Bright & Pretty Petals CI#36

Usually, you are immediately drawn to a particular 'family' of colours and for me it is definitely the brights. It's not that I don't like subtles, regals or neutrals, its just that brights are my go-to faves.

I've been so excited by the colour revamp that Stampin' Up! did, it was so timely that I'm not even mourning those that have departed the range. I grabbed Granny Apple Green, Gorgeous Grape and Bermuda Bay for this card and revisited a technique that has been around for ages - stamping background with an acrylic block. Pressed Flowers is the Hostess stamp I've used for this one. Do you know the deal with Hostess stamps? They are earned when you make an order of $250, or host a party where your guests sales total more than $250. You earn 10% at that point which gives you $25 host dollars and the clear mount set of Pressed Flowers is $26.That probably means you'll need to add a $10 item to 'earn' the stamp set for free.

The other card uses another bright, Mango Melody along with a new In Color, Lovely Lipstick. This colour is a delightful cross between Melon Mambo and Real Red and would be in the brights too, I'm sure! Again, this technique uses an acrylic block to 'stamp' colour. One end of the block is pressed onto colour, then the other end is is coloured in another ink pad. Try not to let the ink pad get contaminated with the other ink colour. They can mix on the block though, after spraying with a mist of water or alcohol.

Friends Are Flowers in The Garden of Life is from A Big Thank You as is You Are The Best. Goes to show that A Big Thank You is a good value set.

Now it's time to head over to see what Monique is treating us to this time.

GR9CWSP3

Weekend Catalogue Launch

Every year on June 1st, Stampin' Up!® releases a new Annual catalogue. That's around 250 pages full of colour and inspiration, exciting for crafting addicts. When one of my team was just a customer, she used to be forever asking me when there'd be a new one!!! I ended up recruiting her so that she'd be amongst the first to know, and buy. So even if it's not the most exciting thing this side of Christmas for you, there are many who just LOVE a catalogue launch.

If you follow my blog, you possibly already know that I had the honour of being one of the display artists at our last convention (and Annual Catalogue release for demonstrators) last April in Sydney. In February I received a lovely box of products to create with, and no Pinterest to go to for inspiration, because the products were all brand new. Most of the samples in the photo above had already previewed in Sydney.

The In Colors were sort of new to me though as I had received three colours of embossing powder, and those same colours in ribbon, but a pack of clips which showed the 5 colours. I made the jar card after I'd ordered the inks and a  pack of mixed card colours.The cycling card was made using Enjoy Life, the 5 In Colors and a technique with the Stamparatus.

 I was shopping for birthday gifts when I spotted a couple of these vases and asked the shop assistant to find me a 3rd, which she did.

They seem to complement the invitations I sent out to my event, don't you think?

I hung a couple of my scrapbooking layouts so my guests could see how you can incorporate stamping into scrapbook layouts. The one on the left was the piece I used in my submission to be selected for the gig, and the one with two boys is the one displayed in Sydney. The left hand one uses Labeler Alphabet, Crafting Forever and Playful Backgrounds. The other used Love What You Do, Lined Alphabet and Sitting Pretty. Sitting Pretty had two great sentiments - best friends & Anywhere with you is better than anywhere without you. Aren't they perfect for a pair of close brothers?

I forgot to let my guests know that ALL the Stampin' Blends are in the warehouse and ready to be shipped to you now. Check out pages 204-205 for a full list of colours. In August, you will also be able to increase your colour collection of Watercolour pencils with 10 NEW colours.. I've been hanging out for that for ages!!!

There is nothing better than getting to try something out before you buy it. I saw the Stamparatus demonstrated late last year and after seeing the step-stamping, I was prepared to order it without ever touching it. I gave my ladies the chance to see it demonstrated in several different ways on Saturday before showing them how to make their own project. If you weren't able to get here last Saturday, you could gather some friends for a party at your place and request that I demo the Stamparatus. Or perhaps you'd prefer to book in for a private class, one hour is $20 and 2 hours is $30. We can look at stamp sets you are interested in and/or tools you want to check out. 

