Thinking Stamping: Sponged backgrounds

Showing posts with label Sponged backgrounds. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 July 2025

Prairie Grass for Colour INKspiration 191

Welcome to the 191st challenge at Colour INKspiration. This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday July 21, 7pm AEST.

This colour palette was chosen for us by Crew Member, Nicole Wilson. It's a timely palette for the Southern Hemisphere with the Aurora Australis having shown itself many times in the last few months - although sadly, I've never seen it live.

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 Kisha Cook 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 Melon Mambo for Berry Burst. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

I'm currently enjoying playing with one of the new Online Exclusive stamp sets, Prairie Grass. It's one of those sets that I didn't need - but certainly wanted - and now I have it, it's becoming addictive!

The set lends itself to silhouette stamping, so the colours themselves were perfect for a Southern Lights-style blended background.

I masked off a column of card front and blended in Lemon-Lime Twist, Granny Apple Green, Berry Burst and Blackberry Bliss inks with blending brushes.

After removing the mask, I stamped the grasses over the top using Tuxedo Black ink. Then I cut the piece down using one of the Textured Notes dies to create the decorative edge. I matted this to a piece of Lemon-Lime Twist cardstock, then attached to the Blackberry Bliss card base.

The sentiment, from the Prairie Grass set was stamped in Tuxedo Black and cut with one of the Stylish Shapes banner dies. I cut a smaller banner in Blackberry Bliss and tucked it in behind the sentiment to accent it.

The finishing touch was the addition of some Blackberry Bliss Shimmer Gems.

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.

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Textured Notes for Colour INKspiration 190

Welcome to the 190th challenge at Colour INKspiration. This challenge runs for nearly two weeks and will finish on Monday July 7, 7pm AEST.

This colour palette was chosen for us by Crew Member, Nikki Spencer. It's a warm, rustic, neutral palette just perfect for the winter season. Now the shortest day is behind us, we can start looking forward to warmer weather soon! 😀

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 Yvonne Spikmans Van-Bruggan 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 Very Vanilla for Basic Beige. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh-toned Stampin' Blends.

These colours just seemed perfect for one of my favourite sets of the moment, Textured Notes - especially when paired up with Elements of Text. Both of these items are Online Exclusives, so you need to go to the online store to see them. It's a section well worth checking out.

I used Cajun Craze for the card base, a matte of Basic Beige and then used the largest Textured Notes dies to cut a rectangle.

I used a favourite technique of mine, which is Faux Torn Paper. I ripped a piece of copy paper in half and used the halves as a mask on the white rectangle to create gap in the centre. I started by sponging some Basic Beige in the centre, using Blending Brushes, and started adding in some Crumb Cake towards each edge. Then I stamped some text in Basic Beige using one of the text stamps from Elements of Text. Then I stamped some leaves in Cajun Craze and Crumb Cake, using foliage stamps from Textured Notes. Finally, I added in some half strength Cajun Craze splatters using one of the splatter stamps from Elements of Text. Note - do this before removing the masks.

The scariest part was stamping the sentiment in Cajun Craze directly onto the card front. The final part was to add in a trio of Neutral Matte Dots.

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.

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

Friday, 16 February 2024

Trusty Toolbox for AYSI 317

Welcome to Recipe Challenge week at As You See It. This week, your mission is to take the five given ingredients and see what you can concoct with them. Team member Jane was thinking of Robbie Burns' Night when she popped some plaid into the mix for this one!

For some reason, plaid makes me think of masculine, so that's where I went. Curiously, this card used no stamps at all!

I used the Artistic Mix Decorative Masks to create the plaid background - tick for PLAID.

I used the Metal Plate 3D Embossing Folder for the Lost Lagoon tag - tick for EMBOSSING FOLDER.

I used Tailor Made Tags dies to create the two tags and the Mini Alphabet dies for 'DAD' - tick for DIE CUTS.

I used 2023-2025 In Color Dots in Copper Clay - tick for DOTS

I used the Baker's Twine Essentials Pack for the Gray Granite twine that ties the tags - tick for TWINE.

