Moments For Wishing Colour INKspiration #03

Already our 3rd challenge at Colour INKspiration. We are a group of Stampin' Up!® demonstrators creating paper projects, inspired by Pinterest colour combinations. Loved this one as I have just returned from a lovely relaxing time at the beach with my hubby, eldest son, delightful D-I-L, and their three cherubs. So, in truth it wasn't always relaxing, but it is probably a lot better having at least one adult per child (and a spare). I'm the person who arranges crafting activities and quiet time reading, I'll leave the action to the others, thanks. So this lovely cafè scene is perfect for me...

I had the opportunity to make a card using Mediterranean Moments (they're my favourite kind of moments!!!) stamped and die cut with the Stitched Shape Framelits Dies. Have you heard that they are FINALLY back in stock? Just add  item#145372 to your order. In Australia they retail at $50.00 but I'm sure you'll get good value from them.

I love colour, but often feel overwhelmed by more than 3 colours at a time. Do you relate to that? In case the graphic is hard to read, the colours this week are Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Soft Suede, Peekaboo Peach and Whisper White. That's why I thought it would be a great challenge to participate at Colour INKspiration, and you can too (just check for the link at the end). I've developed a system of picking each of the ink pads from the shelf, and studying them, piled at the end of my table. Now you don't need to use lots of each colour, but after I had completed my sweet scene, it seemed a little bland with only the cushions water coloured Peekaboo Peach. The difference stamping a part of the sentiment from Balloon Celebration made was amazing!

Sometimes its fine to leave the card base plain, but the brick work from Ghoulish Grunge very subtle in Soft Sky on Soft Sky, with paint drops (not blood) in Marina Mist, from the same stamp set, seem to add some interest. Unfortunately, Ghoulish Grunge was a Holiday Catalogue item and is no longer available in my online shop. Such a shame, as it complements several of the Occasions stamp sets very nicely.  Don't miss out on anything you fancy in the current Occasions Catalogue.

These blogs are going to post at 7:00pm on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month. You can join in and post your creation on FB here.
Now it's time to head over to check out Bronwyn's amazing work

I hope you do join us

Happy crafting

Rachel

Project Life CTC#78

This week at CASE-ing The Catty we are looking at Project Life. I often prefer to scrapbook traditionally but I have to admit that Project Life is a great system for keeping up-to-date with memory keeping. It's a little bit sad that the current generation is the most photographed and yet those photos are rarely printed out. 

In 10 years time, when your iphone has been replaced and the computer updated and technology has done another about-turn, you might not be able to access those photos. It really is time to print those fun, family shots from your phone,so you'll have photos of your son and daughter to show to their children.

It doesn't have to be difficult. Start with a 6" by 8 " album, some page pockets, Project Life cards and a journaling pen. Maybe it is something you can actually do with family? I had my grandson,Logan, write his name to place next to photos of his very first day of school. I told him he could draw a picture or anything he liked, but he wanted to show off his writing.

Recently I attended  Stampin' Up!® Onstage in Sydney and shared a room with fellow team member and friend, Kathryn Mangelsdorf. I thought it would be a fun idea to make us some Project Life cards to use with photos we would take at the Onstage Event and in the days before, when we were sight-seeing around Sydney.

I didn't know whether Kathryn was using Project Life or not, but I do know she travels a great deal. It's another of the things we have in common, besides a love of paper, stamps and ink. As we chatted, I was a little disappointed to hear that she doesn't print her photos, just enjoys them on her computer. I wasn't sure how she'd feel about the small 6" by 8 " album I had made her, with some pages and the stamped cards I'd added to the pages. I stamped with Let's Get Away and Day To Day for two cards. Both those stamp sets are retiring at the end of May, if stock isn't depleted prior to then. Day To Day has a replacement stamp set, but there is nothing similar to Let's Get Away, so if you think you might need it for travel pages, today might be the day to pop into the Online shop to check out retiring stock - there are bargains to be had! The Project Life stamp sets, there are 7 of them, are listed under Project Life in the alphabet. On Kathryn's card with the world and a banner, I left the banner blank. On mine, I used the Alphabet Rotary Stamp, (#133769 $26) also retiring, to stamp 'Sydney'.

