Hop to it for an ESAD Mothers Day Blog Hop

Good Morning everyone!
I hope you’re ready for the ESAD Blog Hop! Better go grab yourself a cuppa as you’ll be hopping for a while!

What is ESAD you say?
ESAD stands for Extra Special Australian (and New Zealand) Demonstrators and it is an online group just for Australian and New Zealand demonstrators for Stampin’ Up!
We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends and wonderful blog visitors but we share our love for what we do with each other as Demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know how and cyberstamps and we are always there to help and support each other when its needed.
So if you are a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group.

OK lets get started. I put together a few little things using alot of the lucious new goodies in the new SU! Autumn/ Winter mini catalogue. First up a little bird house into which you can tuck a little gift.

I have CASEd this idea from the talented Jo Wimbourne in the UK. She even included a tutorial on her blog running you through how to construct it. I wanted to use the new Cottage Wall DSP so I started off making the bird house base from Orchid Opulence, then added a roof of Old Olive, decorated with Cottage Wall roofing, sponged on the scalloped edges with Old Olive. Special little embellishment touches include stamping the window sheet with the little flower from Cheep Talk in White Stazon. Of course I used the new bird punch to decorate the front. (So fun to use) Old Olive for the branch, the bird in Rich Razzleberry, with a white layer to highlight it and its wing in DSP to match the roof. Lastly another flower inked in Orchid Opulence and rock and rolled in Razzleberry with an Old Olive brad. The final touch a little library clip to hold the roof on with a knot of the new dotty Razzleberry ribbon. The bird house is just the right size to tuck in some buttons or perhaps chocolate coated coffee beans. Hmmm which one will it be?

To go with the bird house I made a fun card using the new scallop circle die. I just love how simple it is to cut some folded cardstock with the die - and you have a card just like magic!!




Once again I started with an Orchid Opulence base, cut the card with my scallop die, then tucked the front into the new SU! Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. OK next step was to stamp six petals with the new A Little Treat set in Rich Razzleberry. Then punch a 1 3/4 inch circle in the card front so I could slip through a sweet treat cup. I partially filled the cup with a selection of beads, raided with permission from my Miss 5's bead collection. I sealed up the back, with some Whisper White stamped with little Orchid and Razzleberry flowers, covered over on the inside with a larger circle of Orchid Opulence to blend in the front. Ok back to the front, I SNAILed the six petals into place evenly around the sweet treat cup. To give the flower some ompf I also stamped six of the little leaves from the set in Old Olive, slipped their ends into the 1 3/4 inch circle punch so I could fit them around the cup on the petal intersections, mounted up on dimensionals. Some Old Olive ribbon tied round near the fold with a little sentiment tag fastened on finish off the front.
I have one last piece - a little bag I made using the scallop circle die and the new Vintage Vogue set. I'm rather proud of this one as I came up with the idea of how to make it myself (although I'm sure it must have been done before).

This time I used the new in colour Melon Mambo (so very nice). I started by cutting some folded MM with the scallop circle die, then I scored and folded the cardstock two scallops in from either side of the original fold. Into this cradle of sorts I inserted a little box of Pumpkin Pie just small enough that you can't see it round the scalloped sides. (Well unless you look side on ;) Before I sticky striped everything together I rolled the Mambo cardstock with Mambo ink using the Very Vintage wheel. It has a gorgeous vintage pattern but I figure that is no reason to not use it with bright colours too. The handle is an A4 length of Mambo scalloped down both sides and also rolled with Very Vintage. I attached that to the sides using the round tab punch, a pumpkin flower and a Designer flower brad. Lastly I decorated the front with flowers and leaves from Vintage Vogue stamped in Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo and Old Olive.

I hope you liked my SU! Autumn/Winter mini inspired Mother's Day projects.

If you've enjoyed the ESAD hop so far then please continue.

You should have come from Kelly and the next hopper to visit is Jan. There are 16 of us in the todays hop and don't forget if you leave a comment on every post then email Sharlene stampwithsharlene@hotmail.com and let her know as we have blog candy on offer.

