Looking at things differently | TGIF Challenge #159

It's been a while since I've played with the Jar of Love stamp set but when I saw this sketch for this weeks TGIF Challenge I was immediately inspired. 

However once I sat down to start creating I  just couldn't get it to work and eventually "Mum duties" called so my project was set aside until later in the day. It was when I returned to my desk that I knew how to fix it....turn it upside down!!! What do you think? 

I'm absolutely loving the Wood Textures DSP stack from Stampin' Up! at the moment so you can imagine how happy I was when I found out that it is still available in the new 2018-2019 Annual Catalogue. 

These Delicate White Doilies, however, are retiring so if you are going to miss them as much as I am, you'll need make sure you order a packet or three as they are only available WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. That means don’t wait! Once they are gone, they're gone. 

Thanks for poping by today. Make sure you pop over to the TGIF Challenge Blog to see what the TGIF Design team have done with this sketch.

- Tan xx

Lil' lunch notes | Let's Get Hopping #9

Welcome to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. You may have just arrived here from my amazingly talented friend Susan Wong, didn't you just love her projects? 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's task was to complete a set of cards and I'm really excited to share my creations with you. 

My biggest boy (age 11) has been having a little bit if a rough time at school of late, just the standard school yard bickering but it's got him down just the same. So as a bit of a "pick-me-up" I decided to create some little lunch box note cards that I can write an uplifting message in and pop in his lunchbox. Since most of the problems are occurring during snack and lunch times my hope was that when he opens his lunch box he'll find my handmade note and that will lift his mood before he heads out to play. 

The bright and colourful designs from the Tutti Fruitti DSP stack were the obvious choice for me when I was deciding on my designs and I just couldn't resist adding a piece of coordinating DSP to decorate the envelopes. When it came to adding the sentiments I was spoilt for choice, Stampin' Up! includes so many wonderful sentiments in their stamp sets that I had a hard time narrowing the sentiments down to just 6! 

Here's a close up of each of the cards. 

Thank you for hopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my post. Next up in the hop is the super talented Sherry Espinoza, I can't wait to see what set of cards she is sharing.  

 - Tan xx

Designer Series Paper Love for GDP #134

Hands up all you Designer Series Paper hoarders. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has sheets of DSP in their stash that they are "saving" for that special project that never seems to come along. 

I'm not sure why I think this way, what's the worst that can happen if I use up all my DSP? I mean if I run out I can always buy more, right? So in a bid to get over this I made a commitment to myself to start using up my DSP and this card is the first of what I hope will be many cards featuring my favourite DSP. 

This pattern from Delightful Daisy is my absolute favourite. The soft colours of Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party and Calypso Coral are so beautiful in this floral pattern. I'm also guilty of saving the pieces of the white wash woodgrain from the Wood Textures DSP stack but it goes so perfectly with the florals, don't you think?

My inspiration for this card came from this weeks Global Design Project sketch challenge (GDP #134)

This sketch is perfect for showcasing the beauty of the DSP. 

To see what the Global Design Project Team have done with this sketch head over to their blog here.

I also wanted to showcase one of my favourite retiring sets , Celebration Time. This cake image has been my go-to for many of my projects and I'm a little sad to see it go. 

 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Tan xx

Handmade Easter Treats | Lets Get Hopping Blog Hop

Hello and welcome back to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop.

This month's theme is Homemade Easter, anything but a card!! 

I have to admit, I'm not much of an Easter crafter. I also enjoy a bit cookie decorating so that seems to be my creative go-to at Easter time. Hence this theme was a bit of a challenge and I spent a lot of time sitting at my desk pulling out supplies only to end up putting them back again and walking away without creating anything. However one day I was sorting out my DSP and once I came across a sheet of Pick a Pattern DSP inspiration struck and my project just flowed from there.

Now I know what you are thinking, the brief was "anything but a card". Well as you can see in these next few pics, what initailly appears to be a card is actually an easter egg gift box. 

Clever, hey! 

I was so happy with how this box turned out that I decided to make another two slightly different boxes for my kids to give their teachers this Easter. 

Thank you for hopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my post. Next up in the hop is the amazing Jennifer Frost, I can't wait to see what Homemade Easter inspiration she has created for us.  

- Tan xx

Party Time, Panda Style for TGIF #147

We are well and truly into Sale-a-bration time now and this week the team at TGIF challenges are sharing some amazing projects using SAB products. Inspired by their creativity, I wanted to share a set of cards I created with the super cute Party Pandas.

Aren't these little guys just the cutest? I have to say Stampin' Up! really knocked it out if the park with this set. 

In these first two cards I teamed the pandas with some Picture Perfect Party DSP, they really are a picture perfect match. I also experimented with some ribbon fraying and paper crinkling to add a little interest and texture.

In my last card I couldn't resist doing a little watercolouring on Shimmery White cardstock and then once it was I dry embossed the Celebrate using the Celebrations Duo Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. 

Thank you for joining me for some Sale-a-bration fun. Pop over to the TGIF Challenges blog for more SAB inspiration.

-  Tan xx

His & Hers | Lets Get Hopping Blog Hop

So I learnt something over the past few weeks, the best time to set yourself a blogging challenge is NOT when you have four children home for school holidays. Oops!  

However, now that the kids are back at school I'm back in my craft room and have some fun new projects to share with you just in time for another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. 

This month's theme is a His & Hers challenge - one layout, two designs, one for him and one for her.

In both cards I have gone with a watercoloured background, a shadow stamped sentiment from Picture Perfect Birthday, a diecut tag from Celebration Thinlits and heat embossed elements. 

In my "Hers" card I chose to pair the Berry Burst and Powder Pink watercolouring with a Gold Foil design from Bundle of Love Specialty DSP, a Night of Navy tag, some wooden hearts and a sponged doily. 