I used the heavy card from the 12" by 12" Project Life pages bags for the covers. The paper covering them is from It's My Party Designer Series Paper Stack, in such a lovely pattern and shade of Mint Macaron. Enjoy The Little Things has been stamped onto a Whisper White circle and another piece, die cut with Lots Of Labels Framelits, was stamped lightly with Birthday Blooms and Dear Friend at the bottom. Enjoy the Little Things is not carrying over to the Annual Catalogue, but Birthday Blooms is. The SALE-A-Bration glitter washi adds a touch of glimmer and a wooden butterfly left over from a stamp kit finishes the decoration. There is a closer shot further down the post.

It was drizzling on Thursday morning when we arrived, not the weather we'd been promised, so neither of us had an umbrella. That made for a slightly damp wander down to the Opera House after a beautiful breakfast (and some rather funny photos of two drowned rats!)  After we'd become sufficently wet, the sun came out and it became quite warm and humid. Some of the accessory packs include letter stickers which are handy for a quick title, if you don't want to use your Little Letters Thinlets, which are also on the retiring list.

On Friday night, we were again in the vicinity of the Opera House. It was a hive of activity and we weren't able to get seated anywhere, so we headed down to the end and watched a huge cruise liner as long as the Harbour Bridge, and too  high to go under it, leave port. It took some time, so when we returned we were able to get a seat at the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar, and ate a delicious meal of Barramundi and rocket salad, accompanied by a glass of champagne so we could use the card I'd made with Balloon Celebration and the retired stamp, Making Spirits Bright. The other cards on this page are from PL Moments Like These Card Collection. They are available now and will also carry over into the new Catalogue (refer to pages 162- 167 for Project Life.

 I know that Kathryn was thrilled with her gift and I do hope she jumps onboard with Project Life soon. Photos are so much better printed out, I often sit with my travel albums or share baby photos with my grandchildren. I had intended to make one of these albums for me as well, but I've realised that with two days of Sydney sight-seeing, plus a great Onstage where I celebrated my fifth anniversary with Stampin' Up!® by walking across the stage, there are just too many photos for a 6" by 8" format.

If you are just thinking about starting on Project Life, one of the 6" by 8" albums would be perfect and manageable. Choose an event - a special birthday, family Christmas or other celebration, a year in the life - there are lots of possibilities. Do you need some help? Ask your demonstrator if they use Project Life, or I am happy to try to answer your questions too.

I have to say, two big 12" by 12" albums managed to get 4 years of photos out of a shoebox and into order. Slowly, I am working my way through adding in journalling cards and notes as I remember anything significant.
So what will you do if your computer crashes or you lose your phone? I might be able to help you get started, just ask.

If you live in Australia, and want to place an order you can go to my online store anytime of the day or night. The Hostess Code for this month is ZGGAABEE


If you would like to share your creations with us at CASE-ing The Catty, you can link here

   

 Now head on over to see what Monique is sharing this week (I think it might be a card)

Cheers, Rachel

Have A Cuppa With Me CTC#76

Welcome again to another round of CASE-ing The Catty. Each week the crew take inspiration from a section of a Stampin' Up!® catalogue. Currently we are working our way, section by section, through the Occasions catalogue. This week is Have A Cuppa, pages 34-37. CASE is an acronym which stands for "Copy And Share Everything" and we hope by sharing what we have CASE-d, you'll be inspired too.

It has been a while since I used my Banner Framelits, and looking through those pages for inspiration, I spied the Mother's Day sample on page 36. The pink one was the start of an idea, to use a banner for the sentiment and hearts somewhere, and so the idea began to grow.

There are a couple of cups, a mug, teapot milk jug and cutlery amongst some of the cute bits and bobs in the Cups And Kettles Framelit Dies. Being a tea aficionado, and it must always  be made in a tea pot, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist this set for too long. I'm very sad that it hasn't made it into our new Annual catalogue, and will be unavailable after May 31st.

Isn't it clever the way the sentiment from Balloon Celebration suits this so well? You can change it to coffee, champagne or hot chocolate too!

I cut two of each mug and on one of each colour, die cut the heart, and popped it onto the other colour. Then I couldn't resist adding a couple of Botanical blooms to make it prettier.

Back on page 34 there is a large picture featuring a half dozen different projects made with A Nice Cuppa and the Cups & Kettles Framelit Dies. Banner Framelits came in handy again for the card on the left, and a little flower from Birthday Blooms.

My Farewell Favourites class on May 19th or 20th, both at 7pm includes one of the cards on the Soft Sky background. My regular class voted on a selection of ten cards/stamp sets at the last class and came up with A Nice Cuppa, Six-sided Sampler and Vivid Vases,

The paper I've used is retired, but soft florals was what I wanted and Attic Boutique was perfect. Unfortunately, it's not in the Clearance Rack, but there are other soft florals which would do as well. The stacked teacups can be made in so many combinations with the different dies. This is sweet and simple with some more of the Attic Boutique paper and a paper doiley cut not-quite-in-half. Both of these cards have greetings from Balloon Celebration. A Nice Cuppa is retiring at the end of May, so if you love this stamp and/or the framelits, best you head over to place your order. If your order is less than $250, please use the hostess code and you will receive a small gift from me.
Hostess Code: ZGGAABEE

I hope this has inspired you to get crafty too, You can share your projects with our crew here

Cheers, Rachel

If you're going in reverse, you'll be heading back to the lovely Liz -and let me tell you, her projects are fabulous!

    

Or you may be just starting and want to travel forward so you're off to see The Paper And Stamp Addict, Rebecca now

Forty JAI - Just Add Numbers

 It's a year of numbers for our family with a couple of 40th's in the early part of the year, someone turning 60 near the end of the year and those six grandchildren too. It's just fortunate that Just Add Ink are also keen on numbers with their challenge this week - just add numbers. My eldest son turned 40 just 3 days ago, and I was sure that this clean card would appeal to him. This card was in my January class too, and the ladies loved the heat embossing and rubbing colour on with sponges. The stamp set is Balloon Celebration and it has this strange stamp in it which reminds me of bicycle spokes, but might be a ball of string. I was just looking for an abstract and open type of shape, so this was very suitable.



There is a thin sliver of the black glimmer paper which was in the previous mini catalogue just above the stamped panel, but the numbers were die cut from basic black. I cut three sets of numbers and glue the layers together, which allows them to stand out from the card quite nicely. The sentiment from Number of Years is a lovely one, so I've added that to the inside. I'm having lots of fun adding numbers to my cards, why don't you join in this Just Add Ink challenge too?

Cheers, Rachel

Visit Rachel Palmieri-Independent Stampin' Up!® Demonstrator Australia's profile on Pinterest.

SAB Botanicals Are Just For You CTC#66

This week at CASE-ing The Catty we are sharing another SALE-A-Bration pick, whether it be a stamp set, one of the papers or even Project Life - they're all available for you to pick when you make an order of $90. If you happen to be mad for everything in the Occasions catalogue, you can pick an item for every $90 you order ($180 = 2 items, $270 = 3 items, $360 = 4 etc). If you get as high as that, maybe you should have a chat to me about joining up as a demonstrator, Stampin' Up!® welcomes and supports all types of demonstrators from the hobby demo buying crafting supplies at a discount, through to those making it a full time business. During SALE-A-Bration you get to choose $60 extra, choose $295 of any products from the Annual Catalogue and/or the Occasions Catalogue and pay only $169. Of course, if you prefer to be a customer, you can purchase your supplies through my online shop, or by contacting me, you just need to have a delivery address in Australia.

I was rather impressed with this sample from the catalogue, it is so simple but sweet. If you also like this delightful "Hello" you'll need to put your $90 in pronto, as this SAB freebie won't be available after February 15th!

Unfortunately, I have trouble keeping my creations simple, and I did add three colours and quite a bunch of flowers!!!

Using Watercolor paper and Versamark, the big statement stamp from Botanicals For You was stamped and heat embossed in white. With watercolor paper, there is no need to swipe your embossing buddy over first, the paper has a different composition to regular card. For the watercolor wash, you use an Aqua Painter and squeeze the ink pad with the lid closed, causing some ink to be deposited in the lid. Then you can splosh around to your hearts desire, leaving the colour bold with little water added, or more subdued by using more water. I decided on three shades for my watercolouring, and took up a larger part of the card front.