Thanks for visiting, please come again.
Kim

Sharelene Meyer www.magpiecreates.com
Kelly Nelson www.Kellysstampinspot.wordpress.com
Kim Badelt www.kimsstampingspot.blogspot.com
Jan McAnulty www.cardcaperswithjan.wordpress.com
Megan Mcdonald www.megan-finishingtouches.blogspot.com
Narelle Hodges www.stampwithnarelle.blogspot.com
Kristine Thompson www.inkspotcreations.com
Kylie Swain www.kraftykylie.typepad.com/blossom_designs
Rachel Jackson www.havefunstamping.blogspot.com
Nicky Adamson www.nickyadamson.blogspot.com
Kari Hughes www.karigail.wordpress.com
Vicki Were www.stmpinvickistyle.blogspot.com
Clare McLlhatton www.craftycowcreations.blogspot.com
Lisa Bullock www.daffyscrapper.wordpress.com
Wendy Todd www.stampwithwendy.com.au
Jenny Humphreys www.stampinbytheseatofmypants.blogspot.com
Recipes
Birdhouse
Stamps:Cheep Talk
Cardstock: Orchid Opulence, Old Olive, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry
Ink: White Stazon, Old Olive
Accessories: Cottage Wall DSP, Scallop border punch, sponge dauber, Clips assortment, Rich Razzleberry Polka Dotted Grosgrain ribbon, Two Step Bird punch, Window Sheet, Glue Dots, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Tombow
Scallop Card
Stamps: A Little Treat, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Cheep talk
Cardstock: Orchid opulence, Whisper White, Old Olive
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
Accessories: Scallop Circle BigZ die, SU! Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, narrow Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Circle Scissors Plus, Medium Jewelery tag, Sweet treat cup, beads (local craft shop), embroidery thread, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Dotto
Scallop Bag
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Accessories: Scallop Circle BigZ die, Scallop edge border punch, Flower designer brads, Round Tab punch, Sticky Strip, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Something old something new

Hi there all,

back this week with another combined challenge. I decided to use the colour combo that Makeesha Byl posted as her challenge this week together with the Just add Ink vintage challenge. See Keesh colour pic below and do go check out the DT examples for both challenges they are just awesome!

The colour combo said boy to me and at first I was thinking of a birthday card, but having just found out a recently that a friend is expecting a baby boy I had babies on my mind. Then when I put babies and vintage together I decided to try and put together a vintage pram gift "box". So here it is.

I started by cutting out two scallop circle using my BigZ die, then I cut out a bit less than a quarter to give the pram shape. Then I "vintaged" the scallops up by first stamping with Linen and then EnFrancais (both stamped off once first), lastly I sponged all the way around the edges - all with Bashful Blue. I made up the template for the pram body, on the run so to speak. I wanted it to be big enough so that you could tuck a little gift in there (some baby socks or choccies for Mum) although you might want to reinforce the wheels depending on the load. So its about 2 inches wide, and I made sure I had a little hood as part of the inside box too. I stamped all over the box body with Linen and En Francais and then stuck it all together with sticky strip. Remembering to add some Red grosgrain as the "hand" of the pram. Some pleated red grosgrain on top of the hood finished off the box. Next I stamped the baby stamp from Punches Three in Real Red and just sponged around with Red and Old Olive, added some star brads and Old Olive branches as a bit of a garland, then stuck that onto the pram with dimensionals. Lastly the wheels, I punched out four Real Red circles, used my bone folder to score, a bit of spoke pattern onto each and then added a large green button, tied with linen thread on. I attached the wheels using sticky strip.

I must admit I was really happy with the end result (and so are my kids they have been trying to steal off with it to play ever since I finished it).

My exploration of 3D will continue Thursday this week when I am part of an ESAD Mothers Day Blog Hop so please tune back in then.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Punches Three, En Francais, Linen (R)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Old Olive
Accessories: Scallop Circle BigZ die, Two Step Bird Punch, Wide Oval Punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, Wide Real Red grosgrain ribbon, Star Brads (The Paper Mill), Ripe Avocado buttons (PaperTrey Inc), Linen thread, sponge, Dimensionals, Sticky strip, bone folder

Four

Hi there again,

yep I'm back again with my regularly scheduled post for Makeesha Byl's challenge. Its been quite fun this week to do two versions of the sketch Keesh set for the challenge this week. They are sooo different! If you want to see the first version just click here. So first up here is the sketch.

