Ornamental Christmas for The Paper Players 764

It's hard to believe that a whole week has gone by and now it's time for a new challenge at The Paper Players. Thank you to everyone who played along last week with my colour challenge. I enjoyed seeing what everyone had done with the colours. 

Our hostess this week is Stef and she has a double challenge for us. We're not just creating a card that uses a favourite holiday image but doing so in a CLEAN AND SIMPLE style. 

At the Players we have think of CLEAN AND SIMPLE being a creation that is:

•  uncluttered with lots of white space
• minimal layering
• few embellishments. 

We hope you enjoy this double challenge, which involves not only a theme but a style of crafting. 

I do enjoy CAS cardmaking, so I had fun with this challenge. I love my Christmas tree and the baubles on it. My tree has only handmade decorations or those that were special gifts which evoke memories. So I turned to the Ornamental Christmas bundle for this one.

I started by cutting out a bauble shape in Basic White and a hanger in gold foil. I ran the bauble through the Damask Designs embossing folder.  Originally, I was going to leave the bauble completely white but, even with texture, the contrast wasn't quite enough. So I chose a soft colour to sponge around the edges - Bubble Bath. I'm glad I did this, as it not only gave the bauble itself more definition but it also brought out the embossed design more. 

 

When attaching the bauble to the card front, I popped it up on dimensionals for more prominence and added in a hanger string using the White and Gold Baker's Twine.

I stamped the "'Tis the season" stamp in the opposite corner and gold embossed it. I added a trio of pale pink gems around the sentiment to finish off. 

What's your favourite holiday image? 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

Christy Stanford

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

A Nostalgia Trip for AYSI 361

 Well, I do look forward to the week when we have a Speed Stamping Challenge at As You See It. There's something exciting about setting the timer and just getting on with the job.

However, Heather's theme of 'Apples' certainly threw me for a loop as I found I didn't have anything apple themed in my stash. I even thought I was going to have to give this challenge a miss, so sure was I my stash was sans-apples.

Then I remembered that one of my old favourites, Thoughtful Branches, had a tiny apple stamp in it. So the idea was born!

I started by stamping the trunk in Early Espresso, the leaves in Granny Apple Green and then those apples in Cherry Cobbler. The sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso. 

Then I cut the whole thing out with one of the dies from Everyday Arches. 

I cut a card base from Granny Apple Green card and a matching card front. The front was embossed with the new Beautiful Pattern embossing folder. 

As a finishing touch, I added a trio of Traditional Sparkling Sequins in Cherry Cobbler.  Final time, including some interior decoration, was ....

If you've never joined in with Speed Stamping, here's what you need to know.

• You have ten minutes to complete your card.
• Thinking time is not included, so you can plan what you're going to do beforehand.
• You can gather supplies - get out the stamp sets, dies, embellishments and card stock.  Put your stamps on the blocks. Get the inks and adhesives on the desk. 
• BUT once you cut, ink or stamp then the clock starts.
• Thankfully, clean up time is not included either. 😀

Will you take up the Speed Challenge? It turns out cardmaking is an adrenalin sport if you do!

Visit the As You See It page to link up your entry and to see the rest of the team's inspirations.

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.

Joyful Tidings for CAS Colours & Sketches 573

 I couldn't help but joining in at CAS Colours & Sketches this week with their classically beautiful Christmas colours combo. Thank you, Deborah, for offering us the chance to play around with one of my all-time favourite Christmas palettes.

Here's my creation...

I used Very Vanilla as my neutral over Basic White because I like the extra warmth it gives. The card front is embossed using the Joined Together embossing folder and the centre panels are cut using the Branching Out dies.

On the smaller Very Vanilla panel I stamped one of the wreath stamps from Joyful Tidings using Shaded Spruce ink.

After layering that onto the Gold Foil panel, I added in the die cut greeting. I used the Words for the Season dies - which I have to confess that I'd actually forgotten I'd bought. I found them when I was cleaning out a basket of things I'd used for an online presentation in October!

Then I finished off with a trio of Traditional Sparkling Sequins in red. 

I'm very happy with the way this turned out and will be making more of them. 😀

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.

This or That for Around the World on Wednesday

 

Welcome to Around the World on Wednesday's November 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. This month, we're going to CASE team member Sharon Hashimoto Burkert but also using the theme of this or that, focussing on gratitude ...

To start of with, I browsed through Sharon's Facebook page to find something I'd like to CASE. I liked this card a lot, so chose it as my starting point.

Of course, Sharon had me with the embossing as I love to add texture. The torn edge of DSP appealed to me, as did the general layout. So I got to work on card 1 - my THIS.

For this card, I went with a vintage feel.

I'm not much of a ribbon user so did not add a strip of ribbon although I did add a shadow underlay to the sentiment. 

For this card, I used:

•  a Secret Sea card base and Basic Beige card front
• Painterly Pears DSP
• Joined Together embossing folder
• A sentiment from Perfectly Pears
• Stylish Shapes die for the sentiment with Secret Sea ink
• Sparkle Dots for embellishment

Then it was on to Card 2 - my THAT.

For this card, I went with a modern, fresh feel.

This time, I went with some White and Gold Baker's twine to create a strong horizontal behind the sentiment.

For this card I used:

• A Strawberry Slush card base and Basic White card front
• 2025-2027 In Color 6x6 DSP stack
• Dotted Circles Embossing folder
• A sentiment from Textured Notes
• Stylish Shapes die for the sentiment stamped in Strawberry Slush
• Strawberry Slush gems for embellishment.

