Thinking Stamping

Sunday, 6 July 2025

Prairie Grass for Paper Players

We had such wonderful entries in Jaydee's Tic-Tac-Toe last week, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's creativity this week. Our hostess this week at The Paper Players is Stef. She has a theme challenge for us: Round We Go! Feature Circles on your card. Interesting, right?

As it happens, I'm very fond of circles and often use them in my work. Today I've used them to create a background for a new stamp from Online Exclusives, Prairie Grass.

To start off with, I created some circle masks from some scraps of window sheet. I used four different punches to create the masks. The exact sizes are not really important. I was looking for a good range of sizes to play around with. From memory, the smallest was a 1/2" punch and the largest 1 3/4" to give you an idea but I could equally have used circle dies to cut them.

Then I used Azure Afternoon and Lemon-Lime Twist inks and used Blending Brushes to apply colour through the mask. I started with the largest circle at the bottom, added in the next largest circle twice, then placed the smaller two around them until I was happy with the composition. Fair to say, this is part of the process where there's some trial and error to get a pleasing layout. I used varying intensities of the colour to add variation too.

Using Tuxedo Black, I inked up some of the grass images and stamped them over the circles. I think another time I'd try out black embossing to see how that looks.

The sentiment, from The Right Words is stamped in Tuxedo Back onto Lemon-Lime Twist and cut using my favourite banner die from Stylish Shapes. The Right Words is rapidly becoming my go-to sentiment only set because of the range of occasions covered, the variety of font styles and the two-part greetings.

To finish of my circle-theme, I added in some Black dots from the Neutral Matte Dots to tie in with the black twine from the Basic Essentials pack.

I like this layout and I think it would work with many colour combinations especially a sunrise or sunset colourway.

You can see what the rest of the design team have done, and link up your entry, at The Paper Players page.

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

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, 2 July 2025

Perfectly Pears for Atlantic Hearts Challenge 636

Doing well this week on my playing 'just for fun' resolution! Today, I'm joining in with Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

I love a sketch challenge and this one was begging me to use the new Painterly Pears suite, just released in the Online Exclusives section of my store.

I'm loving the beautiful images of fruit and flowers, the rich colours and the vintage feel of the stamps, dies and DSP. Of course, there are gorgeous embellishments too: a Mossy Meadow and Gold ribbon and pretty dots.

This card came together pretty quickly, especially as I played the sketch in a straightforward interpretation. Three strips of Painterly Pears DSP with the ends carefully torn attached to a Basic White card front, embossed with the Exposed Brick 3D embossing folder.

I cut a circle with one of the Spotlight on Nature dies and stamped the sentiment in Secret Sea before attaching it to the strips of DSP.

The pears were stamped in Old Olive and Darling Duckling then die cut. I added a die cut stem in Old Olive as well as some fruit blossoms. They were stamped in Secret Sea with Darling Duckling centres then die cut.

These bits and pieces were arranged on the circle, around the sentiment. Some were popped up to add dimension. The final touch was a trio of low profile Sparkle Dots in Secret Sea. All done!

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

Sunday, 29 June 2025

Gallery Blooms for Paper Players 744

Wasn't Elizabeth's one-layer challenge both a bit daunting and a lot of fun? We got such creative entries, I can't wait to see what you do with this Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge from Jaydee.

I do like a TTT challenge and for this one, I've used the first column as inspiration: CAS, Flowers, Postal Element.

I've been playing around with Gallery Blooms quite a bit lately, mainly because I really love the big spray of flowers in the set. I started by stamping it in Tuxedo Black onto my white card front. I coloured it using Petunia Pop, Daffodil Delight and Shy Shamrock Stampin' Blends.

I used a sentiment from The Right Words, a sentiment only set that is proving to be invaluable. Not only does is have a group of really useful sentiments in a variety of fonts, each sentiment come in two parts so you have the option of using a related sentiment on the inside of your card.

Then it was time to employ the postal element of the grid: Perennial Postage dies. I cut out a postage stamp from the centre of the blooms. Then I popped it back into place using dimensionals - which means that I also employed the Eclipse Technique. 😀

I used Iridescent Pearls as embellishments.

As I worked, I wondered what it would look like on a coloured base, so I did the same thing again (almost) by using a Petunia Pop base. The birthday sentiment is also from The Right Words and I used some Shy Shamrock embellishments to finish off.

Which line of the Tic-Tac-Toe will you choose as inspiration?

