Thinking Stamping: August 2024

Friday 30 August 2024

Mediterranean Blooms for AYSI 331

You might have noticed that the challenges at As You See It rotate through six different styles meaning that every twelve weeks, you'll get a repeat style. Well, this week it's back to the one you either love or hate: the SPEED challenge.

That's right, a speed challenge. All we're asking you to do is to create something with a fruit theme in TEN MINUTES OR LESS.

Before you spill your coffee or fall off your chair at the thought, here's how it works.

Before the clock starts you can:

Plan what you're going to make
Get out your supplies (e.g. put the inks and embellishments on the table)
Set up things (e.g. block the stamps and set up the correct sandwich in the die cutting machine.)

But once you cut anything or ink anything then the clock has to start.

You'll also be pleased to know that clean-up time is not included either since this type of adrenalin inducing crafting usually leads to a bigger mess than normal!

If you speed stamp often, you'll work out a few tricks that help you. For me, it's one of the times I'm likely to use DSP since you can get high impact with little effort.

I had some of the lovely Mediterranean Blooms DSP left over from a class. I thought I'd try out the Rip and Flip technique I'd seen the wonderful Jacque Williams use.

Now this is a variation on something I've done before. Since Stampin' Up's DSP is double sided, I've quite often cut the paper and turned over one panel then added a sentiment and some embellishments for a quick card. The difference here is that you rip the panel, flip over one side and see what happens.

I really like the result, but maybe that's just because the fruity side of the paper looks so jolly good against the tiled side!

I don't actually have the Citrus Blooms bundle that coordinates with this paper, so I used Something Fancy stamps and dies for my sentiments.

The card base is Night of Navy and the tag is shadowed with Boho Blue. The embellishments are Basic Rhinestones, coloured with a Night of Navy Stampin' Blend.

And the time taken for this ripping and flipping?

I enjoyed doing it so much, that I made a companion for it.

The team and I would love to see your speedy creations. Visit the As You See It page to see what the rest of the team have done and to link up your entry. You can join in the challenge until Wednesday September 11, 11.59pm PST.

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 here.

Seaside Wishes for FMS 651

The sketch at Freshly Made Sketches was just too tempting this week, especially since I was looking for inspiration to try out yet more new things!

Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy. I love sea themed sets. I love hybrid embossing folders. So why ever thought that I did NOT need to have the Seaside Wishes bundle is something the completely escapes me. I saw it in the annual catalogue and tried to exercise restraint.... which held until about three weeks ago when I finally ordered it. Now that it's arrived, I'm calling myself six kinds of fool for delaying so long! 😀

Here is my first outing with it....

The first thing I noticed is that the hybrid folder is wonderful all on its own, as you see in the white panel. I did a second pass and using the dies to get the sand dollar in the cluster, which I cut from Basic White and sponged with Misty Moonlight. The second thing I noticed was how realistic the embossed sand dollars look.

The third thing I swooned over was the lacy die cuts, which I cut from Basic White and sponged with Misty Moonlight (larger) and Pool Party(smaller).

It paired up a treat with DSP from the Country Woods collection which, despite the name, has quite a weathered beach feel to many of the papers. For embellishment, I added in a trio of blue gems from the Tinsel Gem Three Pack.

And did I mention there's a splatter stamp in the set? Who doesn't love a splatter stamp! Plus there are some textured rocks that haven't seen ink yet but I'm itching to try them out too.

I think I'm going to have some fun with this set! Watch this space for more experimentation!

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

Thursday 29 August 2024

Reindeer Fun for CAS Colours & Sketches 543

I'm just like a kid in a lolly shop at present - so many things arrived in my pre-order box for the September-December Mini that I just don't know what to play with first! Soooo many lovely goodies. Not a bad place to be, really. 😀

Anyway, as I often do, when I'm looking for inspiration I turned to my favourite challenge sites. In this case, the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches caught my eye.

While I usually like to play around with a sketch, this time I played it with a straight bat and made something just like the picture.

Not only that, but I went for completely traditional Christmas colours as well: Basic White, Shaded Spruce and Real Red.

These cute as little wreath and ribbon dies come from a sweet retro-feel bundle called Reindeer Fun. One of the things I like about it is that in addition to sweet reindeer images (think Bambi) you get all the little extras like the wreath, holly, gifts and a through-the-forest scene cut out die. A kind of one-stop Christmas shop! This bundle, plus some of the other elements of the suite, are the basis for the Creativity Abounds Virtual Stamp Camp in October, so make sure to check it out once the catalogue goes live on September 4.