I started with the idea of making a birthday card for a boy (turning four - hopefully thats obvious;). I decided to try using the three primary colours so brace yourself this is BRIGHT.

I told you...

I started with a Pacific Point base, layered that with a Real Red, then split the top layer between Whisper white rolled with Yoyo Yellow using Builder Bits (great wheel but long retired). The bottom half is pure Yoyo Yellow but embossed this time with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. To follow the sketch (and hide the join) I added a strip of Real Red layered with some Pacific Point ribbon. For the main panel I used a very cute robot stamp I have. I stamped him three times, first in Pacific Point, which I used as the base, then in Real Red and Yoyo Yellow. To the Pacific Point base I added a Red tummy and Yellow hands and feet, all mounted on dimensionals. To finish him off I added a little red party hat and silver brads for eyes. Then I mounted him onto a scalloped Real Red rectangle. For the sentiment I stamped out four in Versamark and embossed with White, adding a blue star and silver brad to accent it, then tucked it into the ribbon band. The final touch are three little stamped red "screwheads" mounted up on dimensionals.

Thanks for visiting (again) this week,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Builder Bits (R), Straight Up Alphabet and Numbers (R), Space ships and Robots (My Cute Stamps)
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Real Red, Yoyo Yellow, Whisper White
Ink: Pacific Point, Real Red, Yoyo Yellow, Versamark
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Rectangle nestabilities (Spellbinder), Small Star punch, 1/4 inch circle punch, White embossing powder, Pacific Point striped grosgrain ribbon, Silver brads, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape

Birthday Lily

Hi there,

I'm going to squeeze in an extra post this week and this is it! I have been quietly watching Steph Pike's blog for a while and when she decided to set an inspiration challenge I decided to have a go. Steph used Makeesha Byl sketch (posted for her weekly challenge) for her card and since I usually do Keesh's challenges I decided that was the way to go too. So here are Steph's inspiration pic and Keesh's sketch.

The colours in the inspiration pic are a mix of quite rich purples, yellow and green. Having just got my hands on Rich Razzleberry recently I decided to use that as my main purple. The other reason was that I wanted to stamp my Lily onto DSP and one pattern in the Cottage Wall DSP was just perfect. (Cottage Wall colours are Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence, Old Olive).

The inside finished off simply to match.

So I started with a Rich Razzleberry base, then layered that with a panel of Summer Sun (I do hope the new Daffodil yellow due in the new catty in Sept is just as rich). The next layer was Whisper White (to balance all those strong colours), but I gave it some texture by embossing with the new SU embossing folder Perfect Polka Dots. Next taking some Cottage Wall DSP I stamped the Lily. Then using copics (Y15, Y21) I coloured in the stamens. I also used an aquapainter and ink from the Orchid Opulence ink pad lid to give some depth to the Lily. The Lily was carefully cut out and then mounted on dimensionals on a sequence of circles (same layers as the card base). Final touches were some little Old Olive ribbon leaves and little dabs of crystal effects on the tips of the flower stamens. The finished flower element was mounted on dimensionals to overlap a broad strip of Cottage Wall DSP. As per Keesh's sketch I added a sentiment. I didn't want it to overpower the flower so I kept it simple, white on white. I stamped the sentiment in Rich Razzleberry then punched it out with the Designer Label punch and slipped in under the top of the DSP. Three small purple rhinestone brads finish it off.

It was an unusual mix of colours for me, but then that is what challenges are all about! I'm pretty happy with the result though.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

PS: Happy Birthday Steph :)

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Summer Sun, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Designer Label punch, Cottage Wall DSP, Old Olive narrow grosgrain ribbon, Copics, Crystal Effects, Fire Rhinestone brads, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape

Rustic Daisy

Hi all,

well I'm back to post my challenge card this week. I was able to combine two great challenges again this week. The inspiration challenge set by Makeesha Byl and a sketch challenge from the Just Add Ink team.

Well the picture certainly set me on a path of thinking about brown tones, contrasted with some lighter details. After some pondering I decided on using Upsy Daisy and the emboss resist technique. Here's the result. (Weirdly the Choc Chip actually looks purple in this first shot).

