Tag It Bundles for Christmas

Packaging at reduced price up to November 30th

For these and other promotions, click on this link.

These two holiday bundles are excellent for packaging treats and small gifts this holiday season.

The Holiday Tag It Decorative Box Bundle $34.95 (item 135811) includes

• Stamp a Tag Kit
• Cherry Cobbler 1″ (2.5 cm) Stitched Edge Grosgrain Ribbon (9.1 m)
• Decorative Window Gift Boxes (6 boxes)

The Holiday Tag It Extra-Large Box Bundle $32.95 (item 135812) includes

• Stamp a Tag Kit
• Cherry Cobbler 1″ (2.5 cm) Stitched Edge Grosgrain Ribbon (9.1 m)
• Extra-Large Gift Boxes (3 boxes)

Madly Mauve in the Secret Garden DD#76

I love these mauve shades that Dynamic Duos is challenging us with this week. They remind me of bunches of hanging Wisteria, Iris, Clematis and all things floral.

I've finally used my Secret Garden Stamp Set and matching Dies to cut the blooms and leaves, after having them on my shelf from when they were released - how long ago? Trouble was, I loved the stamp, wanted to make all the gorgeous things I'd seen on blogs and Pinterest but had too many other stamp sets, and not enough time. Feeling awfully embarrassed about this, I vowed to break it open as soon as possible, and today was that day.

masked image

Its a great bonus having dies to cut leaves and flowers out (Although you still have to hand-cut the inner flowers if you decide to layer that way). Its also a BIG time-saver if you want to create a mask for stamping, as the cut is so exact. Just stamp onto a sticky note, die cut, and place over the original stamped image.
As well as Wisteria Wonder and Perfect Plum I have introduced Basic Gray and a little Whisper White.
One of the flowers has been stamped in Versamark onto lovely thick vellum, by Stampin' Up! of course, and heat embossed with white embossing powder. It has been coloured with a Perfect Plum Stampin' Write. The other flowers were stamped onto coloured card, in the same colour. There are some other smaller punched blossoms scattered about and all finished with pearl centres. Curly Cute stamp set has  greetings in a lovely, fancy font which seemed to suit these flowers.



Thanks for visiting my blog
Rachel

More Zoo Babies

Believe it or not, I have done more today than make cards! I spent an hour or so gardening, enjoying the few rays of sun we saw today. I have cooked tonight, baked a fruit cake AND prepared chicken, rice and ginger meatballs for tomorrow nights dinner.

I have been hanging out to try the Circle Thinlet  Die Flip Card, which was in my order on Friday, and you can order it now too. Because I stamped a number of different images trying to get the first Zoo Babies card 'just right' I have some spares. I used a scalloped framelit which came with the Circle Thinlet Die and laid it onto a 2½ inch circle punched from Crushed Curry card.

On the reverse of that cute little rotating circle is the greeting "you can never have too much happy" - isn't that the truth! That one comes from Yippee-Skippee (and that is 25% off till tomorrow night).

Of course I was then tempted to pull out the Stamp-a-ma-jig and stamp happy in a rainbow of colours. I used Curly Cute and inked it up each time with Stampin' Write Markers.

I learnt a few tricks to make even better use of this die recently, so if you'd like me to show them to you, or demonstrate the Stamp-a-ma-jig, send me an email and we can see what we can work out. Pop over to my online store if you want to grab those stamp sets while they are discounted.

Catch you next time
Rachel

African Tales FMS#109

Oh my! Have I spent a lot of time making this card today!

I needed to make a birthday card for a special little boy turning two next weekend, so I went to Freshly Made Sketches sketch 109 for the starting point. Next I turned to my NEW Zoo Babies stamp set.


 I ordered it at 25% off when they went on sale Tuesday and it was in my hands Friday morning - how good is that? Thanks Stampin' Up! and Australia Post! If you want to take advantage of this BIG sale 25 stamp sets for 25% off, there is still time, but only till this Monday night.

