Joyful Tidings for Colour INKspiration194

Welcome to the 194th challenge at Colour INKspiration. This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday September 8, 7pm AEST.

This colour palette was chosen for us by Crew Member, Rose Packer. 

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 Marga Bultena 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 Night of Navy for Secret Sea. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

Although this colour palette seemed quite vintage to me, I really wanted to try out Joyful Tidings, one of my preorder sets from the soon-to-be-released September-December Mini Catalogue.

So I've tried out a non-traditional Christmas card with it. 

The card base is Secret Sea with a Calypso Coral mat. The wreath image is stamped in Secret Sea and coloured with Stampin' Blends in Soft Sea Foam, Fresh Freesia and Calypso Coral. 

 I added in some Purple Fine Shimmer Gems in Fresh Freesia to add a touch of bling. 

This set will be available from 3 September. 

This was a quick and easy card to make, and if you prefer traditional Christmas colours, it would work well if you were looking to create multiples. I think next I'll try it out with some gold embossing. 

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.

Regal Flora et al for The Paper Players 719

I can't believe that this is the last challenge of 2024 at The Paper Players! It feels as though it was only last month that it was Christmas! I hope that all of you have a happy and safe Christmas and get to enjoy lots of time with your family and friends. 

We'll be re-starting challenges on January 12.

This challenge, from Ann, is so pretty! Black and White are free colours. You must use all three colours of the challenge and you can add another neutral of your choice. I've used a touch of Crumb Cake.

I love these colours but it was hard to see past Christmas with them. I think that this will be my LAST Christmas card of the year. 😀

I feel as though it's a Regal Flora card - maybe because of the Regal Winter DSP I've used. Really, this card uses an eclectic mix of things including: Regal Flora dies for the label, Regal Winter DSP (very Christmassy, for a non-Christmas collection), Distressed Tile 3D embossing folder (my favourite), Reindeer Fun dies for the holly leaves and berries, Lifetime of Love dies for the Crumb Cake foliage and Greetings of the Season for the sentiment.

The thing I like the best is the holly leaves. I cut them from Fluid 100 Watercolour Paper then water-coloured them with Pretty Peacock ink and a Water Painter. When they were dry, I painted over them using some of the gold Pearlised Enamel Effects Metallics. I like that golden glow that resulted. 

The embellishments are lovely: Pretty Peacock Adhesive Foiled Gems.

We'd all love to see what you do with these colours. 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:

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

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

Jolanda Johnstone

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.

Reindeer Fun for The Paper Players 718

Wasn't Stef's sketch last week a lot of fun! Once again, there were just so many lovely creations in the gallery. It was a pleasure to look at them all. 

This week, LeAnne has given us a very timely theme challenge: 'Be a Deer'.

 

My surprise like of the current catalogue is actually the  Reindeer Fun bundle. I wasn't sure I'd like it but I bought it because it was the featured suite of the Creativity Abounds October Virtual Stamp Camp and I needed to have it to create projects for the Camp. As it turned out, I grew to really love it. 

I think it was the bright busy-ness of the DSP that had given me some reservations about it - but I even grew to like that!

For this card, I went soft and gentle. Even Christmas red and green has evolved into Soft Sea Foam and Pretty in Pink. 

I cut the mother and baby deer from the Reindeer Days DSP using a die from the set. Another of the dies gave me this lovely 'glimpses through the trees' aperture. I stamped some stars in Soft Sea Foam in the window.

I partially embossed the card front with the Forever Plaid 3D embossing folder before attaching it to the Soft Sea Foam mat.

Then it was a simple matter to attach the deer on dimensionals and to stamp the Pretty in Pink sentiment. Slightly less simple was cutting the sentiment with one of the Stylish Shapes banners, since I had to extend it to be long enough. It only took two goes! 😁

The finishing touch was three Pretty in Pink shimmer gems.

We'd all love to see your take on 'Be a Deer.' 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:

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

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

Jolanda Johnstone

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.

Decorative Trees for AYSI 337

 Hi fellow stampers! It's time for a new challenge at As You See It. It's week 6 of the roster, so it's time for the love it or hate it SPEED STAMPING CHALLENGE.

For a speed challenge, you need to create on the given theme in ten minutes or less. 

Sound impossible? Well, you'll be relieved to know that it is possible and these are the rules around it:

• Thinking time is not counted in the ten minutes, so you can have planned out what you're going to make.
• Gathering supplies is not counted. So get out the set you want to use, block the stamps, put the embossing folder and dies by the machine, get the embellishments out of the drawer. 

• Clean up time is not included.

BUT...

Once you start crafting - eg cut some cardstock, ink a stamp, emboss or die cut anything then the timer has to start. 

SO....

Your challenge, should you wish to accept it, is to create something on the theme of Trees in ten minutes or less.

Don't forget to tell us your time in the post.

Since Christmas is nearing, I decided to go with using the Decorative Trees bundle. To keep things simple, I went for asimple colour scheme: Basic White + Shy Shamrock. 

I started with a Basic White thick cardbase and a panel of Basic White, embossed with the Forever Plaid 3D Embossing Folder.

I cut a Shy Shamrock tree shape, then used Shy Shamrock Glimmer paper to cut the decorative overlay and stars. Using double sided adhesive sheet on the glimmer paper made removing the pieces quick - they peeled off with the backing.

I popped the tree up on dimensionals and  added three glimmer paper stars. The sentiment is stamped in in Shy Shamrock then popped up on dimensionals. 

As there was still time on the clock, I added in three Shy Shamrock shimmer gems. 

Time taken:

There's nothing quite like having the clock running while you craft to turn this into an adrenalin hobby!

The team and I would love to see what you can do in ten minutes or less. Visit the As You See It page to see what the rest of the team have done and to link up your entry. You can join in the challenge until Wednesday December 5, 11.59pm PST.

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.

Reindeer Fun for The Paper Players 716

Time is certainly zipping by - it's not only time for a new challenge at The Paper Players but it's getting very, very close to Christmas. Our hostess this week, Jaydee is getting us into the Christmas swing for sure with this CLEAN and SIMPLE theme challenge. First though, I'd like to say how much I enjoyed looking at all the creations for Claire's bright and fun colour challenge last week. Great work, everyone!

In general, I tend to be happiest when I'm creating more towards the Clean and Simple end of the cardmaking spectrum so I enjoyed this challenge. 

If you're wondering about Clean and Simple, at The Paper Players we mean that we'd like to see projects that have a lot of open white space, few layers and few embellishments. That can be quite a challenge, even for our design team! (Especially when we go off and create and miss seeing the CAS part of the instruction - I've done that at least once! 😄)

Believe it or not, this card is created with the Reindeer Fun bundle. One of the things I most enjoy about this bundle is that while you can have as many prancing, flying reindeer as you like, there's plenty to play with without them too! And the sentiments are just great - love this 'Merry Christmas'!

I also enjoyed the chance to pair it up with another Christmas favourite of mine, the Christmas Tidings embossing folder. Sadly, it's retired now if you were hoping to add it to your stash but if you still have it in yours - don't forget to get it out and give it a run. If you don't have it, you could use whatever Christmassy folder you have. If I didn't use this one, I'd use the Forever Plaid 3D embossing folder.

To make the presents, I used some scraps from the Take A Bow DSP stack and the Festive Glimmer Paper pack. To jazz them up, I did add three adhesive Peppermint Dots (probably not strictly CAS), while the sentiment was cut using one of the banners from Stylish Shapes.

We'd all love to see your Clean and Simple Christmas projects. 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:

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

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

Jolanda Johnstone

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.

Around the World on Wednesday November

 

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 a Christmas Colour Challenge. Our team leader, Angie, has given us a choice of working with either at Coastal Colour palette or a Traditional Colour palette.

I don't think much guesswork will be needed to see that I've gone for a traditional palette!

Normally, I tend to inhabit a relatively Clean and Simple crafting realm... but I do like to go on holiday sometimes and to do things differently. It often seems to happen around Christmas that I go all vintage or shabby chic or distressed. 😀

I'm not quite sure what this one is but definitely not CAS!

I used the Decorative Trees bundle for this one. It's been such a great bundle this season - I think this one is going into my keepers shelf! The tree itself it quite straightforward: A simple die cut in Shaded Spruce brushed around the edges in the same coloured ink, then a gold foil die cut overlay added in. I gold-embossed the sentiment onto Cherry Cobbler,  cut it into pieces and assembled it on the tree. The gold stars are dies cuts from the Decorative Trees too.

Most of the fun part though was creating the background. The starting point was a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock embossed using the Distressed Tile 3D embossing folder then there was a lot of sponging, blending, splattering and embossing. As I say, the fun part!

You can see how I did it in this tutorial. Messy but actually very easy. 

The gold cord is one of the new online exclusives. It can be viewed, as can all Stampin' Up! products, in my online store. 

So, are you a Traditional Christmas person or more of a Coastal Christmas person? Keep on hopping to see what the rest of the team are thinking! Next up is Leonie Stuart from Australia, a demonstrator whose work I admire greatly. 

If you get lost on the hop or want to revisit anyone, here's the blog roll.

