Feeling Festive | Be Inspired Blog Hop

Hello everyone and welcome back to another Be Inspired Blog Hop. This month we are all "Feeling Festive" and are sharing projects inspired that theme.  

At the moment I am about half way through creating Christmas cards to give my family and friends so my craft room definitely has a festive feeling to it and today I'm sharing one of the cards that I reproduced several times in a recent crafting session.

When it comes to Christmas cards I usually like to create cards that have several layers and elements but are not too complex to be reproduced multiple times. For this card I started with the Toile Tidings DSP, added an embossed panel of cardstock, a die cut branch from the Toile Christmas stamp set and a heat embossed fussy cut sentiment from the Tidings All Around stamp set. To add some bling and texture I finished the card off with some linen thread, sliver glimmer paper and a little ribbon.

One of the things I love about Stampin' Up Christmas products is often you'll find the sentiments in the stamp sets are words from Christmas carols and when I'm using them I'll often catch myself humming or singing carols whilst I craft. In this case I couldn't help but start singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" while making this card, and what better way to get you feeling festive that singing carols and crafting? 

I should note that I particularly enjoy fussy cutting but if it's not your cup of tea the sentiment would be just as stunning on a die cut or punch out or a simple banner. 

That's all from me today, as I still have many more cards to make but if you are keen for some more "Feeling Festive" inspiration be sure to click the next button and check out what Janneke Dijkstra de Jong has created for us. 

Be Inspired Design Team Blog Roll

Tanya Rees (You are here)

Janneke Dijkstra de Jong

Jackie Aitken

Cathy Caines

Manuela Geiswinkler

Carolynn Sander

Emma Goddard

Stesha Bloodhart

Angela Meiritz-Reid

Slider Card | Let's Get Hopping #26

Welcome back to the last Let's Get Hopping for 2019. This month we are all sharing Fun Fold or Interactive cards and I have created a Slider card to share with you today.

This fun slider card is the same size as a standard card so will easily fit inside an envelope. However, unlike a standard card it does not open for a greeting to be written on the inside. Instead, when you gently pull on the ribbon at the top of the card, a panel will slide out with space for you to write a greeting. 

The fun part of this card is when you pull the tab out, the wreath portion of the card also slides up revealing a sentiment and the cute little Jingle Bells add a fun jiggling noise as the card slides open. 

Thanks for joining me today. Next up in the hop is my beautiful amazingly talented friend Nina McMillan. I cannot wait to see what she has created.

- Tan

Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team Blog Hop - Toile Tidings

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team Blog Hop. Well there's no denying that Christmas is fast approaching and this month we are showering you in red and green with the Toile Tidings Suite from the 2019 Holiday Catalogue.

The traditional vintage feel of this suite is very different to what I'm normally drawn to for Christmas craft but once I got my hands on the products in the suite it didn't take me long to be flooded with inspiration. For these particular projects I really wanted to find a way to showcase the beautiful Toile Tidings Designer Series Paper, however I changed the monochrome feel of the paper by colouring a sheet of the leaves and berries patterned paper with Stampin' Blends. Isn't it amazing how you can achieve a completely different look simply by adding a little colouring.

For this card I used my custom DSP as a background for a couple of die cut wreaths in Granny Apple Green and Garden Green and a contrasting black banner with a white embossed sentiment. The addition of some Gold Glimmer paper, Gold foil "swishes", Real Red Ruched Ribbon and some rhinestone "berries" take the card up a notch to something extra special.

Once I had finished my card and saw how well my custom DSP went with gold the next obvious step was to decorate a Gold Mini Pizza box to be used a gift packaging. Since I wanted to use the beautifully wide Real Red Ruched Ribbon to tie a bow around the box I needed to keep the other elements to a minimum so I simply added a couple of gold glimmer leaves, the white embossed sentiment on a Stitched Shape circle and a fun gold Jingle Bell tied on with some Linen Thread

For me gift tags are an essential part of Christmas preparations so of course I had to create a few coordinating gift tags to use with the Toile Tiding Gift Wrap. What do you think? Doesn't this gift look just too pretty to unwrap? 

Next up in the hop is my beautiful Kiwi friend Angela Meiritz-Reid, who has some gorgeous gift packaging to share with you all. 

Thank you for stopping by. 

