Holiday Celebrations!

Welcome to the ESAD Holiday Blog Hop!  You should have arrived here from the amazing Delys Cram’s blog.
Yes!  We have a new catalogue – not only that but being the Holiday Catalogue it is choc full of bling!!!
I know that you are all going to love the new Festive Flurry Stamp Set with matching Framelits making it super quick & easy to make lots of snowflakes.
If you would like to move away from tradition, this years colour selection features some beautiful blues & silver.
I decided to make a Christmas card that could incorporate a gift card.  You will find a tutorial for making this card on Splitcoast.

Don’t you just love the DSP in the background?  That is one of special foil accented sheets from the Winter Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper.  The colours I have used are  Coastal Cabana & Bermuda Bay.
Naturally I had to make sure it really sparkled so some of the snowflakes I cut out of the Silver Shimmer Paper & the others I stamped with Versamark, embossed with Heat & Stick & then added the new Silver Stampin Glitter.
Notice the gorgeous Silver 1/8” Ribbon at the top?  Just pull it & your card will pop up & the gift card will pull out from the back.

Notice the little jewel in the centre? These are the new Frosted Finishes Embellishments.  As soon as I saw them I just HAD to have them.  The picture doesn’t really do them justice as they are super sparkly.

The hidden surprise.

Finally I added a sentiment from the More Merry Messages stamp set in the little window that opens up when you pull out the gift card tab.
You can view the new catalogue on my Demonstrator Business Website & you can even go shopping there for your middle of the night Stampin’ Fix!

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.

Your next stop on the Hop is Anna Mathieson.
If you get lost I have included the links to all of the Hop participants below.

1.  Narelle Hoggard www.handmadebynarelle.wordpress.com
2.  Keryn Campbell
www.kerynscards.blogspot.com
3.  Monique Fielder
www.stamping-with-moni-q.blogspot.com.au
4.  Amity Knight
www.stampinamity.wordpress.com
5.  Kylie Clemmence
www.stampinwithkylie.blogspot.com
6.  Kathryn Ruddick
www.katlodesigns.com
7.  Libby Dyson
www.libbystampz.blogspot.com.au
8.  Emily Campbell www.tinykiwicards.blogspot.com
9.  Sharlene Meyer
www.magpiecreates.com
USING:
10.  Delys Cram www.delysc.wordpress.com
11.  Ann Wills
www.superstamper.blogspot.com
12.  Anna Mathieson
www.stampwithanna.com
13.  Andrea Buckland
www.creatingcardswithandrea.blogspot.com
14.  Mel Sharp
www.astampaddiction.com
15.  Angie Jones www.angiescraftfusion.blogspot.com.au
16.  Jenny Hayward
www.astampingjourney.wordpress.com
17.  Jenny Humpherys www.stampinbytheseatofmypants.blogspot.com

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Hop on Board the ESAD Blog Hop!

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 email me or leave me a comment with your Email address and I'll contact you with information on how to join our wonderful group.

Gift Giving & Packaging
This is my first ever Blog Hop so I sure hope I get it right & get all of the fabulous ladies from ESAD linked in!  Just in case I will put a list of everyone’s blogs at the bottom of this post.
You should have come here from the fabulous Sharlene Meyer.

One of the products that I love in our new Catalogue is our Gift Giving & Packaging Range which you will find on pages 158-160 of the new Catalogue.  You can now give all of your gifts that extra personal touch.  What I really like is that I know longer have to make the box itself – just take it out of the packet & decorate!

For this cute box I have used one of the new Tag a Bag Gift Boxes from p 158 of the new catty.  They are great value at just NZ$14.50 for 8 boxes plus their acetate sleeves. I love the size of these boxes & they are also food safe you can fill them with cookies or other yummies!
To jazz it up a bit I covered each side using the new Modern Melody DSP p 154 & I layered Basic Black 1/8” Taffeta Ribbon onto Whisper White Organza Ribbon p 173.

Notice the Smoky Slate Tag on top?  That is part of Tag a Bag Accessory Kit that contains tags, bakers twine, mini clothes pegs along with a few other things to make gift giving easy.

