Thinking Stamping: Stampin' Up

Showing posts with label Stampin' Up. Show all posts

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

Fern & Flora for Around the World on Wednesday

Welcome to the latest hop for Around the World on Wednesday. I hope you're all feeling ready to create!

On the second Wednesday of each month, the team put together a thematic hop to give you some inspiration for your own crafting. We love it when you try out something new or CAS(E) one of our projects. The team is truly international, with members from each time zone of the world that Stampin' Up! operates. You're with me, in New Zealand - the first place in the Stampin' Up! world to change the date. 😀

This month, Angie has given us the theme of 'Let's Celebrate!' That's a pretty open theme but I think the best celebration is a birthday, so that's what I've gone for.

My own favourite bundle from the May-August Catalogue is the fabulous Fern & Flora bundle. Maybe it's because our national emblem is a silver fern but all the die cuts and stamps are just wonderful.

One of the more interesting techniques I've come across over the years of stamping is retiform and I like to get it out and experiment with it again from time to time, so I'm also celebrating this technique. I thought it might work well with Fern & Flora.

While in experimental mode, I thought I'd try working with analogous colours for a change. Usually, I've done this with complimentary colours. For stamping, I used Granny Apple Green, Lemon-Lime Twist and Lemon Lolly. I did add a touch of Daffodil Delight to the colouring of the moths, the matte and the die cuts. I also added some Mossy Meadow to the die cuts but both of these additions were still in the same colour grouping.

After creating the cells and adding the stamping, I coloured some of the images with Lemon-Lime Twish and Lemon Lolly Stampin' Blends. I added the sentiment, from Rolling Waves, in Basic Gray.

To finish off, I added a double bow in Linen Thread to the cluster of foliage and a trio of Dewdrops embellishments. I also stamped an extra moth and popped it up on dimensionals over where it has been stamped. While not easy to see, it did get a coating of Wink of Stella too.

Next up on the hop is the wonderful Leonie Stuart in Australia who will share yet another way to celebrate with you.

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.

Here's a blog roll in case you get lost, or want to revisit someone.

Jan Clothier - NZ - You are here

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Sunday, 11 January 2026

Nature's Symphony for Paper Players 768

Welcome to the first challenge of 2026 at The Paper Players! I hope you're all feeling refreshed, with full buckets, after the holiday season and are ready to start crafting again.

LeAnne has an intriguing colour challenge for us to play with this week. I do like blues, so the mix of Misty Moonlight and Night of Navy with Silver was very appealing to me - as I hope it is for you.

I was keen to play with one of my pre-order goodies, the Nature's Symphony bundle, which I'd not had time to get to over Christmas. The coordinating Nature Walk DSP is lovely, in shades of green but I thought the images would work well with LeAnne's palette too.

The card base is Night of Navy, which peeks through the Basic White card base because I used one of the texture dies to punch in some lines of dots. I really like this die but there are other textures I could have used too.

I stamped the large foliage with Misty Moonlight and added diecuts in Silver foil and Night of Navy. The die cuts were layered over the stamped image and the die cut lines of dots.

The sentiment, from the set, is stamped in Night of Navy and cut using one of the Textured Notes dies.

A trio of silvery Rhinestone Jewels completed the card.

What will you do with LeAnne's colours?

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

Christy Stanford

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

Wednesday, 31 December 2025

The Avid Craft Collective Stamp Camp January 2026

The Avid Craft Collective - Julia Quinn, Tracy Held and I - are getting ready for our next online Stamp Camp. This time, we'll not be showcasing a suite but a collection of products that we like from the January-April 2026 Mini Catalogue.

We've chosen to work with the Gears & Textures bundle, Nature Walk DSP, Textured Metallic Specialty Paper, and Faux Bronze Penatgon embellishments.

Gears & Textures is an image only set, so we'll be using the Simply Said stamp set for our sentiments this camp. If you don't have it already, you can add it on to your camp order or choose to use another sentiment set you have in your stash.

When is the Stamp Camp?

We will be going live to present the making of the nine projects on Saturday 24 January at 11 am NZT.