The colour scheme for my "His" card was inspired by the piece of Naturally Eclectic DSP and I chose to team it with silver rather than gold. Did you notice the silver fringe trim across the bottom of my card? 

To make the silver fringe I trimmed the edge of a length of Pool Party Shimmer Ribbon and then removed some of the Pool Party fibres leaving a fringe of silver thread. This is what the ribbon looked like before I attached it to the card.

I then used the Pool Party fibres from the ribbon to add some extra detail above the sentiment.

Thank you stopping by today. Next up in the hop is the super talented Nina McMillan, can't wait to see what His & Hers inspiration she has  for us.  

 - Tan xx

Ice cream Stand Card in a box | TGIF #144

The design team from the TGIF Challenge Blog have come up with a different challenge this week, to create a Card in a Box.

If you pop over to the TGIF Challenge Blog you'll see some examples of Cards in a Box, however I decided to put a little spin on the theme and chose to create an Ice Cream Stand box-card and filled the box with some test tubes filled with various ice cream sprinkles and toppings.

Don't you think this would be the perfect card for any icecream lover. To construct the box I first put 9 filled test tubes into an Acetate Card Box and I then used my Stampin' Trimmer and Simply Scored score board to create a box to wrap around the acetate box. 

Then to finish off the box card I attached a sentiment and a bowl of icecream from Cool Treats.

Thanks for stopping by again, hopefully I've given you a little inspiration to create your own box style card, or at the least, an ice cream sundae 😉

- Tan xx

Celebration time for TGIF #141 and GDP #120

New Years Resolutions. 

Have you made any this year? 

I'm not really one for making New Years Resolution but this year I have set myself a few goals that I hope to achieve. One of them is to push my creativity by participating in at least one challenge a week and another is to be more consistent with my blog. Last week I participated in a TGIF challenge and guess what, my project won!!! How exciting! (Click here to see my project)

So here I am in week 2 and today I'm participating in TWO challenges with this project. 

The colours for this project, Fresh Fig, Night of Navy and Island Indigo, were inspired by this weeks TGIF colour challenge and the layout was inspired by this week Global Design Project CASE the Designer Challenge. The card I chose to CASE is this gogreous card by Krista Frattin. 

I just adore Krista's work. She has an amazing talent of layering elements to create the most beautiful cards. Head over to her blog, Stampin Dolce, to see some more of her work.

Inspired by Krista I've layered this sponged and heat embossed cake from Celebration Time over some metallic thread, ribbons, sequin trim, punched out shapes and a metallic doily. 

I also want to give a shout out to another amazing demonstrator, Susan Wong who inspired the sponging on my background and the cake. I've not had a lot of success with the sponging technique but after watching one of Susan's Crafty Carrot Collective tutorials I picked up a couple of tips and I'm loving the technique now. 

I hope you enjoyed my post and I have inspired you today. 

 - Tan xx

Lets Get Hopping | Little Stamps

So, who's ready for Christmas? I'm am extremely pleased to say that I'm almost done. Yay!! However, the chaos of this time of year has meant my poor blog has been neglected. 😔 So, I'm very excited to be able to get back into it this week with another Let's Get Hopping blog hop. This months theme is also a perfect way for me to share what I've been creating in my absence. 

Today we are all focusing on using small stamps in our projects. If you are anything like me, quite often the small stamps of a set tend to get forgotten or overlooked, but this challenge inspired me to look at my small stamps differently, and today's project is definitely different.

Three of my four children attend the most amazing school, where all of the staff play a big part in their education and wellbeing, not just their classroom teachers. So each year I like to show our appreciation by giving them a small homemade gift. This year I went with bite sized cookies presented in a decorated Acetate Card Box.

So where is the small stamp I'm meant to be focusing on? I hear you asking. Well take a closer look at the cookies. The little Christmas tree from the Watercolour Wishes stamp set are the perfect size to stamp into the fondant icing on the cookies. 

Who doesn't love it, when you can multipurpose your craft supplies? For those of you who want to have a go at stamping your own cookies, I have a couple of tips to share

• Firstly, make sure your stamps are completely clean and dry. Even the smallest amount of moisture can make your icing sticky and you'll end up with a mess.

• Before stamping your image lightly brush your stamp with a littke cornflour (or cornstarch).

• Finally, only apply moderate pressure when stamping into fondant. You want to press firmly enough to create an impression but not to hard that fondant sticks to the stamp rather than the cookie.

I hope you've enjoyed this post and wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with family, love and Christmas cheer.

For more inspiration for using your small stamps please click on the next button below and continue on the hop. I can't wait to see what Mikaela has created.

- Tan xx

Let's Get Hopping | Back to Basics

Hi. Welcome back to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop.

Today's hop is all about getting "Back to the Basics" and sharing a project that's been created without the tools and gadgets we all love.

I've got to say, this challenge was tough. It really highlighted to me how much I rely on gadgets like my BigShot, punches and colouring tools to add detail to my projects. However, I'm really glad I persisted and here's the project I created

Inspired by this week's TGIF challenge theme of Gratitude I was drawn to this lovely script stamp from All Things Thanks. To add a little extra dimension I stamped the sentiment first in Powder Pink and then in Berry Burst.

The background was created by randomly stamping the large flower from Birthday Blooms in Basic Black Archival ink on Whisper White cardstock and I couldn't resist adding a little extra bling with some ribbon, bakers twine and a tassel.

Hopefully, I've inspired you to give the gadgets a break and have a go at creating a project with just some stamps, paper and ink.

For more "Back to Basics" inspiration, please click on the next button below and continue on the hop. I can't wait to see what Diana Tillery  has come up with

- Tan xx