Botanicals Class For April

Last night's class making cards using the Stampin' Up!® Botanical Blooms stamps and the Botanical Builder Framelits was a great success, despite some last-minute cancelations.
One of the cards they made was similar to the one we made at Stampin' Up!® Onstage in November 2015. This one also used the Botanical Gardens DSP. I like to offer the ladies an opportunity to add their own touches to cards, so they often move components around and use different sentiments.


On the whole, most stuck to the basic plan and colour scheme with this next card. I'd designed this one to show that it was possible to use the stamps alone, without any die cut pieces. I don't mind that one rebel chose mainly die cut pieces in shades of mauve, she was wanting an extra-special birthday card for someone.

However, this last card really takes the prize!!!
The girls let their creativity take charge and we had five masterpieces on display. I was so impressed! Haven't they done a great job?  The long leafy framelit does give a lot of opportunity to make it individual and they could choose a strip of Pear Pizzazz or Mint Macaroon. They've changed flower colours and arrangements, as well as different sentiments.
Top job girls!

Next month the class is called Farewell Favourites, so you might guess that we are using retiring stamps. I offered up a selection of eight last night, and they voted for their favourites. They've chosen A Nice Cuppa, Six-sided Sampler and Vivid Vases. I will have the samples on the class page in a few days. The Friday class has only one seat available (or you can go on a cancelation list) but I am now offering Thursday evening classes also. Check out my Classes page for lots more details.

Don't forget to also check out the retiring lists in my online shop, to get some markdowns before theyre gone. Rotary cutter blades, black embossing powder and the 2014-2016 Incolour range are all retiring at the end of May. If your order is less than $250 you may choose to add the Hostess code to your order - this month it is  JSDCTABC

Cheers, Rachel

What I Love SAB CTC#64

This week at CASE-ing The Catty we are sharing another SALE-A-Bration pick, whether it be a stamp set, one of the papers or even Project Life - they're all available for you to pick when you make an order of $90. If you happen to be mad for everything in the Occasions catalogue, you can pick an item for every $90 you order ($180 = 2 items, $270 = 3 items, $360 = 4 etc). If you get as high as that, maybe you should have a chat to me about joining up as a demonstrator, Stampin' Up!® welcomes and supports all types of demonstrators from the hobby demo buying crafting supplies at a discount, through to those making it a full time business. During SALE-A-Bration you get to choose $60 extra, choose $295 of any products from the Annual Catalogue and/or the Occasions Catalogue and pay only $169. Of course, if you prefer to be a customer, you can purchase your supplies through my online shop, or by contacting me, you just need to have a delivery address in Australia.

This week I had fun with What I Love, a two-step or three-step stamp in photopolymer. I CASE-d the tag on the gift bag and came up with a little pack of four Thank You notecards. Really, it's so easy to ink up the leaf and stamp a few times with a couple of different greens onto a square of Whisper White, mounted onto a slightly larger square of Wild Wasabi.

These notecards are available in packs of 20 in Whisper White and Crumbcake with matching envelopes, and they only cost $10.50! So handy to have on hand for when you're short of time. You'll find them on page 149 in the Australian  annual catalogue, or click on the image in the supply list below.
To make the packet they're contained in, I cut a Gift Card Envelope from Crumb Cake and made a belly band from Botanical Gardens DSP, with some additional trims from Botanical Builder Framelits Dies and Mini Treat Bag Thinlets. There are also a couple of stamped banners from Choose Happiness.



My good friend and fellow crew member on CASE-ing The Catty celebrated her birthday recently. While this isn't CASE-ing The Catty,  What I Love helped me create this cheerful bunch of flowers to celebrate with Kathryn. I selectively inked up a greeting from Party With Cake. It's actually the bit about cake I left off - [chuckling]. No..... it's not that Kathryn and I don't like cake, we just live too far apart!! Kathryn is in South Australia and I'm in Victoria. Perhaps we should make a date for cake when we meet up in Sydney in April, hey Kathryn!


I wanted to fit a greeting into the oval, something that makes a statement and this sentiment seemed to fit that description. I've used Blackberry Bliss, stamped off once in some images, giving a lighter shade. The other two are Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo.
 The smaller sentiment is from Sunburst Sayings which fits nicely on a 1¼" punched circle.

If you can't wait to get some of these goodies in your hands, and you'd like me to be your demonstrator, you can shop in my online store here. Australian buyers only. My phone number if you have any questions is 0417 500 681. If your order is less than $250, it would be great if you used the Hostess code 4G296SCD when you checkout.
Starting this year we are doing a monthly challenge. If you have been inspired by any of the projects in the catalogue or on the blog hop, feel free to share with the linky tool on this post. A winner will be chosen and announced on the first post of the following month.

The email address if you're in Australia and wanting catalogues sent is rpalmieri5@bigpond.com 

If you're someone who likes to go in the reverse direction, click on 'previous, button and it will take you to Tricia at The Speckled Sparrow

but if you're proceeding forward, you'll click on the NEXT button and move forward to lovely Liz at Lilly Loves Paper

   

                                                       

 Cheers, Rachel

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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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