You can see what the rest of the design team have done, and link up your entry, at The Paper Players page.

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

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

Friday, 27 June 2025

Thankful Garden for As You See It 351

It's time for a colour challenge at As You See It this week. Don't forget that the Featured Artist in this week's gallery will be offered the opportunity to Guest Design with us in our next Recipe Challenge. That's a fun way to put your toe in the water of being on a team if you've not done it before.

With that gorgeous floral graphic and the sunny colours, it was hard to go past florals for this challenge. My go-to florals at the moment (by a narrow squeak) is the Thankful Garden bundle. I love the stamps and dies with the extra bits but the addition of a layered set of stencils gives even more otpions. You'll find this set in the Online Exclusives section of the store.

With such impactful colours and a large striking floral image, this card didn't need much else. I started by stamping the large image and using the layered stencils, and blending brushes, to colour it. I used a sponge dauber to colour the centre of the bloom in Peach Pie. Once the colouring was complete, I die cut the image.

I used the Forever Plaid 3D embossing folder to give the card front some texture. The sentiment was stamped in Basic Black and cut using one of the Textured Notes dies. I cut a shadow die from Peach Pie to underline the sentiment. The card base is Melon Mambo.

To finish off, I used a trio of Peach Pie Resin dots.

The whole team would love to see how you see these bright colours. You can see what the rest of the team have done, and link up your entry, at the As You See It Challenge page.

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

Thursday, 26 June 2025

Perfectly Pears for Freshly Made Sketches 692

Even though today is a busy day, I couldn't help but find time to play along with the new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. What a fabulous sketch from Narelle!

I've been playing around with the Perfectly Pears bundle lately in preparation for a Stamp Camp with the Avid Craft Collective in August. This gorgeous suite will be available from the new drop of Online Exclusives on 1 July and I've become quite addicted to it!

I started by stamping the small pear image three times in Secret Sea. I used the watercolour-style fill stamp to colour the fruit in Darling Duckling, Old Olive and in one, a touch of Cherry Cobbler as well. After colouring the foliage with Stampin' Blends, I die cut them out, along with a couple of trellis pieces in Basic Beige. I also stamped some pear blossoms in Secret Sea, with Darling Duckling centres, and die cut those out too.

Originally, I used a piece of the Painterly Pears DSP for the vertical block in the sketch but switched it out to a piece of Basic White, embossed with the Exposed Brick 3D Embossing Folder.

The sentiment is from the Perfectly Pears set and is cut using a banner from Stylish Shapes.

To carry through the Basic Beige from the trellis pieces, and to help ground the pears, I added in some script stamping from Elements of Text, using Basic Beige ink.

After that, it was fun to arrange the elements over the embossed section, popping up the pears and sentiment on dimensionals. The finishing touch was to add in three of the pretty Secret Sea Sparkle Dots.

Update: Delighted to be a Perfect Princess at Freshly Made Sketches.

Details of the Painterly Pears Stamp Camp in August will be available soon but you can message me if you can't wait! Don't forget this suite will be available on 1 July.

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! 😀

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 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.

Sunday, 22 June 2025

Textured Notes for Paper Players 743

Well, Elizabeth has given us an interesting sketch for this week's challenge at The Paper Players!

Her only requirement is that we make a ONE LAYER CARD.

So that means that all we have to work with is a folded card base and all stamping and inking is applied directly to that. One team member said that if it needs glue, it isn't one layer! That's a handy thing to remember when you're doing this challenge.

I've used masks to create the illusion of layers. I masked off the edge of the card front with carefully placed painter's tape. Then I stamped the leaves from Notes of Texture in Mossy Meadow and added some splatter in Crushed Curry from Elements of Text.

Then I used a rectangle of card to mask off the stamping, leaving half centimetre gap between the painters tape and the rectangle. Then I sponged in some Old Olive starting at the corner and letting it bleed out in each direction. When you take away the rectangle of card, you're left with a solid line of colour that gives the illusion of a layer.

Then I sponged in some Crushed Curry lightly around the stamping to give it some grounding.

I repeated this in the diagonally opposite corner but instead of foliage I used one of the greetings and I deliberately scaled this corner to be slightly smaller than the top one.

Once all the sponging and stamping had been completed, I carefully (very carefully) removed the tape from the edges of the card front. Voila - all done!

I'm really interested to see how everyone goes about creating a one layer card - and remember that if you've used glue it probably isn't one layer!

You can see what the rest of the design team have done, and link up your entry, at The Paper Players page.

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