We were at our little casual kiosk last Friday at Chirnside and I was talking to a lady about the Large Letter stamps and Framelits and as we didn't have a set or even samples with us, I opened my phone to show her some samples on my blog from the layouts I prepared for On Stage in Sydney in April . . . 

Only, I couldn't find them.

Oooops!  I think we got so busy after On Stage with renovating, then going to Italy, then getting ready for the new catalogue, Christmas in July, the garage sale, and our Alaskan trip, that I just plain didn't get around to sharing the photos!

So, I better share some!

I found this gorgeous artwork on Instagram by Leonie Neal-Dawson, which instantly gave me ideas for a #loveitchopit layout - a theme based on the very popular concept devised by Kylie Bertucci to USE up your Designer Series Paper instead of just stashing it for a rainy day.

The colours were similar and the Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper was screaming to be chopped and used (or just kept forever to maybe wallpaper a room one day . . . )

I had a few scraps leftover from the cards I had been making for my On Stage Presentation, so I literally just started laying them on a background of Blackberry Bliss 12 x 12 card stock and chopping more.

If your eyes are good, you can see that I also sponged the edges with Mint Macaron Ink just to lift each piece from the one next to it.

And if you look really closely, you can see the pencil line I ruled 1" in from all four edges of the Blackberry Bliss cardstock to frame the collage. I started by adhering the DSP pieces along the lines like a frame then gradually filled it in.

I loved this result so much that I didn't really want to cover it up with too much decoration, so at this point I decided to make it a double page layout, with the 2nd page being much simpler.

Texture was added to a couple of corners with the Embossing Paste and masks.

I decided to add journaling by printing separately on Whisper White card so it stood out from the background. 

The heading was cut from Basic Black card using the Large Letters Framelits.

Do you like how I created the hashtag?

The next step was just filling in the gaps with some extra texture and layers, so I decided to cut some flowers from one of the sheets of DSP and add some punched leaves and a bit of vellum.

This was such a fun artwork to create! And I just loved working with the beautiful Share What You Love Papers.

This paper pack contains 24 sheets - 4 each of 12 double sided designs, in a heavy weight paper with a beautiful pearl sheen on 4 of the designs.

I am well into my second pack of it having used so much in my On Stage presentation for Stampin' Up! It's in our annual catalogue along with all the other supplies if you would like to create a layout like this.

  Product List

Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper [146926] $47.00	Large Letters Framelits Dies [141712] $172.00	Pearlized Doilies [146936] $7.75
Embossing Paste [141979] $11.50	Pattern Party Decorative Masks [144103] $10.00	Leaf Punch [144667] $28.00

Wow! There are just SO many birthdays in August!

Before I left to go on the Alaskan Incentive Trip, I looked ahead on my calendar and scheduled posts on my team Facebook Group for all the birthdays while I was away and up until late August. Phewww! There is close to one birthday every single day and on some days 3-4 people.  August sure is a busy birthday month!

With that in mind, and the fact that I am HOME from an amazing holiday made possible through Stampin' Up!, LET'S CELEBRATE!!

Who likes FREE colours?

Earlier this year, Stampin' Up! announced a colour renovation, introducing 10 new colours and bringing 6 previous In Colors into the main colour collection. These 16 colours retail at $208.00 but if you order them as one item you save $21.00 and pay only $187.

As part of the August Birthday Month Celebration, if you order this bundle of inkpads in the next 9 days, before 31st August, you will also receive free from me the Watercolor Pencils Assortment #2 (valued at $21.75).

These beautiful colours are only available in August while stocks last, so don't wait, order the Ink Pads soon and receive your free pencils!

COLOUR FAMILIES

Did you know Stampin' Up! has 4 colour families making up our 40 standard colours, and that each of these colour families is available as a discounted bundle of 10 ink pads?

Instead of paying $130 for 10 ink pads, the colour families are $117.00.  If you order one of these 4 colour families in the next 9 days, you may also select an 11th ink pad of your colour choice FREE as an August Birthday Month gift from me.

  Product List

Brights Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment [147150] $117.00	Regals Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment [147148] $117.00
Subtles Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment [147149] $117.00	Neutrals Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment [147151] $117.00

WHAT IF YOU DON'T NEED ALL THOSE NEW INK PADS?

Many of you have a few Stampin' Up! Classic Ink Pads already, so if you are not wanting 10 or more new ones, I also have an offer for you!

Order 4 or more Classic Ink Pads before the end of August and your August Birthday Month Gift is a 6" x 6" sampler pack of new Designer Series Paper from the upcoming Holiday Catalogue.  All of the papers this year are SO gorgeous and you will love having a handful of sample sheets to whip up some quick cards with.