Of course, the presentations will be recorded so that you can rewatch them or watch at your leisure if you can't make it at the live time.

How many projects will we make?

There will be instructions for nine projects: three fancy folds and six standard cards.

Each of the three ACC members have created three projects especially for the tutorials.

How can I participate?

There are three ways to join in the stamp camp. The Ultimate Package and Kit Package are only available to New Zealand residents.

1. The Ultimate Package

The Gears & Textures bundle (stamps and dies)
1/4 pack of Nature Walk DSP
a 6" x 12" piece of each of the three colours in the Textured Metallic Specialty Paper
a pack of Faux Bronze Pentagons
Kits containing the cut cardstock required to make each of the nine projects
Envelopes
PDF tutorial with full instructions in metric and imperial
Access to the Exclusive Facebook Group including recordings of the live presentations.

COST: $170 (plus postage if not pickup)

2. The Kit Package

1/4 pack of Nature Walk DSP
a 6" x 12" piece of each of the three colours in the Textured Metallic Specialty Paper
a pack of Faux Bronze Pentagons
Kits containing the cut cardstock required to make each of the nine projects
Envelopes
PDF tutorial with full instructions in metric and imperial
Access to the Exclusive Facebook Group including recordings of the live presentations.

COST: $85 (plus postage if not pickup)

NOTE: This does not include the stamps and dies, so unless you already have them or plan to get them, this is not a good option.

3. The Virtual Package

PDF tutorial with full instructions in metric and imperial
Access to the Exclusive Facebook Group including recordings of the live presentations.

COST: $40

Here's a peek at the three projects I have contributed.

How do I join in?

Decide which option you'd like.
Decide if you'd like to add on the Simply Said stamp set.
Contact me by commenting below if you'd like to join in. If you are a customer or class member of mine already, you can text me.
Registration for the Ultimate Package and Kit Package closes on 9 January to ensure that the ordered products will arrive in time to get to you before 24th.
The Virtual Package is available until the products are retired.

Julia, Tracy and I look forward to sharing some creative crafting time with you. Please ask if you have any questions. 😀

Saturday, 2 March 2024

Latte Love for Freshly Made Sketches 625

I'm just so easily distracted! Once again, I was persuaded - by myself - to leave off my list of jobs and play around with new stuff instead! Again, the new stuff was the Latte Love bundle and the distraction was the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

The Latte Love bundle and the A Little Latte DSP will be available from Online Exclusives from 4 March. What I particularly like about the DSP is that there are both subtle, small scale patterns as well as colourful, in-your-face papers as well. So there's something for everyone but no prize for guessing that my favourite is small and subtle. 😀

I coloured one of the mugs with Stampin' Blends in Pool Party and Lost Lagoon. The other was stamped in Early Espresso on the same coloured card. I really like the little stamps that give you the coffee in the cup. Very sweet!

Those that know me know that I love my coffee, so the sentiment is a real compliment!

Earn a Free Gift

Purchase either the Gorgeous Garden dies or the Hooray for Surprises bundle from me and you'll receive FOUR PDF Join in with Joanne and Jan tutorials matching the purchase: two by me and two by UK Demonstrator Joanne James aka The Crafty Owl.

Wednesday, 10 January 2024

Around the World on Wednesday January 2024

Welcome to a new hop with the crew at Around the World on Wednesday. On the second Wednesday of each month, the team put together a thematic hop to give you some inspiration for your own crafting. We love it when you try out something new or CAS(E) one of our projects. The team is truly international, with members from each time zone of the world that Stampin' Up! operates. You're with me, in New Zealand - the first place in the Stampin' Up! world to change the date. 😀

This month, we have a Sketch Challenge for you. I love a sketch challenge - they're my favourite kind.

The sketch was a great way to try out one of my new pre-order purchases from the January-April 2024 Mini Catalogue. This gorgeous Perennial Lavender suite has it all: two stamp bundles, DSP and fabulous embellishments. I didn't mean to buy it all - it just sort of ended up in my cart bit by bit. 😀

Of course, you don't HAVE to have it all. You can choose select items.

