Monday, 16 September 2019

CASE the Catty | Let's Get Hopping #24



Hello and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping blog hop. This month we are using the Stampin' Up! Catalogue for inspiration and are casing the stunning projects created by the amazingly talented concept artists at Stampin' Up! head office. 


When designing this project I took inspiration from this project on page 115 in the Annual Catalogue. 


I was particularly drawn the layout of this card with the banner of DSP in the background and the sentiment on skinny stiched rectangle and I immediately thought the Sailing Home Suite would work well in a CASE of this card. 


To add a little extra detail to the background I added some tone on tone stamping with this heringbone pattern from the Gallery Grunge stamp set and the die cut seaweed and wheel. 

Well that is all from me today. Next up is Nina King McMillan and I cannot wait to see what she has CASEd for today's hop. 

- Tan xx







Sunday, 8 September 2019

Mercury Glass Acetate | Stamping Sunday Blog Hop




Hi everyone, and welcome to another Stamping Sunday Blog Hop. For those of you who are unfamiliar to the Stamping Sunday Blog Hop, it is a hop hosted by the extremely talented Sara Levin and features so many amazing demonstrators from across the globe. 

This time of year is my favourite for papercraft, can you guess why? If you guessed it was because it is the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalogue sales period then you would be correct. Now for most of those non-crafty people out there, it may seem ridiculous to be thinking about Christmas craft in September but I think the most of you guys would agree that it’s the perfect time to make a start. To help you all with your Christmas crafting plans the Stamping Sunday team are sharing projects featuring a new product from the Holiday Catalogue, the Mercury Glass Acetate.


Confession time, normally as part of this blog hop I’d be sharing three projects with you, one each for a beginner, casual or avid crafter but when creating these I felt that there was something about the Mercury Glass Acetate that ramped up a beginner project to a casual level and a casual card to an avid level so I left it at two project for today




This first project was designed for a beginner level in mind. I chose to use the Mercury Glass Acetate as a background for this card, adhering with Tear’n’tape and being careful to place the adhesive where it will be covered by the top layers. I took my colour cues from the plaid patterned banner from the Wrapped in Plaid DSP and thestamped ornaments and sentiment from the Christmas Gleaming Stamp Set in Night of Navy and Shaded Spruce. Lastly, to tie is the Real Red in the DSP I added a length of Real Red Cotton Ribbon.


This second project was more geared towards the Casual-Avid crafter. I chose to stick to the same, very versatile layout as the first card and I also stuck with the same Wrapped in Plaid DSP and Christmas Gleaming Ornaments. However, this time I used the Mercury Glass Acetate to create the ornaments. When stamping on any form of acetate I’ve always found it best to use Stāzon Jet Black ink otherwise you may find yourself left with a messy smudged image.

That’s all from me today, thank you for joining me. Please make sure you click on all the links below to check out what the other design team members have come up with. 

-Tan xx


Stamping Sunday Blog Hop Roll


Wednesday, 28 August 2019

Embossing | Be Inspired Blog Hop


Hello everyone and welcome to another Be Inspired Design Team Blog Hop. This month myself and my fellow designers are sharing projects that feature embossing. 

There are a few different ways you can emboss projects, dry embossing with an embossing folder or dies and an embossing mat, embossing with a paste or heat embossing with powders and a heat tool. I chose to feature heat embossing for my project as it is by far my favourite embossing technique. The effect that can easily be achieved with some Versamark ink, embossing powder and a heat tool never fails to give your projects wow factor.  



These gorgeous baubles are from the Christmas Gleaming stamp set that is featured in the new Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalogue and for this project I have stamped and embossed them in white before going over the panel with a watercolour wash in Pretty Peacock. 

Given the focus of this project was embossing I chose to add a little more embossing, this time in silver with a panel of stripes below the sentiment. Normally I wouldn't include so much embossing on the one card but I thing with Christmas you can get away with it. 

Next up in the hop is the fabulous Monica Gale, I just love her creative style and I'm sure you will too. 



Be Inspired Design Team Blog Roll

Tanya Rees (You are here)


Thanks for stopping by

- Tan xx

Sunday, 25 August 2019

ESAD 2019 Holiday Catalogue Sneak Peek Blog Hop


August isn't too early to be talking about Christmas, is it?? No? Oh good. Well, today I'm delighted to be joining the ESAD (Extra Special Australiasian Demonstrators) team in Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalogue Sneak Peek Blog Hop, where we are all sharing projects created with products from the new Holiday Catalogue that goes live to customers on Wednesday 4th September. 

