Favourite Big Shot Project CTC125

Welcome back to CASE-ing The Catty. This week we are CASE-ing our favourite Big Shot project from the Occasions Catalogue. The only problem is that on the 11th April, the Retiring List was released and most of my chosen suite has SOLD OUT! The wood mount stamp set in Nailed It is still available, but no clear mount stamps, nor framelits. You can still get the Urban Underground designer series paper.

The minute I saw this suite at the Onstage last November, they were in my shopping basket! My husband and 3 of my sons are in trades, plus all enjoy a bit of tinkerin' on the weekend, so why wouldn't I grab this one? Added to the fact that my carpenter son had my make a 21st card for one of his employees a few years back and I had to hand cut the hammer and saw!!! So much easier with dies and a Big Shot!

This card was made to show how you can use the stamp set when you don't have a Big Shot. Colouring the various tools was so relaxing with the watercolor pencils, just like using a child's colouring book with these big, clear images. It could also be a really cute card/gift if you left the images uncoloured and tied 3 or 4 pencils onto the card. The big greeting in the middle is from Suite Sentiments, another retiring stamp set, available in woodmount or clearmount.

Because there are small faces included in the stamp set, I challenged myself to find a way to include them. It didn't take too long to come up with this birthday card for a boy, using primary colours and a bold sentiment. Birthday Bright is another stamp which hasn't carried over into the Annual Catalogue, but is still available. I found it hard to understand why Nailed It hasn't carried over into the new Annual catalogue, as it fills a gap in the masculine market but the lesson learned from this is, don't wait too long to order something.

You might like to CASE your favourite Big Shot project form the Occasions Catalogue and share it with us on Facebook.

Next it's time to hop on over to Mel Pagano, I wonder what her favourite is?

Cheers, Rachel

Farewell Botanical Blooms! CI#07

My head is in a whirl, after spending 10 days in wonderful West Australia! I will give you a bit of a rundown toward the end of this post. I was very tired yesterday after having a longer than usual flight home. Landing was delayed due to a bank up of aircraft after storms. Suddenly I realised I was due to have my Colour INKspiration project made and photographed and linked up with the rest of the crew, so while the washing machine also whirls away, I've put together a card using a BIG fave of mine, Botanical Blooms. 

 It was a shock to see that stamp set and the matching Botanical Builder Framelits in the Retiring List, and what's more, they're reduced. I doubt they'll be in stock for very long!  One reason I was able to put my card together quite quickly is that when I have a lot of paper scraps, I roll them throught the big shot with Botanical Builder Framelits and keep them in plastic containers, sorted into colour groups. This challenge features Mint Macaroon, Daffodil Delight, Pink Pirouette and Tip Top Taupe. You might even be able to grab a pack of Tip Top Taupe and Mint Macaroon cardstock before they retire!

Surprisingly, the Banner Framelits leave the catalogue too. The've been price cut to $36 AU for the set. I find them helpful when layering tags. You'll find that Suite Sentiments, which currently features on the last page of the Occasions Catalogue, (hoping your day is perfect) has not been included in the Annual Catalogue. Linked to the stamp name is the clear mount version which is reduced in price, there is also a wood mount version, still at regular price. Suite Sayings in the Annual Catalogue is retiring also. Celebrate You is the sentiment on the tag, and the link is to the reduced clear mount version. All these links are direct to the individual items in my online shop. It would be great if you added the Host Code 3VS77ZH6 and I will send you a gift in the mail.

It was my first trek across our great island continent and I must say, it was well worth it. Initially I was travelling with my husband and we explored around Perth on foot, before hiring a car and heading off for three days in the Margaret River region, staying at Busselton. We saw a large pod of dolphins frolicking near the shore on this evening. Did you know that the jetty there is nearly 2km long and has a train to take you to the end if you choose?

 We enjoyed exploring vineyards and breweries, lighthouses and caves. We even met a Quokka or 3 at Rottnest Island. At the end of my husband's holiday leave, he flew back to Melbourne and my Stampin' Up!® buddies from Adelaide came over to join me. 

