Lots of inspiration through swapping

One of my favourite things to do when I attend an OnStage event is to swap 3-D papercrafts and cards with fellow demonstrators. Not everyone attending the event participates in swapping, but I find this is a great way to see what other people create as well as get a collection of projects to inspire me. Sometimes I am so impressed with a swap I receive which uses products I don't own that I end up buying them. As if I need an excuse to get more craft supplies! 😁

In an earlier post I showed the swaps I had made for OnStage Live in Auckland. I also made some gifts to give to new friends and ended up using some of those as swaps as well. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people were swapping and I quickly ran out of the 100 I had brought.

I love seeing how talented Stampin' Up! demonstrators are and want to share everyone's creations with you, so here are pictures of the more than 100 swaps I was given at OnStage April 2019. Most of these are simply card fronts however a few are complete cards and treat holders.

The inside of some of my swaps.

I can hardly wait to make swaps for the next OnStage event in November, but for now I'll just have keep looking at all of these beauties . . . and maybe even CASE a few of them!

#ComputerAndCraftDesigns #StampinUp #creativetherapy #PaperCraftIdeas #HandmadeCard #Swaps #OnStage #AucklandOnStage #MiniCard

OnStage Live in Auckland!

Last week I attended Stampin' Up!'s OnStage Live event at the Sky City Convention Centre in Auckland. This was the first 'live' OnStage that I was able to attend since becoming an independent demonstrator two years ago. I have been to four one-day OnStage events in Auckland previously which were wonderful, however this three-day live event was beyond fabulous! I had so much fun seeing all the products, making new friends, watching the various presentations, playing with new stamp sets, and receiving lots of swaps and gifts.

I even got to meet Sara Douglass (CEO) and her mother Shelli Gardner (co-founder) who were so funny and inspiring with their talks and stamping presentations. They worked really well together and showed that everyone makes mistakes when stamping, which just proves that our crafts are hand made!

I felt so motivated from the moment I arrived at the event. I got to share the experience with my one of my downline, Caz, and lots of ladies from my upline since we all stayed in rooms in an apartment near Sky City. It was also exciting to meet so many like-minded people who had traveled far and wide to come together and share their passion. I had lots of fun at registration swapping and chatting with demonstrators (about 600) from all over New Zealand and other countries.

I will be creating another blog post soon showing the hundreds of beautiful swaps I received, once I have a chance to sift through them all. As soon as I got home from Auckland I had to get back into the 'working world' so I haven't had time to look at all of my swaps.


I can't wait for the new catalogue to begin on June 4th, however there are a few other goodies being released sooner to whet the appetite. There is going to be a special Paper Pumpkin kit which Shelli Gardner helped create and is called Hugs from Shelli. It will only be available while stocks last and goes on sale on May 15th. This kit is perfect for beginning crafters as you get everything you need (except a clear block) to create 12 cards in four different designs. Have a look at this video for a sneak peak and contact me if you'd like to get you hands on one!

There is also a special product medley kit which will only be offered in the month of May while stocks last. It is called Everything Is Rosy and you can see the items included in the kit in this video. This is a non-traditional kit because it includes lots of products which you can use to create a medley of different items however there are no specific instructions. This is great for casual or avid crafters because there aren't instructions so you can create whatever you want and are only limited by your imagination or by Pinterest and YouTube! 😉

There were lots of other great presentations and emotional talks over the three days. They were all very inspiring and have given me a lot of great ideas for my business. I was even chosen to go on the stage to play a game with fellow demonstrators. We were each given a sign to use as our 'buzzer' when answering questions. My sign said 'Booya!' which I shouted out many times as I am very competitive. I managed to win a stamp set for my team of three participants by answering the most questions' however my enthusiasm was noticed by all and from that pointed on I had the nickname of Booya. At least I won't be easily forgotten! 😆

I am now a bit sad that OnStage is over but I was having way too much fun and needed to get back to reality, although I was able to bring some of the fun home in the form of free gifts and prizes! I have so many new things to play with that I think I will be able survive until the new catalogue is released in June. I now feel even more motivated to Share What I Love! 💖

#ComputerAndCraftDesigns #StampinUp #creativetherapy #PaperCraftIdeas #HandmadeCard #Swaps #OnStage #AucklandOnStage 

Swaps

Today I am off to Auckland to stay in an apartment with fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators from my upline. We are going to be attending OnStage Live at Sky City Convention Centre. This 3-day event will be lots of fun for everyone attending as we get to play with some new products, see demonstrations, mingle with other demonstrators from all around the world, and get a sneak peak at the upcoming annual catalogue, which goes live on June 1st.

One of the fun things I love to do every time I go to OnStage (the event happens twice a year) is make things to swap with other demonstrators. I usually make 3-D objects such as boxes or little baskets but this time I decided to make some small cards. I can't wait to see all the creative gifts I receive in exchange for my swaps. I will be sure to show pictures of them in a future post, but for now I'd like to share how I made the 100 cards I have to give to other demonstrators.

I chose to use the dog and cat stamp sets with matching punches for my cards -- Happy Tail, Dog Builder Punch, Nine Lives and Cat Punch. I first designed the 3" x 3" silhouette cards in black and white. However I don't like to waste anything so I stamped the animal images on one side of the whisper white square using my Stamparatus.

Then I cut the animals out with the matching punches. I turned the 'negative' card over and again used the Stamparatus to stamp the sentiment on each one. I love using my Stamparatus to make multiple cards as I can line each piece of the card up perfectly to get identical images quickly. 

I stamped small hearts on a piece of whisper white cardstock for the inside of each card along with a matching sentiment -- Meow! or Ruff! Then it was just a matter of adhering each layer to the 3" x 3" card bases and putting a red heart, made from the dog punch, on each silhouette. Of course I had to stamp a cute image on the matching envelopes. 

I made one larger card using the punched out animals from two smaller cards. I used Wood Textures (1" x 4") and Gingham Gala (3" x 4") designer series paper along with matching cardstock to make a 3.875" x 4.125" card (9.9 cm x 10.5 cm). This sizing allowed me to get three cards from one A4 piece of cardstock without any waste, however you will have to adjust these sizes if you are using letter-sized paper. I used my Stamparatus to place the sentiment on the top left corner of the Gingham Gala paper. Besides allowing me perfect placement, using the Stamparatus let me stamp the words again if the Memento ink didn't come out evenly.

I adhered the DSP to the front of the card as shown in the pictures (overlapping the Gingham Gala with the Wood Texture dsp) and popped the animals up on dimensionals along with a stamped heart cut out from the dog punch. For the inside of the card I stamped the sentiment from the Happy Tails stamp set along with a paw print.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my swaps for OnStage and if you are one of the demonstrators I get to swap with, thank you very much!

#ComputerAndCraftDesigns #StampinUp #creativetherapy #PaperCraftIdeas #HandmadeCard #Swaps #OnStage #AucklandOnStage #MiniCard