Friday 15 March 2024

Simply Zinnia for As You See It 319

 Welcome to the latest challenge at As You See It. The final challenge type in our 6 challenge rotation is the Speed Stamping Challenge. You'll either love or hate it but I love it because it forces me to be creative under pressure. 

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create a new project in ten minutes or less on the theme of Spring Flowers.

Don't panic at the thought of a ten minute make. Here's the rules:
  • Thinking time doesn't count
  • Gathering your supplies doesn't count - eg putting out your inks and dies, blocking the stamps, putting the card on the desk.
  • Clean up time doesn't count either - thankfully!
BUT
  • The moment you cut, ink, emboss - then the time has to start.
In a challenge like this, pretty DSP can really be your friend by doing all the heavy lifting. I've used the 
Flowering Zinnias DSP from the Online Exclusives.


This card took me 7 minutes 21 seconds to complete - including an equipment malfunction. You can watch every adrenalin laden moment of that in the video below!


Make sure you visit the As You See It page to see what the rest of the Design Team have done in their ten minutes - 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.

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 Fun Folds.

Here's a peek at the whole tutorial package.




Notes of Nature for Stampin' Fancy Friday

This month, the theme at Stampin' Fancy Friday is a sketch. I love a sketch challenge! Once you start thinking about one, there are just so many ways to play with it.


You can see that I've played it with a fairly straight bat here, sticking quite closely to the layout in the sketch. I love the Notes of Nature bundle. Since it's part of a suite with DSP, there's a real temptation to stick with the colours of the DSP - in this case, Pebbled Path, Pecan Pie and Gold. But there's no reason to stick to those colours. Switch it up to anything you like for more versatility.


I've gone wild with Basic Black, Parakeet Party and Tahitian Tide. The last two are retiring In Colors, so it's good to give them a last run, quite apart from their vibrant beauty. 


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. 😀

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

Wednesday 13 March 2024

Timeless Arrangements for Around the World on Wednesday


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 inspiration is a colour challenge - March Blues. We were given a group of blues to work with. 


Me, I love blues so was very happy to play with these colours. I was so happy, that I made two cards! I couldn't decide between them, so I'll show you them both. Let me know if you like one more than the other. 


I used the wonderful Timeless Arrangements bundle. I love the way it's so easy to put together a spectacular bouquet using the various die cuts. The look changes based on which ones you choose, what colours you use and in which order you stack them. 

I really like the Night of Navy card base with the white splatters. Somehow the dark background adds gravitas to the card!


Of course, I also like the lighter feel of the Basic White background with the Night of Navy splatters too!


Next up on the hop is the wonderful Leonie Stuart from Australia who will have even more inspiration for you. 



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.

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

Product List

Tuesday 12 March 2024

Inked & Tiled for Colour INKspiration 160


Welcome to 161st challenge at Colour INKspiration. The year is rolling by very quickly and now we're officially into autumn, even though Christmas seemed so recent! To cheer us along, we have this lovely colour palette chosen by Crew Member, Leonie Stuart.


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 two weeks and closes Monday 25 March, 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 Shaded Spruce for Garden Green. Black, White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, and metallics are free colours, as are flesh toned Stampin' Blends.

I wanted something floral for these colours. Try as I might, they just kept saying, "Flowers," to me. While looking through my sets, I was surprised to find Inked & Tiled on the shelf. It was like finding a new dress you'd forgotten about in the back of your wardrobe!

Anyway, it was the perfect set for this colour combination. 😀



It's perhaps a little hard to see in the picture but I have stamped the large single bloom in Melon Mambo on the Mambo Melon mat. I did the same thing on the banner backing the sentiment. 


 I used sponge daubers to add the colour to the stemmed flower stamps to get a mix of both pinks in the flowers. Aren't the Perennial Postage dies lovely?

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.

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


Saturday 2 March 2024

Latte Love for Freshly Made Sketches 625

I'm just so easily distracted! Once again, I was persuaded - by myself - to leave off my list of jobs and play around with new stuff instead! Again, the new stuff was the Latte Love bundle and the distraction was the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches

The Latte Love bundle and the A Little Latte DSP will be available from Online Exclusives from 4 March. What I particularly like about the DSP is that there are both subtle, small scale patterns as well as colourful, in-your-face papers as well. So there's something for everyone but no prize for guessing that my favourite is small and subtle. 😀


I coloured one of the mugs with Stampin' Blends in Pool Party and Lost Lagoon. The other was stamped in Early Espresso on the same coloured card. I really like the little stamps that give you the coffee in the cup. Very sweet!


Those that know me know that I love my coffee, so the sentiment is a real compliment!

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.

Earn a Free Gift
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. 



Friday 1 March 2024

Hooray for Surprises for AYSI 318

Welcome to a new challenge at As You See It. After recipe week, it's always theme week. Joanne has chosen Easter as the theme for this challenge. It's fast coming up too, being so early this year.

I don't generally make Easter cards but I do often give Easter Eggs, so I thought I'd share some packaging with you.

I used half a piece of one of the designs from the Delightfully Eclectic pack to create the bag itself.


Then I decorated it using the Hooray for Surprises bundle. Although that bundle does have dies that allow you to create secret messages and hidden compartments you can, of course, use it straight. That's what I've done here. I stamped a sentiment in Garden Green and used one of the heart dies to cut it out. The foliage and flowers are all from the Hooray for Surprises die set.


I used the Stylish Shapes dies to cut a circle from the Silver Glimmer paper, then arranged the sentiment and floral bits around it. 

The White Seam binding ribbon is from my stash, but I'm sure many people have a supply or, if not, something else just as pretty for the tie. To jazz it up a little bit more, and to tie in with the silver glimmer circle, I used a second bow in silver from the Simply Elegant Trim pack. 

These bags are so easy to make. Watch out for the video to see how easy it is and to see how to customise the size.



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.

Earn a Free Gift
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. 


Product List

Thursday 29 February 2024

Latte Love for The Paper Players 678

 I've a ton of things to do in my craft room this week: design team commitments, tutorials to write, classes to prep, even tidying up! 

In amongst it all, I decided to just play. I received my preorder set, Latte Love a couple of days ago. So I went to latest Paper Players sketch and got going. 



Here's what came out of it....


The papers in the A Little Latte DSP pack range from quite subtle, like these two, to much more full-on coffee motifs - so something for everyone!


The dinky little cups from the Latte Love dies are my total favourites - although I've yet to put together the die cut cafetiere yet, so that may yet take the most favoured spot. 😀

Although not shown here, I've added in a pocket for a coffee card on the inside so that the offer of a coffee together has a better chance of becoming reality!

The Latte Love bundle and A Little Latte DSP will be available as an online exclusive from 4 March.
If you'd like more information, then watch the 'unboxing' of them here.

Update: Delighted to be a Cut Above at The Paper Players this week!

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.

Earn a Free Gift
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.