There are so many gorgeous new products in the new catalogue that it was almost impossible to chose one to focus on. In fact the card I'm about to show you includes a couple new products. 


If you have been following me for a while you may have noticed that this colour combo of Pool Party, Poppy Parade and Granny Apple Green is a favourite of mine for Christmas so of course it was my colour combo choice for the first Christmas project for 2019.

The holly image and sentiment come from the Christmas Gleaming Stamp Set which is part of the Brightly Gleaming suite. This stamp set was at the very top of my wish list when I first saw the catalogue and I can guarantee you are going to see a lot more of it on my blog over the coming months. 

Another detail that you may have noticed on my project is the embossed background. This particular pattern has been created with the new Stylish Scroll Embossing Folder that is part of the Monster Bash suite in the Holiday Catalogue. While Halloween is starting to become more popular in Australia it is not a holiday that we celebrate in our family (much to my children's disgust) so usually I skim past the Halloween section of the catalogue. However this year the suite really appealed to the party planner in me and so I took a little more time to look at that part of the catalogue and was delighted to discover this versatile folder. 

That is all from me today but if you follow along the hop there is a heap more Holiday inspiration to be found. Next up is Sandra Mastello, I can't wait to see what she is sharing with us today.




Blog hop participant list:


Thanks so much for stopping by

- Tan xx



Monday, 19 August 2019

Use Up That DSP | Let's Get Hopping #23


Hello everyone and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. Okay, now before I get to today's projects it's confession time. Hands up if you have a stash of Retired Designer Series Paper gathering dust you your craft room? Me!! Every year I just can't wait to play with the new Designer Series Paper each time a new catalogue comes out and when it arrives the paper stash I already have gets neglected until eventually it gets moved to the overflowing kids craft cupboard. Sound familiar?? Well after today's Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop this will be a thing of the past as this month we have been challenged to use retired Designer Series Paper with current stamps and tools. Here's what I've come up with. 


As I indicated earlier I have huge stash of retired DSP so I wanted to make the most of the challenge decided to create a bunch of cards. I also wanted to create a supply of cards that I could go to when one of my children get invited to a birthday party so I needed to create something that would work for  both boys and girls as well as a variety of ages. Given the cards were for a birthday, the DSP I chose to use was the Brights 6" x 6" DSP stack from the 2018/2019 Annual Catalogue and I decided to team it with the Broadway Birthday stamp set and coordinating Broadway Lights dies.


To add a little extra background detail I randomly stamped the diamond stamp is Versamark over the DSP panel and then heat embossed them with Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder and I complimented the metallic detail with a couple of candle embellishments. 



Finally I added some clear Wink of Stella to the die cut 'Wish' to add a little extra sparkle. It's a bit tricky to see here in this picture but the shimmery sparkle of Wick of Stella is the perfect finishing touch.

So, what if you don't already have this retired DSP in your stash? Well the beauty of this particular design you could substitute this striped pattern with almost any fun patterned DSP including this new Brights 6" x 6" DSP stack available in the current Stampin' Up! Catalogue.


Next up in the hop is the amazing Nina McMillan. I can't wait to see what she has created to inspire us to use our retired DSP. Make sure you follow the hop all the way around to see everyone's amazing projects.


Thank you for joining me today.

- Tan xx

Friday, 16 August 2019

Stampin' Up! Artisan Blog Hop - Shimmer Detailed Laser-cut Speciality Paper


Hello everyone. It's that time again, another blog hop with the Artisan Design Team. This month we are highlighting this gorgeous Shimmer Detailed Laser-cut Speciality Paper.


Isn't the detail in this paper absolutely stunning? What you can't see in this picture though, is the beautiful shimmer finish. One side of the 12 x 12 sheets is Vanilla with a touch of shimmer and the reverse is white so the images will coordinate with any project. 

While the floral pattern page is so pretty, I chose to focus on the page that features a range of different decorative patterns. 


This intersecting circles pattern reminds me of a stained glass window so I chose to replicate a stained glass window effect for the base of my first card. 


To achieve this effect first I layered the laser-cut paper over some Whisper White cardstock and temporarily secured it using some washi tape. Then using the pattern as a guide I coloured in the pattern using Stampin' Write Markers in Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, Poppy Parade and Mango Melody. Once all coloured I removed the laser-cut paper and coated the Whisper White panel with Versamark and heat embossed it with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder. I then sponged the laser-cut paper with Memento Black ink and heat embossed it with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder before securing over the Whsiper White Panel. Here is a close up of the card which shows the stained glass window effect a bit better.