Jan Clothier - NZ - You are here

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Danielle Kassing - NL

Ximena Morales - DE

Aurélie Fabre - FR

Mikaela Titheridge - UK

Tina Zinck-MacDonald - CA

Annette Ball - CA

Angie McKenzie - US

Kelly Taranto - US

Tricia Butts - US

Theresa McEntee - US

Bree Renwick - US

Lori Willcox - CA

Creativity Abounds October

This month the international team at Creativity Abounds has a great theme for our bundle and hop: Holiday Themed Items from the Mini Catalogue. This hop - and the associated tutorial bundle - will give you a lot of examples for Christmas ideas. Even if you don't have the exact sets, you'll find inspiration in the colour combos, the layouts and even some fancy folds.  If you get the tutorial bundle, you'll have step-by-step instructions for thirteen projects, all of which you'll see as you go around the hop.

You can earn the Tutorial Bundle as a free gift from me with a purchase of $100 or more (excluding P&P) or by being a member of my team. You can shop with me, and join my team, from anywhere in New Zealand.

Since Christmas is mid-summer in the Southern Hemisphere, I really couldn't go past the Surfin' Santa set. What a lovely, fun set this is!

I've made projects with this set for both this hop and the tutorial bundle.

To make this card you will need:

Stamps: Surfin' Santa

Inks: Tuxedo Black, Shaded Spruce,  Balmy Blue, Versamark

Colouring: Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Balmy Blue, Lemon-Lime Twist, Shaded Spruce, Smoky Slate, Crumb Cake, Ivory and Bronze

Paper: Shaded Spruce, Basic White, Full of Life DSP

Other: Stylish Shapes dies, Tinsel Gems, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals, White Embossing Powder from the Basics Embossing Set, Heat gun, Blending Brush, Paper Snips.

Measurements

Shaded Spruce base: 21cm x 14.5, scored at 10.5cm (8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored at 4 1/4")

Basic White Mat: 14cm x 10cm (5 1/4" x 4")

Basic White inside: 14cm x 10cm (5 1/4" x 4")

Full of Life DSP: starburst in blues and greens, cut to 13.5cm x 9.5cm (5" x 3 3/4") so that the centre of the starburst is in the centre of the piece.

Basic White for stamping Santa and gifts: 10cm x 6.5cm (4" x 2 3/4")

Basic White for circle and sentiment: 12cm x 8.5cm (4 3/8" x 3 1/2")

Instructions

1. Fold the Shaded Spruce base on the score line and burnish.
2. Attach the Basic White mat to the front.
3. Attach the piece of DSP to the Basic White Mat.
4. Using Tuxedo Black, stamp Santa and the presents. Colour with Stampin' Blends. Add some Wink of Stella to Santa's sunglasses and drink, then fussy cut them out. 
5. Rub the other Basic White piece with an embossing buddy then stamp the wave in Versamark. Add white embossing powder and heat. Die cut with the largest stitched circle from Stylish Shapes so that the wave is centre and near the bottom of the circle. Add some Balmy Blue ink with a blending brush. Start blending from the bottom so the colour is deeper near the bottom of the wave.
6. Stamp the 'Warm Wishes' in Shaded Spruce. Die cut with the smallest stitched square from Stylish Shapes.
7. You're ready to assemble. Add the wave circle to the centre of the card front. Arrange the Surfin' Santa and the sentiment on the circle. Attach with dimensionals. 
8. Arrange the parcels, starting with the largest on the surfboard, so it looks as though they're blowing off the back. Attach any off the board with dimensionals.
9. Add three Lemon-Lime Tinsel Gems.

Here's a peek at the project I've put into the tutorial bundle. Instructions for this card are in the tutorial bundle - along with 12 other holiday themed projects from the rest of our international team.

Here's a Sneak Peek at the whole tutorial bundle.

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. 

If you don't live in New Zealand, you can get it from any of my team mates in your country. Here they all are...

 

Humble Home for Freshly Made Sketches 657

After a lovely family morning at the playground, I got into my craft room this afternoon. Perfect day, right? For inspiration, I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for a simple Christmas card.

 

I used the Humble Home bundle as a starting point. I'm still trying to make friends with it!

I stamped the gingerbread house image but masked off the gable decoration so I could stamp the tiny wreath into the space instead. I coloured it using Stampin' Blends in Crumb Cake, Granny Apple Green and Cherry Cobbler before punching it out. 

I made the tags using a retired tag topper punch and retired corner rounder punch. Some things you've just got to keep in your craft library! The backing tag is cut from paper in the Take A Bow stack.

To create the diagonal of the sketch, I used the Forever Plaid 3D Embossing folder at an angle. 

Before attaching the house, on dimensionals, I stamped in some stars (or maybe snow) in Granny Apple Green. This little gem of a stamp is from Reindeer Fun. The sentiment is stamped in Garden Green to match the card base and cut with a banner from Stylish Shapes dies.

The embellishments are Basic Rhinestones coloured with a dark Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blend.

This is a straightforward card you could easily reproduce in multiples for your Christmas mail out and with a spot of colouring in, was fun to make.

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.