Stampin' Up! Grand Vacation Achievers Hawaii Blog Hop

Aloha Everyone! Am still a bit jet-lagged despite being home for five days. . . I am waking at 3am in the morning and can't sleep only to hit a wall around 6pm at which time I look and feel like a character from the walking dead. . . picture me walking uber slowly and not making much sense lol.

Grand Vacation Hawaii was totally awesome. Met amazing and beautiful people. Relaxed with my hubby and four kids and saw some breathtaking sites (and these are just from my hotel room lol):

The highlight of the trip was getting to spend quality time with Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from all over the United States, Canada, New Zealand and of course Australia and with it being hot on the heels of the South Pacific Convention I was extra energised. So many talented, energetic and inspiring people in one spot made for a contagious week of fun activities, laughter and heaps of memories to cherish for years to come. Thank you Stampin' Up! for making that possible.

You have possibly just dropped by from Rose Marie's beautiful blog . . . how stoked am I to follow in her footsteps?!

Down to business right?! This is my Hawaiian Grand Vacation inspired project:

I took my inspiration from the Designer Series Paper that I won in the Hospitality Room on the second day of the trip. I was so fortunate to get Timeless Romance which I have to admit to having coveted since receiving the catalogue and seeing all the Convention announcements theming. . . and well you know that I can't not use some neutrals in my project.

Holy smoke the Timeless Romance is such a beautiful suite of patterns and designs. . . cannot rave enough. You are all going to love it! Yum!!

Base card is Very Vanilla mounted on a square of Basic Black to act as a frame for the card front.

I then mounted the square piece of Timeless Romance DSP on a square of Smokey Slate and then another layer of Basic Black before adhering to the base card.

 I stamped the bouquet of flowers from a new Hostess Exclusive Stamp Set, Best Thoughts (its one stamp) in StazOn Black on Vellum and Very Vanilla card stock. I stamped the image a second time on both materials so that I could pick out some additional blooms. The leaves in the background at from Kinda Eclectic, stamped on Vellum and fussy cut.

Using an aqua painter I coloured the reverse side of the Vellum in Cherry Cobbler and Mossy Meadow, then fussy cut around both the Vellum and Very Vanilla stamped images. I stuck the coloured stamped Vellum image on the vanilla card stock with Glue Dots and then adhered the bouquet to the base card with dimensionals.

The sentiment, "the best is yet to come" is from the same stamp set, Best Thoughts. I stamped in StazOn Black on Very Vanilla card stock and used the framelit from Chalk Talk Framelits for the shape. I traced around the outside of the framelit on Basic Black card stock for the mount behind the sentiment and stuck it directly on the base card.  The flowers on the corner are dimensionalised for texture and interest.

I know that everyone has endured their own trials and challenges over the recent restructuring of the company's compensation plan but I genuinely hope that those who have always worked hard and consistently at their businesses (and this accounts for everyone I met on Grand Vacation and their team members) will continue to flourish. The best is yet to come. . .

Mahalo for dropping by. I am sure that you will love the creations that the truly talented and amazing Sharon Armstrong has come up with to inspire you for the coming catalogue. . .

Cheers

Shanni xx

Blog hop list

1. Louise Sharp

2. Sandi MacIver

3. Kylie Bertucci

4. Selene Kempton

5. Connie Stewart

6. Dena Rekow 

7. Rose Marie Coleman

8. Shannean Moncrief

9. Sharon Armstrong

10. Marelle Taylor

11. Betty Button

12. Connie Babbert

13. Ann Craig

14. Kim Gavarra

15. Renee Kohnke

16. BJ Peters

17. Alisa Tilsner

18. Alison Solven

19. Kelly Acheson

20. Linda Higgins

21. Karina Chin

22. Jacque Williams

23. Lynsay Mahon

24. Georgia Giguere

25. Laura Milligan

26. Vanessa Webb

27. Cynthia Millan

28. Genevieve Ko

29. Janet Wakeland