As the background panel is so detailed I wanted to keep the rest of the card fairly simple with some layered Stitched Nested Labels and a sentiment from the Rare Blessings Stamp Set


For my second card I chose to emboss the laser-cut panel with Black Stampin' Emboss Powder and I carried across the same colour combo of Highland Heather, Poppy Parade and Mango Melody with some flowers from the Inspiring Iris Stamp Set. 


Lastly I've created a gift box using a Mini Pizza Box as a base. Continuing with the window theme I die cut a square from the top of the Pizza Box and layered some Vellum cardstock underneath the laser-cut paper that has been sponged with Memento Black and heat embossed with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder. Once again I've stamped, coloured and fussy cut some flowers from Inspiring Iris and added a sentiment from Rare Blessings. 

Well that is it from me today, thank you for joining me. Make sure you follow along the hop and see what the other girls have created with the Shimmer Detailed Laser-cut Speciality Paper. Next up is my friend Angela Meiritz-Reid from New Zealand. I simple adore what she's created.


Until next time 
- Tan xx

Supplies used
Stamps: Inspiring Iris, Rare Blessings
Card: Whisper White, Highland Heather, Saraha Sand, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, Vellum, Shimmer Detailed Laser-cut Speciality Paper 
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, HIghland Heather, Mango Melody, Poppy Parade. Pear Pizzazz, Versamark
Accessories & Tools: Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, Highland Heather Stampin' Write Marker, Mango Melody 
Stampin' Write Marker, Gorgeous Grape Stampin' Write Marker, Poppy Parade Stampin' Write Marker, Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker, White Stampin Emboss Powder, Black Stampin Emboss Powder, Silver Metallic Thread, Basic Black Satin Ribbon, Purple Posy Scalloped Linen Ribbon, Mini Library Clips 



Sunday, 11 August 2019

All Tied Up | Stamping Sunday Blog Hop


Hi everyone, and welcome. I'm a tad (okay maybe a lot) excited to be joining the Stamping Sunday Blog Hop team today. For those of you who are unfamiliar to the Stamping Sunday Blog Hop, it is a hop hosted by the extremely talented Sara Levin and features so many amazing demonstrators from across the globe. 

If you are stopping by my blog for the first time, welcome, I hope you like what you see. I am a Stampin' Up! demonstrator from Bendigo, which is in Central Victoria, Australia. I am currently on the Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team and I cannot not imagine my life without Stampin' Up!

Enough about me though, lets get to the fun stuff. This month's focus is ribbon and the design team are all sharing a variety of ways you can include ribbon in you projects. I love love love ribbon, so much that each time a new Annual Catalogue comes out I just HAVE to have every new ribbon available. (Don't worry, I'm not drowning in metres of ribbon, thanks to my annual ribbon share offer) For this particular challenge I decided to feature these few different ribbons, Mint Macaron Textile Ribbon, Rococo Rose Scalloped Linen Ribbon and Very Vanilla Scalloped Lace Trim.   


When creating this card and pillow box set I didn't actually have a receiptant in mind so I opted for this sentiment from the Woven Heirlooms Stamp Set so that they could be used for a range of occasions.


For the card I chose to feature a cluster of ribbon secured with some Linen Thread and given the vintage feel of the Woven Threads DSP and Heirloom Frame I could resist adding a key from the Bird Ballad Trinkets. If you look closely you may notice that I have cut the Rococo Rose Scalloped Linen Ribbon in half, this is a great way of making your ribbon more versatile. 


Another great way to use ribbon is for gift packaging and these Kraft Pillow Boxes are my go-to gift boxes for a smaller item or gift card. I did, however, feel that the white dots didn't really fit the vintage feel I was aiming for with this set so I carefully pulled apart the seam of the box and turned the box inside out. Once again I've used the same selection of ribbon and secured another of those cute lil' keys with some Linen Thread. 

Thank you for joining me today. Please make sure you click on all the links below to check out what the other design team members have come up with. 

-Tan xx


Stamping Sunday Blog Hop Roll

Wednesday, 31 July 2019

2019 - 2021 In Colors | Be Inspired Blog Hop



Hello everyone and welcome to another Be Inspired blog hop. This month the team is sharing projects showcasing the gorgeous 2019 - 2021 In Colors, Rococo Rose, Terracotta Tile, Pretty Peacock, Seaside Spray and Purple Posy.


