Project Life CTC#78

This week at CASE-ing The Catty we are looking at Project Life. I often prefer to scrapbook traditionally but I have to admit that Project Life is a great system for keeping up-to-date with memory keeping. It's a little bit sad that the current generation is the most photographed and yet those photos are rarely printed out. 

In 10 years time, when your iphone has been replaced and the computer updated and technology has done another about-turn, you might not be able to access those photos. It really is time to print those fun, family shots from your phone,so you'll have photos of your son and daughter to show to their children.

It doesn't have to be difficult. Start with a 6" by 8 " album, some page pockets, Project Life cards and a journaling pen. Maybe it is something you can actually do with family? I had my grandson,Logan, write his name to place next to photos of his very first day of school. I told him he could draw a picture or anything he liked, but he wanted to show off his writing.

Recently I attended  Stampin' Up!® Onstage in Sydney and shared a room with fellow team member and friend, Kathryn Mangelsdorf. I thought it would be a fun idea to make us some Project Life cards to use with photos we would take at the Onstage Event and in the days before, when we were sight-seeing around Sydney.

I didn't know whether Kathryn was using Project Life or not, but I do know she travels a great deal. It's another of the things we have in common, besides a love of paper, stamps and ink. As we chatted, I was a little disappointed to hear that she doesn't print her photos, just enjoys them on her computer. I wasn't sure how she'd feel about the small 6" by 8 " album I had made her, with some pages and the stamped cards I'd added to the pages. I stamped with Let's Get Away and Day To Day for two cards. Both those stamp sets are retiring at the end of May, if stock isn't depleted prior to then. Day To Day has a replacement stamp set, but there is nothing similar to Let's Get Away, so if you think you might need it for travel pages, today might be the day to pop into the Online shop to check out retiring stock - there are bargains to be had! The Project Life stamp sets, there are 7 of them, are listed under Project Life in the alphabet. On Kathryn's card with the world and a banner, I left the banner blank. On mine, I used the Alphabet Rotary Stamp, (#133769 $26) also retiring, to stamp 'Sydney'.

I used the heavy card from the 12" by 12" Project Life pages bags for the covers. The paper covering them is from It's My Party Designer Series Paper Stack, in such a lovely pattern and shade of Mint Macaron. Enjoy The Little Things has been stamped onto a Whisper White circle and another piece, die cut with Lots Of Labels Framelits, was stamped lightly with Birthday Blooms and Dear Friend at the bottom. Enjoy the Little Things is not carrying over to the Annual Catalogue, but Birthday Blooms is. The SALE-A-Bration glitter washi adds a touch of glimmer and a wooden butterfly left over from a stamp kit finishes the decoration. There is a closer shot further down the post.

It was drizzling on Thursday morning when we arrived, not the weather we'd been promised, so neither of us had an umbrella. That made for a slightly damp wander down to the Opera House after a beautiful breakfast (and some rather funny photos of two drowned rats!)  After we'd become sufficently wet, the sun came out and it became quite warm and humid. Some of the accessory packs include letter stickers which are handy for a quick title, if you don't want to use your Little Letters Thinlets, which are also on the retiring list.

On Friday night, we were again in the vicinity of the Opera House. It was a hive of activity and we weren't able to get seated anywhere, so we headed down to the end and watched a huge cruise liner as long as the Harbour Bridge, and too  high to go under it, leave port. It took some time, so when we returned we were able to get a seat at the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar, and ate a delicious meal of Barramundi and rocket salad, accompanied by a glass of champagne so we could use the card I'd made with Balloon Celebration and the retired stamp, Making Spirits Bright. The other cards on this page are from PL Moments Like These Card Collection. They are available now and will also carry over into the new Catalogue (refer to pages 162- 167 for Project Life.

 I know that Kathryn was thrilled with her gift and I do hope she jumps onboard with Project Life soon. Photos are so much better printed out, I often sit with my travel albums or share baby photos with my grandchildren. I had intended to make one of these albums for me as well, but I've realised that with two days of Sydney sight-seeing, plus a great Onstage where I celebrated my fifth anniversary with Stampin' Up!® by walking across the stage, there are just too many photos for a 6" by 8" format.

If you are just thinking about starting on Project Life, one of the 6" by 8" albums would be perfect and manageable. Choose an event - a special birthday, family Christmas or other celebration, a year in the life - there are lots of possibilities. Do you need some help? Ask your demonstrator if they use Project Life, or I am happy to try to answer your questions too.

I have to say, two big 12" by 12" albums managed to get 4 years of photos out of a shoebox and into order. Slowly, I am working my way through adding in journalling cards and notes as I remember anything significant.
So what will you do if your computer crashes or you lose your phone? I might be able to help you get started, just ask.

