CASE the Mini Catalogue | Let's Get Hopping #45

Hello everyone and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping blog hop. It's hard to believe that it's already been a month since our last hop. This month the team are CASEing the July - December Mini Catalogue and with so many a-maz-ing projects in this catalogue I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone has created for this hop. For those of you who are not familiar with the term CASEing (or CASE which stands for Copy And Selectively Edit) and it means to take inspiration from a project, be that the layout, colour combo, or the way a technique is used, to create your own project. Often when I'm feeling creatively blocked I will pull out an old Stampin' Up! catalogue and pick a sample project to CASE to get the creative juices flowing. 

Given that a large portion of the products in this Mini are Christmas themed I felt compelled to create a Christmas card but I chose to use the Tidings of Christmas suite of products from the Annual Catalogue as I've been hanging out to have a play with them. Below is the card I chose to CASE from page 13 of the Mini and as it was the layout of the card that really appealed to me, it became the basis for my card. 

Instead of snowflakes I've used the stars from the Christmas Trimmings Dies and the I've opted for a richer colour combo inspired from the Tidings of Christmas DSP that I've used in place of Pearlescent Speciality Paper panels. I've also added an embossed panel of Soft Succulent to add a little more texture.

Next up in the hop is Megan Teare from New Zealand, I'm certain that she has something fabulous to share with us. 

 

Favourite Occasion | Let's Get Hopping #44

 Hello everyone and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping blog hop. This month we are all sharing projects created for our Favourite Occasion. Aside from birthdays and Christmas, there are so many reasons or occasions to create and give a handmade card; weddings, a new baby, sympathy, thank you, a new home; but at the moment my favourite reason to make and send a card is just to say hi.

There's no doubt that receiving a "just because" card makes your heart smile, but for me I feel equally as good making and sending a card just to say to someone and in times like now when we are more distanced from each other what better way to connect.

Next up in the hop is my friend Megan Teare. I'm looking forward to seeing what she and the rest of the team have created for their favourite occasion.

Returning Favourite | Let's Get Hopping #42

Hello and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. With a new Stampin' Up! catalogue starting earlier this month we are all having fun playing with all the new products that are available to us but, there are also many favourites that have been carried over from the previous catalogue and in this hop the Let's Get Hopping team are showcasing our returning favourites.

When creating this card I've teamed flowers from the Jar of Flowers stamp set with a sentiment from Happiest Birthday Wishes and I've given both a fresh new look with the new 2021-2023 In Colors. 

Next up in the hop is Nina McMillan, I can wait to see what returning favourite Nina is showcasing. 

-Tan xx 

 

Fabulous Florals | Lets Get Hopping #40

Hello everyone and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop and this month's theme is Fabulous Florals. There are so much floral options available in the range of Stampin' Up! stamp sets, finding something to work with for this theme was not going to be a challenge but, it was a piece of Designer Series Paper leftover from another project that ended up becoming the feature for this project.

Inspired by my fellow Let's Get Hopping friend, Mikaela Titheridge, I've coloured these flowers from the True Love Designer Series Paper with Stampin' Blends in So Saffron, Mango Melody, Petal Pink and Calypso Coral and the leaves are in Granny Apple Green. The gold embossed sentiment is from the Forever & Always stamp set and die cut with the coordinating Always Dies.

 

While the theme for this hop was to feature florals, I wanted to create this background that has been bouncing around in my mind since I first saw the Floral Heart Dies in the Stampin' Up! January - June Mini Catalogue. Now it did take quite a bit of die cutting and my desk was covered in teeny tiny hearts afterwards but I really love how it has turned out, so it was totally worth it. What do you think? I have plans to create another rainbow version when time permits so keep an eye out in the next week or two.

Next up in the hop is Shelly Wadge. If you have a scroll through Shelly's Instagram feed you'll see lots of floral inspiration and I'm certain she will have created another stunner for us today.

- Tan xx

 

Punch It | Let's Get Hopping #39

Hello again, two blog posts in a week!! Today's post is for the first Let's Get Hopping blog hop for 2021 and this month we are all showcasing punches. While there are so many different tools out there I think punches are one of the best beginner tools out there and the Ice Cream builder punch from Stampin' Up! is one of my current favs.

When creating this card I used my Ice Cream builder punch to cut out these delicious ice creams from the Ice Cream Corner Designer Series Paper. The water colour splotches are perfect for the scoops of ice cream and the Cinnamon Cider crisscross pattern is the obvious choice for a waffle cone.

