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

Sailing Home | The Crafty Carrot Collective

Hello everyone and welcome back. Today is a bit exciting for me, as I am hopping as a Guest Designer with the super talented team of ladies from the Crafty Carrot Collective.

"What is the Crafty Carrot Collective?" I hear you ask. Well, its an online subscription tutorial program put together by four of my amazing Artisan friends, Cindy Schuster, Krista Frattin, Jennifer Frost and Susan Wong. Each month the Crafty Carrot team put together a set of online interactive tutorials centred around one Stampin' Up! stamp set or a few focus products and for the month of August I have the honour of joining them as a Guest Designer!!!!! As a devoted Crafty Carrot follower words cannot describe how thrilled I am to have this opportunity.

Okay, moving on from my fan girl moment. The focus products for the month of August is the Sailing Home Stamp Set and Smooth Sailing Dies. As a little "teaser" for what is in store for the August program the Crafty Carrot gals and I have created projects to share in this blog hop, however I should note that these are NOT the projects that are featured in the tutorials, to see those projects you'll need to join the program, but more about that later.

I am loving the the nautical imagery in the these products and the blues and green featured in the coordinating Come Sail Away Designer Series Paper.

With this particular project I wanted a patterned background but it needed to be subtle so I opted for stamping the anchor image in Old Olive onto Mossy Meadow cardstock and then added some texture with the Subtle Embossing Folder.

Another awesome product in this suite are the Come Sail Away Memories and More Cards, and with this particular card pack I am really getting so much more use out them than pocket page memory keeping cards. You may notice a touch of texture has been added to the circle of Sahara Sand cardstock in the background. To achieve this I have used one of the laser-cut speciality cards and my die-cutting and embossing machine to dry emboss the a seaweed pattern on the cardstock, and for a little extra touch I have added a few pieces of the laser-cut seaweed.

Thank you for joining me today, I hope I have inspired you. As I mentioned earlier, the project that I will be sharing in the tutorial program is different to the card I have shared today. To get access to the exclusive tutorial projects you will need to join the Crafty Carrot Collective August program and as an added bonus for the month of August you can join the program for FREE!!! How awesome is that? Click on the "Join Now" button below to access the program.

 Finally I want to thank the Crafty Carrot Collective for asking me to join them during their August program. It truly is an honour to be in the company of these creative geniuses. Be sure to follow on the hop to see all of their amazing projects. Next up in the hop is Cindy Schuster. I have no doubt that she will wow you with her creation

Happy Stamping

- Tan xx

Ink & Inspiration - Focus on Tools

Hello everyone and welcome to my first Ink & Inspiration Blog Hop post. I was so excited to be invited to join this group of fabulous crafters and look forward to taking part in this blog hop each month. 

The theme for this month is "Focus on Tools" and when creating my project I focused on using die cutting and embossing tools. 

It's very hard to go past the stunning colour and shading on the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper but for this project I chose to add a little extra texture using the Subtle 3D embossing folder. The Subtle 3D Embossing folder is such a great tool for adding a little extra detail without detracting from the main focal point of your project. 

Another great way of adding detail to a project is by using dies than feature a stitched element, like the Pool Party Circle from the Stitched Shapes Dies or this gorgeous label from the Stitched Nested Labels Dies. Once again the subtle detail of stitching add an element of texture to your project without drawing the eye away from the hand-coloured bird and flowers. 

Thank you for joining me today. Be sure to click on all the links below to see what the other Ink & Inspiration Design Team Member have created

- Tan xx

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