Gears & Textures for CAS Colours & Sketches 589

Just a quick post today. I was procrastinating at my desk, avoiding planning next month's class, when I spied the new challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. Next thing you know, stuff has jumped onto my desk, rather like a boisterous puppy, wanting to be played with. 

Nothing to be done but go with it!

I started with a scrap of Nature Walk DSP and cut a stitched square from it using Stylish Shapes.

From a scrap of retired  copper Specialty Metallic papers, I cut two cogs in different sizes from the Gears & Textures dies. From Pecan Pie, I cut an outer cog and from Early Espresso a ladder.

I stamped the Pecan Pie outer wheel with a Pecan Pie and a splatter stamp from Gears & Textures before adhering it over the copper die cut cog so there was the appearance of an inner and outer ring.

Note: Gears & Textures is still available as a bundle for a 10% saving.

The sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso and is from Garden Gatherings.

After layering up the elements with respect to the sketch, I added a trio of Faux Bronze Pentagons. 

Masculine birthday card all done!

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.

Fern & Flora for CAS Colours & Sketches 587

 I had a play around with the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches today, using the Fern & Flora bundle.

I like a tag card, mainly because I really like my (sadly retired) Tailor Made Tags set. This set is, for sure, a keeper! I started by cutting out one of the largest round-cornered tags from Basic White and another from a scrap of the Moonlit Flora DSP. I added a bow of linen thread to finish the tag look. I also cut a hole reinforcer circle from  a scrap of Golden Glow and added it to the white tag. I stamped some of the tiny strokes in Old Olive, making sure to off set it rather than having side-to-side images.

I die cut different ferns in Golden Glow, Old Olive and Mossy Meadow and arranged them over the tag.

The card front was embossed with the Fern & Flora embossing folder - already a firm favourite with me!

I stamped the sentiment in Mossy Meadow and cut it down. I stamped three moths in Mossy Meadow, coloured them with Golden Glow and Old Olive Stampin' Blends and added some highlights with a white gel pen. 

The final finishing touch was a trio of Golden Glow pearls. 

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 Whispers for CAS Colours & Sketches 586

It's the end of a public holiday here in New Zealand, with the first Monday in June being King's Birthday.  Instead of tidying up my craft space ready for Class Week, I ended up playing around with the Colour Challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. 

It was quite a challenging trio of colours and I had a couple of false starts with some other sets before I got to Delicate Whispers. 

I repeat stamped the toi-toi image in Night of Navy, then added some different foliage in Balmy Blue. I coloured the leaves of those images in light Gray Granite Stampin' Blends, and the flowers in Dark Balmy Blue. Then I shaded the whole area with a light wash of Balmy Blue.

Then I got to work with a rectangular mask and blended the edge heavily with Balmy Blue, bleeding it out towards the further corners. Then I added a touch of Night of Navy to the corner. I added in the sentiment - although if I'd thought about it more, I should have stamped the sentiment first just in case there was some kind of stamping disaster with the words! 😀

I decided to mat the panel with Balmy Blue before adhering it to a Night of Navy card base. I added some tiny Basic Rhinestones to the flower centres then a couple of larger ones around the sentiment. All done!

Update: Delighted to be a Fab Fave at CAS Colours & Sketches.

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 CAS Colours & Sketches 583

 I was taken by Deborah's sketch over at CAS Colour & Sketches this week, so made a bit of time to have a play with it. 

I liked the clean look of the sketch and the endless possibilities for the horizontal trio of elements. Since I'm still having an early acquisition romance with the Rolling Waves bundle (Online Exclusive) it seemed natural to go to that.

I've played quite a lot with the sea shell dies and the wave building stamps and dies but had yet to really try out the beach umbrellas. Here's where that ended up....

I stamped the water with Pool Party ink, daubed with some bits of Coastal Cabana. Then I sponged very lightly along the waterline with some Pecan Pie ink to suggest the sand. I stamped the sentiment in Basic Gray, saving the 'Happy Birthday' for the inside of the card.

The bit I enjoyed the most was die-cutting and assembling a trio of sun umbrellas from Flirty Flamingo, Pool Party and Daffodil Delight. There's a trio of rhinestones atop the umbrellas to simulate the end of the support pole and a tiny starfish as embellishment. 

In the bottom photo, if you squint your eyes just right, you might be able to detect the 'seafoam' on the wave - a band of Wink of Stella. Clear in real life, less so in the photo! Isn't that always the way?

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.

Shell Collecting for CAS Colours and Sketches 581

 Joanne had a sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches that really intrigued me, so I played along with it this afternoon. 

