What Would You Do Without White Cardstock | TGIF Challenges #383

 Happy Friday!! It's been a while since I've had some quality time at my craft desk but  I am so pleased to be back participating in this week's TGIF Challenges. 

Wow! This is was a tough challenge. White cardstock is by far my most used product and scrolling through my past projects, I only found 1 or 2 projects that were free of white cardstock. However, with a little fussy cutting and some gorgeous DSP, I managed to put a little something together. 

What do you think? I love it when a few simple elements come together so well. 

Want a little more inspiration? Pop over to the TGIF Challenges blog to see what the rest of the team have created and while you're there, why not have a go at creating your own "white cardstock free" project. We'd love to see what you come up with. 

Happy Stamping

-Tan xx

Sketch Challenge | TGIF Challenges #376

 Whoop whoop! It's Friday and I'm excited to be back playing with the TGIF Challenges team. This weeks challenge is a sketch challenge and this sketch is a super fun one.

Have you heard its Sale-a-bration time again? It's that time of year where for every $90AUD / $180AUD you spend on Stampin' Up! product, you receive a free product of your choice from a range of exclusive Sale-a-bration (SAB) products. I have chosen to use two of the exclusive SAB products to create this fun card today, the Hippest Hippos Stamp Set and coordinating Hippo Dies.

Aren't these little guys just the cutest!!! When colouring my two hippos I used a tip from fellow demonstrator Patty Bennett, to first colour the hippo with a Light Crumb Cake Stampin' Blend and then go over with a Light Smoky Slate Stampin' Blend to get the perfect hippo-gray shade. 

Has our sketch inspired you to get creative? To see more inspiration head over to the TGIF Challenges blog to see what the rest of the team have done with this sketch and while you are there, make sure you add your own project. 😊

- Tan xx

Loaded Envelope | TGIF Challenge #353

 

Hi all. It's TGIF Challenge time again and yes, I know it's Saturday here in Australia but the bonus of a worldwide challenge is that it's still Friday somewhere in the world, so technically I'm not late. Right? Anyway, here is this weeks challenge and it's a fun one.  

Confession time, until being set this challenge I had no idea what a Loaded Envelope was and it took me some time get my head around the concept. Luckily one of my talented TGIF friends, Elizabeth Price had created a gorgeous Christmas loaded envelope late last year and recorded a video tutorial of how she constructed the envelope. (See Elizabeth's post here). Using Elizabeth's tutorial as a starting point here is what I came up with.

One of my daughters has a birthday coming up and her gift from us is tickets to a musical and a night away in Melbourne so I decided a loaded envelope would be a super special way of packaging her gift, as well as adding a couple of extra little birthday treats. The Friendly Hello DSP was my colour combo inspiration and as my daughter has asked to have an Ice Cream Parlour themed party, I decided to carry the theme across to her gift by using the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set and Ice Cream Builder Punch.

The only problem I had was once I was inspired I had too many ideas to fit in my envelope so I altered the envelope by adding a second large pocket to the back .

Once my envelope was constructed I moved on to making an card that doubled as a holder for the tickets. I've added a panel on the inside to record our message and then a pocket on the other side to slide the tickets in.

Next up it was time to package up some birthday treats and since my daughters favourite treat is mint chocolate a chocolate block wrapper was a must have. The Pale Papaya Ombre Gift Bags coordinated beautifully with the Friendly Hello DSP and I've added some texture with the Hive 3D Embossing folder.

To access the chocolate you just simply pull on the ribbon at the top and the block just slides out. 

After mint chocolate, Skittles are my daughter second favourite treat and they now come in a cute little box, that was super easy to wrap in another deconstructed Ombre Gift Bag and to reduce bulk I kept the embellishments fairly simple by just adding a Heart & Home Doily and a little ribbon.

While I was out shopping for goodies to put in the envelope I stumbled across a Pale Papaya coloured pen, the perfect addition, so of course a covered notebook was also required. 

So as you can see the possibilities for a loaded envelope are almost endless. To see what the rest of the team have created, make sure you head over the TGIF Challenges blog and then why not have a go at creating your own loaded envelope. Trust me you are going to have lots of fun with this one.

- Tan xx

Sale-a-bration | Be Inspired Design Team Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to our first Be Inspired Design Team Blog Hop for 2022. You are currently visiting Tanya Rees in Bendigo, Australia and if you have been hopping along you would have arrived here via my fellow Australian Be Inspired team mate, Louise Sharp. Wasn't her creation today simply gorgeous? Louise is not often able to join us in our hops so when she does its an absolute delight.

The theme for this months hop is Sale-a-bration! I love this theme because the projects we are sharing today have been created use products that you can receive for FREE with any qualifying order during Sale-a-bration during January & February.

The Sale-a-bration products I decided to feature is the Friendly Hello Stamp Set and Designer Series Paper that can be ordered for FREE with any order of at least $180AUD (excl shipping). What I love about this particular Sale-a-bration or SAB item is that not only do you get a free stamp set but you receive a 12 page pack of co-ordinating Designer Series Paper which means you only need to add some ink and cardstock and you've got a everything you need to make some beautiful cards. 

I've gone one step further and used my Blending Brushes, Stampin Blends, some ribbon and a little heat and dry embossing to create my project today.

One of my goals for 2022 is to also add a little detail to the insides of my cards and the additional sentiments and smaller imagery in the stamp set was perfect for this. I really love the "Hello Friend" sentiment in the set but if I'm honest I don't often give out just because cards to my friends but by adding the "Hope you have the Best Birthday" stamp to the inside I was instantly able to change the purpose to a birthday card.

Top tip for creating the background; after you have adding some blending, splatters and stamping, emboss with the Hive 3D Embossing folder and then run the cardstock back through your Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine between to pieces of paper to "soften" the emboss effect.

Next up in the hop is Janneke Dijkstra-de Jong. I can't wait to see what stunning creation she has come up with for us.

Be Inspired Design Team Blog Roll

 

Louise Sharp

Tanya Rees (You are here)

Janneke Dijkstra de Jong

Carolynn Sander

Brian King

Emma Goddard

Stesha Bloodhart

Angela Meiritz-Reid