Cheerful Get well

Just a quick post to touch base with you.

This is a card I haven't shown yet, very easy to make using Serene Silhouetes, such a useful stamp set and it doesn't have to be for just sombre occasions either.
I embossed the So Saffron background with the Argyle Embossing Folder, and there is a strip of DSP at the bottom too. Soft Suede was my choice in brown this time and I used a piece of So Saffron ribbon (retired) to tie it all together.

The inside is lightly decorated with a half impression of the image and a second one as a shadow, done by not re-inking between.
The greeting inside is also from a retired set, Whimsical Words. Love the font, love the sentiment, so I keep it in my stash. Maybe you have some favourites that you won't let go too? In case you can't read the message it says, you're never more than a thought away.I use it in Mother's Day cards too, it's so true how your thoughts turn to those who are close to you during quiet moments of the day.

Hope you are having a pleasant day
Rachel

More playing with colour!

Hi there!

Thanks for dropping by.

You might remember last time I was telling you how I started to make one card, and actually ended up with three?
This post I am showing you how to Step It Up, a common term for when you take a basic card and dress it up a bit more, or a lot! *wink*.

So the card to the left was the one I submitted for Freshly Made Sketches #89, some weeks ago now. You will notice that the dimensions of the basic card are smaller too, but the idea was the same.

When I Stepped It Up, I stamped the large blossom from Betsy's  Blossoms onto the large greeting panel, inking once and stamping twice to get two tones of the same shade of Primrose Petals. The greeting from Vintage Verses (retired Sale-a-bration) was stamped in Basic Grey on both, and banners were cut from More Amore DSP (retired) using the Hearts a Flutter Framelits.

The other main difference is the stepped up card has some embellishments added; pearls, Itty Bitty blossom punch flowers, a tiny punched butterfly in Pool Party to pick up that colour in one of the banners and an In-color Dahlia. The edges of the banners were all softened with ink too.

Which version do you prefer?
Rachel

Item#126006 $39.95 AU (clear)

Playing with colour

 Some time ago I made a card, Birthday Banners.
At the time I had a lot of trouble with it because I had started out with a different colour scheme - namely Summer Saffron and Gumball Green.

You see, I was cleaning up and I discovered the little blossom and leaves from Betsy's Blossoms.(See here?) I thought it would look very sweet attached to a banner.

I was making this card to fit with a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and in the end I decided it didn't look clean enough for that challenge and so I made the Primrose Petals and Basic Grey version. There's a bit of a story about that one too!!!! Maybe I'll let you have that story next post.

 I also stamped the large bloom from Betsy's Blossoms on the greeting panel and stamped the greeting from a 2013 Sale-a-bration stamp set, Vintage Verses. You know, the Sale-a-bration sets are only available for a VERY short time, usually Mid-January through to March, but they are well worth keeping an eye out for.

I cut a variety of banners using the Hearts-a-Flutter Framelits out of DSP in my chosen colours and added buttons and pearls here and there.

I'm quite happy with the way this turned out, do you like it?
We have enjoyed tripping around Ireland over the last few weeks, and tomorrow we fly to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Keep on stamping
Rachel

Happy Birthday

It has been a little while since my youngest son's birthday, so I can safely share the card I made for him using new colours and product from Stampin' Up!

They're not so new now, and you can go to my online shop to place your order (if you reside in Australia). Here is the link to my online store. You even earn the same hostess benefits there as you do when you spend $300 with me personally.
The card colour is Bermuda Bay, an In-colour from the time before I was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and  reintroduced in the brights colour family. Its just beautiful!
The inks I used were Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate, Midnight Muses and Basic Black.

I have used the lovely new stamp set Gorgeous Grunge on the front of the card and some of the Epic Day washi tape too.  The greeting is from Label Love and cut out with an Artisan Label Punch. I cut a window out of the card front with my 2½ inch circle punch and used 2 of the hot air balloons out of the now (retired) Up Up and Away stamp set and the greeting was also from the (retired) stamp set Word Play. At the time I needed the card, my new greeting stamps were in transit or I probably would have used the Live the life you've imagined from Really Good Greetings. Aaron is at a junction in his life, so to speak, finishing off his science degree with a year of research on site and in the laboratory, before he moves on to the "Real World".

Happy stamping!
Rachel

  

'Specially Momentous Birthday

Earlier this year, one of the team had a special birthday. You know, one of those that ends in zero?

Now I am far too polite to ask how old a lady is, so I decided not to make a big deal out of the number, and just concentrated on making a suitably "pretty" card for her special day. 

