Retro Rubber 102 - Design Team Card

Welcome to a new year of challenges at Retro Rubber! 

Apart from all-new challenges nothing much has changed.  You still need to use stamps that are at least a year old, you still need to give us an indication of their age and we still don't want you to link up to more than ten challenges in total.

Jane's started off the year for us with an intriguing colour challenge - keep it to black and white.

This is a classic combination and I was almost overwhelmed with possibilities. I went for Touches of Texture, a set that came out in the 2016-17 Annual Catalogue. For the main panel, I've white embossed the images onto black card. The white layer is embossed with the Petal Burst embossing folder, which has also been around for the last couple of catalogues.

The sentiment is from another older set, Thoughtful Banners, also from the 2016 catalogue.

We'd love to see what you do with black and white only. Why not pop over to the Retro Rubber site to see what the rest of the team have done, then make your own retro creation to share with us?

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. Please message me through my Facebook page, linked in the sidebar of this blog or leave a comment below. 

And, of course, you can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking any of the products pictured below or the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar of this blog or you can message me.

Product List

Touches Of Texture Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[143251]

$69.00

Basic Black A4 Card Stock

[121688]

$17.75

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$20.50

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$19.00

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$12.00

White Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109132]

$10.50

Petal Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[141493]

$15.75

Rhinestone Basic Jewels

[144220]

$10.50

Retro Rubber 85 - Design Team Card

This week at Retro Rubber Challenge, we have a theme challenge: make a Vintage Card. Of course, since it's Retro Rubber that really means make a "Vintage Card Using Stamps At Least A Year Old And Tell Us How Old They Are"!

When I think vintage, I think colours: creams, browns, along with soft dusky tones of pinks and greens, hints of grey and burgundy. I think textures: lace and linen feel or twine. I think subject: flowers, Victoriana or retro. From my shelf, the set that came to mind was Touches of Texture, first seen in the 2016-17 catalogue.

The close-up shows my two favourite bits of this set - the tattered lace background stamp and the sweet bumble bee.

Inspiration for this card also came from the challenge at House of Cards. You can use this lovely vintage-look colour scheme or make a card with a floral corner - or both. You can join this challenge until the end of April.

Pop over to Retro Rubber Challenge and see what the rest of the Design Team have done.

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. Please message me through my Facebook page, linked in the sidebar of this blog or leave a comment below. 

And, of course, you can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar of this blog or any of the products in the Product List.

The sentiment for this card comes from A Dozen Thoughts, from the 2013-14 Annual Catalogue and it has now retired. The lace on the card comes from my sewing and quilting scrap box. The enamel dots in Peekaboo Peach have also retired. While Mint Macaron is a retired colour, the good news is that it will be back in the next Annual Catalogue in June, so if you missed it you won't have to wait long for it now.

Update: Very happy to be a Top 5 Pick at House of Cards.

Product List

Touches Of Texture Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[143251]

$69.00

Early Espresso A4 Card Stock

[121686]

$17.00

Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate

[131291]

$17.00

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

[106550]

$19.25

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[126974]

$14.00

Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad

[126976]

$14.00

Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad

[126965]

$14.00

Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad

[138326]

$14.00

Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin' Pad

[141398]

$14.00

Stamping Sponges

[141337]

$7.25

The Paper Players 375 - Design Team Card

I'm looking forward to a new bunch of challenges at The Paper Players this year. Our first challenge will give you a bit of a giggle. It's a theme challenge: Punny Valentine.

This one is a real mixture of bits and pieces. The flowers are from Touches of Texture. The fabulous bumble bee is from Dragonfly Dreams. The lettering and the hearts are from Labeller Alphabet.

The hexagonal embossing adds some theme-related texture.

The bee has his wings glammed up with some gold Wink of Stella and his white bits with clear  Wink of Stella.

We'd love to have you join us at The Paper Players this week. Here's a reminder of the rules of the challenge.

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. Entries linked to more than 4 challenges, including ours, will be deleted without notification.
5. Have fun!

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.

Ingredients

Card: Early Espresso, Whisper White, Gold foil

Stamps: Touches of Texture, Dragonfly Dreams, Labeller Alphabet

Inks: Powder Pink, Early Espresso, Gold versacolour

Other: Hexagonal embossing folder, mini-dimensionals, gold and clear Wink of Stella

Colour Inkspiration 11

I've been so busy lately that I haven't entered the challenges I wished I had. So it was a great pleasure to find the time to put together something for the eleventh challenge at Colour Inkspiration, a Facebook based challenge. The graphics are always beautiful and this one is no exception. It just begs you to come play!

It's been a while since I got out Touches of Texture but these colours seemed to call for it. As a background for the panel, I used the challenge colours as a base for a piece of faux metallic paper. I made this a few times around Christmas and used it in a class, where it was very popular. The new Garden Trellis embossing folder is perfect for this technique, I think. 

There are tiny pearls in the flower centres and there are some flicks of clear Wink of Stella in the mix as well. I couldn't resist tucking in a little bit of the gorgeous Copper Trim ribbon to pick up the touches of copper embossing on the background paper.

