Thinking Stamping: May 2020

Thursday 28 May 2020

Forever Fern Bundle for PP492

I've been delighting in my pre-order purchase of the Forever Greenery suite and when you open up the 2020-21 Catalogue, you'll know why. The Forever Fern bundle could well turn out to be my favourite ever bundle!

I've had an explore of the suite using the lush greens of the DSP, which I'll share with you another day, but today I'm sharing my play around with different colours. Here in New Zealand, autumn is slipping into winter. As I was driving home from town, I saw some trees still with their autumn coats on and the idea for this card was born.

For further inspiration, I used LeAnne's fabulous sketch at The Paper Players.

The card front panels from the Forever Gold Laser Cut Specialty paper make a statement all by themselves, but really shine out when backed in a darker colour.

Both the Greenery embossing folders are lovely but I really like the foliage look of this one. It adds a nice touch of detail in the background.

I used a baby wipe and re-inkers to dab colour onto some shimmery card stock to create the variegated foliage and the second one is cut Cherry Cobbler.

The final touch was a double bow using the gold twine from the Forever Greenery Trim Combo. I frayed the ends for a bit of extra drama. 😀

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

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.

Product List
The Forever Greenery Suite, including the Forever Fern bundle, will be available 3 June.
If you live in New Zealand and would like a catalogue, or to make an order, please message me.

Early Espresso A4 Card Stock

[121686]

$18.50

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

[106550]

$20.50

Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock

[121681]

$18.50

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock

[121717]

$21.00

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[147114]

$15.75

Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[119788]

$7.75

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[122934]

$7.75

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[131158]

$7.75

Stitched Rectangle Dies

[148551]

$74.00

Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels

[151193]

$12.50

Wednesday 27 May 2020

Tasteful Touches for CI78 - Crew Card

I'm not sure why, but the graphic for this week's challenge at Colour INKspiration seemed wintery. Perhaps that was influenced by the heavy frost this morning!

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.

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.

If you don't have an exact challenge colour, feel free to replace it with whatever you have that's closest. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake and metallics are free colours, as are flesh toned Stampin' Blends.

The wintery feel I got from the picture sent me off to one of the new suites I had on pre-order from the about to be released 2020-21 Annual Catalogue, the In Good Taste suite. I hadn't had a chance to try it out before but the gorgeous textures in the In Good Taste DSP seemed perfect. Gray Granite and Early Espresso are some of the colours found in this paper, along with Very Vanilla - I think the papers I chose fit into the colour challenge along with the free colours. :-)

One of the things that drew me to this suite was the eclectic mix of images and sentiments in the Tasteful Touches stamp set. Just look at them: a gorgeous flower, foliage, a feather and a lacy background (and there's more still in the box!)

The Tasteful Touches stamp set bundles with the Tasteful Labels dies. This stitched beauty is just one of the shapes on offer - just wait until you see the rest!

To finish off, I couldn't resist using the wooden In Good Taste Elements: they're sufficiently neutral to pass as Very Vanilla. The Linen Braid trim looked Gray Granite when added to this mix.

Based on this first outing, I think I'll be using this suite a lot. The countdown is on... you can order from the new catalogue from June 3.

We'd love to have you join in and show us what you've made with these pretty colours. You can see what the rest of the Crew have done and link up your entry by visiting Colour Inkspiration. If you're asking to join the group, don't forget to answer the simple question you'll be asked before joining.

Product List
The In Good Taste suite - stamps, dies, DSP and In Good Taste Elements will be available June 3.

Early Espresso A4 Card Stock

[121686]

$18.50

Gray Granite A4 Cardstock

[147008]

$18.50

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$20.50

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[126974]

$14.00

Gray Granite Classic Stampin' Pad

[147118]

$15.75

Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad

[147100]

$15.75

Gray Granite Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[149537]

$19.00

White Stampin' Chalk Marker

[132133]

$7.25

3/16" (1 Cm) Braided Linen Trim

[147808]

$14.75

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Friday 22 May 2020

Jar of Flowers for AYSI

We're back round to a colour challenge this week at As You See It. It's a bold colour combination and the team and I will be looking forward to see what you do with it. It's also a farewell to two of the retiring In-Colours: Lovely Lipstick and Call Me Clover. Since these will be gone after 3 June, make sure you top up with them now if they're in your list of favourite colours.

