OnStage Live 2016!

Hi there

I'm currently at the Stampin' Up! OnStage Live event in Brisbane.  This is the first live global event for Australia, so I'm thrilled to be able to attend. 

We will be seeing the launch of the new 2017 Occasions Catalogue and the 2017 Sale-a-bration products as well.  As a benefit of attending the event I will be able to pre-pre-order some of the new goodies, so lookout for more details and samples in coming weeks.

I'm sharing an apartment with 3 lovely ladies from our team, so I made them a little 'roomie' gift as a thank you for letting me share with them.  This is a little treat gift box that I sized to fit the Lindt ball chocolates. It is 6" long and holds 4 chocolates. I was hoping for 5, but the tails on the wrapping are a bit bulky. I've made them from Sweet Sugarplum card stock with some of the 'Blooms & Bliss' DSP on the top. Stamped flowers from the 'Grateful Bunch' set were layered onto Rich Razzleberry bases punched out with the Blossom Bunch punch.  The tag  is attached with some of the gorgeous silver Glitter Ribbon from the 'Fancy Frost' suite in the Holiday Catalogue. The greeting is from a long retired set called 'Afterthoughts', but I love the font and it fitted the tag. This is one of my favourite colour combos.

This photo shows the chocolates in the box.

Of course, I had to make a card to go with the gift. I've kept with the Sweet Sugarplum and silver colour combo for a basically monochrome card featuring the Hyacinth from the 'Helping Me Grow' stamp set. I've kept the layout very simple, letting the flowers take centre stage. The flowers are coloured with Copic markers. I layered the focus piece onto Silver Foil and popped up the whole panel onto the Sweet Sugarplum base.

For the inside, I have stamped and coloured the smallest of the stems and added a strip of washi tape from the 'Playful Palette' set at the base. I finished with a narrow strip of Silver Foil at the top for a co-ordinated look.

Project Details
Stamps	Helping Me Grow, Grateful Bunch, Gift of Love, Afterthoughts (Retired Hostess)
Card stock & Papers	Sweet Sugarplum Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Silver Foil, Blooms & Bliss DSP
Ink	Memento Tuxedo Black, Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum
Accessories	Silver Glitter ribbon, Pearls Basic Jewels
Tools	Tags & Labels Framelits, Big Shot, Blossom Bunch punch, Bitty Butterfly punch, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Copic Markers (R81, R56, G82, YG67)

Thanks for looking!

Convention Swap #2

Hello

Today I have the second of my Convention swaps to share with you. I created 20 Lost Lagoon ovals in the process of making the frame for the Moon Lake duck scene on my first swap, so my mission was to use these ovals in my second swap.

I checked my DSP Swatch books and found the 'Flowerpot' DSP contained Lost Lagoon, so I used a softer version of the colours in the DSP for the flower spray. I have used a simple layout for a clean card.

  

 

Project Details
Stamps	Butterfly Basics
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Lost Lagoon, Calypso Coral, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi, Flowerpot
Ink	Versamark, Calypso Coral
Accessories	Pearl Basic Jewels, Blushing Bride 1/4” Cotton Ribbon
Tools	Ovals Collection Framelits, Large Polka Dot embossing folder, Big Shot, Bird Builder punch, Bitty Butterfly punch, Petite Petals punch, Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, Silver embossing powder, Heat gun, Dimensionals, Glue

Thanks for looking!

Convention Swap #1

Hi there

Today I'm having a fab time with other Demonstrators at the South Pacific Convention on the Gold Coast in Queensland.  This is the last of our local Conventions as we know them, so I'll be making the most of it. We will be getting the new 2015-16 Annual Catalogue to soak in and take home - woohoo!  I will have goodies from Convention to show you next week. 

I managed fewer swaps than I did last year. Life just got in the way, if you know what I mean. This is the first one - a masculine card  using  'Hardwood' stamped in Basic Gray onto Smoky Slate card stock to frame the duck from the 'Moon Lake' stamp set. 

I stamped the duck using Stazon onto water colour paper and coloured it with a combination of ink and Stampin' Write markers.  Some parts of the image are too small to water colour so the markers were perfect. You need to make sure that your piece is fully dry before you use your markers and use them last, so there is no opportunity for any bleed. Normally I would use my ink pads, but this time I used reinkers diluted with water, as I needed to colour 20 images. 