Ingredients

Card: Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla

Stamps: Touches of Texture, One Big Meaning

Inks: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Marina Mist inkpad and marker, Versamark

Other: Copper embossing powder, Stitched framelits, Layering oval framelits, Copper Trim, Garden Trellis embossing folder, pearls, clear Wink of Stella

As You See It 149 - DT card

This week at As You See It, we have a great sketch challenge for you.

Lots of possibilities in this one but those balloons on strings just made me think of the those big cornflowers in Touches of Texture. I haven't used this set for a while and enjoyed getting it out.

You have two weeks to join us. Just link up by 11.55 p.m. Wednesday 17 May, PST. We'd love to see how you see the sketch!

Ingredients

Card: Pacific Point, Crumb Cake, Shimmery cardstock

Stamps: Touches of Texture, One Big Meaning

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Crumb Cake, Sweet Sugarplum, So Saffron, Early Espresso; Watercolour pencils in Pacific Point, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight with blender pen

Other: clear Wink of Stella (bee wings), Sweet Sugarplum ruched ribbon

As You See It 148 - DT card

After last week's lovely sketch, this week at As You See It, we have a beautiful spring colour challenge for you.

With those colours, it was hard to go past florals. Touches of Texture is a fabulous set and I enjoyed getting out for this challenge. I black embossed the flower cluster and coloured it with markers.

We'd love to have you join us in this challenge. You have two weeks until Wednesday 3 May, 11.55 p.m. PST to show us how you see this challenge.

Ingredients

Card: Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Garden Green, Whisper White

Stamps: Touches of Texture, One Big Meaning

Inks: Versamark, Tuxedo Black, So Saffron, Stampin' Write markers in Garden Green and Pink Pirouette

Other: Black embossing powder, Layering Oval framelits, dimensionals, Washi Tape from Warmth and Cheer (retired), button in Garden Green (retired) and Garden Green twine (retired), dimensionals.

Case This Sketch 203

My need for a baby card was getting desperate: there was a real chance that the baby for whom gift had already been purchased would have outgrown the gift before even receiving it! Salvation came in the form of a fabulous sketch at Case This Sketch.

The colours were dictated by the gift itself: a navy and yellow striped tee-shirt and a couple of baby bibs in yellow, white and navy with stylised blooms and cute bees.

The yellow flowers were stamped, then masked before the splatter was applied. The centres are another small stamp from Touches of Texture.

It's not so obvious in this photo, but the bee has a coating of Wink of Stella to give him some shine. The die is from Detailed Dragonflies: the bee in this set is easy to overlook although neither the stamp nor the die deserve to be forgotten.

I just hope this baby hasn't grown too fast!

Ingredients

Card: Night of Navy (card base and bee), Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Navy DSP (now retired)

Stamps: Touches of Texture, Sunshine Sayings

Inks: Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight

Other: Detailed Dragonfly thinlits, Daffodil Delight enamel shapes, dimensional, SSS Stitched Hills and Slopes, clear Wink of Stella

Paper Players 310

I always look at what's happening at The Paper Players, although I usually only play during school holidays because of the the timing of it so with a bit of time off school, it was a pleasure to play this week.

I really loved the sketch that was put up this week.

 I also wanted to give my Touches of Texture stamps another try out, so here's how that ended up...

Some of the flowers have been stamped off first to give some tonal variations.

The flower centres have been stippled with a metallic copper pen. The bee's wings have had Wink of Stella applied and some of the small flower centres have been embellished with pearls.

Ingredients

Card: Dapper Denim, Very Vanilla, Delightful Dijon

Stamps: Touches of Texture, Labeller Alphabet

Inks: Dapper Denim, Delightful Dijon, Old Olive, Early Espresso

Other: Moroccan suite washi tape, Sparkle embossing folder, dimensionals, pearls, Wink of Stella, copper pen.

GDP49 and Casology Dream

I was on Facebook chatting with some crafters the other day about favourite challenges. This card is inspired by two of them, even though I don't play them as often as I'd like.

Global Design Project has a lovely colour challenge and Casology's cue word is 'Dream.'

An interesting couple of things to combine really. Add into the mix that tonight, after my Thursday card class, I wanted to play with Touches of Texture because that's my featured set next month - and I just like it a lot! So, here's where I ended up:

The masked and sponged strip has been flicked with water to lift some of the ink. Pear Pizzazz at the bottom leads up through to the Daffodil Delight, leading the eye from the earth upwards to the sun and the bee taking flight: a kind of visual journey to support the sentiment. The lacy pattern splats run through from horizontal to vertical up to the sun and bee also to lead the eye upwards.

The bee's wings and the flower centres have a wee coat of clear Wink of Stella, not so visible in the photo.

And a little peek inside...

Ingredients

Card: Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White, Watercolour paper

Stamps: SU Touches of Texture, Clearly Besotted Say It In Style.

Inks: Pear Pizzazz, Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, Tuxedo Black

Other: Wink of Stella, Pear Pizzazz marker, sponges, spritzer.