Since I had a box of preorder items, this challenge seemed a good chance to play with some of them.

First out was the new set Jar of Flowers, which is going to be a great set since it offers four different bouquets - one for each season.

I stamped the Spring bouquet in Soft Suede and coloured it with Stampin' Blends. I chose to use the large jar from the set to put them in and stamped that. Then I stamped off before stamping the stems into the jar so they would look more as though they were in water. Finally, I painted the jar over with Wink of Stella to give it a watery glimmer.

For the sentiment, I used the Well Said stamp set and coordinating Well Written dies but I also tried something new with them - or at least, new to me. Each week, one member of the Artisan Design Team gives a helpful tip on Stampin' Up!'s Instagram page. My Artisan teammate, Rochelle Blok, posted recently on using an outline behind a die cut word so I tried it out here. You can see her tip here.

To finish off, I added in some pearls that had been coloured with a Soft Suede Stampin' Blends and Linen Thread bow.

You have until Wednesday June 3 (11.55pm PST) to play along with us. You can see what the rest of the team have done, and link up your entry, at the As You See It Challenge site.

Product List

Jar Of Flowers Photopolymer Stamp Set

[152515]

$48.00

Well Said Cling Stamp Set

[148796]

$95.00

Lovely Lipstick A4 Cardstock

[146993]

$18.50

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$20.50

Soft Suede A4 Card Stock

[119982]

$18.50

Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

[147115]

$15.75

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$20.00

White Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109132]

$12.50

Lovely Lipstick Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

[147281]

$19.00

Call Me Clover Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

[147282]

$19.00

Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

[144603]

$19.00

Soft Suede Dark Stampin' Blends Marker

[146875]

$9.50

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$14.00

Well Written Dies

[148534]

$84.00

Stitched Nested Labels Dies

[149638]

$74.00

Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder

[152725]

$19.00

Linen Thread

[104199]

$10.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Monday 18 May 2020

Sharing Sunshine

Welcome! The Artisan Design Team has decided to get together for an informal hop to share cards made using the Share Sunshine Download.

The Share Sunshine Download is 15 pages of both light-hearted and heartfelt sentiments and images relevant to these COVID-19 and socially-distanced times. 100% of the purchase price of $US12 goes towards charities supporting the fight against COVID-19: The World Health Organisation's COVID-Solidarity Response Fund and United Way. Neither Stampin' Up! or any demonstrator receives a share.

Once you have purchased the Share Sunshine Download, simple print it out on to card and use our paper snips, punches or dies to cut them out to use on your projects. As you hop around the team, you'll see lots of different ways to use them.

In the spirit of fun, we also agreed to photograph ourselves with our card - lockdown hairstyles and all! Here we all are, with our projects.

Here's a closer look at mine. Actually, I made two: one for a casual crafter and one for an avid crafter but both using variations of the same sentiment.

This is the one I chose for our photo grid but you can see it much closer in the following photo.

I've used the Heartfelt set to stamp a background in Rococo Rose. Then I've added in a layer of vellum to soften it before adding a frame cut using the Stitched Rectangle dies to highlight the 'Sending Hugs' sentiment from Share Sunshine download.

The sentiment is the perfect size to punch out using the Heart Punch combo, so I added in a silver glimmer scallop-edged heart in behind.

This is the second card I made using the same sentiment but this time printed only in black. I coloured in the heart/flowers. Although I used the Stitched Rectangle dies to cut the Whisper White card front, if you don't have any you could just cut a plain rectangle.

Again, the Heart Punch duo was used to cut out first the sentiment and then the Rich Razzleberry scallop-edged heart.

Finally, here's a look at all the cards - without the distraction of the faces. Follow the hop to read more about them. If you would like to buy the download, then click here.