The tools are not stamps at all but are fussy cut from the Trusty Toolbox DSP, which is one of the Sale-a-bration items - free with qualifying purchase until the end of February. While this DSP does coordinate with a fantastic masculine tool kit bundle, it works a treat all on its own.

For details on how to make this card, you can view the tutorial below.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

Orders placed with me can earn free tutorials.

Any order of $90 or more will receive the Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle, with 13 projects, as a thank you gift. The current theme is 'Birthdays'.
And if you purchase the Gorgeous Garden dies or the Hooray for Surprises bundle, you'll also receive a project bundle from 'Join in with Joanne and Jan' which will give you two project tutorials from me and two from my buddy Joanne James, aka The Crafty Owl.

Wednesday, 10 January 2024

Painted Lavender for Colour INKspiration 158

Welcome back to Colour INKspiration! This is our first challenge for 2024 and we're celebrating with a gorgeous summery palette. I hope you've had a great Christmas and New Year break and are back refreshed and inspired!

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. This challenge is open for FIVE weeks to accommodate the summer holidays, so closes on Monday 12 February 7pm (AEST).

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

I loved the colours of the beach blending in ocean in the graphic, so it got me thinking of ink blending. Of course, I also had new things on my desk from new January-April Mini Catalogue and Sale-a-bration, so one thing lead quickly to another....

I stamped the images from Painted Lavender in Blueberry Bushel onto Fluid100 Watercolor Paper, then blended over some Fresh Freesia, Petal Pink and Pool Party, then put the Decorative Mask over the whole thing before blending again to pick out the pattern. You do have to leave the image to dry before doing the blending as it can smear, so in hindsight it might have been easier to do the blending THEN the stamping! Although this way, I could see exactly where the image was and so how far to extend the ink blended background: six of one, half dozen of the other.

The sentiment is from Perennial Postage and is cut from one of the lovely circle dies from Everyday Details. I mounted it onto a circle of Silver Glimmer paper (online exclusive product), cut with Stylish Shapes. The beautiful Pool Party ribbon is a Sale-a-bration item.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

Orders over $90 will receive, as a free gift, the latest Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle. This bundle of 13 PDF tutorials is on the theme of Birthdays.

Here's a peek at the whole tutorial package.

Product List

Painted Lavender Bundle

[162597]

$99.00

Perennial Postage Bundle (English)

[162608]

$108.75

Everyday Details Dies

[162864]

$72.00

Stylish Shapes Dies

[159183]

$63.00

Pool Party A4 Card Stock

[124391]

$21.00

Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock

[146991]

$21.00

Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper

[149612]

$19.00

Silver & Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Adhesive Backed Glimmer Paper

[162288]

$14.75

Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad

[147107]

$19.00

Petal Pink Classic Stampin' Pad

[147108]

$19.00

Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad

[155611]

$19.00

Iridescent Rhinestones Basic Jewels

[158130]

$15.75

Pool Party 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Crinkle Ribbon

[162980]

$0.00

Wednesday, 8 February 2023

Sea Turtle for CI#137

Welcome back for our second challenge for 2023. Now that summer holidays are over and school is back, our challenges will appear regularly on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month.

And to celebrate summer, we have a vibrant palette for you, chosen by Crew Member, Lou Kitzelman.

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 Rochelle Laird-Smith 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 Melon Mambo for Polished Pink. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand and metallics are free colours, as are flesh toned Stampin' Blends.

So, where to take this colour combination? With some bright colours and a green, florals is always on the cards but instead, I've gone for an ocean theme.

I'm having a bit of a love affair with Sea Turtle at the moment. It's a sweet little set from the January-April 2023 Mini. If you're interested, you can see it at my online store here. Don't forget that Sale-a-Bration is running until the end of February, so you can earn a free gift with each $110 you spend.

These colours gave me a chance to get out one of my favourite techniques, Faux Torn Paper.

If you'd like to see how easy this is to do, you can watch me make this card in the tutorial below.

We'd love to have you join in the challenge with us. 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.

Product List