Thinking Stamping

Thursday, 17 October 2024

Creativity Abounds October

This month the international team at Creativity Abounds has a great theme for our bundle and hop: Holiday Themed Items from the Mini Catalogue. This hop - and the associated tutorial bundle - will give you a lot of examples for Christmas ideas. Even if you don't have the exact sets, you'll find inspiration in the colour combos, the layouts and even some fancy folds. If you get the tutorial bundle, you'll have step-by-step instructions for thirteen projects, all of which you'll see as you go around the hop.

You can earn the Tutorial Bundle as a free gift from me with a purchase of $100 or more (excluding P&P) or by being a member of my team. You can shop with me, and join my team, from anywhere in New Zealand.

Since Christmas is mid-summer in the Southern Hemisphere, I really couldn't go past the Surfin' Santa set. What a lovely, fun set this is!

I've made projects with this set for both this hop and the tutorial bundle.

To make this card you will need:

Stamps: Surfin' Santa

Inks: Tuxedo Black, Shaded Spruce, Balmy Blue, Versamark

Colouring: Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Balmy Blue, Lemon-Lime Twist, Shaded Spruce, Smoky Slate, Crumb Cake, Ivory and Bronze

Paper: Shaded Spruce, Basic White, Full of Life DSP

Other: Stylish Shapes dies, Tinsel Gems, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals, White Embossing Powder from the Basics Embossing Set, Heat gun, Blending Brush, Paper Snips.

Measurements

Shaded Spruce base: 21cm x 14.5, scored at 10.5cm (8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored at 4 1/4")

Basic White Mat: 14cm x 10cm (5 1/4" x 4")

Basic White inside: 14cm x 10cm (5 1/4" x 4")

Full of Life DSP: starburst in blues and greens, cut to 13.5cm x 9.5cm (5" x 3 3/4") so that the centre of the starburst is in the centre of the piece.

Basic White for stamping Santa and gifts: 10cm x 6.5cm (4" x 2 3/4")

Basic White for circle and sentiment: 12cm x 8.5cm (4 3/8" x 3 1/2")

Instructions

Fold the Shaded Spruce base on the score line and burnish.
Attach the Basic White mat to the front.
Attach the piece of DSP to the Basic White Mat.
Using Tuxedo Black, stamp Santa and the presents. Colour with Stampin' Blends. Add some Wink of Stella to Santa's sunglasses and drink, then fussy cut them out.
Rub the other Basic White piece with an embossing buddy then stamp the wave in Versamark. Add white embossing powder and heat. Die cut with the largest stitched circle from Stylish Shapes so that the wave is centre and near the bottom of the circle. Add some Balmy Blue ink with a blending brush. Start blending from the bottom so the colour is deeper near the bottom of the wave.
Stamp the 'Warm Wishes' in Shaded Spruce. Die cut with the smallest stitched square from Stylish Shapes.
You're ready to assemble. Add the wave circle to the centre of the card front. Arrange the Surfin' Santa and the sentiment on the circle. Attach with dimensionals.
Arrange the parcels, starting with the largest on the surfboard, so it looks as though they're blowing off the back. Attach any off the board with dimensionals.
Add three Lemon-Lime Tinsel Gems.

Here's a peek at the project I've put into the tutorial bundle. Instructions for this card are in the tutorial bundle - along with 12 other holiday themed projects from the rest of our international team.

Here's a Sneak Peek at the whole tutorial bundle.

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.

If you don't live in New Zealand, you can get it from any of my team mates in your country. Here they all are...

Sunday, 13 October 2024

Layers of Beauty for Paper Players 711

Doesn't time fly? It's already time for a new challenge at The Paper Players. Thanks to everyone who played along last week with my 'Love is in the Air' challenge. It was a delight to visit all the entries and something of a torment to have to choose only one winner from all the lovely creations! 😀

This week, our hostess is Joanne and she's choses an autumnal palette for our colour challenge: Shades of orange and brown.

As much as I love autumn colours, I promised myself that I'd stay away from autumn leaves - just because looking out my window, I'm surrounded by the bright greens of new spring growth!

So that did leave me in something of a dilemma about where to take these colours. I thought that the richness of them was for a special occasion or a special person. Maybe I just still had a romantic hangover from last week's theme challenge but I went with what I'm thinking of as an anniversary card.

