And A Daisy For Tuesday

To my eye, there is nothing fresher than blue and white. No matter that daisies probably don't come with a blue edge (I have seen mauve though). This paper stack, Colour Theory, only has four colours, and I love the crackle finish in all the colours. There are paint chip pieces too, and several other interesting textures.

I've used a couple of stamps from Colorful Seasons for this pair of cards, and the new Faceted Gems as flower centres. There is the gold one on the blue daisy and a clear on the pink.

I've picked a couple of daisies from my garden and laid out my mother's white tea cloth for this little photo shoot. Isn't it amazing that daisies still bloom in winter?

Just reminding my regular customers that this bonus offer ends at the end of July. For every $90 order (or multiples of) you will get a code emailed to you worth $9 off your August order. That's a 10% discount. To my team members, this applies to you too, you know.

Cheers

Rachel

Another Masculine Birthday

With five sons, and five grandsons, plus a husband, it usually does seem to be masculine cards I need in my personal stash! Today it is the birthday of my 3rd son, and although he is a plumber by trade, he has an interest in wood turning. My husband discovered some lathes at a garage sale recently and he and our son are reading up on wood turning. Sam has even made a few handles for his chisels.

There is no way that I'll let go of Nailed It anytime soon. I actually live in hope that it will return to the catalogue, but it would be very unlikely. This was fun to put together using the Wood Texture DSP stack for the background and those lovely handles on the tools. They look well-used don't they?

Those flag banners are from Birthday Delivery, and the words can be added in later. The words fit perfectly.

The sentiment used inside is from Colorful Seasons. It is a lovely thought for birthdays or weddings don't you think? When the card is for someone special, I really like to finish them off. The white card has been layered onto Chocolate Chip like the outer part of the card, and linen thread has been wound around the layers at the top of the stacked log strip.

With a lot of guidance, his 3 year old son made a card too. Well, Gran did the cutting and gluing and our little man stamped and applied candy dots - all over! I let him pick the stamp from Boys Will Be Boys, another retired stamp that isn't leaving my shelf anytime soon. He said, "My dad likes Lego", so that was an easy choice. I pulled out the older linen stamp pads, because like most children (and some adults) he presses too hard into the newer foam pads.

He practised on a big sheet of paper first, so that we could be a bit controlled when it came to the real thing. He was great at using baby wipes in-between colours, so his technique is beginning to develop. In this picture he had stamped a sentiment, and he asked, "Is that my name?" He'd been playing with my name and contact details stamp and when he'd asked, I'd told him it was my name, so he must think everyone has a name stamp. Well as a matter of fact, Boys will Be Boys has a sentiment that says 'Best Kid Ever' so I stamped that inside with his name printed after it.

 Hope you find some time to create this week,

Cheers

Rachel

Daisy A Day

Do you remember that sweet song from the 70s?

I'll give you a daisy a day dear,
I'll give you a daisy a day,
I'll love you until the rivers run still,
And the four winds we know blow a-way,

It was written by Jud Strunk and I think I know the version by Glen Campbell better.

It really is symbolic of pure simple love and devotion. Daisies are like that, aren't they? A simple flower, not too hard to grow and so pretty picked and in a vase.
It is with great relief that I'm able to let you know that if you're hanging out to get this bundle, stock has arrived in Australia!!!! Hip, Hip Hooray!
This is one of the best-priced bundles in the catalogue. A photopolymer stamp set (16 stamps) and matching punch for $54.75 - #145361.That's a 10% discount on buying the two items separately.
Daisy Delight stamp set #143669 $30.00
Daisy Punch                   # 143713 $31.00

I thought I could resist this stamp and punch but I'm glad I gave in and ordered before stock ran out. It's such a pretty little set, and I love using it with it's own DSP or mixing and matching with other catalogue treasures. This DSP is Birthday Memories and there's a leaf from Flourish Thinlets, along with a sentiment from Birthday Blooms.

The Host Code is MSV9HQST and my online shop is open all round the clock.

I'm so pleased that it is back in stock, so you'll be able to make all your pretty daisy creations for spring. I'll share another favourite tomorrow.

Happy crafting

Rachel

Holidays and Birthdays.CTC#138

Welcome back to another blog hop with the crew from CASE-ing The Catty. Do keep on hopping along, to see what else the crew are sharing. Our challenge this week is to CASE from the NEW Annual Stampin' Up!® catalogue, Holiday section, from page 112-125.

Although I'm holding Christmas classes in July, I haven't really got into the mood for Christmas cards as such yet. I had no difficulty CASEing page 118 of the catalogue for another birthday card. You've Got Style recently arrived in my studio, and the first stamp I used was the sentiment on this card. Love it! "Hope your birthday is as bubbly as you are! Happy Birthday!"

Bubbles from Playful Backgrounds decorate the art piece, with a section left clear for the flute glasses, which are from a retired stamp set, Making Spirits Bright. If you're after something current, Mixed Drinks (page 60) has a single flute, a wine glass, beer mug and one of those jars you put a straw into. Just a whisper too, the new Holiday Catalogue has another stamp set which includes different types of wine glasses, flutes etc. Let me know if you'd like a Holiday catalogue when I get my hands on them. They go 'live' on September 1st.

Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack (that means there are 48 6 inch square sheets of pattern paper) has some really unusual colour combinations. Rich Razzleberry with Pool Party and Calypso Coral with Pool Party and Old Olive are a couple which I find really striking. I used a sheet as the background on my card, and then chose ribbon and card to tone.

These Glitter Enamel Dots are so pretty. You can almost catch the glimmer, but I had no luck picking up the Wink of Stella champagne!

The card I CASEd is the red & white stripe one. First I tried to put the banner across the middle of the art piece but it just didn't work. I did however CASE the ribbon behind, which I wouldn't normally do. I'm great at buying ribbons and all things pretty but a bit hopeless at using them.

Next stop along this blog hop is the very clever Fi Cobbin. She has CASEd the same card as I did, but put her own slant on it. Such a cute reindeer.

Birthday Memories Suite

I've been having a lot of fun playing with new products from the Annual Stampin' Up!® Catalogue. I'm so glad that Stampin' Up!® added embossing paste to the range, as I had been wanting to try it for ages and hadn't got around to it. Too busy designing other samples for blogs and classes!

I used our older masks for these two cards, because I forgot to order the new ones after remembering the paste and the cute little tools! New ones are in the house now, and I've continued experimenting this week. With the poodle card, I added some Sahara Sand reinker to the paste, and then thought it looked a bit bland. That was fixed by washing Melon Mambo ink over it. The poodle and little girl have been die cut from the designer series paper. Isn't that a great idea? You can use those printed images alongside the ones you stamp. On the DSP, the wee girl looks coyly toward you, and when you stamp her, she has her back to you and you can place a bunch of flowers in her hands, or a balloon.

This embossing paste was tinted with Melon Mambo reinker, and it sort of is an oopsie. However lets just imagine it is cupcake icing, that works for me...

The diecut lass has been adhered to a stitched shape oval, just like the poodle above. Then it is placed on top of the cup cake oval, she was cut from. The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment is a fancy one, it's a pretty useful one to have. This is Birthday Memories Suite, with Birthday Delivery photopolymer stamps (a big set of 23) and Birthday Friends Framelits Dies. The stamps and dies can be bundled for a 10% discount with its own special code. Then there is the Designer Series Paper, Birthday Memories DSP in bright colours and patterns. You can even buy paper honeycomb balloons and ribbon in colours to match. That's the real benefit of buying Stampin' Up!® products as they are all co-ordinated.

If you've been looking through your catalogue, and don't know where to start, because there is just so much you want, have you considered becoming a demonstrator. Now before you shout 'No way!", let me tell you that there is room for all types of demos in my team. You might be satisfied with being a hobby demonstrator getting 20% off your personal purchases, and maybe the occasional order for a friend or you might want to give this a red hot shot to see if you can create a business out of something you enjoy.

On Stage Training is in Melbourne on November 11th, 2017

This Demonstrator only event happens twice a year and is a huge highlight of being a Demonstrator. Registration opens August 15th and cost is $120 which includes lunch, make and takes using completely new product (usually 3), a full day of stamping presentations featuring new product, lots of displays to photograph, new Occasions Catalogue Launch (attendees get to order a selection on the day before other demonstrators, and well before customers), stamp set, bag, prizes and giveaways. We have stacks of team members (including me!) excited about attending this event, so if you are looking for an awesome day of Stampin’ Up! fun, you might be interested in joining today so you can come along. 

 There are 3 Great Benefits of Joining in July for just $169

1. You don’t have to reach any quarterly sales requirements until the end of January 2018 so you will be an active demonstrator for all of that time at least;
2. During those 6 months, 2 fabulous new catalogues will launch. The Holiday Catalogue (demonstrators can pre-order products from this catalogue from the 1st of August) and the 2018 Occasions Catalogue which will launch at the OnStage event in November (demonstrators will be able to pre-order from this catalogue either at the event if they attend, or from around December 1st).
3. You are eligible to attend OnStage on 11th November at the Margaret Court Tennis Centre and get to sit with the team and have a super fun day! We have team flying in from right around Australia to attend.

During July (so just a few more days), when you join for just $169, you get lots extra bringing the total value to over $356 and that doesn’t include the free box of catalogues and free kit postage which adds lots of extra value. For $169 you get:

• $235 of whatever you choose
• A new Holiday Catalogue stamp set called Carols of Christmas
• A pack of Grid Paper
• Paper Snips
• Bone Folder
• Snail Adhesive
• 2 x D acrylic blocks (so you can stamp with a friend!)

Do give this opportunity some thought. Stampin' Up! is a great company to work with and the other demonstrators are very inclusive, happy to share hints and ideas to make your crafting more fun.

