My Happy Colour | Let's Get Hopping #31

Good morning to you all and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. This month's theme is "My Happy Colour" and the challenge is to create a project that shows off your favourite colour, whether it be your favourite Stampin' Up! colour or your favourite colour in general. For me this meant making a choice, my favourite colour is pink, particularly a bright pink but my favourite Stampin' Up! colour to use is Pool Party. After a little deliberation, I decided since I don't often create with my favourite colour, I'd to go with pink, more specifically Melon Mambo.  

For those of you that follow me on social media you maybe aware that I have been focusing on using the stamp sets in my collection that are retiring soon and the sentiment on this card in from one of the sets I will miss the most, Seriously The Best. I absolutely adore the bold script sentiments in this set and while I don't usually hold on to many of my retired sets I just might hold on to this one a little longer.

Rather than making a completely pink card I decided to go with some magnolia buds water-coloured in Melon Mambo to highlight my chosen colour. I love the effect you get when water-colouring with bold colours like Melon Mambo. Don't you love how they "pop" on the Smokey Slate background?

As an extra touch to make the magnolia buds stand out a bit more I added a touch of Wink of Stella which gave them a beautiful shimmer.

Next up in the hop is my beautiful friend, Nina McMillan. I'm sure she has something gorgeous to share with us all.

Now I'm sure you are all aware that the new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue is on its way and this year I am joining forces with the incredibly talented Mikaela Titheridge to bring you an Online Catalogue. Starting in the afternoon on Saturday 30th May and continuing through the night and into the morning on Sunday 31st May. To ask for more details or to book a spot click on the Contact Me link at the top of this page.

Thank you for joining me today. 

Crafty Hugs

- Tan xx

Paper Adventures Team Blog Hop - Guest Designer

Hello everyone and welcome. An extra special welcome to those of you who are visiting my blog through the Paper Adventures Team Blog Hop. I'm so honoured to be joining the hop this month as a guest designer. 

To start with I'd like to say a big Happy Birthday to the leader of the Paper Adventures team, Kelly Kent. Today is Kelly's birthday and it only seems fitting that the theme of this hop is to CASE one of Kelly cards. The project I chose to CASE is this gorgeous split panel card Kelly shared earlier this week. 

I've wanted to have a go at creating a split panel card for a while now and when I saw this gorgeous card on Kelly blog I figured now was the time to do it. To see the details of Kelly's card (and another beautifully bright version of this one) head to her blog post here

If you follow me on social media you may be aware that this year I've been selecting a focus product each month with the aim to get more use out of my Stampin' Up! supplies and for the month of May I've chosen to focus on the products in my collection that are retiring at the end of the month. With that in mind I opted to use the Birthday Jubilee Stamp Set and coordinating Jubilee Beauty dies. The spray of flowers from the stamp set is perfect for colouring and for this project my chosen colouring tools were the Stampin Blends markers, they really are my favourite to colour with. 

To create the top and bottom split panels I used one of the papel picado dies from the Jubilee Beauty dies and then I've joined them with a die cut circle featuring the sentiment. This particular element did not initially work the way I had pictured in my mind as there was not enough overlap joining the sentiment circle to both panels to hold the card upright so I added some window sheet on the inside for extra support. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read my blog. Next up in the hop is Narelle Simm from Eleventh Hour Stamping. Click on the Next button below to see Narelle's project and continue on the hop.

- Tan xx

All Shapes & Sizes | Be Inspired Blog Hop

Hello everyone. Welcome to another blog hop with the Be Inspired Design Team. This month we are sharing cards of all different shapes and sizes.

When creating cards I usually find myself creating a standard sized card, which here in Australia is created from half an A4. But for today's challenge I chose to go with something tall and skinny (or long and skinny for my second card)

When creating my first card I was inspired by the current sketch challenge from the Global Design Project, however since my card was taller than a standard card I chose to had more stripes to the background and create a pretty rainbow effect.

Once I'd finished my first card I still had leftover strips of cardstock so I figured I'd make another card, similar yet different. I stuck to the same spectrum of colours and the same sentiment and flowers from the Birthday Jubilee Stamp Set as the first card, however this time I used the border die from the Jubilee Beauty Dies to create a lattice/lace look background. I have to admit this particular background was a tad fiddly to create but the end result was so worth it, don't you think?

