ESAD Blog Hop - Holiday Packaging

Well it's time for another ESAD Blog Hop to celebrate the start of the new Seasonal Catalogue in Australia and New Zealand.  Whether you have come from visiting Keryn's blog Keryn's Cards, or are starting here, just follow the link at the bottom of each post to hop around the wonderful creations with some of these new products.

I thought I would show you two of the new Gift Boxes available in the new catalogue, these are similar to the boxes available in the main catalogue but come in different sizes, and this first one, Decorative Window Gift Box (p36) comes with a built in window!  I have used DSP from the Winter Frost DSP Stack and the smallest snowflake from Festive Flurry stamp set.  These are so pretty and come with a matching set of Framelits, so no need for fussy cutting!!! In the centre of the snowflake is one of the most beautiful embellishments so far Frosted Finishes Embellishments.  I have added some seam binding and a couple of tags punched from That's the Ticket.

My second project is made using one of the Extra-Large Gift Boxes (p37), all of the boxes come flat and ready to assemble, which makes adjusting their size really easy.  For this project I cut the box into two separate pieces,  by doing this you get two boxes for the price of one! I have used the smaller box to make a gift set of Christmas cards and tags. By cutting the box 1" from the bottom and making a clear lid from Window Sheet I was able to fit in a set of 6 cards and about 14 tags.  The belly band is made using Winter Frost Specialty DSP with some added bling, and an embellishment using the Festive Flurry stamp and die.

This is the first card in the set, made using the sunburst technique to show off the pretty papers in the Winter Frost DSP stack. The embossing is from Northern Flurry embossing folder and the sentiment from Greetings of the Season which is part of the Autumn Winter Carryover List, check out some of the favourites from last Holiday Catalogue that are still available. 

 This next card is similar to one I made a few weeks ago, however this time I have kept with the monochromatic theme of the gift box, and also used the ornament from the new Very Merry Tags stamp set.  This is a great set with stamps that match a number of our punches (again no fussy cutting)!  I stamped two of the ornaments from two of the snowflakes from Festive Flurry, adding a little rhinestone to the centre of each.

 My final card in the set again uses Festive Flurry stamp and framelits combo, and this time paired with one of the pretty DSP sheets from the paper stack. These paper stacks are a great way to get card-sized sheets of DSP at a really economical price, you don't get as many patterns as in a pack of 12x12 DSP but the quality is just the same and you do get four different patterns so still have lots of options.  Again on this card I have used a Frosted Finishes Embellishment and a strip of silver glimmer paper.

Finally in the box are two sections that hold these cute little gift tags.  The tags are made with the Chalk Talk Framelits trimmed down on one end, punched through and some Baker's Twine added. Remember how I said Very Merry Tags matched a number of our punches?  Well these are just two of the stamps in the set, both of these are stamped in VersaMark then embossed with white (left) and silver (right) embossing powders.  In the Very Merry Tags there is also a cute "To:   From:" stamp that has been stamped on the inside of the tags.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my projects, I certainly enjoyed making them!  Time now to hop over to visit Amity's blog Stampinamity to see what she has created using some of the scrapbooking products available in the catalogue.

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 love what we do & love to share with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors. We also share what we love in our ESAD Demonstrator community, through swaps, challenges, sharing knowledge, ideas & friendship, and we're always there to help and support each other.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free to leave me a comment with your email address and I'll contact you with information on how to join our wonderful group.

Happy Stamping

Gusseted Bag Toppers

Final Christmas Gift to show you are ones I made for my husband and daughter, I wanted to make them something special and unique just from me!

I had made them some candied cashews (coated with chai sugar and caramel syrup and baked).  I packaged them up in some of the gusseted cello bags that Stampin' Up! have in the current Holiday Catalogue, and the good news is these are going to still be available in the new Seasonal Catalogue as well! For these I put a base in the bottom of the bag to help them hold their shape (5" x 2 7/8").

I made the toppers from the Window Frames Dies in Raspberry Ripple and Gumball Green DSP and matching ribbon.  The sentiment is from the Greetings of the Season set.  Both hubby and daughter loved them and the nuts inside, and luckily for me are both willing to share!!!

Happy Stamping

Non Traditional Christmas

I am on a bit of a roll today, completing my second challenge entry!  This time I am entering in Just Add Ink colour combo, and Sunny Challenges sketch  and non-traditional challenge.

I got inspiration for this card from the lovely Liz Hicks, I saw her do a presentation at Stampin' Up! Convention this year and then more recently she created a stunning scrapbook layout with a technique that I think I described as "sponge, partial stamp, bleach, sponge, stamp"!  Basically you just keep building colour and images  until you are happy with the result.  I used a little stamp to stamp bleach over the right hand panel, dropped some bleach down the left hand panel, splattered some ink using my spritz tool on all layers.  I also did some sanding on the left hand panel to remove some of the colour.  