The embossing folder is also from the forthcoming Mini and is called Forever Plaid. If you're a scrapbooker you'll be especially interested as it's a giant folder - pretty much A5 size.

The cutie pie little 'Merry Christmas' is from another new set called Humble Home, which I'm sure you'll be seeing more of from me in the future as it's another gorgeous one! I've die cut it using Stylish Shapes.

The embellishments are some small Rhinestone Jewels.

Voila! A simple but sweet card. 😀

If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. Let me know if you'd like a copy of the new Mini Catalogue.

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 here.

Wednesday 28 August 2024

Painted Lavender for Colour INKspiration 172

Welcome to the 171st challenge at Colour INKspiration. Today's colour palette was chosen for us by Crew Member, Monica Formosa. Isn't it wonderful?

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.

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

This challenge is open for two weeks and closes Monday September 9, 7pm AEST.

The thing that struck me most about the challenge graphic was that tumble of flowers against the stark wall behind. That got me thinking about those fabulous die cuts in Painted Lavender, the ones that create stalks of lavender and the one that makes a lovely leafy stem.

I made the die cuts from a piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor paper, then coloured them with some Peach Pie re-inker, Garden Green re-inker and a Water Painter, making sure to have a variations of colour.

After embossing the Basic White card front with the Distressed Tile 3D embossing folder (my favourite!), I added in some splatters in Pebbled Path and Peach Pie ink using the small splatter stamp from Spotlight on Nature. Then I created the bouquet and attached it.

The sentiment is from Country Birdhouse. It's stamped in Pebbled Path and die cut using a stitched banner from Stylish Shapes.

To highlight the sentiment, I added in a banner cut from Peach Pie glimmer paper from the In Color Glimmer Paper pack. The twine is a single strand of the Pebbled Path 2023-25 In Color Jute, which makes a nice contrast with the glimmer paper.

The finishing touch was the addition of a trio of Peach Pie Shimmer Gems from the In Color Shimmer Gems pack.

You can see what the rest of the Design Team have done with these colours in the Crew Inspiration Album on the Colour INKspiration Challenge Facebook page.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

Sunday 25 August 2024

Decorative Trees for Paper Players 704

Goodness, a week goes by quickly! It's already time for a new challenge at The Paper Players. Jaydee has set us this lovely sketch to play with this week.

For some reason, I struggled a bit with this. I have made a square version, then I made a normal rectangular card, then I remade the square one... and in the end, decided to share this one with you!

Through the various remakes, I had a lot of fun playing with the Decorative Trees bundle, soon to be available in the September-December Mini Catalogue. The tree shape matches the stamped tree from the set but the dies also offer six different decorative overlays to decorate the tree, across two sizes. For this one, I've used Garden Green for the base and some of the gorgeous Festive Glimmer Paper for the overlay - another preorder product that will be available in September. 😀

The DSP is already available as an Online Exclusive. The Season of Green and Gold DSP can only be seen in the online store, not in a catalogue. The section is worth a browse, just to see what's on offer.

I did originally plan to gold emboss the sentiment but once I'd done it, it just got lost in the sea of gold already on the card, so I stamped it in Garden Green on Very Vanilla instead and am much happier with that. The embellishments are from the Tinsel Gems Four Pack.

We look forward to seeing what you do with this sketch. You can see what the rest of the design team have done, and link up your entry, at The Paper Players page.

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:

Create a new paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL, including ours
Have fun, and thank you for playing with us!

Don't forget to check out the great inspiration from the rest of the design team.

Jan Clothier - You are here

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand here.

And don't forget that the next Creativity Abounds stamp camp is in October and will be featuring the Reindeer Fun Bundle, Reindeer Days DSP and select accessories. Where else will you get 26 ready to go projects, with video and PDF instructions with your product purchase? Plus the fun of a virtual weekend of crafting? (18-19 October in the South Pacific)

If you live in New Zealand and would like to participate, feel free to ask me questions. If you live somewhere else and would like to participate, I can refer you to someone else in the team who can help.

Thursday 22 August 2024

Creativity Abounds Fancy Folds

This month the international team at Creativity Abounds has a great theme for our bundle and hop: Fancy Folds. This hop - and the associated tutorial bundle - will give you a lot of examples of different fancy folds. If you get the tutorial bundle, you'll have step-by-step instructions for all of the ones you see in this hop.

