60th Birthday Cards - Handmade With Love

My husband celebrated a big birthday last week, which gave me excuses to make special cards and do some crafting with the grandkids.We kept the party low-key as we are a large family and rather noisy when we all get together. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures with all the grandkids and their cards, some had also made a card at home.One d-i-l had put together an enormous card with a photo board inside of many significant family times featuring my husband. Our family definitely love the handcrafted cards!

 I really enjoyed making this Double-Z card using Marquee Messages, stamped on different coloured card, then cut and pieced. It isn't particularly difficult to do and makes an easier way of adding some colour. I have a class making this card on Friday 18th November, at my studio in South Morang, Victoria.

 This version of the Double-Z has an extra piece added to the front to accommodate the larger size of the stamp from Marquee Messages. The patterned paper is two different types of black & white spots, just for fun.

When a stamp retires, I don't neccesarily sell it, if the sentiment is significant to me. Going Global was in a mini catalogue in the last year or so, but didn't make the cut into the Annual catalogue. It still sits on my shelves, because of the sweet sentiments included.




Our sons bought a massive state of the art barbecue for my husband, and just because I was feeling creative, and really wanted to use the Sliding Star Framelit to cut the track around for a star from Superstar, I made them a group card too. The boys are mainly tradesmen, an electrician, plumber and carpenter, while my husband has worked in many trades over the years. Guy Greetings has some marvellous sentiments, very suitable for those tradie types.

In This World and Ghoulish Grunge helped to ink up the inside of the card too, with all sorts of architectural stamps. Both sides on the inside of the card were layered, which gave the 5 sons plenty of room to write messages to their dad.

 We used props for some funny photos and the youngsters really got on board with it, as did a couple of the adults. We always do this at Christmas, but we've had an early practice run this year. Below is our little group of grandies, ranging in age from 2½ - 8 years.

We know how blessed we are to have these wonderful people in our lives, and I treasure gatherings like this celebration.

Cheers everyone,
Rachel

Going Global Playfully CTC#77

Hello again, so glad you've dropped by to check out what's happening at CASE-ing The Catty. This week the assignment is to CASE Going Global, pages 38-39. It was exciting to see this great suite of products introduced to us by Stampin' Up!®, but unfortunately this masculine set is NOT carrying over into the Annual Catty. If you have men to make cards for, it might be a good idea to take one last look at pages 38-39 to see if you need the stamp set, paper stack or embossing folder.

I decided to share some of the NEW papers coming in the Annual Catalogue (1st June is the big day), but use the Going Global stamps. The design is based on the Black card on the left, above. The paper  I've used is from a Designer Series Paper Stack, 6 inches square, called Playful Palette. It co-ordinates with four of the New InColors, and goes really well with a stamp set called Painter's Palette. I've been having so much fun with these unusual colours & patterns, I've nearly used half the pack already!! 

My friend Kathryn Mangelsdorf was one of the designers who used Painter's Palette for display items at Stampin' Up!® Sydney Onstage last month, and she inspired me so much, I ordered the stamp set straight away. Her name will link you to the blog where Kathryn shares her projects. No doubt you'll meet her as you proceed around this blog hop too. For my Going Global card, I cased a very similar one on page 38, and changed the paper, the ink colour is the NEW Emerald Envy. Instead of ribbon, I used a silver foil banner.

Not content with that, I busted open another 12" X 12" pack of DSP, this one is Affectionately Yours, and it is bright and fresh, in new InColors plus some of last years like Watermelon Wonder and Cucumber Crush. I took two sheets, and cut 2 pieces 5 inches by 3½ inches from each, flipped one and used coordinating card for the sentiment strip, and behind the DSP. There's the two colours I mentioned earlier, and NEW Flirty Flamingo, plus So Saffron for the last one. That piece had so many possible accents, so I just chose something that matched the other shades. I've embossed a piece of Crumb Cake with one of a pair of folders which is part of that range also. I love this folder because there is space for stamping of a banner between the two sprays of flowers. The other embossing folder is very cute too, a couple of flowers and leaves, and the embossing is not at all subtle.

Don't forget to hop around to see what magic Monique has to share with us, or pop back to Rebecca

Cheers, Rachel

May Hostess Code - ZGGAABEE

    

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

Farewell To Some Sale-A-Bration Items

Most of you are probably aware of the Stampin' Up!® annual promotion which always takes place in the New Year. It's the reason I joined up as a hobby demonstrator nearly 5 years ago. (My anniversary is February 28th) and every year I've loved the SALE-A-Bration collection, and usually hang onto the stamp sets. They often have great sentiments and images, and because they are only on offer with a qualifying purchase (for less than 3 months too) they are a little bit different.

Two stamp sets, and one Designer Series Paper are leaving the collection early - Monday 15th January will be the last day to add them onto your qualifying order. $90 if you want one, $180 for two or $270 for all three!

It's hard to pick a favourite out of the three. I've enjoyed using The Sky Is The Limit a lot. I used it for my January class and loved the way each of the ladies put their own spin onto my sample. They're a clever lot, those girls!





It's a great masculine stamp set and it fits in rather nicely with Traveler and Going Global stamp sets, so I will hang onto it. I made another pair of cards this week so you could see the DSP, which comes in six shades, 2 12" x 12" double-sided sheets per pack.