So, what's the final verdict? This - or That?

Next up on the hop is the wonderful Leonie Stuart. Let's see which of Sharon's creations she's CASEd for 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 for you, in case you get lost or want to revisit someone.

Jan Clothier - NZ
Leonie Stuart - AU
Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU
Cheryll Miller - AU
Danielle Kassing - NL
Marga Bultena - NL
Aurélie Fabre - FR
Kelly Taranto - US
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Chris Smith - US
Teri West - US

Joyful Tidings for Colour INKspiration 199

 

Welcome to the 199th challenge at Colour INKspiration. This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday November 24, 7pm AEST.

This colour palette was chosen for us by Crew Member Vicki Boucher.

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 Leigh Mahoney 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 Real Red for Cherry Cobbler. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

Even without the graphic, these colours shouted Christmas to me. Maybe it's that glorious deep Cherry Cobbler - my favourite red.  Then the brightness of the Shaded Spruce - how can you not think of trees when you see that?.

Anyway, one Christmas set that needed to see some more use was Joyful Tidings. I love this set, with the two semi-wreaths and the range of sentiments in gorgeous fonts. It's super if you're going for a traditional looking card. Plus it's a red rubber set which immediately moved it a few places up the wish list! 😀

So I started with a Cherry Cobbler card base and front. The front I embossed with the Peaceful Greenery folder. Before adhering the card front to the base, I wrapped a piece of Gold Mesh ribbon to it, across the centre. 

I stamped one of the wreaths in Shaded Spruce ink on Basic White cardstock. I coloured in the outline leaves with light Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blend. I created some Blood Oranges by colouring the citrus with Cherry Cobbler blends and then coloured the pinecones with Pecan Pie Stampin' Blends. The pine cones got a coating of Wink of Stella to give them some glitter. The sentiment is stamped in Pecan Pie. 

I cut out the stamped image with a round die from Spotlight on Nature. I trimmed off one side because I wanted to off-set the image rather than centre it. 

Once the more-or-less circle was attached, I cut 25 cm of the Gold Mesh ribbon, tucked it under the previously attached width and tied a bow. 

The final touch was the addition of 3 of the gold Traditional Sparkling Sequins.

The Crew and I would love to see what you make of these colours. 

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.

Friendly Foliage for Paper Players 763

Hello and welcome to the latest challenge at The Paper Players! LeAnne's Harvest themed challenge last week brought some gorgeous entries into the gallery. I'm hostess this week with a colour challenge for you, and I hope you'll enjoy playing with it. Will you make an autumn card with these rich colours or something else entirely?

 

I'm really enjoying the Friendly Foliage bundle, one of the new Online Exclusives for November. I've done a few things with the framed leaves stamp and die and wanted to concentrate on using the extra leaves in the die set. There are a couple of skeleton leaf type dies in the set. Ever since I saw my team-mate Joanne make a card that inset the dies, I was wanting to have a go at something like it. 

For this inlay die technique you need three things.

1. You have to be slightly mad
2. You need to have some patience
3. You need to own a take-your-pick tool. 

I started by cutting out several of the leaves in all of the challenge colours, making sure to keep all the little bits that fall out of the leaf outline.Then I picked three long pointy skeletons and two of the rounded leaf ones and adhered them to the Basic White card front, evenly spaced out. 

Then came the part where steps 1-3 come in. I had a smear of liquid glue on my silicon mat, picked up random pieces with the sticky end of my take-your-pick tool and inserted it into the corresponding place in the outlines. Carry on like this until all the outlines are filled in.

Once that was done, it was plain sailing. Add the sentiment in Early Espresso. Adhere the panel to a pice of Mossy Meadow DSP. Adhere to an Early Espresso card base. Add embellishments - in this case, three of the green Sparkle Dots.

It really isn't as pernickety as it sounds to do this, especially if you can lift off the skeleton outlines of the leaves and leave the cut out bits still sitting in place on the cutting plate. Then it's easy to see where they fit back in. Anyway, if you give this a go I'd love to see how it turns out for you. 😀

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

Christy Stanford

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

Layers of Beauty for Paper Players 762

Oh my word, we had some lovely entries for Joanne's sketch challenge last week! I'm keen to see what everyone does this week with LeAnne's theme challenge: Thankful for you. 

One bundle I love, and keep coming back to, is the Layers of Beauty bundle: stamps, dies and stencils. 

With the 'grateful for you' sentiment, it was perfect for this challenge. 

I stamped the large floral image twice in Tuxedo Black ink. Twice so that I could colour the large flowers in the second one to cut out and pop up over the other one for more depth. 

Then I coloured it using the 5 step stencil using Pretty in Pink, Strawberry Slush, Granny Apple Green and a touch of Daffodil Delight for the flower centres. Blending Brushes make the application easy. Once coloured, I die cut the image and also die cut the largest bloom from the second image I'd stamped. 

 

The Basic White card front is embossed with the new Beautiful Pattern embossing folder, for a subtle yet elegant look.  I decided it needed something else to make it pop. Sitting on my desk were the Party Banner dies, so I took one of those and extended the length to make it fit the card front in a balanced way.

The paper I used was from a retired 2024-2026 In Color 6x6 DSP stack. I stamped the sentiment directly onto the banner. 

Then I attached the banner to the card front, the large spray to the banner and then added the second large bloom popped up on dimensionals. 

The finishing touch was the addition of a trio of Pink Gems. 

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

Christy Stanford

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