ESAD Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue Blog Hop

Welcome to another Blog Hop organised by the lovely ladies at ESAD (Extra Special Australiasian Demonstrators).  What is ESAD?  ESAD stands for Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators and it is an online group just for Australian and New Zealand demonstrators for Stampin’ Up!

We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors but we share our love for what we do with each other as Demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know how and cyberstamps and we are always there to help and support each other when its needed.  So if you are a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand then please feel free to click HERE to join our wonderful group.

You might have arrived here from Sharlene's blog Stamp With Sharlene, or you might just be starting here, it doesn't matter because the Blog Hop is a big loop, each blog will have a link to the next one, and you just hop around and enjoy our creatins.  The theme of this Blog Hop is the Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue, what a great edition this one is,  there truly is something for everyone Chocolate, Sewing, Nature, Birthday, and Masculine. Some great new punches to go with two of the new stamp sets, and of course what would a mini be without some new dies for the Big Shot.  In addition there are some new accessories, and today I am going to share with you some creations I have made using one of them, the Beveled Windowpanes.  These little beauties come in three sizes  2.5cm x 2.5cm, 2.5cmx 3.2cm, 3.8cmx5cm  (or for the imperial thinkers 1" x 1", 1" x 1¼", 2" x 1½"). 

This is my first project and shows one way to use the beautiful ribbon Stampin' Up! has to anchor the 2" x 1½" Beveled Windowpane to the card.  In this one I have used the ⅝" Old Olive Satin Ribbon which fits perfectly in the holes on the side.  Because this is the biggest and heaviest of the windowpanes, I have adhered the window pane to the image using Crystal Effects, ensuring a thin even layer without bubbles.  The flower highlighted in this card is from the Thanks for Caring stamp set, this set is a sympathy set, but as you can see here the images are quite versatile.

My second card is to show a different way of using ribbon with the 1" x 1" Beveled Windowpane, inspired by the great tutorial video I found on YouTube by FranceStamp.  This is such an easy way to use the windowpanes, and for this card I have used the 1"x1" window which fits perfectly with the Cute By The Inch hostess stamp set.  I was looking for a sentiment for this card and used the word block that comes with the Strength and Hope set, highlighting one word in a different ink and then using a masking technique highlighted it further with some sponging.

The next project was actually the first one I made for this blog hop.  I was inspired by some of the beautiful jewelry pieces Stampin' Up! have in their United States catalogue.  Not to be left out I decided that the 1" x 1¼" Beveled Windowpanes could be used to make a feature on a necklace - what do you think?  The necklace was a bit of a find in Kmart, I had been planning on making one from scratch (my other hobby), but when I found this one I was wrapped as it was just the sort of thing I had in mind.  The picture of the necklace isn't as good as I would have liked, I have had problems with lighting here today (no sunshine), I will try and post a better pick when I have some better pictures.

I used the Tiny Tags stamp set to decorate some Very Vanilla card stock before wrapping some Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon through the holes and adhering to the back using Crystal Effects.  To cover this up and provide some extra strength I added another layer of cardstock and then covered the entire back with Crystal Effects. 

My final project for this Blog Hop is another 3D item.  On 12th May the Stampin' Up! Convention starts in Melbourne, a great event for demonstrators and their guests, and I am getting so excited as I do the count down.  One of the great things is that the demonstrators who are part of ESAD are getting together for dinner on the Wednesday night, for many the first opportunity we have of meeting the ladies we blog and online chat with.   How does this relate to the Beveled Windowpane?  Well I decided to use the FranceStamp technique with the biggest windowpane and make myself a name tag for the event. I know I will be wearing my red jacket, so wanted something red and a bit vintage looking.  I found by threading a piece of the 1/8" Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon through with the 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon it gave it just the lift it needed.  I used a piece of Newsprint DSP stamped with one of the Tiny Tags stamps.  I printed out my name on Very Vanilla card stock and cut that out with the Word Window punch.  I have attached a basic clip to the back of the card (stitched onto the ribbon).  

I hope you have enjoyed my creations.  Please Hop on over to Lisa's Blog The Daffy Scrapper.  Don't forget to leave some comments as you go, we love getting feedback on our projects.

