on January 3 2019. This set covers all romantic occasions, is great for special birthdays or even Mother's Day. Is it on your wish list?

Friday 21 December 2018

CASology 324 - Holly

It's been a while since I've had the time to play challenges. This week's cue card at CASology, along with the Rachel's design team card, had me getting out my toys to play along.


Half Full is a set I bought because I often give wine as a gift - as you do when you live in wine country - and it had lots of potential for tags and cards. It's so versatile that it's even got Christmas options and I've been wanting a chance to try those out. I know, nearly out of time on that one - but there's always next year!

I made two variations. One includes the bottle and one uses the debossed side of the folder. 


In both, the wine is coloured over with clear Wink of Stella that gives it a shimmery sparkle. I've used coloured pencils for the rest.

I like them both but my favourite is the one with the bottle.



The bit that makes me smile is on the inside.


I can't quite believe that I did all my other Christmas cards without remembering this wonderful 'Merry Christmas' was there waiting for me! Another case of 'next year'.

If you live anywhere in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I'd love to help you with ideas and Stampin' Up products. Please message me through my Facebook page, linked in the sidebar of this blog or leave a comment below. 

And, of course, you can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking any of the products pictured below or the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar of this blog or you can message me.

Product List
NOTE: Watercolor pencils assortment 2 is a retired product.

Wednesday 19 December 2018

AAA Challenge 130

The game at AAA Challenge is to stamp three of something while keeping it CAS.


I'm well over making Christmas cards now, so thought I'd play around with Beauty Abounds, a set that will be available with the new Occasions catalogue from 3 January.


I stamped three butterflies, coloured them, masked them and then used the bokeh dot stamps that are part of the set to create a background for them. Add the sentiment - done! Colourful but CAS.

If you live anywhere in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I'd love to help you with ideas and Stampin' Up products. Please message me through my Facebook page, linked in the sidebar of this blog or leave a comment below. 

And, of course, you can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking any of the products pictured below or the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar of this blog or you can message me.

Product List
Beauty Abounds stamp set available from 3 January 2019

Monday 17 December 2018

Global Design Project 169 - Guest Design

I was delighted to be named as the winner at Global Design Project's last colour challenge and so was invited to guest design at the next one. Which is both very, very exciting and very, very nerve-wracking. Somehow being asked to guest design brings on all kinds of performance anxiety!



The challenge is bold and striking and, to me, seemed made for a floral design. It was a perfect chance to ink up Lasting Lily,  one of the new Sale-abration sets that will be available for you after January 3, free with qualifying purchases.


The set is two-step and, as each piece is separate, allows for all sorts of combinations of flowers and foliage. There's also a range of sentiments to choose from, making it really versatile.


One of my favourite things about this set is the little blotchy stamp which let me make this lovely background for my bold lilies. Once again, I used Stampin' Blends to create the perfect coordinating embellishments - in this case, sweet Pool Party pearls.

The team at GDP would love to see what you make of this striking colour challenge. You can join up with them until Monday 24 December, 5 p.m. AEST.

If you live anywhere in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I'd love to help you with ideas and Stampin' Up products. Please message me through my Facebook page, linked in the sidebar of this blog or leave a comment below. 

And, of course, you can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking any of the products pictured below or the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar of this blog or you can message me.


Product List
Note: Lasting Lily set available 3 January 2019

Just Add Ink 438

The colour challenge at Just Add Ink caught my eye.


I designed the card in the middle of a long, hot, sleepless night but like many such things, it was better at 2 a.m than in the light of day! I think that's because at heart, I'm a crisp, clean-lines kind of girl so having a patterned AND dark background is uncharted territory for me. I'll blame having watched Kylie Bertucci's LoveitChopit Facebook live during the day. :-)

Anyway, the set is Beauty Abounds from the upcoming Occasions catalogue and the DSP is a Sale-abration item. So this bold card is a bit of a sneak peek of soon-to-be-available goodness.

In addition to the black and white neutrals, my third colour is subtle: the silver glimmer.


The close-up shows the way these lovely die cuts can layer together, although each is beautiful on its own. The Granny Apple Green strip has been embossed with the Subtle embossing folder, which gives it the texture of ribbon.


Product List
Note: The stamp and die bundle, Beauty Abounds, and DSP will be available January 3