Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop with ESAD!
YAY! Sale-A-Bration (SAB) is here! It’s the very best time of the Stampin’ Up! year! And this year it’s even better – not only can you get free stampsets, but there is also some DELICIOUS Designer Series Paper (DSP), and gorgeous ribbons and brads. Just spend NZ$120, and you can choose from the fabulous selection in the SAB brochure.
And today, being the first day of Sale-A-Bration, we at ESAD have a special treat to get those creative juices flowing – a blog hop! You may have come here from checking out Monique Fielder’s beautiful creations, or you may be a regular visitor here – either way, welcome, and enjoy!
But first, let me tell you what ESAD is!
ESAD stands for “Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators” and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin Up demonstrators.
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 it is 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.
Now for my project! It is my Mum’s birthday today, and on Sunday we gathered as a family to celebrate her. I had bought her some Pandora charms for her bracelets, and wanted to make a pretty box for them. So I made this one, (using a pattern by Kirsten Brown on UStamp with Dawn and Friends), using the fabulous SAB DSP and a piece of SU! window sheet. But it didn’t look right just throwing the charms in the box by themselves, so I stamped some tissue paper using one of the cute new SAB stampsets, too. I thought it look great with the matching DSP!
And I made a card to go with it:
It’s so easy using the Stampin’ Up! markers (here I used Poppy Parade and Lucky Limeade, to match the paper), to colour your stamp with the separate colours, then ‘huff’ on them to moisten the ink, then stamp!
(I also made Mum a boxed set of cards, but you can come back tomorrow to see them – they’re not part of SAB!)
To continue the blog hop, go and visit the very talented Felicity Fernandez. Thank you for visiting – have a wonderful day!
PS. Happy Birthday, Mary! We love you! 
Along with 40+ beautiful projects on UStamp with Dawn and Friends, and all the fun that comes with each round, is the opportunity to swap projects with someone from another country, and make a new friend. I’ve done this a couple of times before, and it is FUN!
I knew the parcel had been sent, so tonight when I got home from work it was so exciting to see it! Here’s what I got:
A gorgeous easel card with a calendar on the inside, a cute handmade box filled with candy, and a bar of Huckleberry Chocolate (the candy and chocolate both being particular to Montana, where my swap partner, Deb Brown, is from). The cool thing she said, to the fascination of my kids, is that huckleberries grow wild in Montana, and it’s fun to go hiking to pick them… but you have to watch out for bears, who also love them! Thanks for the great parcel, Deb – I love it.
Thank you for all the well wishes I received as I started my new role in the navy this week. It was quite hard going to work today, as it’s James’s 7th birthday, but he had his Daddy home with him, which is all good. Nigel has adjusted so well to his new role at home, and he is such a good cook! (That’s the best thing about our role reversal – he does the cooking now!) The boys are enjoying the time with their Dad, too – the only time we get an “I miss Mamma” moment is when Nige tells one of them off!
Here are the boys this morning as James was opening his birthday presents – in this pic he’s showing you his new Lego Star Wars Stormtrooper watch (still in the box):
Have a great weekend – mine will be, as I get to see my Mum and Dad, and my sister and her family. HOORAY!
River Rock Birthday (NZSU Challenge)
This week, the NZSU blog facilitator, Paula Reid, threw down a colour challenge, using River Rock, Tangerine Tango and Not Quite Navy (or you could choose River Rock, Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist). I went for the former, and to my delight, noted that the Paisley Petals DSP consisted of my chosen colours! Here’s the card I made:
And here’s the inside:
Thank you, Paula, I really enjoyed that! I can’t say that River Rock is a colour I go to regularly, so it was good to be challenged to use it.
Noticeboard Nous!
One of the projects I wanted to complete before starting work next week was a noticeboard for the kitchen, so outstanding bills, school notices and anything else of importance could be pinned there. All this has been my domain in the past, and I would know where I put things – but I want to make it easier for my boys (all three of them!) to keep tabs on things, by having one central place for important bits and pieces.