Contact me via email [email protected] or come and see me at the casual Kiosk outside Coles Supermarket at Chirnside Park Shopping Centre this coming Friday 24th August so I can help you place your order and give you your hard copy of the Holiday Catalogue!

Talk soon!

Kathryn

Stampin' Up! had some organised swaps on our Alaskan Cruise for which we prepared 26 identical cards before we went, handed them in to the Stampin' Up! staff in the Stamper's Base Camp when we got onboard Explorer of the Seas, and on day 4 or 5 of the cruise we able to pick up a bag of "swapped" cards to take home, containing 26 cards designed and created by other Cruise Achievers.

I used a few different tools and products for my swaps including the Tailored Tag punch for punching the elongated hexagons of Share What You Love Designer Series Paper.

The base layer of the card is pretty straight forward. Punch 7-8 hexagon shapes with the punch, then starting from the bottom of the card front, layer them up the card with a tiny 1-2mm gap between each one. I used the grid paper and a clear plastic ruler to make sure they were lined up straight.

Die cut flowers and border were attached with Fine Tip Glue Pen and Velvet Trim stuck down with Tear'n'Tape.

The Stamparatus got a workout next.

By cutting the A4 card in half lengthwise (10.5cm x 29.75cm) I was able to use the Stamparatus and it's magic 1" step markers to stamp 4 of the jar of paintbrushes images on each piece of card (remember, I had to make 26). I stamped 2 one way, then flipped the card around and stamped 2 more at the other end facing the other way - you'll see it in another photo further down :)

I had to make sure there was enough space between each one to cut out with the oval Stitched Shape framelit, so using the Stamparatus was perfect.

Having stamped the images in Black Stazon, leaving the stamp in exactly the same place on the Stamparatus, I then inked it using the Stampin' Spots (Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay, Berry Burst and Soft Suede) and gave it a very heavy spritz with water. Not just 2 quirts but 5 or 6 squirts. You can see in the photo how wet it is.

One of my downline team members Karen Lincoln showed this technique at our team night many months ago after she learnt it from (I believe) Tandra Boyers.  It's a really fun technique that really appeals to my creative, love of wet-on-wet watercolouring, messy side!

In google searches the technique has been named Stamparatus Slap technique, though for some reason my brain keeps calling it Stamparatus Splat technique, so excuse me if I mix and match the two . . . I meant the same thing!

After spritzing, you then want to bring the plate up to vertical, then give it a good slap (or splat) down onto the cardstock. Not so that you break it, but let's just say it may not be a good technique for 2am if you co-habit LOL.

Your images won't quite look like mine above, because the original Stamparatus Slap technique does not have the Stazon stamped image underneath. I stepped it up to include the black outline as I wanted a little more definition underneath, knowing that I was going to make my coloured part really wet. And the Designers Series Paper includes black, so I wanted them tonally closer rather then the pot of paintbrushes looking a bit wishy washy (no, not Washy Washy LOL).

This one possibly wasn't quite wet enough for my liking, as you want to get little splatters or splashes across the card. I made them wetter and wetter as I went along.

At this point, I decided to add more colour to the pot the brushes are sitting in, and like any good old fashioned kids water colouring books - you know the ones with the lines of colour already on the image and all you needed was a brush and a jar of water, and you spread the colour as you wet it - you can do the same here. Just drag the colour that's already on there. Or if you are like me, and want some intensity and love the blobby wet on wet look, scoop up some extra Soft Suede ink from the lid of your inkpad using the Aquapainter and swoosh that on.

I also touched up the tips of the paintbrushes on some of the images.

Now I just want to point out for the benefit of my team members that LOOK!!! I used the magnet! I used one of the magnets that comes with the Stamparatus! I said I was never going to use them, as they are not needed every single time you stamp, and I'm definitely not using 2 of them so I don't break them, but here is my witness! I used one LOL!

After setting these aside to dry for a while, it was time to cut them with the oval Stitched Shape Framelits.

These closeups give you a much better view of the splats and splatters from the technique.

Layered onto a Blackberry Bliss scallop oval from the Layering Ovals Framelits - really makes it pop! Then layered onto the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I really love how these came out, and I have to also take a moment to heartily thank Jenny Wren and Alisha Watson for spending hours with me on the Saturday night before the cruise, punching, sticking and trimming so I had these finished to take with me.

I think the Share What You Love Designer Series Paper with it's pearlescent finish on several of the sheets is one of my favourite paper packs from Stampin' Up! in the nearly 11 years I've been using their paper.  If you would like some of your own, or to buy any of the other products I have used on this fun project, click on the thumbnail below and it will take you right to that item in my online store. 

