ESAD - Favourites from the 2017/18 Annual Stampin' Up! Catalogue Blog Hop

Welcome everyone, This ESAD Blog Hop excites me as I got to play with my very favourite suite in the whole entire 2017-2018 Annual Stampin' Up catalogue... If you follow me here or on FB's many groups I am in you will have probably guessed which suite I will be using.

You have just come from Rebecca Scurr

My absolute favourite products from the 2017-2018 Annual Catalogue would have to be the Naturally Eclectic Suite on page 132.  The stunning samples caught my eye immediately as soon as I saw them.

I had all of these cutouts and this background, that created with embossing paste. So with these pieces I wanted to create a Happy Birthday card for my Sister in law.

Lots of things went onto the card and then I pulled some pieces off as I wasn't completely happy with it, I don't think I am the only one who changes their mind during the process of making projects...AM I ??? I embossed the leaves onto the actual card and then wished I hadn't of... I also put all the blue flowers on and so glad that I didn't stick them as I hated it. PHEW....

Next I wanted to use the Happy Birthday Thinlits on the front of the card and was very undecided about what colour DSP or cardstock to use...So I tested the 2 different types on my card... I had to go with my favourite colour cardstock - the new InColor 2017-2019 Lemon Lime Twist...

Once I had changed the font to Lemon Lime Twist I was extremely happy with my card and I knew that my SIL would be too

Here are another couple of cards that I have made using this set and if you look back at this post you will see a Scrapbooking layout that I used Oh So Eclectic too...
So can you see why it is my favourite, Do you like it too???

Up next is  Leonie Schroder , Leonie is a Stampin' Up Demonstrator from Sydney.
Her blog is Stamp A Latte

Blog hop participants:

1. Josie Dean

2. Nicole Wilson

3. Carolina Evans

4. Kim Oliver

5. Sandra Mastello

6. Lou Kitzelman

7. Kelly Kent

8. Cheryl Algie

9. Rebecca Scurr

10. Sharon Dalton _ You are here

11. Leonie Schroder

12. Monique Fielder

13. Courtenay Heuston

14. Terri Hawke

15. Barbara Williams

16. Kristel Rimmer

17. Maree McIntosh

18. Kathryn Ruddick

19. Rosalie Desmond

20. Linda Whalley

21. Amity Knight

22. Peta Stephen

23. Megan Lenske

24. Richelle Fletcher

25. Carly Middleton

Thanks for popping by and I hope you have a wonderful day, leave me some love by commenting below and I will pop over to see you too.
Cheers Shaz

Global Stamping Friends Bloghop

This is my first hop with Global Stamping Friends, blog hopping with people from all over
the world....Thanks for the warm welcome into this group Sarah McDermott.
I am here in Australia!!!

Very excited until I saw this month's brief....I am not very good at thinking outside the square....Holidays in July - with a twist made my head hurt to begin with!!! So the brief was to design a holiday project BUT using a set that isn't designed specifically for holidays.

So PINTEREST became my best friend there for a while. That was until I stumbled upon this card, so my inspiration was drawn from Karen Taylor Stampin' Up Demostrator France.  Karen was inspired to create her card from Lou Kitzelman Stampin' Up Demonstrator here in Australia whose blog you have just left to come to mine.

I chose Naturally Eclectic DSP from the new Annual Catalogue, as it already had leaves printed on it for my background....AND then of course I had to use my favourite cardstock - Lemon Lime Twist from the new In Color Collection 2017-2019. 
Also I cut a small branch out of the Wood Textures DSP stack

I used a variety of Circle Layering Framelits to cut middle out of the card and Swirly Scribbles, Birds and Blooms Thinlits to create the branch, leaves and berries and the wreath (which is hidden, until you open the card). I stamped the birds from the Best Birds stamp set with Black Archival ink, they were cut out with the Bigshot using a matching die from Birds and Blooms. I coloured the birds with Aqua painters and small amount of ink from our pads.

I always take photos during the process of placement of my cards so that I can look back to compare the changes....Added a sentiment to the middle of the card, Merry Christmas came from Better Together stamp set. It makes such a difference, now that the branch has leaves and berries on. All these stamps can be found in Best Birds set.

 Lets add a splash of colour on these birds now. I used Delightful Dijon, Cajun Craze on the bird inside the card and In Color 2017-2019 Inks Berry Burst and Powder Pink.

Decorating the inside of the card is something new that I am trying to do this year when making cards...LOVE the surprise when you open the card!!!

I actually think that I nailed the brief, hope you all try making Christmas cards without Christmas/Holiday stamps....YAY!!! Another creation from CreativeMe68 - Studio Shabaz.


