I was lucky enough to be able to attend a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator event called OnStage yesterday – without even having to travel! It was held locally in Perth, literally a 15 minute drive from my house. If you don’t know what OnStage is, it’s basically a stamping convention, where you gather with like-minded crafty people, make some cards, preview new products and basically have a lot of fun.

I’m not allowed to show you any of the new products, but I can show you some of the cards I made to swap with other attendees.  You don’t have to make things to swap, but it’s a lot of fun and a nice way to meet other people. For me, it also gives me some cards that use stamp sets and papers that I don’t own, so that’s pretty cool.

Most people actually only swap card fronts. This means that people have the flexibility to use them any way they want. They can turn them into actual cards by sticking them to a base and gift them to friends and family, or they can leave them as card fronts and take them to classes and work shops to show their customers product samples. You can also learn a few new techniques by seeing what other people have made. Since I don’t run a business, I will likely turn the swaps I received into cards.

I made two different swap cards, and both of the types were made in a couple of colours. The first used the gorgeous black and white Petal Passions DSP. I coloured it using Stampin’ Blends and stuck it to a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I stamped the sentiment ‘Just Breathe’ (from the Colorful Seasons stampset) onto the whisper white just below the DSP. I finished with a line of ribbon and a small bow. I did these cards in both Cherry Cobbler and Calypso Coral. For the Cherry Cobbler ones I used 1/4″ double stitched ribbon in cherry cobbler, and backed the whole piece onto a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock. For the Calypso Coral version, I used the 1/4″ Ombre ribbon (in Calypso Coral) and the corresponding card stock.

I think these cards look beautiful, very simple really, but the Stampin’ Blends leave such a vibrant colour. The sentiment could be changed up to suit any occasion.

The second card I made was a bit of a spur of the moment decision. I follow Sarah Klass on instagram, she is another Stampin’ Up! demonstrator and is actually also located in Perth. I saw a gorgeous card she made using gold embossed splatter and I knew I had to try it. You can read all about how she did it here. Basically you mix some Tombow liquid adhesive with water, and then use your aqua painter to flick it about. Get some of the watery glue on your aqua painter and then flick the tip of it against the lid and you will get a nicely random splatter. Tip your embossing powder over this and then heat emboss as normal. I actually did a whole piece (A4) of whisper white at once and the effect was stunning – I loved it! So much so that I decided to whip up another few swap cards and use it. I think it’s one of those techniques that is quite simple to do, but adds a bit of wow to any card.

This card actually doesn’t involve any stamping at all. Basically I adhered a piece of DSP to a piece of cardstock, added a strip of the gold embossed splatter and then added the die cut sentiment ‘Celebrate’. This die cut was actually a freebie I earned during Sale-A-Bration this year. Thankfully it will be carrying over to the new catalogue.

The DSP I used was actually a specialty DSP called Painted with Love. It has lots of gold foil through the actual paper, so the gold splatter tied in really well here. The colours I used were Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry and Melon Mambo. I really liked how these turned out.

I will likely do another post in the coming weeks to show you all the lovely card swaps I received in return for these. Until then – happy crafting 🙂