Friday 25 October 2019

Modern Heart for AYSI 212 - Design Team Card

After theme week, it's speed challenge week. This is one of my favourite types of challenge because it really is so.... challenging. The mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a card using only shades of blue in ten minutes or less.



That's right - ten minutes or less. It's not quite as bad as it sounds. For instance, you can have thought about what you're going to do. You can have all your stamps blocked up and equipment out and ready. However, the moment you ink up your first stamp, cut your first card or touch the handle of your die cutting machine then the clock should be running. 😀

The stamp set I used was straight out of a just-arrived box of goodies, Modern Heart.
With the large heart image and the watercolour fill stamp, it was a good choice for a speed challenge. This set comes with several sentiments. Don't you just love the mix of block and script in the font?


I picked up the italic font from the sentiment and used the Scripty embossing folder to add interest to the card base.  The ever useful Stitched Rectangle dies cut out the main image and sentiment. A few faceted dots in Seaside Spray and voila - 7 minutes 18 seconds later, the card was done.


So why not gather up a few shades of blue, get your stopwatch ready and see what you can come up with? We'd love to see what you do.

You can see what the rest of the team have come up with in their ten minutes and you can link up your entry here too.

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 on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or clicking on any of products below.


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Wednesday 23 October 2019

Colour INKspiration 66 - Crew Card



This time, at Colour INKspiration, we're giving you some choices. You don't have to use all the colours in the inspiration photo. You can if you want to but we ask you to choose at least three.

You can choose from Gorgeous Grape, Coastal Cabana, Poppy Parade, Pineapple Punch, Mint Macaron and Lovely Lipstick.

If you haven't played with us before, we're a group of Australian and New Zealand Stampin' Up Demonstrators. You can play with us by joining in our Facebook group here which will let you play along, comment and vote for your favourite from the top 5 selected by the crew.

In addition to the challenge colours, you can freely use Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, metallics and skin-tone blends. If you don't have the exact challenge colours, you can substitute with your nearest-to colours.


The colours I picked were Gorgeous Grape, Coastal Cabana and Lovely Lipstick. I also picked one of my favourite sets, Rooted in Nature, to work with.


I've kept things quick and simple this time around. I created my own inkpad using re-inkers and a baby wipe to stamp the leaves and added the sentiment.


Then I cut the panel to size using the largest Stitched Rectangle die and layered it up on a Thick White card base. I chose an off-centre layout to create the L-shape that draws attention to the sentiment corner.

The variegated ink is so pretty the card needs little else.


When I use this baby wipe technique, I like to use up as much of the ink as I can. After creating a second card, which I mounted up a little differently, I still had ink left. I always keep some scored 3x3 cards on hand for just such times. I got some out and stamped up some mini-thank you cards which can also double as tags on a gift. The 'thanks' on these comes from A Big Thank You.

You have three weeks to join us in this colour challenge.
Next up on the hop is Tanya Bell.


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 on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or clicking on any of products below.

Tuesday 22 October 2019

Dashing Deer for Retro Rubber Challenge 122 - Design Team Card

This week at Retro Rubber Challenge, Claire has created a sketch for us to play with. Of course, since this is Retro Rubber, you do need to use at least one stamp that's a year or more old and give us an approximate age for it. 


It's not too early to be thinking of Christmas cards. Although there are lots of wonderful new sets in the Holiday Catalogue, the great sets keep you coming back to them. Dashing Deer and the matching Detailed Deer dies, from the 2018 Holiday Catalogue, are just such ones for me. If you missed out on them last year, they're still current and you can find them in the 2019 Annual Catalogue - or you can visit my online store by clicking the link in the sidebar.


The trees, stamped in Silvery Shimmer pigment ink, are from 2018's Rooted in Nature.


I liked Claire's sketch so much that I made a couple of cards with it before choosing one for my Design Team card. If you'd like to see the other, it uses the same set - Dashing Deer - and it's here.

To see what the rest of the team have done with this sketch, and to link up your entry, pop over to the Retro Rubber Challenge site.

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 on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or clicking on any of products below.

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NB - the narrow silver ribbon is a retired item.

Monday 21 October 2019

Seaside Notions for JAI 479 and PP464

This card has taken inspiration from two challenges. I was taken by the soft colours at Just Add Ink and piqued by the large sentiment challenge at The Paper Players.



The ideas percolated for a while and this is how it ended up.


I enjoyed making the card front. It's a mixture of sponging, spritzing, texture over-stamping with some touches of white pigment stamping as well. I like the soft, natural feel that's been created. Although the background is quite busy, it doesn't seem so because of the softness of the colours. They recede from the strong black of the bold sentiment.


 The white circle around the sentiment helps draw the eye to it.

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 on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or clicking on any of products below. 


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