 I think you can see where the inspiration for this two-step flamingo card came from. I've had Fabulous Flamingo for a couple of years and actually made the invitations for my catalogue launch in 2016 with this one. I have to say, it is so much easier to line the pieces up with the Stamparatus.

Some of the quicker ladies even moved on and made a second card using Various Vases. This card was designed by a demo friend of mine, Rachel Woollard, and shared at a team day we had in May. I'm sure some of you who follow Stampin' Up! demos will have heard of Mary Fish, a top-selling demo in the USA. She recently reached a million dollars in sales, and those who do are given the opportunity to meet with the company artists to design a stamp set. Mary suggested these vases for her stamp set and there is even a punch, which we used to punch the solid coloured vases. There are stamps to colour the flowers too, but I kept it simple as we had some absolute beginners on Saturday. Of course, it's easy enough to colour with a flick of the stampin' Blends, Stampin' Markers or Watercolour pencils. So many options, what's your favourite?

This is a wordy, picture-heavy post, well-done you if you've read to the end. I'll be back tomorrow night with an Art With Heart Blog Hop.

2BEUMMY3
until 4th July

The Best Route To Enjoying Life CTC#185

Welcome back to another week of CASE-ing The Catty. The crew is made up of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from all parts of Australia and New Zealand.You are at the blog of Rachel Palmieri, Independent Stampin' Up!® demonstrator. I run classes at my home studio in South Morang, Victoria, share Stampin' Up!® products and tools at parties for my customers, coach my lovely team and create cards and the occasional 3D project.

Enjoy Life on page 58 is my choice this time. The silhouette of the cyclist sealed the deal for me, as a couple of my sons ride, and I'm always on the lookout for new stamps to make cards for them.

For this blog I have CASEd the far left card (above) and also the far right. I could have looked up the colours used and other details but I decided to wing it. My sunrise is a bit streakier than the original, and I decided to add one of the InColor clips to the top of the tag. 

Do you know how handy Tailored Tag Punch is for punching the flag end of the banner?

The only difference with this card is my use of Stitched Labels Framelits. Coastal Cabana and Blueberry Bushel are such pretty blues I was happy to use them too. The cycling card will have to wait for another time, but there's lots more for you to see on the CASEing the Catty Blog Hop.

The lovely and talented Liz Goss is next on the hop

Please share your creations on our Facebook page. You don't have to be a demonstrator, just use Stampin' Up! products

2BEUMMY3
Until July 4th

Those Balmy Winter Blues

My favourite colour is blue and there are a lot of new blues in the Stampin' Up! spectrum - as well as greens, purples etc - its a fantastic explosion of colour!!! This Art With Heart blog is a group of demonstrators from all over Australia and we love to get together and create to a specific theme. This is the Colour Creations Blog Hop featuring a different shade each week and this week's star is Balmy Blue.

Something old, something new, nothing borrowed, lots of blue! Blue is my favourite colour and Balmy Blue is a delightful addition to the Stampin' Up! colour range.

 Something old was the Touches of Texture stamp set. The lacy stamp is a favourite of mine, look how it turns this into a pretty, feminine card so easily. I've stamped directly onto Tranquil Textures designer series paper. The flower outline and sentiment was stamped in Night of Navy, but when I came to look for ribbon, the new Blueberry Bushel was all that I had in blue that was current. I do want you to be able to purchase items if you want to CASE my card, but you can substitute your preference.

Enjoy Life is a stamp set designed by million dollar seller Connie Fitzgerald. It is a very diverse stamp set, with some sporty images which will be good for masculine cards, but other occasions also. I have only made a couple of cards so far using Enjoy Life, but that will change very soon.

Here is a list of the others from Art With Heart who took part this week.

1. Rachel Palmeri (you are here)
2. Ros Davidson 
3. Sharon Davern
4. Tina Gillespie
5. Kathryn Ruddick
6. Rachel Woollard
7. Catherine Proctor

If you choose to order your Stampin' Up! products from my online store , it's open even when I'm asleep, remember to use the Host Code, you will receive new product as a gift from me in the mail.

2BEUMMY3