Instead of the very subtle white butterflies, I went with nearly-as-subtle pastel flowers.The flowers are from Botanical Builder Framelit Dies, and there are so many styles of flowers, stamens and leaves to choose. There are three here in colours to match the inks used, and a ferny leaf the same shade as the card base.

The Botanicals For You fits in so nicely with Botanical Blooms, you'll need them both! Another quick CASE, this one from page 5 of the SAB catalogue. The flowers are like the illustration, but I wanted to see what I could come up with for the boys. These balloons from Balloon Celebration, and stars from Pictogram Punches and Something To Say are great alternatives, and I'm sure there are many more.

If you like doing bloghops in reverse, you'll be clicking on the 'previous' button and heading to visit Helen Heil, but if you've already been there you need to click on 'Next' and head on over to Kathryn Mangelsdorf.

    

Starting this year we are doing a monthly challenge. If you have been inspired by any of the projects in the catalogue or on the blog hop, feel free to share with the linky tool on this post. A winner will be chosen and announced on the first post of the following month.

Cheers, Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Big Bunch Of Balloons (Or One With The Lot!)

I love birthdays! Not just mine, but my children's and grandchildren's. This week it is Logan's birthday, our little Valentine is turning six. I might have become a little carried away with the balloons, but they are so lovely and bright in those primary shades that I found it hard to stop. Stamp, punch, place.... I just kept on going. There are even some leftovers on my table!!!

It seems that SUO Challenges are also fans of birthdays, and I've decided to pop my card into the challenge.

 Balloon Celebration has several different balloons in the set, and a matching punch for two sizes of balloon, which was why it was so easy for me to make a stack of balloons. Large Number Framelits to cut the big 6 out and Tags and Labels Framelits to sit the number on.


And when you're six, it's all about what you'll be getting, so the big bold 'Yay presents' from Party Wishes is on the inside of the card, along with a few more balloons.

If you need any of these supplies to make some cards of your own, you can click on the links below, which take you to my AUSTRALIAN Online shop.Don't forget that if you purchase any of the stamp/framelit or stamp/punch bundles, they are 15% off.
Wishing you a happy weekend

Cheers, Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Baby Bear Turns One FMS#222

My littlest nephew is turning one next week. He had his first haircut last week and no longer looks like a baby - he's a toddler!!

I have so many birthday cards to make over the next few weeks, S-I-L celebrated 3rd February, Logan is 6 on the 14th, Stephen is 1 on the 17th, Xavier is 8 on the 21st, Matthew is 40 on 2nd March and Alice is 3 on the 8th March. Balloon Celebration with the matching Balloon Bouquet Punch is my life saver!
I haven't made up my mind yet whether I prefer a punch or a die, but this Balloon Bouquet Punch is fabulous for using up scraps of card, so I have a container of balloons already punched sitting on my table.

Last night, looking for inspiration, I found the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. Aussie Narelle is responsible for this little beauty, and although there are a lot of pieces layered onto this card, I hope it's still 'fresh' enough.
The colours were drawn from the patterned paper, a lovely retired Christmas DSP, All Is Calm. I love these soft, sweet shades. I used the Little Number Thinlets and cut a space in the large balloon so the number lays flat. There was already so.o.o.. much texture happening here, we didn't need any more.

The littlest bear from Bear Hugs has a hold of his birthday balloons and he's grounded by the banners. It's so handy having an easy-to-use banner stamp, and this one is from Number Of Years. I have been using that stamp set most of the time for birthdays, but this little guy needed a petite numeral. The birthday sentiment from Boys Will be Boys fits perfectly inside the banner, always handy when you want to stamp something quickly.

Don't you love the stamped shading on the balloons? Oh, and did you know that if you buy the stamp set and punch together, you get a 15% discount, how good is that!

Cheers, Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Balloon Celebration Fusion

 That's a fun inspiration picture by Fusion Card Challenge. I've taken the colours, and the party theme from the inspiration photo and grabbed my new stamp set Balloon Celebration. I'm slightly mystified by the wheel-like images I've used and would love suggestions as to what they might represent. I've just used them as a random geometric shape and heat embossed those and the group of stars in black. Once it was set, I rubbed Watermelon Wonder, Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo, with colour on a sponge. There are 28 images in this photopolymer stamp set, some are outlines, some are solids. There are several versions of the balloons, two sizes, then an outline, a solid, and a shaded version in both sizes. It gives you lots of options to make a great big bunch of balloons. The stars are solid and outlined too, and then there are a heap of options for what we might like to celebrate with - tea, chocolate, coffee, champagne, cookies or cake. All great ideas, yes? I went with the rather simple balloon string which says 'let us celebrate'.

