Blowing Wishes Your Way JAI#252

It was so much fun colouring the bird (see it here) from Time To Celebrate, I decided to continue another stamp from that hostess set, the hot air balloon using the sketch at Just Add Ink.

The Stampin' Write markers were what I wanted, especially because the fine tip on these is VERY precise. Stazon Black ink is needed for stamping when you use markers. I pulled out an Aquapainter when I'd finished to soften the plain sections of yellow (So Saffron) and aqua (Coastal Cabana).

I felt that some clouds were needed too, so out with a sponge dauber and a mask made from a scallop circle. I'm so glad I hung onto the stamp set with the sentiment, 'blowing wishes your way.' Perfect with this image.

I think the next stamp from that set I might use is the big cake.
Cheers
Rachel

Happy Birthday, From All Of Us! CTC#20

Each week at CASE-ing The Catty we turn to our Stampin' Up! Catalogues for inspiration. We'd love it if you joined us in CASE-ing The Catty too!

This week we are seeking inspiration from the SALE-A-BRATION Catalogue, and use Blendabilities  and Framelit Dies in your project. You can copy exactly, use a sketch or layout as an inspiration starter, or maybe a colour combination to create a card, scrapbook page or 3D item. Then just share in your write-up which sketch or colour combination inspired you.
Check out page 18 for inspiration.

Our challenges close at 5pm Thursday (AEDT)

• Create a new project for the challenge
• Mention CTC in your blog post and link back so others can join us
• Mainly SUO products (retired or current) to be used for these challenges

When I go away from home, for a weekend of R & R, I take a plastic box, containing all my Blendabilities, a spare pad of Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and a couple of stamps, along with a pack of Whisper White. At our getaway, there already is a basic kit of essentials (SU Trimmer, SU Scrub, SU mist and some stamp pads) because I hate to be wasting precious stamping time if the weather is too cold, too hot, too wet!!!! Get the picture?

When I realised this week's challenge used Blendabilities, I was already half-way there, with this stamped and coloured image From The Herd just waiting to be placed on a card. I love this stamp to bits, but I wonder what you think. 

The 5 inch by 5 inch format allows more of the image to show and I just HAD to have the Llama and the little bird in the group. Just like in the catalogue I've used the Window Frame Collection, the 3rd and 4th from the centre and with my paper piercing tools and the Festive Template, it's so easy to add interest to the frame. 

Again, taking a cue from the catalogue, the background has been stamped with a phrase, 'party animals' and a party hat from the stamp set, From The Herd. Originally, that was how I finished this card, but after looking at it again, it cried out for 'Happy Birthday' on a banner, fixed with a glue dot and button. There are plenty of sentiments included in the stamp set, so inside I've stamped 'from all of us'. 

You can see this stamp set and more sample cards from the designers on page 15 of the Occasions Catalogue. Do you think you would use this stamp set for a Birthday or Get Well card?

Would you let me know?

Don't forget, we love having you share your creations at CASE-ing The Catty. Show us what you do with Blendabilities and Framelit dies and check out the Design Team's work.

Cheers,

Rachel
If you choose to shop with me to stock up on your Stampin' Up! supplies (and maybe earn a SALE-A-BRATION freebie) and remember to use the hostess code, I will mail you an additional small gift.

This month's Hostess Code is B3M6SRH7 

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Hello Baby Stephen! PCCCS#133

I was looking for an inspirational sketch for a special baby card I needed to make and came across this one at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge. I haven't ever played along here, but the sketch is fabulous, so I will have to add them to my list of challenges!





This card needed to be special because my husband's youngest sister has finally become a mother. It has been a long journey to arrive at this happy conclusion, and she is so in love with her 'little prince'.

The card Shelli Gardener made recently using Little Baby Bumblebee inspired me to 'dress' him in Soft Sky, with his face stamped in Crumb Cake onto Very Vanilla. The Chalk Talk Framelit made a sweet blanket and it is all attached to a vellum Starburst.


The other stamp set used is Little Sunshine, also available in the Occasions Catalogue through till 2nd June. The Word Bubble Framelits and the long banner from the Gift Card Envelope were handy here for cutting these pieces out. The Painted Blooms Cotton Twine comes in a pack of three colours, and it is so soft in texture, as well as colour.

Hoping to get a cuddle with Baby Stephen this weekend, hope you have something nice planned too.
Rachel

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My Feathered Friend PP233

Just a quick post today for a fairly quick card. It was too hard to ignore the challenge 'suggestion' at The Paper Players, I HAD to use feathers and a bird. This one is another quirky creature that Stampin' Up! artists seem to be favouring currently.