Kathryn, Andrea and Caroline are all Adelaide Stampin' Up!® demonstrators, and you may recognise Kathryn from the design teams on Colour INKspiration and CASE-ing The Catty. We toured the Swan Valley for wine tasting and chocolate. Yummo! We went to Fremantle on the train for some sight-seeing, and ate out lots. Kings Park and Botanical Gardens is well worth a visit with delights to uncover around every corner.

                                                                                         

Last Saturday was Stampin' Up!® Onstage in Perth, where 200 demonstrators gathered at the Hilton Hotel for some training and most importantly, the reveal of the next Annual Catalogue. We saw fabulous samples and even had a chance to play with some new products. My suitcase was quite a bit heavier coming home with new stamp sets and swaps inside. We made sure we took a photo of the four Colour INKspiration team members at Perth Onstage. From left it's me, Kathryn Mangelsdorf, Kelly Kent and Nicole Wilson. Our next Onstage is on November 11th and I'm hoping that some of my team members will join me for this one. If you join my team, South'n Stampers before then, you'll be eligible for a fun day of stamping and a bag full of Stampin' Up!® products. There is more information here, or email/call me. I'm Rachel Palmieri, in South Morang, VIC

Cheers, Rachel   

Now you are going to hop on over to the blog of   Bronwyn Eastley                  

Bronwyn Eastley - http://addinktivedesigns.com/2017/04/12/colour-inkspiration-07/

Lou Kitzelman - http://withabowontopbylou.blogspot.com/2017/04/colour-inkspiration-challenge-07-blog-hop.html

Kelly Kent - http://mypapercraftjourney.com/2017/04/12/colour-inkspiration-07/

Nikki Spencer - http://nikkispencer-mysandbox.blogspot.com/2017/04/colour-inkspiration-07.html

Elizabeth Gross - http://lillylovespaper.blogspot.com/2017/03/ci07-colours-from-easter-wreath.html

Rose Packer - http://wp.me/p6g0iC-DN

Jo Stubbings (Guest DT) - http://jostubbings.blogspot.com/2017/04/colour-inkspiration-ci07-colour.html

Denita Wright - http://denitawright.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/colour-inkspiration-blog-hop-ci07.html

Kim Badelt - http://kimsstampingspot.blogspot.com/2017/04/colour-inkspiration-07.html

Jacque Williams - http://wp.me/p65baO-2ph

Rebecca Scurr - http://thepaperandstampaddict.com.au/2017/04/12/ci07-flowers/

Nicole Wilson - http://nicolejuliewilson.blogspot.com/2017/04/colour-inkspiration-07.html

Narelle Farrugia - http://wp.me/p1ikRV-1xk

Rachel Palmieri - http://stampinpals.blogspot.com/2017/04/farewell-botanical-blooms-ci07.html

Sixth Anniversary!

Today is the 6th anniversary of my joining Stampin' Up!® and in all that time I've never regretted that decision. I appreciate the structure of the company, which provides support to demonstrators, while they promote a quality product to help others create beautiful craft. I intended to be "just a hobby demonstrator", until some friends asked to have a stamping date, and that eventually developed into a monthly class. Six years later, I still hold classes, in-home parties for hostesses to earn free products and I have a team who I do my best to help achieve what they want from belonging to the Stampin' Up!® family. Best of all, over the six years, many new friendships have developed with other like-minded crafters, including demonstrators, team members and customers.

It's always more fun to stamp with friends, don't you think?

This month I decided instead of just sending a thank you card to my customers, I would cut up some DSP (that's our gorgeous patterned paper) and make some simple, sweet cards for my customers to send to someone else. Those who were at the parties have already picked theirs. One very clever stamp set, hidden right inside the back cover of the Occasions Catalogue was perfect for the sentiments. Suite Sentiments is its name and the paper pack I cut and used this time is Fruit Stand. This will retire at the end of May, so it needs to be ordered now if you too love the fresh fruity images.

With at least half the cards, I let the paper make the statement. These were the boldest papers which really needed no more embellishment than a piece of ribbon and a sentiment. But then came the stripes and spots, and it was lots of fun to dream up some different dies to dress them up. With the apples, I tried for an apple-like leaf from Vintage Leaves. The stripes in red reminded me of an ice cream parlour and Cool Treats were perfect here. This sentiment, although in the Suite Sentiments stamp set, is designed to co-ordinate with Cool Treats. Isn't that cool?

