Stampin' Up! Grand Vacation Hawaii Blog Hop

G'day Peeps!

Happy Hawaiian Blog Hop to everyone passing through. . . it is such an exciting opportunity to be sharing our creations with friends and fellow achievers. Welcome!

You have probably just "hopped" over from the amazing Janet Wakeland's Blog. Thanks for stopping by!

This hop was created to celebrate our achievements in earning the 2015 Stampin' Up! Grand Vacation to Hawaii in May this year. It is so exciting, and a great privilege, to be part of this blog hop with such incredible business people and awesome crafters. The theme for the hop is "Hawaiian" which of course incorporates lots of colour, a bit of sun, sea and sand. . . the real challenge was finding stamps in our current range to fit the theme.  You will see that I have been a little creative in my application and technique!

I created three projects for the hop primarily because I was uncertain as to which ones fitted the theme best. One is definitely Hawaiian (because I stamped the word "aloha" lol) and the other two are possibly every other occasions cards but incorporate the colour and style that we Aussies associate with the 50th State in the Union!

Here's the first card:

Colours are Bermuda Bay (suggestive of clear turquoise oceans), Crumb Cake (for the sand) and Daffodil Delight (for sunshine and happiness).  The Burlap Ribbon has been frayed a little to add texture and the suggestion of rustic fabrics and hula skirts.

I stamped the veined flower from Beautiful Bunch on Simply Pressed Clay, allowed it to dry a little, fussy cut it out and then shaped the petals without compromising the stamped texture and detail. I then coloured the flower with an aqua painter and the following Classic Stampin' Ink Pads: Daffodil Delight, Tangelo Twist and Rose Red starting with the lightest colour through to the darkest. Next I painted back over the whole lot in Daffodil Delight to merge the colours.

Crystal Effects is why the flower is so glossy. The leaves are from Kinda Eclectic, stamped in Mossy Meadow on Whisper White (for a bit of pop and balance from the intensity) and fussy cut. The pearl is to marry in the white highlights and break up the concentrated colour.

The sentiment is embossed in Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder using the words from Hello Life. I wanted the words to be evocative of how much we all enjoy what we do and love sharing it with others.

Next card:

Base card is Old Olive, mounted with Whisper White which I treated as a blank canvas.  Because we have no palm tree stamps or anything really redolent of a beach except sea shells, fish, ships and cocktails. . . I had to be creative. So I have used the following stamp sets:

Build a Bouquet (because I like to use stamps in ways that are different and unusual)
Sheltering Tree
Work of Art (an awesome and versatile stamp set)
Simply Serif Mini Alphabet

Palm fronds are from the Build a Bouquet set stamped in Mossy Meadow and Old Olive. Palm tree trunk is stamped in Baked Brown Sugar using the "long brush stroke" from Work of Art. The sand is the "smudge" stamp from Sheltering Tree. I then "embossed" the stamped images with Crystal Effects.

I made the sun mask with the 1¾” Circle Punch and a post it note. the sky and water were generated by sweeping the colour across the page with a dauber. Same colours as for the clay flower above - Tangelo Twist, Daffodil Delight and Rose Red. The water is Island Indigo.

Gotta love the Simply Serif Mini Alphabet for exactly this kind of project - stamped the word in Versamark and heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder.

Final card:

After all that excess I wanted to show that I could do "simple" lol. So here is a card that is the complete opposite of the other two. . .

Base card - Sahara Sand, mounted with Whisper White and another piece of Sahara Sand.  The flowers are from Flower Patch and heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder.  I then stamped the centres with Sahara Sand using the smaller complementary flower stamp from the same set ~ I wanted the suggestion of shadow reminiscent of frangipanis. . .

The sentiment is from Hello Life again - I really love the size of the words and their meaning. the sentiment is stamped in Sahara Sand.

I hope you have enjoyed my interpretation of the theme and that you have some additional ideas for your coming projects.

Don't leave us yet though. Next stop is BJ Peters!

             

Thanks for stopping by. . .

Aloha

Shanni xx

PS Why not visit the other Grand Vacation achievers blogs that are part of this blog hop:

Blog Hop List

1. Brian King  

2. Louise Sharp

3. Kylie Bertucci

4. Janet Wakeland 

 5. Shannean Moncrieff

6. BJ Peters

 7. Selene Kempton 

8. Georgia Giguere 

9. Linda Higgins 

10. Simone Bartrum 

11. Dawn Griffith 

 12. Marelle Taylor 

13. Dena Rekow 

14. Connie Stewart 

15. Alisa Tilsner  

16. Tami White 

17. Renee Kohnke 

18. Bec Ross 

19. Ann Craig 

20. Vanessa Webb 

21. Sandi MacIver 

22. Sharon Armstrong 

23. Barb Mullikin 

24. Connie Babbert 

25. Alison Solven 

 26. Betty Button 

27. Lisa Curcio 

28. Krista Frattin 

29. Kim Gavarra 

30. Jacque Williams

Paper Players PP241

I've been busy peeps and as we all know with real life it never goes according to plan! Delightfully I still have heaps of Stampin' Up! to do and get done and am scared by how quickly the year has gone.

Getting back in the saddle so I wanted to enter some challenges as they are always the best way to get my mojo back.

This week the Paper Players have got a great challenge:

Here is my interpretation:

Base card is Crisp Cantaloupe - currently on the Retiring List. I mounted Calypso Coral on top of this and Whisper White as the canvas. My goal was to "add" the water colour aspect using the smudge stamp from Work of Art - stamped in second and third generational Crisp Cantaloupe.

I mounted a piece of Lullaby DSP on Calypso Coral and added the Paper Doily for texture.  For added interest I layered a piece of the Crisp Cantaloupe Thick Bakers Twine across the designer series paper.

The flowers are from Petite Petals stamped in Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral and Crushed Curry and punched with the matching punch.

Chalk Talk is being retired this month ~ I love this set so much that I had to use the sentiment "for you" from it. Its stamped in Calypso Coral and punched with the 1¼" Circle Punch, mounted on a circle punched from Calypso Coral with the 1⅜" Circle Punch. these are mounted with a dimensional on the Label Bracket Punch cut out of Crisp Cantaloupe card stock.

Rhinestone Jewels for bling!

Enjoy!
Shanni xx

Retiring List 2015 - Hit the Ground Running!

The 2015 Retiring List was released last night to much acclaim and anticipation!

There are so many amazing bargains to be had with up to 50% off some items.  You won't want to delay. . .

As always I am surprised at the number of stamp sets that are retiring. . . Stippled Blossoms, Hello Darling and Chalk Art just to name a few of my faves!

Don't delay check it all out today at my Stampin' Up! Website click on the "Shop" link then Retiring Products. . . prepare yourself to be stunned.

Hoping you get a bargain or two.

Shanni xx