Bella's Birthday

It's not really Bella's birthday, but the stamp set I've used is called Bella and Friends and it has a number of delightful images of this sweet puppy. I've included part of the wreath-like stamp which is stamped on red on this box above. I masked out the 'p.s. I love you' and popped the little cake from Bella & Friends in there instead. The stamp set above, is Seasons of Whimsy and it's a Hostess stamp set from the Holiday catalogue. I'm looking forward to having some free time next week to stamp and watercolour some of those wonky ornaments. You can add this stamp set to your $250 order using your Hostess dollars to pay for it. Need to know more? Contact me by phone 0417 500 681 or email rpalmieri5@bigpond.com

 A card like this doesn't really take too long to put together, especially as I have a lot of card pre-cut to size. I keep Whisper White handy cut to 10cm by 14.3cm - easy if you have the Stampin' Up! trimmer. It has clear measurements in metric and imperial, and both a cutting and scoring blade. I always have card bases cut and folded ready to use, but because this card front was also matted, I cut the white card back another .2 cm. Half a centimetre would also be a good option, so long as your measurements are the same on the 2 sides of the rectangle.

Happy Birthday Gorgeous was the stamp set I had been using this week, preparing samples for my Spring Has Sprung classes. If you are interested in those, there are details under 'classes' at the top of my blog page. Two Friday night classes are close to full, so I have advertised Thursday 19th October at 7pm. I could possibly do a Saturday afternoon if that suited you better. Again, just get in touch.

All the colouring on this card has been done with Stampin' Up!® Watercolor pencils and a blender pen. It gives a fairly subtle and fail safe finish. If you are thinking about shopping in my online store, and your order is less than $250, when asked for a host code you can add the letters below. I post a gift to you (something from the catalogue) in appreciation. If your order is $250 without shipping, then you will be asked to select items for yourself to 10% of the value of your order.

ERBPDTEM

Happy Hello CTC#146

Welcome back to another round of blog hopping with the CASE-ing The Catty Crew. My name is Rachel, and I'm a Stampin' Up!® demonstrator in South Morang (outer Melbourne) in Australia. All of the crew members are from the South Pacific (Australia & New Zealand) so if you are looking for a demonstrator, one of us should be nearby. You can order from my online shop from anywhere in Australia and your order will be shipped straight to you, costing a minimum of $5.95.

I've chosen to CASE the card above with a green gingham background. My card has a central image, and the banner sentiment. All but the bike version has a soft sky banner tucked behind the sentiment.

These cards came about because I want to get cards in the post to people I haven't touched base with for some time, for many different reasons. Bike Ride is a photopolymer stamp set on page 20 of the Annual catalogue. All of these images are included in the set, though actually, that's incorrect as there is no stamp for the butterfly. It is part of the Bike Builder Framelits which can be purchased as a bundle with the stamps, saving you 10% off the retail price. This bundle is available until June 30th 2018, unless stock runs out.

All of these little images are to go in the front basket on the bike, or in a picnic basket on the rack at the back. I didn't incude either of those for my bicycle, just kept it simple. There are a mix of Granny Smith apples and Red Delicious in the picnic basket here.

There is a big pile of books tied with string here, next to some more Red Delicious apples.
There are 3 stamps for the books. One is the black outline, and there are two separate ones for the spines of the books, which are fairly easy to line up being see-through photo-polymer. A nice image for teachers, or librarians perhaps?

Simply sunflowers, 3 of them sitting happily in the basket.

More wrapped sunflowers, along with a basket of greenery and other flowers.If you've been wondering the sentiment comes from Better Together. For someone just beginning to build their stamp collection, Better Together is one of those very valuable stamp sets with a sentiment for most occasions. There is a wedding, sympathy, new arrival, birthday and Christmas, as well as this one. Even better, there is another sentiment for the inside of the card, and that is why it is a fabulous stamp to begin stamping.

 Last is our happy pooch, sitting in the basket and looks like he's smelling the fresh Spring smells around, while butterflies hover. Bike Ride is definitely a fun stamp set, and I've really enjoyed experimenting with it this week. I probably wouldn't have thought of making the cards with two banners if I hadn't noticed it on the catalogue sample and I do think it adds to the look. Is there one you like more than the others?

If you'd like to play along, you need to check out pages 20-27 of the Holiday Catalogue and share on our Facebook page. The link will take you straight there. Come on team members, why don't you give it a go?

Next blog along is the very talented Krissy Buck

If you are making a purchase under $250, and you add the Host code when you are promted to, I will send you something in the mail.

ERBPDTEM

Have a wonderful week.

No Bones About It - CI#17

Colour INKspiration is a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from the South Pacific, all through Australia and New Zealand. We love to get together for these colour challenges, to inspire each other, and you, to create. We love it when you join in with our challenges to share your work and all you need is a Facebook presence. You can link in here on Facebook.

This colour challenge was a little "challenging" but I decided to stay away from what I saw as the obvious garden themed cards. It was a little tempting though with the Pool Party weatherboards, Tempting Turquoise rainboots etc.

My dinosaur scene was a lot of fun to put together. The clouds are sponged onto the art piece using a cloud shape punched (Tree Builder Punch) and a sponge dauber. I find it easier to stamp the bodies of the dinosaurs first and then add the bones, as it seems easier to see where to place them.

The other clouds on the card base were applied with a mask and embossing paste. I'm having heaps of fun with that at the moment. You can leave it plain white, so easy. You can colour it in a number of ways. One is to scoop some into another container and tint it with re-inkers in your choice of colour. Just remember that it does dry really quickly so don't mix a large quantity at any time. You can also sponge colour on to the dried paste.

