Sweet Stampin' ~ New

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you've all had peaceful and happy Christmas breaks. My year ended with deep heartbreak, as we lost a close friend who had been fighting brain cancer. It's been a stressful year with extra family stuff going on too and a bunch of other stresses, I'm so ready to close the door on 2025. I wish you all a wonderful New Year. I'll be hoping for much better than last! Today we're kicking off a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' and our theme aptly is 'NEW'. You can interpret the theme as you like, perhaps create for a new baby, new job, new house, new love, or create with new stash, perhaps a Christmas present?

I was given a Hot Foil Machine for Christmas by my lovely hubby. One of our local craft stores, The Ribbon Rose, had a big sale not long before Christmas and the hot foil machines were considerably discounted. So hubby bought me one and put it aside for Christmas. I've wanted one for a while, but machines like this are so expensive in New Zealand and it's hard to get ones with the correct voltage too. So I was really pleased to see a UK/EU version in the sale. I guess strictly speaking, hot foiling isn't stamping. But it feels like that to me and I'm pretty sure we agreed a while back that betterpress and foiling would be accepted as 'stamping' within our challenge rules, so I'm hoping my teamies won't frown on my card only having foiling. It was night when I took the above pic and the lighting was not good for capturing the card well, so I've retaken some pics and added those below. I think the shine of the foil shows pretty nicely in the night pic above, so it's not a total disaster. 

I've been having a lot of fun trying out this new Glimmer Hot Foil Machine. I've only had one play, but it was quite successful. I had two epic fails to start with, but I allowed the machine to warm up a little longer and added a shim and I was all sorted! I tried several different foil types and companies and they all foiled really well.

I kept this design very simple. I'm having a bit of a break this month. My sister is over from America and it's our Summertime right now. After the year I've had too, I really need to refresh my soul a little, so I'm stepping back from creating during January. But I'll be back and hopefully refreshed and ready to create in February. 

Hugs and happy crafting and do come and check out the challenge and share your 'NEW' makes with us at Sweet Stampin' too, we'd love to see what you're inspired to do. My teamies have some awesome 'new' creations, so do pop by the blog to check those out, you can click through on the banner above. Hugs, Wends xoxo

US

NZ

(I share thumbnails to the elements I design with in order to make your search for them easier, in case you like something I've used. I do use affiliate links where possible, and so appreciate if you use these when shopping. They cost you no extra whatsoever. I am proud to design for the companies I do and always feel happy to share where my inspiration and where my crafty stash comes from. I am occasionally gifted products to use, but I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own.)

Challenge Entries: