Convention Swap #2

branicinoz — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 21:32:05 +0000

My second swap, I went for a Christmas Theme, because of my Festive Friday challenges on this site. This one came form a challenge by Tracey Eaton to use Bravo Burgundy on one of my swaps. Always up for a challenge, I did! I like how this one came out, but it was fairly labour intensive, and I’m wishing I had gone for simpler. I made 36 of each one. and I bet by the time you read this, they are all gone!

Festive Friday #21 Colour Challenge

branicinoz — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:30:55 +0000

Hi Everyone! This week is a Colour Challenge! What a challenge it was too! When I initially chose these colours, I didn’t think they looked too bad for a festive combination, but when I went to actually work with them, I hit a wall. The card I came up with is not my favourite, but it fits the bill. From all reports of the design team too, it was a difficult set of colours to work with for them as well. That’s why it’s called a CHALLENGE! If I put red and green out there I bet it would be easy for everyone! Have a try with these colours and see what you can come up with! You are also welcome to add white or vanilla to the combination too.

Enter more than one card if you get a chance, the more the merrier! If you do not have a blog to post your card on, you can use a free photo hosting site like Photobucket, or just email me the photo and I’ll post it for you! Jump in with both feet! We’re going to have random prizes on some weeks too so you NEVER KNOW when you might be in the running for some stamping goodies too!!! I’ve got to have at least 5 entries in a week before I’m going to offer up a prize though! Now, lets get on to the details of the challenge….

1: Choose a card or project that inspires you

2: Create your own Project

3: Load your project online somewhere, or email it to me at branicinoz@gmail.com and mention who on my design team inspired you.

4: Link your project below by clicking on the frog, which will take you to the link site.

5: Links close Thursday June 7th at 10am. Winners will be posted later on June 7th.

Now, for the inspiration! My card this week was ultra-simple. I went literally with the Cajun Craze colour and made a gingerbread man. The rest of the card came from that starting point.

Sarah made a beautiful Poinsettia with punches:

Alison used the Edgelits dies and lots of layers on her snowflake card:

Carolyn used the tree from Show Swirled:

Sharlene used the Merry & Type set on the First Edition DSP:

Tracey has used the Merry & Type set and the Postage Stamp Punch:

As this post goes live, many of us on the Design Team are together in Canberra at the Stampin Up Convention! Those that are not with us are likely watching this space for Convention updates, so get your submission in quick and everyone will see it! Click on the little froggie below to link your entry.

Convention Day One!

branicinoz — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:09:27 +0000

WHEW! It’s almost 10pm and I’m just home from Day One of Convention! What a full on day! Two more to go! I’ll keep it quick and share a few photos with you tonight, and more tomorrow. Very tired and heading to an early bedtime, thanks to a child of mine who decided to be up in the night for no reason last night!

This morning, Managers and Above (that’s me!) got VIP access to Memento Mall, so first crack at all the goodies! I bought my fair share, and then promptly left my bag behind at my first class. Thanks to a friend picking up my bag for me, I know it’s safe, we just haven’t connected for me to get my bag back yet. Once I get my bag of goodies, I’ll post some photos.

After Memento Mall, we went to a Leadership class and learned about coaching our downline and time management. Very valuable information in all of my jobs, not just Stampin Up!

Once that class was over, I bolted back to the hotel and went for a quick run on the treadmill, and had some lunch (and a shower) before heading back for the afternoon General Session.

Our first performance was by Cate, Bec and the whole Australian Demo Support team singing the Convention Song “I AM”

Next up, our first speaker, Shelli Gardner herself, CEO and Co-Founder of Stampin Up. Always inspiring, always humorous, always grateful. I love listening to her speak:

We then had the privilege to hear Michael McQueen from NextGen speak to us about a new target Market, the 25-25 year olds. He highlighters the differences between the generations and gave us some tips on how to reach Generation Y’ers. He was fascinating, and very enjoyable to listen to, especially with his changing glasses trick.

Brian Pilling, the US Demo Training Manager did a stamping presentation for us, featuring some new, sneak peek products such as Firm Foam Inkpads, the Diagonal Score Plate, and new stamps and punches. In fact, you can ORDER the new Diagonal Score plate for the Simply Scored from tomorrow for only $20.95, so if you want to get your hands one, send me an email!