- Tan xx

Supplies used

Stamps: Toile Christmas
Card: Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Basic Black, Very Vanilla Gold Glimmer Paper, Gold Foil Paper, Vellum, Toile Tidings DSP, Toile Tidings Gift Wrap

Ink: Versamark,
Accessories & Tools: All-Around Wreath Dies, Christmas Cardinal Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Light Granny Apple Green Blend, Dark Real Red Blend, Dark Crumb Cake Blend, Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Real Red Ruched Ribbon, Jingle Bells, Gold Mini Pizza Boxes, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Gold Glitter Enamel Dots, Gold ¼” Glimmer Ribbon, Linen Thread

Brightly Gleaming | Stamping Sunday Blog Hop

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stamping Sunday Blog Hop. This month the team are showcasing elements of the Brightly Gleaming Suite in the Stampin' Up 2019 Holiday Catalogue. 

The very first time I flicked through the Holiday Catalogue particular suite stood out as a favourite and the whole range of products have been my go-to for many of my Christmas projects. I absolutely adore the suite colour palette of Night of Navy, Pretty Peacock, Old Olive, Copper and Very Vanilla but for today's projects I wanted to take a different approach and use the Christmas Gleaming stamp set with the brights collection of colours. 

Aren't they pretty? There's something about these colours arranged in rainbow order that makes my heart smile. To create each of these 3" x 3" mini cards I stamped and heat embossed the ornament image in white on watercolour paper and then I added a watercolour wash in each of the different colours.

Once dry I then mounted each image on a square of coordinating cardstock before adhering to the card front. The sentiment from Tidings All Around was also heat embossed in white on Basic  Black cardstock and I added a little bling with some Silver Glimmer paper and some rhinestones. 

That's all from me today. Be sure to check out what the rest of team have created with this amazing suite. 

- Tan xx

Stampin Up! Artisan Design Team Blog Hop - Christmastime Is Here

Christmas Is Coming Early This Year!
We hope you’re ready to make this holiday season magical, because the Christmastime Is Here Suite is, well . . . here! This exclusive, limited-time collection of festive, floral coordinating products has everything you need to share love, joy, and creativity this holiday season. The 2019 Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team have been busy creating even more samples with this stunning suite and can't wait to share them with you in another blog hop. 

Before I share my projects I wanted to remind you of the samples that I shared in the first blog hop.

As you can see my first collection of projects featured the rich Christmassy colours of Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green and Gold that feature in the Christmastime is Here Speciality Designer Series Paper. However, when I sat down again to play with the gorgeous Christmas Rose I thought I'd have a go at something a bit different.

What do you think? This rose image is so versatile. Right? I'm not sure about you but at this time of year I'm so engrossed in Christmas crafting with my new holiday goodies, that my poor friends and family who have birthdays in November and December usually end up receiving a card from my "stash" rather than one that I have created with them exclusively in mind. But this set changes all of that.

My starting point for both of these projects was watercolouring the rose image and I just had to go with Melon Mambo for the flowers. I really love the combo of Night of Navy with Melon Mambo and the addition of Gold in the heat embossed sentiment from the Band Together Stamp Set meant I could also make use out of the stunning Gold Glimmer ribbon and Gold Glitter Enamel Dots from the suite.

Sticking with the blue tones I decided to go with Balmy Blue for my second card and kept the layout fairly simple to allow the rose image to shine. Do you recognise the DSP on this card? Inspired by my amazingly talented friend Susan Wong, I've started trying to give my designer series papers a new look by taking them outside of the original colour palette and this Balmy Blue stripe from the Come Sail Away DSP works perfectly with the bright pink rose.

The Christmastime is Here suite is available to customers from 1 November and will only be available while supplies last so if myself or my fellow Artisans have piqued your interest with these alternative designs I strongly suggest you contact your local demonstrator asap so you don't miss out.

Next up in the hop is my beautiful friend Angela Meiritz-Reid from Christchurch, New Zealand. Be sure to select the "Next" button below to see what Angela and the rest of my Artisan friends have created.

Supplies used

Stamps: Christmastime is Here, Band Together
Card: Night of  Navy, Balmy Blue, Crumb Cake, Shimmery White, Come Sail Away DSP

Ink: Stāzon Jet Black, Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Versamark,
Accessories & Tools: Roses Dies, Stitched Nesting Label Dies, White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Gold Glitter Enamel Dots, Gold ¼” Glimmer Ribbon, Linen Thread