Beautiful You AWH Blog Hop

Today I'm excited to bring you a blog hop with some of the awesome ladies in the Art With Heart Stampin' Up!® team. You may have just arrived from the lovely Kate Morgan. Today we focus on the new Occasions Stampin' Up!® Seasonal Catalogue and also Sale-a-bration! If you place an order with me during Sale-a-bration, you can choose a free item with every $90 you spend in one transaction. There are lots of fabulous free items to choose from (ask me for a brochure and an Occasions Catalogue) and the promotion goes right through until March 31st.

Better still, become a part of the fun, friendly and supportive Art With Heart team. We have a really large team Australia-wide that has been around since Stampin' Up!® came to Australia over ten years ago. We have a very active team forum and also have in-person stamp days, challenges, card swaps, product shares and more. When you join with me during Sale-a-bration, you get to choose get to two free extra stamp sets (any value) plus whatever product to the value of $235 from any of the current Stampin' Up!® catalogues. That is a total of  $414 in product for $169. You also get free postage!. It's

 quick and easy to join online too. Ask me how!

There are many different ways to inspire your creativity: checking out blogs and Pinterest and CASE-ing (copy and share everything, or copy and selectively edit, if you prefer). That is perfectly acceptable, as long as you also credit the original which inspired you, preferably with a link to it.

You can start with a sketch or some colour swatches, that often really works for me. Another crazy way is this - I can't bear to throw out something that might be able to be used, so if I die cut extra leaves or labels etc, they go into a container, and from time to time I check it out to see if I can use anything. That is exactly how this trio of cards came about. The Crumb Cake frames were from a project ages ago, and I was playing with the flowers, leaf and 'happy'. Later, when I searched for more, it occurred to me that I had three frames, and there are three girls in Beautiful You. This stamp set is on page 24 of the Occasions Catalogue, and it has been very popular already, mainly because you can use it in so many different ways.

The girl with umbrella is bringing 'hope' (from Sunshine Sayings), paired with the Beautiful You sentiment, 'wishing you brighter days to come'. The clouds are from Lift Me Up, the beautiful hot air balloon set. The other addition is a few strokes with the White Stampin' Chalk Marker on page 181 of the Annual catalogue. It's only $6.00 and can make such a difference.     

                                                                                                         

This figure is so elegant, and I couldn't resist adding Botanical Blooms to the picture frame. 'You' comes from Hello You Thinlits, which pairs with a stamp set Crazy About You. Of course, you don't NEED to have both, but they sure do come in handy.                                            

This card was my actual starting point, with the Flourish Thinlet leaf and 'happy' from Hello You Thinlets. The Tip Top Taupe has proved to be a great base for the other lovely shades, whether it's the soft pastels or bold brights. It also allows the Crumb Cake frame to show up. Which card do you like the most?

Now you'll be hopping over to my good friend Kathryn Mangelsdorf, I'm sure she has a gorgeous project to share.

Cheers, and happy crafting

Rachel

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

1. Ros Davidson
2. Rebecca Jacovou
3. Tina Gillespie
4. Judy May
5. Kate Morgan
6. Rachel Palmieri
7. Kathryn Mangelsdorf
8. Monika O'Neill
9. Kathryn Ruddick
10. Claire Daly
11. Rachel Woollard
12. Alisha Watson
13. Kim Dallinger