Welcome back to another Creating Kindness Design Team Blog Hop. Can you believe we are in December already? This month, our theme is Cards for Charities and our guest designer is Stesha Bloodhart from USA. Stesha’s work is amazing, so grab a cuppa, take a little break and visit all the blogs in the hop today.

Stampin’ Up! supports the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) around the world including in Australia and New Zealand, as part of their “Making A Difference” program.

Helping a sick child fight a serious illness or injury places a huge emotional strain on a family. Add worries about finances and a family can become overwhelmed. Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) help families stay near their hospitalised child at little or no cost, allowing them to focus on helping their child heal, not on where they will stay or get their next meal.

Learn more about RMHC:

• Ronald McDonald House Charities (Australia)
• Ronald McDonald House Charities (New Zealand)

Stampin’ Up! supports Ronald McDonald House in various ways, however one way Stampin’ Up! demonstrators help is to donate cards when attending any Stampin’ Up! event. Our next event in Australia is in April and so I have started a pack of cards to pop in the donation box at that time.

Bird Banter Stamp Set Available in January 2018

These two cards feature a sneak peek of the Bird Banter Stamp Set from the upcoming Occasions 2018 catalogue.  It’s a cutie and creates just the sort of cards that are perfect to donate to RMHC, fun birthday cards and thank you cards.

The images have been coloured with the Stampin’ Blends and I have masked the bird images to allow the birthday balloon string and branch to be stamped behind.

Birthday cards are always welcome, especially upbeat cards like this one. The two raised up elements add extra interest, and the score lines down the left hand edge add a textural element without taking away from the focal images.

The bird images in the Bird Banter set are perfect for colouring with the Stampin’ Blends and how great does this little fellow look!?

And just look at how effective the Stampin’ Blends Colour Lifter is in creating a highlight!

Don’t forget the inside of the card …. the little budgerigars in the set are adorable and so easy to colour.

A Toucan of My Appreciation

Thank you cards are also a great option for the Ronald McDonald House Charities box. When your kids are sick, it is so nice to be able to say “thank you” to the nurses and medical staff who care for them.

The colouring on this little fellow is slightly different to a real toucan’s colouring … I believe Toucan’s are yellow and black with a colourful beak.  I have taken some artistic licence with colours while playing around with the Stampin’ Blends.

I am loving this bright red balloon to match my Toucan’s bright red beak!

And another little Budgerigar for the inside of the card, along with a Thank You greeting and another red element, the little heart! So sweet!

Video Hop!

I have created a video outlining the process for creating the Birthday card and you can see that here.

There are links to each of the team member’s videos in my video description, but here are the full list of participants video links:-

1-Danielle Bennenk https://youtu.be/SbqwMAAJzFE
2-Sacha van de Kerkhof https://youtu.be/Na7k4xBCwfc
3-Jay Soriano https://youtu.be/qD0XfagwY0Q
4-Carolynn Sander https://youtu.be/JQUo9uArDuM
5-Jenny Hall https://youtu.be/XgM4ARY_6cc
6-Maria Willis https://youtu.be/ylem3YjOhww
7-Cheryll Miller https://youtu.be/ntsNdUdfOr8
8- Marcy Denning https://youtu.be/3ShafQFiYbg

Click the link above to visit the very talented Jessie Holton’s Blog. Here is a list of all the blogs in our hop today. Enjoy!

If you are in Australia and would like to purchase any of the products used to create these cute cards, I would be very happy to help with that. The Bird Banter stamp set will become available to purchase on 3rd January 2018, however if you would like to get a hold of this stamp set and anything else from the upcoming Occasions Catalogue, did you know that you can include any items from the new catalogue in your customisable Starter Kit. Get AU$235 worth of product for just $169, and get your hand on new product early! I would love to have you join my Inks and Whimsy team.