Unfortunately in the first shot you can't see the embossing so here is a second shot to show you that.

And of course the inside, nice and simple I just stamped off Upsy Daisy laterally.

I started with a Very Vanilla base, I inked up Sanded with Soft Suede, stamped off once, and it was still quite dark on the Vanilla but I was happy with how it looked. It toned down the brightness of the base. For the main panel I started with a Soft Suede base. I wanted larger softer scallops (in contrast to the scallop border punch along the base of this so I used my corner rounder punch. Then for the feature panel I started by spritzing the Very Vanilla cardstock with Choc Chip and Close to Cocoa to get some speckle detail. Then inking up my Upsy Daisy stamp in Versamark I stamp it over the speckles. Then clear embossed it. Next I sponged Soft Suede alonge the bottom edge, lighter as I got further in. Next I used Choc Chip at the very top of the panel, lightening that the further I went down and layering it with Close to Cocoa. Once I was done with all the sponging, I capefully wiped any ink off the daisies. The embellishing detail for the main panel is a string of buttons, that are all tied and knotted together with the same embroidery thread, then Tombowed in place. The main image panel was mounted up on dimensionals. Lastly the sentiment was stamped (in Suede) on the base Very Vanilla layer, in a word window shaped ink free space (made by stamping the background over a temporarily adhered word window punched shape).

Hope you like it more than my beloved Miss 5 who said it wasn't "pretty" and that I had used "yucky" colours! Luckily enough I have a somewhat different opinion of the end result :)

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Trendy Trees, Sanded
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede
Ink: Soft Suede, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Colour spritzer tool, Corner rounder punch, buttons (local craft shop), vanilla embroidery thread. Tombow, sponges, Clear embossing powder, Heat Gun, Dimensionals, Double sided tape, SNAIL adhesive.

Star Struck

Hi all,
I hope everyone had a lovely Easter and got the chance to spend some time with family, friends and lets not forget - eat some chocolate. All of that happened in our house and I managed to get a few of those stray lurking "I should do one day" jobs done too.

OK I confess I also managed to fit a bit of stamping too. I split that between two tasks, firstly I'm slowly making progress with constructing swaps for convention and secondly a challenge card for this week. Makeesha Byl posted a colour challenge this week and the colours definately leaned towards the masculine, although having said that I have seen some very nice "girly" cards done for the challenge - go check out the DT offerings! Here are the colours.

You know I don't think I can even remember exactly what triggered the concept for this card, I do remember somewhere in blog land seeing someone recently use the Classic Stars wheel for a birthday card. I certainly have in the past - in fact it often makes an appearance on cards for my DH since he is by profession a "star gazer". Anyway this was the result.
A close up of the sueded Caramel star

The inside

I started with a Brocade Blue base, then a Chocolate Chip layer, the top panel is Very Vanilla wheeled with the Classic Stars wheel in Brocade Blue. I distressed the edges on both the Choc Chip and Vanilla layers and also sponge daubered in both Choc Chip and Brocade Blue around the edges of the Vanilla panel. I decided to have a play with Circle Scissors plus, I'm still learning to perfect the cuts but what fun and so easy too! So using that I made a focal point for the card. First I punched out a large star in Creamy Carmel, then sueded it, so it has a nice subtle furry texture. Then layered a little Brocade Blue star to go over the top. The final touch a little star brad. I adhered the stars onto a circle, cut from some extra Vanilla cardstock I'd already wheeled and then cut a Choc Chip hoop to go over the top of the star circle to act as a frame. Then I stamped the sentiment, punched it out and mounted it on dimensionals at the bottom of the star element. The star focal was mounted over some wide stitched Choc Chip grosgrain ribbon layered with a strip of crimped Creamy Caramel to add a little more texture.

So pretty easy but I had fun with this one and was pretty happy with how it turned out - given the stars it might just end up going my DH way again :)

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise specified
Stamps: Classic Stars, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Creamy Caramel
Ink: Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Circle Scissors Plus, Large and small star punches, Word window punch, Crimper, Sponge Daubers, 1" Double Stitched Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, Cutter Kit, Star brad (Paper Mill), Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape.