Thinking Stamping: Birthday card

Showing posts with label Birthday card. Show all posts

Friday, 13 February 2026

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.

Sunday, 11 May 2025

Cheers & Sips for Paper Players 737

Hard to believe it but it's already time for a new challenge at The Paper Players. We were delighted by the entries in Joanne's 'Something Old, Something New' challenge. We hope you'll have as much fun with Ann's colour challenge.

While these colours did sing of flowers to me, it was the Cheers & Sips bundle that ended up getting an outing instead. It's still on my desk as I'm prepping for the Creativity Abounds Virtual Stamp Camp at the end of June. If you're interested in joining me, and the other 12 members of the international crew, for this stamp camp you can read the details here.

The card base is Lost Lagoon, with a jauntily askew piece of Berry Burst as a matte. The Basic White card front is embossed with one of the Glass & Garden embossing folders.

I used Versamark to stamp an image of each of the glasses and added some ice cubes to each. Then I used WOW White Embossing Powder and heated it up. Then I sponged over Bubble Bath ink and Berry Burst ink with a blending brush.

I used the same resist emboss technique to create the umbrella, strawberry and mint leaf. The sentiments were stamped in Lost Lagoon ink.

Then I added the mocktail glasses to the card front, popping the Bubble Bath long glass up on dimensionals.

To finish off, I added in a trio of Berry Burst tinsel gems - which have sadly just retired but can still be snapped up on the Last Chance list.

You can see what the rest of the design team have done, and link up your entry, at 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)

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

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

Wednesday, 11 December 2024

Delightful Wishes for Around the World on Wednesday

Welcome to the latest hop at Around the World on Wednesday!

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. 😀

Our inspiration this month is Techniques. Our team leader, Angie, has given the challenge of trying out a technique: something we've seen but never done, or revisiting a technique we've not done in a long time, or perhaps something we've seen from the Artisan Team.

I'm revisiting an old technique that I've not done in years. In fact, I'd forgotten about it until I saw it used by Monica Formosa, one of my fabulous team-mates over at Colour INKspiration. This is her card and you can read all about it here.

With the new catalogue, it seems that Bokeh as a technique is getting new life. This technique though is a Reverse Bokeh: coloured circles on a white ground.

Although this looks a simple technique - and in many ways it is - you do have to put some thought into the sizes of the circles you're going to use. You also have to put some thought into getting a good balance of both the sizes and colours of the circles. I had a couple of play arounds until I found an arrangement that felt balanced.

Monica talked of organising her circles into a rhomboid shape. I went for more of a rectangular look, since the die cuts I wanted to use were quite long. I used punches to cut out four masks from scraps of Window Sheet then blended the inks using a blending brush. The colours I used were Granny Apple Green, Balmy Blue and Daffodil Delight.

The 'wishing' is cut from Balmy Blue and the shadow backing from Basic Black. I cut three layers of the backing to give the words some extra height.

I added in three adhesive backed Granny Apple Green sequins as the finishing touch.

I thought this would make a great masculine birthday card, so I chose the birthday option from several the set offers, and cut it using the die from the bundle. The bundle I used is Delightful Wishes and will it be available in the January-April Mini Catalogue.

Delightful Wishes and the accompanying suite are the featured products in the next Creativity Abounds Stamp Camp. You can find details about the camp here.

Keep on hopping to see what techniques the rest of the team have been experimenting with. Next up is Leonie Stuart from Australia.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand here.

Here's a blog roll if you get lost on the hop, or want to re-visit someone.

Jan Clothier - NZ - You are here

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Danielle Kassing - NL

Mikaela Titheridge - UK

Friday, 26 January 2024

Painted Lavender for CAS Colours & Sketches 529

I'm continuing my exploration of the gorgeous new Painted Lavender bundle from the January-April Mini Catalogue. For inspiration today, I used the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches which is another of my favourite challenges.

For this sketch, we were allowed to use a heart shape or change it up to anything that wasn't a square, circle or triangle.