 I seem to go straight to Blooming With Kindness such a lot, just love that gorgeous bloom! I slipped in a leaf from French Foliage (retired) and the greeting is from the (retired) hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes.


To give it a youthful feel, I used the Thumping Technique. Not as drastic as it sounds actually, you quite simply ink up the stamp with the lightest shade, and select a couple of Stampin' Write Markers in shades that either tone, or contrast like this one. Then you thump them onto the image and it gives a lovely mottled effect.

I've made the main card from Naturals white card, and then backed it with a piece of slightly larger Melon Mambo card. All the corners have been rounded off with my corner punch and a piece of Wild Wasabi ribbon tied under the label with the greeting.

Cheers for now,

Rachel

Item#126422 $31.95 AU (clear)

 Remember you can order in my Online Store 24/7

Australian Rules Football Congratulations Rosette

Recently I was asked to make a special card for a gentleman who has been involved in Australian Rules Football for a very long time. In fact, he has played or umpired one thousand games! That is quite some achievement, so obviously it needed to be marked appropriately.
My instructions were few; 1000 games, congratulations and maybe the colours of the Melbourne Football club (deep red and navy) so after a little thought I decided to use the Blue Ribbon stamp set along with Memorable Moments and a small alphabet set that has retired.


Midnight Muse was the Blue I used, both card and ink. The scalloped circle and ribbon were hand cut to remain in the one piece. The centre of the scalloped circle has been stamped with another of the stamps from Blue Ribbon, in Sky Blue, and there is also a congratulations stamp to fill in the ribbon part of the main stamp.

I had stamped the background of Crumb Cake with stamps from Gorgeous Grunge using Cherry Cobbler and Midnight Muse and then it was just a matter of assembling it all.

My biggest challenge was using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get all those zeros in a nice line, it did take three shots before it worked out! The red I used was Cherry Cobbler,again for both card and ink.
I decided to have a go at pleating some card using the Simply Scored and it was quite easy. I needed to cut two strips and after scoring and folding, join them so there were no ends. The middle was squeezed into a tight circle and held with some hot glue and everything just fell into place. I think it makes a  real statement!

I'm glad you have dropped in to read my blog
Happy Stamping
Rachel

Just Add Blokes #176

Hi there!
I am cleaning up my craft room and found these pieces I was working with last weekend, when I had a special order card (which will appear on my blog in a few days time).
I had been flicking through the challenges and found the Just Add Ink challenge, Just Add Blokes!

When I made my other card, I had tried a dry embossed piece of Crumb Cake and a smooth piece, and I chose the smooth, leaving this piece, embossed with the Lattice Embossing Folder and stamped with Gorgeous Grunge stamps to use on another card. The ink and card colours are Midnight Muse, Cherry Cobbler and Crumb Cake, quite a blokey combination.
By the way, bloke is an term of endearment in Australia/New Zealand for any male really. When Julia Guillard was Prime Minister of Australia, her male partner was always referred to by the press as First Bloke.


I decided to add some to my already stamped and cut rosette from Blue Ribbon Stamp set by winding some linen thread around a wide banner cut from the Midnight Muse DSP stack, popping an arrow paper clip onto that as well and adhering it all together. Visit again in a few days to see my one-step-up version.

If you are needing a stamp for Father's Day cards, male birthdays, graduations(male or female) Blue Ribbon on page 17 of the new catalogue might be the stamp set you are after. Its $39.95 for Clear mount and $49.95 for wood mount. You can place orders through my online store here.(Australian delivery only)That link will take you directly to the Blue Ribbon Stamp set if you'd like to take a look.


My husband and I are off  tonight on a trip to Ireland, England and finishing in Paris tonight leaving our sons at home to look after the pets, such a good arrangement!
I have scheduled blog posts to occur from time to time so if you are a regular visitor to my blog, there will still be something new for you to see.

Cheerio for now,
Rachel

August Promotions

We knew that Stampin' Up! was promoting the Designer Series Paper in the US, but no one seemed to know if Australia would also be offered this promotion, so it was a lovely surprise this morning to go online and see that for the month of August only, you too can buy 3 packs of DSP and receive one free!! 

You don't think you can use that much DSP? Get together with friends, there is nothing to stop you ordering together and dividing them up any way that you like.

Click on this link to go straight to the Paper Promotion in my online store!

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Unfortunately I haven't been able to post a pic of the stamps but you can see them if you click on the link below. There are some recent favourites, as well as some more recent images.
August - Best of 25 Years - Shelli's Favourites
Both sets offered earlier are still available, the Best of Flowers and The Best of Butterflies.
This is where you can shop for these.
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Sorry there is no card to share this post,
Cheers
Rachel