If you live in Australia, and want to place an order you can go to my online store anytime of the day or night. The Hostess Code for this month is ZGGAABEE


If you would like to share your creations with us at CASE-ing The Catty, you can link here

   

 Now head on over to see what Monique is sharing this week (I think it might be a card)

Cheers, Rachel

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

Bountiful Butterflies CTC#74

This week at CASE-ing The Catty we are CASE-ing pages 30-33 of the Occasions catalogue, the Shine On section. There are only a few pages, but those pages are saturated with inspiration. I turned to pages 32 & 33 where the project kits feature, At Onstage last November in Melbourne I received the stamp set Enjoy The Little Things as a gift for attending and I've made good use of the stamps on my cards since then.







Looking at the pictures of the Project Kits, I noticed butterflies featuring in both kits. Also decided I might as well use the Shine On paper  so I've ended up with mostly Watermelon Wonder, Calypso Coral and Pumpkin Pie.
This card at left, with rows of butterflies was styled on one from Enjoy The Little Things Kit. There is endless inspiration there in that particular kit.

The sentiment comes from Butterfly Basics and of course the butterflies were all punched  with the Bitty Butterfly Punch.

This card with the silver die cut butterfly is similar to one in the You're So Lovely Project Kit. They are very neutral with a kraft or black label over the butterfly, star or gem, so I guess this kraft with silver 'v's' isn't too far from the mark. It is pretty and sparkly, but oh-so-hard to capture in a photograph!












The third card isn't strictly a CASE, it's a 'just because' card. Just because I had these supplies and stamps out, I was inspired to make another card, but that is the way it often goes when you begin CASE-ing. This time I grabbed a sentiment from Enjoy The Little Things 'Love This Life'. I certainly do!

You can buy all the supplies you need to make these projects on your own from my online shop, or would you rather come and do a class? Three cards for $20, everything supplied.
Since most of the crew are heading off to various onstage events that Stampin' Up! is holding this coming weekend, we have taken next Sunday off from CASE-ing The Catty. I am flying home on Saturday night, so I will have a little something to share with you, but unfortunately not the new Annual Catalogue yet - that's top secret for a while longer!!!


Now you'll want to hop on over to Julia Quinn unless you like to bloghop in reverse, when you'll be popping back to The Paper & Stamp Addict, Rebecca

   

Cheers, Rachel

Botanical Gardens CTC#73

This week at CASE-ing The Catty we are checking out the Botanical Gardens section of the catalogue, from page 26-29.  I fell in love with these flowers the moment they were shown to us at OnStage back in November. I particularly like the flowers with petal which separate, and the variety of leaves. I spend a lot of my spare time, die cutting scraps of card and sorting the pieces into colour families. That way, I have flowers and leaves ready to add to any project. I could hardly wait to CASE the card from the main picture in the catalogue, and as I came home from Onstage with Enjoy The Little Things in my bag of goodies, I only had to wait for Stampin' Up!® to ship the Botanical Gardens Bundle out to me.

I just changed up the colours slightly for my CASE, and made a regular-sized card instead of a square. The long, leafy die is lovely with its gentle curve. It can be used to add an edge with a difference to your cards also. With a sponge dauber, I've added colour to the edges and centre of the main flower, the wee flowers have candy dots.

The sample in the catty may have had the sprinkle of dots added from Timeless Textures, on the next page of the catty, but I didn't have it then, so used the similar one from Perpetual Birthday Calendar. You could use Gorgeous Grunge if you own that set.

 I've had people asking me whether it is worthwhile buying the bundle or should they just get the framelit dies and of course that choice is always up to the customer. I have to admit that I use the dies a lot more than the stamps but I've stamped this sample for my April class, and I really like the tropical appearance of these images. You'll find dates for my classes under a tab at the top of my Stampinpals blog - Classes. Students will make 3 cards, including both of these, using Botanical Blooms and Botanical Builder Framelit Dies and it's usually up to date with availability. Email or text me - 0417500681 - I'm in South Morang on the northern outskirts of Melbourne.

The sentiment is made up from two stamps, belonging to Happy Birthday, Everyone, a hostess set in the main catalogue (page 179). This will retire on May 31st, but although it is a Hostess set, you can purchase it (and have change) with Hostess dollars earned with your $250 order, before shipping. Contact me if you're not sure how this works.
 We would love you to join in the challenge to CASE The Catty with us. You can link your entry here

Don't forget to visit everyone by clicking on the links. You can  pop back to Judy May or continue forward to stop by Julia's blog

Both ladies have amazing projects to share with you!

  

Cheers, Rachel

Framelit Fun Class

I'm sure the ladies enjoyed the class tonight, even if it was a bit squishy! Everyone helped out each other, and the three cards they made were all lovely. Wink of Stella was very popular, as were the Honeycomb Embellishments.
They each made one of the cards on the right, fairly evenly divided between the balloon and the ice cream from Honeycomb Happiness. Party Pop-up Thinlets provided a dramatic backdrop to the chosen honeycomb embellishment.

