Perfectly Pears for Paper Players 748

Welcome to a new week at The Paper Players! Weren't the Clean and Simple Things With Wheels entries last week fabulous? I loved the way people were so inventive about using things with wheels but while keeping the CAS vibe. Lots of you proved that CAS doesn't equate with mundane!

I'm your hostess this week and it's my favourite kind of challenge: a sketch. I love a sketch challenge and even more, I love seeing the many and varied projects that come from the same starting point, so I'm going to especially love visiting the gallery this week. 

Regular followers will know that I've been having a bit of a love affair with the Painterly Pears suite, so once again, I've reached for it. 

For the background rectangle of the sketch, I've used a pair of die cut trellises. The card front is embossed with the Damask Designs embossing folder. Sweet, isn't it?

One of the unexpected delights of the the Painterly Pears DSP is that one of the sheet is full of images that match the dies, so I've die cut out a large pear, a stem and a small pair of pears from the paper. How simple is that?!

The rest of the card was easy too:  rectangle of Painterly Pears DSP for the right hand rectangle block in the sketch, a sentiment stamped in Secret Sea and die cut using a banner from Stylish Shapes,  and a few additional die cut flowers in Darling Duckling (with Iridescent Pearl centres).

How will you use this sketch? You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your entry on The Paper Players page. 

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:

1. Create a new paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
2. Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
3. Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL, including ours
5. 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.

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile (on leave)

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

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 stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

A Bit of Everything for AYSI 353

It's time for a recipe challenge at As You See It. If you've not played along with one of these, it's really easy. Just take the five 'ingredients' from the challenge graphic, add whatever bits and pieces you want from your own stash and see what you can cook up! 

Today's selection of ingredients seems to be steering us down the road of elegance and glamour. I've used an eclectic collection of items to bring you this card....

1. Black, White and/or Gold  - I've stuck to these three colours because I like the combination.

2. Heat Embossing - I've heat embossed gold splatter on the card front, which has been embossed with the Damask Designs embossing folder. The splatter stamp came from Perfectly Pears.

3. Rhinestones or Sequins - I've used my old favourite, Basic Rhinestones.

4. Punches or Dies - I've gone overboard with this one. I've used Stylish Shapes, Thankful Garden, and Gallery Blooms dies.

5. Gold Foil or Paper - some of the dies are cut from Gold Foil. 

The sentiment is stamped in Tuxedo Black and is from Perfectly Pears. I also added in a bow from Twisted Gold Cord.

We'd love to see what you come up with from these five ingredients.  You can see what the rest of the team have done, and link up your entry, at the As You See It Challenge page. 

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 stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Prairie Grass for CAS Colours and Sketches 564

My sporadic attempts to complete my New Year's resolution of playing more challenges just for fun continues today with my take on the latest sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches. And 'latest' is a bit of a stretch since I'm really only getting this done just under the wire! On the plus side, there really will be a new challenge in the next couple of days! 

Here's my take on it, using Prairie Grass from Online Exclusives.

I used direct colouring of the stamp with Stamp'n'Write markers (Shaded Spruce, Berry Burst and Gorgeous Grape) to get the multi-coloured image. The sentiment is stamped in Tuxedo Black. 

Then I used a little Gorgeous Grape ink and water to create some background splatter. I mounted this panel onto a matte of Gorgeous Grape then to a card base of Thick Basic White.

I added three Purple Fine Shimmer gems to finish.

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 stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Fun on Wheels for PP747

 I hope every one enjoyed Ann's pretty colour challenge. I certainly enjoyed looking at the creations! Thanks for playing along with us at The Paper Players. 

This week, LeAnne has a double challenge for us: something with wheels AND in a clean and simple style.  I suspect that for many of you, the hardest part will be keeping things clean and simple (CAS).

By CAS, we mean: minimal use of layers, minimal use of embellishments, lots of open white space.

