Apothecary Art in red

Apothecary Art has been in my stash for a number of years, and it still gets an airing from time to time, but from next Tuesday, it retires. I've just checked my online shop this morning (Saturday) and there is still stock of the Apothecary Accents Framelits, wood and clear mount stamps and Apothecary Art Bundles.

I cut three labels from the Apothecary Accents Framelits, two in real red and one in Very Vanilla, after stamping in red. One of the red labels, the medium one, has been dry embossed before the three were layered one on top of another. This is a variation of the Joy Fold Card. Does it remind you of redwork embroidery?

Don't forget, if you have anything still on your wish list in the Occasions Catalogue or retiring from the Annual catalogue, Tuesday is your deadline. 

Hostess Code this month is B6VWKZMJ.

Have a great weekend

Cheers

Rachel

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Irish Christmas PP225

I hope you're not feeling too stressed in the lead-up to Christmas. I'm a lot more relaxed, now that I've posted my cards to relatives in Ireland today! It had been worrying me, because it involves writing a resumè of the year's events and there was quite a lot to include. 2014 has been an eventful year with many challenges, but we survived, and are stronger for it.

I've also wrapped the majority of my gifts too, and isn't that a weight off my mind!

I've gone as fancy as I dare on this card, what with international post. It already costs $2.55 to post each card overseas, so I'd hate to pay a penalty for extra thick. There are still a few layers but only one lot of dimensionals. The base is natural card, really good for writing a letter on.  Next is a layer of Blackberry Bliss behind a layer of Texture Embossed Pear Pizzazz. Another Blackberry Bliss layer has been cut with the Apothecary Label die, while the stamped piece was cut with Deco Label Framelits. Endless Wishes is the stamp set here and I stayed with the same two colours. Another little bit of fancy was the Glimmer paper banner in silver, and some rhinestones.It is so hard to see these little bits of shine!

I do hope the post between Australia and the UK isn't taking as long as the post between Sydney and Melbourne! My pre-order for the Occasions catalogue left the warehouse on Monday and still hasn't arrived Thursday night. Same with the complimentary catalogue that Stampin' Up! post to all demonstrators. It's not here either, but so many others have it in their hot little hands. That should be here tomorrow too, hopefully. Fingers crossed.

So how did I know what I wanted to order? I watched the live stream of the unveiling from the US last week, with a group of team members. Also, we can access the online catalogue already, but our customers have to wait till January 6th. Just another one of the perks of being a demonstrator.

Cheers
Rachel

Endless Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set

$27.95

Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments

$8.95

Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad

$9.95

Blackberry Bliss A4 Card Stock

$11.95

Pear Pizzaz Classic Stampin' Pad

$9.95

Pear Pizzazz A4 Card Stock

$11.95

Big Shot

$149.95

Big Shot Magnetic Platform

$69.95

Apothecary Accents Framelits Die

$42.95

Deco Labels Framelits Die

$42.95

Lucky Stars Textured Impressions Embossing Folders

$13.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Best Things STS#23

Have you found your favourite new In Color in the Stampin' Up! range yet? I'm see-sawing between Lost Lagoon (blue) and Blackberry Bliss (deep purple) but it's Blackberry Bliss I've used today. I wanted to make some cards using other suggested colour combinations. This combination is Blackberry Bliss, Smokey Slate and Melon Mambo.
Feel Goods is a lovely stamp set with 5 'word' stamps, quotes or just well known phrases, like the one chosen for this card:- the Best things in life aren't things.
I stamped it onto Watercolor Wonder DSP, a faint Smokey Slate spot, before cutting it with one of the Apothecary Accent Framelits. I decided paper piercing was in order for this large label too, the template is from the Essentials Paper Piercing Pack. I have fallen in love with paper piercing, its so easy to do and adds an interesting definition to a card.

The new Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, along with the matching flower from Something To Say have been getting a big workout in my craft room lately, just because they're new, exciting and oh-so-cute! However, I decided to add in some blossoms from Petite Petals this time also, both stamped and punched and just punched.
Using the sketch from Seize The Sketch really helped me put this card together, but if I'd looked a little harder, I'd have also added a thin piece of Melon Mambo ribbon under the label cut out of Smokey Slate. Lots of the design team haven't used ribbon, but I think it would have probably been a positive addition to my card,

Now, there's no time to linger, as I have a visit with my youngest grandchild happening in an hour, and what can be sweeter than an 8 week old baby?