Cheers, Rachel

Seventy Birthday Wishes CTC #137

Welcome back to another blog hop with the crew from CASE-ing The Catty. Do keep on hopping along, to see what else the crew are sharing. Our challenge this week is to CASE from the NEW Annual Stampin' Up!® catalogue, Artistic Expressions pages 132 - 181. I have a lot of stamps from this section, but so far not this one right at the start of the pages. You may have arrived here from Kelly Kent, do make sure you hop around to see what all the crew are sharing from the Stampin' Up!® Annual Catalogue.

I've CASEd the bottom left card, the one with the Stampin' Up! insignia partly covering it. I've taken artistic liscence with it, as we are inclined to do, but some basic design similarities are echoed. The new Ruffled 3D Dynamic TIEF was my choice for the back ground. The birthday sentiment, from Happiest Of Days was stamped toward the bottom of the white card, which was trimmed to size. I wanted maximum exposure of the gorgeous textured background. The sample also had a smaller panel to show off more background.

Since the sentiment says 'birthday wishes' I could see no reason not to simply place the copper foil '70' above it, and there you have '70 birthday wishes'. If you own a Big Shot, an essential purchase is the Large Number Framelits. The leafy swirl and small flower are all part of the sentiment, and I coloured them lightly with an aqua painter and some ink in the lid of my ink pads. The tiny leaves were coloured with a quick stroke of the Stampin' Writer - so easy! The larger flower stamp is a single stamp, which seemed to balance the composition. Instead of the folded ribbon behind the art piece, a copper foil piece from the Swirly Scribbles Thinlets was cut, again on the Big Shot.

Inside has been finished with a layer of Blackberry Bliss (retired) card, a layer .5cm smaller of Petal Garden DSPS, one of the packs with 48 6" X 6" squares of pattern paper. Then another smaller square of Whisper White with another sentiment from Happiest Of Days.

Another quick look at the inside to see how the Rich Razzleberry flowers tie in with the base of the card. I love the 'pop' of Pool Party, to give it a lift. This card will be needed next weekend, but I'm pretty certain that it is safe to share it here.

Now it's time to hop off to Megan Lenske

Happy crafting, Rachel

CASE-ing - What, How & Why

I applied to join CASE-ing The Catty when it first began about 3 years ago. I already was using the Stampin' Up!® catalogue for inspiration, so it felt quite natural to step up to the challenge. Sometimes when CASE-ing, especially from the catalogue, which is not called an inspiration book for nothing, I might make an almost-identical copy first. Then usually a spark of inspiration will happen, and I might end up with an original.

So, how do you CASE? Something appeals to your eye - it might be in the catalogue, on Pinterest, a magazine etc. It might be just the colours used. Perhaps it's the design sketch like I'm sharing today. No matter what, there are ways to use the inspiration and not just copy.

I would NOT usually blog about a card like this because it is too close to how the original inspiration looked. However, it is useful to explain the way CASE-ing can be helpful when you've run short of inspiration. This Father's Day card was totally CASE-d from Kris McIntosh at Stamping with Kris. She had used the shoes in circles down the left, designer series paper (different colour) at the bottom of the sketch, and a different sentiment. I was quite pleased with this card to add to my stash. Guy Greetings is a big favourite on my shelf, with some fun masculine images but even better sentiments, including some for relatives.

When I made the next card, I changed the orientation of the patterned paper to down the left side and laid circles on top with a flower cut with the Flourish Thinlets. Such a lovely set of dies, there would be all sorts of variations you could make, with leaves or another of the flowers. The Clear Faceted Gems had just arrived and I was keen to try them out, they do make a nice flower centre.

This CASE of my CASE has had the orientation of the whole card changed from portrait to landscape. The patterned paper is a lot wider, and the circles have been placed on squares, with the feature (stars and rooster) from Wood Words also raised.

It would be difficult to pick that my third card had been inspired by Kris McIntosh at all, and yet she was responsible for reminding me of some design principles. 

1. Use items in odd numbers such as three or five.

2. Use colour unevenly - Gallons, quarts and pints (measurements I understand because I am old enough to remember before Australia went metric). Doesn't seem to convert as well to litres and millilitres. Kris used a lot of white, a medium amount of Crushed Curry and a little Black. In my card above I have used a lot of Crumb Cake, a medium amount of red, and a little white.

In summary then...

WHAT is CASE-ing? To Copy And Selectively Edit is one explanation. Another is to Copy And Share Everything. There is nothing wrong with doing it in the crafting world, but people appreciate being given credit for it.

HOW is by looking for a sketch, picture colour scheme to inspire. The Stampin' Up!® catalogue samples are fair game as they have been produced to help sell the product and the artist has been paid for their work. It is good manners to acknowledge another source, perhaps even contact them. I am much happier if I've been mentioned as the source of inspiration, with a link back to the post on my blog. I have done the same here for Kris.

WHY is because you need to make something and you just can't think. Sometimes its for a sad occasion, or a momentous one, and maybe it's just because you'd feel happy if you made something pretty.

I hope this has been a helpful post, I'd love you to leave a comment with your thoughts on the topic.

Keep on crafting

Rachel