Anyway, here's my first play around with it, in response to the challenge sketch.

The embossing folder that I used was the Exposed Brick 3D Folder, one of my favourites.

To create the flowers, I die cut the stems from Basic White card then coloured them with Stampin' Blends, in a mix of Fresh Freesia, Highland Heather and the tiniest touches of Blackberry Bliss (light).

Aren't the embellishments wonderful? They're the Purple Fine Shimmer Gems from the suite.

You can see how it all came together in this tutorial.

I think this is a suite you'll be seeing a lot of in the coming months! It's a delight.

Next up on the hop is the wonderful Leonie Stuart from Australia who will show you another way to use the sketch.

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.

If you should get lost on the hop, or want to revisit, here's a list of links to the participants.

Jan Clothier - NZ - You are here

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Danielle Kassing - NL

Ximena Morales - DE

Aurélie Fabre - FR

Mikaela Titheridge - UK

Tina Zinck-MacDonald - CA

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert - US

Wednesday, 25 October 2023

Gorgeously Made for Stampin' Fancy Friday

This month, the theme at Stampin' Fancy Friday is 'Gratitude'. We don't blog hop as such but the team at Stampin' Fancy Friday do a daily inspiration post on Instagram. The team at Stampin' Fancy Friday are all current or past members of Stampin' Up!'s Artisan Design Team, so it really is a great place to pick up ideas or recharge your creative mojo. Follow @stampinfancyfriday if you don't already. 😀

Today, I'm sharing my project which appeared on Instagram a few days ago. Regular readers will know that I have a real soft spot for the Gorgeously Made bundle, so I just couldn't help myself but to get it out again!

I enjoyed making this card so much that I made a video tutorial to share it with you. I hope you give it a go - it's much easier than it looks!

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 will receive the Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle, with 13 projects, as a thank you gift.

And if you purchase the Joy of Noel 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, 11 January 2023

Adorable Owls for Around the World on Wednesday

Thank you for joining in with the latest hop from the crew at Around the World on Wednesday. If you haven't hopped with us before, we're a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from every time zone in the world where Stampin' Up! operates. We share with you on the first Wednesday of each month. You're here with me, in New Zealand.

Each month we present a different theme to inspire you to create.

This month, our theme is 'CASE the Mini Duo.' You might be wondering just what that is but it's both simple and exciting. Stampin' Up!'s January-April 2023 Mini Catalogue has just gone live, so our task was to find a project in it that we liked then remake it our own way. Using the catalogue samples as inspiration is a great way to get your creative energy flowing when it's running on empty.

I've chosen this sample from page 67, featuring the Best Day stamp set.

In CASEing it, I've kept the general layout and the use of the numbered background. Here's my take on it...

I've used a number of items from both the new Mini and the accompanying Sale-a-Bration promotion. If you're new to Stampin' Up!, Sale-a-Bration is the best time to do your buying because each $110 spent in an order lets you choose a free item from the Sale-a-Bration brochure. There's even some extra special Level 2 rewards that you can only earn with a $220 purchase but they are really beautiful items. With all the fabulous new things in the catalogue, you'll soon have yourself a long wish list. You can view both the new catalogue and the Sale-a-Bration brochure at my on line store, or by clicking the links in the sidebar of this blog. Of course, if you live in New Zealand, you can shop with me too.

Some of the new items used include the Dandy Designs DSP (Sale-a-Bration), Adorable Owls (Sale-a-Bration) and the Alphabet a la Mode dies.

If you'd like to make one of your own, then here's my video tutorial to give you some tips on how to go about it. There's even some variation from the original to give you even more ideas.

Next up on the hop is the wonderful Leonie Stuart in Australia.

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.

Here's a list of blog participants, in case you get lost or want to re-visit someone.

Jan Clothier - NZ - You are here

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cazz Boylan - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Melissa Gifford - AU

Danielle Kassing - NL

Ximena Morales - DE

Aurélie Fabre - FR

Mikaela Titheridge - UK

Tina Zinck-MacDonald - CA