I began the colour-resist with a 2 inch strip, but decided it was too wide for my card front, which left me a narrow piece for the inside of the card. I do like it when it works out like that, all co-ordinated. 

This stamp set is also bundled with a Balloon Bouquet Punch at 15% discount, and I used that to punch a balloon from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper, Watermelon Wonder and Melon Mambo. The two cardstock balloons were stamped with the shaded balloons.

I'm not quite sure who this will be for yet, so I'll hold off with the additional sentiments on the inside until I know who will receive these birthday greetings.

Don't forget to let me know what you think the image represents!!!

Cheers, Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

40th Birthday CTC#61

CASE-ing The Catty is back from our short holiday break, reinvigorated and ready to create for another year. I do hope your holidays have been happy, and that you've been able to enjoy the perfect amount of family and friends, as well as a little time-out for yourself. Our design brief for this week was to choose a favourite from the NEW Holiday Catalogue. Have you seen it yet? Not forgetting that SALE-A-Brations kicked off at the same time. If you live in Australia I'd be happy to mail you one of each, send me an email with 'catalogue' in the subject line, followed by your postal address in the body of the email.


Birthdays don't take much of a holiday in my large family, and we've already kicked off the month with a 40th, for a very lovely lady. When I spied this set of stamps and matching framelits at Stampin' Up!® Onstage Live last November, my mind immediately turned to this particular birthday and my son's 40th in March. Then there'll be a 60th late in the year, and so it goes on. I've been enjoying using the Little Numbers Thinlets on kids' cards, but the Number of Years set is large, dramatic and ready to make a BIG statement!

Beginning with those numbers, I stamped Blushing Bride onto thick Whisper White, and once it was cut out (and admired lots by me) I added some Wink of Stella. This is a new, subtle glittery pen/brush in the Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalogue. So far I've only 'invested' in the clear version, but we also carry the gold, and no doubt that will find its way to my house at some stage soon!!!

It is also very challenging to capture in a photograph too, I've discovered.

I CASE-d the card on the most left of page 8 in the catalogue, using Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper, along with a retired paper in Blushing Bride. The central panel appealed to me, and the patterned paper took away the need to stamp here. Deciding how I was going to 'ground' the numbers, I spied white tags, which were sitting in a dish on my work table, and 40 sits nicely on the tag.

I saw the "let us celebrate" going through the "birthday" on Artisan Krista Frattlin's blog. This select group of demonstrators always inspire me. However, it seemed to look messy on my card,so I've separated them this time. I'm glad Krista brought that particular stamp in Balloon Celebration to my attention, I think I'll use it lots. The "th" on the flag attached to the number is how it was used on an anniversary card on page 10, so ideas have been gleaned from many sources. I know many on the design team have CASE-d this card, it will be a VERY popular bundle I think.

When I make cards for my family members, I generally layer the inside up with one or two layers of card too. Can't do that so much in classes or the ladies would be here until the wee small hours!! I used Lost Lagoon and then white, with a 2cm strip of the fabulous floral to tie it all together. Maybe my card has also inspired you to take it in another direction, and great if it has. All I ask is, if you blog about it, it is polite to acknowledge the inspiration source, and link back to the blog, like I have with Krista's, even though she lives in Canada and is hardly likely to ever see my work.

Now, perhaps you started here with me, and you'd like to visit the previous blog of Judy May. 

If you'd like to travel forward, you're heading off to Bronwyn Eastley at AddINKtive Designs

Cheers, Rachel

If you can't wait to get some of these goodies in your hands, and you'd like me to be your demonstrator, you can shop in my online store here. Australian buyers only. My phone number ifyou have any questions is 0417 500 681. If your order is less than $250, it would be great if you used the Hostess code 4G296SCD when you checkout.

The email address if you're in Australia and wanting those catalogues sent is rpalmieri5@bigpond.com

   

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog