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

Be Inspired - Something New

 

Hello. Well it's been a long time since I've shared something here but I have to say it's lovely to be back participating in the Be Inspired Blog Hop. This month's theme is "Something New" and with a beautiful branch new Annual Catalogue, brimming with branch new Stampin' Up! goodies I had a lot to choose from. 

Each time Stampin' Up! releases a new catalogue, I have the pleasure of co-hosting an Online Launch Party with fellow Stampin' Up! demo, Mikaela Titheridge from the UK. During our most recent launch I chose to showcase the Brewed For You stamp set and created this simple card to show how the glass images can be used for beverages other than beer and wine, like an icy cold glass of lemonade, for example. 

Next up in the hop is Janneke Dijkstra do Jong. I can't wait to see what their "Something New" is. 

Be Inspired Design Team Blog Roll

 

Tanya Rees (You are here)

Janneke Dijkstra de Jong

Carolynn Sander

Brian King

Emma Goddard

Stesha Bloodhart

Angela Meiritz-Reid

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

 

Sweet Treats | Be Inspired Design Team Blog Hop

Hi. It's time for another Be Inspired Design Team Blog Hop and this month is all about sweet treats. 

While it's only October I'm already thinking about Christmas baking. Each year I like to have my gifts purchased and wrapped by the end of November and then December is all about the the sweet treats like cookies, caramels, cupcakes, fruit cake and gingerbread. However, there's nothing that makes me think of Christmas more than plum pudding.

I can see myself using this cute lil' pudding from the Sweets & Treats stamp set over and over again. The open line image means it's perfect for colouring and even though there is no coordinating die, it really isn't too tricky to fussy cut. When creating this project I wanted to create something that I could recreate in bulk so I've kept the design relatively simple. However, when it came to adding the patterned paper strips to both sides of the centre panel I wasn't happy with the options in my stash of DSP and instead opted to create my own by using the spots mask from the Basic Pattern Decorative Masks and a blending brush to create a Real Red spot pattern. 

Next up in the hop is Janneke Dijkstra de Jong. I'm sure she has something stunning to share with us

 Be Inspired Design Team Blog Roll

 

Tanya Rees (You are here)

Janneke Dijkstra de Jong

Carolynn Sander

Brian King

Emma Goddard

Jennifer Picard

Stampin' Blends - Designer Takeover | TGIF Challenges #318

Hello and welcome back to another TGIF Challenge. I'm posting this a little late as my Friday was crazy and the feeling in this house is very much TGIS (Thank God It's Saturday)! Anyway, I still managed to get a spot of crafting in last night and this particular challenge was exactly what I needed after a manic few days. The week is a Designer Takeover and the lovely Bree Renwick, aka the Craftsomnia Momma, has set a Stampin' Blends challenge. 

Stampin Blends are my absolute favourite colouring tool and they are perfect for adding colour to a project. It's been a while since my Beautiful Moments stamp set has been off the shelf so I decided to ink it up for this card.

I decided to keep it simple with this card and team the coloured image with some woodgrain paper from the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper pack and a touch of Soft Succulent gingham from the Pansy Petals DSP to tie in with the blades of grass. 

A tip for when colouring images, you can add the illusion of depth to your project by outlining the image with the bullet tip of a light Pool Party blend. 

As I chose to go with a black card base, a white insert was required so I decided to add a little extra detail. I don't often think to decorate the inside of my cards but it really adds a touch of something special to a card so I just might start doing it more often.

Well that's all from me today. Make sure you pop over to the TGIF Challenges blog to see what the rest of the design team have created and make sure you share your own projects if you've been inspired by this challenge. 


 

Beautiful Thank you | TGIF Challenge #291

Whoop whoop it's Friday!! Wow the weeks are flying by! It feels like I was only just posting my last TGIF post a few days ago. This week is an inspiration challenge and my project has been inspired by a couple of elements of the challenge graphic

Firstly the theme of the challenge is being "Thankful" and since my stash of Thank you cards could do with a top up I thought I'd create a simple Thank you sentiment from the So Sentimental stamp set.

Secondly I was drawn the the arrangement of flowers in the graphic and the stunning bright colour combo. I absolutely adore the sunflowers in the image so initially I had my Celebrate Sunflowers set on my desk, but as I started pulling out the bright summery colours of Melon Mambo, Bumblebee and Granny Apple Green, I changed my mind and went with these gorgeous florals from the Beautiful Friendship stamp set. It's been a little while since I played with this set and I really love how it looks in a bright colour combo instead of the softer subtles I've used in the past. 

If you've not checked out how the rest of the TGIF crew have been inspired by this challenge be sure to pop over to the TGIF Challenge blog and if this challenge has inspired you to create something please share it with us.

-Tan xx

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.

 

Ink Blending | TGIF Challenge #283

Whoop whoop. It's Friday again and the end of another busy week. This week our fabulous friend Tami Hewlett has taken over TGIF Challenges and has challenged us to all get our fingers all inky with some ink blending.

And here is my project.

