ESAD Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop

Today marks the release of the Sale-A-Bration promotion at Stampin' Up!  I have to say this is one of my favourite times of the year because Stampin' Up! give away FREE stamps, yep totally free when you purchase $100 in product.  The super exciting thing about Sale-A-Bration this year is that not only are there four great stamp sets to choose from but we also have the option of a full pack of 12'x12' Designer series paper, or a cute Brads and Ribbons bundle, so there really is something for everyone.  If you don't already have a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and are interested in learning more please contact me 0412 064 670.

The other exciting thing about Sale-A-Bration is that it is time for another ESAD Blog Hop, where you get to hop around and see what some of the ESAD girls have created with these great FREE products.  You might be starting here or you might have hopped on over from Pauline Bennetts' Blog

What is ESAD?  ESAD stands for "Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators" and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin Up demonstrators.  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 it is 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

Here is the first item I made for the blog hop, a DSP sampler to show off not only the beautiful DSP available but also can you see the little brad holding it together?  That is one of the brads from the Free Ribbon and Brad bundle.  Doesn't it go so well with the Blossom Boquet Triple Layer Punch!  I purposefully chose the colours for the front of the DSP sampler because they are the coordinating colours for the DSP, and that will help remind me!

I wanted to make a desk set with some of the exclusive SAB products, and had my first play with adhering DSP to chipboard and putting it through the Big Shot.  I then used my Crop-A-Dial to punch the holes in the chipboard and threaded them together with the Lucky Limeade Ribbon that comes in the Ribbon and Brad bundle.  To add some detail I wrapped some of the Calypso Coral ribbon around the corners of the Scallop Square.  I am loving this ribbon, it is so delicate and pretty it is the perfect addition to any project.  And I have to say the value in the Ribbon and Brad bundle is amazing - 2 rolls each containing 9.1m of ribbon and a pack of 30 brads with 5 different patterns on them!  Can you see the little butterfly brads that I have used to hold my calendar on with - they are so cute and match the little butterflies on the DSP perfectly.  

My final project was going to be a picture frame, but I decided to use it instead to hold one of the stamps from the Fresh Vintage set also available at SAB.  I used my markers to colour in the rubber and then stamped the image, you can just see how well the image on the stamp matches the pattern on the DSP.  I added some butterflies from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die, and of course some pearls to give it that something special.  You will see I have used the Curly Label Punch and cut slits in the corners to create photo corners for my frame, I just love how well these go with the Top Note Die.  Again this is DSP adhered to chipboard and run through the Big Shot, something that was demonstrated at our Regional Training day in Canberra. 

I hope you enjoy the Bog Hop, don't forget to follow the links at the bottom of each post to hop around all the blogs.  Next on your journey is the lovely and talented Bron Heslop, don't forget to leave some comments as you hop around so the ladies know how much you are enjoying the hop.

Happy Hoppy Stamping

Vintage Mashup

When I submitted my entry for the Friday Mash Up challenge #38 I noticed that they were leaving the entries for challenge #37 open until next week!  I was a bit intrigued by this challenge which was to use chipboard or distressing techniques, or mash them up and make a card using both distressing and chipboard. I am also entering this card into the 4 Crafty Chics challenge to use something new - new DSP from the upcoming Sale-A-Bration event.

For this post I have taken a few photos to show off different aspects of this card., this first one shows the card completely closed. I knew I wanted to use some of the DSP that is going to be available as part of Sale-A-Bration 2012, there are so many colours in this paper stack but I chose to keep it fairly simple and use two that use Calypso Coral and Pool Party.  The smaller butterfly is cut from DSP adhered to chipboard and then put through the Big Shot, the larger butterfly has been cut using the same die but with DSP only.  I added the sentiment and Crochet Trim to keep with the vintage feel of the card.

I wanted to take a close up of the butterfly accent because it shows off the distressing that I did.  I have to say I struggled a bit with this because I don't usually use distressing techniques.  I decided to use two on this card, one was to crumple the big butterfly and then drag the Crumb Cake ink pad over the creases to highlight them - I was a bit nervous about this but was happy with how it turned out.  On both of the butterflies I sanded back the edges of the DSP to give it a worn look. 

Now to the card itself ...  This picture shows the card partially open.  This was such a fun card to make and was the tutorial by Patty Bombyk and is featured on Splitcoaststampers this week, I wanted to try something a bit different and this certainly fit the bill.  The top 2/3 of the card opens up and the bottom splits in half and opens sideways!  

Here is a picture of the inside to show both how it opens and the insert I made.  I don't usually make an insert for my cards, but this one just needed something on the inside.  I am not sure if it was the expanse of Calypso Coral, or the general vintage feel of the card, but it seemed bare, so I added a piece of Pool Party card stock sponged around the edges and used the image from Creative Elements to create a border at the top and bottom.

Happy Stamping

2 Mash Ups And A Sketch

I have been trying to play along each week with the Friday Mash Up Challenges, partly because they chose me as a guest designer in May this year, but mostly because I really do enjoy them.  Last week was no exception, and I struggled a bit with it, but I forgot to post a picture and enter it!   One of the reasons was because I was hiding it from my husband, it is our 20th wedding anniversary at the end of the month so this challenge came at a great time!  Anyway here is the card, better late than never, and shhhh don't tell him what it looks like :)

Now onto this week ... 

This week the challenge was set by one of my favourite stampers and my friend Kasey!  Now if you know Kasey you only had to look at the challenge to know she was involved ...  Butterflies and Bling! and blues and purples!!!!!

Because Kasey set the challenge I just knew I wanted to do the mash up and I knew I wanted to use one of these butterflies on the card.  The only tricky thing was then choosing a layout, so off I went in search of inspiration and I found the sketch challenge at Just Add Ink!  Now this challenge was set by the lovely and talented Bronwyn Eastley, who I always think of when I see this particular butterfly die used because she has made the most beautiful easel cards with it  (I sometimes thing of her as Bronwyn Easeley!). I also took inspiration from a card Kasey had made in the past, not sucking up at all, lol.

I love the technique of layering the butterflies, we were shown at convention by Kirsty Brown, check out her blog for details, but basically you cut the big butterfly then re-position it to cut the next layer out and then add the smallest butterfly.  She also used the bleach to card stock method which I have used here (a sneaky way of getting an extra colour into a colour challenge lol).

 Here is a quick peek inside the card.  I used a masking technique so that stamps and sponging didn't get onto the area I want to write on.  I used the sentiment from Butterfly Prints as the font and words just seemed to fit well.  When I was finished I sat back and looked at my creation and it made me think of Kasey, so I figured I had done her challenge justice.

Please pop over to both Friday Mash Up and Just Add Ink to see the lovely creations by design teams and by the other entrants.

Happy Stamping