Birthdays - CTC91

Hello again, I notice you've popped in to check out what we're CASE-ing at Case-ing The Catty this week. So nice to see you here! Did you arrive from Judy May or is this your starting point? The crew are still really enjoying this years catalogue, it is my favourite EVER, but I might just say that every year.... We are CASE-ing birthdays, and I have enjoyed making a couple of simple cards for the hop, which you will be able to CASE easily too.

I've used the Celebrate Today stamp set, which is shown on page 18 and also has 4 co-ordinating framelits if you'd like an easy way to cut the balloon, banner or tassels. For my balloon card it has been kept very, very simple. I didn't even texture emboss the base card, or use twine for the balloon because there is the cutest little spotted bow stamp in this set. This is one of those cards you can put together in 5 minutes before you rush out the door. Fabulous for beginners, just as lovely for an experienced stamper to step-it-up.

For my second card there have been a few changes. There is a layer of Peekaboo Peach added between the 'art piece' and the base. I've stamped less banners (because it looked an absolute mess on the two I tried before this one!) CAS is more my regular style I think. I wasn't in the mood for stamping and die cutting all the tassels, so instead chose to pull the cake image from Endless Birthday Wishes, and lightly water colour. Nevertheless, it was totally inspired by the catalogue picture.

I wonder what Kelly is sharing with us this week? I do love her creations.

We always love to see your work, so if you'd like to share, this is your link to CASE-ing The Catty for August.

Cheers, Rachel

Tri-fold Birthday Card

Today was my second grandson's 6th birthday. I won't see him till Sunday, so I do have a little time up my sleeve, but this morning I decided I would make a dinosaur tri-fold card for his birthday.

This was the first time I had made one and I've pretty much bluffed it all the way, so they're not hard to put together. However, the decorating did take quite a long time, because I kept adding. The original idea involved No Bones About It and a different dinosaur, but once the Sheltering Trees were added, the first dinosaur was too tall. 

Next came the party hat and a cupcake (that's from a stamp set in the Stampin' Up!® Occasions Catalogue, out January 5th). Later I added three balloons, then the large one from Celebrate Today was added to hold the number 6. That is also new, Number of Years is the stamp set, and there is a co-ordinating Framelit set with 2 banners and a set of large numbers. I know I will get a lot of use from this set, with some 40ths coming in the next few months, and it its always fun to put an age on the children's special cards. 

Finally, I added two more balloons, so the balloons equal the number of years. The two smaller balloons are also from the Occasions Catalogue. Balloon Celebration has a few variations of sentiments and balloons, and even better, there's a punch for the two sizes of balloon. You're able to purchase this in a bundle at a 15% discount. I'm a sucker for balloons..... well, this sort rather than the real thing, which can unpredictably pop!

There was a large white space on the inside of the middle panel to write a message, and I used the leafy green paper from Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper to cover two of the front facing panels. I do hope Isaac likes partying dinosaurs, his mum has sent me a photo of his cake tonight and it is a treasure map, so maybe I should have gone down the pirate path!!!!

It is expected to reach 41°C (106°F) here in Melbourne tomorrow,

Enjoy your weekend,

Cheers, Rachel

Don't forget, you can shop for your supplies even during the holiday season. Any image below will take you to that item in my shop or you can shop online here too. There are Year-End Clearance items too!

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Happy Happy Birthday Balloons CMCC#94

There's a card making class at my house tomorrow night and I needed to make another sample using Celebrate Today and those gorgeous Balloon Framelits. This combo. is good for all ages, little and big kids, significant birthdays, new arrivals, graduations and so on.......  I was ready to make it up in primary colours but when I saw this colour challenge at Colour me! I thought it might make for a lively combination. I had to hunt around for some DSP to suit this and took a sheet from Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack for the base, and another from Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack for the top flaps.


 I stamped out a number of balloons in Elegant Eggplant,Watermelon Wonder and one in Pumpkin Pie and then could pick and choose which to use. There are some sweet little banners in both stamps and framelits and I inked up with Stampin' Write Markers. The last little touch was a label from  Day Of Celebration, it says Happy Birthday {All Day}, within another balloon.

On the long rear panel, there is room to write a personal message, but it had to be decorated with Celebrate and a couple more balloons, this time from Balloon Bash. It's a lot of balloons, but no doubt one of the children in my life will enjoy it.

Cheers
Rachel

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Birthday Balloon CTD364

Lately I've been neglecting some of my slightly older stamps and dies. The ColorThrowdown challenge this week is aqua, lime green and coral and this DSP - Birthday Bash, from earlier this year in the Occasions Catalogue, is in those tones, if a little bolder than the sample. Hopefully the Crushed Curry won't disqualify me from the challenge. The Balloon Framelits Dies were introduced in January 2015 along with Celebrate Today, and I have made a lot of cards using them. Now that I have pulled them out again, I might get another batch of cards done using this theme. Celebrate Today has 17 stamps and includes a great variety of sentiments including 'birthday'.

I've decorated the inside too, using the same delightful DSP and a stamp which seems to 'echo' the die cut happy perfectly. "You can never have too much happy" is from Yippee-Skippee, which retired this year, but will stay on my shelf for a while longer.

Thanks for reading my blog
Cheers
Rachel

Pretty Pink Balloons JAI #253

What a fabulous challenge at Just Add Ink. The design team have so many gorgeous cards there for us to admire and get inspired by, do click on the link to check them all.

I could have happily chosen the butterfly for this challenge too, but the Celebrate Today stamp set is another big favourite, especially as it has matching Balloon framelit dies. The  inspiration for me is the cute cushion on the bed, so I've used a hint of gold and  some large spots on balloons.




This card is for my eldest daughter-in-law who to me is a 'hot pink' kind of girl.
She's mum to three of my grandchildren, a great counter-balance to my (intense) son and so full of enthusiasm and energy. For her birthday she was after yoga or running pants and I couldn't resist adding the hot pink crop top you can see behind the card. Yes, even after three kids she can still do a crop top to perfection. Must be all the exercise she does!!!

Thanks for visiting my blog, I'd love you to say "hi' in the comments.
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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HAPPY Birthday CTS#105

I'm so HAPPY that Stampin' Up! gave us some more thinlet words! I first tried them out with the Wondrous Wreath set, and now I'm hooked on the Hello You Thinlets. 
The sketch at Case This Sketch is perfect to show off this large word to it's best advantage. I grabbed the Sweet Taffy DSP to try some different colours, and although I've been a big fan of Blackberry Bliss, it was fun to revisit Rich Razzleberry, which used to be a favourite. The big spot is perfect and the striped paper provided the rest of the palette for this birthday card. The new stamp set Celebrate Today provided the 'birthday'.

You can only just glimpse the inside greeting, but it's "you can never have too much happy" from Yippee-Skippee. To my way of thinking, it is absolutely perfect for this big HAPPY greeting, and the font is almost the same.

How do you think you would use this sketch?

Cheers, 
Rachel

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