Paper Meets Ink: January 2017

Saturday, 28 January 2017

Wish Big - CTC112

I love challenges! They get me doing something I may not have attempted or thought of before and of course they get me creating, not that you need to hold a gun to my head on that one!

This week I decided to try the CASEing the Catty Challenge. In this challenge you use our amazing catalogue for inspiration. The catalogues are filled with beautiful creations showcasing all the fabulous products. For those of you that don't know Stampin' Up speak, CASEing stands for copy and selectively edit. In other words, find a picture that speaks to you or maybe a little element from one project and a little something else from another, put your spin on it (edit) and voila you have your own amazing creation!

Here is my card......

This week the challenge was from the Cupcakes and Carousels section pages 8 - 13. I've taken inspiration from the card on page 13 right in the middle with the little silver banners.

I've used the Birthday Bright Stamp Set, it has some beautiful fonts and cute garlands and balloons. The paper is from the Playful Palette Designer Series Paper Stack and for the cute little flags I have used the coordinating Playful Palette Designer Washi Tape, you can never have too much washi tape! I've found myself using washi tape to decorate the insides of my cards, so quick and easy but super effective.

Anyway, time for me to go, the washing machine just sung to me, eek I hate that tune! It means I have to bypass my craft room and go hang out the washing. I know what I would rather do!

You can check out the CASEing the Catty Crew HERE! You don't have to blog to participate you can just add to the Facebook Album and join in on the fun.

Over and out!

Megan xx

Thursday, 26 January 2017

Love is in the Air - #tgifc91

Hi everyone!

The card I am showing you today is for the TGIF challenge.

The challenge this week is.....

Valentines day is only just over two weeks away. I like to make something for the Mr PMI and the kidlets and this card MIGHT make it to one of them...... not saying who, not too hard to guess I reckon. It would have been so much easier to keep it under wraps but when you see a challenge and you've got a card ready to go how do you not enter it??

It would have also been easier if I didn't threaten all of them with severe consequences if they didn't subscribe to my blog as they would've been oblivious but when you are just starting out blogging you need all the subscribers you can get, right? On that note, if you would like to subscribe to my blog, (ie you receive an email letting you know when I have posted) you just need to go to the right sidebar of my page and find the subscribe button. Pop in your email and then hit subscribe, easy!

Now back to the card, do you remember it?

I've used my favourite bundle from the Occasions Catalogue, Lift Me Up stamp set & Up and Away thinlets. The banner is from the Birthday Bright stamp set. I've embossed it in gold onto Real Red cardstock. The background is a simple watercolour wash of Pool Party and Soft Sky achieved by scribbling my Stampin' Write Markers onto one of my larger clear blocks and then picking up the colour with an Aqua Painter and swishing across the watercolour paper. I love getting a bit inky and messy and every time you do it you get a different result, so much fun!

You should jump on over to the TGIFC blog spot and have a look around, while you are there why not have a go? Click HERE!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers Megan xx

Saturday, 21 January 2017

Colour INKspiration Challenge #01

Howdy everyone!

I do hope you are having a fabulous week and thank you so much for popping by my blog. This week I couldn't resist joining in on the Colour INKspiration Challenge. Each fortnight this uber talented group of designers set a colour combo to inspire/challenge you. You don't even need a blog to particpate in this one as you can join in by just posting your creation to their facebook page, how awesome is that?

This fortnights challenge had six colours of which you needed to pick at least three plus you can add in a neutral. Well I thought, why try to pick three when you can have all six! Hmmm, I thought to myself, you are probably making this very difficult for! However, I was very pleasantly surprised with how easily this card came together.

I've used the Window Shopping Stamp Set and the matching Window Box thinlits for my card and of course the gorgeous Stitched Framelits, that are very soon coming back into stock, love, love, love these! This card is not your conventional size, it measures 5 x 5 inches. Card stock colours are Sweet Sugarplum, Mint Macaroon, So Saffron and Tempting Turquoise (for my design I found the Turquoise to be a bit bright so I toned it down with a layer of vellum layered on top) and of course Whisper White was used for my neutral. My sentiment and sequins are Blushing Bride and there is your six colours!

My four coloured squares are popped up on dimensionals as well as the banner. Speaking of the banner, how cool is the little "banner builder" thinlit in this set? It makes a really cool 3D banner. Of course don't forget how these thinlits make beautiful boxes too! I love the versatility of Stampin' Up products.

The inside of the card got a little love too and of course, as I made a different sized card, I easily made an envelope to match with my Envelope Punch Board.
I hope you have been inspired by my creation, the Window Shopping bundle can be found in the Occasions catalogue and of course the purchase of this will qualify you to pick a free item in the Sale-a-bration catalogue, yeah, WIN WIN!

