A Nostalgia Trip for AYSI 361

 Well, I do look forward to the week when we have a Speed Stamping Challenge at As You See It. There's something exciting about setting the timer and just getting on with the job.

However, Heather's theme of 'Apples' certainly threw me for a loop as I found I didn't have anything apple themed in my stash. I even thought I was going to have to give this challenge a miss, so sure was I my stash was sans-apples.

Then I remembered that one of my old favourites, Thoughtful Branches, had a tiny apple stamp in it. So the idea was born!

I started by stamping the trunk in Early Espresso, the leaves in Granny Apple Green and then those apples in Cherry Cobbler. The sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso. 

Then I cut the whole thing out with one of the dies from Everyday Arches. 

I cut a card base from Granny Apple Green card and a matching card front. The front was embossed with the new Beautiful Pattern embossing folder. 

As a finishing touch, I added a trio of Traditional Sparkling Sequins in Cherry Cobbler.  Final time, including some interior decoration, was ....

If you've never joined in with Speed Stamping, here's what you need to know.

• You have ten minutes to complete your card.
• Thinking time is not included, so you can plan what you're going to do beforehand.
• You can gather supplies - get out the stamp sets, dies, embellishments and card stock.  Put your stamps on the blocks. Get the inks and adhesives on the desk. 
• BUT once you cut, ink or stamp then the clock starts.
• Thankfully, clean up time is not included either. 😀

Will you take up the Speed Challenge? It turns out cardmaking is an adrenalin sport if 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.

Retro Rubber 82 - Design Team Card

Welcome to a new challenge at Retro Rubber - the challenge that lets you get out all your old favourites. This week, it's a Tic Tac Toe challenge and I'm particularly happy about it because this is the first time ever that I've made up the challenge. So, I've got a vested interest in hoping that you enjoy this challenge!

I've played the middle line - twine, die-cut, green. I've used the limited edition Thoughtful Branches and the associated Beautiful Branches dies from 2016 but I've mixed it up with some new colours and washi tape.

I think that the chance to breathe new life into older stamps by mixing them up with new products is one of the nicest things about Retro Rubber Challenge. It's also a chance to revisit old favourites that have languished behind the new toys.

We'd love to see what you do with this challenge - and I particularly would love to see what you make of the grid. Just make sure you use at least one stamp that's older than a year, give us an indication of how old it is and don't link up to more than ten other challenges.

I'm also taking inspiration from the challenge at The Card Concept. You can link up with this challenge until Monday 19 March. The trickiest part of this challenge is to describe your style. Upon reading the definitions, I think I'm too busy to be Clean and Simple and perhaps not layered enough to be Clean and Layered. So I can only conclude that my card is Clean and Simply Layered!

The gorgeous photo provided inspiration not only in the variety of greens but in the little details such as the twine on the travel tag.

If you live anywhere in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I'd love to help you with ideas and Stampin' Up products. Sale-a-bration is on and there's a new Special Occasion Catalogue out. Please message me through my Facebook page, linked in the sidebar of this blog or leave a comment below. 

If you live in New Zealand and you would like to join my Stampin' Up team, message me for a chat. And, of course, you can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking the SHOP NOW icon in the sidebar or from my Facebook page.

Ingredients

Card: Tranquil Tide, Whisper White, Lemon-Lime Twist, Crumb Cake

Stamps: Beautiful Branches

Inks: Tranquil Tide, Lemon-Lime Twist, Garden Green

Other: Beautiful Branches dies, Layering Circles framelits, Linen twine, Washi Tape Basic Pack 2, dimensionals, rhinestone

As You See It 161 - DT Card

This week, at As You See It, we have a theme challenge for you. I doubt it will be as scary as last week's Speed Challenge anyway! The ticking clock certainly adds pressure - whoever said cardmaking wasn't exciting?

If you live in a part of the world that celebrates Halloween, then this challenge will be a great one for you to sink your teeth into, vampire or not. I like this challenge because it also makes it easier for people like me who live in parts of the world where Halloween isn't a thing.

I have taken some of the inspiration from the photo, especially the colours and the moody sky. I've also taken some of the conventions of the horror genre - the full moon, the night, the skeletal tree and deserted house. The tree and sky are dwarfing the house deliberately to make add to the sense of isolation.

However, the truly scary thing is in being lonely and in being without someone important. So that's why the sentiment is ' Missing You'.

You can join up with us until Wednesday 1 November, 11.55 p.m. PST. 

We'd love to see what you see as SCARY.

Ingredients

Card: Fresh Fig, Whisper White, Basic Black, Whisper White

Stamps: Thoughtful Banners

Inks: Fresh Fig, Island Indigo, Night of Navy

Other: Beautiful Branches thinlits, Hometown Greetings edgelits, sponges, circle punch for moon mask

All products Stampin' Up.

Casology - Support

The cue word at Casology this week is 'support'. It's been a while since I played here and I was keen to play this week as I had an idea to explore.

