Tonight I’m hopping with some fellow ESAD members. With the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalogue hitting the virtual shelves this week we thought you would like some sneak peeks at some of the new products in it.

I know I say this every year, but this new catalogue really is amazing. It is absolutely full of gorgeous new products and a healthy dose of old favourites carrying over. Of all the fun new stuff, it’s always the Designer Series Paper (DSP) that I look at first. I’m not afraid to admit I am a paper addict. This year SU! has a range that will satisfy any paper addict! So far, if I have to pick a favourite, it would be the Perennial Essence DSP. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it when I saw it in the catalogue, and it was one of the first items on my pre-order. And I was certainly not disappointed in it, it is absolutely STUNNING.

So the projects I want to share with you this evening are all cards that show off this beautiful paper.

The first card, I made for my mum’s birthday this week. My mum is a seriously awesome lady. She has one of the most formidable intellects I’ve ever encountered, she’s the epitome of indulgent grandma, my number one cheerleader, and she’s the person who taught me to appreciate beautiful things. Because of her I grew up in a home full of colour and beautiful, precious objects (I’m not sure how some of them survived me as a kid), and art. My parents have the most amazing art collection in their homes and their offices (between you and me, I’m hoping when she retires some of the office pieces will find a new home on my walls!) So for her birthday card I wanted to make it look like some of this beautiful watercolored paper was framed like a little painting.

The card is on a base of Blackberry Bliss with a mat of Night of Navy and some about to retire but too perfect not to use for this Wood Textures DSP (I know a lot of people are very sad to see this paper retire, and there’s a lot of hoarding of it going on. I did notice there is at least one woodgrain paper in the new catalogue, though, in the Pressed Petals Specialty DSP). Front and centre is a small piece of that divine DSP, mounted on dimensionals with a little frame so it looks like a painting on the wall.

The “frame” is cut using two Stitched Rectangles from Gold Foil which I first ran through a patterned embossing folder so that the frame would look more textured, kinda like your traditional gold leaf picture frame. A little gold wire and a small embellishment act as a wire and hook to complete the painting on a wall look.

The other cards I’m sharing with you this evening show how this paper can have such an impact with very little else to distract from it. I’ve used the same paper as the first card but this time just one circle die cut of it.

The rest of the card is super simple – a Thick Whisper White base, a top mat of Whisper White that has been run through the Subtle Texture EF, a touch of gold thread, and a Basic Black sentiment panel embossed in gold.

Black, White, and Gold are also the compliments to this next card, again using a die cut of another pattern in this DSP collection, but this time a heart. Two items carrying over into the new AC that I’m particularly thrilled about are the Well Written dies and the Stitched Rectangles. These seem to be making their way onto most of my cards lately!!

For this card I tried a fun technique I’ve seen floating around on Pinterest for a while, the Cut Up Stamping technique, where a thin slice is cut away and you stamp in the gap. Usually, this is done with large stamped images but I thought it would work really well with a large pattern like on this paper. The panel of paper has been mounted on a mat of Petal Pink and then mounted up on dimensionals so that it sits up off the card base. This is a fun technique and I actually made another using it but that one fell victim to a toddler and a bottle of Tombow before I could even take a photo of it.

One last example (Although I’m sure it’s not the last one I’ll be making with this DSP!) uses this divine soft pattern, a banner in Vellum and a Basic Black sentiment panel again with gold embossing.

I hope these cards inspire to use some of SU!’s beautiful DSP as the focus of a card and to realise that you don’t even need very much of it sometimes. Keep those scraps, people, because sometimes even that is all you need!

Next up is my Stampin’ buddy Shannon. I’m looking forward to seeing what she has created, and to keep on hopping along to see all the new goodies people are using and loving. I have a feeling my wishlist is about to get a whole heap longer!!

Thanks for stopping by, and if you’re interested in learning how to take better photos of your cards and crafty creations, I’m going to be posting a series on this very topic starting later this month,  so please hit that subscribe button up top so you can get those posts straight to your inbox when they go live.  I have lots of tips and tricks to share with you all – it’s going to be a blast!

Siobhan.

ESAD June 2019 Blog hop participant list:

1. Lou Kitzelman

2. Rochelle Blok

3. Kelly Kent

4. Jo Stubbings

5. Nicole Wilson

6. Denise Buetler

7. Sandra Mastello

8. Rochelle Laird-Smith

9. Siobhan Fitzsimmons

10. Shannon Kissane

11. Libby Dyson

12. Jo Weedon

13. Peta Stephen

14. Carly Middleton

15. Lisa Whitehead

16. Bronwyn Eastley

17. Cathy Pinchbeck

18. Monique Fielder

19. Rebecca Scurr

20. Richelle Fletcher

21. Jackie Noble

22. Mandy Depiazzi

23. Sharon Dalton

24. Maree McIntosh

25. Samantha White