Tropical Chic Stitched Labels | Let's Get Hopping #12

Welcome to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. You may have just arrived here from fabulous friend, Jennifer Frost. Once again I'm in awe of Jen's creative genius? If you are starting here please make sure you hit the next button at the bottom of this post and hop all the way around

The brief for this month's hop was to share a project that highlights your favourite technique, but before I tell you my favourite technique, I will show you my card and let's see if you can guess.

Hands up if you guessed watercolouring. Watercolouring has to be my most favourite technique, particularly creating multicoloured watercolour backgrounds. I just love how the colours blend together and how no two backgrounds ever look the same. 

I took my colour inspiration from a project Susan Wong recently created (see it here) and chose Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie and Pineapple Punch to create my background. Here's a picture of the background before I layered up all the extra detail.

By the way, how great is this stitched die from the Stitched Labels Dies? I just love how it adds just the right amount of detail to a background. 

I also chose to feature a little heat embossing  (white on black is my go-to at the moment) and some multicoloured flowers from the Tropical Chic stamp set. To create the flowers I first inked up the flower in Pumpkin Pie and then used a sponge dauber to add some Melon Mambo around the outer edges of the flower. 

Thank you for hopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my post. Next up in the hop is Teresa Brown, I can't wait to see what beautiful project she is sharing with us
- Tan xx

Animal Expedition Fun

Lately I've been venturing out of my comfort zone and attempting a bit of memory keeping. At the top of my to-do list was to use some photos from our last trip to the zoo to create a scrapbook layout and what better Stampin' Up! products to compliment the photos than the Animal Outing Stamp set and Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper. Here's what I came up with. What do you think?

I had quite a few photos that I wanted to include so what started out as one page very quickly became a traditional scrapbook page and a matching pocket layout. 

Inspired by a card created by Ruth Norton (see Ruth's card here) I used the masking technique to stamp the animals in a group and I coloured them with watercolour pencils before fussy cutting them out and adhering them to the page. 

While I was putting together my scrapbook layouts I began to get inspired with a few cardmaking ideas so I couldn't resist making a few cards

My first impression when I saw the Animal Outing Stamp set in the Annual Catalogue was that it would be great for baby cards like this one.

The second card I created used the same masking technique and I added a bit of watercolouring and heat embossed clouds to the background.

My inspiration for this last card came from this bright and fun print in the Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper. This cute little Rhino is ready to party in his fun party hat which I topped with a tiny fringed cardstock tassel.

Once I was in party mode I thought it would be fun to create a couple of animal themed treat packages. Firstly, this little pop-up treat box for my kids, and what better treat to go with the animal theme than a Cadbury Furry Friends bar.

And lastly I just couldn't go past embellishing this Clear Tiny Treat box filled with jelly beans.

So, as you can see, I've had lots of fun with the Animal Outing Stamp set, it's definitely a great one to add to your stash if you haven't done so already. Thank you for stopping, I hope you enjoyed my post.

 - Tan xx

Baby Congratulations for GDP #145

I'm sure I've said this before, I absolutely love playing with new Stampin' Up! colours at this time of year and with the fabulous gift of a Colour Revamp this year I have so many new colours to create with. The tricky thing with new colours is working out what colour combos work and often I find a colour challenge is a great way to kick start the process. Today I turned to this weeks Global Design Project colour challenge (GDP#145) for inspiration. 

And here is the card I created using Grapefruit Grove, Fresh Fig and Mint Macaron.

For some reason I immediately thought "Baby Card" when I saw these colours. How cute are these little pins from the Better Together stamp set? And did you notice any similarity between the pins and the Global Design Project colour combo picture? The order that the team at GDP put the colours in was so appealing that I had to replicate it in placing the pins on my card. 

This card isn't as busy as my usually work, instead is a perfect example of the theory of "less is more". Using the new Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder is a perfect way to add interest to a card without adding too much detail and my new favourite ribbon, Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon in Whisper White provides an extra element of softness.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed my post and are inspired to have a play with the new Stampin' Up! colours yourself. Make sure you pop over to the Global Design Project to see what the designers have created using this beautiful combo 

 - Tan xx

A little something to say Thanks | Let's Get Hopping #11

Welcome to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. You may have just arrived here from my creative friend, Nina McMillan King. Wasn't her projects simply gorgeous? If you are starting here please make sure you hit the next button at the bottom of this post and hop all the way around

The theme for this month's is Gratitude and what better way to show your gratitude to someone than with something handmade. 

Those who know me, know I love to bake and a handmade gift usually involves a homebaked treat and these Mini Pizza boxes from Stampin' Up! are the perfect packaging for a jumbo choc chunk cookie or a piece of your favourite slice. But for this pizza box I added a little extra twist.