To make the “flower” on top I used one of our new stamp sets Happy Day on p 112 to stamp onto our Creped Filter Paper on p 156, punched them out with the 1 3/4” Scallop Circle Punch & then held the layers together with a Glimmer Brad on p 170.

 

Happy Day Stamp Set

NZ$45.95 (W)

NZ$36.95 (C)

Well, I hope you enjoyed your stopover, now you are on your way to visit Gail Kirby.

 

1.   Michelle Grech www.stampmeshell.wordpress.com

2.   Juliette Chapman www.juleskraftikrafts.blogspot.com

3.   Michelle Halling www.michellehcreations.blogspot.com

4.   Keryn Campbell www.kerynscards.blogspot.com

5.   Kylie Clemmence www.stampinwithkylie.blogspot.com

6.   Sharlene Meyer www.magpiecreates.com

7.   Ann Wills www.superstamper.blogspot.com  You are Here!   

8.   Gail Kirby www.stampwithgail.blogspot.com

9.   Rochelle Blok 

www.rochelleblok.blogspot.com.au

10.   Andrea Buckland

www.creatingcardswithandrea.blogspot.com

11.  Delys Cram www.delysc.wordpress.com

12.   Chloe Evans www.chloscraftcloset.blogspot.com

13.   Monique Fielder

www.stamping-with-moni-q.blogspot.com.au

14.   Christie Kunkel www.christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com

15.   Jenny Humphreys

www.stampinbytheseatofmypants.blogspot.com

16.   Tayna Bell www.stampingt.com.au

17.   Marsha Hulland www.smudgeinks.blogspot.com.au

18.   Richelle Fletcher www.stampingwithrichelle.blogspot.com

19.   Libby Dyson www.libbystampz.blogspot.com.au

20.   Anna Mathieson www.stampwithanna.com

21.  Corina Beyer

www.beyondinkstamper.com

22.   Emily Campbell

http://tinykiwicards.blogspot.co.nz/   

23.   Narelle Hoggard www.handmadybynarelle.wordpress.com 24.   Amity Knight www.stampinamity.wordpress.com

25.   Angie Jones www.angiescraftfusion.blogspot.com.au/    

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Beautiful Butterflies–again!

I did try to resist buying the Swallowtail butterfly stamp, but it just was not possible.  It has quickly become one of my “can’t live without” stamps!  Below are a couple of cards from classes I have recently taught.

 

This is the 2nd card that we made using the polished stone technique that I talked about in a previous post.  The background has been embossed using the Cloudy Day Embossing Folder.  If you love this folder, be sure to order it before the end of the month as unfortunately it will not be in the new Catalogue.

 

This card was another rescued disaster that turned out much better than I had planned.  That’s why paper crafting is so much fun, if you make a mistake you can usually rescue it with a bit more “creativity”!  This technique is called Split Negative & it came out “positively fabulous”!

It is so easy & so effective.  First stamp the image using Versamark on a piece of Pool Party Card Stock & then heat emboss with Early Espresso Embossing Powder.   Next, repeat this using Early Espresso CS & Pool Party EP.  Now cut each butterfly in half & cut around the outside wings  (don’t throw the spare parts away as you can use them for another card).  Make a 2-tone base card & adhere butterfly to the front & back of your card.  Now add greetings & embellishments of your choice.

There is only a week left with our current catalogue so if there is something that you really want but have not yet bought you had better hurry up!  You can either contact me or pop into my on-line store.

Our new catalogue will be released on July 2 & there is some amazing stuff in it so make sure you order one off me or I will put up links to the on-line catalogue on the 2nd.

 

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Polished Stone Wow!

This is the first time that I have tried the Polished Stone Technique & Wow! I love it!  It is always fun to get messy & have inky fingers but this is as good as finger painting at Play Centre!