 

  

Project Details
Stamps	Moon Lake, Hardwood, Butterfly Basics
Card stock & Papers	Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Lost Lagoon, Crushed Curry, Moonlight DSP Stack, Watercolour paper
Ink	Stazon Black, Basic Gray, Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories	Basic Metal Buttons, White Baker’s Twine
Tools	Ovals Collection Framelits, Big Shot, Hexagon punch, 1”, ¾” Circle punches, Handheld stapler, Aquapainter, Glue Dots, Tombow glue, Dimensionals, Stampin’ Write markers (Wild Wasabi, Cajun Craze, Tangerine Tango, Bermuda Bay)

Thanks for looking!

Convention 2014 Swaps

Hi there

I'm finally getting on top of everything again after the South Pacific Convention. It was crazy leading up to it with swaps and roomie gifts to make and lots of other details to organise. However, I had a fabulous time hanging out with friends; soaking up all the information and presentations; playing with new products and of course poring over the new Annual Catalogue. Not to mention all of the free take away products that Stampin' Up! gave us. Can't get much better than that!

Today I have the my Convention swaps to show you. I made 60 in the same design, in 5 colour combos so I wouldn't get too bored. I have used a portion of' 'Pleasant Poppies', one of my favourite stamps, on the left panel. It has been white embossed on Crumb Cake or Smoky Slate (depending on the colour combo) and then coloured with the Chalk marker. Once dry I have coloured the flowers with Stampin' Write markers. Because of the chalk base, the final colour will be a lighter shade of the marker. You can go over it again to add some highlights or use a darker colour like Calypso Coral over Crisp Cantaloupe or Crushed Curry over Daffodil Delight. This is a great technique, so give it a try. 

The right panel is vellum card stock embossed with the Polka Dots embossing folder. I love how it takes the edge off the colour below. This caused me some grief, trying to find an adhesive that I was happy with and didn't show through. After trying 3 options, the best product for the purpose in my opinion is the Scotch Vellum Tape, but I recommend cutting it with teflon coated scissors. 

I didn't take a photo of all the colours together, so I will show one at full size and then the other colours in smaller photos. The base card is Baked Brown Sugar with Strawberry Slush and the left panel is Crumb Cake.

       

The colour combinations of the others (from left) are:

Baked Brown Sugar/Crisp Cantaloupe/Crumb Cake
Bermuda Bay/Pool Party/Smoky Slate
Basic Gray/Daffodil Delight/Smoky Slate
Wisteria Wonder/Elegant Eggplant/Crumb Cake

     

For my roomies, I made these cute little bags in a matching colour to the swap card I gave them. This is the One Sheet Wonder bag, made with a single piece of 12 x 12 card stock and no cutting - how cool is that? I used Kelly Gettelfinger's YouTube video and then added my own twist to it. Don't these colours look great together?

The bags are 6" long and 2" wide, so they are a good size and would easily fit a package of cookies or other treats or a scarf, baby booties etc. I managed to fit all of these things into it.

The item on the far right is a scissor charm. I decided to make these a couple of days before Convention. Not the smartest move from a time management perspective, but I had fun making them. Here is a photo of all of them.

Well, that's about it for my Convention goodies. I'm looking forward to lots of fabulous new products in the Annual Catalogue.  If you would like an Annual Catalogue, please contact me. 

In the meantime, don't forget the lists of retiring products are now available online here for you check out.

Details of my next class can be found here.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Convention Card

Hi again

The card I have for you today, was made for my Convention room mates using the design of my swap. The Framelits Labels die makes a fabulous easel card, as it fits into a standard envelope.  I have moved the sentiment to the bottom section, but otherwise it is exactly the same. Apologies for the lighting on this photo as it has been exceptionally gloomy weather in Melbourne.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Bordering on Romance, Kindness Matters, You're a Gem
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla, Vellum Paper
Ink	Early Espresso, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Wisteria Wonder
Accessories	Basic Pearls, Victoria Lace, Regal Rose 1/8" Taffeta ribbon
Tools	Finial Press EF, Swiss Dots EF, Framelit Labels dies, Big Shot, Large Oval punch, Blender Pen, Watercolour Crayons, Sponge Daubers, Clear EP, Bashful Blue marker, Dimensionals, Heat Gun, Tombow Glue

I also made myself and my roomies a bag tag for the Convention bag, using the Two Tags die. I cut the tag from 0.6mm chipboard for a more sturdy tag and then covered it with embossed cardstock and the lovely 'Twitterpated' DSP. Th initials have been die cut and the coated in Crystal Effects for a nice glaze.

I have kept the reverse simple, with some embossing and a die cut of the journal stamp from the 'Apothecary Art' stamp set, so they can put their details on it.

I will be back next week having been inspired by the wonderful things we are seeing at Convention.