Field Flower Fantasy CQC#325

Since I'm on holiday, I have extra spare time - YAY! Bonus crafting time is always good, yes? It coincided with Colour Q posting their latest colour challenge. I love what the design team have done using these colours. Make sure you click on the link and take a look too.
I have been sorting my open packets of DSP, but found very little in Raspberry Ripple or Primrose Petals. Just one little piece of paper, but I do have each shade in ribbon, so managed to come up with that combination. Of course, So Saffron, Crumb Cake and white are all current colours so no problem finding them!



I was absolutely in the mood to use Flowering Fields again, knowing the blooms would fit into the panels created by a framelit from Chalk Talk Framelits. Cottage Greetings provided the sentiment, what a lovely font the birthday greeting has. Did you know that Birthday Blooms uses the same font as Cottage Greetings? More matchy-matchy! It is so handy to have all your supplies co-ordinating like that, ink & card colours, ribbons, brads and now fonts from one stamp set to another.

Now, there's a lot of talk here in Australia that they've used Australian flowers for these stamps. I'll concede that the central flower on my card does look distinctly like the Acacia (or Australian Wattle), while the flower on the right looks like a protea, which would be a South African native. Those flowers on the left remind me of wildflowers I saw growing on the Rockies in Alberta, Canada one summer. I guess I could put more time into researching what the artist at Stampin' Up!® had in mind when designing these stamps, but I'll just go on enjoying them and colouring them how I please. How I pleased today, was to use the thick end of my So Saffron marker to dab colour on the middle flower. Then I needed to mix some Cherry Cobbler and Rose Red to come up with something similar to Raspberry Ripple. I scribbled on a plastic lid with markers and then used an Aqua painter to water colour. The last flower at the very left, I mixed left overs of So Saffron with the reddish shade.

To the inside of the card, I added a piece of Whisper White and a strip of the SALE-A-Bration DSP, Wildflower Fields. From Cottage Greetings is another sentiment saying, "Hope Your Day Is Wonderful".

Finally, after finishing my card, I decided it was looking too clean. Thinking of the old art works by botanists, I've aged it with some Gorgeous Grunge and Crumb Cake.

Cheers, 
Rachel
I'd love you to choose my online shop to purchase from, and when you use the Host Code when asked at check out, I will send you a gift, along with a handmade card. The items listed below were used in my card above, and link to that item in my online shop.(Unfortunately, most are now retired, but feel free to browse anyway)

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Stampin' Up! Weekly Deals - Available Till 30th December

Today I finally feel like I'm on holiday! Our family celebration was held on Boxing Day, to allow my daughters-in-law time to celebrate with their own mothers. We also have to fit around everyone's work arrangements and my eldest son is back at work today (Saturday). The festive left-overs were divided up last night, and this morning I've laundered the Christmas linen and it's flapping happily in the breeze. 

I'm late AGAIN with the Weekly Deals but they are too good to ignore so I will share them late, rather than never. After all, the shop is open 24/7 and the warehouse staff are back on deck Monday morning waiting to pack your order! The reduced prices show up automatically in the online shop.

Favourites of mine from this bunch are the Chalk Talk Framelits, Oh My Goodies stamp set and the Circles Collection Framelits. Even if you don't own the Chalk Talk stamp set, those shapes are great for adding interest to your cards or journal tags. I've shared several of these cards before, but they illustrate how often I use these Framelits. This card has two of the Chalk Talk Framelits paired with two sizes from the Banners Framelits. There is a glimpse of Chalk Talk stamping too but the greeting is from Perfect Pennants. I blogged about this card here, last February.

This next card was made a while back too using Perfect Pennants for the sentiment on a double banner. The tag behind the banners is another Chalk Talk Framelit and it was a perfect way to ground all those elements together. The Chevron Border Punch, Petite Petals Punch and a Hardwood background stamp also made it onto this card.

Lastly, for the Chalk Talk Framelits,  a change of colour and two more shapes paired with those Banners Framelits again! The sentiment is from the Hip Hip Hooray Card Kit and the Confetti Star Border Punch, currently in the Holiday Catalogue will carry over to the Occasions Catalogue,beginning 6th January. Chalk Talk Framelits are $32.21, till Tuesday.

Circles Collection Framelits are useful for all sorts of things. They complement the Starburst Framelits, and can accommodate many a greeting, as you can see with this rather large 'Happy 60th Birthday'.  This card was shared on my blog back in March when my friend Carol celebrated her 60th. Circle Collection Framelits are $34.46.











