December Birthdays

My list of birthdays in December is quite extensive, so I took a break from Christmas cards and other preparations to make a couple of those birthday people a handmade card.

This creation was for one of my lovely grandsons, whose birthday is December 18th. Because I know that he treasures these cards, I try very hard to put an effort into making something that will appeal. He still likes dragons so I had to ink up the dragon from Magical Day (retired) and get the dragon to help "put out this tiny fire". I'm really hoping that Mr 9 'gets' this little joke. By the way, he's not 'lighting' the fire, so that is why his breath has been coloured with Chalk marker.

Birthday Banners is a recent addition to my stash, but I've had the banner dies since they came out with a Christmas stamp a few years back. Good to have another stamp set to use them with, and you choose which words you stamp onto the banners. Always good to have options. Wink of Stella has been added to half the flame and parts of the dragon, but they're not showing up in the photo.

My friend Tina Gillespie, a design team member of Just Add Ink, recently used Bubble Over to show a cool inlaid dies technique. I've provided a link back to Tina's blog, Scissors Paper Card for you to check out her card. I was saying to Tina that I don't think this stamp set has had enough love, because it's a fun-type stamp for teens to adult, and can be fizzy pop to designer beer. I put together a bright card for a work colleague, hence the funny sentiment for the inside. Again, a favourite stamp set, now retired but staying firmly on my shelf - Five For All.

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It's a good time to check out the Online Store for discouted items in the Year-End Closeout.

Eclectic Friend

This card was made for an interstate friend of mine. It was fun to experiment with colour and the textured embossing paste.  I coloured the paste with Bermuda Bay from a re-inker bottle, and it is fascinating the variation of colour, almost like it was planned to fade out toward the edge!

Beautiful Bouquet was one of the stars featured here, but the supporting cast was pretty big!!! Birthday Delivery for the greeting inside the oval (doesn't it fit so snuggly?) The Lovely Word Thinlets pair nicely with Stitched Shape Framelits.

Five For All provides a witty verse for the inside of the card. I've found that a useful stamp set since it was introduced in the annual catalogue in June 2016. In the Occasions Catalogue you'll find another clever stamp set, Birthday Wit. I think that will make it onto my next order as I like some non-sentimental sentiments!

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If you choose to shop in my online store, and use the Host code, I share the bonuses with you.

Butterflies In This World CTD#470

Today I needed some time out and chose to get into my craft room and create. An old favourite came off the shelf and paired with an old favourite masking/sponging technique and a new colour combo from Color Throwdown Challenge, I've spent some happy time.

We used In This World for a retiform card recently and a friend of mine, Carolina Evans, also used it for her Onstage Swap in Melbourne. This stamp set has some interesting images, so I plan to get some more use from it, just in case it retires.

I was glad I remembered to attach a strip of this Sizzix Multipurpose Adhesive strips to the card before I cut 'lovely' with the Lovely Word Thinlets. It sure does make it a lot easier to adhere to your project.

The stamped sentiment is from Dragonfly Dreams, and as it is photopolymer, it could have been curved more to match the die cut 'lovely'. Sometimes these ideas come after you've put ink to paper!!!

Frog Tape, a low adhesive painter's tape, is what I use for masking. Before I stick it to the project, I also remove some more of the 'stick' by applying it to my clothes. It is very effective and doesn't usually lift any paper.

This verse inside is part of a kind of funny/witty set of stamps, Five For All. I could have added the second part "Just Like Me", but haven't on this occasion. When the sentiment is on two separate stamps, it gives more options for mixing and matching. I have a large number of birthdays through December and January, so I hope to get back in here for some more crafting soon.

What do you think you would make with this colour palette from Color Throwdown?




Remember that if you shop in my online shop on Monday 27th November, there will be NO SHIPPING CHARGE, for 24 hours only. But, as well as a gift in the mail from me for ordering and using the Host Code, I will send you a birthday card to send to someone else.

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Sixty-one FMS#311

I've already used this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches once, but I liked it so much that I've put together another card. Recently I made a video explaining how I will often use the same sketch over and over, the challenge is to make each card different. Kind of like CASE-ing myself this time! Because I've used the lovely Wood Textures DSP again, and the same sentiment, they are very similar.

It is a dark look and this time a pair of numerals have been added for a 'lift'. The stamp and die bundle has retired. I couldn't understand why Nailed It had such a short lifespan, but I imagine with all the tradesmen/handymen in my family I will keep on using this for some time to come.

Colouring with Stampin' Blends was a bit different and I do like the way it has added a shadow to the screwdriver handle. Even on this simple stamped spanner on the inside it has coloured beautifully. I'm  really enjoying these alcohol markers.

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  Any orders in my online shop with the Host code receive a gift from me in the post. Since November is my birthday month, I am adding a handmade birthday card as well, for you to send to someone else.

Life's Big Question FMS#311

When looking for some fresh inspiration, look for a sketch. I saw this one by Jen B. one of the design team for Freshly Made Sketches and knew it would be perfect for an idea I was playing with. I've linked to FMS so you can pop over and see all the variations on the sketch that are there.

Wine is my theme for this card, and I'm a bit lucky at the moment with 3 great stamp sets current and supporting this theme. Mediterannean Moments, Half Full and Tuscan Vineyard have all contributed at least one image.

A scene from Mediterannean Moments has been stamped onto the wooden centre panel. The wine bottle is from Half Full and a luscious bunch of grapes from Tuscan Vineyard. Images have been coloured using the recently introduced Stampin' Blends.

