Easy Elegance with Layered Florals Embossing Folder

I'm having a lot of fun playing with the Layered Florals 3D embossing folder. The gorgeous pattern and the deep impression it gives create all sorts of opportunities to play around with it.

You can see one of those experiments here.

If you're interested in seeing how I made this card, you can view the tutorial below. If you make one, or CASE one, I'd love to see it.

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 here. 

Notes of Nature for The Paper Players 672

One of my resolutions for this year was to make time each day to craft for pure pleasure: not for a class, or a design team or a tutorial package but absolutely just for fun! We'll see how long that lasts for! Today it was easy with the latest challenge at The Paper Players calling to me to play along.

My hands down favourite from the January-April Mini is the Notes of Nature bundle, so that was where I turned for inspiration today. 

My favourite green at the moment is Granny Apple Green, so I've used that as my pop of colour.

A white embossed sentiment on Basic Black seemed the perfect choice for the challenge. The Basic Rhinestone Jewels were the closest to white while giving a touch of bling. 

Update: Delighted to be named as A Cut Above at The Paper Players.

You can join me in the Creativity Abounds Virtual Stamp Camp, featuring the Notes of Nature bundle. All the details are 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 here. 

Orders over $90 will receive, as a free gift, the latest Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle. This bundle of 13 PDF tutorials is on the theme of Birthdays.

Here's a peek at the whole tutorial package.

Painted Lavender for CAS Colours and Sketches 528

I was avoiding the worst of the hottest day of summer by hunkering down into my craft room. For inspiration, I used the colour combination at CAS Colours and Sketches.

Sitting on my desk, fresh from duty with a couple of Design Team cards, was the Painted Lavender bundle, along with its companion bundle Perennial Postage. The challenge colours just seemed to call to those bundles.

So, this is where it ended up...

The stem and flowers are separate stamps. I sponged ink onto the stems to soften the look. I also sponged Shaded Spruce on the foliage stamp and added in some second generation images to give some perspective. I added in a masked line to ground the images.

The flowers were coloured with both Highland Heather and Berry Burst and I used two different stems of flowers.

The sentiment is from Perennial Postage. I cut it with one of the coordinating dies, then cut it down to make a rectangle that framed the words.

I finished off with some of the Purple Shimmer gems... and successfully restrained myself from adding in extra layers and bits. 😀

Update: Delighted to be named a Fabulous Favourite at CAS Colours and Sketches.

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 here. 

Orders over $90 will receive, as a free gift, the latest Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle. This bundle of 13 PDF tutorials is on the theme of Birthdays.

Here's a peek at the whole tutorial package.

Around the World on Wednesday January 2024

 

Welcome to a new hop with the crew at Around the World on Wednesday. On the second Wednesday of each month, the team put together a thematic hop to give you some inspiration for your own crafting. We love it when you try out something new or CAS(E) one of our projects. The team is truly international, with members from each time zone of the world that Stampin' Up! operates. You're with me, in New Zealand - the first place in the Stampin' Up! world to change the date. 😀

This month, we have a Sketch Challenge for you. I love a sketch challenge - they're my favourite kind. 

The sketch was a great way to try out one of my new pre-order purchases from the January-April 2024 Mini Catalogue. This gorgeous Perennial Lavender suite has it all: two stamp bundles, DSP and fabulous embellishments. I didn't mean to buy it all - it just sort of ended up in my cart bit by bit. 😀

Of course, you don't HAVE to have it all. You can choose select items.

Anyway, here's my first play around with it, in response to the challenge sketch.

The embossing folder that I used was the Exposed Brick 3D Folder, one of my favourites.

To create the flowers, I die cut the stems from Basic White card then coloured them with Stampin' Blends, in a mix of Fresh Freesia, Highland Heather and the tiniest touches of Blackberry Bliss (light).

Aren't the embellishments wonderful? They're the Purple Fine Shimmer Gems from the suite.

You can see how it all came together in this tutorial.

I think this is a suite you'll be seeing a lot of in the coming months! It's a delight. 

Next up on the hop is the wonderful Leonie Stuart from Australia who will show you another way to use the sketch.

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 here. 

Orders over $90 will receive, as a free gift, the latest Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle. This bundle of 13 PDF tutorials is on the theme of Birthdays.

Here's a peek at the whole tutorial package.

If you should get lost on the hop, or want to revisit, here's a list of links to the participants.

Jan Clothier - NZ - You are here

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Danielle Kassing - NL

Ximena Morales - DE

Aurélie Fabre - FR

Mikaela Titheridge - UK

Tina Zinck-MacDonald - CA

Annette Ball - CA

Angie McKenzie - US

Kelly Taranto - US

Shel Anderson - CA

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert - US

Chris Smith - US

Tricia Butts - US

Theresa McEntee - US

Bree Renwick - US

Cheryl Hamilton - US

Painted Lavender for Colour INKspiration 158

Welcome back to Colour INKspiration! This is our first challenge for 2024 and we're celebrating with a gorgeous summery palette. I hope you've had a great Christmas and New Year break and are back refreshed and inspired!