As to my colours, I stuck with all the pies: Peach Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie with a cup of coffee - some Early Espresso! Actually, I did do the small flower centres in Crushed Curry - an orange/yellow colour - but it hardly shows! 😂

The Layers of Beauty stamp/die/stencil bundle was my starting point. I stamped the image in Early Espresso then used the five easy-to-layer stencils, with Blending Brushes, to colour. Then I partially die cut the image to create a bottom section of card front.

I embossed a whole card front using the Forever Plaid 3D embossing folder and layered the partial die cut section over the top.

The sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso. Layered beneath it are three die cut pieces of foliage, cut from Basic White and sponged, using a Blending Brush, with Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie to softly colour them to match the flowers. The finishing touches were a trio of Shimmer Gems in Peach Pie around the sentiment.

We look forward to seeing your creations in shades of orange and brown. 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.

Jan Clothier - You are here

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

Humble Home for Freshly Made Sketches 657

After a lovely family morning at the playground, I got into my craft room this afternoon. Perfect day, right? For inspiration, I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for a simple Christmas card.

I used the Humble Home bundle as a starting point. I'm still trying to make friends with it!

I stamped the gingerbread house image but masked off the gable decoration so I could stamp the tiny wreath into the space instead. I coloured it using Stampin' Blends in Crumb Cake, Granny Apple Green and Cherry Cobbler before punching it out.

I made the tags using a retired tag topper punch and retired corner rounder punch. Some things you've just got to keep in your craft library! The backing tag is cut from paper in the Take A Bow stack.

To create the diagonal of the sketch, I used the Forever Plaid 3D Embossing folder at an angle.

Before attaching the house, on dimensionals, I stamped in some stars (or maybe snow) in Granny Apple Green. This little gem of a stamp is from Reindeer Fun. The sentiment is stamped in Garden Green to match the card base and cut with a banner from Stylish Shapes dies.

The embellishments are Basic Rhinestones coloured with a dark Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blend.

This is a straightforward card you could easily reproduce in multiples for your Christmas mail out and with a spot of colouring in, was fun to make.

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

Friday, 11 October 2024

Layered Florals for AYSI 334

The latest challenge at As You See It is our 'fill in the blank' challenge. Team member Deborah is asking us to think about our favourite crafting item.

Well, that's a bit like asking which is your favourite child! I have many favourite crafting items. But when I really thought it through, one thing that I use almost every time is an EMBOSSING FOLDER. I love texture and will always look to add it to a design. I'm way more likely to use a folder than to use patterned paper. (Speed Challenges excluded!)

Usually I like an embossing folder because they tend to be subtle. They add interest without dominating or crowding the focal point. However, to celebrate the Embossing Folder and to honour my favourite craft item, I created this card and let the folder be the star. ☆

While there are also many interesting techniques you can use with an embossing folder, I've kept it pretty simple. This is because the Layered Florals 3D Embossing folder really isn't a subtle one. The impressions are really deep and therefore stand proud.

I embossed a piece of Gold Foil, then gently swiped Jet Black Stazon Ink over the top before cutting it into three strips.

Then I used a second (more subtle) embossing folder - the cross hatch pattern from the Basics 3D Embossing Folder set - on a piece of Basic Black card. I mounted the three foil strips on it before attaching it to the Basic Black card base.

The sentiment is from Something Fancy stamped in Tuxedo Black. The white circle is from the Everyday Details die set while the black circle is from Spotlight on Nature. I like that mixing and matching die sets gives more options. There's a plain Gold Foil circle under the white one so that the gold peeps through.

The bow is from the retired Elegant Trim combo. If you don't have any of this in your stash, there's a very similar gold cord coming up in next month's new Online Exclusives you could keep an eye out for.

Since I had a black/white/gold theme going on, I added three Brushed Brass Butterflies. It only seemed right for the garden of flowers to have butterflies. 😀

The team and I would love to read all about your favourite craft item - items. Visit the As You See It page to see what the rest of the team have done and to link up your entry. You can join in the challenge until Wednesday October 23, 11.59pm PST.

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

Wednesday, 9 October 2024

Regal Flora for Around the World on Wednesday

Welcome to the latest hop 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. 😀

Our inspiration this month is this lovely sketch. I love a sketch challenge. I find them really great for getting my mojo moving again. So if you're in a bit of a creative slump, why not use this one as your inspiration?

Another source of inspiration for this card is the very lush floral papers in the Regal Winter collection. The colours are rich and gorgeous but for this card, I went with those in shades of Navy and Blackberry.

One of my favourite things in the Regal Flora bundle is that label shape with pie crust detailing and two rounded corners. It's great as a label for greeting but so very useful as a base for building up a cluster too.