That's all I have to share with you today but the rest of the team are sure to have more inspiration for cards of all shapes and sizes. To check them out start with Janneke Dijkstra de Jong by click on the next button below and follow along until you arrive back here at my blog. If you get lost along the way there is a list of all the blog hop participants at the end of this post.

Take care and stay crafty
- Tan xx

Be Inspired Design Team Blog Roll

Tanya Rees (You are here)

Janneke Dijkstra de Jong

Cathy Caines

Manuela Geiswinkler

Carolynn Sander

Brian King

Angela Meiritz-Reid

Celebrate | Stamping Sunday Blog Hop

Hello and Happy Easter everyone. Today's Stamping Sunday Blog Hop is Celebrating with the Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to play with the Seriously The Best Project kit and coordinating stamp set.

My projects for today are divided into these three categories:

• Beginner/Simple stamping: quick, easy projects needing limited supplies; clean and simple cards;
• Casual stamping: takes a little more time, uses some tools, more embellishments;
• Avid stamping: more time, techniques and tools

At first glance the project kits from Stampin' Up! are perfect for the Beginner stamper. The cards have already been designed for you, most of the elements have been die cut and the kit comes with instructions of how to assemble the card. However this does not mean that they are not suitable for Casual and Avid crafters and today's projects are an example of this.

The first project I am sharing is one for the Beginner. I've created this card directly from the kit instructions and the sentiment suits today's "Celebrate" theme perfectly. Whether you are congratulating someone for a new job, graduation, engagement or just for a job well done, they are all reasons to celebrate. 

The second card I have created is aimed at a Casual crafter level. When creating this project I've  stuck to the same overall layout but I have changed the colours by cutting a card front panel and another card base and have added a banner is plain Vellum . I've also changed the sentiment and have heat embossed it in gold on a circle die cut. "Hello Friend" is not usually a sentiment you would associate with the "Celebrate" theme but during this bizarre time we are all experiencing friendships are definitely something to celebrate.

Lastly, my third card has been created with the Avid crafter in mind. I've gone back to the original Balmy Blue colour base and have included the same elements of the Beginners card but I have stepped it up with some vellum fussy cut gold embossed leaves, some masked stamping and I've added a die cut bird and the word "Friend" from the Family Party stamp set.

That is all from me today. To see what the rest of the team have created be sure to click on the links below

Crafty hugs, Tan xxx

Stamping Sunday Blog Roll

Breathtaking Bouquet Meets The Annual Catalogue | Stamping Sunday Blog Hop

Hello everyone and welcome back to another Stamping Sunday blog hop. This months hop is a little different as we have all chosen a stamp set from the January - June Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue and are using it with products from the 2019-2020 Annual Catalogue. Sounds simple enough but given that I have just received my order of new goodies from the Mini Catalogue it was really tough to choose just one stamp set!! I got there in the end and actually enjoyed reconnecting with my supply of Annual Catalogue products.

So in case you hadn't already guessed the stamp set I chose was the Breathtaking Bouquet Stamp. This gorgeous floral stamp has so many uses. You can make a feature of the image by colouring with blends or water colouring, the flowers can be fussy cut out to create your own beautiful bouquet, or the image also makes a stunning background for a project.

I chose to use the image to create a background but instead of stamping on plain cardstock or colouring the images I stamped and embossed the image on a piece of Perennial Essence Designer Series Paper which added extra texture and a variation of colour to the background. 

Because there was already a lot of subtle detail in the background I didn't want the focal point of the card to be too busy so I fussy cut some birds from the Bird Ballad DSP and mounted them over a Sahara Sand and Vellum Stitched Nested Label Die cut and some White Flax Ribbon. Layering Vellum over Sahara Sand cardstock is my favourite way of softening the neutral coloured cardstock.  The sentiment comes from the Free as a Bird stamp set and the card was finished off with some Linen Thread and Pearl Basic Jewels. 

This particular card is a special thank you card for someone and I wanted to give them a little thank you gift as well so I decided to make a coordinating gift box using a Mini Pizza Box. For the gift box I stuck to the same layout and products, just using a different bird image and sentiment and the White Flax Ribbon wraps all the way around the box and secures at the side of the box with a bow.

That's all for from me today. I can't wait to see what stamp set the rest of the design team chose to feature. To follow along the hop click the links below

Crafty hugs, Tan xxx

Stamping Sunday Blog Roll