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Should you get lost the full list of the blogs is

Sharlene Torres - http://www.stampwithsharlene.com  

Monique Fielder - http://stamping-with-moni-q.blogspot.com/  you are here

Lisa Bullock - http://www.daffyscrapper.wordpress.com

Andrea Buckland - http://www.creatingcardswithandrea.blogspot.com

Yvonne Walker - http://www.yvonnescreativecorner.blogspot.com 

Sherylee Tutt - http://www.sherylee.stampinup.net/esuite/home/sherylee/blog

Jacinta Argent - http://www.jacintascreations.blogspot.com

Clare Mcilhatton - http://www.crafty-cow.com

Leonie Schroder - http://www.stamp-a-latte.com/

Kim Conway - http://www.kimconwaycards.blogspot.com

Richelle Fletcher - http://www.stampingwithrichelle.blogspot.com

Kayleigh Dowdeswell - http://www.theinkblot.weebly.com

Juliette Chapman - http://www.juleskraftikrafts.blogspot.com

Teresa Leggo - http://www.teresascreativecards.blogspot.com/

Pauline Bennetts - http://www.paulinebennetts.com/stamepde

Sonia Garbutt - http://www.stampinwithsonia.blogspot.com/

Happy Stamping

Exciting News ...

Hi All, Just a quick post today.  Do you remember the card I did for the Friday Mashup challenge - black and white and square.  Well apparently

I am so excited by this, that my little card was chosen as the pick of the week.  Now that was pretty exciting for me, but it gets better ....  I have been asked to be a guest designer for the month of May!!!!!  I am so honoured, excited and just a little bit nervous.  They have such great challenges over there so please consider joining in.

Pop back tomorrow for the ESAD Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue Blog Hop - I will be doing a few projects that highlight the new Beveled Windowpanes.

Happy Stamping

Utah Divas Challenge

This is my first time playing along with the Utah Diva's Inspiration Challenge, but with this picture as the inspiration how could I resist!  Don't they just look soooooo yummy, and those cherries!!!

I translated the milkshakes into three ice cream cones, but just had to keep the cherries.   The cones are cut freehand from Soft Suede run through the Lattice Embossing Folder, I just love how this embossed pattern fits so many different applications, here it's waffle cones.  The tops I cut from cardstock using the Build a Cupcake Punch and then run through the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder to get the swirls effect.  I spritzed the "ice cream" with Frost White Shimmer Mist to add a nice frosty feel to them, they look great in person.  The cherries are also cut with the Build a Cupcake Punch and spritzed with Champagne Shimmer paint, as is the strip of faux ribbon.  Doesn't the sentiment from A Word For You set go great with this "Happy Birthday with a cherry on top"?

A card good enough to eat!

Happy Stamping

A Mashup and Mateship

The Friday Mashup this week is to do Black and White, and/or Square.  I wasn't really sure what I was going to do for this card, as I usually don't do black and white cards, but when I was tidying off my desk I found my Elegant Lines embossing folder and it all just came to me.  I also had in the back of my mind the Just Add Ink challenge this week, to celebrate ANZAC Day by adding Mateship or Friendship to the project. 

"ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC Day is held on April 25 and is the anniversary of the first major military action by Australian and New Zealand forces in the 1915 Gallipoli campaign during WW1. Over 8,000 Australian soldiers died in the Gallipoli campaign, and even though the campaign was a failure, the ANZAC legend was formed. Australia was a young nation and the courage and character shown by Australians at Gallipoli was quickly recognised and honored back home.

 

The ANZAC spirit of mateship, courage and sacrifice is a very important aspect of our national identity. Many Australians who lost their lives in war weren't thinking they could save the world or defeat evil regimes.  As in the trenches of France, and the patrols in Vietnam, or on the Kokoda Track, Australians were looking after their mates alongside them.  Many Australian veterans march on ANZAC Day in memory of their mates left behind, and the ones that have passed on before them." - Peter Barnes

A few years ago I had the honor of marching with my mum and my daughter in memory of my grandfather who fought with the group of soldiers known as the Rats of Tobruk, ANZAC Day has taken on extra special meaning since then.

I wanted to give the embossed black cardstock a bit of a lift so spritzed with Champagne Shimmer Mist, and then added the butterflies and the pearls.  The sentiment was easy on this one, and comes from the Great Friend stamp set (one of my first ever Stampin' Up! sets). 

Happy Stamping

My Monday Night Project

Some people hate Monday's, first day of the work week and all.  But I am beginning to really look forward to them because every Monday night there is a new on-line class on Crafters Anonymous.  Last week it was the little cupcake box, and this week it was another 3D item ... well two really.