That's all from me for today but please make sure you continue hopping through to see what the other designers have punched out, starting with the lovely and talented Alicia Yap

- Tan

 

Gift Box Tags | Let's Get Hopping

Welcome everyone to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. The festive season is fast approaching and it's got myself and the rest of the Let's Get Hopping team thinking about gifts. I really enjoy using my Stampin' Up! supplies to create gifts and gift packaging, it's my way of adding a little some special to a gift. If you have been following me for a while you may recall I also enjoy baking and baked treats are my go-to gift for my children's' amazing school teachers each year. This year the kids thought cupcakes would be the perfect treat so today I'm sharing the embellished cupcake boxes that are ready to be filled with some delicious cupcakes at the end of the school year.

The patterned papers from the Trimming the Town DSP are the perfect base for a belly band and I used the Wreath Builder dies to create this Granny Apple Green wreath. With the addition of a couple of ornaments and a sentiment from the Tag Buffet and a little gold thread the belly band is complete. 

Next up in the hop is my friend Alicia Yap, who has just announced that she is going to be part of the Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team for 2021. When you hop over to her blog be sure to leave her a little congratulations in the comments.

 

One For The Boys | Let's Get Hopping #36

Hello and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping blog hop. This month we are sharing projects created in the males in our lives in mind. Masculine cards usually seem to challenge most card makers but Stampin' Up! offer so many great stamp sets that are perfect for masculine cards and Geared Up Garage is one of my favourites.

Using the coordinating Garage Gears dies, a little sponging of white craft ink and some blends, this card came together fairly quickly and it could be easily recreated in a whole range of colours. 

Next up in the hop is my talented friend Alicia Yap. I'm looking forward to seeing what she and the rest of the team have to share with us all.

 

Happy 3rd Birthday to Us | Let's Get Hopping #35

Hello and welcome everyone to an extra special Let's Get Hopping blog hop. Today's hop just happens to be going live on the same date that our very first Let's Get Hopping blog hop was published three years. Wow, I cannot believe that its been three years already!! 

If you have been already been hopping along you would have come from the blog of my amazing friend and our Let's Get Hopping founder, Jennifer Frost. Jenn started this blog hop for a group of us that had just started blogging and for most of us it was the first hop we had participated in. I'm so grateful of Jenn creating this opportunity for me as it opened up so many more opportunities for me to grow as a papercrafter and a blogger.

Moving on to today's projects, the challenge this month was to take one of the themes we have worked with in the past three and I chose the CASE Yourself theme from March of last year.  

Here is the card I chose to CASE. I created this card earlier this year and at the time I knew it would be a card that I would one day CASE.

And here is my CASE. For this card there were a few things I chose to CASE from the original project and a couple of elements I have included in both cards. I really loved this sentiment from the So Sentimental stamp set and I loved how the die cut vellum panel added some softness and subtle detail to the card.

Instead of adding a water coloured flower, I chose to go with a 3D Peony flower created with the Peony Dies and rather than a tone on tone stamped background I went with this patterned DSP from the Peony Garden DSP pack. 

Thanks for joining me today. Next up in the hop is my Kiwi friend Alicia Yap. I'm excited to see what theme she has chosen for this month

 

Step It Up or Scale It Back | Let's Get Hopping #34

Welcome everyone. It's time for another Let's Get Hopping blog hop and I have really been looking forward to this one. This month's challenge encouraged us to think about the type of crafter we were, an avid crafter who loves to add lots of layers, textures and embellishments or someone who prefers to keep it simple. Whatever our style, the challenge was to create a card and then create a second card that was either a "Stepped Up" or "Scaled Back" of the original. I'm sure it's no surprise to you all that I am more of an avid crafter, in fact creating a scaled back version of my card was a challenge, however it was a challenge I enjoyed. So here are my cards.

When creating my original project I was inspired by an incredibly talented friend, Cindy Schuster. Cindy is part of The Crafty Carrot Collective and during this month's program Cindy shared two stunning cards with the Beautiful World Stamp Set, her tutorial project was the inspiration for the layout of my card while the colour scheme was drawn from the sneak peek Cindy shared in the lead up to this month. (You can see both projects here).

Rather than using the Beautiful World stamp set I chose to go with the Tasteful Touches stamp set and In Good Taste DSP and I have used a number of different techniques to create the card. The flowers have been stamped and coloured with blends, the branches of leaves have been heat embossed in copper on vellum and both images have been fussy cut. I've also added some detail in the background by adding strips of the DSP rather than one full panel.

For my "Scaled Back" version I opted for a simple panel of DSP for the background and rather than stamping on and fussy cutting vellum, I stamped and embossed the branches of leaves directly on the DSP. The flowers have still be fussy cut by have been stamped in Petal Pink and Bumble Bee rather than coloured. Lastly I kept the sentiment panel as a simple rectangle of Very Vanilla.