Oh My Goodies is a very useful stamp set too, I used it here to make this birthday card. Umpteenth is a favourite number of mine - I didn't know it was used universally!!!! A wood-mount stamp set is only $32.21 this week only.

This week would be a good time to check through your Holiday Catalogue to see if there is anything you're wanting as last orders will be taken 5th January. A number of items are carrying over, so you can always ask me for that information.

Email, text 0417 500 681 or leave a message on this post for any questions you may have.

Have fun creating,

Rachel

The prices below are pre- Weekly Deals, the correct price shows in my online shop, but the icons will take you there.

Circles Collection Framelits Die

$45.95

Squares Collection Framelits Die

$45.95

Chalk Talk Framelits Die

$42.95

Banners Framelits Die

$45.95

Perfect Pennants Wood Stamp Set

$51.95

Perfect Pennants Clear Stamp Set

$41.95

Hip Hip Hooray Card Kit

$34.95

Oh My Goodies Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$42.95

Oh My Goodies Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$30.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Coastal Cabana and Pool Party are maybe my favourite colours in the Stampin' Up! range. That is if you don't count Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo......

Get the picture? But I do like these two together and then toss a little silver and rhinestones into the mix, and its magic! I cut a banner from Silver Glimmer Paper and another from the Coastal Cabana.
I punched once with Confetti Stars Punch to let a glimpse of glimmer through. The greeting is from Hip Hip Hooray Card Kit (its been split in two here). Chalk Talk Framelits provided some more cute shapes to ground it all. After threading ribbon through the holes in the silver button, the ribbon was stripped back so the threads are free.
There is a challenge at Stampin' Royalty which I came across by chance a couple of days ago, so I will enter my card there.

Thanks for dropping by,
Rachel








Use hostess code MYJAE96T if your order is less than $300, but you'd like a chance to win free stuff.

Hip Hip Hooray Card Kit

$34.95

Silver Glimmer Paper

$8.95

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

$9.95

Coastal Cabana A4 Card Stock

$11.95

Pool Party A4 Card Stock

$11.95

Chalk Talk Framelits Die

$42.95

Banners Framelits Die

$45.95

Confetti Stars Punch

$37.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Happy Cakeday!

What a pretty inspiration picture The Fusion Card Challenge have this time. Those Peonies are displayed gloriously in the jug and look at the detail on the cupcakes!
Then over at Sunday Stamps it's Pink (and look at those cute little biscuits!)
I already had my pieces water-coloured and almost ready to go, so this was a quick and easy card. I took out a shape from the Chalk Talk Framelit Dies, and the tag was already punched, which was lucky because that shape is retired now! The gorgeous stamps have retired too, but I love the pretty images too much to sell it off - and this sort of cake isn't fattening!!!!
I did use one current (and new) stamp set, Age Awareness, which has some great greetings. I especially like "Thanks, Facebook" because FB does alert me to many a birthday.
The paper is from the Subtles DSP Stack and just to add a little more interest, the corners were rounded with the Envelope Punch Board, and a little paper piercing was placed around the edges.

Hope you're having a lovely day,

Rachel

Subtles Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack

$37.95

Age Awareness Photopolymer Stamp Set

$27.95

Chalk Talk Framelits Die

$42.95

Another Beautiful Blended Bloom

I've continued on with my Blended Blooms creations over the weekend and used this sketch from one of the half dozen on offer for the Paper Players 200th Challenge. I knew I was too late to link it in, (they've picked their winners before I've even posted) so if you've dropped in to read my blog, thank you so much for spending some time here with me.

Nance Leedy chose this sketch as her inspiration, the sketch, way back at Challenge 65, was originally by Anne Marie Hile. When I was making the previous card with the red bloom, I thought the reverse of that DSP from the Fresh Prints Paper Stack would be perfect with the Coastal Cabana range of three blues in Blendabilities. These shades of blue are among my top favourites, but they seem to be the most difficult to blend with these new alcohol-based markers.

I tried leaving the flower on a square of white, then a circle but it really covered up too much of the patterned paper, so in the end I cut the flower out by hand. The greeting is from Really Good Greetings, it comes up a treat when coloured with a couple of Stampin' Write Markers, and the dies from Chalk Talk provide a nice outline for this one.

