My Convention Swaps .... Part 2

Another pre-scheduled post, it is the second day of Convention and I am sure I am having a great time!  As promised here is the second of the three swaps I made.  This time it is a card front - with swaps you don't make the whole card, just the front of one.  Swaps are primarily to share ideas amongst each other.  I like showing the swaps I get off at workshops I do, it lets my customers see styles that are different from my own, and also at times are made with stamp sets or accessories I don't own (yet).

This card uses the a la carte stamp "Sail Away".  I love these stamps because they are single stamps that stand alone really well, and are a great way to get something in a new theme.  For me masculine cards are a bit of a challenge, I think they are for most of us.  When I saw Sail Away I just knew it was for me, and knew I wanted to make a Convention swap with it.  This layout came to me one afternoon when I was waking up from a nana nap!  I have used the Newsprint DSP and mounted the images on Not Quite Navy cardstock, I love the way the circle matches the shape of the sails on the yacht.  The card needed a little something to "finish" this so I used three eyelets to give it that little something. I purposefully left a sentiment off this card, leaving it free to be birthday, father's day, or even a retirement card.

Pop back tomorrow for a look at my final swap .... it too uses Sail Away

Happy Stamping

My Convention Swaps .... Part 1

This is the first of three posts that I have set to automatically load up while I am away at Stampin' Up! Annual Convention.  It is being held in Melbourne this year, and I have been so excited to attend.  Aproximately 500 demonstrators from Australia and New Zealand all getting together in one place for 3 days!!!   One of the best parts about this event is swaps (at least that is what I am told!).  I have made 3 different swaps for the event and will be scheduling a post each day to show them off.   

One of the first unofficial events that I will be part of at Convention is the ESAD dinner, through ESAD I have met some amazing, supportive, inspiring, and genuinely caring ladies, and the ESAD dinner is my chance to meet some of them face to face. Some of us will have started our swapping at the dinner, and this is what these little swaps are for.   I wanted to make some little bags and was originally inspired by one of the videos over at chic n scratch, but made some changes to the dimensions of the bags to hold different things. 

I made about 36 of these little bags, 12 with 2 teabags, 12 with a coffee bag, and 12 with chocolate bar. All of the bags have been made with the colour collections DSP, and I chose the polka dot pattern as it matched the dots on the cup stamp.  I hope you like these, especially if you were lucky enough to get one as a swap!

Happy Stamping

Friday Mash Up

Today is my first contribution as Guest Designer for The Friday Mashup, and I am really excited and honoured to be part of this challenge.  There are three ways you can enter this challenge

1. Make a card inspired by nature
2. Make a card with some embossing on it
3. Or Mash it all up and make a card with a nature theme and some embossing on it somewhere.

I decided to do the Mashup of the two themes and came up with this one.

I just love the Just Believe stamp set, and have used it here as the background image.  I then formed a frame around it using the Framed Tulip Embossing Folder, embossing in sections to get it just the right size.  I created the frame of colour by masking off the centre of the piece with post-it notes and then sponged with Certainly Celery, I really like the effect this gives.  To add a bit more embossing and nature I added some of the beautiful little butterflies from the Beautiful Wings die, and embossed the next layer of cardstock with the Polka Dot Embossing folder.  The other colours I have used are Almost Artichoke, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry.

Don't forget to check out what the Design Team have created to inspire you, as well as all of the entries in this week's challenge.  Don't forget when you visit and are inspired by a card, let the creator know by leaving a comment. 

Happy Stamping