Thinking Stamping: 2025

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

Friday, 22 August 2025

Textured Notes for As You See it 355

Well, at As You See It it's once again time for our loved (and sometimes loathed) SPEED STAMPING CHALLENGE! What's speed stamping you ask? In this instance it means you have to complete your card on the given theme inside of ten minutes.

Before you go into complete meltdown mode, there are a few provisos that make the challenge do-able.

What you can do before the timer starts

Plan. Take all the time you need to plan out what you're going to make.
Set Up. You can get out your stamps and block them, put your dies on the table, get out the card stock pieces and ink pads, put the embellishments to hand: anything that's setting up what you will need.

But

Once you make a cut, put a stamp to ink, actually use your Cut and Emboss machine: anything that counts as creating, then the timer must start.

Thankfully clean up time is not included in the ten minutes either!

The speed challenge is one of those times when your cardmaking becomes an adrenaline rich activity!

The theme for this one is LEAVES. I got to choose this challenge and I love foliage. My go-to at the moment is Textured Notes, which I'm enjoying pairing with Elements of Text, .

Patterned paper is a good friend when it comes to speed challenges so I got out Woven Textures because I like the natural patterns. DSP gives big bang for little effort - just cut and stick. That leaves lots of the clock left for stamping.

A quick pass through the Cut and Emboss machine and the Textured Notes dies gave me a rectangle with a pretty edge all ready for stamping.

I stamped the large leaf stamp twice, using Mossy Meadow ink, but without re-inking for the second impression. I added in some text background stamping using one of the stamps from Elements of Text, using Gray Granite then some Crushed Curry splatters with another from the set. I created a similar, but smaller, cluster in the opposite corner.

I stamped the sentiment in Basic Gray. Then I added in some Crushed Curry around the stamped areas using a blending brush.

After adding the DSP to the Gray Granite card base and the stamped panel, I popped in three Glossy Enamel Dots in Crushed Curry (retired) to finish off.

And then.... don't forget to stop the timer!

I'd love to see what you can cook up in ten minutes or less! You can also see the rest of the team's inspirations there.

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

Sunday, 17 August 2025

Hippest Hippos for The Paper Players 751

Thank you for all the beautiful entries in Claire's colour challenge last week. I enjoyed seeing the rich autumnal colours used in such pretty ways. Our hostess at The Paper Players this week is Elizabeth and she has given us the Clean and Simple theme of 'Critters'.

Sometimes, I overthink things. I came to work on this challenge and realised that while I was very clear on what Clean-and-Simple meant (lots of white space, minimal layers and embellishments) I was much less clear on what a critter was.

I can remember Ellie-May Clampett talking about her critters on The Beverly Hillbillies way back when I was child. So maybe a critter could be any animal? A dictionary search told me that it was a word derived from 'creature' originating as a dialectal pronunciation and often used in informal way. It also told me that in American usage it is often used to refer to domesticated animals.

None of this was really helping me decide whether I could use my Beautiful Butterflies stamp set in the challenge as it was my only current set that contained a creature of any kind. Part of me felt like this was going in the wrong direction.

By chance, while looking through a box of old children's books in the garage, I came across some of Mercer Mayer's Little Critter series. This led me to conclude that critters are cutesy, anthropomorphised animals. This I could work with!

It was off to the retired shelves to find Hippest Hippos, an old Sale-a-bration bundle. I started by stamping the dancing hippo in Tuxedo Black then colouring it with Smoky Slate, Strawberry Slush and Pretty in Pink Stampin' Blends. I die cut it out. I paper pieced the skirt using a pattern from the 2025-2027 6x6 In Color DSP stack. I also used that to paper piece the umbrella from the dies and to create the love hearts.

The sentiment is also from Hippest Hippo. To texture the background, I used one of the folders from the Glass & Gardens pair of embossing folders.

Although the trio of hearts were acting like embellishments, I couldn't resist adding in a trio of Strawberry Slush gems too.

So, how do you see critters? We'd love you to show us this week at The Paper Players - and remember to keep it CAS. You can see what the team have done and link up your entry on 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.

Anne Marie Hile (on leave)

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

Wednesday, 13 August 2025

Gallery Blooms for Colour Inkspiration 193

Welcome to the 193rd challenge at Colour INKspiration. This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday August 25, 7pm AEST.

This colour palette was chosen for us by Crew Member, Vicki Boucher. Isn't this just the most gorgeous, delicate set of colours? I hope you enjoy crafting with it as much as I did!

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 Michelle Pepper 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 Pool Party for Balmy Blue. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

These colours were so delicate that I knew I wanted to use something with lacy die cuts and probably some water colouring. The dies in Gallery Blooms were just perfect so I started by ink smooshing some Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper with some Balmy Blue and Highland Heather. Once it was dry, I cut several of the lacy agapanthus heads from it and also several maidenhair fern leaves from Cloud Cover. From these beginnings a card was born!

I had a wreath in mind, so cut a hoop using circles from Stylish Shapes to use as a base. I cut a square of Basic White, embossed it with the Damask Delsigns embossing folder, added the wreath and then wondered what was next?!

