Friendly Foliage for As You See It 367

Well, you either love it or hate it but it's SPEED CHALLENGE this week at As You See It. Every sixth challenge is one of these and if you've never played one before, they're interesting. All you have to do is create a project that uses the theme and complete it in UNDER TEN MINUTES. This time, the theme is PURPLE.

You'll be pleased to hear that set up and clean up are not included in your ten minutes. The rules are simple. There are things you can do before the clock starts:

• You can plan out what you're going to  make
• You can get out your equipment and have it set up to go. For instance you can get out your stamp set and block the stamps you intend to use. Your inkpads can be on the table as can things like embossing folders, dies or embellishments.

BUT 

once you cut anything, ink anything or emboss/die cut anything then the timer is on. 

I had my babywipes and ink bottles to hand and  quickly made a temporary ink pad using Gorgeous Grape, Petunia Pop and Fresh Freesia ink. I stamped the image from Friendly Foliage, making sure to be across all the different purples on the baby wipe. 

Then I die cut it out. 

Then I embossed the card front with the Beautiful Patterns folder and adhered it to my Gorgeous Grape card base. Then I centred the die cut foliage and adhered it to the card front. 

Next I stamped a sentiment in Gorgeous Grape, cut it using a banner from Stylish Shapes and popped it up on dimensionals over the foliage die cut.

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

The Basic White inner got a quick foliage stamp before I attached it to the inside.

With racing heart, I stopped the timer....

Anyone who says stamping isn't an adrenaline sport has obviously never done a speed challenge! What will 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.

Rolling Waves for Colour INKspiration 204

Welcome to the 204th challenge at Colour INKspiration! Thanks for all the gorgeous entries for our first challenge of the year. We have another pretty combination for you this time around, chosen by crew member Lou Kitzelman.

This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday 9 March, 5pm 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 Mariel Altamirano 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 Flirty Flamingo. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

Although I was tempted to go floral for these colours, instead I wanted to play with my new bundle, Rolling Waves. I thought they could pass as beach colours too. 

I started by stamping a wall of water in a mix of Soft Sea Foam and Lost Lagoon. I added a lacy die cut at the top to suggest a foamy wave and a different lacy die cut to suggest the water running in to the sand. The sand was stamped in Crumb Cake. Once the scene was set, I cut out a flag using one of the Party Banner dies. 

Then I cut another set of the lacy die cuts to create horizontals across the card front. Then I popped the flagged beach scene over the top of them.

 

I used the dies to cut some seashells in Petal Pink and Flirty Flamingo. Then I added some to the beach to complete the scene. 

I added a sentiment to the top of the banner, then stamped a 'Happy Birthday' on the inside. 

The finishing touch was a trio of Pearlised Faceted 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.

Delicate Dreams for Paper Players 774

Stef's CAS theme challenge brought us a wonderful gallery and the team were delighted by your entries. This week, I'm the hostess and I've got a sketch for you. Sketches are my favourite kind of challenge and I love seeing the diverse creations that all come from the same starting point. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone does with this one!

I've been playing with the about-to-be-released Delicate Dreams suite. This is one of the March Online Exclusive offerings. I do gravitate towards foliage sets and this one has some lovely die cuts in addition to the stamped images. The DSP is a lovely specialty paper with coppery/bronze accents. 

So here's what I came up with....

Although it hasn't photographed particularly well, the Secret Sea DSP with the bronze flower outlines is very pretty in real life.  The spray is built up with a base floral image stamped in Gray Granite with various die cuts in Secret Sea, Gray Granite, Textured Metallic Specialty paper and Delicate Dreams DSP. 

The rectangular panel and sentiment are cut with dies from Textured Notes. The embellishments are Iridescent Foil Gems and the card front is embossed with the Exposed Brick folder.

I can't wait to see what you do with this sketch! You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your entry at The Paper Players.

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.

Wildflower Birthday for Paper Players 773

Welcome to a new challenge at The Paper Players! Our hostess this week is the wonderful Stef and she has a clean and simple challenge for us: Balloons and Birthdays. 

Many thanks to all of you who played along with Ann's dreamy colour challenge - the gallery was gorgeous!

I did have to remind myself that this is not only a birthday and balloons challenge but also a Clean-and-Simple challenge, so there had to be lots of white space and minimal embellishment in the design. Fortunately, I like a clean and simple design. More challenging was to find some balloons in my stash! You wouldn't think it would be that hard... but turned out it was. 

To the rescue came the Wildflower Celebrations DSP, which came with two sheets of punch out ephemera. I used the balloon and a separate one of tiny flowers to create the focal point and worked from there. I used  two scraps of the paper to create steps for the balloon to rest on. Sadly, this paper seems to be retired. 