This card uses the other Party Pop-Up Thinlet and sits on a background stamped with Timeless Textures. It had been tricky deciding on the colours for this card, and it certainly was a great opportunity to allow creativity to flourish. Every one of the cards was different. The Pool Party Glitter ribbon adds a gorgeous touch of shimmer to complement Wink of Stella on the candles.

I don't seem to have a clear photo of the first card we made, but it used the Sunburst Thinlet and Going Global stamps. Some of the class changed the sentiments and used alternatives from Enjoy The Little Things, and their cards were gorgeous too. I'd CASE-d this card from Heidi Baks , I thought she'd done such a lovely job with it, I didn't really change it.

It's a lot of fun to share my love of stamping and paper with such a nice group of ladies.

The next class is Friday March 18th at 7pm, and you'll find a few more details under the tab at the top of the blog, labelled 'Classes'.


Cheers, Rachel

Timeless Celebration TCTC#1

Challenges are marvelous ways to get your creativity activated when you're feeling stale and so I'm going to try out a couple of new things today. Number one is a colour combination I'm not particularly comfortable with. Number two is a new stamp set that landed on my doorstep yesterday. Number three is probably the fact that this collage-style of stamping isn't really 'me', but I've been loving what everyone else is doing with it, so here goes!

Bronwyn Eastley at The Colour Tree set the challenge, and is also giving a free PDF file of a fabulour 3D project she made for the challenge. You ought to click on the link just to see her floral arrangement, Timeless Textures from the  Stampin' Up!® Occasions Catalogue is the main new stamp set I've used and I've used a couple of pictures from the catalogue to inspire a design. It's a little bit from Timeless Textures, and a little bit more from Grateful Bunch (and then I added three flowers from that stamp set too.

There are no sentiments with Timeless Textures, but lots of very interesting background stamps! Enjoy The Little Things was a stamp set I picked up at Stampin' Up!® Onstage back in November, and I've made good use of it. Celebrate Today is from that stamp set, and then I couldn't help myself and added   ....on your special day from the SALE-A-Bration stamp set Botanicals For You.

I've just added a picture of the sweet reason I wasn't able to open my box of new goodies to play when it was delivered!

Maybe it's too much, I don't know for sure, but I do know that I will be trying out a lot more new things with my new stash this week!
Cheers
Rachel




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 ifyou 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.
If your order is more than $90 I will post you a pack of It's My Party Enamel Dots, mid February.

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

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CASE-ing Stasia CTC#60

Stasia's Card

It's time for another CASE-ing The Catty and this week the assignment is to CASE a favourite card or project by another of the design team. I'm CASE-ing Stasia Sloma, and in particular her Christmas card with the poinsettia from here, where Stasia showcased her favourite bundle. It wasn't difficult as I love ALL the things that Stasia makes, especially the bottle tags, but this card was perfect for me to CASE. This is the last blog hop for 2015, but after a short break, we can hardly wait to start sharing and CASE-ing the new Occasions Catalogue! You'll see us back on January 10th, 2016.

This has been a great opportunity to play with my new favourite stamp and thinlet bundle, Botanical Gardens, from the upcoming Stampin' Up!® Occasions Catalogue (you can start ordering from January 3rd, or join up as a demonstrator NOW, and you can pre-order right away). The bundle with this suite is Botanical Blooms, and includes a 17 piece photopolymer stamp set + Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper + Botanical Builder Framelits Dies. There is 15% off this value-packed bundle and at $87.75 you are only $2.25 away from a FREE SALE-A-BRATION pick. Even a pack of Dimensionals will get you over the line.

The things I loved about Stasia's card,

• a lovely sentiment on a circle of card
•  the position of the flowers at the top left of the sentiment.
• the hint of stripes and ink splatters on the base card

Initially, I used more Old Olive on my card, and a doily, and while it was still a lovely card, it wasn't making me feel happy.I've set that one aside and begun again from scratch. I decided that it was time my stencils felt ink, and used one for the 'hint of stripes'. A Stampin' Spritzer filled with alcohol rub (or water) and a few drops of refill ink gives a soft finish. A sponge Dauber would give a more definite colour.



Gorgeous Grunge is my go-to ink splatters stamp and Enjoy The LittleThings  (Occasions Catalogue) provided the sweet sentiment.When you get your hands on an Occasions Catalogue, make sure you take a look at the Botanicals Garden Suite, the options are endless. Don't forget, you can shop anytime of the day or night in my online store. Lots of Year-End Clearance items there too.

I do hope you enjoyed my CASE of Stasia's CASE! Unfortunately Stasia was unable to join in this week, so we're jumping straight to  Alison Barclay(Gothdove).

Cheers, Rachel