The subject and colour inspiration came from Tinga Tinga Tales a BBC program. **Be warned, if you dare to click on the link there is LOUD noise.** Apparently this is a favourite of Tyler, so I've bought a book (which also was delivered very promptly on Friday ) and used the pictures for inspiration today. It has just taken me several attempts to get a result I was happy with, and I'm not so sure that it is totally clean and simple. Sorry FMS, I have tried very hard to simplify it.


I especially like the monkeys and crocodile in the Zoo Babies stamp set, they are a pretty good match for those in the African Tale. There is a purple elephant with black and red patterned ears too, my version is Perfect Plum and Cherry Cobbler. The croc is a mix of Chocolate Chip and Cajun Craze. One monkey is also Cajun Craze, the other is Crushed Curry. I had to pull out two retired stamp sets for grass (Dinoroar) and leaves (Bloomin' Marvellous) and used a variety of greens including Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive and Gumball Green. The 'Happy Birthday' greeting is from Sketched Birthday: I love the border around it and the fact I can cut it out so neatly with the Itty Bitty Banners die. I tried another DSP in Crushed Curry but decided it didn't have enough OOOMPH! and ended up settling on this Christmas paper Season of Style. The pattern 'speaks' to me of Africa.

Have just finished off the inside of the card and decided to add its picture to the blog. When the card is for someone close to me, I usually step-it-up a bit by decorating the inside fairly elaborately. More Zoo Babies and a greeting from Yippee-Skippee.

Zoo Babies 25% off $36.71 (w)

Now I just have to cross my fingers that the rest of the present arrives before the weekend party!

Hope you are having crafty time this weekend, and don't forget to call 0417 500 681, email rpalmieri5@bigpond.com or go online if you need supplies or want to take advantage of the specials.

Cheers,
Rachel

Peaceful Christmas In Blue CTS#50

Finally! I've made my first Christmas card for the year. Compared to the rest of my team mates, I'm WAY behind, but never mind - I'll get there I'm sure.
As usual, I began with a sketch. Chrissy Larson at CAS(E) this Sketch provided the inspiration, and plenty of creations are on display there. This stamp set, Calm Christmas was on back order but luckily mine shipped during the week. Last night I played about with several shades of blue: Soft Sky,Tempting Turquoise,Island Indigo and Marina Mist.
The 2½ inch circle punch came in handy for creating the peephole in two layers of Soft Sky card (one at a time) and then I dry embossed the top layer with Fancy Fan Embossing Folder. The Peace greeting is only a part of one that is included with Calm Christmas, because I wanted the banner to be a little narrower. It has been stamped onto vellum and attached with mini glue dots finished off with pearls.

I thought I'd include a shot of the inside just in case you wanted a better look at the inside. Really loved making this card, think I will work on a quick and easy version for a Stamp-a-Stack class early in December.

25% OFF 25 Stampin' Up Stamp Sets

I have some big news to share today - the latest promotion from Stampin' Up! 

25% Off 25 Stamp Sets

To celebrate the   25th anniversary of Stampin' Up!, which occurs on 25th October, you can order stamp sets at 25% OFF!!!!

Only until the 28th October though, so ONE WEEK.

Click here for stamp sets!

I didn't know until today which sets it would be and I'm pleased to see a good mix of picture stamps and greetings including many of my most favourite stamps, like Apothecary Art, the new Gorgeous Grunge, Itty Bitty Greetings, A Dozen Thoughts and even the new single Christmas Star which was very reasonable at $16.95 is now even better for $12.71 (Clear mount only, Block F purchased separately), If you click on the picture above it will take you directly to my online store where you can browse these promotions. 

Just remember, it finishes next Monday!