Isn't this just so cute, it is a great size so it fits a lot of choc inside.  I added the window to the bag, I just love seeing what is inside little bags and boxes.  I am planning on making another one for Easter, I am sure it would look great full of eggs. 

Happy Stamping

Window Sheets and Watercolour

It seems my Mojo is back, let's hope it hangs around for a while!  Each week I look at a variety of challenges and if the mojo is around will give them a go.  This week two in particular caught my eye:  Less Is More's challenge this week is to use Acetate, and as soon as I saw this I just knew exactly what I wanted to do.  It is a technique that I saw at the Stampin' Up! Regional Training Day last year.  I knew the butterfly from Strength and Hope would be perfect for this, the only decision then was what colour scheme ... over to Colour Q Challenge which this week was to use Kraft (aka Crumb Cake), Cherry Cobbler, Kiwi Kiss (in my case Old Olive as Kiwi Kiss has retired and I used all mine up), Tangerine Tango and White.

I tried to keep the card fairly simple, and to that end have left off a sentiment, sometimes I think it is nice to have an all purpose card. Sometimes on a card like this I will just stamp the sentiment on the inside once I know what I want to use it for.  Now onto how the card was done.

Firstly I got a piece of Water Colour Paper and sprayed it all over both sides until it was quite wet and let the water sink into the paper.  I gently blotted it on some paper towel to remove the extra water so there was no surface water on the paper.  I carefully stamped the image of the butterfly onto the wet paper using Cherry Cobbler, holding the stamp down for about 5-10 seconds to help the ink run a little.  From here you can either let the water colour paper dry naturally, or if you are like me and itching to get on with the card, you can use your heat tool.   If you do use a heat tool make sure you turn the paper over as it dries and dry the back as well as the front so it won't curl up unevenly.  I then spritzed with Champagne Shimmer Mist (Shimmer Paint added to some rubbing alcohol) to make it sparkle.

To give the butterfly definition you then stamp the image onto some acetate or Stampin' Up! Window Sheets, you need to use StazOn ink for that to make the image permanent.  This is held in place at one corner with a brad, allowing it to move on the card.  I had cut the Window Sheet to size and then used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig (SAMJ) to position the butterfly just where I wanted it.

 Now, I know Less Is More is about clean and simple cards, but I felt that it was just a bit too plain, so thought I would try an additional acetate layer.  For this one I again used StazOn and my SAMJ to position the flourish stamp that comes in the Strength and Hope set into the corners.  I first saw this stamp used as a corner stamp by my friend Leonis Schroder.  I did it on a second layer to test out whether it was "too much" or not though you could do it on the same layer as the butterfly if you were confident!

I hope you like my creation, and are inspired to try this technique out for your self.  You don't have to use a single solid colour for your main stamp, using your Stampin' Write Markers to colour directly onto your stamp gives some stunning effects.

Happy Stamping

Challenge Time Again - Friday Mashup 2

My lovely upline Kasey, is a guest designer on The Friday Mashup, so I just had to play along, and boy do I think I have out done myself this time.  I looked at the colours and wondered what I could do with them, then decided I should use my Strength and Hope stamp set.  A few days ago I was talking to my stamping friend Vicki who suggested a way of cutting up A4 cardstock to get 6 small gift cards from it, and so wanted to give that a go too, so in the spirit of Mashups ... I made a tiny card (7cm x 7cm).

I love the colours actually, and the size of the card. I stamped the words on the Crumb Cake cardstock as a background and then cut the butterfly and adhered with dimensionals to give it some lift. To add a bit of the blue, I added some beautiful Marina Mist taffeta ribbon. The sentiment is from the Tiny Tags stamp set and I cut it out using the word window cut once, and the cut again to form a smaller window.

There was then no reason not to continue ... so I made 2 more cards! The first one I did some masking, initially covering the centre of the card with a circle of post-it note while stamping the words, then used the other part of the post it to protect the words while I sponged the centre circle and spritzed with Champagne Shimmer Mist, you can just see the shimmer.

This is the next one I made, I wanted to try one without the ribbon and with a bit more layering of cardstock.  Marina Mist is such a beautiful blue colour, I just love it.  You can see that I have tied a piece of Linen Thread around the butterfly and left the ends as the antenna of the butterfly (no matter how hard I try I just can't cut out the stamped ones).  The butterfly is raised on dimensionals.