You can earn the Tutorial Bundle as a free gift from me with a purchase of $100 or more (excluding P&P) or by being a member of my team.

I really like the Arrowhead fold. It looks nice closed up like this but is even better when opened up.

I like that stylish point at the front of the card while the triangular front is just a bit different from normal. Best of all, despite looking fiendishly difficult to achieve, it's actually straight forward to do.

For this card, I've used papers from Perennial Lavender DSP and some die cuts from Painted Lavender. The sentiment (and label) are from the Unbounded Love bundle. I've finished off with a few Purple Fine Shimmer Gems.

Here's a peek at the project I've put into the tutorial bundle. Despite different papers and stamps, both use the same method to create the base fold. Instructions for the fold, and this card, are in the tutorial bundle - along with 12 other fancy fold projects from the rest of our international team.

You can get the Fancy Fold Tutorial Bundle from me by making a purchase of $100 or more (before shipping) or by being a member of my team.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

If you don't live in New Zealand, you can get it from any of my team mates in your country. Here they all are...

Here's a sneak peek of the whole bundle.

Don't forget that our next Virtual Stamp Camp is being held in October and will have a Christmas Theme. It will feature the Reindeer Fun bundle, Reindeer Days DSP, Forever Plaid embossing folder, Red and White Baker's Twine and Adhesive Peppermint Dots.

Here's the links to the rest of the hop so you can see what other fancy folds are included in the tutorial bundle.

Sunday 18 August 2024

Mediterranean Blooms for Paper Players 703

Hello and welcome to the newest challenge at The Paper Players. Thank you to everyone who joined in last week for my colour challenge. I feel more confident now that I've had my first turn at being the hostess. I really enjoyed seeing the different ways people used the colours I'd chosen.

This week, Claire has a Clean and Simple challenge for you with the theme of FRUIT. Who doesn't love fruit?

The trick this week is to remember that not only does the theme have to be fruit-related but it also has to be done in a clean and simple style.

What does Clean and Simple mean? Well, it means that you should:

Keep layers to a minimum
Keep lots of clear, open space
Keep embellishments to a minimum.

I almost went wrong with this step, even though I favour a relatively clean and simple style. I launched into making my card then realised it had turned into something multi-layered and complex. Nice card, but not right for this challenge!

So, back to the drawing board. I went and came up with this....

I started by fussy cutting a bunch of lemons from the ever-so-pretty Mediterranean Blooms DSP along with some extra flowers.

I cut a circle using the Spotlight on Nature dies, then stamped the sentiment in the lower right quadrant.

The background panel is embossed using the Cute Crochet embossing folder.

After assembling adding the circle to the front, I added in the fussy cut lemons then added in some extra flowers popped up on dimensionals. Because really, you've got to have a little bling, I added in some Basic Rhinestone Jewels as centres.

You can pop over to The Paper Players page to see what the rest of the design team have done and to add in your own entry. We'd love to see what you do with these colours!

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:

Create a new paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL, including ours
Have fun, and thank you for playing with us!

Don't forget to check out the great inspiration from the rest of the design team.

Jan Clothier - You are here

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand here.

Saturday 17 August 2024

Layers of Beauty for Stampin' Fancy Friday

This month, the theme at Stampin' Fancy Friday is 'Celebration'. The challenge was to create something for a celebration. What sort of celebration was up to us: birthday, wedding, baby - anything.

We don't blog hop as such but the team at Stampin' Fancy Friday do a daily inspiration post on Instagram. The team at Stampin' Fancy Friday are all current or past members of Stampin' Up!'s Artisan Design Team, so it really is a great place to pick up ideas or recharge your creative mojo. Follow @stampinfancyfriday if you don't already. 😀

I turned to the Layers of Beauty bundle: stamps, dies and decorative masks because flowers are for everything! I made mine a birthday by adding a sentiment from Country Birdhouse but really, change the sentiment and the design (and bundle) still work. 😀

I stamped the large image, coloured it using the Decorative Masks, then cut it using one of the large circles from Spotlight on Nature. I stamped and cut an extra set so I could cut out the large rose and layer it to add depth. For the roses, I used Pretty in Pink, Flirty Flamingo and Melon Mambo. For the leaves, Lemon-Lime Twist and Granny Apple Green.

I used Lemon-Lime Twist for the accent circle, Melon Mambo to accent the gold embossed sentiment and the Painted Texture embossing folder for the background panel. The sentiment uses the banner die from Stylish Shapes.

The embellishments are some of the Tinsel Gems Four Pack.

I really love how this card turned out and have already posted it away to a friend. I hope she'll like it as much!

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

Regal Flora for Freshly Made Sketches 649

This afternoon, I carried on my slow unboxing of the pre-order for the September-December Mini Catalogue. After trying out all the stamps and the dies, then oohing and aahing over the gorgeous DSP, I was ready to start crafting. For inspiration, I turned to the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

I rotated the sketch to a landscape orientation, and away I went, trying out the stamps, dies and DSP and actually making something....

If I was going to make this again, I think I'd leave the label without the background dotty splats but other than that, I'm pretty happy with it as a first play-around. 😀

I really like the Distinktive look to the stamps and the way they so readily take a touch of sponging to add in other colours. Although I used the Adhesive Backed Sequins Trio as embellishment, I'll remember to use the ever-so-pretty Regal Foiled Adhesive Backed Dots for my next project!

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand here.

Friday 16 August 2024

Everyday Details for AYSI 330

Welcome to the latest challenge at As You See It. It's theme week and I had the pleasure of setting the theme. All you need to do is design us something that's in a vintage or shabby chic style.

I have to say that this was my choice of theme - and it seemed a good idea at the time! I'll admit that I did begin to question my sanity at making such a choice, with me being a clean and simple girl at heart, but once I got going I really enjoyed the switch in style.

The cup with flowers from Everyday Details seemed a vintage sort of image to me, especially in dusky colours. I stamped the image three times in Early Espresso and coloured with Stampin' Write markers in a mix of Crumb Cake, Moody Mauve, Pretty in Pink, Soft Sea Foam and Blackberry Bliss. I fussy cut them out then arranged them over a circle cut with Spotlight on Nature dies. I used the dotty stamp from Everyday Details to add some Soft Sea Foam to the background before gently sponging the edge with Crumb Cake ink.

I really enjoyed making the background panel! I randomly stamped the teacup image in stamped off Crumb Cake. I added in some random 'Enjoy Today' s from Beach Day. Then I embossed it with the Exposed Brick 3D Embossing folder. Then I took to the edges with the blades of a pair of scissors to distress the edge before sponging on some Crumb Cake ink, using a blending brush.

The underlayer of Moody Mauve got the same scissor treatment before being inked up with some Moody Mauve ink and then.... I screwed it up to give it a really distressed look! I felt slightly criminal in doing so! 😀. The sentiment is from Country Birdhouse.

The final act was the addition of some Linen Thread (my favourite of all ribbons and twines) and a few Basic Rhinestone Jewels.

The team and I would love to see your shabby chic/vintage creations. Visit the As You See It page to see what the rest of the team have done and to link up your entry. You can join in the challenge until Wednesday August 28, 11.59pm PST.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand here.

Wednesday 14 August 2024

Lily Pond Lane DSP for Around the World on Wednesday

Doesn't time fly? It hardly seems a month ago that we were doing our regular second Wednesday of the month hop!

On the second Wednesday of each month, the team put together a thematic hop to give you some inspiration for your own crafting. We love it when you try out something new or CAS(E) one of our projects. The team is truly international, with members from each time zone of the world that Stampin' Up! operates. You're with me, in New Zealand - the first place in the Stampin' Up! world to change the date. 😀

Our theme this month is one that has many interpretations: ABC, 123.

The combination felt like something involving young children and being in possession of a 2 year old granddaughter, it seemed a great chance to get along with scrapping a photo of her. The pictures deserving of a scrapbook are mounting up faster than I can do them!

I had this photo, taken of her for her second birthday earlier this year. As adorable as she is, she doesn't really have a heart for a face - I just edited one into the picture to give her a little privacy. 😀

Once I get going on a scrapbooking layout, I'm always surprised by the things lying around the craft room that turn out to be useful. I've used lots of bits and pieces for this one but the basis of it was a half share of the Lily Pond Lane 6x6 DSP stack I had. Although the A side of the paper has images of ponds, ducks and fish that relate to the stamp set (that I don't have), the reverses are beautiful patterns that work with anything - and in such pretty colours!