With the orange stripe, I've used an ornate die from Up & Away Thinlet Dies and the sentiment from Suite Sentiments that matches Carousel Birthday. Isn't it great how they've given us the opportunity to add on to our stamp sets? The other has a partial die from Dragonfly Dreams in copper foil, matched with a copper embossed sentiment on vellum. Lastly, the lemon spots is perfect for another Cool Treats. Fancy a lemon gelati, anyone?

I'd like to offer you this opportunity too, as SALE-A-Bration, which runs from January 4th-March 31st 2017 is an extra-special time to join. You choose $235.00 retail of product from the Annual or Occasions catalogue and only pay $169.00. This order not only has free shipping, it also includes two

extra stamp sets (up to a value of $179) at no additional cost. Your second order earns you SALE-A-Bration bonuses until the end of March, a great way to build your stamping stash. If you discover that this isn't for you, or your circumstances change, there are no penalties for dropping and you keep your purchased products.

There is more information at the top of my blog page, plus a link to join my team. Still not sure? Call me, 0417 500 681 or send an email with your queries.

I am Rachel Palmieri, situated on the northern side of Melbourne in South Morang.

Cheers, Rachel

Colour INKspiration CI #04

Another delightful colour combination from Colour Inkspiration for challenge #04. We are a group of Aussie and NZ Stampin' Up!® demonstrators, creating samples based on Pinterest inspired colour swatches. There is a Facebook group for Stampin' Up!® enthusiasts who would like to share their paper craft projects using the colour combinations. You don't need a blog, and you don't need to be a demonstrator. This colour swatch with the four different pictures and strong shades of purple and yellow was almost too inspiring, I had trouble deciding where to go with it, and was very tempted to use Beautiful You.

Eventually, I decided on Garden In Bloom, a photopolymer stamp from page 146 in the Annual Catalogue. This stamp set has lovely flowers, leaves, butterfly and bee, all perfect for stamping in two-step stamping to fill with colour, or just stamp the outline, like I did for my card, and use ink and aquapainter to fill it in. Timeless Textures, and in particular the small splatter stamp, are out on my table a great deal of the time these days, and it has made another appearance here. The colours are Delightful Dijon, Elegant Eggplant, Crushed Curry and Whisper White.

On the inside the card has been lined with Elegant Eggplant and another bloom stamped with Archival Basic Grey Ink. This ink is waterproof, easy to clean from your stamps, and the grey is softer than Basic Black. This 'friends' sentiment belongs to Garden In Bloom, while the sentiment on the outside is from Suite Sentiments. Suite Sentiments is at the very back of the Occasions Catalogue, and it contains sentiments for Easter, Graduation, birthdays and guys. What's more, they're in fonts that match sets in the Occasions Catalogue and it shows you which. Although it's not particularly supposed to be paired with this stamp set, don't you think the two sentiments fit together just like a hand in a glove?

When I coloured this card, I squeezed my closed inkpad to get a pool of ink in the lid. I was able to use it fairly concentrated to get the strong purple shade on some petals, or watered right down to put a wash of Crushed Curry onto the background. It is such a relaxing thing to do.

It would be fun to see what you decide to craft using these colours and Stampin' Up!® products,don't forget to share at our spot on Facebook.

You are now heading to Nikki Spencer

Cheers

Rachel

Birds of a Feather TGIFC95

I was a little bit excited to see this challenge at TGIF Challenges,the minute I saw Hey Chick at Onstage in Brisbane last November, I put it to the top of my wish list. I've actually had a lot of use from it too. It's funny, because everyone seems to love these flamboyant ladies! It was fun to bling this card up with a strand of sequins over the washi tape, and every bird is a different colour, thanks to the Stampin' Up!® Watercolour Pencils. My fingers are crossed that more colours are coming in the Annual Catalogue, because all my ladies are feeling so much more confident about colouring since these were introduced. They're even happier to try the ink now they're getting the hang of it!!!

I've taken another picture from a different angle to try to show up the colours, which are mainly from the brights range with a few neutrals added in. I'm in the process of making one of the cute egg cartons match this card, its been sprayed with alcohol rub and Melon Mambo ink from a re-inker so far.