I really love how this turned out and am grateful to Liz for exposing me to such a fun, and messy, technique.  You can check out her blog here: Liz Hicks - DizzyINk Inkspires you!

Happy Stamping

Dynamic Christmas

I just love Midnight Muse, and I love silver bling, so this week's challenge at Dynamic Duos caught my eye.  Luckily I have had time to create an entry for this challenge, just in time too as it closes tomorrow! 

I have only just bought myself the Window Frames Framelits and they were just perfect to frame up my little glimmer paper snowflakes cut with my Snow Flurry die, the smallest I stained using re-inker to give it the blue tinge.  The sentiment is from Greetings of the Season, and if you visit my blog regularly you will know that this is my "go to" Christmas sentiment stamp set!  a 1/2" strip of silver glimmer paper topped with the beautiful new in-colour ribbon, and some rhinestones gave it some balance and some additional bling!  

Happy Stamping

Festive Friday #46

Another week closer to Christmas and time for another Festive Friday Challenge.  This week we have a fun sketch which I ended up doing two ways!

 This is my first go at the challenge, I knew when I saw the wavy part of the sketch that I wanted to use the lovely tulle and use the heat tool on it to melt it, but then I chose to cut it in half long ways to give a single edged ruffle. The second half of the ruffled ribbon I used to create the little rosette.  I love the new Speciality DSP and wanted to add some colour with some sponging to let the embossing show through a little more.

Now I looked at this and knew something wasn't quite right, I loved the cup but it just didn't match the card as much as I had hoped.  I think this image would have been perfect with a different colour scheme, but for this move vintage look it wasn't what I was looking for.

 I decided to remove the panel with the cup on it, and recreate it with a landscape rather than portrait orientation, and added a simple sentiment from the Greetings of the Season embossed in gold on Very Vanilla.  I think this is a much better use of the sketch, what do you think?

Either way I hope I have given you some inspiration to join in this week.  Pop on over to Nicole's blog and check out what the rest of the Design Team have created with this sketch, and I hope you will take the opportunity to join in, there aren't many weeks left before Christmas and this is a great opportunity to get another Christmas card made.

Happy Stamping

Festive Friday #44

 

Isn't this a great picture!  It reminds me a little of the lolly bar that we had at our Stampin' Up! Convention this year - beautiful jars and bowls filled with lollies.  This one clearly reminds me of Christmas and I can almost taste the peppermint just looking at it!  This great photo is the inspiration for this week's Festive Friday Challenge.

I decided to keep my card almost monochromatic using the red and white from the candy canes as my inspiration, although there is a touch of green in the stripes on the DSP, much like the napkin in the front of the photo - good planning, or good luck ... I'll let you be the judge!  I used one of the new Edgelits to create the border on what I think of as the railing.

I wanted to show you a bit of a closer view of the ornaments, stamped with my new wonderful Ornament Keepsakes stamp set and then hand cut.  Now, you don't have to hand cut them because there is a matching set of Framelits that cut them all out perfectly, however I wanted to use this to cut the glimmer paper to back the ornaments and add some sparkle.  For the ornament on the left I stamped in Real Red and then used my sponge dauber to lightly tap some Platinum Shimmer Paint around the edges, the photos don't really do this justice.  I decided to add the sentiment in the ornament shape, and used the new Paper Piercing set to make an outline for cutting the inner shape before adding the Red Glimmer Paper backing.  

I finished off the ornaments with some of the new Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon and some Rhinestones and Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details.

Come and join in this week and share what inspires you about the challenge photo.

Happy Stamping

Just Playing

I was tidying off my desk and came across this lovely new Tulle Ribbon, available in the Holiday Catalogue.  I remembered reading a blog post about a technique where you heat the tulle with the heat tool until it starts to melt slightly and pucker up and I wanted to give it a go.  I have to say it works a treat, no need to gather it with thread, or on tape, just use heat (gently) down the centre of the tulle until it is puckered just how you want it.

With the fun of melting my tulle out behind me I decided to make a simple, vintage Christmas card.  The line of melted tulle needs to be covered up and I chose to use Crochet Trim to go along with the vintage feel.  Then the addition of what is my favourite ornament out of the Ornament Keepsakes set with a couple of strips of Champaign Glimmer Paper and a pearl and I was almost done.  The sentiment is from Greetings of the Season and is stamped with Early Espresso.

I will add the link to the blog where I got the idea from when I can find it again, as the author deserves the credit for this one and has done a lovely step by step tutorial.