If you live in Australia, I would love to be your demonstrator either contact me directly or you can place an order by visiting my online store, you can click the link on the top of my page.

Want to check out or participate in the Colour INKspiration Challenges? Follow this link here.

Cheers Megan xx

Oh! and P.S. It has come to my attention, while talking to my friends and family that some people don't know much about blogs. I was asked, "How do I know when you have written something?" You can subscribe to blogs. Over to the right of my page about half way down you will see a Follow by Email section. You just pop your email address in here and hit subscribe and that way when I post you will get an email notification. Easy!

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. I am participating in an International Blog Highlight organised by Kylie Bertucci. You are able to VOTE for my project and if I place in the top ten I then get to participate in an international blog hop, so please take the time to vote for me! You can do so by clicking HERE.

The theme this month is travel in which the Lift Me Up stamp set and matching thinlits is the perfect match. As soon as I saw this set at our OnStage conference in November, I knew I had to have it. I love it's versatility in that it can be used for a feminine or masculine project. For my project I have used it to scrap a page for my son. He has his surf club jumper on that he was so proud to get. We live on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. My hubbie, daughter and son are all volunteer surf life savers. Ethan received this jumper when he made the State team so it was pretty special!

I have used along with the Lift Me Up bundle the gorgeous Designer Series Paper that goes along with it. This paper can be found in the Sale-a-bration catalogue and can be earned free by spending $90. If you live in Australia I would love to be your demonstrator, you can find the link to my online shop up above.

In this close up you can see that I have cut the intricate hot air balloon several times and stuck them all together to create a thicker element, the bottom die cuts are cut in Night of Navy to make it pop up off the page. The title is done with the Layering Alphabet stamp set. To give it a 3D effect I have stamped it once in Night of Navy and then stamped again slightly offset with Craft ink (white). I was really happy with how it turned out.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today! I would really appreciate it if you could jump on over to Kylie's blog (Click HERE) and vote for my project. It would be fantastic to participate in an International Blog Hop.

Cheers Megan xx

Sunday, 8 January 2017

ESAD 2017 Occasions Catalogue & Sale-a-bration Blog Hop

Hello everyone! I write this blog entry at 4.06pm, when is this blog hop due? 5.00pm! Nothing like living on the edge. You may be starting with me or hopped on over from the fabulousness of Cathy. I do hope you take the time to hop around to everybody. So much inspiration for you, your wish list for the new catalogue will grow, I guarantee it.

How amazing is this new catalogue?, WAIT technically TWO catalogues because it's Sale-a-bration time in the Stampin' Up world and what that means is that for every $90 you spend you can pick a freebie from the Sale-a-bration catalogue. There are all sorts of goodies in there including stamp sets, paper packs, ribbons and more!

My first two cards use the beautiful new Special Reason stamp set with the coordinating Stylish Stems Framelits Dies. They have been bundled which means you save 10% by buying both. If you are a wood-mount type stamper, BAM! you've qualified to receive something for free out of the Sale-a-bration catalogue. If you are a clear-mount stamper a small extra something like the amazing Hexagons Dynamic Embossing Folder that I have used in my second example will get you over the line.

Here is my first card that I have for you today....

The designer paper I've used is Playful Palette from the Annual Catalogue along with Peekaboo Peach, Sweet Sugarplum and Very Vanilla. A touch of Very Vanilla Lace and a splash of Gold Wink of Stella finish off the card nicely I think.

For my second card I had to use the Hexagon Dynamic Embossing Folder, it is amazing! I love how it can go from a masculine card to a feminine card. The Dynamic Folders create deep and dimensional impressions, nothing like what you have seen with ordinary folders.

Here I inked up the flowers with Blushing Bride inkpad first and gave it a spritz of water before stamping onto Watercolour Paper to give it a painterly effect. I then wiped the stamp off and coloured the centre of the flowers with my Rose Red Stampin' Write Marker, spritzed with water again and stamped. I'm really happy with how they turned out. I've used a Pear Pizazz card base & embossed Crumb Cake cardstock and finished the card off with some Blushing Bride Solid Baker's Twine.

For my third card, of course as I had spent $90 I got an awesome new stamp set that is just too cute not to use - Tasty Trucks!

See what I mean? Too cute for words. It comes with an assortment of little stamps that your truck could be displaying - ice creams, tacos, cakes, hotdogs and more. I've coloured my truck with the gorgeous new Watercolour Pencils and Aqua Painter. The designer paper is the Playful Palette again with Peekaboo Peach and Blushing Bride Cardstock and I've use some of the coordinating Playful Palette Designer Washi Tape.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog, feel free to subscribe by entering your email details in the section on the right. It is now time for you to hop on over to the amazing Tanya! Don't forget if you get lost anywhere along the hop, below is a list of participants that you can click on.