Next up in the hop is my talented friend Shelly Wadge. I can't wait to see how she has tackled this challenge

 

Christmas In July | Let's Get Hopping #33

Hello everyone and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping blog hop. This month's theme is Christmas in July and with the new Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue about to be made available to customers on 4th August I though this was a perfect opportunity to share a sneak peek of a few new items I have picked up in the demonstrator pre-order

 

 

If you are someone who loves to use rich greens and reds for your Christmas projects you are going to love the 'Tis The Season Designer Series Paper stack that I have taken the background DSP from. Honestly I could have used almost any of the patterns from this particular DSP stack to complete this card. The images and sentiment for this card have come from the new Wishes & Wonder stamp set and I've also used the coordinating North Pole Wonder Dies to die cut the sleigh, the seal and the tag. 

Since I had a bit of time up my sleeve when I was creating this project I decided to add a few extra little touches of detail. Here in this close up you can see I've stamped a mistletoe image in second generation Sahara Sand on the tag so it's just peeking out from behind of the North Pole seal and I've also added a light splatter of gold heat embossing to the background. To achieve the gold heat embossing splatter I first used a Stampin' Write Marker in Sahara Sand to add I light splatter of ink to the DSP and I then quickly added some Gold Stampin' Emboss powder to the ink splatters and heat set it with my Heat Tool.

Well I hope you enjoyed my first Christmas themed project for this year. Next up in the hop is my friend Alicia Yap from New Zealand. I'm looking forward to seeing what festive themed project she has created for us. 

If, like me, you are excited to see more of what's in the new Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue then you may be interested in joining myself and the lovely Mikaela Titheridge in our Mini Catalogue online launch party on Saturday 8th August. 

Mikaela and I are sharing a half day event including four exclusive Facebook Live Classes, complete with PDF Tutorials and two make & take videos

Since this event is virtual, we are offering to not only our customers but Stampin' Up! enthusiasts worldwide. Whether you’re an active Demonstrator already and/or live in other markets that Stampin’ Up! sell to, we would love to have you join us with our Online Access Only option. You won’t receive a copy of the Catalogue or Make & Take packets but you can still join in the fun with access to all of the Live Presentations and tutorials throughout the course of the day.

Follow the link below to register for the Online Access Only option. We'd love for you to join us.

https://eventsandmore.thecraftyoinkpen.co.uk/product/online-mini-catalogue-launch-party-aug-2020/

Thanks for joining me today. Happy Stamping

- Tan xx

Scrap It | Let's Get Hopping #32

Hello and welcome to another Let's Get Hopping blog hop. The challenge set for this month's hop was to create with the scraps leftover from other projects. Whether it be thin strips of cardstock off cuts, stamped or die cut images that didn't quite look right on even the leftover card from where a shape has been punched or die cut out, I'm sure we all have a stash of scraps that we just can't bear to throw away in case they can be used later. 

Now the interesting thing about my project for you today is that it's been created using the scraps from a card that ended up being scrapped. (You know those cards that look great in your mind but in reality are terrible 😆) 

So have you worked out what the scraps are? Well believe it or not, the scraps are the water-coloured petals in the sunflower. When working on the original project that didn't make it off my desk I had water-coloured and die cut a sunflower with the intention to use the outline portion of the sunflower but as I was popping out the petals I couldn't bear throw them away. So instead of discarding them I die cut another outline in Cinnamon Cider and set about putting together the jigsaw puzzle. A little tip if you plan to have a go at this technique yourself, make sure you cut out a solid sunflower shape to glue the outline and little petal pieces to.

Inspired by the TGIF Challenge Blog Sketch for this week I trimmed an inch off the edge of the card front so the piece of In Good Taste DSP on the inside of the card was peeking out. 

Next up in the hop is my super talented friend, Alicia Yap. I can't wait to see the creative ways she has used scraps.

Until next time

-Tan xx

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

Shaker Cards | Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop

Hello and welcome. Today I'm hopping with the Let's Get Hopping team and this month we are sharing shaker cards. A shaker card is one of the first interactive cards I made when I first started card making and I often find myself making them for my kids to give to their friends. 

To create this card I chose to use the Little Ladybug stamp set, which is an exclusive host benefit set from Sale-a-bration. Aren't these lil ladybugs just the cutest? For the shaker element I used some fussy cut mini ladybugs, some diecut flowers and leaves and some silver sequins.

Next up in the hop is Teresa Brown. I can't wait to see what Teresa and rest of the Let's Get Hopping team have to share with us. 

Happy stamping

- Tan xx