Ornamental Christmas for Paper Players 766

Ann's sketch at The Paper Players was delightful - as were the entries we received in the gallery. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone does with this week's Tic Tac Toe challenge. Will it be Christmas? Or something else? 

I'm afraid that for me, it was Christmas. I played the bottom row: die cuts, trees and sparkle.

I used a mixture of the Modern Christmas suite and some things from the Traditional Labels bundle.

On top of a Basic Black base and a Basic White matte, I added a piece of DSP from Modern Christmas. Being a specialty paper, it has some sparkle of it's own with the gold foil elements of the paper's design.

The white circle is cut using one of the dies from Spotlight on Nature. I used dies from the Ornamental Christmas bundle to cut out the gold-embossed tree and the Gold Glimmer Paper tree - both more elements of sparkle. 

The sentiment, from Traditional Labels, is gold embossed and cut using a die from the same bundle. The final touch of sparkle comes from three red Traditional Sparkling Sequins.

What will you do with this tic-tac-toe challenge?

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.

Simply Beautiful for AYSI 362

 Welcome to a new challenge at As You See It! We're back to the start of our challenge rotation with a sketch and it was my pleasure to provide this one for the team. I don't know quite what I was thinking, given that normally I'm a clean stamper who like lots of open space. But there we have it - it's good to get out of the comfort zone sometimes!

I was lucky enough to receive my box of pre-order products from the January 2026 Mini Catalogue in time to play with some of them for this challenge. 

I opened up the Simply Beautiful bundle and the Lovely & Beautiful Specialty DSP for this sketch - mainly because I wanted to see what the flower-making dies could do! These products will be available to everyone from early January. 

The flower making dies in the bundle are just wonderful! I've used three different sizes to create this bloom and cut the stamens from gold foil. The leaves are Old Olive but I've sponged ink on the solid layer to give more variation in colour. The great thing is that there are more petal sizes, stamen and leaf options - as well as the dies that cut the stamped images from the set.  Lots of potential here, I think. 

The sentiments in the set lend themselves to weddings and engagements but it does also include the ever-useful 'thinking of you' which I almost used for this card. And of course, with such gorgeous florals and pretty DSP colours, any sentiment could be imported. 

I've embossed the card front with the Beautiful Pattern folder from Online Exclusives. I added in three pretty Pearlised Faceted Circles, which are part of the Lovely & Beautiful suite.

What will you do with this sketch?

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.

Textured Notes for Colour INKspiration 200

 

Welcome to the 200th challenge at Colour INKspiration! We can hardly believe we've been going for 200 challenges. I have not been on the team the whole time but I have been for most of it and what a great team it is to be part of. They're all wonderful crafters!

Be sure to check out the Crew Album for this challenge as lots of our past designers are joining in with us for the Big Birthday.

Join us in celebrating 200 challenges by showcasing your favourite Stampin' Up! colour. It can be a current or retired colour. You can use your chosen colour plus any of the free colours we allow: Basic White, Basic Black, Basic Beige, Crumb Cake and metallics.

This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday December 8, 7pm AEST.

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 Catherine Proctor as our Guest Designer for this challenge.

Which colour will you choose? I found this part very difficult, rather akin to being asked to name your favourite child. I could name the handful of colours I seldom use but choosing a favourite is nearly impossible. I realised that my favourite colour could alter by the day, my mood - even the weather. I spent a few days with Coastal Cabana out on my desk but when I sat down to create, it turned out that Blueberry Bushel was the colour I actually meant to use! Maybe if I crafted tomorrow, it would transmute into something different again. 😀

I love that there is a  bright playfulness in Blueberry Bushel, while still maintaining some gravitas. Initially I mourned the loss of Pacific Point in the last revamp but have come to enjoy this colour in its place. 

Using torn copy paper as a mask, I stamped in some leaves from Textured Notes and some splats from Elements of Text in Blueberry Bushel. Then I added in some text from Elements of Text in Crumb Cake and sponged colour with Blueberry Bushel and a blending brush.

After removing the mask and trimming the panel down slightly, I added it to Crumb Cake card, then to the Blueberry Bushel base. 

