Monday, April 30, 2018

You Are Amazing for FMS #334

I had a busy weekend, but managed to sneak in some crafting time here and there, and the sketch from teh Freshly Made Sketch team caught my eye.  I just love the new Share What You Love DSP and wanted to use it in this challenge.

Often I find I like one side of a sheet of DSP but not so much the other side, well this set of DSP I love both sides of most of the sheets!  For this card I have used a single sheet to show how beautiful both sides are.  I love the "amazing" sentiment cut from Basic Black, but my daughter thinks maybe I should have cut it from Whisper White, what do you think?  The "You Are" is from Sunshine Sayings and I think they are perfect to use in this way.  Wanting to balance them I added a fussy cut flower from one of the other sheets of DSP and some leaves stamped and cut from Vellum.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, April 29, 2018

CTC #176 - Favourite Occasions Catalogue

Welcome to another CADEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where we take inspiration from the wonderful projects in one of the current Stampin' Up! catalogues to create our own projects each week. 

This week we are taking inspiration from the whole Occasions Catalogue and choosing our favourite project to CASE.

I chose the card on the right in the above image, found on page 26 of the Occasions Catalogue. I am not sure if this is my favourite ... as I have CASEd a few already from this catalogue, but it is one that caught my eye.  I think it was the bright, bold colours in this one that made me want to replicate it.

I decided to make mine a full-sized rectangular card, rather than a square one, and used Stampin' Blends to colour it rather than the Brusho which I think is used in the original. I love the deeper colour the Cherry Cobbler Blends create. Otherwise I have kept it very much the same as the original.  I like that the sentiment is stamped once in Lemon Lime Twist, and then again in black on coordinating cardstock.  I must remember to do this more often as it really makes the sentiment pop.  

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just take inspiration from the Occasions Catalogue and post a picture of your creation to the CTC Facebook Page.


Time to hop on over and see what Rebecca has created this this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

ESAD - Retirement List Blog Hop

Welcome to the ESAD Retirement List Blog Hop as we say a fond farewell to some of  our favourite products that will be leaving us with the 2017/18 Annual and Occasions Catalogues.

For this blog hop, I decided to feature some of my favourite DSP, using the same basic card sketch and the lovely Layering Love stamp set and Layering Heart framelits, adding a few different retiring products here and there.

This first one uses Easter Palace DSP and the lovely Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers, I love the way they add interest to the background. To enhance the heart on this card, and tie in even more gold I layered an extra gold foil heart behind the sentiment.

 My next card uses Painted With Love Specialty DSP, using a little strip of one of the coordinating sheets to make the heart banner behind the sentiment. If you look closely you can see a little strip of Whisper White 1/4" Organza Ribbon that I coloured with Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends. I am sad to see this ribbon go as it is just beautiful and perfect to colour with our Blends to match any project.

Sad farewell to the Petal Passion DSP, again with this card I have used my Stampin' Blends to colour the flowers and leaves to coordinate with my project.  For the sentiment on this card I stamped in Versamark and embossed in white, sponging the edges of the heart to give it a bit more depth.

Finally, and taking a masculine theme, I used a couple of the sheets of True Gentleman DSP, cutting the little bow ties from one of the sheets to embellish the background.  I haven't used this DSP nearly enough and really wish it was carrying over, it is a great option for masculine cards.

I hope you have enjoyed my projects, which was your faviourite?  Let me know in the comments.

Time to hop on over and see what Michelle had created with her favourite retiring products.


In case any of the links aren't working, here is a full list of blog participants:
Blog Hop Participant List
  1. Lou Kitzelman
  2. Kelly Kent
  3. Bronwyn Eastley
  4. Jackie Aitken
  5. Jo Stubbings
  6. Peta Stephen
  7. Sharon Dalton
  8. Lauren Meiklejohn
  9. Courtenay Heuston
  10. Nicole Wilson
  11. Jo Weeden
  12. Libby Dyson
  13. Cheryl Algie
  14. Megan Lenske
  15. Beryl Crisp
  16. Fi Cobbin
  17. Rose Packer
  18. Cathy Pinchbeck
  19. Carolina Evans
  20. Renee Lynch  
  21. Sandra Mastello
  22. Katrina Duffell
  23. Rachael Lewsley
  24. Leonie Schroder
  25. Emily Campbell
  26. Monique Fielder   --- You Are Here
  27. Michelle Strazds
  28. Jessie Holton


Happy Stamping
Monique

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

CI #32 - Delightful Daisy

Welcome to another Colour INKspiration Challenge, where we take inspiration from a photographic image and use the matched Stampin' Up! colours in our projects.

Isn't this a fun photo? The straws remind me of a party and I can just imagine a table full of yummy treats, fun shaped lolly jars and bowls of fruit punch.  The colours in this image that we will be using are:

  • Night of Navy
  • Pink Pirouette
  • Whisper White
  • Gold Foil


I love that the Delightful Daisy stamp set and punch are in the new Annual Catalogue, they are just so versatile. Here the soft Pink Pirouette makes for such a pretty flower against the bold Night of Navy. Adding some sponging to the embossed panel really brings out the pretty floral images.  

I love this colour combo and hope that you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just upload a picture of your project to the CI Facebook Page.

Time to hop on over and see what Nikki has been inspired to create.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, April 22, 2018

CTC #175 - Favourite Big Shot Project

Welcome to another week of CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where we take inspiration from one of the many wonderful samples in the current Stampin' Up! catalogues, to create our own projects each week.

This week we are taking our inspiration from both catalogues and the wonderful Big Shot projects within their pages.

I took my inspiration from the little apron gift holder on page 47 of the Occasions Catalogue.  I was inspired both by this image for this challenge, but prior to that was inspired by a cute swap I received at Sydney On Stage made by Tracy Ross that inspired me to purchase this bundle!

Here is my little project, I have used the lovely Painted With Love Specialty DSP, to make the little apron, pairing it with Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry accessories.  The scissors are cut from Silver Foil paper and the handles coloured with permanent marker. As you can see this is the perfect size for a Tombow Glue, what a cute gift this would make for a fellow crafter!

 I hope you are inspired to join in with us this week, just take inspiration from any of the Big Shot projects, to enter just take a picture of your project and add it to the CTC Facebook Page.

Time to hop on over and see what the lovely and talented Rachel has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

On Stage Presenter & Display Board Showcase Blog Hop

I was so honoured to receive a phone call from the lovely Donna Williams from Stampin' Up! home office here in Australia and to be asked to do a new product showcase at the On Stage event in Sydney.  I think I said "I would like to say yes" a bit nervously, to which Donna replied "then just say yes!" ... so I did and before I knew it was presenting in front of 600 of my closest demo friends ... and the CEO of the company!

My product showcase is the Sea Of Textures Bundle which includes 9 stamps and 8 Framelits which loosely coordinate. This means that the stamps and Framelits work beautifully together, but also look great used independently.  I discovered that the fish-scale stamp added some beautiful texture to the framelits you can see what a difference it makes - not stamped on the middle panel and stamped with scales on the right.  Just stamp the scales then line up your Framelit over the section you want to show on the final image. 

I have posted this picture of me with my display board on another post, but couldn't resist posting again!  Now to show you some of those projects close up:

One of the things that I shared about myself during my presentation was that when I was younger I lived on a yacht, making this bundle a really good fit for me.  I was determined to do a scrapbook layout of some kind, and turned to Memories and More to achieve this.  Page one of this two page layout is me sitting in the cockpit of Spindrift with a necklace of shells, much like sand  dollars and drinking from a fresh coconut - before coconut milk was popular! I love how the Sea of Textures elements fit so well with this time in my life.

This second page was a little harder to photograph with the plastic sleeve, but it gives you an idea of a few more uses for this amazing bundle. I used the negative space from the sand dollar to create a mask, using this to sponge detail onto the journal card and the background of my photograph.  You can see on the bottom picture how well the fish scales stamp gives texture to the starfish. This is probably my favourite photograph of me as a child and doing these two pages brought back so many happy memories. 

I just love this card, it was one of the first I created as I had been playing with my Brusho and realised that this would make the perfect under the sea background. I loved playing with the textures on this card, layering up the coral and seaweed stamps and Framelit cut outs.  The little school of fish I  created by stamping with the fish scale stamp then running the Framelit through the Big Shot, without removing the fish from the die, I added a small amount of Tombow glue to each one and positioned the whole Framelit over my card then gently pressed each one onto the card with a toothpick.  I added a few extra ones at the top of the card.  

Carrying on with the Brusho theme I wanted to try out the octopus using white embossing powder, I really like how he turned out.  The little net stamp gives some lovely texture behind the panel don't you think?
My next card is a bit more simple, and shows the versatility of this bundle. I wanted to keep this card more clean and simple. I used my sponge brayer to add some of the beautiful new Balmy Blue to some Whisper White before tearing the edge to create the "foam" on the waves.  I love how the little star in the centre of the sand dollars make cute little star fish. 

