Nature's Symphony for Atlantic Hearts 664

 I couldn't resist having a play with the sketch at Atlantic Hearts Challenge. 

I was probably influenced by the absolutely gorgeous foliage die in the new Nature's Symphony bundle. It seemed to be perfect for this sketch and I also had a hankering to make a starry evening sky which I thought would work well with the semi-circular shape in the sketch.

I cut a mask using the retired Deckled Circles then went to work with blending brushes, a spritzer, some  white ink with a water painter and some Wink of Stella to create the sky. The ink colours were Pretty in Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Fresh Freesia, Highland Heather and Blueberry Bushel graded and blended. Next time, I'll try less pinks and more blues for more of an evening sky rather than a sunset sky.

I cut the panel down using one of the Textured Notes dies and created a mat piece in Gorgeous Grape with the largest of those dies. The foliage is stamped in Highland Heather while the die cut foliage is in Blueberry Bushel. 

The sentiment is stamped in Blueberry Bushel, the foliage is in Highland Heather and it is cut with another of the dies from Textured Notes. 

The finishing touch is a trio of Pearlised Faceted Circles in the palest colour -which is nicely opalescent. 

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.

Gorgeous Garden for AYSI 321

 Two weeks have flown by and it's time for a new challenge at As You See It. As always, after a sketch challenge comes a colour challenge. Aren't these colours lovely? The rules for a colour challenge are that you must use all the given colours in some way but no other colours except a neutral of your choice. 

Usually, my neutral is Basic White. But I've gone a bit rogue on this one and have used Basic Black instead!

I ink smooshed the four colours on a piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor paper. I did arrange them in a loosely ombre fashion, moving from Daffodil Delight, to Bubble Bath, to Flirty Flamingo, to Calypso Coral.

From a piece of Basic Black, I die cut the foliage die from the Gorgeous Garden dies and backed it with the ink smooshed panel. 

This lovely pair of dies is available, heavily discounted, in the current Last Chance Sale. If you don't already have them, why not treat yourself?

The sentiment, from Inked & Tiled, is white heat embossed on Basic Black and cut using one of the Everyday Details dies. It's backed with one of the circles from Stylish Shapes cut in Calypso Coral.

For embellishments, I coloured some Basic Rhinestone Jewels with a dark Calypso Coral Stampin' Blend.

Make sure you visit the As You See It page to see what the rest of the Design Team have with this sketch - and to link up your own entry.

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.

If you purchase Gorgeous Garden from me, you will receive as a free gift, a tutorial bundle. This will give you step-by-step instructions for four original projects: two by me and two by UK Demonstrator Joanne James, aka The Crafty Owl.

Other Tutorial Gifts with Purchase from Joanne and Jan are:

• Cheerful Daisies bundle
• Hooray for Surprises bundle
• Gorgeously Made bundle

Simply purchase the bundle and we'll give you the inspiration to get going with it!

Season of Chic for FMS 545

When I'm stuggling for inspiration, a sketch is the perfect kickstart. One of my favourite places to look for a good sketch is Freshly Made Sketches. Each week, there's a new sketch to inspire.

Sitting on my desk were the gorgeous Split Card Texture dies from the 2022-23 Annual Catalogue. I've used those, along with my favourite bundle, Season of Chic, to make this card.

I also love to ink smoosh, so that's what I did to make the leaves. Isn't the Leaf Fall embossing folder wonderful?!

If you'd like to make this card, here is my video tutorial.

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.

Product List

Season Of Chic Bundle (English)

[158816]

$121.50

Basic White A4 Thick Cardstock

[159230]

$18.50

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$21.75

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock

[121717]

$21.00

Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad

[147095]

$17.00

Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad

[147088]

$17.00

Split Card Textures Dies

[159162]

$59.00

Leaf Fall 3 D Embossing Folder

[159847]

$21.00

Lovely Labels Pick A Punch

[152883]

$51.00

Faux Sea Glass Shapes

[158139]

$17.00

Stampin' Spritzer

[126185]

$7.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$9.00

Quiet Meadow for CI 97

 

Welcome to a new challenge at Colour INKspiration! This pretty combination is the pick of crew member, Denita Wright-Smee. The photo was taken in New South Wales by a friend of her husband. Gorgeous photography!