What You Will Need:

• Isopropyl Alcohol (from Chemist)
• Cotton Balls – I used Swisspers the cheaper ones will leave ”fluff”
• Glossy Card Stock (10x13.5 cm; 9.5x6cm; 9x6cm)
• Wisteria Wonder Card Stock (10.5x21cm, score at 7cm; 7x20cm, score at 10cm)
• Whisper White Card Stock (10x6.5;  2 at 9.5 x 6.5cm)
• By the Tide Stamp Set

 

• Versamark Stamp Pad
• Black Embossing Powder
• Heat Tool
• Re-Inkers – Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette
• Frost White Shimmer Paint
• Fancy Fan Folder
• Big Shot

You can purchase these products from my On-Line Store.
1.  Dampen a cotton ball with alcohol & drop re-inkers in colours of your choice on (I dropped 1 drop of each colour on opposite sides of the cotton ball.
2.  Use a toothpick or similar to add a drop of Frost White Shimmer Paint.
3.  Using a “pouncing” motion cover your 9.5 x 6cm & 9 x 6cm Glossy Card Stock until you have the effect you like.  The alcohol will help to blend colours so the more you pounce the more blended it will become.

I have used lighter colours in this sample – the white areas are the Shimmer Paint

Here I used Island Indigo, Elegant Eggplant, Gumball Green & Frost White Shimmer Paint.
4.  Stamp images of your choice on these panels with Versamark & then emboss with Black Embossing Powder.

 

5. Layer the panels onto Whisper White & then the appropriate Wisteria Wonder pieces.
The large, lighter panel was actually meant for something else.  I used Pink Pirouette, Wisteria Wonder & Baja Breeze re-inkers & the Frost White Shimmer paint on it.  I then stamped an image onto that I didn’t like so I embossed it with the Fancy Fan folder.  Then when I was playing with layout for the above card I tried it as the background & really liked it, but that meant I had a big purple teapot in the middle of the card!  That is when I decided to make this a Joy Fold Card to cover up my mistake!
6.  Layer the large embossed panel on the Wisteria Wonder Card then attach the smaller card with the fish on top.

This card looks complicated but it is actually very easy.
I have a class coming up where you can make this card plus one featuring our fabulous Swallowtail butterfly stamp.  Bookings for classes are essential as I only have a maximum of 8 in my classes.
Book Here or if you would like to try this at home, visit my store for supplies.

 

 

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Autumn Afternoon

Well, the stamp set is called Summer Afternoon but it is a beautiful Autumn afternoon today in Auckland.
This card features one of our current Hostess Stamp Sets & I think it is just so cute.

I stamped the image on watercolour paper with black Staz-On then coloured it in using a Blender Pen & Aquapainter.  The Midnight Muse cardstock in the background has been stamped with the Netting background stamp.  I find this a very versatile stamp to give a subtle texture that really gives your card a lift.
For more details, feel free to contact me.

Would you like to purchase any of the products I have used today?

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Mother's Day

My Stamp Club this month is having a "girly" theme so we are going to make a Mother's Day card.
I am really pleased with how this has come out & I got to play with some new product from the current Seasonal Catalogue.

Stamp Club meets once a month & the girls take turns at receiving the Hostess Benefits.  Each month I provide a free class tailored to your experience & each member makes a minimum purchase ($60 for 6 months).  The great thing is that you don't have to do anything except provide supper on the night that you are the Hostess.

 

Amazingly this card has changed my opinion of the colour Primrose Petals.  It really works well with Pool Party.

To make the flowers I used the 7/8" Scallop Circle Punch to punch out 9 circles out of our Creped Filter Paper for each flower.  I then used Sponge Daubers to colour them in Daffodil Delight, Primrose Petals & Pretty in Pink (3 of each).  Finally I layered them together with a brad.

I love the new Honeycomb Embossing folder too. I used it with the Pool Party Core'dinations CS & then sanded it to show some of the white core.

The finishing touch is a butterfly using the Papillion Potpourri stamp set & matching punch.

 

 



 If you would like to make this card please Contact Me & I will arrange a time.

If you would like to order any of these or other SU products, either email me or hop on over to my shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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