For the embossed card front, I used a favourite folder of mine - Distressed Tile. I stamped and die cut some flowers and foliage, picking out colours from the DSP. I've used Night of Navy, Berry Burst, Blackberry Bliss and Pretty Peacock. To get variations of colour, I added some of the inks with a sponge dauber. For instance, I inked the trio of flowers with Berry Burst, then used a sponge dauber to add Blackberry Bliss to the centres.

The sentiment is stamped in Night of Navy to match the card base, then cut with the smallest banner from Stylish Shapes. Possibly my favourite thing is the embellishments. These beautiful gold foiled gems are from the Regal Foiled Adhesive Backed Dots: a name that doesn't do justice to the rich colours and flashes of gold!

Next up you can visit with the fabulous Leonie Stuart to see what clever things she's done with the sketch.

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

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

Jan Clothier - NZ - You are here

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Danielle Kassing - NL

Aurélie Fabre - FR

Mikaela Titheridge - UK

Round We Go for Colour INKspiration 175

Welcome to the 175th challenge at Colour INKspiration. Today's colour palette was chosen for us by Crew Member Monica Formosa. Isn't the stairway a bit of fun?

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.

If you don't have an exact challenge colour, feel free to replace it with whatever you have that's closest, for example Daffodil Delight for Crushed Curry. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige and metallics are free colours, as are flesh toned Stampin' Blends.

This challenge is open for two weeks and closes Monday October 21, 7pm AEST.

Well, to me those bright yellows meant a party, so I turned to the Round We Go bundle - it's got everything from flowers to fireworks plus some great greetings.

So much going on in this card! I started by stamping different starburst stamps in Crushed Curry onto either White or Lemon Lolly and die cutting them out. The larger rounded edge one, I ran through the machine again to cut out the decorative holes so that an underlayer of Gold Foil could peep through.

I die cut a Lemon Lolly starburst with pointed edges and mounted it over the Crushed Curry matching starburst. I cut small round-edged starbursts in Lemon Lolly and Gold Foil and layered them together. I cut some gold discs to act as centres and some Crushed Curry and Crumb Cake discs to add to the collage. As you can tell, by this point I was having a heap of fun cutting, layering and arranging!

For the background, I randomly stamped the star stamp in Lemon Lolly over the centre part of the card base, then lightly sponged some Lemon Lolly over with a blending brush. Then I used the decorative circle perforation dies to cut some circles so that the Crushed Curry mat layer could peek through.

The enjoyment factor in making this card was now off the scale. 😀

To finish up, I added the sentiment, stamped in Crumb Cake and cut using a banner from Stylish Shapes. Then I added in some Glossy Dots in Crushed Curry.

I'm very happy with my party on a page card!

We'd love to see what you do with the challenge colours. You can join the group in the following link, if you aren't already a member. Don't forget to answer the questions when you ask to join. 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 shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking here.

Time is running out but you can still join in with the Creativity Abounds Reindeer Fun Virtual Stamp Camp if you act quickly. You can find the details here.

Sunday, 6 October 2024

Lifetime of Love for The Paper Players 710

Hello Stampers! It's my turn to host at The Paper Players and the theme I've chosen is 'Love is in the Air'. I think it was the fast approach of summer and wedding season that got me thinking of it but if you want to play along with us, think anything romantic: wedding, engagement, anniversary, a love note - even Valentine's if you want to be really organised!

It might not even have been the approach of summer that got me thinking on this theme. In more likelihood, it was the near un-used Lifetime of Love stamps and dies sitting on my desk, looking at me reproachfully! I got this set because I wanted a set of good romantic sentiments in my stash - plus the dies were so pretty!

I also tried out a (new to me) fancy fold that's been doing the rounds on the Internet of late. I liked it so much that I've used it for some Christmas cards and now, this wedding/anniversary card.

It looks pretty closed up too.

The DSP is from the Unbounded Beauty 12x12 DSP collection. Isn't it dreamily pretty?

I stamped the images in Tuxedo Black then coloured them with Pretty in Pink Blends and Shy Shamrock Blends. For extra interest, I stamped an extra set of the three flower image, then coloured and fussy cut the large centre bloom before popping it up on dimensionals in the wreath.

I cut two wreaths from Shy Shamrock and overlaid them, then added in some glimmery leaves from the 2024-26 In Color Glimmer Paper pack.

The final touch was a trio of In Color Shimmer Gems in Pretty in Pink.

We look forward to seeing your romantic creations. 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.

Jan Clothier - You are here