 Thanks for popping by and I hope you have a wonderful day, leave me some love by commenting below and I will pop over to see you too.  Cheers Shaz
Up next is Kimberely Anne Morris from Colorado Springs, CO

Blog hop participants

1. Sarah McDermott 
2. Kristie Neal Walthall 
3. Rebecca Urban
4. Courtenay Heuston

5. Lisa Ann Bernard
6. Georgia Missy Gaydos
7. Jenn Curtis Charles
8. Lou Kitzelman 

9. Sharon Dalton
10. Kimberley Anne Morris 
11. Angélique Stempelkeuken
12. Amber Thompson
13. Marieke Bart 
14. Ellen Woodbridge

Showered with Love

Scrapbooking is one of my all time loves...It is a lil more time consuming than card making BUT the results speak for themselves. Here I have created a very special layout for my Daughter's Bridal Shower.

 To create this layout I started with a die to create my very own stencil, using the Eclectic Layers Thinlits and a piece of Window sheet - 142314 and Embossing Paste - 141979

 I had some spray residual leftover on my precut stencil so I used that on my layout with the embossing paste and this allowed the differing colour depths of the Berry Burst - 144089. I put this aside and allowed it to dry....PLEASE NOTE the Embossing paste dries very quickly so be sure to wash your stencils and tools off immediately as soon as your finish...

So from this blank canvas I started to create my layout using matching DSP Naturally Eclectic - 144185, along with the Eclectic Layers Thinlits - 143774. After many runs through the bigshot I had enough flowers to create my spray up the LHS side of my layout... Added some stamped flowers from Oh So Eclectic Stamp Set - 143940

After much fussing and moving things around and with the consultation of a few of my online scrapbooking buddies over at Stampin' Up Scrapbooking Global they gave me a few pointers. I was happy with the end result, I finished off my layout with a title from various Stamp Sets - Brushwork Alphabet - 141772, Window Shopping - 143265, Lovely Friends - 143763 . I added Clear Faceted Gems - 144142 to the powder pink stamped flowers.
I also saved the triangle cut outs from the die to create some varying points of interest scattered here and there.  Here is the finished layout....

Inspiration was drawn from another scrapbooker Cheryl Algie on our group page
Thanks for popping by and I hope you have a wonderful day, leave me some love by commenting below and I will pop over to see you too.
Cheers Shaz

Bagalope - Stampin' Up Catalogue Survival Kit

Just to set the scene...I live 65klms away from the closest regional town. So I can't just pop down to the shops when I need something,  I really have to plan my trips to town.
In saying that I forgot to buy some clear bags from the craft shop so I decided I just
needed to make my present bags for my launch.
For those of you wanting a quick and easy present it is just so simple.
You don't need any special crafting tools, if you don't own any.
You need one envelope, a ruler and end of a biro lid as your scoring tool.
 
Everyone has envelopes at their house right, well I had plenty of them so I decided I would make a "Bagalope"  for my Stampin' Up Catalogue Survival Kit for the Launch. Any size envelope will work...
Instructions
1. First you need to seal the envelope
2. Then you cut off one short side of the envelope approx 1 inch from the edge
3.With your ruler measure 3/4" on the other 3 sides and score with your pen lid or (stylus if you have one). So now you will have one open end and 3 sealed edges with score lines.
4. Fold along the 3 scored edges  so that you crease your Bagalope.

 5. Then once it is folded you are going to open up the bag and place your hand inside to flatten out your envelope to form the base of your bag, squeezing the corner to form a triangle at each side. 

6. Add some adhesive to these triangles to stick to the base of your bag.  If you wanted to cover your corner base you could use some matching cardstock.

7. Fold the long edges of your envelope into the middle along your score lines to form a valley

 8. Add a piece of DSP 7.5cm x 7.5cm to the back of the bag and fold over at the front, adhere to the back only. My finished bagalope was approx 13cm x 7.5cm.

 9. Punch a hole through the folded over edge, close to secure by using ribbon through the hole.

 10. Finished Bagalope with contents for Stampin' Up Catalogue Survival Kit 

Thanks for dropping by, until next time Keep on Crafting
Cheers Shaz

New Catalogue Launch Day

June 1 - Exciting day in the Stampin' Up calender....It is the new catalogue launch day.
My launch was held here at Studio Shabaz, I had 9 ladies - 4 of which are fellow Stampin' Up Demos. Each person got to make 5 cards. Everyone got goodies bags plus extra DSP  and retired Stampin' Up present from me for attending.

It is AMAZING to think that we all start off with the very same DSP and cardstock.  BUT we all end up with totally different cards, the biggest delight for me is to see the difference in all the cards that all the ladies made. AND to the ladies surprise that said "I am not a card maker or crafty" the ideas these ladies came up with were awesome!!!
*Inspiration sought from Pinterest for ideas for these cards, with my own tweak on them.
ALSO I strongly recommend making a variety of cards or scrapbooking layouts to show off the products as one of the demos didn't like the Daisy Delight set in the catalogue BUT loved it in real life...

I had 5 orders from the day, 3 ladies booked their workshops and others said that if I had another day that they would like to come again. So it was a very successful day.
Thank you to all of you for your support and I cannot wait to get together again.
Until next time
Cheers Shaz