I used a sponging technique to create my ink blended background and chose to go with Real Red, Melon Mambo and Flirty Flamingo as my colour combo. Since the challenge was an ink blending challenge I kept the other details quite simple with some Whisper White die cut hearts and a white embossed sentiment on Basic Black.

To see what the other talented TGIF designers have created and to join in the challenge head over to the TGIF Challenges blog 

Thanks for joining me today.

-Tan xx

 

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

 

Festive Flowers | #TGIFC 281 Sketch Challenge

Ooops!! I have a confession to make. I thought I was so organised with my TGIF challenge project this week and then realised last night that I forgot my blog post. So here it is, just a couple of days late. This week the TGIF challenge is a sketch challenge and I love this sketch.

The rectangle detail in this sketch immediately inspired me to use panels of DSP as the focal point and I have been looking for a way to use this gorgeous poinsettia pattern from the Flowers For Every Season DSP pack. To add some extra detail I've die cut the panels with the Stitched Rectangle Dies.

As you can see I've played with the sketch a little and flipped it, and then added a simple sentiment panel and a little metallic edge ribbon. By keeping this card simple it is a great design to recreate in bulk for Christmas. 

Thanks for joining me today. To check out what the rest of the gang at TGIF Challenges have done with this sketch and to join in with the challenge pop over to the blog here.

- Tan xx 

Punch It Out | Be Inspired Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome. Here we are again, getting towards the end of another month and time for the Be Inspired Design Team Blog Hop. Is it just me, or is this year just flying along? This month the Be Inspired team are playing with punches and when it comes to punches my absolute favourite go-to is without a doubt the Medium Daisy punch.

Given the focus of this card was to use punches I wanted the daisies to be the focal point and kept the rest of the card fairly simple. The sentiment panel is actually a card from the Flowers for Every Season Memories & More card pack. The teeny tiny daisies tie in with the larger flowers and I love the bright pop of Magenta Madness in the sentiment. I added some texture to the Misty Moonlight background by embossing it with the Pinewood Planks 3D Embossing Folder.

One of the things I love about the Medium Daisy punch is that the daisies can easily be punch out of plain cardstock and still look great, however to add a little extra detail I chose to stamp and heat emboss the daisies in white with the Daisy Lane stamp set. I also added some Just Jade leaves from the Sunflower Dies.

Thanks for joining me today Next up in the hop is my lovely friend Janneke Dijkstra de Jong. I can wait to see what she has "punched out" for us. 

Be Inspired Design Team Blog Roll

 

Tanya Rees (You are here)

Janneke Dijkstra de Jong

Cathy Caines

Manuela Geiswinkler

Brian King

Emma Goddard

Angela Meiritz-Reid

 

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

 

Gingham Christmas | #TGIFC 277 Sketch Challenge

 

Whoop whoop!!! It's Friday again and I'm back playing along with another TGIF Challenge. This weeks challenge is a sketch challenge.

And here is my take on the sketch

When creating this card I used the scallop dies from the Budding Blooms Dies to create two scalloped slits and then die cut the word "Happy" in the centre with the Playful Alphabet Dies. Initially wanted to insert a Magenta Madness water coloured panel beneath the "Happy", but try as I might I just could make the concept work and instead I substituted the water colour panel with a piece of gingham patterned DSP from the Heartwarming Hugs Designer Series Paper pack. I then added a bauble and holly sprig from the Tag Buffet Stamp Set and the word "Christmas" from Peace & Joy. I think my favourite parts of this card, though, is the pops of Magenta Madness, don't they look great with the Mossy Meadow and Whisper White?

Thank you for joining me again today. If you haven't already, make sure you pop over to the TGIF Challenge blog to see what the rest of the team have come up with for this challenge.

- Tan xx 

Playing Favourites | Stamping Sunday

 

It's Stamping Sunday time again, welcome back. This month the team are sharing projects created with their favourite product from the Stampin' Up! 2020 August - December Mini Catalogue. I have to say picking a favourite from this catalogue is not an easy task, there are so many fabulous goodies to choose from, however it is hard to go past the Peace & Joy bundle.

With a combination of big bold words, little block sentiments and a selection of leaves and berries, the Peace & Joy stamp set is great for creating some simple card but add the Joy Dies and the fun you can have with this bundle goes to a whole new level. To demonstrate the versatility of the bundle I have created three cards, each one a stepped up version of the last.

Using just stamps, ink and paper this first card is perfect for the Beginner Stamper. The colour combo was been inspired by the new Heartwarming Hugs Designer Series Paper, which includes this gorgeous stripe pattern that I've used in the background of each of my cards.

Stepping up this next card to the Casual Stamper level, I've added some texture and dimension with fussy cut holly leaves and berries, some frayed red linen trim and clear heat embossing on the words 'Peace' and 'Joy'.

Finally I have taken this last card to the Avid Crafter level with die cut words from the Joy Dies, a second panel of coordinating DSP and some Gold Glimmer Enamel dots, coloured with blends as berries.

Thanks for joining me today. To see more Mini Catalogue inspiration be sure to check out what the rest of the team have created

- Tan xx