So here's my interpretation...

I cut one of the largest postage dies from Perennial Postage, the companion set to Painted Lavender. I cut it diagonally and embossed the top half using the Exposed Brick 3D Embossing folder.

To create the flowers and foliage, I die cut the shapes from the Painted Lavender dies in Fluid100 Watercolor paper, then coloured them with Fresh Freesia, Gorgeous Grape and Lost Lagoon inks. I'm very pleased with how they've turned out.

The sentiment, stamped on Fresh Freesia, is made using the Something Fancy stamps and dies.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

Friday, 28 July 2023

Season of Chic for AYSI 304

This week at As You See It, it's 'fill in the blank' week. Summer. As I sit here watching the winter rains fall and double check the heat pump to make sure it's working, it seems a long, long way away! But I do love summer and then I love nothing more than spending some time at the beach.

I love wandering along the sand seeing what the tide has brought up. I like to pick up sea shells. So off the stamp shelf came Season of Chic since I really like the sea shell images and die cuts in it.

Originally, I had my cluster of seashells and seaweed on a plain background but then got inspired to add in some texture. I used this folder from the Basics 3D Embossing trio (online exclusive) because of the South Pacific feel of the images although, now I see it photographed, I'm beginning to regret the decision! Be assured, it's less strong in real life!

Once again, I'm reminded of what a fantastic product the Distressed Gold DSP is - just perfect for so many situations.

What's the best thing about summer for you? Why not make something and show us? You can link up your entry, and see what the rest of the team have done, right here.

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, or on any of the products below.

Product List

Season Of Chic Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[158810]

$57.00

Chic Dies

[158815]

$78.00

Something Fancy Bundle (English)

[160425]

$97.00

Early Espresso A4 Card Stock

[121686]

$21.00

Soft Sea Foam A4 Cardstock

[147012]

$21.00

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$22.25

Distressed Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[159237]

$10.50

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[147114]

$19.00

Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' Pad

[147102]

$19.00

Bubble Bath Classic Stampin' Pad

[161664]

$19.00

Basics 3 D Embossing Folders

[161598]

$63.00

Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels

[151193]

$12.75

Wednesday, 28 June 2023

It's A Science for Colour INKspiration 146

Welcome to the latest challenge at Colour INKspiration! This bright confection of a palette was chosen for us by Crew Member Nicole Wilson. Very lush and elegant, isn't it?

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 our guest designer this challenge, Jolanda Johnstone.

If you don't have an exact challenge colour, feel free to replace it with whatever you have that's closest, for example Parakeet Party for Granny Apple Green. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand and metallics are free colours, as are flesh toned Stampin' Blends.

Life has been pretty hectic for me lately and hasn't left a lot of time for crafting, which is a shame since I have a big box of new things I'm itching to get to play with. So this time, I decided I was going to try out a new set no matter what! And it would just have to fit the challenge.😁

That set was It's A Science and I loved the nerdiness and punniness of it, so bought it as a bit of fun.

I started out by stamping the beakers in Stazon ink on Fluid100 Watercolor paper, then painting them with diluted inks using a Water Painter. I added in some bubbles over one of the beakers too - although it was hard to resist not letting them all brew up something!

Then I cut it out using one of the Deckled Rectangle dies and mounted it onto a piece of Pretty Peacock.

The card base is Blackberry Bliss and the very striking DSP is from the Stargazing DSP pack.

I masked and split the sentiment onto two different colours then die cut them using the parallelogram die from Something Fancy.

Then I couldn't resist adding some the Tinsel Gems in Berry Burst, Pretty Peacock and Lemon-Lime Twist because they look so much like escaping bubbles!

We'd love to have you join in the challenge with us. Visit the Colour INKspiration page to check out the album of Crew Cards for inspiration. You can also add your entry there. We all enjoy seeing what you do with our colour palettes, so join in!

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here, or on any of the products below.

Product List