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Envelope Punch Board

Another exciting new addition to the Stampin' Up! range is this Envelope Punch Board, which you can use for more than custom-made envelopes. We all made an envelope at our team meeting, found it fun and easy, which quickly made me decide to add it to my order. It retails for $31.95, can make Christmas Bon Bons too, (if you order from me I will show you how) and you can use the corner punch to round off your card corners too, if you like.
Available to order 29th October

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These Thinlets Card dies, Round and Label (pictured) have been available for some time in the US, so I was very pleased when they were introduced to our range here as well. They make a slightly smaller card than we are used to in Australia, but I am happy to demonstrate how to add another flap, to give you a bit more space to write in.
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Scrapbook Layout

And now I will share a scrapbook layout I did on Thomastown, Co, Kilkenny, Ireland. We visited there for two reasons. The first was a curiosity to visit a village with the same name as the suburb I work in, and the other was Jerpoint Abbey, two and a half miles outside town. There wasn't any similarity to the Australian Thomastown, but the people at the Irish one were lovely, we really enjoyed lunch at the Blackberry Cafe before a delightful visit to the Abbey.

I used the Bermuda Bay card for the lower half of the page and some of the Sale-a Bration buttons because Rich Razzleberry seemed to match my top and the Orange has such a ZING! I made 3 flowers with the Pansy Punch and crumpled them a little before layering them up with Dimensionals and topping with a button. I have been making little tags using Label Punches and the Chalk Talk dies with the Stamp set Around The World.

Cheers

Rachel

An Apple a Day.........Get well RS#86

I haven't been making many cards lately because I have over one thousand photos to scrapbook, from my seven weeks away in Ireland, Scotland, England and France. I had a tough day at work today, and decided a little relaxation was in order, so I have taken the sketch at Retro Sketches and put together this Get Well card.
We had a team meeting last week, and we frequently bring show and tell. Mary had some cards to show, and one had the cutest little paper bow on it, which looked like it was a miniature of the Gift Bow Bigz L Die, in the holiday catalogue. Of course, it wasn't, and Mary was happy to share how she'd made it with the oval punches, so I made one as soon as I arrived home so I wouldn't forget. Thanks Mary, for the tip!

I've used Soft Suede, and Old Olive card with Real Red and Chocolate Chip ink and Tea For Two DSP. I have a bit of a 'thing' for apples on Get Well cards (you know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away) and Stampin' Up! doesn't currently have an apple stamp, so I pulled out the retired Perfectly Preserved and stamped and die cut the apple and leaves. The other retired item I've used is the spiral punch to make notepaper in Old Olive. The cute little journalling note is from Everything Eleanor, punched out with the 2½ inch scalloped circle punch and the greeting is from the Hostess set Express Yourself.

I've used another greeting from Express Yourself inside the card too, Better Get Better, along with a second apple image (see below).
Don't forget to pop over to Retro Sketches for some more inspiration, and thanks so much for visiting my blog.

Have a great week,

Rachel

Express Yourself

Everything Eleanor

Get Well Two Ways For FMS# 106

Do you buy Designer Series Paper (DSP) and then never use it because its too nice and you might run out? I have to confess it is a problem I suffer from, but I'm trying to 'cure' myself!! LOL.  I have forced myself to cut all the NEW DSP I ordered, and have been trying to get it on to cards and scrapbook layouts, after all - I can always order some more - right? 

I really like Birthday Basics DSP and surprise, surprise, on the reverse of some lovely birthday candles is this fresh green flower-sprigged paper, which made me think, "Get Well" card. I Used the sketch by Amy this week, at Freshly Made Sketches for inspiration. Pop over and see what the team did with the sketch. Anyway, partway through my creating I began to have some doubts, and made a second card, using the same sketch, but less of the DSP. I cut two white doilies using the Large Delicate Doilies die and stamped two different  get well messages, but both out of the Express Yourself Hostess stamp set, which has twelve different greetings in a lower case script. I've stamped a blossom, or three, from Flower Shop and punched them out with the Pansy punch, finishing with In Color Dahlias, perfect for flower centres or stand-alone blooms. The lower card has also been stamped with the largest stamp from Daydream Medallion. Ink Colours: Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple.

Now that both of them are finished, I THINK I still prefer the original at the top of the page, but nevertheless, I now have two Get Well Cards for my stash!
Let me know which one you like best.
Cheers
Rachel

If you need any supplies (Australia only) you can contact me 0417 500 681, email rpalmieri5@bigpond.com or even go online .