Friday, 16 December 2022

As You See It Holiday Bonus Challenge

 Merry Christmas and all the best for 2023!

Thank you for playing along with us at As You See It Challenge this year. We love to see what you create with our regular rota of six types of challenge. Technically, the Christmas Bauble Speed Challenge was our last challenge of the year. But we were chatting about next year's challenge and we thought about the way that after Christmas and New Year we often went to escape into our craft rooms only to discover that many challenges have shut down until mid-January. 

So we decided that this year, we'd offer a bonus challenge to tide us over until the new rota starts. We went for a style of challenge different to our usual round of challenges. This one is an inspiration challenge: you can take whatever you like from the picture below and use it to jumpstart an idea for a project. You might like the colours, the textures, the objects within, the ideas or feelings it suggests. Whatever it is, use it to get you mojo flowing. 😀


What drew me to this picture were the colours: the rich mix of browns and golds, along with that pretty bunch of sunflowers.


The sentiment is from a set that will be available on 5 January when the new January Mini Catalogue goes live. It's called Something Fancy and this sentiment-only set also bundles with  a set of lovely label shaped dies. I've used the stitched circle from Stylish Shapes as my base.


You'll see that I also picked up the music idea from the picture by using the Merry Melody embossing folder for the base. 

I hope you'll join us for a bit of post-Christmas fun. We will comment on your creations although you'll have to be forgiving if maybe we aren't quite as quick on the job as usual. 😂

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 on any of the products below.

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Note: Something Fancy is available from 5 January

Wednesday, 14 December 2022

Old and New for Around the World on Wednesday



Thank you for joining in with the latest hop from the crew at Around the World on Wednesday. If you haven't hopped with us before, we're a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from every time zone in the world where Stampin' Up! operates. You're here with me, in New Zealand.

Each month we present a different theme to inspire you to create.
This month, our theme is 'Something New, Something Used.'

Now is a perfect time for a challenge like this because, for demonstrators, we have just had a chance to access preorder items from the January 2023 Mini Catalogue... the very best kind of 'new.' 😀

I've combined an exciting new die set, Alphabet a la Mode, with several older items. This die set is exciting because it contains both letters and numbers in a large, slimline format making it ideal for both card making and scrapbooking. I thought it would be perfect for an Advent Calendar.


The older items I started with were the Mini Envelope Pocket dies, which appeared in the 2022-23 Annual Catalogue. They're just the perfect size for credit card style gift vouchers, among other small items. So I thought they were a great size for an Advent Calendar, holding as they do a Favourites Chocolate or a set of stickers or whatever you want to put in the calendar.

I also used the Lights Aglow suite which has been the basis of almost all my Christmas projects this year. The opulent Lights Aglow DSP was great for the pockets while the stamps from Christmas Lights and the circular label die from Labels Aglow were great as bases for the numbers. 


The gold glimmer foliage is from the Mini Envelope Pocket die set, while the gold stars on some of the pockets are cut with dies from the Cracker & Treat Box dies.

When I thought about how I might display these pockets as a calendar, I'd thought about creating a garland on twine - which I could still do. Then I remembered the Christmas Card display rack that was available from Stampin' Up! a few years ago. I also loved the Gold Library clips which have also retired but thought they might work too. It's always nice to use up stash items. As you saw above, this does work too as a way of displaying the calendar. Next year, I might set then up as a garland.

Next up on the hop is the ever wonderful Leonie Stuart in Australia.


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 on any of the products below.

Here is a list of the blog participants, if you get lost or if you want to re-visit anyone.

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Dainty Delight for Colour INKspiration 135

 


Welcome to our final challenge of 2022. This gorgeous palette was chosen for us by crew member Lou Kitzelman. 


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. Don't forget to answer the three easy questions you'll be asked when you ask to join the group.

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. We welcome Jane Martin as our Guest Designer for this challenge.

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

You might see this lovely combination as an unorthodox Christmas combo or as something else. I saw it as floral. On of the advantages of being a demonstrator is the chance to go to On Stage and being able to participate in a limited Pre-Preorder from the January 2023 Mini Catalogue. From that, I got the Dainty Delight bundle. This is a gorgeous bundle containing floral outline images and sentiments, along with dies for all the images and coordinating extra flowers and leaves.

I started by water colouring 3 small of Fluid100 Watercolour. One I coloured with Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay, one with Pale Papaya and Calypso Coral and one with Daffodil Delight and Calypso Coral. 
From these, I cut the flowers and leaves.


For the base, I embossed a piece of Coastal Cabana with the Painted Texture embossing folder then cut out a circle where the flowers would be. From the Basic White, I cut a corresponding hole using the Stylish Shapes dies.

After stamping the sentiment, it was then a matter of assembly. It was fun arranging the flowers into a bouquet that burst from the frame. A few of the Brushed Brass Butterfly embellishments finished off the garden nicely!

We'd love to have you join in the challenge with us. Visit the Colour INKspiration site to check out the album of Crew Cards for inspiration. You can also add your entry there. We all enjoy seeing what you do with our colour palettes, so join in!

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 on any of the products below.

Product List