As you can see from the above pic the top of box also includes a little note card where you can write a personalised thank you note to go with treat.

I'm really loving the images and sentiments in the Petal Pallette stamp set at the moment and the random spotty stamp was perfect for adding some detail to the pizza box. To create the detail I first stamped and heat embossed the spots in Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder and then I sponged some Petal Pink ink over the embossed spots.

Did you notice the detail on the front of the card? It was create using the new Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. This folder has to be one my absolute favourite new products in the 2018/2019 Annual Catalogue. Quite often I find myself wanting to add just a touch of subtle detail to my cardstock and with this folder I can easily turn a piece of plain cardstock into a slightly textured piece of cardstock without taking away from the overall design of the project. 

Thank you for hopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my post. Next up in the hop is the super talented Eva Pottsova, I bet she has a beautiful project to share with us.  

 - Tan xx

A New Colour Palatte | GDP Sketch Challenge #142

My favourite thing about the release of a new Stampin' Up! Catalogue is seeing what new In-Colors I can add to my collection. However this year, along with 5 new In-colors, Stampin' Up! have added an extra 16 new colours (10 brand new and 6 returning) to their colour collections. Yay!! More new colours to play with!

So with new colours at my disposal I decided it was time to play with some new colour combos and since purple isn't a colour I turn to a lot I chose to start with the two new shade of purple, Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape.

 

What do you think? Did you notice that I've used a new blue as well? I love how the Balmy Blue compliments the purples in this project. 

When I'm working with new colour combos I often find it easier if I have a layout or sketch I can CASE and for this card this weeks Sketch Challenge from Global Design Project was 

I also drew some inspiration from the cleverly creative Susan Wong (Stamping Susan) who recently shared a clever way to create a fringe style embellishment using cardstock in one of her exclusive, members only, Crafty Carrot Collective videos (head over to Susan's blog to find out how to join)

You may have also noticed some subtle texture at the top of the card. I felt like the project needed a little extra something but I also wanted to keep the top panel completely white. Initially I thought of adding some detail in embossing paste and the diamond patterned mask was perfect, however, when I opened my tub of embossing paste I discovered it was rock solid (insert sad face). It didn't take me long to find a solution though. Instead I used a dauber to sponge some Versamark over a section of the mask and then I heat embossed the pattern in White Stampin' Emboss powder. I love how the heat embossing created a smooth and shiny result, I'll definitely be using that technique again. 

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my post. Make sure you pop over to the Global Design Project to see the designers take on this creative sketch

 - Tan xx

Hello Gorgeous | Let's Get Hopping #10

Welcome to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. You may have just arrived here from my super talented friend Diana Tillery. Weren't her projects simply gorgeous? If you are starting here please make sure you hit the next button at the bottom of this post and hop all the way around

This month the team at Let's Get Hopping are sharing memory keeping projects.

As a papercrafter, memory keeping is not something I've done a lot of but it is something I would like to spend more time doing and this month's theme was just the push I needed.

My challenge with this project was to create a page that complimented the photo and images from Happy Birthday Gorgeous were perfect for the task.

In piecing together the page I was reminded of a scrapbook tip I got from another Let's Get Hopping friend, Susan Wong, that in scrapbooking you want to lead the eye onto the page from the top left hand corner and lead the eye off the page at the the bottom right hand corner. To do this I created this little bunch of flowers and lightly stamped collage of words towards the top of the page and I tied both images together with a nest of hand drawn circles.

Thank you for hopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my post. Next up in the hop is my creative friend, Eimear Carvill. I can't wait to see what Eimear has created for us. 

Happy stamping

 - Tan xx

CASEing Brian King for GDP #140

This weeks Global Design Project CASE the Designer challenge (#140) was one I just couldn't resist.

Brian King is a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator that I have been following since I was first introduced to Stampin' Up! over 7 yrs ago. He has an amazing talent for combining colour, clean lines and layers to create simple sophisticated cards and while my creative style has become more fussy and detailed over time, I still love to turn to Brian's blog for inspiration.

When creating my project I chose to CASE the layout and combination of flowers and a beautiful sentiment of Brian's card. The colour combo I've gone with today features a brand new Stampin' Up! colour, Soft Seafoam. Don't you just love how it goes with the Copper and Black? In keeping with Brian's style I wanted to keep my card relatively simple however I just couldn't resist adding a little extra detail with some inlaid die-cutting and some plaited linen thread.

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my post. Make sure you pop over to the Global Design Project to see the designers take on Brian's card

 - Tan xx