I used the Beautiful Pattern embossing folder to give the card front some interest. After attaching the paper steps, I added the balloon but popped it up on dimensionals for some lift. 

The sentiment, stamped in Blueberry Bushel to match the DSP, is from Sweet Jar. It's cut with my favourite banner from Stylish Shapes. It's finished off with a trio of pink gems.

What will you do with this Clean and Simple Theme? You can see what the rest of the team have done, and link up your entry, at 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.

Sweet Jar for As You See It 366

Welcome to theme week at As You See It Challenge. It's an interesting one this week... 'candy' or lollies or sweets if you're in New Zealand or Australia. Thanks to everyone who played along with our Rhapsody in Red Recipe Challenge. The entries were stunning and choosing a Featured Artist was tricky. 

One bundle I have that's been really underused is Sweet Jar but it was perfect for this challenge. To pep things up a bit, I decided to create an arched card base using the Everyday Arches dies. I used the largest die and Melon Mambo card for the base, then a next size down in Pretty in Pink for the matte, then the next size down in Basic White for the stamped panel. Before layering them together, I used the small pattern stamp to add some tone-on-tone stamping to the Melon Mambo base. 

On a separate piece of paper, I stamped the outline of the jar in Tuxedo Black. I stamped the jelly bean shapes in Pretty in Pink then added the patterning in Melon Mambo. I punched it out with the matching punch and punched out a separate lid in Basic Black.

The sentiment is in two parts, so I could add in the 'sweetness' in Melon Mambo. I used the small heart stamps in Pretty in Pink around the panel to create a background before adding the sweet jar, popped up on dimensionals.

So, what will you do with this sweet theme?

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.

Rolling Waves for Around the World on Wednesday

 

Welcome to the second hop of the year for Around the World on Wednesday. I hope you're all feeling rested, re-energised and ready to create!

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. Our mission was to both CAS(E) something from the catalogue and to CAS(E) something from team member (and ex-Artisan) Teri West using one of her reimaginings of a Paper Pumpkin kit. 

Going through the new January-April Mini Catalogue, I found this little card which I love the layout of. So often in my cards, I use a texture-embossed card front with the rest of the design taking up about 1/3 of the space. I was quite surprised to discover that, in the end, my CAS(E) of this did not include a texture embossed front! 

For the second part of the challenge, I used a card of Teri's (see it here) that had a similar-ish layout but used colours that I liked: Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Bumblebee (replaced by Daffodil Delight) and Petal Pink.

Sitting on my desk was a new bundle, part of my pre-order for the March Online Exclusive drop, called Rolling Waves.

Instead of the strip of cardstock in the catalogue, I used a stamp to create a width of sand. Then I used one of the wave dies to create a waveline to run across the sand. I think the stamp is really meant to create water for a wave but I liked it as sand. 

Then I used some of the other dies in the set to create an overhead view of a beach brolly and some seashells and starfish. I do love a beach-themed set!

Just as the words are so cleverly placed partly over the disco ball in the original, I've placed my sentiment (also from Rolling Waves) partly over the umbrella. 

Next up on the hop is the wonderful Leonie Stuart in Australia. Let's see what she's CAS(E)d from the catalogue and from Teri. 

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.

Here's a blog roll 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 - DE

Kim Fee - UK

Angie McKenzie - US

Kelly Taranto - US

Bree Renwick - US

Cheryl Hamilton - US

Gears & Textures for Colour INKspiration 203

 

Welcome to the 203nd challenge at Colour INKspiration! Thanks for all the gorgeous entries for our first challenge of the year. We have another pretty combination for you this time around, chosen by crew member Monica Formosa.

This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday 23 February, 5pm 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 Verity Pursglove 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 Gray Granite for Smoky Slate. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

I've been having a bit of a love affair with the Gears & Textures bundle so thought I'd give it a run with these less expected colours. 

I started by stamping some lines, cogs, chains and ladders in Smoky Slate and different generations of Balmy Blue as a background. I tore a narrow strip from the bottom and mounted it on a piece of Smoky Slate before attaching it to the Azure Afternoon card base. Then the fun part began.

I created two lightbulbs in Afternoon Azure - I think these are my favourite things in the whole bundle. 😀

Then I cut some cogs in various sizes from Balmy Blue. I dabbed Versamark unevenly over them and silver embossed them to give a semi-distressed-but-still-reasonably-clean look. I cut the same cogs in Azure Afternoon and adhered them behind to create a shadow effect. Then I cut some small cogs and pieces in Balmy Blue and Azure Afternoon to add to the centres of the larger cogs before arranging - along with the light bulbs - on the base. I did rule in the lines to represent the light bulb cords. (Note to self: do this before adding cogs!)

To finish off, I added in some Basic Rhinestones. The sentiment is from Sweet Jar and is cut with a banner die from Stylish Shapes. 

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.