It turned out to be a little trickier than I'd thought, mainly because the inset image needs to be small enough to not crowd the space but not so small as to be lost. I decided on using Shell Collecting, since I'm trying to hang on to the last vestiges of summer even as the cool mornings and turning leaves are telling a different story! Plus, who doesn't love shells? 

That then brought me to what the larger piece would be. My natural self was shouting for an embossed panel because I'm always going to choose texture over pattern but.... it just wasn't working out for me. So I have broken out the DSP which is something I seldom do in cards. To me the obvious partner for sea shells is the wonderful Country Woods. But which pattern? And should I buy another whole packet of it in case it retires?

Anyway, this is where I came to....

Product details for this one include: Image and sentiment stamped in Early Espresso, Colouring with Petal Pink Stampin' Blends, Sentiment from Sweet Jar, Sentiment label from Textured Notes, Embellishments Rhinestones coloured with Misty Moonlight Stampin' Blend, Wink of Stella on the shell, Stylish Shapes to cut the circular notch, dimensionals for the sentiment and shell, Misty Moonlight card base.

I enjoyed the making of this card so much - and had changed my mind on it so many times - that I made another two to create a small gift set. 

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 CAS Colours & Sketches 580

This afternoon, I joined in with the latest colour challenge from CAS Colours & Sketches. Joanne has given us a bright, cheery palette to play along with. 

On my desk was the new Delicate Whispers bundle, fresh from the March Online Exclusives drop so I thought I'd give it a run with these colours.

I stamped a couple of the floral images and some small flowers in Blueberry Bushel, then coloured them with Stampin' Blends: Granny Apple Green and Daffodil Delight. Then I die cut them with the matching dies. I also cut a pair of foliage pieces from Granny Apple Green.

To let more of the Blueberry Bushel card base show, I cut the card front using the largest die from Perennial Postage. Note: if you are doing this with metric cardstock, you'll have to trim down the standard card base to get an even border around the postage stamp piece.

Then I arrange the die cuts into a corner spray before adhering with liquid glue and dimensionals.  The sentiment is stamped in Blueberry Bushel ink. The flower centres were filled with the smallest Iridescent

 Pearls. 

Update: Delighted to be chosen as a Fab Fave at CAS Colours & Sketches.

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.

Perfectly Pears for CAS Colour & Sketches 572

As a bit of a reward, I gave myself some time to play in my craft room. I used the latest sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches as inspiration. 

Really, the Painterly Pears DSP is so pretty in a vintage kind of way that it does all the hard work for you! I cut a banner using one of the Party Banner dies but extending the length to get the size I wanted. 

Then I stamped and coloured the pair of small pairs from Perfectly Pears before die-cutting it. I also die cut a trellis piece in Basic White for the pears to sit against. 

I stamped the sentiment in Secret Sea and die cut it using a die from the bundle but also cut a shadow piece in Old Olive. To finish off, I added in a trio of Sparkle Dots in Secret Sea. The darker colour, which tied in with the stamped outlines and sentiment, helped take some of the 'sugariness' out of the paper. 

The card front is embossed with my current favourite folder, Exposed Brick.

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 CAS Colours & Sketches 571

I'm supposed to be finishing off prepping for tomorrow's Christmas Stamp-a-Stack class. Instead, I've found myself having a quick play along with the challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches.

I've been a little obsessed with my new Friendly Foliage bundle and wanted to try out some of the dies and single stem stamps, so the autumnal colours of this challenge seemed just the thing. This bundle is part of the November Online Exclusives drop.

I started by stamping some of the longer leaves with a mix of Crushed Curry and Calypso Coral. I stamped the shorter leaves in either Calypso Coral or Timid Tiger. The lacy die cuts are from Crushed Curry. 

I arranged them as a bouquet and attached them to a label cut from Traditional Labels. The card front is embossed with the Beautiful Pattern folder, another of the upcoming Online Exclusives.

The bow is made with the white and gold baker's twine from the Christmas twin pack. A trio of Timid Tiger Flat Pearls finishes things off. 

Update: Delighted to be chosen a Fabulous Favourite at CAS Colours & Sketches.

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.

Perfectly Pears for CAS Colours & Sketches 570

I celebrated the end of class week with a little craft room tidying and then, as a reward to self, a playtime to enter the latest challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches.

I do like a sketch challenge and I thought this one was lovely. For some reason, I wanted to use Perfectly Pears for this card and although I got out several other sets, the Pears just wouldn't let go!

