Thinking Stamping

Friday 12 April 2024

Gorgeous Garden for AYSI 321

Two weeks have flown by and it's time for a new challenge at As You See It. As always, after a sketch challenge comes a colour challenge. Aren't these colours lovely? The rules for a colour challenge are that you must use all the given colours in some way but no other colours except a neutral of your choice.

Usually, my neutral is Basic White. But I've gone a bit rogue on this one and have used Basic Black instead!

I ink smooshed the four colours on a piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor paper. I did arrange them in a loosely ombre fashion, moving from Daffodil Delight, to Bubble Bath, to Flirty Flamingo, to Calypso Coral.

From a piece of Basic Black, I die cut the foliage die from the Gorgeous Garden dies and backed it with the ink smooshed panel.

This lovely pair of dies is available, heavily discounted, in the current Last Chance Sale. If you don't already have them, why not treat yourself?

The sentiment, from Inked & Tiled, is white heat embossed on Basic Black and cut using one of the Everyday Details dies. It's backed with one of the circles from Stylish Shapes cut in Calypso Coral.

For embellishments, I coloured some Basic Rhinestone Jewels with a dark Calypso Coral Stampin' Blend.

Make sure you visit the As You See It page to see what the rest of the Design Team have with this sketch - and to link up your own entry.

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 here.

If you purchase Gorgeous Garden from me, you will receive as a free gift, a tutorial bundle. This will give you step-by-step instructions for four original projects: two by me and two by UK Demonstrator Joanne James, aka The Crafty Owl.

Other Tutorial Gifts with Purchase from Joanne and Jan are:

Cheerful Daisies bundle
Hooray for Surprises bundle
Gorgeously Made bundle

Simply purchase the bundle and we'll give you the inspiration to get going with it!

Thursday 11 April 2024

Faux Torn Paper Masking for Stampin' Fancy Friday

This month, the theme at Stampin' Fancy Friday is 'A Favourite Technique'.

We don't blog hop as such but the team at Stampin' Fancy Friday do a daily inspiration post on Instagram. The team at Stampin' Fancy Friday are all current or past members of Stampin' Up!'s Artisan Design Team, so it really is a great place to pick up ideas or recharge your creative mojo. Follow @stampinfancyfriday if you don't already. 😀

A favourite technique of mine is Faux Torn Paper masking. It's very easy to do and gives an interesting look. Simply tear a piece of photo copy paper or grid paper to use as a mask, blend over your chosen ink colours, stamp, remove the mask then carry on with whatever embellishments you like.

I used the Season of Chic bundle because I love the marine images and dies - and that wonderful net die makes everything look good! Season of Chic is retiring at the end of April, so look out for it in the Last Chance Sale.

The colours I've used are Pool Party, Coastal Cabana and Azure Afternoon.

If you're unsure of the technique, you can see a video of another card I made using the same technique here.

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

Wednesday 10 April 2024

Around the World on Wednesday This or That

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, our challenge is a "This or That". When I'm making things I often have a moment where I can't decide which colour to use, which DSP is best, which sentiment. Sometimes when I'm prepping classes I make two or three variations before deciding which one I'll use. I doubt I'm alone in that process!

This challenge celebrates that process. We were challenged to make two versions of the same card. Turned out that I'd inadvertently done that in last month's hop when I couldn't choose whether to go for a dark or light background. You can see it here.

For this challenge I'm going to show you two versions of a card I made for a recent class. I was playing around with a new fancy fold that I saw while participating in the last Creativity Abounds Virtual Stamp Camp. US Demonstrator Lorraine Tierney presented this during the camp using Notes of Nature. These Stamp Camps are worth it for all the new ideas you'll see and the new people you'll interact with.

I've experimented using the Simply Zinnia bundle from the Online Exclusives. Here are the two versions closed up.

Each card is the same design just with different DSP, sentiments and colours. The vibrant Flowering Zinnias DSP offers many options for different panels, including the panorama background.

The sentiments are from the Hooray for Surprises set.

Here they are from behind, showing off the message panel.

So, if you'd come to my class, which one would you have rather made?

Blackberry Bliss/Melon Mambo 'You're the Best'?

Or the more subtle Old Olive/Petal Pink 'Make a Wish'?

Next up on the blog with another 'this or that' for you to ponder, is the wonderful Leonie Stuart in Australia.

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

Here's a list of participants, with links, if you get lost or want to revisit someone.

Jan Clothier - NZ -You are here

Leonie Stuart - AU

Rochelle Laird-Smith - AU

Cheryll Miller - AU

Danielle Kassing - NL

Trusty Tools for Colour INKspiration 163

Welcome to 163rd challenge at Colour INKspiration. This bright, almost rainbow palette was chosen for us by crew member Monica Formosa.