Now, what is a set of cards without a cute little box to keep them in?  So I made a Pizza Box just the right size (7.5cm x 7.5cm), and decorated it to match the cards.  I wanted to bring out more of the blue so made the box base out of Marina Mist.  The other thing I did with this one was to stamp the butterfly in Cajun Craze straight onto Marina Mist cardstock, and then a little piece of ribbon to finish it off.

By this stage the creativity was really flowing so I decided to make one more card, and my little challenge here was to fit the Friday Mashup sketch onto such a small square card.  What do you think?  I was so pleased with this one, I used a technique Kasey taught me to put the scallop edging around the Hope stamp.  You can check it out HERE.

Here is the whole set, all finished up and ready to go.

Happy Stamping

On-Line Class

Tonight I was part of the on-line class on Crafters Anonymous.  It is such a challenge to follow instructions for something that you don't know what the finished item will be! At least for me as I am quite visual.  We get a list of things to get - like a list of ingredients - ahead of time and then away we go!

There were times tonight when I wanted to chuck it in, when things were not sticking where and how they were supposed to. But boy am I happy I stuck it out - no pun intended lol.  Here is the cute little cupcake box we made ... 

Isn't it just sooooo cute!  The lid opens up and you can pop treats inside, chocolate comes to mind!

Happy Stamping

Strength & Hope

One of the beautiful new sets in the Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue is Strength & Hope.  The best thing about this set is thatt it's not just beautiful, but that $2 from the sale of every set sold is being donated to the Brest Cancer Research Foundation. Today I have used all the stamps in the set to make the card I will be entering into two challenges today - Colour Q and Friday Mashup.

The colours in the Colour Q are a bit brighter than I usually put together, so that was definately a challenge for me!  I didn't have Bermuda Bay so I used Tempting Turquoise instead.  The Friday Mashup Challenge is butterflies with dimension, so I used a dimensional to lift my butterfly up off the card.  I have also used my new embossing folder, Elegant Lines to give some texture to the lower half of the card.

Happy Stamping

Looking for Mojo in a CASE

When my "Mojo" is a hiding from me I often go looking around cyber space for inspiration, and then CASE (copy and share everything) ideas for cards that I find there.  Not often do I copy a card "word for word" if you know what I mean, but when I found this one I just had to recreate it almost identically.  I can't remember how I ended up on Michele's blog, Parchment Paperie,  but what a find!!! I was blown away by the Fan-Fold Medallion card she had made and just had to make one myself.  Luckily for me Michele had written a great little tutorial on how to do it including pictures!

Like Michele I used the Elegant Soiree designer series paper, now a firm favourite as you can probably tell from my recent creations.  I used a different sheet of the paper for the main part of the card but kept to the stripey pattern for the fan, because I agree with Michele, the stripes just add a certain something.

As you can see in the close up of this fan the ribbon trim really sets it off.  The hearts are made using the Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit Die, and for these ones I put the coloured cardstock through the bigshot and then used the Full Heart Punch to make a smaller heart that fits perfectly inside the scalloped one. 

Thank you Michele for your inspiration, I loved making this and will be making a few more I think, trying out different papers and ribbon combos.

Happy Stamping

Birthdays ... Take 3

Now it's all about my birthday.  What a great day I had my wonderful sister-in-law, Gillian, had sent me a parcel early and she had included a packet of pancake mix from the Pancake Parlor.  We had all gone there together and she wanted to refresh those memories on my birthday, we live so far apart and it was special to have her there on my birthday, even if only in pancakes!!!  My lovely daughter made the pancake mix up before bed the night before knowing we would be in a rush before work/school on my actual birthday, and my darling husband cooked them up while we chatted and I opened my gifts and cards.

I wanted to share with you two of the birthday gifts I received from my stamping friends.  The first one is from Kasey, my long time friend and upline.  She was lucky enough to get to come back to Canberra for a work conference and so we had a catch up earlier in the month.  While here she gave me this cute little box and card that she had made just for me.  When I opened up the box it was full (and I mean chockers full) of Stampin' Up! ribbons.  As I type this I have just moved my ribbon box closer, because I realise I don't use ribbon enough on cards and I do love the wonderful variety of the Stampin' Up! ribbons.  I fell in love with Rich Razzleberry when it was released last year, and although I haven't been using it as much of late it remains a firm favourite.  Thank you so much Kasey for you warm wishes, lovely gift and continued inspiration.

The second gift I wanted to share came from my friend Steph (the one I sent the little candle cake to).  There was a happy mail box on my front doorstep when I was racing to work on the day after my birthday, so I picked it up and took it with me.  Darling Daughter started to pull off the sticky tape on the way to the bus stop, and I finished it off at my desk at work.  The best part about this was that it got to sit on my desk all day and remind me how lucky I was to have such nice friends!  I love the colours of this one, and the designer series paper, a couple of the ladies at work commented how it matched my tissue box desk set! 

I also love the speckled look on the flower on the card, so much so that I have now ordered the Colour Spritzer Tool!  The star box was filled with Licorice Toffees and little bars of chocolate!  I also love the punch used on this card, thank goodness it is in the latest Mini Catalogue, it looks great layered with the other two punches to highlight the sentiments on the box and card.  Thank you so much Steph.

Happy Stamping

Birthdays ... Take 2

The next project I wanted to share was something I made for my friend Pete.  Pete and I were on the same Orientation training for work 8 years ago, and just seemed to hit it off.  We liked the same types of movies, books, and later discovered a shared love of cooking.  Pete is the only person I will let into my kitchen while I cook, everyone else gets kicked out, I think it's because he doesn't get underfoot.  Anyway I digress, the other thing that Pete and I share is a birthday (not quite the same year lol)!  I wanted to make him something a bit special so did a bit of blog surfing and got my inspiration from a card made by Carie Nixon, I did some changing of colours to be a bit more "manly" but kept the sketch pretty much the same.

I then wanted to make a little card for the bottle of wine I was giving Pete as a birthday gift, and wanted it to match the card as closely as I could, given the smaller space.  I was really happy with the way that it turned out. I just love the 2-Step Owl Punch, he is just so versatile, here I have added some googley eyes, and some pearls as buttons on his vest.  The wine bottle topper was inspired by a creation on my friend Jenny's blog that she had made for Father's Day last year.

The scallop squares were done using the SAB Punch Bunch and you can see here how I highlighted the HB with my version of Kindy Glitz - Crystal Effects mixed with Dazzling Diamonds.  I love my little bottle of this stuff, I can choose how much Dazzling Diamonds to add AND it's not quite as messy as it gets when I sprinkle the DD onto the card after the crystal effects.

Happy Stamping

Breaking News ... We Have Carry Over Items!!!!

Stampin' Up! have just announced that there are a number of items that were featured in the Summer Mini Catalogue that will remain available "until they carry over into the next Idea Book & Catalogue"!!!  Items include Big Shot Accessories, Vintage Tags and Trinkets, Punches, Bitty Buttons, Smooch Spritz, and Crochet Trim (YIPPEEE - I love that crochet trim, keep an eye on my blog for a post with a new use for it).

I have created a widget for my side bar that will provide a link to the flyer that lists all the items that will be carrying over, or you can follow the link here:  Carry Over Items.

As usual if you would like to purchase these or any of the other current items, or you would like to book a workshop.  Please don't hesitate to contact me.

Happy Stamping

Birthdays ... Take 1

One of my favourite things are birthdays, be they mine or someone else's!  It's a bit like Christmas with the anticipation, seeing things arrive in the mail that get squirreled away by my daughter, the being spoilt or getting to do the spoiling, celebrating another year of life.  I don't focus too much on the age, if I did that I might feel older than I do!  My next few posts are all about birthdays and not just because my own birthday was last week, but I also have a few projects I have made for other people who also share birthdays at this time (one friend shares my birthday with me!).  This first post is also an entry in the Stampin' Up Only Challenge ...

Firstly I will share the entry into the SUO challenge.  This is a "little something" I put together for my on-line friend and fellow Stampin' Up Demonstrator Steph.  She loves the new In-Colour Concord Crush (who doesn't) and so I used that as the starting point of my project.   I have wanted to try a little tea-light candle cake for ages, and this seemed like just the right time.  I then made a little windowed box to put the cake in (I was really pleased with how it turned out!

Then onto the card. I have a fairly long list of "things I want to try" and an Easel Card has been on the list for a while, and just seemed to fit perfectly with this little cake, as did the Birthday Bakery stamp set.  I just love the sentiments in this set and used one of them on the front of the card "If you are what you eat, eat something cute".  The trimmed Top Note highlighted the stamp just perfectly. 

I completed the card by stamping an additional birthday sentiment on the inside, this one from the A Word For You stamp set.  You can see in this pic the scallop circle.  For this I punched 1 scallop circle in Very Vanilla and a second in Concord Crush and layered them off centre to create the little cake stand, which of course is also what holds the easel in place.

Happy Stamping