Last night I had a card class, and during SALE-A-Bration, I always feature one card using a SAB stamp. February's pick was Hey Chick and the ladies were thrilled to bits with their cards. We used a very simple masking technique and coloured  with the Watercolor pencils, with every creation being a little different from the next. Suite Sentiments has been a source for the perfect greeting for this cluster of girls, don't you think? You'll find it at the back of the Occasions Catalogue.


Don't forget to pop over to TGIFC to see all the other birds, and maybe add your own creation.



Happy crafting
Cheers, Rachel

Delicate Details CTC#115

Welcome back to our weekly CASE-ing The Catty Blog Hop. You may have come from Liz Gross in Queensland and now you're with me, Rachel Palmieri in Melbourne. This week we are sharing something inspired by the SALE-A-Bration catalogue, pages 8-11. Page 9 with Delicate Details FREE with purchase SAB stamp set, was my inspiration this week. The rows of lace really appealed to me, such a sweet look. My choice to stamp was Basic Grey archival Ink, and I used some SAB paper from this time last year, in various shades of yellow. After stamping, this was mounted onto Crushed Curry, then  Basic Gray card, and lastly a So Saffron card base.

Two layers of flower from Botanical Builder Framelits were adhered after stamping some stamens, and a fern leaf is poking out behind. Suite Sentiments is a fabulous stamp set, at the very back of the Occasions Catalogue. There are sentiments for every event, and I thought this one quite apprpriate. It has been cut with a Stitched Oval Framelit, but purposely with one end chopped off, to not cover so much background. Delicate Details is one of the FREE choices you can have with your $90.00 order from January4th-March31st, check out my online store for more choices.

Don't forget to link to our Facebook challenge, using the same pages of the SAB as inspiration.

Happy Crafting

Cheers

Rachel

 If you get lost or find a broken link along the way, you can get back on track here.

Now you should check out what the very lovely Julia Quinn  on the Sunshine Coast has shared

Sending Love CTC#114

Hello and welcome to CASE-ing The Catty. This week the assignment is to CASE from pages 14-19 of the Occasions Catalogue. CASE can mean copy and share everything or copy and selectively edit. Our design team at CASE-ing The Catty use the Stampin' Up!® catalogues to ignite our own creativity. You may have come from Rebecca's Blog, wasn't her project awesome? If you missed it, never fear, blogs go full circle and you'll get back there.

The card on page 16 with the rocking horse appealed to me and I decided to CASE it using Circle Of Spring. This is a stamp set found in your Annual Catalogue, page 94. I think this wreath is particularly pretty, and very easy to colour, which ever method you choose. I've used the new Watercolor Pencils; - Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive. It's actually coloured quickly and easily. The points I most liked and imitated from the design were doilies peeking out from behind the label, the strips of Old Olive and the de-bosssed Seaside TIEF. De-bossed is when the designs 'wrong' side is used, it's actually smoother.

Two labels the same size were cut with Lots Of Labels Framelits, and the white one trimmed a little to show Old Olive borders each side. Wonderful Wreath Framelit Dies are also really useful for cutting the wreath out, although you can use it without cutting it out also. My Big Shot Die Cut machine is my biggest and most expensive craft expense so far, but it pays for itself over and over. I love the fact that Stampin' Up! carries such a big range of dies and embossing folders to use with this machine, and everything co-ordinates with stamps. The Wonderful Wreath Framelit Dies also co-ordinate with another stamp set, Wondrous Wreath on page 32.

Although I've stamped a sentiment from a new stamp set, Suite Sentiments, in the Occasions Catalogue, Circle Of Spring actually includes six sweet sentiments already. From Happy Birthday all the way through to Easter and Mother's day, there is something for everyone. Those sentiments can all be fitted inside the centre section if you choose. I've stamped onto an Oval Stitched Framelit and lay it over part of the wreath.

You can join in with this challenge by posting on FB here. 

If the link is broken along the way you can get back on track at the CASE-ing The Catty Blog.

Now it's time to see the lovely card for Easter that the lovely Julia has to share this week.

Happy Crafting

Rachel