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 two 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.

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

As it happens, this is the second card I made for this challenge. The first one is fine - and I might even post it later in the challenge - but yesterday my box of pre-orders from the 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue arrived and I just HAD to play!

Out of the box came the Quiet Meadow bundle. The cling stamp set is fabulously eclectic: sentiments, flowers in different styles, splatter and a wonderful partially obscured text stamp. Some of them you can see in the over-stamping of the ink-smooshed background.

The Meadow dies are absolute showstoppers: outlines of various flowers, just perfect as silhouettes or coloured to make realistic images, some butterflies and lovely labels that fit the sentiments. I couldn't wait to get cutting and stamping!

We'd love to see what you make of these sunset colours.

You can add your project, see the other entries and look at the Design Team inspiration by clicking 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 on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or clicking on any of products below.

Product List

Note: The Quiet Meadow bundle will be available 3 May.

Basic Black A4 Card Stock

[121688]

$18.50

Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock

[108601]

$18.50

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock

[121717]

$21.00

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$20.50

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad

[147086]

$15.75

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

[147101]

$15.75

Rococo Rose Classic Stampin’ Pad

[150080]

$15.75

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

[147087]

$15.75

Just Add Ink 440

Quite fittingly, the first challenge at Just Add Ink for 2019 is to add something new. With the myriad of fabulous new sets in the Occasions catalogue, I was spoiled for choice.

Geared Up Garage is a set I wouldn't normally consider, there being an absence of petrol heads in my family but the super DSP and die cut cogs just got to me. And once I had it my hands... so many things to try.

So this card not only uses new gear but also a new-ish technique. I've ink smooshed before but I've always used window sheet, which is quite rigid. I've read about people who use plastic bags or similar to do the smooshing so I gave that a try for this card. It works well and has a slightly different effect. It's less controlled and more fluid with a more malleable applicator.

After the Mango Melody smooshing was dry, I stamped the car in Tuxedo Black and added in some oil stains in Basic Grey.

A bit of washi tape and a sentiment - done. Simple but effective.

Product List

Geared Up Garage Cling Stamp Set

[148590]

$44.00

Basic Black A4 Card Stock

[121688]

$17.75

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$20.50

Watercolor Paper

[122959]

$10.50

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$12.00

Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad

[147093]

$15.75

Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad

[149165]

$15.75

Pick A Pattern Washi Tape

[144166]

$16.75

AAA 4th BIrthday Bash

AAA Card Challenge is celebrating its 4th Birthday. Congratulations! This challenge has gone from strength to strength and I remember playing with them right back in their first year, even if I've not played much lately. They've got lots happening over there - not just the challenge but lots of extra things too, so go over and have a look.

For this challenge, I used a technique I've not used in a while. I smooshed the background using watery ink and a piece of acetate. I was looking for a fireworks kind of effect. For this, I tried out two of the new colours in the Stampin' Up family of colours: Poppy Parade and Mango Melody. Both are part of the revamped Brights range of colours. I think I'm going to like them a lot!

This is a simple card. Once the background was done I added in the stamps from the retired Saleabration set, Amazing You. The Celebrate You die is now available from the new annual catalogue. I've cut it in copper foil and there are a couple of Poppy Parade layers underneath to give it some depth.

The sentiment seemed to suit the 4th Birthday Challenge - Happy Birthday AAA. Here's to many more!

Product List

Brights A4 Card Stock

[131282]

$17.00

Copper Foil Sheets

[142020]

$8.50

Watercolor Paper

[122959]

$10.75

Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad

[147050]

$15.75

Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad

[147093]

$15.75

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$12.00

Celebrate You Thinlit Dies

[146840]

$0.00