Product List

Crafting Forever Clear-Mount Stamp Set [143958] $35.00	Stamparatus [148187] $85.00	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] $15.75
Uninked Stampin' Spots [141822] $15.75	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [115663] $6.50	Aqua Painters [103954] $20.00
Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper [146926] $47.00	Tailored Tag Punch [145667] $31.00	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] $10.00
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock [138344] $14.75	Petals & More Thinlits Dies [145655] $59.00	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock [133682] $14.75
Rich Razzleberry 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Velvet Ribbon [147016] $14.00	Fine-Tip Glue Pen [138309] $12.00	Tear & Tape Adhesive [138995] $9.00
Layering Ovals Framelits Dies [141706] $58.00	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372] $50.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $6.00

And Sweet Storybook Card Swaps

Our 2nd day on the Incentive trip was a full day at sea, cruising north on the Pacific Ocean on the outside of Vancouver Island.  How does one fill a day at sea?

Firstly we dashed back down to the Stamper's Base Camp to spin the wheel for the day and see what goodies we could spin up, then later in the morning all the demonstrators and their 1st guest were invited to attend the General Session in the theatre where Stampin' Up! staff members spoke to us on business matter, the Holiday Catalogue was launched, we received a copy of that and there were prize patrols and gifts for the guests too.

Sporting our nice Friday Night Pillow Gift jackets, and happily receiving goodies from the new Holiday Catalogue.

Stamping presentation by gorgeous Shelli Gardner, cofounder of Stampin' Up!

Specialty Designer Series Paper with beautiful foil embossing.

After lunch the South Pacific Achievers group (Aussie's and Kiwi's) got together for a group photo and afterwards exchanged swaps. Lovely Jackie Noble from NZ had organised a theme of "Friendship" with an unusual colour scheme of Blueberry Bushel, Gray Granite, Mango Melody, Pineapple Punch, Whisper White, Basic Black - (Colours of the Best Route Memories and More Card set).

What a good challenge!!

Here is what I came up with using the Sweet Storybook Stamp set and Framelits.  And LOTS of stamping with the Stamparatus.

Using the Stamparatus to stamp the toadstool outline in black, then stamping the top in Mango Melody was amazing. All 24 of them lined up perfectly!

Lots and lots and lots and lots of cutting with the Big Shot. In fact if you had called into the kiosk at Chirnside Park on the Friday before I left, you would have seen me stamping and stamping and cutting and cutting, turning that handle, turning that handle, turning that handle . . .

Ribbons and leaves . . . luckily the vine stamp and die is designed so you get 2 pieces at once. Makes it easier!

The mice were a bit challenging to stamp - because I was in a hurry and stamped all the outlines before I thought of using the Stamparatus! Derrrr! It would have been easier if I had used the Stamparatus from the start, but as it was, I had to line up the coloured stamp looking through the clear block and the photopolymer stamp . . . so not all of them were perfect!

I also embossed the Blueberry Bushel layer with the Lots of Leaves Deep Impressions embossing folder, and then lucky for me my dear friend and team member Alisha Watson came over and helped assemble all the cards, sticking all the layers with Dimensionals and mini glue dots.

Here they are all packed up ready to swap. And swapping was such a great way to meet and say hi to our fellow Aussie and Kiwi demonstrators on the cruise. I received back such a lovely variety of swaps from them too, I can't wait to show you!

Come back soon and see them! 

So, in case you have been wondering where I have been, Tony and I just got home from Alaska!

There are so many of you to thank for your part in getting us on this trip - every product sale for me or one of my team members that helped to earn points towards the Stampin' Up! Cruise, everyone who joined my wider team over the past couple of years enabling me and my team members to advance in title, every card sale at Chirnside (because that got me coffee!!).

Here are just a couple of fun photos from the first day of the cruise (Friday 20th July) which if you follow me on Facebook you may have seen some of them already, and over the next few days I will post some more of the trip and also the Swap cards I made (lots of step by step photos) and then we will take a look at the swaps I received back from some of the top demonstrators in the world.

Stampin' Up! booked out the conference room on the boat for the whole week and hosted "Stampers Base Camp" in there. A hospitality room where we could come and catch up with other demonstrators and the SU staff and eat candy by the ton and spin the wheel each day for little gifts like rolls of ribbon and packets of Designer Series Paper.

Yayyyy! Paper!!

What happens in Stamper's Base Camp, stays in Stamper's Base camp . . . LOL

Friday night pillow gift - a lovely warm jacket - perfect for an Alaskan Cruise and a gorgeous new snow swirl themed embossing folder.

Did I mention the candy?? Oh!!!!

So our first day getting to know our way around the ship - Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas - and catching up with fellow demonstrators and their families was a lot of fun!

I'll be back with our Saturday at Sea to share in the excitement of the general session and what we did on the ship on Saturday.

See you soon! xx