Thinking Stamping: Hippest Hippos

Showing posts with label Hippest Hippos. Show all posts

Sunday, 5 April 2026

Hippest Hippos for The Paper Players 780

Welcome to a new week at The Paper Players. LeAnne is our hostess this week, with a seasonal theme for us. Many thanks to all of you who played along in Ann's Tic Tac Toe challenge last week - the gallery was awash with wonderful cards!

Of course, in New Zealand we're heading into autumn but that was not the reason that LeAnne's theme caused me a couple of headaches. The set that I'd been expecting to use - well, turns out that I sold it! And also the next set I went looking for had met the same fate! The cupboard was looking pretty bare now but I did remember that Hippest Hippos (retired) had a rather sweet umbrella in it, so that was what I went for. 😀

I decided that it was a good time to have a bit of a farewell to the retiring 2024-2026 In Colors too. I stamped the ballerina Hippo in Tuxedo Black and coloured her with Smoky Slate and Pretty in Pink blends. I die cut the umbrella from Basic Gray, and also from a piece of Pretty in Pink DSP, then paper pieced them together. The ballet skirt is also paper-pieced.

I thought the umbrella gave the idea of showers but it needed something else to suggest spring. So I sponged in a grassy knoll with Shy Shamrock, then die cut some flowers from Petunia Pop and the DSP. Then I die cut some flower centres from Peach Pie and placed them to give her a garden to dance in.

Then I needed a sentiment. The new Delicate Whispers set provided me with a lovely 'Hello Friend' which I stamped in Tuxedo Black. The card base is Petunia Pop, as are the Flat Pearl embellishments.

If you want to stock up on any of the retiring In Colors: Petunia Pop, Pretty in Pink, Peach Pie, Summer Splash and Shy Shamrock, you'll need to do it fast. Once they're gone, they're gone and the In Color products are usually very popular.

What's your version of Spring Showers? The team and I would love to see!

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

Christy Stanford

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)

Ann Schach

Jan Clothier - You are here

Stef Perry

Eliz Stewart

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.

Wednesday, 13 July 2022

Hippest Hippos for Colour INKspiration 125

Welcome to a new challenge at Colour INKspiration! This striking colour palette was chosen for us by Crew Member Cheryll Miller.

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. As we unusually had fewer than ten entries in #123, we do not have a Guest 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 Starry Sky. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand and metallics are free colours, as are flesh toned Stampin' Blends.

I found this combination quite tough but it was the inclusion of Basic Gray that had me reaching for the Sale-a-Bration free set, Hippest Hippos. This cute set is extended by the add-on Hippo die set, complete with such items as umbrellas, sunglasses and snorkel gear for the characters!

You can earn the stamp set, or the die set, or any other item from the Sale-a-Bration brochure with an order of $110 (excluding postage) from me until the end of August. Even better, each multiple of $110 in a single order gets you an item, so an order of $220 would get you the stamps AND the dies at once. You can shop with me in New Zealand by clicking on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar.

I started by sponging a gradation of Starry Sky and Pacific Point over one of the Artistic Mix Decorative Masks to create the stylish ground in the corner of the card. Blending Brushes make this a breeze.

The hippo was stamped in Tuxedo Black and coloured with Watercolor Pencils.

Her umbrella, ballet shoes and tutu are paper pieced using the Sweet Sorbet Polka Dot pattern from the 2022-2024 In-Color DSP stack.

The hippo and her umbrella are up on dimensionals. To give that slender umbrella handle some extra strength, I've stacked up three layers of die cut umbrellas before adding the paper pieced shade.

The flowers and hearts are from the Hippo die set. The flower centres, which mimic the dots on the dress, are from the 2022-2024 In Color Matte Decorative Dots.

I'm keen to see what everyone does with this interesting, and challenging, set of colours!

Visit the Colour INKspiration site 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!

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 on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or on any of the products below.

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