Looking through my 'current set' shelf, I found not one thing with a wheel on it. So it was time to move to my 'retired' shelf aka 'my stamp library'. Fun on Wheels really was a fun set and I keep it because it's so good for teens with the scooter and skateboard, and the cyclists in the world with a couple of options on offer.  Plus, I love the map stamp, which I've repeat stamped in Azure Afternoon.

I stamped the vintage cycle in Versamark and embossed it with WOW Black embossing powder before die cutting it and putting it  over the maps.  I love the way this image looks as if it's coming out of the page straight at you. 

If I'd realised when I started how the design would evolve, I'd have embossed the cycle straight onto the card front: another option to get a similar result.😀

I black embossed the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment from The Right Words then cut it out with a banner die from Stylish Shapes. The embellishments are Basic Rhinestones coloured with Azure Afternoon Stampin' Blends. 

What sort of wheels will you play with this week? You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your entry on The Paper Players page. 

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:

1. Create a new paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
2. Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
3. Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL, including ours
5. 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.

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile (on leave)

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

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 stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Impressions Abloom for PP746

Welcome to a new week at The Paper Players, where Ann is our hostess this week. She has a pretty colour combination to inspire us.  

Of course this colour palette lead me to florals and from there it was a short step to reach for the Impressions Abloom bundle.

I really love the dies that come in this bundle, so I started by cutting a variety of flowers, centres and leaves in Basic White. Then I added colour with a blending brush: Pretty Peacock to the leaves, Lemon Lolly to the centres and Fresh Freesia to the flowers. The smaller flowers were sponged lightly and from the outside towards the centres so the edges were darker. Then I decided I needed some more variation, sot I took to the large flower with a very heavy hand! I certainly got the variation I was after - maybe even more than intended!

I embossed the Basic White card front with the Pressed Flowers embossing folder before arranging the coloured die cuts over it. The card base is Pretty Peacock.

The sentiment, from Impressions Abloom, is stamped in Pretty Peacock and cut with a banner from Stylish Shapes.  I cut a smaller banner in Pretty Peacock to create an accent for the sentiment. The embellishments are from the Pretty Peacock and Petal Pink Foiled Gems, now retired.

What will you do with Ann's pretty colours? You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your entry on The Paper Players page. 

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:

1. Create a new paper-craft project specifically for this challenge.
2. Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us.
3. Please provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge entry.
4. Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL, including ours
5. 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.

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater

Joanne James

Anne Marie Hile (on leave)

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

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 stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Circles for As You See It 352

 It's fill in the blank week at As You See It Challenge. Joanne has asked us to consider which shape we'd use if we could only use one shape in our projects.

Well, for me it would be circles because they are so versatile. Die cut or punch them for sentiments, use them as a base for a cluster of other elements, use them to create bubbles or zones, circular cards, cut them into halves or quarters to create secondary patterns - the sky is pretty much the limit.

For this challenge, I've gone for the 'cut them up to create secondary patterns' model. If you go hunting around the internet, you'll find lot so examples of this kind of thing. It's really very easy to do and gives quite a striking result depending on the colours and sizes you choose. 

Stuck in the depths of winter as I am, I had some yearning for summer - hence the summery colours I've chosen. I used some retired circle dies to cut 4 sizes, one set in warm colours and one in cool colours. I layered them up then cut each circle in half. Then joined them together again. I don't know why I didn't use my stitched circle dies from Stylish Shapes because that would have given some extra detailing to the design - something for next time!

A nice long linear sentiment is needed to cover the join - and it's true that that is NOT a circle! So when you're making your card for this challenge, remember we're looking for the majority of the shapes to be your chosen shape.

I did actually consider making this card into a circular easel card, which would have been easy enough to do, but I decided instead to make a square card so that I could get the best bang from the Dotted Circles 3D embossing folder. I embossed the card front carefully to get a circular frame to nestle the reconstructed circles into. 