After the general session, we had all of 30 minutes to go get changed (if we chose to) and get back to the Convention Centre to be bussed to a secret location for Manager’s Reception. We literally didn’t know where we were going until we turned onto the street that took us to Parliament House! It was a beautiful venue for the reception, and I got to rub shoulders with some of the Top Demonstrators! I felt very special! I got my photo taken with Shelli and had a lovely conversation with her. It’s a bit blurry and I’ll try to get another one tomorrow.

Me with Sarah Klass.

Me with my friend Tracey Eaton, from my Festive Friday Design Team (also a bit blurry, but will get more photos tomorrow)

That’s all I can share for today. I have many more and I’ll try to share more tomorrow, but they are keeping us very busy here! LOADS of speak peeks and new product announcements to come!

Festive Friday Winner!

branicinoz — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:51:35 +0000

I’m posting here from the Stampin Up Convention! I’ll be very quick as I have a Convention post to load as well. I loves Andrea’s card this week with the flowers! Thanks for playing Andrea!

Here is your Winner’s Badge!

Convention Swap #1

branicinoz — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:26:44 +0000

This year I made two swap designs. I was going to make a third, but ran out of time (and energy). I wanted one masculine design for sure as they were fairly popular last year, so I went with the Need for Speed set. I used Island Indigo, stamped once, then moved slightly and stamped again to get the splat image to look like that. The car was cut out and adhered over the splat. The edges were scored with the SImply Scored tool. The greeting is from Best Dad Ever.

Convention Bound!

branicinoz — Tue, 29 May 2012 21:12:54 +0000

Today is the day! I’m heading off to Convention 2012 in Canberra! As this post goes live, I’m packing my last minute items, chasing the kids around and heading up to Adelaide for a morning of Mommy time with the kids before catching our 4pm flight to Canberra. I’m beside myself with excitement! I’m so looking forward to catching up with all my demonstrator friends that I get to see only once a year. Not to mention that I’m dying to know what BIG announcements Stampin Up! has up there sleeve! Will we get My Digital Studio? I’m REALLY hoping to be able to tell you that this weekend! Is the Catalogue release date moving up by one month like it did overseas? I don’t know! But I’ll find out the answers to all of these questions and more once I get to Canberra…so I’d better get going right?

I’ll be posting updates form Canberra as I can, but I’m not making too many promises. I’ve got the family joining me on this trip AND evening activities planned each night of Convention so I won’t have a lot of time for blogging until maybe Sunday. In the meantime, I’ve loaded up my Convention swaps to show you, starting from tomorrow. Catch ya later!

Fabric Tuesday #20 Ribbon Scraps

branicinoz — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:28:47 +0000

So I know ribbon is not REALLY fabric, but I wanted to show you this cute card I made with ribbon scraps. I just adhered some scraps to a piece of card, then punched a window with the circle punches, and adhered the scrap panel in behind. I think it turned out kinda cute!

Emboss Resist with French Foliage

branicinoz — Sun, 27 May 2012 21:20:39 +0000

Another challenge issued to me by Tracey Eaton was to use the Emboss Resist technique. I chose the French Foliage set for this one and stamped the greeting on a “flag” across the centre. I’ve then used a bow of vanilla seam binding and an old olive button laced with twine to finish it off. I’m really happy with how this card came out!

Pocket Silhouettes

branicinoz — Sat, 26 May 2012 20:58:28 +0000

This card was the second one that I made with the Pocket Silhouettes set when I had me series of challenges set forth the other week. I was inspired by a card that I saw on Splitcoast, and modified it to make it my own.

I punched out 3 squares to use as a mask, then stamped through the holes, and sponged the background while the mask was still on. Before removing the mask, I traced around the inside of the squares with the fine tip of the marker.

Trendy Trees Candy?

branicinoz — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:24:16 +0000

I used the trendy trees set again, inspired once again by a card I found on Splitcoast. This one uses not so much trees but reminds me more of candy or lollipops. I’ve used the embossing edge folder with the rows of hearts to emboss a strip on the card, then stamped the circle image along the top of it. I think this is pretty cute!