Speaking of Balmy Blue, I think this is my new faviourite blue, it is fresh and vibrant and I just love how it pairs so beautifully with a range of colours, here with Mossy Meadow, but also beautiful with Night of Navy, Berry Burst among many others.  I stamped the background of this card with the bubbles from Playful Backgrounds, which I am happy to see is carrying over into the new Annual Catalogue. I like the idea of the octopus actually reaching out of the "Polaroid". 
 
When I started to think about the Octopus I decided the tentacles would look great coming out of a cauldron.  I stamped Lemon Lime Twist onto Whisper White, and then embossed White onto Lemon Lime Twist to get variants of the colours. I cut the tentacles apart to layer them in and around each other.  The cauldron is made with a circle Framelit and strip of cardstock rounded on the edges for the rim. I am a bit sad that the Magical Day stamp set is retiring because it works so beautifully with this card.  If you look closely I have also stamped additional tentacles on the background in Versamark so they add subtle interest to the otherwise plain background.

My final card is another one that shows the versatility of this set, I used my Stamparatus and the small coral stamp to create the background wreath.  The sand dollar element makes the perfect "O" in Joy, making this a great bundle for Christmas too!  The You is cut from the Celebrate You Framelits, trimming down the "U" to create the "J".

I hope you are enjoying seeing the wonderful new products showcased by some very talented stampers whom I am honoured to be among this year.  Time to hop on over and see what the lovely Suze created for her presentation in Utrecht, Netherlands. 

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, April 15, 2018

CTC #174 - Hostess Inspired

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where we take a look at one of the sections of a current Stampin' Up! catalogue  and use the projects featured in it to inspire our creations.  

This week we are looking at the Hostess and Memories and More samples in the Occasions and Annual Catalogues.  I was a bit taken by this cute little card on page 220 of the Annual Catalogue

I am excited to show you one of the new colours being added to the Stampin' Up! colour collections, the beautiful Balmy Blue which will be part of the revamped Subtles Collection.  I love the vibrancy to this blue, and it goes so well with Berry Burst.  I kept the layout very similar but moved the sentiment to the bottom of the centre panel.  The birds are from Colour Me Happy stamp set.

I hope you are able to join in this week, just use any of the Hostess or Memories and More projects in either catalogue to inspire your creation and post a picture of it to the CTC Facebook Page.

Time to hop on over and see what Julia has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

On Stage - Sea of Textures Product Showcase

One of the great benefits of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is that I get to attend On Stage events. These are amazing events where new catalogue products are showcased, and I get to catch up with some of my amazing Demo friends. 

The most recent On Stage event was extra special for me as I was privileged to be asked by Stampin' Up! to showcase one of the new bundles in a presentation!  The bundle was the Sea of Textures bundle, one that was close to my heart as I grew up living on a yacht, so felt that the ocean themed bundle was perfect for me.

I have to be honest I was more than a little nervous, but the back stage crew, and the Stampin' Up! staff were amazing at getting me prepared.  I decided to treat the presentation a bit like a workshop with 600 of my closest friends!

I wasn't sure what I would do with the octopus when I first saw the stamp set, but once I realised that his little tentacle sticking up in the air could hold things he really started to grow on me!  Here i have him holding up a sign stamped using Lovely Inside and Out.  Who better to send you hugs than a guy with 8 arms?

Taking it one step further I think he really came to life in my hands when I gave him some cool glasses from Truly Tailored and a drink from Colourful Seasons. This is one of my favourite cards with him, and from the reaction of the other demos I know he was popular all round. 

While some of these sets are retiring there are heaps of options in the new catalogue for him to hold. Picture him with a Santa or party hat, holding a glass of wine or passing a gift!  I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with.

Another of my favourite cards using the Octopus is this Star Trek one, can you see what I used from the bundle?  The colours on the shirts are Cherry Cobbler, So Saffron and Balmy Blue (one of the new colours).

If you guessed this little cut out piece from the octopus framelit you would be right!  I happened to be watching Star Trek when I was playing with this and it didn't take long for me to realise how much like the communicator badge it looked!

Always looking for a different way to use our products I realised that the two sand dollar framelits made great holes for Swiss Cheese!  My little mouse was inspired by Melissa Davies and is made with a heart and circle punch. 

This little set of cards I made to showcase some of the great colour combos that suite the octopus. With our Stampin' Pads being a water based ink they are perfect to colour with Stampin' Blends. My tip for these is to stamp in a darker colour and use a lighter colour on the tentacles so the little details still show through. 
  
This is me with my display board after my presentation.  If you come back here and visit on 18 April I am participating in a blog hop of display and presenting demonstrators and will have even more of my creations for you to see.

Happy Stamping
Monique