Thinking Stamping

Saturday, 17 July 2021

Gorgeous Leaves for CAS Colours and Sketches 428

Heavy rain and wind makes for a perfect opportunity to play with new stamp sets some more! These clouds really did have a silver lining. 😀

I used the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches to explore some more with the aptly named Gorgeous Leaves bundle.

It was also a chance to try out the absolutely marvellous Cork Specialty DSP. When you see the July-December Mini Catalogue, available at the start of August, you'll find both this bundle and this paper. The Cork Specialty DSP is thin like paper but textured like cork. I backed it with a square of Early Espresso for the central element of the sketch.

The Very Vanilla card front is embossed with the also new Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder.

The sentiment, and the die it's cut with, come from the Harvest Meadow bundle. I think that another favourite will be the Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed dots. These come in two sizes, as you see here, and three finishes: gold, copper and pewter.

What I'm very pleased to see is how well the Gorgeous Leaves bundle works with the Harvest Meadow Suite. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of all of these products from me in the next little while.

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.

Because almost everything in this card is a sneak peek at yet-to-be released products, I'm not posting a list that links to my online store. If you're interested in knowing more, or would like to order then once they're available, please message me. Please note that I can only sell within New Zealand. Colours used are: Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry and Very Vanilla.

If you'd like to be able to take advantage of early access to new products, then join my team of demonstrators.

Wednesday, 14 July 2021

CASE the Designer for AWOW July

Welcome to this month's Around the World on Wednesday blog hop. If you've not visited us before, we hop on the second Wednesday of every month with a theme to inspire you. It's 'around the world' because we represent each time zone that Stampin' Up! operates in: from New Zealand (me) all the way around to Hawaii. Here we all are.

This month's theme is to CAS(E) another designer on the team - the person following us on the hop. I was delighted to discover that after me comes Leonie Stuart. I had the pleasure of meeting Leonie at On Stage in Auckland a couple of years ago and we're both on the Crew at Colour INKspiration. Most of all, I was delighted because I love her work. You can see more of Leonie on her blog Stamping Inspiration by Leonie.

I spent some time looking through the blog but the card I loved the most was the one Leonie sent me for my birthday recently. It was this one that she did for Colour INKspiration 95.

It turns out that CAS(E)ing someone whose work you love can be quite stressful! It took me three goes to come up with something I was happy with... and here it is.

As you can see, I kept many of the elements of Leonie's design. The layout is the same but I replaced the strongly coloured flowers with some more subtly sponged butterflies. I've used some Soft Sea Foam die cuts from the Meadow dies to replace the white and blue flowers and foliage of her card. I've also kept the twists of gold cord. I've also kept the white card base, although I'm much more likely to use a coloured card base in my own designs.

I replaced the very pretty lacy die cut on the other diagonal with the die cut holes from the Brilliant Wings dies. Leonie's sentiment was half stamped, half embossed but I've gone for a fully gold embossed sentiment instead.

I'm pleased with how this turned out. I can still see Leonie's design clearly but have made it my own as well.

And now, you can continue the CAS(E) hop by visiting Leonie, who will have cased the person following her.

In case you get lost on the hop, or encounter a broken link, here's a list of participants with links.

Jan Clothier - NZ

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cazz Boylan - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Danielle Kassing - NL

Mikaela Titheridge - UK

Elaine de Montmorency - CA

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert - US

Teri West - US

Cheryl Hamilton - US

Product List

Butterfly Brilliance Bundle

[155821]

$115.00

Art Gallery Bundle

[156227]

$105.25

Basic White A4 Thick Cardstock

[159230]

$17.25

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$20.50

Soft Sea Foam A4 Cardstock

[147012]

$18.50

Meadow Dies

[155852]

$80.00

Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' Pad

[147102]

$15.75

Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad

[155611]

$15.75

Pale Papaya Classic Stampin' Pad

[155670]

$15.75

Blending Brushes

[153611]

$25.25

Simply Elegant Trim

[155766]

$15.75

2021–2023 In Color Jewels

[155571]

$14.75

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Nature's Harvest for CI 103

Welcome to a new challenge at Colour INKspiration. This lovely image and colourway was chosen by Crew Member Cheryll Miller.

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 two 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. This time, we have the talented Karen Hadler joining us as Guest Designer.

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

Procrastinating for this challenge turned out to be a good thing because while I was doing it, my pre-order box of goodies from the forthcoming July-December Mini Catalogue arrived. The new Harvest Meadow DSP contains both Bumblebee and Soft Succulent in its colour-way, so it was easy from there to create something to go with it.

