International Blog Hop - highlighting Stampin' Up! products

Welcome to our International Blog Hop. We are a group of demonstrators from around the world that want to show you ideas and inspiration using the latest Stampin' Up!® products that are available to purchase right now. Hi... whether you are starting the blog hop here with me - Lou Kitzelman from Australia - or you have come from the person previous to me in the list. If you get off track at any time, the full line-up below will help you move along from blog to blog so you see all the projects. In May I took part in an international blog highlight run by Kylie Bertucci and was lucky enough to be chosen in the top 10 which enabled me to participate today.

Have you got your hands on the Thoughtful Branches bundle yet? You really must as they are only available for a limited time. You can do so much with this set. I'm sure you have already seen so many great projects online. Before I got stuck into using some of my new products from the Stampin' Up! Holiday catalogue to be released in September I wanted to show you how to make this great hydrangea.

With a few snips (and a lot of foam adhesive) you can make take this flower from flat to fabulous in minutes. See the layers?

I simply die cut 3 of the flowers from Watercolour Paper, spritzed them with water and started dabbing different inks (listed below) using my aqua painter until I thought it looked hydrangea-ish. The bottom layer is a whole flower. Then I started to cut the other 2 flowers apart. Each layer gets progressively closer to the centre to give the rounded look. I have used offcuts of foam adhesive strips to give each layer dimension. The last layer is just a single flower. Dots of glue from a fine tip glue pen add flower centres.

Kraft cardstock makes a great background for the hydrangea. The mat has a border stamped in Versamark ink using a stamp from the Timeless Textures stamp set. The burlap ribbon is haphazardly folded and secured with a staple or 2. It is a bit hard to see but I have also raised the front mats with foam adhesive strips.

Because this flower makes such a statement I thought it would be perfect to add to a shadow box. I'll have instructions for this in a later post - this was my first attempt.

And why not add a hydrangea to the top of a present box?

If you are from Australia like me I would love to assist you with purchasing and using Stampin' Up!® products. Also why not join my team. It's the perfect time - you can take advantage of the special pre-order only for demonstrators from the new Holiday Catalogue. I'd love to have you on my team as I'm a bit lonely as my team is just me at the moment!

Thanks for taking part in our blog hop, there are so many amazing ideas and inspiration you won't want to miss. Remember that currently you are at my blog, Lou Kitzelman, so check the blog hop line up list to see who is next in the list.

Product List

Thoughtful Branches Photopolymer Bundle [144328] $90.75	Sunshine Sayings Clear-Mount Bundle [142339] $76.50	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] $35.00	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp Set [133035] $26.00	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad [141395] $11.50	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad [126950] $11.50	Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad [126963] $11.50
Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad [126969] $11.50	Versamark Pad [102283] $15.00	Kraft 12" X 12" Card Stock [133674] $12.25	Watercolor Paper [122959] $8.75	Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock [119981] $14.00	Old Olive A4 Card Stock [106576] $14.00	5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon [141487] $12.25
Handheld Stapler [139083] $17.00	Foam Adhesive Strips [141825] $14.00	Fine-Tip Glue Pen [138309] $12.00	Aqua Painters [103954] $20.00	Tear & Tape Adhesive [138995] $9.00