Global Design Project 121 | Colour Challenge

I'm busily preparing lots of samples for our upcoming catalogue launch event where we will showcase many of the new items in the Stampin' Up! Occasions and Sale-a-Bration catalogues. To help me with this I've found that looking up some online challenges inspires me to try different techniques, layouts or - in this case - a colour combo that I might not have thought of using myself.

So the challenge I'm participating in this week is the Global Design Project colour challenge.

I've been itching to bust out one of my new stamp sets (Birthday Wit) and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use it as I knew I wanted to cut up the stamped image in a few different colours.

I also used another new product, the 'Celebrate You' thinlits dies.  These are available until 31 May 2018 as a FREE Sale-a-Bration item if you purchase AU$180 or more of current Stampin' Up! product. This set of dies will also carry over into the new annual catalogue in July 2018 - but why wait until then when you'll have to pay for them...get them for FREE now!!  

So, here's my final card...

...I like the end result...Peekaboo Peach isn't a colour I'm particularly drawn to, but I think it works well with the other two colours, what do you think?

Head over to the GDP page to check out all the other entries.

Just click on the 'Shop Now' button if you'd like to buy these or any other current Stampin' Up! products.

Product List

Birthday Wit Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$33.00

Celebrate You Thinlit Dies

$0.00

Tutti-Frutti 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper

$17.50

Myths & Magic Glimmer Paper 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm)

$26.00

Global Design Project 120 | CASE the Designer

It's been a while since I participated in a Global Design Project (GDP) challenge, so thought I'd have another go this week.  This week is a CASE the Designer challenge and we are
CASE-ing this card by Canadian designer Krista Frattin.

What I really liked about Krista's design is the crispness of the white, with just little pops of light colours, and that's what I tried to go for in my card.

I used one of the new sets from the 2018 Occasions Catalogue - Magical Day. I also received my brand new collection of Stampin' Blends this week, so I've been having a bit of a play with those and wanted to incorporate them into the card.  

I added just a tiny amount of colour to the unicorn with the Light Pink Pirouette and Light Pool Party Blends. Usually with alcohol markers you would colour with at least two similar colours together, and 'blend' them to get the variation in shades. I wanted lots of white space to be left on the unicorn though, so I tried using the Colour Lifter as my secondary 'colour' to blend with...I think it worked OK!  

I was also inspired by Louise Sharp's project for this GDP challenge - I'm always blown away by the awesome colouring she does and she managed to get lots of white space on her gorgeous elephant in amongst the grey and pink. Louise coloured hers with the Stampin' Up! watercolour pencils and aqua-brush, but I was intrigued to see if I could colour something with the blends without actually colouring the whole image).

I added a circle of vellum behind the unicorn to soften the colour of the Pool Party aqua-wash that I put down first of all.  Why don't you head over to the Global Design Project page to check out all the awesome designs on there.

Main products I used for this card:

Magical Day Clear-Mount Bundle

$80.00

White Vellum A4 Card Stock

$11.50

Pink Pirouette Light Stampin' Blends Marker

$7.75

Pool Party Light Stampin' Blends Marker

$7.75

Stampin' Blends Color Lifter

$7.75

Birthday bubbles

Today I'm using one of the new sets from the upcoming 2018 Occasions Catalogue...only three more sleeps until it goes live...yay!

The set is called "Bubble Over" and it also has a matching set of 'Bottles & Bubbles' framelits available. One of the things I love about this set is its versatility - the bottles can be beer or soft drinks, so can be used for either adults or kids...winning!

While I was making this card for a very special friend's upcoming birthday...

...I thought how cool it would be to make a 3D bottle of beer.  As the bottle shape is symmetrical it's so easy to make a 3D item from it. 

I used the Big Shot to cut out 11 of the smallest of the two bottle dies, scored them down the middle, folded them in half and glued them together.  I then stamped and stuck the beer label to a strip of Bermuda Bay cardstock to go around the bottle. 

And of course to complete the look I thought it needed to be sitting on a beer mat (coaster) so made a very quick one out of a square piece of Sahara Sand cardstock and stamped it with a couple of images from the Bubble Over set. (It's hard to see in the picture as the colour is so faint but I used the swirly circle image from the stamp set to create the look of beer stains on the coaster).  

And there you have it... 

Now I want to make one that's a soft drink version as I think the cute little straw that comes with the framelits will sit nicely in the middle of the glued together bottles. 

These would make a cute little 3D gift tag for a present, don't you think? 

Supplies used for 3D bottle:

Bubble Over Photopolymer Bundle

$71.00

Additional supplies used for birthday card:

Happy Birthday Thinlits Die

$35.00

Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack

$17.50

Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper

$0.00

Brights Enamel Shapes

$15.75

A "Cool Treats" birthday

Hola! 

I'm currently on the Spanish island of Majorca, enjoying the sunshine and time with family, and a few "cervezas" before (and after) our daily siesta!!  The project I'm sharing with you today is one I made a few weeks ago, but had to schedule the post for a later date...i.e. after my sister's birthday!

My sister LOVES ice-cream. A quick look at her Facebook page will reveal she seems to travel the English countryside in search of the best soft-serve offerings.  So, what better stamp set to use for a birthday card than Cool Treats with coordinating Frozen Treats framelits dies.

I don't generally get to spend my sister's birthday with her, due to living on the opposite side of the world, so I wanted to make this card a bit more than 'just a card'.  Mini pizza boxes to the rescue!

How adorable are those boxes?!?!  They are a new item in this year's Stampin' Up! holiday catalogue.  I decorated the top of the box with a soft-serve ice cream, using the Marbled stamp to get the swirly effect on the ice cream. I made a little birthday card to fit into one of the 3"x3" envelopes to go inside the pizza box. And to finish it off, the card lies on a bed of 'fairy dust' sprinkles so that she can decorate her own ice cream at home.

As I'm lucky enough to be in the same hemisphere as my sister for a few weeks, I searched online for cool places to go for ice creams in London.  I couldn't go past Milk Train in Covent Garden - O.M.G...check out their website...!!! I'm so looking forward to the sugar overload you must surely feel after an ice-cream surrounded by candy (fairy) floss and topped with all sorts of sugary, gooey goodness!!  Everything in moderation they say...so I'll just have one! I'm hoping my sister hasn't discovered this place yet as I made a little voucher to go inside her card which entitles her to anything she wants from the Milk Train menu (as long as she takes me and the rest of the family along with her!!)  We'll have to wait until we've finished our relaxing week in the sun before we get our very own "Cool Treats" but I think it'll be worth the wait.

Happy stampin' everyone

Lou x

If you live in Australia, you can click below to buy the products I used on today's card:

Cool Treats Photopolymer Stamp Set

$47.00

Frozen Treats Framelits Dies

$45.00

Mini Pizza Boxes

$10.00

Marbled Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$26.00

Star Wars baby shower

I do like a challenge, especially when it involves card-making!  Last week a friend of mine asked me if I would mind making a card for an upcoming baby shower she's attending. Sure, no worries at all. It's a Star Wars theme...can I do something for that? Ummmmm...I have never watched a Star Wars movie in my life (yes, those people do exist!) but sure...challenge accepted!  So, with thanks to Pinterest and a card I found by Carolina Evans I came up with something that I'm pretty happy with, and it was really quite simple to make.

I showed my nine year old son the completed card and asked him who it was...

Him: It's Princess Leia.

Me: Yesss...nailed it! {happy dance}

Him: Err, no, you didn't quite nail it mum. 

Me: Huh?????

Him:  You gave her a pink lightsaber.

Me: Huh?????

Him:  You should have given her a blue lightsaber, or a gun. You've turned Princess Leia into a baddie. Not quite nailing it. {shakes head in disappointment at incompetent mother}

Oh well, it's too late now, and hopefully the baby on the receiving end of the card won't care (or know) that it's the wrong coloured lightsaber!

I love the "Marbled" background stamp and thought it would work perfectly as a soft background for Princess Leia and her pink {should have been blue} lightsaber!  I used the (retired) large oval punch for the head and body, the bottom of one of the Butterflies Thinlits for the main part of her hair, and the (retired) word window punch for everything else. The greeting was created with the Classic Label punch and stamps from Happy Birthday Gorgeous.

Product List

Marbled Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$26.00

Classic Label Punch

$31.00

Global Design Project 100 | CASE the Designer Celebration

This week is the 100th challenge over on the Global Design Project!  You can pick any one - or more - of the designers to CASE.

I chose to case Brian King's card as it reminded me that I've had the Marbled stamp sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks now, just begging to be inked up! Here is Brian's card:

I also used the Christmas Sweaters stamp set, which instantly reminded me of my childhood. I grew up in England, where Christmas sweaters are aplenty at that time of year! It's too hot in Canberra at Christmas to be wearing big, chunky sweaters so I'll just have to get my fix of them by making cards to send to friends and family in England. This is the card I came up with:

I stamped the sweater in Basic Gray archival ink. You can't see it clearly (at all!) in the picture but I then went over the snowflake with the Fine Tip Glue pen and let that dry before then washing over the whole jumper with an aqua brush and Pool Party ink. 

Head over to the GDP website to check out all the other designs in #GDP100. 

If you live in Australia, you can click below to buy the products I used on today's card:

Marbled Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$26.00

Christmas Sweaters Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$33.00

Silver Foil Sheets

$7.00

Fine-Tip Glue Pen

$12.00

Global Design Project 096 | Case the Designer

Today I'm taking part in this week's Global Design Challenge. The theme for this week is CASE the Designer, and we are CASE-ing a design by Tanja Kolar. I love this kind of clean and simple layout - it can pretty much be adapted to any kind of stamps, paper or embellishments. 

The main element I took from Tanja's card was to keep the focal area in the top portion of the card. I created the background using Shimmery White cardstock, which I wet first with an aqua brush, before picking up the colour from inside the lid of the Tempting Turquoise ink pad and just brushing it quickly across the top section of the card. When you want to cover a large area of card like this with watercolour, you just need to make sure you have quite a wet brush so that the colour spreads around quickly.

I just love the Lift Me Up stamp set and coordinating dies...I really haven't shown it enough love (i.e. ink!) yet, so it was nice to have a bit of a play around with it again.

Thank for stopping by today, happy stampin' everyone!

Lou

xx

Product List

Lift Me Up Clear-Mount Bundle

$78.25

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock

$14.00

Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate

$14.00

Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock

$14.00

Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock

$14.00

Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad

$11.50

Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad

$11.50

Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad

$11.50

Aqua Painters

$20.00