The finishing touches are a scattering of sequins and a red Glimmer brad. The sequins have picked up some of the colours on the card, but I am looking forward to some coloured sequins coming in the NEW catalogue!!!

Hope your week is a happy one...
Rachel

Pink, Red & White Birthday Wish

Another very sweet sketch by Sara at Try Stamping On Tuesday and I found that my card came together very easily.   I had been stamping with Make a Wish from the Perfect Pennants stamp set and there were some images left over, which I was incorporating onto die cut Chalk Talk Framelit pieces as samples for a class.

Raspberry Ripple (red) makes the banner background with a slightly smaller More Amore DSP banner and a sprinkling of rhinestones and silver Glimmer Paper stars. The Circle Thinlet Die Flip Card has this small star amongst the assortment of dies included with the card. I rather like the bold colour scheme, it makes a statement.

I'm a fishing widow this weekend. so I'm looking forward to some crafting time. We are in for more scorching days, so I won't be out and about too much.
Hope you get time to stamp this weekend too!
Rachel

21st Birthday card

I think this is the first time I have entered a challenge at Seize the Birthday, but I make a lot of birthday cards and the challenge is NUMBERS, and I thought this 21st card would qualify.
I've used Chalk Talk stamp set and Framelits and the numbers and banner have been cut from Stampin' Up! silver Glimmer Paper. There's a layer of glimmer paper under the Bermuda Bay and a layer of Coastal Cabana embossed with a retired Embossing Folder.




Thanks for looking

Rachel

It's All About You! FMS 96 CTD252

The picture that Color Throwdown produced for this week's challenge really appeals to me, but I found it difficult to place all these colours together.
Freshly Made Sketches and a sketch by Amy kicked off my inspiration, so using Coastal Cabana as the base, I added a strip of Venetian Romance DSP in Crisp Cantaloupe. After stamping some balloons in Versamark onto the background, I stamped two images in Basic Black of 'Happy Birthday Cupcake'. One was punched with the 1 3/4 inch scalloped circle, the other with a 1 1/4 inch circle punch and when it had dried, I watercoloured lightly with Strawberry Slush and Crisp Cantaloupe.The balloons and cupcake are from the Sketched Birthday stamp set.

The tags are cut using two different tags from the Chalk Talk Framelits, the large white tag that reminds me of an over-sized food tag, and another smaller curved one in Rich Razzleberry.

The greeting stamp from Really Good Greetings is fun to ink up with Stampin' Write Markers and doesn't it look good with all those luscious shades and fancy fonts?

A scattering of Basic Jewel rhinestones is the finishing touch.


Hope you're enjoying your weekend, as much as I am. All my children and their families are about to arrive for Sunday lunch, to farewell us as we leave on a big overseas holiday very soon.
Cheers
Rachel

Cupcake birthday CTS#36

My inspiration today was CAS(E) this sketch challenge 36, a much 'cleaner' look than is usual for me, but change is good, or so I'm told!!!!
It may look very plain, but I really went to town with my lovely new Stampin' Up! purchases beginning with a very sweet label stamp from Hostess stamp set Morning Meadow,  stamped in Smoky Slate. There are six super sweet stamps in that set, and I just had to have it after I saw some cards made by others.
Next I used the Happy Birthday from Sketched Birthday, stamped in Melon Mambo and cut with the Bitty Banners Framelits, because it fits so perfectly. Create a Cupcake is the next stamp set, it isn't new but its pretty cute with its matching punch and all the different patty tin cases you can put your cupcake into. I stamped the cupcake case next, again with Melon Mambo and punched it out with the Cupcake Builder Punch before stamping the icing in Pink Pirouette, and punching out. Those pieces were mounted onto a tag cut on the Big Shot using the Chalk Talk Framelits, so easy to use multiple pieces with the NEW Big Shot Magnetic Platform holding the framelits in place so beautifully. Lastly I added lots of tiny pearl sprinkles to the icing, and mounted natural card onto Melon Mambo, and that onto Smoky Slate.

Inside the greeting comes from Remembering Your Birthday, I'm not sure if you can read it but it says Today calls for something pink with sprinkles on top! Isn't that cute? Another patty tin case stamped directly on the card but the icing is a spare punched one decorated with multi-coloured sprinkles (Stampin' Write Markers).
I've had a fun day today with a friend over this morning so I made scones with jam and cream for morning tea, yum!
Hope your weekend was pleasant too....
Rachel