I toyed with the idea of a square card but instead used a Cloud Cover base and a piece of Cloud Cover DSP from the 2025-2027 In Color Stack. I chose this design because it has an ink smooshed look to it. The card needed something else to make it pop, so I added in a piece of Highland Heather, embossed with the Exposed Brick 3D folder behind the square which also helped to visually elongate the wreath panel.

The next dilemma was the sentiment. What colour to stamp it and what colour to stamp it on? Embossed white on Highland Heather? A Balmy Blue banner? Too many choices. While pondering that, my eye fell upon the narrow piece of the DSP that I'd trimmed off for the card front. Perfect - I used that, stamped with Highland Heather and turned into a banner. The sentiment is from Beautiful Motifs, the companion set to Gallery Blooms.

To finish, I added a trio of Purple Fine Shimmer Gems to pick out the Highland Heather.

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

Sunday, 10 August 2025

Textured Notes for Paper Players 750

Welcome to a new week at The Paper Players. I enjoyed seeing the many ways people interpreted Stef's 'By the Water' theme last week. I'm glad I wasn't choosing headliner! Thank you for all the wonderful entries.

This week, Claire is our hostess and she has a bright colour challenge for us.

The colours seemed quite autumnal to me, so I reached for Textured Notes - specifically the lovely foliage stamp.

I went for an old, tried-and-true technique for this one: Baby Wipe. I got out a wet wipe, folded it in half and put it on a large acrylic block. Using re-inkers, I dotted some Blackberry Bliss, Cherry Cobbler and Pumpkin Pie ink on it and let the drops run into each other. Then I used this as my temporary inkpad to stamp randomly over a piece of Basic White card. I love the variegated effect achieved with this technique!

After cutting the panel to size, I added some Old Olive around the edges with a blending brush.

The sentiment, from Textured Notes, was inked in Blackberry Bliss and cut with a die from Nested Essentials. The border is Old Olive and the card base is Blackberry Bliss.

The finishing touch was a trio of deep Purple Fine Shimmer Gems.

What will you do with these 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:

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.

Anne Marie Hile (on leave)

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

Friday, 8 August 2025

Impressions Abloom for As You See It 354

The new theme for this week's challenge at As You See It almost had me stumped. I don't have a single stamp or piece of DSP that's in any way related to picnics. Clearly some creative thinking was going to be needed for this one

Creative thinking was involved in this card but alas, most of it was not mine. Tammy Wilson from Stamp, Paper, Scissors is the inspiration for this card. I first encountered her work when we were both on the 2020 Artisan Design Team and I've followed her ever since. She posted this fabulous card where she made watermelons using the dies from Impressions Abloom.

Since no picnic is complete without some sliced watermelon, the card was born!

I chose Forever Plaid to emboss the background, since it's reminiscent of the generic checked picnic blanket.

To create the watermelon, I used the large oval label die from Impressions Abloom to cut an oval from Strawberry Slush cardstock. I cut it in half and sponged Strawberry Slush ink in the centre, using a blending brush.

To create the rind, I used the stitched edge label die to cut an oval edging in Shy Shamrock cardstock. I cut it and added it to the outer edge of the Strawberry Slush slices. (A little fudging around is required.)

Following Tammy's lead, I cut the pips using the small leaf die from the Birthday Celebration dies. These can still be found in the Last Chance section, if you don't already have them.

The sentiment is from the Sweet Jar stamp set, and I've cut is using one of the Spotlight on Nature dies. The Shy Shamrock circle underneath the sentiment was cut using my old favourite set, Stylish Shapes.

To finish off, I added in some flowers - which were also cut using the Impressions Abloom dies - to create the feel of wildflowers in the meadow. The very final thing was to add some Strawberry Slush gems for a touch of bling.

I hope your path to a picnic themed card is easier than mine was! I look forward to seeing your creation in the As You See It gallery. You can also see the rest of the team's inspirations there.

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

Sunday, 3 August 2025

Notes & Totes for Paper Players 749

Welcome to a new week at The Paper Players! I had a great time last week, checking out the gallery to see what everyone made of my sketch challenge. I loved the entries and choosing a Headliner was tricky. Thank you for making the sketch shine!

Stef is our hostess this week and she has a theme challenge: By the Water. It's a great theme as you can be by the water in so many different ways.

My favourite 'by the water' is the beach, so the Notes & Totes bundle was a natural starting point. Some of my favourite parts of this bundle are the dies for the seashell and the starfish. I cut them from Crumb Cake, Lemon Lolly and Coastal Cabana before creating them a little beach to rest on.

I put down a piece of masking paper and sponged some Coastal Cabana ink about it, using a blending brush. After removing the paper, I stamped in some dots in Crumb Cake to suggest the sand, then added my shell and starfish. I gave the starfish a coating of Wink of Stella so they could twinkle a little. 😀

I cut the panel using the largest of the Textured Notes dies and added the sentiment in Crumb Cake. The finishing touch was to add three Holographic Dots. I liked them for the job as they suggested water drops to me, and who doesn't like a bit of splash?!

What's your favourite 'by the water' place or activity? 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:

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.

Anne Marie Hile (on leave)

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

Sunday, 27 July 2025

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:

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.

Anne Marie Hile (on leave)

Jan Clothier - You are here