Masculine 50th Birthday Card

Today I am making a 50th birthday card for a man who is environmentally conscious, a real nature lover. Stampin' Up! have a number of stamps that would be suitable but I chose Lovely As A Tree, one of the longest-lasting stamp sets in the catalogue. If it has survived for at least eight years, it is a GREAT stamp!

The colours at The Paper Players are so gorgeous, I used them again too. It's a shame that the Blackberry Bliss card base is looking black in my photo, but when it shows its true colour, the watercolour looks washed-out. I stamped the row of trees with Stazon onto watercolour paper and then, using an Aquapainter and ink squeezed onto the lid of the stamp pad, I 'painted' the  soft sunset. Unfortunately, I loved the scene so much, I couldn't bear to trim it down to confornm to the sketch at HandStamped Sentiments. I think they will be okay with that, usually sketches are just a suggestion to be followed as you choose.
I pulled out Memorable Moments for the numbers, it has been a little while since I used them. Happy Birthday comes from Something To Say.
Because this card is for a customer, I will make a couple more for her to have a choice for her brother's birthday card, so you might even see them pop up here over the weekend!
Cheers...Rachel

I'm having a water colour class on Friday 25th July in South Morang, Victoria, if you'd like to join me, there are 3 places left in this class. Check for more details under Class Tab at top of blog, phone 0417500681 or email me.

You can order from my online store if you live anywhere in Australia, click on any of the pictures below and it will take you straight to that item in the online store. Don't forget to check out Weekly Deals every Wednesday (great punches at reduced prices NOW) and the Clearance Rack has bargains too.

Memorable Moments Wood Stamp Set

$51.95

Memorable Moments Clear Stamp Set

$41.95

Lovely As A Tree Wood Stamp Set

$48.95

Lovely As A Tree Clear Stamp Set

$38.95

Something To Say Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$51.95

Something To Say Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$37.95

Aqua Painters

$19.95

Simply Sketched Sympathy FMS90

I can hardly wait for the new catalogue to be released in Australia - just over 2 weeks to go now!

Ever since we had a sneak peek at Convention, there has been excitement in the air. Now many of us have our hands on the new In-colors and returning colours plus a few stamp sets and accessories we are desperate to show them off to our customers.

Sneak Peek!

Last week I was at my Upline, Sue's house, and she let me stamp off some images from a hostess set from the coming catalogue, Simply Sketched.

I only stamped two of the three sketched images, and one of the greetings, because that is what I needed at the moment, but as well as this sweet poppy there is a sprig of  leaf with a few berries, and a darling little bird, which I've now seen very subtley water-coloured too. The other greetings are Happy Birthday Wishes and Thanks So Much.
There I was this morning with a page of stamped images, a sketch from Linda Callaghan at Freshly Made Sketches and an urge to break out my new ink pads. I began by cutting the images with a variety of Framelits, this one is two sizes of  the Labels Collection Framelits. These were the first ones released and mine are very well-used. I have used Crumb Cake as my base, and teamed it up with Pistachio Pudding, the prettiest shade of green ever. I embossed a piece using the Fancy Fan embossing folder through the Big Shot. At convention we were given a stamp set (in the New Catalogue) called Gorgeous Grunge, and it definitely is that. These diagonal stripes (or half chevron, if you like) are stamped in Strawberry Slush using, probably, the least grungy stamp in the set. If you love splodges and sprinkles, this stamp set will be a "must have". I finished it off with a Very Vintage button threaded with Calypso Coral Bakers Twine.

I have had the Aquapainter for ages, but had only ever used one of them to bleach stamped images. I thought that Stampin' Write Markers and a Blender pen were all I needed for watercolouring. However, at the weekend I spent some time with a fellow demonstrator and she showed me the water colouring she had done with an Aquapainter, so I decided to give mine another try. Oh my goodness! It was so much fun, and I love the effect, so soft and pretty. So once I have earned the Simply Sketched stamp set, I will really be giving the Aquapainter a work out. You can order a pack of two for $19.95, and you don't even have to use the water colour paper, although I think that would give a nice finish to this image.

You get to choose from our lovely Hostess only stamp sets if you host a demonstration, and your sales reach at least $300. Another way is to hold a "Virtual" party and collect up the orders and money from your friends totaling that amount, or you might be Stampin' Up! obsessed, just like me, and have no trouble putting together a $300 plus order all by yourself!

I've already finished my "other job" working week, and I look forward to the next few days stamping up a storm, although my darling husband and I are travelling into the city tomorrow night to see "Jesus Christ, Superstar".
Hope you have something nice to look forward to, as well
Cheers
Rachel