So, quite a simple card really. Two strips of DSP from Painterly Pears DSP Collection: two sides of the same page.

Then I stamped the duo of small pears, coloured it with the fill-in stamp with Darling Duckling and Old Olive along with Old Olive and Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends for the leaves before die cutting it out. The same image is stamped on the inside of the card.

I added a die cut lattice behind the pear, which was popped up on dimensionals. Using Secret Sea ink, I stamped the sentiment in two halves and die cut each one before adding them over the pears. 

I finished off with a trio of Secret Sea Sparkle Dots. Being me, I just couldn't leave the Basic White card front completely plain, so I got out an old retired favourite - the Subtle Embossing folder. I've always loved the way it just adds a quiet texture and turns the plainest card into a linen-look paper instead. 

The card base is Secret Sea. 

This is such a great sketch, I'm going to tuck it away for future use. 😀

Update: Delighted to be chosen as a Fabulous Favourite at CAS Colours & Sketches.

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.

Prairie Grass for CAS Colours and Sketches 564

My sporadic attempts to complete my New Year's resolution of playing more challenges just for fun continues today with my take on the latest sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches. And 'latest' is a bit of a stretch since I'm really only getting this done just under the wire! On the plus side, there really will be a new challenge in the next couple of days! 

Here's my take on it, using Prairie Grass from Online Exclusives.

I used direct colouring of the stamp with Stamp'n'Write markers (Shaded Spruce, Berry Burst and Gorgeous Grape) to get the multi-coloured image. The sentiment is stamped in Tuxedo Black. 

Then I used a little Gorgeous Grape ink and water to create some background splatter. I mounted this panel onto a matte of Gorgeous Grape then to a card base of Thick Basic White.

I added three Purple Fine Shimmer gems to finish.

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.

Impressions Abloom for CAS Colours & Sketches 562

Every now and then I remind myself of my New Year crafting resolution, which was to play along with more challenges just for fun and to forget about class projects and design team commitments.  To be honest, it's not going so well! Today I decided to have a look around my favourite challenges and see what I could play along with, since it's a public holiday. 

CAS Colours & Sketches had a highly unusual challenge. Usually a sketch is a creative springboard but this one had serious restrictions. It had to include 9 rectangles exactly and they had to be white  or plain coloured with no pattern.  

Well, that cut out my first response which was to emboss the rectangles to add some texture and my second - which was to try some faux tiling. I was about to run for the hills and find somewhere else to play when I felt a bit of stubborn come on... I would make this sketch work!

Here's where it ended up....

To create the rectangles I used the smallest rounded corner rectangle die from Nested Essentials. I spaced them evenly over a piece of Basic White because at that stage I wasn't sure whether I'd used a coloured card base. Ultimately I chose to use Thick Basic White cardstock for the base to help keep the CAS look.

Then I had a bit of fun playing around with the dies from Impressions Abloom to create a floral bouquet. I used Petunia Pop, Pretty in Pink, Shy Shamrock and Daffodil Delight because I wanted a punch of colour.

By now, it was looking quite cheery so it seemed more like a birthday card that anything else. I used the sentiment from The Right Words and a banner die from Stylish Shapes. 

To finish off, I added in three Basic Rhinestones to help draw the eye to the sentiment. 

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. 

Update: Delighted to be a Fab Fave at CAS Colours & Sketches.

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

Textured Notes for CAS Colours & Sketches 554

Well, it turns out that I'm actually very good at procrastination. My to-do list is so long that I can't even see the end of it. I've got classes, stamp camps, design team projects, family business and approaching trips away all swirling around. 

So.... this afternoon while legitimately working my way through the list, my eyes fell on the just arrived preorder and the so gorgeous Textured Notes bundle and DSP. Next thing, I'm just having a little play and before I know it, I've done something for the latest challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches!

I'll justify it by saying that it was quick to make - so really it was in place of a coffee break. Second justification - my crafting resolution for this year was to do more playing for fun.  Plus - you've just got to try out new stuff! 😀

The card base is Mossy Meadow. I cut a card front from the Woven Textures DSP. The Basic White rectangle is cut with the second largest Textured Notes die. 

I stamped the woven mat stamp in Crumb Cake and added the sentiment in Early Espresso. 

For the second element of the sketch, I stamped one of the foliage stamps twice in Mossy Meadow: once full strength then again without re-inking.

Finally, I added in three of the Neutral Matte Dots.

The bundle, DSP and matte dots will all be available in March as part of the new Online Exclusives drop.

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.