I do hope you are having some crafty fun, and now head over to Jacque Williams

ERBPDTEM

Merry Little Christmas CTC#145

CASE-ing The Catty is all about seeking inspiration from the talented artists who design for Stampin' Up!®, and CASE-ing those designs. It might be a colour combination, an arrangement of elements or the general layout of the card. This week we are CASE-ing anything from pages 10-19 of the Stampin' Up!® Holiday Catalogue.

When I received my September order, I was excited to try out Merry Patterns. This is a bonus hostess set for parties that reach $450 (Australian) during September and October. The really great thing is, you can hold a virtual party and show your friends the Annual Catalogue and Holiday catalogue, in case they need anything for their Christmas crafting and combine the orders with you as the hostess. I can explain this better to you if you call me, 0417 500 681 or email rpalmieri5@bigpond.com. If you live within 30km of South Morang I can come and do an actual party for you, just gather your friends for some inky fun! And if you're like so many of us, you can find $450 worth in the catalogues that we MUST have, and that is classified as a party too.

I've kept this card very simple. It happened that the DSP (a retired one) was lying on my table. It echoes the stripes above, and it's in my most favourite colour, Bermuda Bay, so that seemed like a perfect starting point. The candles are nifty, as you stamp the outline, and there are two different stamps to fill them in. The candles in the foreground are stamped full strength and the 3 in the background were stamped off once.

The sentiment is all in one, with 'season' as another stamp to fill the gaps. I haven't lined it up terribly well on the Bermuda Bay version, but it isn't going to bother me. I opened the mini tinsel to add as well, and a few rhinestones.

Next I tried the design in red, after finding another lovely retired stripe DSP, The dimensions of this crumb cake card are a little smaller, 5 inches square for the base so cut 5" x 10" and score at 5". The DSP is 4½" square. I used the mini tinsel in red on this one, and some more rhinestones. Although this size still means you can only cut one card from a sheet of A4 cardstock, I quite like having some square cards in the mix. The left over piece is a very useable strip anyway, it will fit the deer stamp that is in this stamp set.

Don't forget, this stamp set Merry Patterns is available with a party or order reaching $450 in product (not including shipping). It is only available between 1st September and 31st October. You will still earn $45 in hostess dollars to spend on anything from either of the catalogues, so it truly is an extra bonus.

A couple more samples using the candles from the Stampin' Up! designers. These are good cards to CASE too.

Now it is time to check in to see what Sandra Collett has produced this week.

ERBPDTEM

Eclectic Birthday

Oh So Eclectic is an interesting mix of stamps, and if you invest in the bundle and get dies to co-ordinate, you'll find you've not only saved 10% on the cost of those two items, but you'll have some dies to cut and others to emboss. You can check out the clear mount bundle here and the wood mount version here.

A dear friend of mine turned 70 in August, and I didn't know whether she would want her age plastered on the front of the card. Turns out, it wouldn't have bothered her in the least, because you're only as old as you feel and she feels GREAT!
I was just trying out these pretty flowers in different ways. I really like the way they stamp a little darker around the centre and outside.

When stamping the inside, the flowers have had some line detail added too, and the detail was stamped directly in the centre. Birthday Blooms provided the lovely sentiment, I use it a lot!

My bunch of flowers are sitting in a vellum jar, from Jars of Love. Again, another favourite stamp set which has co-ordinating dies, and they can also be used with the Ronald McDonald fund-raising stamp which you will find inside the back cover of the Annual catalogue.

If you need some supplies, you will find my online shop open 24/7. Only use the host code for orders under $250, as above that amount you will get 10% in host dollars yourself, applied at the end of the ordering process. When you place your orders using the Host Code, I will post you a small gift.

ERBPDTEM

Christmas Bugle Week 15 Heart Of Christmas

Now that the Holiday Catalogue has gone live, I'm beginning to feel a lot more 'in the mood' for making Christmas cards. My first pick from the catalogue was Musical Seasons, and then when I received it, I wasn't quite sure what to do!!!
Oh, no, what a dilemna!!!

I ended up looking through the catalogue and CASE-ing (copy and share everything) another Christmas card design, to come up with this card. I wonder if anyone will work out the page I found my inspiration on, or the name of the stamp set?

Once I began with the card, it came together beautifully. The silver bugle french horn is a real eye-catcher, don't you agree? There are 24 sheets of paper in the Merry Music Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP) 4 sheets each of 6 double-sided papers, so I know I will be able to use this quite freely. It makes a great background for many of the Christmas stamps released this year.

Another really handy addition to the Stampin' Up!® Holiday catalogue are the mini pizza boxes on page 44 of the catty, and on other pages decorated. They can safely hold your holiday baking, chocolate treats, 3" x 3" notecards or 4 tea light candles, like I have here. This fragrance is Cinammon Sparkle, and they make my craft room smell delicious!

Co-ordinating a gift and card like this does make it just a bit more personal, it's one of the advantages of hand-crafted cards and packaging. I have decided that the mini tinsel trim in red or silver is going to be perfect to finish this gift off, so I added it to my order. It will be here in a few days. Musical Season has the pretty stamp that I've stamped in red on the side of the pizza box

Also on page 44 of the Holiday catalogue, you will find the 3" X 3" envelopes that Stampin' Up! used to sell, and have brought back. YAY, so much easier than cutting and folding them all. I've added some of those to my order too, so I can make some notecard sets as gifts too.

Now if you'd like to go and check out the other fabulous Christmas inspiration, Tina Gillespie has all the links (and Tina's work is always worth looking at too).

ERBPDTEM