The colours came to me as I drifted off to sleep last night. Bermuda Bay, Perfect Plum and So Saffron look so good together but I can still imagine this bird in many different hues.

Have a happy weekend,
Rachel

Little Buddy's Birthday FMS174 cQc#280

I organised my Saturday so that I did my shopping early, and was home by 10.30, mainly to avoid the heat (and crowds). Then I did my tidying up and by lunchtime I had free time to craft. February/March are very heavy on birthdays in our family, and now there's another one, with a brand new nephew arriving last Wednesday. His safe arrival has been a long process for my sister-in-law and her partner and we wish them much joy with their precious son.

It might be a good idea to build my stock of children's cards, and so I pulled out this often-ignored stamp set Little Buddy Birthday to make a card using the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. I always like the sketches the design team challenge with at FMS and this week is no exception. What about the interesting colour combination at ColourQ? These shades are so rich and regal, but I like the way they balance each other.
Perfectly Rustics have a challenge to use wings, and this little guy has the teeniest wings, so I'll pop it into that challenge too.

The other stamp sets are the retired Up Up And Away for the chirpy sentiment, and Perpetual Birthday Calendar for the spots in different sizes. Those little stamps come in so handy for adding little details. I decided to use some of the gold foil punched into circles to make the gold spots and match up with the starburst circle of gold.

I still have some Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack left and it seemed like this spotty piece really suited the card front, and actually, there is enough white space to write a greeting.

We have an early start on Sunday morning to head out of town and spend the day with a 7 year-old birthday boy. How quickly the years pass!

Have fun
Rachel

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When Life Gives You Lemons......Love Life! CTC#19

Each week at CASE-ing The Catty we turn to our Stampin' Up! Catalogues for inspiration. We'd love it if you joined us in CASE-ing The Catty too!

This week we are seeking inspiration from the SALE-A-BRATION Catalogue, and use buttons or ribbons. You can copy exactly, use a sketch or layout as an inspiration starter, or maybe a colour combination to create a card, scrapbook page or 3D item. Then just share in your write-up which sketch or colour combination inspired you.

Our challenges close at 5pm Thursday (AEDT)

• Create a new project for the challenge
• Mention CTC in your blog post and link back so others can join us
• Mainly SUO products (retired or current) to be used for these challenges

There is a card on Page 21 of the SAB catty using that very cute bear from Cheerful Critters, and I thought it was a pretty cute little sketch too. I decided it was time to get my FREE stamp set (with a $90 purchase) A Happy Thing inked up. You may have noticed that this stamp set is actually only a single lemon, but its so easy to make a mask with a post-it note so that you have a whole bunch of lemons. If you're still not sure how to go about it, check out the picture below, or contact me, I'd be happy to give you details.

After stamping three images with Momento Tuxedo Black Ink, I used the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities to colour the lemons and the Wild Wasabi Blendabilities for the leaves. This stamp is perfect for learning how to colour, as it is shaded where it needs to be darker. If you don't have any Blendabilities, you can get some of them as SAB freebies too, or use Black Staz-on to stamp and use Stampin' Write Markers or ink and an aquapainter to colour.

It almost seems like magic, the way they come to life after colouring. I've used the SALE-A-BRATION DSP too, Best Year Ever for one layer, and some washi tape under that. Those buttons are also in the SAB catalogue, 4 large, 4 small in three colours. I've left off the Calypso Coral ones. The Coastal Cabana was in the DSP, so I popped on a button in that colour. Remember, lots of the items I;ve used are only available till March 31st, through SALE-A-BRATION and each one is free with your $90 order.

Just so you can see how the layers stack up using Stampin' Dimensionals, here's a side view! Oh, and I happened to have a piece of gold Bakers Twine that I had stolen the gold thread from for another project, so I unravelled it a bit more and tied it through all the button holes to give an illusion that the buttons were sewn on.

I do hope you join in and CASE the SALE-A-BRATION Catty, see you in the gallery?

Rachel

This month's Hostess Code is B3M6SRH7 if you choose to use it when you make an online order, and you allow me to contact you, I will post you a small gift to say thank you. Don't forget, SALE-A-BRATION continues till March 31st - one free item for every $90 ordered.

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Stampin' Up! Weekly Deals For 18th February, 2015

I really wanted to share with you the Weekly Deals offered by Stampin' Up! this week, especially if you are keen to try out the little Gift Card Envelope & Trims Thinlet. I think that might be my most favourite item this week, and I use it a LOT! The long banner is fabulous for greetings, especially the Crazy About You stamp set and I've popped gift card envelopes into several birthday cards lately, just to hold a little cash.