 A wine glass from Half Full and a corkscrew from Tuscan Vineyard decorate the inside along with some witty words. Five For All was my choice of sentiments, I've used 4 out of 5 of them now. They're just a tad funny, and I like this one - although you may have to pick your target!!!  'Is this the birthday when you start asking LIFE'S BIG QUESTIONS?' and inside "Like WHY did I walk into this room?' Who hasn't done that once or twice?

                                        

Any orders in my online shop with the Host code receive a gift from me in the post. Since November is my birthday month, I am adding a handmade birthday card as well, for you to send to someon else. 

ZTQVTQPR

Art With Heart Team Blog Hop

Tonight the Art With Heart team girls are sharing some wonderful ideas to inspire you with our Designer Series Papers. This month is the start of the new Stampin' Up!® year and we have a special promotion on our Designer Series Paper, buy 3 get 1 FREE for the month of October and there is no limit!

I love Designer Series Paper, but for my first years as a Stampin' Up!® demonstrator I couldn't use my DSP, it was too pretty/precious to cut!!!! I now find I have a lot of paper, that has been wasted by hoarding so now, when a new order arrives, I open the pack of paper, take one of each sheet out and cut it through at the halfway mark. Once it has been cut, it is a lot easier to use, I find.

I wasn't able to participate in last months 'Fancy Folds' Blog Hop because I was having a night out celebrating 40 years of marriage the night the blog was launched.

I decided that the Joy Fold card I was going to share last month was perfect for this month, because it is 

• easy (message me for the dimensions if you want to give it a try)
• displays Designer Series paper (DSP)
• can be made with/without stamping
• suits masculine and feminine cards

I chose the Painted Autumn DSP which co-ordinates with Painted Harvest stamp set which I was dying to play with. Stampin' Up!® DSP comes in packs of 12" by 12" sheets of double-sided paper. There are pumpkins and acorns in this paper which don't really suit my purpose, especially as we are coming into Spring in Australia, but the reverse of these pieces are very useable.

For this card I used a witty sentiment from a stamp set called Five For All, and because stamped in green it seemed to get lost among the foliage, I ended up stamping over it with Crushed Curry and Peekaboo Peach with a stamp from Timeless Textures.

Another absolute positive, is the list of the colours used on the back of the Designer Series Paper pack, so you know which colours to use to give a very professional finish. Colour co-ordination is half the battle!

The colours for this paper pack are Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Garden Green, Lemon-Lime Twist, Peekaboo Peach, Soft Sky, Tangerine Tango and Very Vanilla. I used most of those colours for the stamping with Garden Green, Tangerine Tango and Lemon-Lime Twist as the bases for my three cards.



You definitely get some good views of the different papers in this pack. I really like the spots and stripes in their variegated hues.

It seemed a good idea to show you a third card with very little stamping. The Happy Birthday thinlet was used to cut this sentiment multiple times with each glued to the next with Tombow adhesive. I've done my best to get a shadow effect with this, and Tombow does allow a little bit of 'slip and slide' when you are working with it.

Remember, Painted Autumn is the name of this pack of DSP, and it is one of the packs included in the Buy 3 Get 1 free offer from Stampin' Up!® in October only.

Next along this hop (and do remember that Hops go full circle) is the very talented Rachel Woollard

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

1. Rachel Woollard
2. Tina Gillespie
3. Claire Daly
4. Andrea Roberts
5. Kimberly Hern
6. Catherine Proctor
7. Caroline Manwaring
8. Monika O’Neill
9. Rebecca Jacovou
10. Ros Davidson
11. Kate Morgan
12. Rachel Palmieri

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Birthdays Begin With B #3 -Love & Sympathy CTC#133

Welcome back to another blog hop with the crew from CASE-ing The Catty. Do keep on hopping along, to see what else the crew are sharing. Our challenge this week is to CASE from the NEW Annual Stampin' Up!® catalogue, Love & Sympathy section, from page 86-101. I chose to focus on page 98, for a simple sketch and using Best Birds -again! This card falls within the Love & Sympathy pages, and it's for my youngest, who I do love. All along, I've been trying to find the perfect card for my son, who is a bird fancier (and so is his girlfriend!) Each weekend they seem to go out all over Melbourne, visiting locations where they might sight some elusive species. And the title of this post? Well, I noticed that when I began to make my June birthday cards, all the stamp sets, coincidentally began with 'B'. You can see Beautiful You here, and Bella and Friends here.

Originally I made the two birds pictured above, inked them and everything but it felt 'too pretty'. Maybe it will suit Kirsten better when her big day rolls around. I stamped with grey archival ink as its waterproof and watercolored a more realistic bird. There's a die to cut this one too. This picture used the embossing paste too, and I guess it would have been fun to try that too.

When it came to twine, the burlap ribbon was more to my liking, and it sort of goes with the cross-hatched background stamp. There are a couple of branches on my card, they've been lightly water-coloured too.

Five For All was a 'must buy' for my wish list when the catalogue went live. I don't mind a slightly humorous sentiment, but my husband looked it over and immediately saw '25' and informed me our son isn't 25. He's telling the mother this...! In case you can't read it, it says, "You're not old! You're 25 ....plus shipping and handling." That's pretty funny isn't it?

I'm loving the wood grain paper, and I've ordered a second pack so I don't run out unexpectedly. So many different shades and grains are included in these 6 inch square paper pack. I'm hoping that it is masculine enough, because the colours are still quite soft. You will find heaps of inspiration in the Stampin' Up!® Annual catalogue. I've just received another shipment of catalogues, so if you're in Australia and needing one, let me know. Otherwise, it is available online. You can shop online anytime too.

Next stop along on this hop is Krissy Buck and her adorable project

Happy crafting

Rachel