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IT’S BEEN QUITE A WHILE …

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30

… since my last post!

I left my comfort zone and then left Australia for 5 weeks.

My husband, Rob and I enjoyed a fabulous holiday adventure in Canada and the United States – Vancouver, Alaskan Cruise, Canadian Rockies, Salt Lake City [including a visit to Stampin’ Up!’s head office in Riverton – a HUGE thank you to Rett for our fantastic visit!], Yellowstone N.P. [it SNOWED!!], Moab and the surrounding amazing national parks, Seattle, Vancouver and home. Driving on the wrong side of the road gets easier with every visit.

When we arrived home, I collected my BBB of Occasions Catalogue products for the projects I would create for On Stage Local on the Gold Coast.

I had 5 weeks to do this in … here are the results. I am very pleased with what I created.

The Myths & Magic Suite [stamp set and Speciality Designer Series Paper] was a little challenging at first because I haven’t really done a lot of children’s based cards or layouts in a long time.

I thought that I would start with a memories layout first – the SDSP page I used really stood out as a great background. Then I started searching through lots of photos of my two gorgeous girls [now 27 and 22]. Mermaids, Michele?

They SPLASH and I want my daughters to make a splash in their lives …

Now onto the knights, dragons and unicorns … birthday party items seemed the way to go.

So, JAMES is turning 9 and having a party. Here is his diorama invitation in an upturned mini pizza box.

I have been having fun making 6″x 6″ and 4″x 4″ smash cards since I first saw them online [apologies that I cannot acknowledge the source of this inspiration … I can’t find my CASing notebook].

This is the 3″x 3″ smash pizza box card that Robert gave to James at the party. [Names inspired by my husband – Robert James]

Look at the above display board photo and you might see the test tube of “Dragon food – Beware’.

Next, some magical wizard cards … if there wasn’t already enough get excited about, you are going to love the Myths & Magic 6″x 6″ glimmer papers and the Picture Perfect Paper Ribbon.

So … what little girl doesn’t like UNICORNS?

In this collection, I created: a mini treat bag invitation, birthday card, party treat pillow and a party treat test tube [“Unicorn snacks” … “Hand feeding only”] along with a Memories card game.

The Perennial Birthday Stamp Set, Picture Perfect Paper Ribbon and light green Glimmer Paper gave great scope for more elegant projects.

I really liked the way the paper ribbon folded in half so easily when I wanted to create the flowers for this collection.

The top centre gift box was achieved by cutting, scoring and stamping one of the floral images onto Whisper White cardstock; adhering it to create an insert into a Clear Tiny Treat Box and then using Stampin’ Up!’s brilliant new Stampin’ Blends to add colour onto the outside of the clear box.

The only thing I think the Picnic with You Stamp Set needed was an ANT stamp!

I roughly sketched my little ant and then used a black permanent marker to trace him onto a strip of Window Sheet, at different angles, to achieve my little army of picnic-pilferers.

The 3″x 3″ gift cards were designed to fit inside this trifold gift set with the front sentiment reading, “A basketful of thanks for you.

This was an amazing experience … time to plan my next challenge!

COMING SOON – Occasions and Sale-a-brations Launch.

 

 

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CLIMBING ORCHIDS CLASS …

I LOVE it when each first and third Sunday comes around and it is time for my mmm…Stampin’ Time class, especially when I have the chance to SHARE ideas and projects that feature new products from Stampin’ Up! and we get to ENJOY a few hours on a Sunday afternoon creating together before the work week begins.

Our July 16 class was all about CLIMBING ORCHID BUNDLE

I found the gift box on Pintrest [below] and it was created by German demonstrator Nadja [http://nadjasstempelkreationen.blogspot.com/]. I was able to watch a tutorial for this giftbox made by British demonstrator Keila Calver to recreate this Tricky-Cube-Box/Little Platform Giftbox … thank you to both of these demonstrators for sharing their amazing work.

 

Here are the three projects we made during our Climbing Orchids class … two cards and a giftbox.

I was surprised by the variety of orchid colour combinations nature has produced … endless options to make this bundle so versatile.

 

This was the first time we used the Ruffled 3D Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and it looks amazing when you use Shimmery White cardstock.

All three projects use the tree branch from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits.

The giftbox looks elegantly simple but is a bit tricky to achieve the peaked corner … persistence is needed, but well worth the effort.

 

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LEAVING THE COMFORT ZONE …

There were so many amazing ideas I brought home with me after attending the 2016 Stampin’ Up! OnStage Live event in Brisbane last November.

One of the challenges, for demonstrators, was to do something outside of their comfort zone … so this is latest I am doing!

Demonstrators, around the world, have been asked if they are interested in applying to be a DISPLAY BOARD STAMPER at one of the OnStage Live or Local events.

So I am ready to submit, via this blog post, my handstamped items: three card fronts (standard card size), one scrapbook page, and two 3D items.

For those of you who have been to any Stampin’ Up! events you know that there have been incredible displays put together for us to be inspired by … so, fingers crossed!

THREE CARD FRONTS:

 Although now retired, the Beautiful Branches Thinlits Dies were so versatile. This is one of my favourite cards that I have made. It was inspired by the stunning beauty of the red coral found off the coast of the Island of Capri … and living in Bargara, with the southern parts of the Great Barrier Reef offshore … I wanted to use these thinlits to create a colourful reef scene.

Now onto to some current products …

Both my daughters have lived away from home now for between three and half and seven years. There have been lots of phone calls, separated by 450km, when all you want to do as a mum is reach down through the phone line and hug your child. I think this card is great for that type of moment.

Dragonfly Dreams … silver, black and various green and purple tones watercolured onto Shimmery White cardstock … plus a bit of bling. It was quite calming to build up this watercoloured background – go the aquapainter!

3D PROJECTS

EXPLOSION GIFT BOX

This is such a fun 3D project to make for so many different occasions … this was for the wedding of the daughter of very dear friends.

I had lots of fun making cards using the, now retired, Balloon Pop Up Thinlits Die … but wondered if I could do more with it … and I discovered there was!

SCRAPBOOK PAGE

Living in Queensland, we don’t get to see snow locally. With the new Memories and More Colour Theory Card Pack, I realised it was time to start scrapping our 2007 family holiday to the USA [just a bit behind in my memory keeping efforts]. Add the embossing paste and using masks I made from a few of our new thinlits and I was set.

 

DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT!

At first I thought it would be hard to find projects that I would be happy submitting … then  I found that I had a few more that I could also have submitted … these didn’t make it through!

A three box explosion box for a colleague’s son’s 6th birthday.

A paisley peacock card …

The same giftbox … a Christmas order from a friend for her daughter’s gifts.

A 3D shaker card …