My Christmas Version

$55.95/ $41.96

There are several punches worth having on special, and the Arrows Textured Embossing Folder that's great for masculine cards, though I've used it on cards for women too. Is it time to stock up on Gold or silver foil? It always adds such a rich feeling to all your creations. I'd also like to get some of the Typeset Specialty Designer Paper while it is on special too.

If you are wanting a few things (and because I want just a few too) you can contact me by email  or mobile 0417 500 681,with your order and payment details before 7pm Monday night, and I will pay your shipping this time. (You'll need to pick it up from my house in South Morang or work in Thomastown, Victoria though.)

If you just can't pick up your order, why don't you use a hostess code as you submit your order, with low cost shipping starting at $5.95. If you use this code for your online order, I will post you a small gift.

This month's Hostess Code is B3M6SRH7 

Cheers,

Rachel

Love You, Happy Valentine's Day - CMCC#58

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? My husband and I haven't ever really bothered. We were probably too busy with the day-to-day raising of our five sons, and we frequently forget our wedding anniversary too!!! Despite that, I love him and know he loves me.

This card is a sample for the class I am holding tonight, but I might just give it to my love on Saturday, with some chocolates. He'll wonder what's going on!!! My class features the Hello You Thinlets and Crazy About You stamp set, so I've made some other cards to show the versatility of the Thinlets.

Looking at the inspiration picture by Colour Me....! reminds me of a time hubby went out to buy some plumbing supplies and came back with three rose bushes for my garden. He knew I love roses and thought this was more sensible than a bunch of flowers. These roses continue to bloom, year after year, and I have a lifetime of flowers instead of a week's worth. My favourite of the three is the one above. I do have a two-tone flower like the one pictured too, but it doesn't have a sentimental story attached!


I decorated the inside too, with another two layers of card and some stamping using the Hostess stamp set, Time To Celebrate. Love that script, and some hearts came from Perpetual Birthday Calendar.


This challenge gives us some sweet colours to play with, don't forget to have a look at Colour Me...! and see if it gets you creating too.
Have a lovely weekend, however you are spending it.

Rachel

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Floral Fantasy

CAS on Sunday have a challenge with 'flowers', one of my favourite stamping  images. For a bit of a change, this time flowers aren't the focal point, rather the background. Since I have been working on my next few class samples and had the spritzers out and loaded up with  colours - Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay.

It was time I experimented with the SAB Designer Series Paper Irresistibly Yours and so I've spritzed a few different patterns. This is the Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo spritzed and overlapping on the floral pattern paper. So easy, and yet so effective.

Balloon Bash arrived in my order this week, and I didn't waste any time in inking it up. I do like the sketchy-billboard poster look of the sentiments.
 I tried cutting with different framelits but eventually settled for hand cutting and mounting with Dimensionals.


Some sequins add a little sparkle and glamour, and a thin ribbon tied in a casual bow to the side is the finishing touch.
I might try using the Brayer on this paper next.
Cheers...
Rachel

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Happy Day CTS109

I've had such a busy weekend, but I needed some 'me-time' before I organise Sunday dinner. I checked through to Case This Sketch and what do I see, but the delightful sketch you see below. You MUST pop over to see the work by the design team, and the other submissions.

I just had to switch the panel over to suit the way my brain thinks, and picking up my three favourite blue inks, I roughly inked up the long wavy border stamp from Chalk Lines. Continuing the blue theme I stamped and punched out the scalloped oval from Flamingo Lingo. The sentiment, Happy Day,  is also from Flamingo Lingo, but there's not a Flamingo in sight for this simple card. The final decoration is a Petite Petals flower stamped and punched, and finished off with a Daffodil Delight Candy Dot.

Thanks for popping by,
Rachel.

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More Of What Makes You Happy CTC#17

Each week at CASE-ing The Catty we turn to our Stampin' Up! Catalogues for inspiration. We'd love it if you joined us in CASE-ing The Catty too!

This week we are seeking inspiration from the Occasions Catalogue, the Valentines pages. You can copy exactly, use a sketch or layout as an inspiration starter, or maybe a colour combination to create a card, scrapbook page or 3D item. Your card or project doesn't need to be a Valentine, just share in your write-up which sketch or colour combination inspired you.

Our challenges close at 5pm Thursday (AEDT)

• Create a new project for the challenge
• Mention CTC in your blog post and link back so others can join us
• Mainly SUO products (retired or current) to be used for these challenges

For my card, I CASE-ed page 7 of the Occasions Catalogue and that crazy Wood You Be Mine?
picture at the top of the page. It has a hardwood background, totally suitable for a woodcutter, but I chose the gorgeous Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder in Cherry Cobbler. I used the last of the Hello Life sentiments that I stamped at my Team Leader's, so now I have to decide whether to order Hello Life stamp set too. I certainly like this huge sentiment, and paired with the "you can never have too much happy" sentiment from Yippee-Skippee makes a perfect match.