After stamping the image from Nature's Harvest onto watercolour paper in Stazon, I water coloured the leaves in Soft Succulent and Evening Evergreen, the flowers in Bumblebee and Pale Papaya and die cut it out. Yes, this amazing set comes with dies!

Also in this sneak peek, you'll notice the FABULOUS embossing folder, Timeworn Type, and the equally amazing Brushed Metallic Adhesive-backed Dots. And look - the dies even come with labels to match some of the sentiments!

I'm pretty sure that this suite is going to be the latest at the top of my list of favourites.

The Colour INKspiration crew would love to see what you do with these colours, so please play along with us.

As almost all of the products in this card are not released until the start of August, I'm not providing a product list with links to my online store. However, if you're interested in finding out more or how to get them when they are available, please message me. (New Zealand residents only).

Tuesday, 13 July 2021

Art Gallery for Paper Players 549

The colour challenge at The Paper Players really appealed to me. Thank goodness for a rainy day, which made extra craft time guilt free!

Here's the challenge colours: all colours I like but haven't used nearly enough.

If you read yesterday's post, you'll know I received a box of pre-order goodies. Already, I'm pairing up some of them with existing items. The Harvest Meadow DSP is new but the stamp bundle is Art Gallery, a favourite of mine. The Harvest Meadow DSP is from the forthcoming July-December Mini Catalogue and will be available from the start of August.

I've used the very pretty bobble-edged die from Ornate Layers as a mat for the flowers.

Product List

NB: The Harvest Meadow DSP will be available from August.

Art Gallery Bundle

[156227]

$105.25

Misty Moonlight A4 Cardstock

[153086]

$18.50

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$20.50

Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' Pad

[153118]

$15.75

Bumblebee Classic Stampin' Pad

[153116]

$15.75

Just Jade Classic Stampin' Pad

[153115]

$15.75

Ornate Layers Dies

[152726]

$78.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Sunday, 11 July 2021

Gorgeous Leaves for CAS 427

It's always a pleasure to see the courier come up the drive to deposit a box of Stampin' Up! goodness at my door. Friday afternoon was no exception -in fact, even better than normal because it contained my pre-order on the August-December Mini Catalogue. Did you know that getting early access to products from upcoming catalogues is a demonstrator benefit? And that's whether or not you're running classes or a hobbyist.

Anyway, once things are out of the box I'm naturally itching to try things out. Inspiration for the first outing of the Gorgeous Leaves bundle came from the autumnal colours of this week's challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches.

I love to sponge and mask and a favourite technique of mine is to use torn paper as a mask. These wonderful stamps and dies just seemed perfect for both.

I started by tearing some copy paper into two pieces and attaching them to the Basic White card front with Post-It notes. Blending brushes made the application of Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie very easy.

Before removing the masks, I added in some stamped images in Cajun Craze.

It looked a little flat, so I added in three small die cut leaves so that they broke the frame.

The Gorgeous Leaves stamp set is images only, so I added in the bold 'Happy Birthday' from Artistically Inked.

I think I'll be using this set a lot in the future - it's got so many possibilities. It will be available for order at the start of August.

Update: Delighted to be a Weekly Winner at CAS Colours and Sketches

Product List

Note: The Gorgeous Leaves bundle will be available at the start of August.

Artistically Inked Cling Stamp Set

[154542]

$50.00

Cajun Craze A4 Card Stock

[121683]

$18.50

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$20.50

Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad

[147085]

$15.75

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

[147087]

$15.75

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad

[147086]

$15.75

Blending Brushes

[153611]

$25.25

Friday, 9 July 2021

Plentiful Plants for AYSI 254

The sketch challenge is the first in our rotation of challenges at As You See It. I always like a sketch challenge as it makes it easy to get started. We're excited to see what everyone comes up with this week.

I've been working a lot with the Plentiful Plants bundle. It seemed to me that the Paper Lattice would be a great element to use as the larger rectangle in this design and the rest of it went from there.

The smaller rectangle is from the Bloom Where You're Planted DSP and like the way that one side of each piece in the pack is a natural design. This one is like stone but there's also some wooden and brick designs too.

I stamped and die cut the foliage and the pot as the flower element of the design. As the sentiment is large, I scooched it sideways to the horizontal element rather than leaving it in the same spot as the sketch. When you're playing with a sketch, it's a starting point and as long as we can still see the bones of the sketch in your creation, you're fine.

The Design Team love looking at your creations to see how you see the challenge. You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your entry at the As You See It Challenge site.

Product List