Best Year for CI 104

 

We had amazing entries in our last challenge and we're really looking forward to what you do with the latest challenge. It's a stark and dramatic colourway: Basic Black, Basic White and Cherry Cobbler.

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 Tracy Held 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.

The July-December Mini Catalogue (formerly the Holiday Catalogue) will be live on 3 August. Along with that, there is a brand new round of Sale-abration where you can choose an item from the Sale-abration brochure for each $110 you spend in a single order (excluding postage).

One of those items is the set of gorgeous 12x12 Beautifully Penned DSP, all designs in Basic Black and Basic White. Black and White papers are such a versatile product, whether you use them plain or add your own colour with Stampin' Blends or Blending Brushes. The sharp-eyed will have noticed that this DSP coordinates with the Hand Penned Bundle from the Annual Catalogue, but you can use it alone too as I have here.

The card front is embossed with the Parisian Flourishes 3D embossing folder. The die cut butterfly is from Brilliant Wings. 

The sentiment is from an unexpected favourite from the Annual Catalogue, Best Year. This set has a selection of useful sentiments. Especially nice is that some of them have a matching sentiment for the inside of the card in the same font. 

The label for the sentiment and butterfly is made with the Lovely Labels punch.

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

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.

Product List

NB: Beautifully Penned DSP available from 3 August. Free SAB item.

Best Year Cling Stamp Set (English)

[152568]

$42.00

Basic White A4 Thick Cardstock

[159230]

$17.25

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$20.50

Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock

[121681]

$18.50

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$12.00

Parisian Flourish 3D Embossing Folder

[151474]

$21.00

Brilliant Wings Dies

[155523]

$92.00

Lovely Labels Pick A Punch

[152883]

$48.00

Rhinestone Basic Jewels

[144220]

$10.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Gorgeous Leaves for AYSI 255

 This week at As You See It Challenge, it's colour week. We've got a pretty mix for you and one that could go in many directions.

I've taken them down the autumnal route, with another sneak peek at the Gorgeous Leaves bundle from the July-December Mini Catalogue, out on 3 August.

I've also used the soon-to-be-available Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder. It's sure to be a favourite.

I started by adding Garden Green, Cajun Craze, Calypso Coral and Crushed Curry re-inkers to some wet Water Colour paper. Once this was dry, I cut one of the lovely intricate leaf dies from it. 

I also used the same re-inkers to create an ink pad out from a baby wipe and used that to ink up the solid leaf, which was then die cut.

I used some of the smaller  stamps from Gorgeous Leaves to stamp a ground for the die cut leave, applied before embossing the panel.

The sentiment, and the label it is on, are both from the Harvest Meadow bundle, also from the July-December Mini Catalogue.

You can see what the rest of the team have done and link up your entry by visiting the As You See It Challenge site. 

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.

Mountain Air for Retro Rubber 163

Welcome to another challenge at Retro Rubber Challenge. Tic Tac Toe is one of my favourites - and not just because I came up with it! As usual, you can make what you please as long as it matches one of the lines in the grid: horizontal, vertical or diagonal. Since it's Retro Rubber, then you need to use at least one stamp that's a year or more old AND give us an approximate age for it.

Because masculine cards are something I often avoid, I deliberately created a board that steers us towards masculine so there was no escape for me! Of course, if you see something non-masculine here, you're free to run with it.

I've gone for the bottom row: stripes, the outdoors, twine.

I created some stripes from strips of wood-grain paper from the In Good Taste DSP pack. I've placed them over a base of Basic White, embossed with the Tasteful Textiles folder. 

I've used the Mountain Air set to create the scene and added some die cut trees, in Mossy Meadow, from the coordinating Majestic Mountain dies. This set, and dies, first appeared in the Occasions Catalogue in January 2020 and are still current.

The sentiment is from the retired Clubhouse stamp set, cut with one of the Tasteful Labels dies.

Blending brushes made the addition of sky and grassland very easy. 

We'd all love to see what you do with this Tic Tac Toe grid and see what masculine masterpieces you whip up! 

You can see what the rest of the Design Team have done, and link up your entry, by visiting the Retro Rubber Challenge site here.

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 clicking on any of products below.

 Product List

Mountain Air Photopolymer Stamp Set

[151610]

$42.00

Majestic Mountain Dies

[151608]

$76.00

Early Espresso A4 Card Stock

[121686]

$18.50

Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock

[133683]

$18.50

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$20.50

In Good Taste Designer Series Paper

[152494]

$44.00

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[147114]

$15.75

Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad

[147111]

$15.75

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad

[147113]

$15.75

Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad

[147105]

$15.75

Tasteful Textile 3 D Embossing Folder

[152718]

$19.00

Tasteful Labels Dies

[152886]

$65.00

Blending Brushes

[153611]

$25.25

Linen Thread

[104199]

$10.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Water Painters

[151298]

$25.25

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.

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

Satomi Wellard

Pia Gephardt - DE

Ximena Morales - DE

Aurélie Fabre - FR

Emma Goddard - UK

Mikaela Titheridge - UK

Annette Ball - CA

Angie McKenzie - US

Wendy Lee - US

Shel Anderson - CA

Chris Smith - US

Anne Marie Hile - US

Brenda Nelson - CA

Tricia Butts - US

Elaine de Montmorency - CA

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert - US

Teri West - US

Cheryl Hamilton - US

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 clicking on any of products below.

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. 

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.

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).