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.

Perfectly Pears for AYSI 360

 The challenge this week at As You See It is a theme challenge: Harvest. I live in an area famous for its horticultural produce - the Fruit Bowl of New Zealand, as the marketing used to go. Apples, pears, plums, squash as well as all the summer stone fruits and berries grow here so we are surrounded by top quality seasonal fruits and veges all year round. Pears are a favourite of mine.

So naturally, I reached for the Perfectly Pears bundle for this challenge. Although the stamped images are gorgeous, I was feeling a little lazy so instead of stamping the fruit, foliage and flowers I used the dies to cut them from one of the sheets of DSP from the Painterly Pears DSP that is part of the larger suite.

I cut a circle from the DSP using one of the Spotlight on Nature dies and a piece of the wonderfully vintage feel DSP as a base for the layout. Then I arranged my die cut pears and bits onto the circle before adding the sentiment from the set, cut out with a banner from Stylish Shapes.

The background is embossed with a new folder from the latest Online Exclusive drop, Beautiful Pattern. A trio of Sparkle Dots in Old Olive finished off the card. 

How do YOU see Harvest time? We'd love to see what you do. Visit the As You See It page to link up your entry and to see the rest of the team's inspirations.

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.

Perfectly Pears for Paper Players 748

Welcome to a new week at The Paper Players! Weren't the Clean and Simple Things With Wheels entries last week fabulous? I loved the way people were so inventive about using things with wheels but while keeping the CAS vibe. Lots of you proved that CAS doesn't equate with mundane!

I'm your hostess this week and it's my favourite kind of challenge: a sketch. I love a sketch challenge and even more, I love seeing the many and varied projects that come from the same starting point, so I'm going to especially love visiting the gallery this week. 

Regular followers will know that I've been having a bit of a love affair with the Painterly Pears suite, so once again, I've reached for it. 

For the background rectangle of the sketch, I've used a pair of die cut trellises. The card front is embossed with the Damask Designs embossing folder. Sweet, isn't it?

One of the unexpected delights of the the Painterly Pears DSP is that one of the sheet is full of images that match the dies, so I've die cut out a large pear, a stem and a small pair of pears from the paper. How simple is that?!

The rest of the card was easy too:  rectangle of Painterly Pears DSP for the right hand rectangle block in the sketch, a sentiment stamped in Secret Sea and die cut using a banner from Stylish Shapes,  and a few additional die cut flowers in Darling Duckling (with Iridescent Pearl centres).

How will you use this sketch? 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:

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 (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.

A Bit of Everything for AYSI 353

It's time for a recipe challenge at As You See It. If you've not played along with one of these, it's really easy. Just take the five 'ingredients' from the challenge graphic, add whatever bits and pieces you want from your own stash and see what you can cook up! 

Today's selection of ingredients seems to be steering us down the road of elegance and glamour. I've used an eclectic collection of items to bring you this card....

1. Black, White and/or Gold  - I've stuck to these three colours because I like the combination.

2. Heat Embossing - I've heat embossed gold splatter on the card front, which has been embossed with the Damask Designs embossing folder. The splatter stamp came from Perfectly Pears.

3. Rhinestones or Sequins - I've used my old favourite, Basic Rhinestones.

4. Punches or Dies - I've gone overboard with this one. I've used Stylish Shapes, Thankful Garden, and Gallery Blooms dies.

5. Gold Foil or Paper - some of the dies are cut from Gold Foil. 

The sentiment is stamped in Tuxedo Black and is from Perfectly Pears. I also added in a bow from Twisted Gold Cord.

We'd love to see what you come up with from these five ingredients.  You can see what the rest of the team have done, and link up your entry, at the As You See It Challenge 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.

Perfectly Pears for Freshly Made Sketches 692

Even though today is a busy day, I couldn't help but find time to play along with the new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. What a fabulous sketch from Narelle!

I've been playing around with the Perfectly Pears bundle lately in preparation for a Stamp Camp with the Avid Craft Collective in August. This gorgeous suite will be available from the new drop of Online Exclusives on 1 July and I've become quite addicted to it!

I started by stamping the small pear image three times in Secret Sea. I used the watercolour-style fill stamp to colour the fruit in Darling Duckling, Old Olive and in one, a touch of Cherry Cobbler as well. After colouring the foliage with Stampin' Blends, I die cut them out, along with a couple of trellis pieces in Basic Beige. I also stamped some pear blossoms in Secret Sea, with Darling Duckling centres, and die cut those out too.

Originally, I used a piece of the Painterly Pears DSP for the vertical block in the sketch but switched it out to a piece of Basic White, embossed with the Exposed Brick 3D Embossing Folder.

The sentiment is from the Perfectly Pears set and is cut using a banner from Stylish Shapes. 

To carry through the Basic Beige from the trellis pieces, and to help ground the pears, I added in some script stamping from Elements of Text, using Basic Beige ink.

After that, it was fun to arrange the elements over the embossed section, popping up the pears and sentiment on dimensionals. The finishing touch was to add in three of the pretty Secret Sea Sparkle Dots.

Update: Delighted to be a Perfect Princess at Freshly Made 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. 

Details of the Painterly Pears Stamp Camp in August will be available soon but you can message me if you can't wait! Don't forget this suite will be available on 1 July.

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