Thinking Stamping: August 2020

Friday 28 August 2020

Ornamental Envelopes for As You See It 233

The entries for our last colour challenge were great. Those autumn colours really got the creative juices flowing and we loved seeing your creations. We look forward to seeing what you do with this week's inspiration.

The third challenge in our rotation is 'fill in the blank' and this time around, it's given us another colour-based task...

I don't know about you, but my favourite colours change like the wind! This year, I've been enjoying traditional Christmas colours for my Christmas projects, so right now I'd say my favourite colour duo is Real Red and Gold. I'm not sure what it will be if you ask me next week, though! 😀

This combination also let me play around for the first time with a couple of new sets from the August-December Mini Catalogue: the Ornamental Envelopes bundle plus I sneaked a sentiment out of Gift Wrapped.

I started with the large image of hanging baubles. I stamped it once in Real Red and once in Versamark and embossed it in gold. The gold one, I cut out using one of the Nested Stitched Labels dies. I used the dies that match the image to cut out the Real Red baubles and added three of them, on dimensionals, to the gold embossed image.

The white card base is embossed with the Subtle embossing folder, as is the Gold Foil mat. This folder adds a lovely linen look to the card.

The sentiment, from Gift Wrapped, has been popped up on dimensionals and the ends flagged with the Banners Pick a Punch. I was one of those people who believed that a punch to fishtail a sentiment was a waste ... how wrong can you be! Select the width of sentiment then punch twice - done, so easily and so uniformly. To finish off, I added in three Gilded Gems to keep the Real Red and Gold theme going.

You can visit the As You See It Challenge site to see what the rest of the team have done and to link up your entry.

I took inspiration for this card from the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches.

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

Ornamental Envelopes Bundle

[155168]

$100.75

Gift Wrapped Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[153432]

$36.00

Real Red A4 Card Stock

[106578]

$18.50

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$20.50

Gold Foil Sheets

[132622]

$10.50

Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

[147084]

$15.75

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$20.00

Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109129]

$12.50

Heat Tool

[129056]

$60.00

Banners Pick A Punch

[153608]

$48.00

Stitched Nested Labels Dies

[149638]

$74.00

Subtle 3D Embossing Folder

[151775]

$21.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Gilded Gems

[152478]

$14.75

Tuesday 25 August 2020

Christmas Gleaming for Retro Rubber 142

This week, at Retro Rubber Challenge, we have an interesting sketch for you to get creative with. As always, since this is Retro Rubber, we ask you to use at least one stamp that is a year or more old AND to tell us the approximate age of that stamp.

It's never too early to start a stash of Christmas cards, is it?! The sketch certainly got me thinking of Christmas because I thought a lacy rectangle might be a nice element and that lead me to the Christmas Layers dies. I backed some of the gorgeous Brushed Copper foil with Adhesive Sheet to make application easy. Then, I cut two of the Christmas foliage dies and arranged them into a rectangle and applied them to a Very Vanilla base that I'd embossed with the Subtle embossing folder. This die set is also a carry over from last year's Holiday catalogue and I'm very pleased to see them return - you should see the snowflake die in the set!

My favourite bundle from last year's Holiday Catalogue was Christmas Gleaming. The stamp set, which contained both sentiments and Christmas images - including these wonderful baubles - came with a pair of punches to cut the baubles out with. Because the background is so rich, I kept the treatment of the baubles very simple, opting to stamp them in Pretty Peacock on Very Vanilla and add a touch of Wink of Stella on the hangers.

The foil accented DSP was also my favourite DSP from last year's catalogue too and you can see some snippets of it here, behind the sentiment.

If you missed out on getting these beauties last year, they are back in this year's August-December Mini Catalogue both individually and as an extra special bundle. The Christmas Gleaming Variety Bundle gives you 10% off for getting the stamps set, pair of punches AND the DSP for only $133.

You have until September 4 to play along with us. You see what the rest of the team have done with this sketch, and link up your entry, by visiting the Retro Rubber Challenge site.

Product List

Christmas Gleaming Cling Stamp Set (En)

[150464]

$44.00

Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock

[150886]

$18.50

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

[106550]

$20.50

Brushed Metallic Cardstock

[153524]

$32.00

Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper

[150429]

$32.00

Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad

[150083]

$15.75

Gleaming Ornaments Punch Pack

[150647]

$72.00

Subtle 3D Embossing Folder

[151775]

$21.00

Christmas Layers Dies

[150654]

$61.00

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$14.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Friday 21 August 2020

Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team Hop - Peace & Joy Bundle

This month, the Artisan Design Team have had the pleasure of working with one of the bundles from the August-December Mini Catalogue, the Peace & Joy Bundle.

The Peace & Joy stamp set has a mix of Christmas images and words while the Joy dies give you plenty of scope for layering with three sizes of die for 'Bright', 'Peace' and 'Joy'.

Here's a shot of all three of my projects. Our instructions were to make something using just stamps, something with just dies and something using both. Can you tell which is which? Read on and find out. 😀

Project 1

This card uses only the Peace & Joy stamp set - and a little fussy cutting. I chose to make a square card. I used some of the gorgeous new Brushed Gold foil sheet for both the embossed border and to cut the hoop.

The 'joy' is stamped directly onto the Whisper White card in Real Red ink, while the other words have been stamped, fussy cut and popped up on mini-dimensionals.

The foliage and berries were stamped, fussy cut and layered, some with dimensionals and some without.

I'm very happy with this card. It also lets me appreciate the great variety of looks that can be achieved with this set by altering the foliage, colours and words - even if the same design was kept.

Project 2

This card keeps the same basic design as the first one but uses only the Joy dies. I kept to the square shape with a wide border of embossed Brushed Gold foil and the same sponged edge to a white, square centre.

In the close-up, you can see more clearly what I've done. I die cut the narrowest 'peace' multiple times and attached it to a piece of Whisper White, which was later cut to size. This is nowhere as difficult as it looks, thanks to the Adhesive Sheets. These sheets transform any die cut shape into a sticker for easy application.

The main focal point shows all three layers of the word dies put together: the narrowest in white, attached to the middle layer in embossed Brushed Gold foil and the puffiest layer in Real Red. Put together like this, the words become stand-out features.

The embellishments are sequins from the Sequins for Everything assortment, a four colour and three shape selection of no-hole sequins made to match Christmas projects. I've topped them with some Gold Metallic pearls.

Project 3

This project combines the stamps and dies. I've kept to the same colours as the other two projects, sponged the edge of the white in Real Read again and embossed the gold foil border but I've gone back to a more standard shape for this one.

The background is a kind of DIY DSP made from stamping the pine bough in Shaded Spruce and gold-embossing the larger star shape.

I've stamped the 'Joy' in Real Red, then clear embossed it for a bit of shine. The middle size of the dies cuts out the stamped words perfectly. I've layered them up with more of the die cut done in Real Red to add shadow to the words because I like the way that gives them more impact.

As in the second project, I've finished off with some of the Sequins for Everything, topped with Gold Metallic pearls.

I hope you've been inspired by some of the things you've seen here, or on the rest of the hop. From here, you hop to the wonderful Lauren Alarid, aka The Crafty Peach.