Don't these colours look so beautiful together? All of these colours are stunning on their own and combine so well with the core Stampin' Up! colours but today I wanted to feature a card that showcases how well they work together.



I have been looking for an excuse to use the Beautiful Friendship Stamp Set and I am so glad I chose to use it for this project. Unfortunately, Stampin' Up! have not yet been able to come up with a suitable solution to solve the issues with the Purple Posy ink pads, however I do have my 2019-2021 In Color Stampin' Write Markers so I used the marker to stamp method to ink up the flower image that I wanted to feature in Purple Posy. 

Thank you for stopping by today. Make sure you click on the Next button to see Janneke's gorgeous project




Be Inspired Design Team Blog Roll

Tanya Rees (You are here)

Stampin' Up! Corporate Blog Post | Follow Your Art



Hello everyone and welcome to  another Stampin' Up! Corporate Blog post. 


As part of the Artisan Design Team, each Artisan is asked to design and share 3 blog posts throughout the year for the Stampin’ Up! Blog/Facebook page. These are shared via the notes area of the Stampin’ Up! official page so be sure to check it out and while you are there give the page a like to ensure you don’t miss out on anything shared from Stampin’ Up! 
Here is my post that was published earlier this week, I hope you find it to be inspiring


Today I am sharing a scrapbook layout featuring products from the Follow Your Art Suite (Suite Bundle item #152181). The bright patterns and fun images of craft supplies in this suite are perfect for documenting the fun crafting times I spend with my kids.


When memory keeping I often want to use more photos than what I can fit on a traditional scrapbook page so accommodate this I like to also create a pocket style page to go with a 12x12 layout, which is what I have created on this occasion.


Firstly for the traditional layout, to add some colour to the background I started with a panel of the Coastal Cabana patterned paper from the Follow Your Art Designer Series Paper (item #149489). Designer Series Paper is an easy way to add colour and patterns to your scrapbook layouts.


To add more colour and texture to the white portion of the background I’ve added a collage of Embossing Paste (item #141979), some stamped sequin images from the It Starts With Art (item #149303) and ink spatters created with a Coastal Cabana Stampin Write Marker (item #147157)
Once I had mounted my photos on some Whisper White cardstock (item # 106549) I layered some more panels of Follow Your Art Designer Series Paper and a die cut ribbon from the Arts and Crafts Dies (item #149580)


Next, using blends I coloured in the ribbon image from It Starts With Art (item #147157) and the pot of paintbrushes image from Crafting Forever (item #151231) and added them to the page along with some die cut buttons and a die cut paperclip with a bow of Whisper White Bakers Twine as the finishing touch.


In my pocket page I’ve use more of the Follow your Art Designer Series Paper and have embellished the pocket panels with more Arts and Craft die cuts and coloured images from It Starts With Art and Crafting Forever.


I also wanted to include some journaling in this page and the letters from Lined Alphabet were perfect for creating a heading on my journaling card.

Thank you for joining me. I hope you have got some inspiration from this project today.

- Tan xx

Friday, 19 July 2019

Stampin' Up! Artisan Blog Hop - Perennial Essence Suite


Hello everyone. Welcome to another Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team blog hop. This month we are sharing projects created with the products in the Perennial Essence Suite. This suite is all about flowers and the Perennial Essence Designer Series Paper has the most amazing hand-painted impressionistic imagery. 


How stunning are these patterns? They really are just so beautiful that they would look amazing framed on their own. 


I couldn't go past using this pattern of soft pink and rich blackberry roses and I wanted to draw on the Blackberry Bliss tones with this card. When stamping my flowers I stamped the larger flower in full strength Blackberry Bliss and the smaller flower was stamped off first and then stamped in the second generation. I then stamped the centre of the flower in Blushing Bride before fussy cutting the flowers.


To compliment the floral imagery I added a Whisper White tag and Mossy Meadow leaves created with flower die from Botanical Tags Dies and the sentiment has been die cut with the Stitched Rectangle Dies. Lastly I embellished the card with some Scalloped Lace Trim, a couple of Pearls and Silver Faceted Gems that have been coloured with a Dark Blackberry Bliss Blend and a nest of frayed Organdy Striped Ribbon.

Thank you for joining me today. Make sure you continue through the hop to see what my Artisan friends have created with this suite. Next up is my beautiful friend Angela Meiritz-Reid from Christchurch, New Zealand. You are going to love her work. 


Happy Stamping
-  Tan xx