Can bling and layers be clean and simple? I think the answer is yes, as long as the colour scheme is simple and there's still a lot of white space to counterbalance it. So, here's my experiment, in response to that question.

The inside continues the message of support, from Thoughtful Branches.

Update: Incredibly delighted to get an Honourable Mention at CASology.

Ingredients

Card: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Silver glimmer paper

Stamps: Thoughtful Branches, Sunshine Sayings

Inks: Bermuda Bay classic, Bermuda Bay ombre.

Other: Beautiful Branches thinlit dies, Metallic shapes.

Fab Friday 95

Loved the sketch at Fab Friday this week and just had to give it a whirl. In fact, I can see it being used again!

It's easy to get carried away using the new stuff that comes in those lovely brown boxes after a new catalogue but there was a lot of lovely stuff last year too and so I've given some of it an outing for this card. (Although the copper foil paper only arrived this very morning.)

Disappointingly, the sponging behind the trees which is perfectly obvious in real life just isn't showing up so well in the photos. The 'hills' are sponged in Crumb Cake and the sky in Soft Sky.

Update: So happy to be a Top Pick at Fab Friday!

Ingredients

Card: Garden Green, DSP from Peace This Christmas, Whisper White, Copper metallic foil, Mint Macaron

Stamps: Thoughtful Branches, Holly Jolly Greetings

Inks: Versamark, Garden Green, Soft Sky, Crumb Cake

Other: Christmas Greetings thinlits, Delicate Ornaments thinlits, Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler twine, Copper embossing powder.

CAS Colours and Sketches 188

The beautiful clean sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches this week lent itself nicely to a Christmas card I'd been thinking of.

I've rotated the sketch and used the tree from Thoughtful Branches as the focal point of the card.

Update: Delighted to be a Top Pick at CAS Colours and Sketches.

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, Gold foil, scrap of Gold glimmer paper

Stamps: Thoughtful Branches, Embellished Ornaments

Inks: Soft Suede, Garden Green, Versamark

Other: Gold embossing powder, Holly embossing folder, dimesionals, Mini-treat bag thinlits (for the star), Oval framelits

Create with Connie and Mary 418

Oh, such a beautiful colour combination at Create with Connie and Mary! I'm still in my "I can't get enough of Thoughtful Branches" phase and this combination seemed just perfect for it.

You could almost say that I just couldn't resist...

Ingredients

Card: Sweet Sugarplum, Mint Macaron, Whisper White

Stamps: Thoughtful Branches

Inks: Sweet Sugarplum,  Rich Razzleberry, Mint Macaron, Versamark

Other: White embossing powder, sponges, Affectionately Yours washi tape, Sweet Sugarplum ruched ribbon, dimensionals, a pearl

Fab Friday 93

The winter storms and cold temperatures continue and sadly, it's back to work tomorrow. Still, it was much better in my craft room today with electricity - so there was light and heating and embossing ability again! This morning I spied the sketch challenge at Fab Friday and have used that as inspiration for this card which is part of my continuing fascination with the Thoughtful Branches bundle.

Having made a similar sort of card recently, and  having spent a lot of time cutting up dimensionals into micro-dimensionals, I decided to just cut two extra layers of the flower heads to add in some dimension instead.

I added in some copper embossed flower centres to tie in with the washi tape that I've edged the cut-down Lots of Labels die with.

Update: Delighted to be picked in the  Fab Four at Fab Friday.

Ingredients

Card: Basic Black, Whisper White, Watermelon Wonder, Pop of Pink DSP

Stamps: Thoughtful Branches

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Watermelon Wonder, versamark

Other: Copper embossing powder, Thoughtful Branches thinlie dies, Lots of Labels dies, Affectionately Yours washi tape, dimensionals.

Pals Paper Arts 312

Friday night at home feels extra specially good when the wettest, coldest weather of the whole winter is raging outside. I nipped into my craft room after work (once the heating had kicked in) to make something for the sketch challenge at Pals Paper Arts. I love this sketch! So many possibilities...

I was very late to the Thoughtful Branches party but my set arrived last week and I'm in love with it! So I've used it here for this challenge as I'm still in experimental mode with it.

One leaf is silver glimmer paper, one is cut from paper that has been sponged with Bermuda Bay. The two small leaves have been stamped using the new ombre stamp pad, which is a real favourite of mine.

The rhinestones pick up the bling of the silver accents and reflect the shapes of the patterned paper and the roundness of the font.

Update: So delighted to be a Top Pick at Pals Paper Arts!

Ingredients

Card: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, scrap of Winter Wonderland specialty DSP from a couple of years ago, silver glimmer paper.

Stamps: Thoughtful Branches

Inks: Bermuda Bay, Bermuda Bay ombre pad, versamark

Other: Beautiful Branches thinlits, silver embossing powder, circle framelits, silver cord, dimensionals, rhinestones, sponges.