Thinking Stamping: Clean and simple

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Sunday, 17 May 2026

Piece of Cake for The Paper Players 786

Thanks to everyone who entered Claire's bright and summery colour challenge last week. The gallery was small but oh, so lovely! Our hostess this week is Ann and she has a double challenge for us. The theme is Food and the style is CAS!

I've done a lot of craft room clean up, clean out and reorganisation lately. The happy consequence of that is to reacquaint myself with some of the forgotten items in my craft library. One of these is the ever-so-lovely, but retired, Piece of Cake bundle. I'm sure many of you will have it stashed away.

I decided to take the wedding cake option because I had some of the Lovely &Beautiful DSP on my desk and it had me in the matrimonial mood.

I stamped the cake, the stand, some hearts and the sentiment in Tuxedo Black. I coloured them with Stampin' Blends in Smoky Slate, Fresh Freesia and Petal Pink. The cake and stand could be cut out with the matching punch but the hearts... they had to be fussy cut!

Initially, I left the card front plain but couldn't help myself. It had to be embossed so I used the Beautiful Pattern 3D embossing folder for some subtle but elegant detailing. I cut a narrow strip of the DSP and applied it as two strips, then added the cake and hearts on dimensionals. I added the sentiment as a third tier of the cake and finished off with a trio of iridescent pearls.

The team and I would love to see what you do with Ann's CLEAN AND SIMPLE FOOD THEME. Remember it's a double challenge with both a theme AND a style.

Visit The Paper Players to see what the rest of the team have done and to link up your entry.

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)

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

Sunday, 15 March 2026

Simply Zinnia for The Paper Players 777

This week at the Paper Players, JayDee is our hostess. She's got a fabulous double challenge for us: it's not only a floral theme but it's also to be done in a CAS (Clean and Simple style). We had wonderful entries last week in Joanne's Rainbow Colours challenge and I look forward to seeing what everyone does with this one!

By Clean and Simple, we mean that your creation should have lots of open white space, minimal layers and minimal embellishments. It's a time for paring back, and not adding lots of extras.

I've been having a craft room clean up and sort out - confession, it's been going on for some months now - but it's reminded me of the wonderful library of stamps and dies that I've built up over the years. Many of them haven't seen love because there's always something new coming in the door. But it's been both liberating and enjoyable to use retired things - especially when they can be married up with new things.

One of my favourite florals is the retired Simply Zinnia and I enjoyed getting it out to play with for this challenge. I stamped the image in Tuxedo Black and coloured in with Stampin' Blends: Strawberry Slush, Pretty in Pink, Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight and Crumb Cake. Doing the colouring in was both relaxing and therapeutic. Then I die cut the image out so it could be popped up on dimensionals.

I stamped the sentiment in Tuxedo Black on the Basic White card front, then did a partial emboss with the Damask Designs embossing folder.

The finishing touch was a trio of pink gems.

What will you make for JayDee's challenge? Don't forget that it must both be floral AND CAS. 😀

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)

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

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Sunday, 16 November 2025

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:

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)

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

Sunday, 19 October 2025

An eclectic mix for Paper Players 760

Many thanks to those of you who entered last week's colour challenge. Who knew that purple and green could lead in so many directions, from Christmas to Halloween?!

This week, Jaydee is our hostess and she has a double challenge for us: A foliage theme but in a Clean and Simple style.

So what the Clean and Simple mean? For us, it means to keep things uncluttered - lots of white open space, a single focal point, minimal layers and minimal use of embellishments.

For my card, I've used a mix of several die and stamp sets. That's one of the pleasures of having a stamp collection - mixing and matching as you feel like.

I started with a die cut leaf from Thankful Garden. I still had some left over ink smooshed watercolour paper from this project in my bits box so used it now.

It seemed a bit lonely by itself, so I cut a smaller leafy bough from Gallery Blooms in Early Espresso.

I needed a sentiment, so used one from Beautiful Motifs and cut it using a banner die from Stylish Shapes.

Once I had the bones of a design, I needed a background to put it on. So I punched a circle from a piece of masking paper and attached it to my card front to create a circular mask then I got to work on it.

I started by adding some script using Early Espresso ink and a stamp from Elements of Text. Then I added some splatters in Timid Tiger, using another stamp from Elements of Text.

Then I added some colour with a blending brush using Crushed Curry and Timid Tiger inks. Once that was all done, I removed the mask to reveal the decorative circle.

After that, it was a simple matter to add the foliage and sentiment plus a trio of rhinestones.

We'd love to see your foliage themed creation - but remember to keep it clean and simple.

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:

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)

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

Sunday, 17 August 2025

Hippest Hippos for The Paper Players 751

Thank you for all the beautiful entries in Claire's colour challenge last week. I enjoyed seeing the rich autumnal colours used in such pretty ways. Our hostess at The Paper Players this week is Elizabeth and she has given us the Clean and Simple theme of 'Critters'.

Sometimes, I overthink things. I came to work on this challenge and realised that while I was very clear on what Clean-and-Simple meant (lots of white space, minimal layers and embellishments) I was much less clear on what a critter was.

I can remember Ellie-May Clampett talking about her critters on The Beverly Hillbillies way back when I was child. So maybe a critter could be any animal? A dictionary search told me that it was a word derived from 'creature' originating as a dialectal pronunciation and often used in informal way. It also told me that in American usage it is often used to refer to domesticated animals.

None of this was really helping me decide whether I could use my Beautiful Butterflies stamp set in the challenge as it was my only current set that contained a creature of any kind. Part of me felt like this was going in the wrong direction.

By chance, while looking through a box of old children's books in the garage, I came across some of Mercer Mayer's Little Critter series. This led me to conclude that critters are cutesy, anthropomorphised animals. This I could work with!

It was off to the retired shelves to find Hippest Hippos, an old Sale-a-bration bundle. I started by stamping the dancing hippo in Tuxedo Black then colouring it with Smoky Slate, Strawberry Slush and Pretty in Pink Stampin' Blends. I die cut it out. I paper pieced the skirt using a pattern from the 2025-2027 6x6 In Color DSP stack. I also used that to paper piece the umbrella from the dies and to create the love hearts.

The sentiment is also from Hippest Hippo. To texture the background, I used one of the folders from the Glass & Gardens pair of embossing folders.

Although the trio of hearts were acting like embellishments, I couldn't resist adding in a trio of Strawberry Slush gems too.

So, how do you see critters? We'd love you to show us this week at The Paper Players - and remember to keep it CAS. You can see what the team have done and link up your entry on 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)

Jan Clothier - You are 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 stamp with me, and shop with me, from anywhere in New Zealand. Click here.

Monday, 21 July 2025

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.

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

Sunday, 20 July 2025

Fun on Wheels for PP747

I hope every one enjoyed Ann's pretty colour challenge. I certainly enjoyed looking at the creations! Thanks for playing along with us at The Paper Players.

This week, LeAnne has a double challenge for us: something with wheels AND in a clean and simple style. I suspect that for many of you, the hardest part will be keeping things clean and simple (CAS).

By CAS, we mean: minimal use of layers, minimal use of embellishments, lots of open white space.

Looking through my 'current set' shelf, I found not one thing with a wheel on it. So it was time to move to my 'retired' shelf aka 'my stamp library'. Fun on Wheels really was a fun set and I keep it because it's so good for teens with the scooter and skateboard, and the cyclists in the world with a couple of options on offer. Plus, I love the map stamp, which I've repeat stamped in Azure Afternoon.

I stamped the vintage cycle in Versamark and embossed it with WOW Black embossing powder before die cutting it and putting it over the maps. I love the way this image looks as if it's coming out of the page straight at you.

If I'd realised when I started how the design would evolve, I'd have embossed the cycle straight onto the card front: another option to get a similar result.😀

I black embossed the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment from The Right Words then cut it out with a banner die from Stylish Shapes. The embellishments are Basic Rhinestones coloured with Azure Afternoon Stampin' Blends.

What sort of wheels will you play with this week? 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:

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)

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

Sunday, 15 June 2025

Cheers & Sips for Paper Players 742

Hello everyone! Time for a new challenge at The Paper Players and our hostess this week is Claire. She has given us a two fold challenge this week. It's both a Clean and Simple Challenge and with the theme of Fresh and Fruity.

So, what does Clean and Simple mean? It means that your project should have a lot of clean, white space. There should be few layers or embellishments. The finished project should feel crisp and uncluttered.

I've been playing around a lot with the Celebratory Sips suite from Online Exclusives. and there are the sweetest little strawberries, citrus slices and mint leaves with which to embellish your drinks.

I used the dies to cut a tall and short class but did not stamp them first. They were cut from a piece of the Celebratory Sips DSP but not stamped with an outline, although I did stamp in some ice cubes. I ran the tall glass through the Cut and Emboss machine with the impression die to give the effect of cut glass.

I used the glass embossing folder from the Glass & Gardens embossing folder duo to give some texture to the background. Then I stamped some berries, citrus and mint and coloured them in with Stampin' Blends. The strawberries are coloured with Strawberry Slush and Lemon-Lime Twist. The lemons with Daffodil Delight and the limes with Granny Apple Green.

Once they were die cut - and some of the citrus split to fit the edge of the glass or cut into smaller segments - I had fun arranging them in and around the glasses.

I added in a sentiment from Cheers & Sips and some Holographic Resin Dots (perhaps pushing the boundary of CAS but I did it anyway)!

I can't wait to see all the Clean and Simple creations in this week's challenge!

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)

Jan Clothier - You are here