Thursday 31 January 2019

The Paper Players 426

This week is sketch week at The Paper Players and, as always, it's a beauty.


Straight away, the circular element put me in mind of the Dear Doily bundle with its magnificent circular stamps and die cuts. 


Once I'd gold embossed the large doily and added the Soft Sea Foam die cut doily, it seemed I'd created a perfect playground for some butterflies from Butterfly Gala.


The butterflies are coloured with Stampin' Write markers and the rhinestones coloured with a Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blend.

Update: Delighted to be A Cut Above at The Paper Players this week.

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.


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Tuesday 29 January 2019

Retro Rubber 103 - Design Team Card

This week at Retro Rubber Challenge,  Jane has given us an embellishment theme challenge. Our mission is to create a love-themed card that uses ribbon. Of course, since this is Retro Rubber Challenge, you must use a stamp that's at least a year old and give us an indication of its age.



I've chosen a favourite sentiment set of mine, Sunshine Sayings with the matching Sunshine Wishes thinlits. This came out as a bundle in the 2016-17 Annual Catalogue and is still available. 

I have paired it up with a heap of new items. I was fortunate enough to present the Forever Lovely suite at last November's OnStage event in Auckland. I've used some of the beautiful All My Love DSP and ribbon for this card. One of the pleasures of this challenge is the chance to breathe some new life into our old stamps by mixing them up with newer acquisitions.


One of my favourite newer items is the Subtle embossing folder. I've used it here on a strip of gold foil because I like how the texture makes the foil look as though it's ribbon: a kind of faux ribbon effect. I've also added in a very subtle embellishment - one of the clear epoxy hearts that's part of the All My Love suite.


We'd love to see what you do with this themed embellishment challenge.  Why not pop over to the Retro Rubber site to see what the rest of the team have done, then make your own retro creation to share with us?

I'm also sharing this card at TGIF Challenge, where the challenge is to include DSP.


Update: Delighted to be a winner at TGIF this week!

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.

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Saturday 26 January 2019

JAI 441

This week at Just Add Ink, there is an inspiration challenge.


It's such a pretty photo. What I took from it were the soft, pastel colourings with just a touch of a neutral as well as the soft lines. I decided that these translated to Petal Pink, Pool Party and a touch of Highland Heather and Crumb Cake.


I've used two new bundles for this card - I can't help it - still playing with new gear.😀
The Dear Doily bundle might yet turn out to be my favourite. I cut one of the lovely doilies then used it as a stencil to sponge on the Petal Pink background.

I coloured the lavender stem stamp directly with Stampin' Write markers then cut them out.
The Crumb Cake has been embossed using the Subtle folder to give it the texture of linen ribbon and the lacy edge is also from the Doily Builder thinlits.


For the greeting, I turned to the Well Said bundle: so, so many sentiment choices there! Despite the pretty colouring, this card kept telling me it was meant to be a sympathy card so that's what I did.

I cut 'sympathy' twice, once in Petal Pink and once in Highland Heather which peeps out just a touch.

Thanks, JAI team, for a great challenge!


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Monday 21 January 2019

FMS 371 Inkspire Me 384

I'm still enjoying playing around with my new sets from the Occasions catalogue. One set that hasn't had much attention from me yet is Piece of Cake and its matching punch. Time to change that!

For inspiration, I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and the colour combination from Inkspire Me.


The set has many different cakes and topping and sentiments to pick from but I thought there was a richness and formality in the colour combination that suggested a wedding to me. So here's how that turned out...


The cake, stand and cake topper heart are popped up on dimensionals. More difficult to see are the clear epoxy hearts, one on the sentiment and one on the vellum circle. The third is on top of the cake topper heart as it turned out that that heart was just the same size as the largest of the clear epoxy heart embellishments. It's a perfect fit so I put on top to give it some shine.

The black lacy edge is from the new Doily Builder thinlits.


Since the card is square, it required a custom-made envelope. I had some retired DSP in Smoky Slate which I used in the Envelope Punch Board to make the envelope, then I embellished it to match the card.


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.

Update: Delighted to be the winner at Inkspire Me!


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