Happy Stamping

Festive Friday #38

This week at Festive Friday Challenge we have a nice simple sketch which leaves you with lots of possibilities some pop on over and see what the rest of the design team have made to inspire you and join in with us - every Christmas card made is one less to rush at the end of the year!

I decided that with such a lovely big open space on the card I would do the Emboss Resist technique. Can you believe that I have never tried this one before? It is really so easy and so fun to watch it come together.  The ink used was Baja Breeze, and I built the colour up from the centre of each 'snowflake' not refreshing the dauber as I moved out so the colour became lighter. The lovely sentiment is from Greetings of the Season and I have cut it with my Apothecary Accents Framelits. 

   

Because I went with Not Quite Navy for the base of the card I wanted to put an inside layer in for writing on and decorated the corners with the same image as on the front of the card but stamped in matching Not Quite Navy.

Happy Stamping

ESAD Blog Hop - Holiday Catalogue

Welcome to the Holiday Catalogue Blog Hop, whether you have come from Kristine at Inkspot Creations or are starting with my blog, just hop around following the links at the bottom of each post. 

I just love this Holiday Catalogue, the first in the new 'non-mini' format, it is so full of amazing products, not just stamps but heaps of accessories too.  I have chosen a combination of items from the Holiday Catalogue and some from the new Annual Catalogue to show you how well they all coordinate together.  I have chosen the stamp set Joyous Celebrations as the focus of all of my projects today, so grab a cuppa if you don't have one, and enjoy my projects and those the other ESAD ladies have created for you.

I wanted to use the new little Kraft boxes, they are great and really cost effective (4 boxes for only $4.95 on p161) which makes them great for gifts.  The new Holiday Catalogue items on this box are the Fabric Ribbon wrapped around the box, and two of the small stamps from Joyous Celebrations stamped onto the Fabric Ribbon.  I love how this new ribbon makes it so easy to stamp on, and you can coordinate your ribbon perfectly with your project!  The sentiment is also from a lovely set in the Holiday Catalogue called Greetings of the Season which has four lovely Christmas sentiments.

I thought I would show you the steps I took to stamp on the ribbon:

Secure the ribbon using tape at each end, and place over some scrap
paper and mark out the distance you want between each image.

Stamp the first image using the markers as a guide.  I used the
mistletoe image as the stem helped me line up with my marks.

Finally I went back with the little bow stamp and positioned it
between  each of the mistletoe  images.

Inside the box is a selection of gift tags and cards, this would make a lovely pre-Christmas gift for someone special or just a lovely way to store your own Christmas tags!

I made these with the Two Tags Die, backing the Joyous Celebrations stamps with the Decorative Label Punch.  I made three of each in a variety of colour and DSP combinations. These are so easy to whip up and are so very cute.  A touch of Dazzling Diamonds onto the reindeer nose (red would have been perfect) and also to add some faux-brads to the other tag, this is great for adding some bling without dimension, so great for cards to go through the post.

Next I made a series of 3"x3" gift cards, making two of each of the following designs.  The tree in the Joyous Celebrations set is a tiny bit larger than some of the other stamps in the set, so I used the oval Designer Frame to layer it onto the card, backing this with some of the Be of Good Cheer DSP from the Annual Catalogue. A little bit of Dazzling Diamonds on the star helps to make it pop, I used the new Paper Piercing Tool to gently drag the glitter into the points of the star.

The next two cards are both made using what I think of as the 'dotted oval' stamp from the Joyous Celebrations set, and I backed them with Be of Good Cheer DSP cut with one of the Apothecary Accents Framelits.  I added a sentiment to the reindeer one, from Petite Pairs.  

The last of the tags are probably my favourite as I decided to try layering them with the Champaign Glimmer paper instead of DSP.  Let me just say if you have been a fan of the silver and red glimmer paper from the Annual Catalogue you will LOVE this new champaign one, it is so rich and yummy. You might recognise the bows and the mistletoe as the images I stamped onto the ribbon that wrapped around the box.  To make the bow out of glimmer paper I just stamped on the back and used that as a guide to cut out.  I used a small amount of Dazzling Details on the star in the centre of each ornament.

I wanted to finish up my post today with the card I made to go with this little tag box, this one is a 10.5cm x 10.5cm one.  I used the new Paper Doily Sizzlits and Apothecary Accents Die to compliment the cute little reindeer stamp.  I think he is my favourite from this set, and I can see me using him quite a bit on my Christmas projects this year.  This whole set of stamps is so versatile, great for gift cards as well as full sized cards, it also fits perfectly within the new Holiday Frame Textured Embossing Folder also found in the Holiday Catalogue.

I hope you have enjoyed my somewhat long post today.  Now it is time to hop on over to StampingT! to see what Tanya has created.

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

Happy Stamping