 

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. This challenge is open for FIVE weeks to accommodate the summer holidays, so closes on Monday 12 February 7pm (AEST).

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

I loved the colours of the beach blending in ocean in the graphic, so it got me thinking of ink blending. Of course, I also had new things on my desk from new January-April Mini Catalogue and Sale-a-bration, so one thing lead quickly to another....

I stamped the images from Painted Lavender in Blueberry Bushel onto Fluid100 Watercolor Paper, then blended over some Fresh Freesia, Petal Pink and Pool Party, then put the Decorative Mask over the whole thing before blending again to pick out the pattern. You do have to leave the image to dry before doing the blending as it can smear, so in hindsight it might have been easier to do the blending THEN the stamping! Although this way, I could see exactly where the image was and so how far to extend the ink blended background: six of one, half dozen of the other.

The sentiment is from Perennial Postage and is cut from one of the lovely circle dies from Everyday Details. I mounted it onto a circle of Silver Glimmer paper (online exclusive product), cut with Stylish Shapes. The beautiful Pool Party ribbon is a Sale-a-bration item.

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 here. 

Orders over $90 will receive, as a free gift, the latest Creativity Abounds Tutorial Bundle. This bundle of 13 PDF tutorials is on the theme of Birthdays.

Here's a peek at the whole tutorial package.

Product List

Painted Lavender Bundle

[162597]

$99.00

Perennial Postage Bundle (English)

[162608]

$108.75

Everyday Details Dies

[162864]

$72.00

Stylish Shapes Dies

[159183]

$63.00

Pool Party A4 Card Stock

[124391]

$21.00

Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock

[146991]

$21.00

Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper

[149612]

$19.00

Silver & Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Adhesive Backed Glimmer Paper

[162288]

$14.75

Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad

[147107]

$19.00

Petal Pink Classic Stampin' Pad

[147108]

$19.00

Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad

[155611]

$19.00

Iridescent Rhinestones Basic Jewels

[158130]

$15.75

Pool Party 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Crinkle Ribbon

[162980]

$0.00

Join me at the Nature's Sweetness Virtual Stamp Camp

The next Creativity Abounds Virtual Stamp Camp is on February10-11 2024 and features the gorgeous Nature's Sweetness suite from the January-April Mini Catalogue.

How does Stamp Camp work?

Prior to Stamp Camp, you will receive Make and Take kits, PDF instructions and links to video tutorials to make 13 projects using the bundle. You'll use your bundle, DSP and embellishments to complete them at your leisure.

You will also receive an invitation to join an Exclusive Facebook Group for the Stamp Camp event. Over the 10th-11th of February, there will be 13 bonus projects using the bundle with a new Facebook Live presentation every two hours. You can watch the lives in real time or watch at your leisure.

During the Stamp Camp, you can interact with the Creativity Abounds team and other people attending the event.

Here's a sneak peek of my tutorial card.

How to get your invitation to the Virtual Stamp Camp Event

If you live in New Zealand, purchase from me:

• The Nature's Notes bundle $99.00

• Nature's Sweetness 12x12 Specialty DSP $35.00

• A pack of Adhesive Backed Cork Rounds $13.75

• Gold 1/8" Faux Leather Trim $19.00

(A total of $166.75 plus shipping)

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand here.

• If you're not already a customer, make sure to tick the further contact box so I can send you the make and take kits.
• Be sure to order soon to ensure you have all you need before the Stamp Camp event begins on 10 February.
• If you live somewhere other than New Zealand, I can put you in touch with another demonstrator from the Creativity Abounds team who can help you.
• If you have already purchased these products, then simply make another order of  equivalent value or more from my online store. Be sure to message or email me to let me know that you're interested in joining the Stamp Camp event.

Hooray for Surprises for AYSI 314

Welcome to the first  As You See It challenge of 2024. I hope you have all enjoyed a happy holiday season and are looking forward to an exciting new year. Our team leader, Heather C, kicks off the year with a sketch challenge. Isn't it lovely?

I thought the sketch would be a good way to show off the very sweet hidden message from the new Hooray for Surprises bundle from the January-April 2024 Mini Catalogue.

I turned the sketch on the side to accommodate the hidden sentiment. The sweet little cakes with their floral decorations are also from the stamp set.

When the tab is pulled up, the perforations tear and allow the recipient to see the hidden message. Cute, isn't it?

If you'd like to see how I made this card, here is video tutorial for you. 

Make sure you visit the As You See It Challenge site so you can see what the rest of the team have done with the sketch and to enter your own project into the challenge.

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. If you would like a copy of the catalogue, please message me.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here. 

Here's a sneak peek of the project I've made to be part of the Creativity Abounds December Tutorial package.

It's available from me free with any purchase of $90 or more. If you don't live in New Zealand and can't purchase from me, you will receive the package if you purchase from a team member who is operating in your country. I'm happy to put you in touch with them.

Here's a sneak peek of the whole tutorial package