ESAD 2018 Retirement List Blog Hop - Bye Bye Pieces & Patterns

Hello there! Hope you have had a fabulous week, I can't believe we are almost into May, where has the year gone?! I'm popping in to share with you a card I have made for the ESAD Retirement List Blog Hop, if you are starting with me, WELCOME! or you might be well into your journey and have just hopped on over from Cheryl Algie's blog. 

Yes, a new Annual Catalogue (catty) is about to start on the 1st June, which means that we have to say goodbye to some much loved products (sigh) but that's ok I got over it pretty quick when I saw the new catalogue and my wishlist began to grow and grow and grow!! Make sure you don't miss out on any items you may have on your wishlist and haven't purchased yet. Click on the graphic below to see the list.......

What is ESAD I hear you say? The graphic below explains it so much better than I would 😃.

This time last year, when the current annual catty came out, there was a suite of products that caught my eye with its bright pop of colours and quirky, eclectic images, Pick a Pattern. It makes really fun projects! Today I have a bit of a mixed media (aka messy fun!) card for you.

I firstly started by spritzing some Flirty Flamingo onto the Shimmery White piece and then spread some Silver Embossing Paste in a thin layer on top of that. I then opened up the Sparkle Embossing Folder and pressed the embossed side (bumpy side, pattern sticking up, not the debossed (smooth)  side ) into the paste. I love doing mixed media type techniques like this as you never know what the result is going to be. We did this card in class last night and everyone's was slightly different, with some really cool results.

One of the Pick a Pattern Designer Series Paper pieces was scalloped using the scallop die out of the Seasonal Layers Thinlits, this die alone is worth purchasing this set! The "Hello There "sentiment from the Pieces & Patterns stamp set is so much easier to stamp now with the Stamparatus.

 The Stamparatus makes it so much easier to go back and stamp another layer of ink in exactly the same place to build the colour up. In case you haven't heard, Stampin' Up! have developed their own stamp positioning tool and it is the bomb! I had another brand before it's release and let me just say, I'm not sure where that old one has got to as it is not nearly half as good as the Stamparatus! Customers who didn't manage to secure one in the pre-order release can purchase one when the new catalogue comes out June 1st. Click the image below to see a YouTube video explaining how it works and let me know if you would like me to get you your own on June 1st.

The inside of the card also relieved some love.....

Another example of how awesome the Stamparatus is, is demonstated on the inside of my card. See that row of little flowers? The actual stamp is only four flowers long. The Stamparatus' unique hinge feature allows you to move your stamp along in perfect alignment, no more wonky lining up, it does it for you. It's a bit hard to explain in words how this is achieved, the easiest thing would be for you to watch that YouTube video I linked above 😉. The finishing touches are a piece of Pick a Pattern Washi Tape and some Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

Enough from me! You need to keep going and see what everyone else has to show you. Your next stop is Beryl Crisp, click the arrow below and you will magically hop on over to her blog! Also, if you get lost along the way, there is a list of all the participants for you at the end of my post, you can also click on a person's name there and be magicked over to that blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheers Megan xx

Blog Hop Participant List

1. Lou Kitzelman

2. Kelly Kent

3. Bronwyn Eastley

4. Jackie Aitken

5. Jo Stubbings

6. Peta Stephen

7. Sharon Dalton

8. Lauren Meiklejohn

9. Courtenay Heuston

10. Nicole Wilson

11. Jo Weeden

12. Libby Dyson

13. Cheryl Algie

14. Megan Lenske **YOU ARE HERE**

15. Beryl Crisp

16. Fi Cobbin

17. Rose Packer

18. Cathy Pinchbeck

19. Carolina Evans

20. Renee Lynch  

21. Sandra Mastello

22. Katrina Duffell

23. Rachael Lewsley

24. Leonie Schroder

25. Emily Campbell

26. Monique Fielder

27. Michelle Strazds

28. Jessie Holton

ESAD Sale-a-bration Blog Hop

Woohoo! It's time for another ESAD Blog Hop. I love seeing all the other creations from other demonstrators. If you have started with me, get yourself your favourite beverage (it's only fair I'm writing my blog with mine!!) and strap yourself in, for an amazing amount of inspiration. You may have already started and if so, have hopped on over from the ah-mazing Jessie Holton, OMG I love her work! What is ESAD?, I hear you say, well do not fear I have a very neat graphic for you......

The theme for this blog hop is Sale-a-bration!!! Everyone's favourite time of the year in the Stampin' Up! universe, well level pegs with our conferences, aka OnStage (I am a bit excited as I have just finalised the details for our next one and the big reveal will be the new Annual Catalogue!). Sale-a-bration is a catalogue of free items that you can earn when you spend $90 and this year they made the catalogue bigger and better and added a level 2, where, if you spend $180 you can get an extra special goodie for free, oh so much choice! On the 15th or maybe it was the 16th?? Stampin' Up released more freebies to the collection and mine arrived in time for this blog hop - yeah new things to play with! My cards today use the new Eclectic Expression Stamp Set, a freebie when you spend $90.

Ok, this card is very busy, I know that. It stemmed from just getting the stamp set out and having a play with the end result I thought, "Well why not make it into a card?" and there it is, not a great masterpiece in my eyes but you know what, others will probably think, well who knows what they will think but at least I didn't waste the piece of Whisper White!!! The Celebrate die cut was a discard from my other cards too, so pretty happy that I used all these elements rather than adding them to the discard pile of items that didn't make the cut!

Onto the "dinky di" cards..... I created two cards at the same time by using the second generation stamping technique. This is simply achieved by stamping the first image with full strength ink, ie you have just inked it up in your stamp pad and stamped it directly onto your cardstock but instead of re-inking the stamp you then use the residual ink to stamp onto another piece of cardstock with the remaining (lighter) ink and you end up with one card that is saturated in colour and one in a more muted tone.

1st generation

**Please excuse my "Celebrate" die cuts, I have coated them with fine tip glue to give a glossy finish but as we are experiencing a huge amount of rain here on the Sunshine Coast it has not quite dried out yet for the photo shoot**

2nd generation

Ok, enough from me, it is time for you to hop on on over to see what amazing creation Delys Cram has in store for you, just click the graphic below....

Thank you so much for stopping by! If you get lost at all on your hopping tour I have included all the participants in a list below, just click their name and you will be taken straight to their blog.

Cheers Megan xx

Blog Hop Participant List

1. Lou Kitzelman  

2. Sandra Mastello  

3. Courtenay Heuston

4. Ellen Woodbridge

5. Cheryl Algie

6. Peta Stephen

7. Nicole Wilson

8. Maree McIntosh

9. Kristel Rimmer

10. Libby Dyson

11. Leonie Schroder

12. Jessie Holton

13. Megan Lenske

14. Delys Cram

15. Rachael Lewsley

16. Kim Oliver

17. Sharon Dalton

18. Melinda Whittington

19. Jenny Hayward