Rachel
Post script: Found out today, 9th July, that Jen at Sieze The Sketch has picked this card as a runner up! Happy day, happy dance!

Owl Baby, Pretty in Pink

A few days ago, I made a card for a baby boy. Today I decided to even the score and make a card for a little girl. It's funny, because this card developed as I worked. I knew I wanted to use the Petite Pairs stamp set, because I wanted to share the great special on three of the "Greeting" stamp sets, but only until the 31st July.

I also decided to use the Basic Label single stamp ($11.95)  that matches the Apothecary Accent Framelits. These single stamps are available till August 31st, only in clear mount.

I stamped "welcome baby" onto this label and cut it on the Big Shot, before stamping the other half , "so glad you're here" and punched it out with a tag punch (retired) and another larger tag (also retired) in Strawberry Slush.

The oval behind the Apothecary Label is Strawberry Slush too, embossed with the Lattice Embossing Folder.  


It was time to use the Owl Builder Punch again, and little miss owl is wearing a dress from Tea For Two DSP (retired) with a Pink Pirouette flower in her hair, punched with one of the Itty Bitty Shapes Punches. She is a lovely pale shade, Crumb Cake, and stands on a branch of Pistachio Pudding punched with the Bird Builder Punch.

I partially embossed a piece of Pink Pirouette with the Mosaic Embossing Folder, and used the Paper Piercing tool around the outside of this layer. The lower tag also features a butterfly stamped in Pink Pirouette and punched with the Itty Bitty Butterfly Punch, then finished with a row of pearls from SU Basic Jewels.

If you need any supplies, give me a call (0417 500 681) email or use my online store. Orders are usually shipped within 48 hours to your address anywhere in Australia.
Cheers,
Rachel

Sale Price	Retail Price	Description	Item
$31.46	$41.95	Sassy Salutations Wood-Mount Stamp Set	132070
$25.46	$33.95	Sassy Salutations Clear-Mount Stamp Set	126707
$26.21	$34.95	Sweet Essentials Wood-Mount Stamp Set	132085
$20.96	$27.95	Sweet Essentials Clear-Mount Stamp Set	126457
$37.46	$49.95	Petite Pairs Wood-Mount Stamp Set	128706
$29.96	$39.95	Petite Pairs Clear-Mount Stamp Set	122497

Petite Pairs Stamp Set

 

FMS85 - Happy Birthday, cupcake!

Last night I had a lovely group of ladies come over for a class on using the Big Shot, particularly trying out embossing folders for texture.

We had a ball and stayed up way too late!!!

I had to enter the challenge when fellow-Victorian Narelle has designed the sketch this week for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. I had already used the sketch to make one of my class samples, with full intentions of entering it in the challenge, but it is awfully similar to Rita's card, so this morning I decided to make another card, using some demo pieces not used up last night.

There's a piece of Primose Petals embossed with the dots embossing folder and a window cut with Apothecary Accent framelits, a piece of Perfect Plum cut with the large Delicate Doilies Sizzlet, layered beneath a flower cut from a scrap of pink using the Floral Fusion Sizzlet and topped with a button.

I had already stamped the cute little stamp from Patterned Occasions Sale-a-bration stamp set (retired) using the Ink-to-Rubber technique, the technique I will share at class for June.

I put it on a Pink Pirouette base and trimmed with the gorgeous More Amore specialty Paper from the 25th anniversary mini catalogue, still available but only till the end of June, I might have to get another pack. I have a couple of daughter-in-laws with birthdays coming up in June, I think this will be perfect for one of those delightful girls.

Annette's soccer card

One of my ladies is very clever and used the honeycomb folder to make a soccer ball for her son's upcoming birthday. I've seen beehives made with this, but don't think I've ever seen soccer balls made this way! It seems to require very careful placement of the black hexagonals, before punching with the 2½ inch punch.
She's used retired stamp sets to grunge it up, hope her boy likes it!



Hope you have a lovely weekend, we are having unseasonally high temperatures for very late Autumn in Melbourne, its hard to believe Winter is just around the corner.
Cheers
Rachel