Stampinantics: July 2016

Thursday, July 28, 2016

THOUGHTFUL BRANCHES - COMING AUGUST 2ND!

Stampin' Up! have a limited release for you in August in the form of the Thoughtful Branches bundle. And, oh my, what a bundle. Lets talk more about this card I made using the bundle first.

I went all floral for this one and I love how it turned out. My sponges sure got a work out, but it was worth the gorgeous effect I managed to achieve. I sponged Pink Pirouette, Sweet Sugarplum and Rich Razzleberry ink on Shimmery White card in an ombre style. I then cut out the Hydrandea flower head using the "tree canopy" die in the set. Using the negative space, I sponged ombre colour again on my white card front where I wanted the flower to be.

I die cut out the stem and leaves in Old Olive card. Once again I used the negative space to sponge Old Olive and Always Atrichoke ink on my card, using the die cut to work out where my leaves would be. After adhering the stem on my card front with my Fine-tip Glue, I added itty bitty pieces of dimensionals to the flower head and, after lining up with the sponged image below, stuck that to my card front too.

I also carried the colours to the inside by adding foliage along the bottom of the card. The card front was finished with lots of pretty pearls over the flower head.

This gorgeous bundle is available for one month only. You will be able to order the bundle between 2nd and 31st of August AND you can use your Bonus Days coupons that you collected during July towards this purchase too. The bundle retails for $110 NZD. I will have a tutorial for purchase or free (with purchase of this bundle) available in August too, so check back here for more details then!!

Monday, July 25, 2016

BRIDGE TO NOWHERE GDP#046

I really like sketches to kick start the creative process and this week at Global Design Project we have an awesome sketch to inspire you.

My stamp set choice, Wherever You Go, really inspired the theme of this card too. I adore the artwork in this set, particularly the bridge and the little bird. This set called my name when I first saw it in the catalogue. Yes, it really did! I also felt it was made for this sketch!

Are you watching the news at the moment? What is our world coming to that we can't travel in safety, without fear of never going home? That is what my card is about. Hope - that one day we can go where ever we want and go in safety.

To create the Ombre background, I used the new Sponge Brayers to apply the ink on Shimmery White cardstock, starting with Soft Sky, Tempting Turquoise and finishing with Dapper Denim. The intensity of colour is just as stunning as using a rubber brayer, but I feel the sponge rollers are a lot more forgiving, as you don't tend to get hard lines of colour and you can smooth things out a lot easier. Give them a try!

I hope you will play along with us this week and check out what the rest of the Global Design Project Design Team have created as well.

Product List

If you live in New Zealand, I would love to be your Demonstrator. When you shop Online with me, please use July's hostess code 9F7XBWCA and allow Demonstrator contact, so I can thank you properly with the gift of a card when you place an order.

Friday, July 22, 2016

HELLO! ANNUAL CATALOGUE HOP AROUND THE WORLD #8

Welcome to the Hello! Annual Catalogue 2016-2017 Blog Hop! I am delighted to be contributing to this amazing weekly hop this week! You’ll be hopping around some amazing Stampin’ Up!® Independent Demonstrators blogs, each with an inspirational project, featuring new catalogue products. You probably just came from visiting the amazing Jerim Dickins and now you are visiting with me - Paula Dobson from New Zealand. If you are new to my blog, feel free to take a look around and then continue hopping by using the previous and next buttons at the end of this post.

I thought I would take the simple but cute route with this card using a versatile set I have only just received. But don't be fooled into thinking you could thrash out a ton of these for your stash - it was time consuming, but worth it. Each candle has to be lined up and stamped twice, top and bottom, before cutting in half to insert the sentiment. Thankfully, Birthday Banners is a photopolymer stamp set making it unnecessary to use a stamp placement tool, such as the Stamp-a-ma-jig. I could see exactly where I was stamping! Got to love that!

I managed to use a whopping 10 different colours on this "simple" card, lol. Not to mention the amount of Dimensionals that were used! It adds just a little something more when the artwork is popped up above the sentiment this way, don't you think?

Thank you for visiting today. The next stop is the very talented Caroline van der Straaten. There’s lots of inspiration to be found in this group – and you don’t want to miss it!

The full list of participating demonstrators are:

Paula Dobson - NEW ZEALAND - You are here!
Caroline van der Straaten - THE NETHERLANDS

Sarah Berry - UK
Louise Sharp - AUSTRALIA
Constanze Wirtz - GERMANY
Tracy May - UK
Kylie Bertucci - AUSTRALIA
Krista Driessen - THE NETHERLANDS
Kim Price - UK
Jerim Dickins - UK

Product List

Monday, July 18, 2016

IT JUST STINKS! GDP#045

Welcome back to another Global Design Project challenge. This week we have a great colour challenge for you. I had a lot of fun with this one as the idea for my card came to me straight away for a change!

Mr courier had recently delivered a big brown box to my door (I never get tired of that!). Inside the box was a cool stamp set called Here for You. The sentiments in the set are funny and a great way to lighten a perhaps sad, bad or just crazy situation. I loved "Well, this just stinks" and couldn't wait for an opportunity to use it. Hence my skunk card!

The colours in this weeks challenge suited my skunk theme perfectly. I pulled out my Fox Builder punch to make my cute skunk - so easy! We all know skunks reek and my sponged background hopefully portrays the whiffy smell that might arise from one - we don't have them in New Zealand, lol. I created a template out of vellum using the long wavy die from Swirly Scribbles Thinlits for my background.

I love how this card turned out. How could it not put a smile on the recipients face? The play on words and that cute, cheeky critter? Did you smile when you first saw it? I hope so!

Would you like the chance to be our guest designer for our next colour challenge? We would love to have you. Visit Global Design Project to find out more!