I’ve covered a double layer of cork tiles with fabric (from the retired Stampin’ Up! Sew Suite range), and added the Melon Mambo pompom trim. I’ve hung it up with twill tape, beneath the calendar (which details who needs to be where at what time). Do you get the impression it might be a bit hard letting go of the household organisation!?
Thank You – You are Sew Suite!
One thing I love about Stampin’ Up! is the ability to find a stampset to suit nearly every occasion. I wanted to make a card for the navy seamstresses this morning, as they are always so ready with a smile and a ‘yes’, no matter what I ask them to do for me! A couple of mini-catalogues ago, we had a range of stamps and accessories called Sew Suite – and this set was perfect for their card.
Here’s the inside with the envelope:
And there is nothing like using retired ribbon to wrap a parcel!
UStamp Project – Score!
Today my project went live on UStamp with Dawn and Friends, so I can now show you here what I did. This round has been going only a week, so there’s still lots more fun to be had if you want to join in!
Chinese Lantern
Last night I had a chance to recreate one of my favourite UStamp with Dawn and Friends projects so far this round, a beautiful Chinese Lantern designed by Katie Resop. Katie is uber-talented, and I am honoured to work alongside her on UStamp. The theme this round is ‘Score’, and every project has some scoring in it – this one had plenty!
This year, Chinese New Year is on 06 February (Waitangi Day here in NZ, a public holiday), so I thought I was very smart getting this made a month in advance, for James to give his Mandarin teacher at school. He helped me make this, by punching out all the flowers and curling the petals, before I added rhinestone centres.
If you’re in the Auckland area and are keen to do a class making this project, drop me a line or give me a call. Even better, if you’d like the tutorial, along with 39 other beautiful projects, pop on over to UStamp with Dawn and Friends and sign up. It’s so much more than just tutorials… it’s a load of fun!
Happy New Year! (And some news!)
Happy New Year! From my family to yours, may 2012 be an awesome year in every way.
For the Heslop family, it brings some exciting changes. With both boys now at school, Nigel has resigned from his job, and finishes next week. I’m going back to the navy fulltime the week after, and Nige will be based at home, getting the kids organised and keeping the house running. We are all so looking forward to the opportunities these changes bring, not least the improved family life we will have! I’ll still be stamping (it will balance out my life even more now!), and will keep up my stamp clubs. I may even have time to post here on my blog occasionally!
So it’s a year of change, for the better. I hope 2012 holds some great things in store for you, too. xoxo
UStamp with Dawn and Friends – SCORE!
Get ready for some action, it’s happening again! The next round of UStamp with Dawn and Friends starts in just TWO days! That’s right – on 30 December another fun-filled event begins, and runs through until 18 January.
Click on the blinkie on the right for more information, or contact me for details. Happy stamping!
Christmas Eve Birthday Boy
It was almost a relief to make something other than a Christmas project in the last days leading up to Christmas. A former Commanding Officer of mine, and now great family friend and godfather to our sons, celebrated his birthday on Christmas Eve. With an obvious navy connection, it was pretty easy to pick which stamp set I was going to use – Open Sea, with coordinating paper Nautical Expedition, is perfect! I’m loving neutrals right now, too, so Early Espresso and Crumb Cake worked well here.
Nigel bought him a gift card, so I used Dotto to adhere it to the back of the card with the ship on it. And I’m pleased to say, he loved it!
Today I spent time packing up the Christmas projects in my craft room, and cleared my worktables ready for the new year. There is nothing like clear space, for me, to recharge my mojo and motivate me to stamp! It’s so good having my husband home for the holiday break, allowing me the opportunity to stamp at leisure without constantly wondering what the boys are up to. The kids, in turn, are more settled knowing that both Mum and Dad are around and accessible, so demand less. All good!
