Welcome to the Art With Heart Team Blog Hop for October. This is an awesome Australia-wide team full of fun, friendship, inspiration and support – who wouldn’t want to be a part of that!

This month instead of a theme we have a colour challenge! And I have to admit that I did indeed find this one a challenge! A fun one, but a challenge none the less. Here are our colours…

 

I love all four of these colours individually and when I set out to play I wasn’t having any trouble combining them in groups of two or three. But I struck some trouble when trying to use all four!

From the outset I looked at these as some really girly colours so thought I might be able to kill two birds with one stone by using them on the birthday card I needed to make my 4-year-old niece. I tried, I really did – and probably for far longer than I should, but I just couldn’t get it to come together for a 4th birthday card.

I decided that I needed a design with lots of white space to accommodate all those different hues. And then I realised that it was the brightness of the gorgeous Watermelon Wonder that was throwing me so I hit on a way to include it without having it compete too much with the other colours – as the outline of my Pink Pirouette flowers! Here’s my first card:

 

But I’d played so much I had all sorts of ideas buzzing round – and lots of partially completed pieces – so once I’d had some success I salvaged my bright girly butterflies and took them in another direction. Here’s the result:

 

 

It is a birthday card, but I didn’t really think it was right for my niece so back to the drawing board on that one.

In the meantime I can’t wait to see what all my fellow blog-hoppers have been doing with these colours – and I’d love to see what you come up with too so feel free to share.

 

Well that’s it from me, now it’s time see what Kathryn Ruddick has conjured up with these colours.

Oh, and don’t forget that we’ve got a fabulous opportunity to make the most of being a workshop hostess right now. Until the 9th November there are more benefits on the table so there’s no better time to host a party or even a virtual party on Facebook. Contact me to find out more.

Cheers

Genna

 

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view all the participants below: 

1. Tina Gillespie
2. Ros Davidson
3. Genna Gifford (that’s me!)
4. Kathryn Ruddick
5. Judy May
6. Jenny van Dijk
7. Kate Morgan

 

It’ll be September before you know it. Can you believe how fast this year is going? For some reason Father’s Day always sneaks up on me. One minute it’s the middle of winter and the next it’s already September.

So today I’m getting together with some of the Art with Heart Stampin’ Up! team girls to inspire you with some Father’s Day ideas – and remind you that’s it’s really not that far away!

You may have just been inspired by the creativity of Tina Gillespie, if so, I hope I can live up to expectations. If you’re starting from here, welcome, and thanks for taking the time to join in on our hop.

I don’t know about you, but the dads in my life are pretty non-traditional. They don’t really like any of the ‘classic’ dad themes you see on mass produced cards. Some years I can find inspiration in their specific interests but sometimes I find making cards for Father’s Day a bit of a challenge, especially when the stamp sets designed with ‘masculine’ cards in mind don’t necessarily suit the specific men I’m creating for.

 

 

My first sample uses stamps from three sets that are a very long way from what would be considered by most as ‘masculine’. It has foliage images from both Butterfly Basics and Awesomely Artistic. And I took the greeting from Hello Life – a set more readily associated with romance. For me what really makes this card work – and makes it suitable for Father’s Day – is the addition of the word ‘Daddy’. I know His Awesomeness gets a huge amount of happiness from just being ‘Daddy’ so the combination of words and images evoke the idea of him spending time outside with his boys – an absolute favourite past time, and much-need antidote to work-related stresses. Except now I have to hope he’s too busy with those stresses to read my blog and see the card he’ll be getting!

Butterfly Basics

Awesomely Artistic

Hello Life

Continuing with the nature theme, my second sample card features a sneak peek of an item from the upcoming Holiday Catalogue. I just couldn’t resist the simplicity and beauty of the new Woodland Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. And I loved that all it needed to make it perfect for the occasion was a few well chosen words – from the Crazy About You stamp set. This was such an easy card to make and would suit almost all fathers no matter what their interests.

Bizarrely, for my third sample my train of thought went right off the nature track to almost the complete opposite – an urban grunge look. This uses another great embossing folder – Brick Wall – and it’s incredibly versatile. Depending on the colours you choose and they way you add them you can use it for any occasion and any recipient you can think of. It makes a stunning backdrop or an eye-catching feature. For this card I used the Embossed Embossing technique I taught in this month’s Stamp Club – where you combine dry embossing with heat embossing. And I took the cue from my first sample and die cut the letter panel to tailor it for Father’s Day – or at least for a Dad recipient.

 

Well that’s it from me, now it’s time see how Kate Morgan will be celebrating the special dads in her life.

 

Don’t forget, if you’re already thinking about getting into gear for your Christmas crafting, the 2015 Holiday Catalogue goes live on 1 September. If you’d like a copy sent to you just let us know.

Cheers

Genna

 

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view all the participants below:

 

• Tina Gillespie
• Genna Gifford (that’s me!)
• Kate Morgan
• Jenny Van Dijk
• Claire Daly
• Judy May
• Kathryn Mangelsdorf
• Rachel Woollard
• Ros Davidson
• Kathryn Ruddick
• Kayleen McLean

 

The theme for this month’s Art With Heart Blog Hop is ‘Farewell to My Favourite’, and what better way to mark the last days of our much-loved current catalogue!