The sentiments were heat embossed in white onto Basic Black. 'You make a difference' is from Thankful Garden and 'You are seriously the best' is from Textured Notes.

And in keeping with the circle theme, many great embellishments are also circles. I've used the wonderful golden patterned circles: Flower Accents.

We'd love to see what your favourite crafting shape is.  You can see what the rest of the team have done, and link up your entry, at the As You See It Challenge page. 

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 stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Gallery Blooms for Around the World on Wednesday

Welcome to Around the World on Wednesday's July 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. 😀

This month, we're doing something a little different. It's five years since Around the World on Wednesday started up, so we're doing some close-up looks at the team. Aurelie Fabre was a founding member of the team so this month we're all going to CASE one of her projects. 

But our team leader, Angie McKenzie likes to keep us on our toes, so in addition to CASEing Aurelie, we're also using a Tic-Tac-Toe board.

After browsing through Aurelie's blog, I found this card to CASE. So pretty, isn't it?

So armed with this gorgeous design and the centre column of the Tic Tac Toe board (Circle-line-repeat), this is what I came up with....

I used the very pretty floral spray image from Gallery Blooms. I repeat stamped this using Gray Granite ink then coloured each repeat using Fresh Freesia, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends. I die cut them out.

 

Aurelie's original card had a soft splatter of colour behind her repeated daffodils. I added in some soft splatter in Daffodil Delight but also some lines of text. Both the splatter and lines of text come from a set that I'm finding indispensable: Elements of Text.

After completing the background stamping on the card front, I arranged the die cut blooms over it, then trimmed off any overhang before attaching the card front to the Gray Granite card base.

I replaced Aurelie's sentiment label with a stitched circle from Stylish Shapes. The sentiment, stamped in Gray Granite, is from Beautiful Motifs - a sentiment only companion set to Gallery Blooms.

As beautiful as the Brushed Brass Butterflies from Aurelie's original are, I replaced them with some Antique Pearls for a more vintage feel. 

Keep on hopping to see how the rest of the team have CASEd Aurelie.  Next up is the wonderful Leonie Stuart from Australia. I'm sure she has a treat to share with us!

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.

Here's a blog roll of participants in case you get lost or want to revisit someone.

Jan Clothier - NZ
Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU
Cheryll Miller - AU
Marga Bultena - NL
Ximena Morales - DE
Aurélie Fabre - FR
Chris Smith - US
Theresa McEntee - US

Bree Renwick - US
Lori Willcox - CA
Teri West - US
Cheryl Hamilton - US

Prairie Grass for Colour INKspiration 191

 

Welcome to the 191st challenge at Colour INKspiration. This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday July 21, 7pm AEST.

This colour palette was chosen for us by Crew Member, Nicole Wilson. It's a timely palette for the Southern Hemisphere with the Aurora Australis having shown itself many times in the last few months - although sadly, I've never seen it live.

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 Kisha Cook 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 Melon Mambo for Berry Burst. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

I'm currently enjoying playing with one of the new Online Exclusive stamp sets, Prairie Grass. It's one of those sets that I didn't need - but certainly wanted - and now I have it, it's becoming addictive!

The set lends itself to silhouette stamping, so the colours themselves were perfect for a Southern Lights-style blended background.

I masked off a column of card front and blended in Lemon-Lime Twist, Granny Apple Green, Berry Burst and Blackberry Bliss inks with blending brushes.

After removing the mask, I stamped the grasses over the top using Tuxedo Black ink. Then I cut the piece down using one of the Textured Notes dies to create the decorative edge. I matted this to a piece of  Lemon-Lime Twist cardstock, then attached to the Blackberry Bliss card base. 

The sentiment, from the Prairie Grass set was stamped in Tuxedo Black and cut with one of the Stylish Shapes banner dies. I cut a smaller banner in Blackberry Bliss and tucked it in behind the sentiment to accent it. 

The finishing touch was the addition of some Blackberry Bliss Shimmer Gems. 

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.

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 stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.