The sentiment is from Textured Notes and is cut using one of the dies from that bundle. The foliage comes from the Gallery Blooms dies and the trellis from Perfectly Pears, cut from Basic Beige.

The embellishments are basic rhinestones coloured with a dark Blueberry Bushel Stampin' Blend.

The Crew and I would love to see play with your favourite colour.

You can see what the rest of the Design Team, and some Design Team alumni, 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.

Branching Out for Paper Players 765

Thanks for joining me for a new challenge at The Paper Players. Thanks to everyone who played along with Stef's CAS Christmas Challenge. There were some really clever and beautiful CAS creations. This week, Ann is our hostess and she has a sketch for us.  

Unlike some people who start on their Christmas cards really early, I just can't quite get in the mood until at least late October and more likely, November. So I took the chance to get another one done with this sketch.

I started by cutting a pair of the labels, one from gold foil and the other from Modern Christmas DSP, using the dies from Branching Out. After layering them up, I cut them into 3 even pieces. These were attached to the card front which had been embossed with the Beautiful Pattern embossing folder. 

This was attached to a Basic Black standard card base. 

The sentiment is from the Traditional Labels stamp set and cut using Stylish Shapes.

The festive cluster is cut using the Branching Out dies in Shaded Spruce, Cherry Cobbler and Gold Foil.

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

Where will Ann's sketch lead 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.

Branching Out for Freshly Made Sketches 713

I do love a sketch! So it was with great pleasure that I sat down to play with the latest one from Freshly Made Sketches.

Since I can never hit Christmas Card mode until at least late October, I let this sketch help me out in that department!

I started by using one of the label dies from Branching Out as the rectangular element of the sketch. Hoping to create something of a rustic mood, I used a piece of DSP from Country Woods - probably my all-time favourite DSP. 

To pick out the dark wood, I used an Early Espresso card base. The card front is embossed using the Exposed Brick folder - another favourite. 

To create the Christmas cluster, I used the Branching Out dies again with Shaded Spruce, Cherry Cobbler, gold foil and a touch of Early Espresso. For a bundle that's not even overtly Christmas, this set has become my go-to this holiday season. 

And the reason I don't consider Branching Out to be a Christmas set is that there aren't any Christmas greetings amongst the several great ones on offer. So I borrowed a sentiment from Joyful Tidings, stamped in Early Espresso and cut with another favourite - Stylish Shapes.  This card is turning out to be a paean to my favourite products!

Finishing touch - a trio of Traditional Sparkling sequins in gold. (Yes, my favourite embellishment of this season too!)

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.

 

Holly Jolly Christmas for Stampin' Fancy Friday

This month at Stampin' Fancy Friday, our inspiration is 'Holly Jolly Christmas'. We were encouraged to make a Christmas card with any Stampin' Up! product. 

The team at Stampin' Fancy Friday don't blog hop but we do a daily inspiration post on Instagram (and Facebook). 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 or visit the Facebook page. 😀

To me, the most beautiful Christmas product is the Traditions of Christmas DSP, followed by the Branching Out bundle. Naturally, this card uses both. Best of all, it's really very easy to make. 

I started with a standard Cherry Cobbler base and added a piece of the gorgeous red and gold DSP. 

I used the stitched labels from Branching Out to cut one label in Gold Foil and one size smaller in Basic White.

The sentiment is from Ornamental Christmas and is heat embossed. In the top left corner, I've added some splatter stamping in Crushed Curry and sponged a little Crushed Curry with a blending brush to give a background for my tree bough. Using the Branching Out dies I've cut some pine boughs in Old Olive then added some extra Old Olive ink to the tips. I've cut some berries in Cherry Cobbler and some dinky little pine cones from gold foil. Then I arranged them in a pleasing manner in the top corner, popping the pinecones up on dimensionals for some extra lift. 

Finishing touches were to add a double bow made with the White and Gold Baker's Twine and a trio of Flower Accents around the sentiment. 

Don't forget to follow @stampinfancyfriday on Instagram, or Stampin' Fancy Friday on Facebook, for more daily ideas.

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 here. 

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.