There’s a lot of excitement around every brand new catalogue and everyone loves to have brand new goodies to play with but the flip side is that so many old favourites are having their last hoorah. There are 13 lovely ladies in this month’s hop so you’re going to be completely spoilt when you’ve hopped around to see what everyone’s favourite retiring products are. If you’re already on your way then you’ve come from the very talented Tina Gillespie, and you’ll find the link to the next blog at the end of this post along with a full list of participants in case you get lost anywhere along the way.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to choose just one retiring product to feature – I’m way too indecisive for that! So when I spotted how many of my favourite Background Stamps are retiring I decided I’d feature them as a category instead.

Our Background Stamps are large single stamps that cost around
$30.95 for wood mount
$24.95 for clear mount.
And they measure approx. 11.7cm x 14.4cm. 

In the current 2014-2015 Catalogue you’ll find most of them on p175. Because of their large size only a small portion of each one is shown at full size, the rest is a significantly reduced representation.

There are 7 Background Stamps retiring and I have 5 of them. My absolute favourite of them is Positively Chevron:

Positively Chevron

I’ve found this to be an incredibly versatile stamp and it looks fantastic as a background on any project. It’s also really easy to use with a whole load of different stamping techniques. Here are some examples of the ways I’ve used it.

Multicoloured by sponging directly onto the rubber

Tone on tone.

Fringed in layers.

___________________________

The next background stamp is the one I got as a gift at last year’s Manager’s Reception at Convention. I’m not sure I would have jumped to buy it but once I had my hands on it I loved using it.

I Love Lace

 

Stamped with colour sponged behind.

Stamped to make the inside match the outside.

Embossed in silver!

___________________________

Next up is Wildflower Meadow. I really loved this when I got it but somehow managed to neglect it for a while and only came back to it again recently. Too little too late, and I really regret that!

Wildflower Meadow

 

Embossed onto blocks of colour.

 Coloured with markers, spritzed and teamed with the matching embossing folder.

___________________________

The prize for most underestimated Background Stamp has to go to…Dictionary. I’ve had so many people look at this and wonder what to do with it – until I show them some samples that is!

Dictionary
COMPLETELY SOLD OUT! 

Overstamped with subtle images for a softer look.

An unobtrusive background.

A perfect way to add texture.

___________________________

And my final one is Pleasant Poppies. Because of it’s size it’s a background stamp but because of its detail I’ve tended to use it more often as a feature image.

Pleasant Poppies
SOLD OUT IN CLEAR, STILL AVAILABLE IN WOOD! 

Embossed in colour. 

Bleached.

Bleached and then watercoloured.

Embossed and coloured on vellum for the Stained Glass technique.

___________________________

 

I don’t have the final two retiring Background Stamps so I can’t show you any samples I’ve made, but just wanted to show you what they look like…

Handcarved

 

Backgrounds Rule

 

Well that’s it from me, but there’s so much more to see. Click on the link below to see what my lovely friend Ros Davidson is having a hard time saying goodbye to.

 

Cheers

Genna

 

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

1. Judy May
2. Tina Gillespie
3. Genna Gifford
4. Ros Davidson
5. Claire Daly
6. Nikki Sadler
7. Kathryn Mangelsdorf
8. Kayleen McLean
9. Kathryn Ruddick
10. Jenny Van Dijk
11. Kate Morgan
12. Rachel Woollard
13. Barbara Lindsey

 

Yay, it’s time for another blog hop with some of my very talented colleagues in the Art With Heart Stampin’ Up! Team.

This time the theme is Mother’s Day! We’re a little bit on the early side so don’t panic – you have until Sunday 10th May to be ready for your celebrations.

There are 7 of us in the hop this month, and you’ll find everyone’s details at the end of the post. For now though, welcome to all, whether you’re starting here or if you’ve hopped over to my blog from the lovely, Rachel Woollard.

For my Mother’s Day projects I settled on a little mini-theme of letters and flowers. The first card gets its letters from the Little Letters Framelits Dies and it’s flowers from the Wondrous Wreath stamp set.

 

 

The Wondrous Wreath/Wonderful Wreath Framelits combination were in our recent Holiday Catalogue but have been carried over and are still available – and even discounted if you buy them together. You can see their details, along with everything else that was carried over on p49 of the Occasions Catalogue.

I love how the wreath doesn’t have to just be for Christmas, here’s a close up of it in it’s ‘Mother’s Day’ guise:

 

And those letters were cut using the Little Letters Framelits and the Big Shot. I taught this card at a recent Create & Chat event and left it open to every guest to choose what word they wanted to add to accompany their wreath. The individual dies made it so easy to tailor each card for the recipient.

Little Letters Framelits (p228)
(133730) $48.95

My second project gets its letters AND its flowers from Simply Pressed Clay!

When you look closer you can see that these letters really have some depth. But what you can’t see is how light they are. The air-dry clay is very easy to use and incredibly versatile. Just perfect for embellishments that won’t weigh you cardstock down.

 

The finished product is still a bit soft, like foam shapes, and you can colour it with ink refills before your mold it (like I did) or you can use inks and markers to colour the white clay when it’s dry.

 

Alphanumeric Simply Pressed Clay Mold (Occasions p32)
(137854) $16.95

Check out page 208 of the Annual Catalogue for the clay itself and more choices of molds

Simply Pressed Clay (p208)
(130685) $11.95 for 68g

That’s it from me for now, but you won’t be disappointed when you see what Judy May has in store…

Cheers

Genna

 

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the whole list below:

1. Ros Davidson
2. Kathryn Mangelsdorf
3. Rachel Woollard
4. Genna Gifford
5. Judy May
6. Kate Morgan
7. Nikki Sadler