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're very pleased to welcome Teah Karr Woodward as our Guest Designer for this challenge. This challenge is open for two weeks and closes Monday 22 April, 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 Daffodil Delight for Crushed Curry. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, and metallics are free colours, as are flesh toned Stampin' Blends.

I had a class last weekend and one of the participants talked about how she was doing things to thank the people who were painting her house. The idea must have stuck because the next thing I knew, I was digging out Trusty Tools to make this card!

I even used the Painted Texture embossing folder to partially emboss the background!

You can see how I made it, including easy partial embossing and some tips on getting accurate die cuts in the tutorial.

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 or any of the products below.

Product List

Trusty Tools Bundle (English)

[162723]

$116.00

Basic Black A4 Card Stock

[121688]

$21.00

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$22.25

Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana

[131302]

$21.00

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$13.75

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

[147087]

$19.00

Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad

[147050]

$19.00

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

[147097]

$19.00

Starry Sky Classic Stampin' Pad

[159212]

$19.00

Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin' Pad

[147099]

$19.00

Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154882]

$21.00

Glossy Dots Assortment

[158827]

$17.00

Painted Texture 3 D Embossing Folder

[154317]

$21.00

Friday 29 March 2024

Magnolia Mood for AYSI 320

Our last challenge at As You See It, the Speed Stamping Challenge, is the last on our rotation so this week we're back to the start with a Sketch Challenge. This sketch is one of my contributions, so I'm particularly keen to see what everyone does with it!

Sketches are my favourite types of challenge. I find they get ideas flowing really well. I also love that the same starting point can end up in so many different looks.

For this one, I rotated the sketch to a landscape orientation. I used two snippets of DSP from the Nature's Sweetness pack: one gold foil, the other a textured-look Pebbled Path.

Then for the circular element (which can be pretty much any shape that's vaguely circular-ish) I stamped and coloured the largest image from Magnolia Mood. I stamped the image in Pebbled Path thenused Stampin' Blends to colour it before die cutting the image out. I stamped a second image but only coloured the large bloom, which I fussy cut out and popped up over the original flower to add some dimension.

The sentiment is from Something Fancy, as is the die for it. The embossing folder is the Cross Hatch design from the Basics Embossing Folder set in Online Exclusives.

Make sure you visit the As You See It page to see what the rest of the Design Team have with this sketch - and to link up your own entry.

You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand here

Product List

Magnolia Mood Bundle (English)

[163507]

$116.00

Something Fancy Cling Stamp Set (English)

[160416]

$49.00

Something Fancy Dies

[160424]

$59.00

Pebbled Path A4 Cardstock

[161731]

$21.00

Basic White A4 Cardstock

[159228]

$22.25

Nature's Sweetness 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[162616]

$35.00

Pebbled Path Classic Stampin' Pad

[161648]

$19.00

Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154885]

$21.00

Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154884]

$21.00

Blackberry Bliss Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154877]

$21.00

Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154883]

$21.00

Basics 3 D Embossing Folders

[161598]

$63.00

Brushed Brass Butterflies

[158136]

$21.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$9.00

Earn a Free Gift

Option 1

Purchase either the Gorgeous Garden dies or the Hooray for Surprises bundle from me and you'll receive FOUR PDF Join in with Joanne and Jan tutorials matching the purchase: two by me and two by UK Demonstrator Joanne James aka The Crafty Owl.

Option 2

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 'Anything but a Card'.

Here's a peek at the whole tutorial package.

Wednesday 27 March 2024

Latte Love for Colour INKspiration 162

Welcome to 162nd challenge at Colour INKspiration. We had such pretty and diverse entries for our last challenge, I can't wait to see what you make of this stylish palette chosen for us by Crew Member Rose Packer.

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're very pleased to welcome Gail Ellis as our Guest Designer for this challenge. This challenge is open for two weeks and closes Monday 8 April, 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 Balmy Blue for Boho Blue. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, and metallics are free colours, as are flesh toned Stampin' Blends.

I'm having a bit of a love affair with my first ever coffee themed bundle, Latte Love from the Online Exclusives collection. As soon as I saw Early Espresso in the mix, that was it! All I could see was strong, rich coffee. So I started with three flat whites: two in Boho Blue cups, one in Azure Afternoon - two with heart tops and one with a fern and went from there.

I liked the Painted Texture embossing folder for the background because it reminded me of swirls in the crema of the cup and I added some coffee splats for good measure.

It needed a wee pop of something else to bring it all together so I added in a mat of Silver Glimmer paper, which is also an Online Exclusive product.

This set lends itself so readily to being a gift. Who doesn't love a coffee card to pop in their wallet to reward themselves with? It's a perfect little 'thank you' for someone.

You can see how I made the gift card holder on my Jan Clothier - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Facebook page.

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 or any of the products below.

Product List