I don't usually remember to use Washi Tape, but I buy enough of it, so very glad to remember to put some on here. I echoed the small banner at the bottom of the woodcutter card,with gold foil and instead of twine I went big and used  the lovely, soft (retired) Cherry Cobbler tulle.

On the inside of the card, I used a sheet of paper from the Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack, the Yippee-Skippee sentiment and a couple of Pictogram Punches hearts. There are hearts in the Hello Life stamp set, but since I don't own it...yet, I've had to improvise.

What inspires you from the Valentine section of the Occasions Catalogue? Will you share it with us in the CASE-ing the Catty Gallery?

Hope to see you there...

Rachel



                                                                                                                           

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Cheerful Birthday Critters

On my 'to-do' list are family birthday cards! My only grand-daughter, adorable Alice is nearly two, so a special card is called for. I haven't had much experience with girls (lots with boys though!) and I've noticed that Alice plays differently to her brothers and cousins. I have a number of handmade teddies about, and Alice loves to collect them up and sit them on stools. I'm not sure what this game is, but it looks a bit like 'school'.

On the other hand, she also seems to think she can be involved in all the rough and tumble with her big brothers, so perhaps she will have the best of both worlds?
It seemed perfect to use Cheerful Critters for her birthday card. Its such a cute photopolymer stamp set, includes some sentiments which are so easy to position because of the see-through quality. Saying that, I haven't actually used any of the words from the stamp set this time. Happy Birthday is from Boys Will Be Boys (Weekly Deal in clear mount $23.21). The number came from Memorable Moments and the 'you're' is part of another greeting (can't remember which). The signs the bear and bunny are holding are perfect for all sorts of messages!

I've had the picture coloured for a few weeks now, just waiting for inspiration on how to finish it off, and that came from the sketch at Retro Sketches, just turned on its side.

I think it's turned out cute enough for our sweet Alice!

Rachel

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Beautiful Blue Balloons

When I saw the balloon dies on the live telecast of the catalogue launch, they were the first thing on my order. Yes, I do know that you can make balloons with a circle and the owl feet. but I want easier than that even.

There is a stamp set called Celebrate Today, which has a plain balloon and another with 'happy'. Then there are big spots or a scattering of small stars to place on your balloon, and two different banners. You can even make your balloon into a hot air balloon! In my opinion this stamp set and its matching framelits are the must have item from the new Occasions catalogue.

I was lucky enough to celebrate a special birthday recently with my lovely family. It was a wonderful (HOT) day and we had a room to ourselves at a restaurant situated in an historic bluestone cottage on farmland at the edge of a river gorge.
Because my six grandchildren are aged from 7 months up to 7 years, I knew that balloons were sure to be a hit with them. I took strips of Pool Party and Bermuda Bay to the balloon shop, the baker and my friend Sally, who made the sweet treats.  Fiddly Bits is her business, making invitations, treats and all sorts of creations from paper. We had these cute Skinny Treat bags made and filled with blue and white jelly beans to give out at the end of the afternoon.


The two four-year-olds from each family took home the balloon arrangements. They loved Gran's cake with blue spots on top and stripes on the bottom and yummy chocolate mud cake inside. We all loved the blue and white jelly bean sweet treats! To keep up to date with my scrap booking, I've used Project Life. It's a great relief that Stampin' Up! sells this memory keeping system now. It helped me to catch up four years worth of scrapbooking over a couple of weekends.

Now I'm waiting on a new album to arrive in an order to begin the next four years of memory keeping.

Thanks for dropping by

Rachel

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Happy Birthday - Yay! FMS171 CMCC56

  

I like to work on something in my craft room every day, but I've had too much else happening to do that recently. After a while, I start to go a little nutty. I took an hour today to put together a card using the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches #171 and colour inspiration from Colour Me: Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Tangelo Twist and Daffodil Delight.

I have several family birthdays coming in the next few weeks, and a couple of friends too, so this card is for a 7 year-old boy. Not too sure if it is quite 'right' for him, but it's a start if I don't think of something else.

I used older Designer Specialty Paper and some lovely new stamps and Framelits from the Occasions Catalogue and SALE-A-BRATION. The tail of the balloon had to be handcut but that was quite easy and there are Framelits and punches for everything else.

I wonder how you clear your head when you have "stamper's block"?
Cheers...
Rachel

 

Jenny Engelke @ Colour Me picked my card!

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