Now these neutrals don't really do the paper justice, but I'm sure when you see the pink, which is Melon Mambo one side and Blushing Bride the other you'll be more impressed.
Quite a contrast, isn't it? This is the other retiring stamp set, Hello.


As well as the word 'hello' in a large clear script, there are 4 sub-titles: Little Sunshine, Birthday Girl, Birthday Boy and My Friend.
For the Melon Mambo version, I've used only stamps from Hello. The little party hat is also part of it, along with a smiley face and a sun. They're designed to fit on the 'e' or the 'o'. The Blushing Bride card has some flowers from A Whole Lot Of Lovely, which was out because I was making a card to send off to a team mate who is unwell.

I couldn't resist putting a card together for a Birthday Boy as well, using Boys Will Be Boys for the Lego and Balloon Builder for a balloon, but of course there are so many balloon stamp sets around at the moment, it could come from anywhere. If you have boys under 10 in your life, Boys Will Be Boys is a 'go to' stamp set too. The different coloured Lego were water-coloured using ink and an aquapainter, easy enough, and the background lego were just stamped out in matching ink.

The inside of this card was a bit of fun too! This time the lego were stamped in 4 different colours, there is some brightly coloured washi tape at the bottom and two sentiments from Party With Cake.
You can see the little smiley face here too, but I haven't yet used the sun or Little Sunshine. I bet they'll fit into the Sunburst Sayings range rather nicely though. So which of these SAB items do you NEED in your stash?



Want to Join?


Another thing I'd like to remind you of. During SALE-A-Bration is a great time to join Stampin' Up!® especially if your wish list is a long one. The joining special is "pay $169, but order $295 retail of Stampin' Up!® products". There's no shipping to pay on that order, and you have until end of June to make your $440  quarterly minimum. Not sure what I'm talking about? Email me with a question, or a phone number and suitable time for me to call you and maybe you'll join the Stampin' Up!® family too.


It's totally okay to join for the discount, maybe you'll take your hobby further but Stampin' Up!® (nor me) will ever pressure you to do that. One of the unexpected bonuses for me has been the fun friendships and support I've received from other demonstrators. Oh, I'll just share the card I've posted to my team mate too. Its so pretty in shades of Smokey Slate and soft, subtle pastels.

I am an Australian demonstrator, living on the outskirts of Melbourne. My team, the South'n Stampers, is small and friendly. We try to meet up every couple of months to stamp together, sometimes a bit hard with work commitments and family, and I hold a class once a month. Email me at rpalmieri5@bigpond.com if you need to know more. If you have a long list from the Occasions Catalogue and Annual Catalogue ready to go now, you might want to click on the link to read terms and conditions.

Cheers, Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Valentine's Day CTC#65

Welcome again to another round of CASE-ing The Catty. Each week the crew take inspiration from a section of a Stampin' Up!® catalogue. Currently we are all so excited by our Occasions catalogue, but this week is Valentine's and we might have CASE-d the Annual catalogue too. CASE is an acronym which stands for "Copy And Share Everything" and we hope by sharing what we have CASE-d, you'll be inspired too.

If you happen to take a look at Page 14, you will see that I have CASE-d a tag there, and placed it on a card. It's hard to see but the patterned paper is Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack and those are rows of sweet little hearts, all in Blushing Bride and white. Balloon Builders is a very cute stamp set, that you might take a look at and say, "What will I use that for?" I decided I'd begin by trying out all the animals etc that were showing on page 14. Some were easier than others, and it is fascinating how a slight change in position alters the look.




I've used this tilted-paper design before with this birthday card but I don't have a magic formula, I just place it and cut off the excess. The 6 inch square sheets in the paper stack might make this process easier I think, and there was a matching piece left over to line the inside too.

I've kept the card quite simple with the flower and sentiment stamped onto a 'no-fuss' circle, mounted on another white circle one size bigger. The sentiment is one of four from Balloon Builders, and a bonus is that two of the stamps can also get punched out beautifully with the Balloon Bouquet Punch, so that's two stamp sets you can use the punch with. I tied a strand of white baker's twine around the top card, and made a bow to finish it.




Strictly speaking this Going Global card isn't really a CASE, but an adaptation of the sample made at November 2015 Onstage in Melbourne, using products from the Going Places suite. After using it at Onstage, the paper stack,
World Traveler Embossing Folder and Going Global stamp set were all on my first order. My husband and I aren't the most sentimental of people. We don't celebrate Valentine's Day, I'd rather flowers for no particular reason and not over-priced arrangements, thank you very much. However, this card is the type I might give him on Valentine's Day (or for no particular reason).
This is a great product suite for masculine cards, and travel-related memory-keeping. I've been loving the other examples for Valentine's Day (or no particular reason) that have been popping up on Pinterest.

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 at CASE-ing The Catty. A winner will be chosen and announced on the first post of the following month.

If you are travelling in reverse around this blog-hop, click on the previous button and go back to see what Kathryn is sharing this week. Otherwise, click on next to proceed forward to Rebecca. 

   

Cheers, Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Fancy Some Framelit Fun?

Popping by to let you know about February's classes using the Sunburst Thinlet and Going Global stamps and the Party Pop-up Thinlets. I will also demonstrate how to make the centre pop up, but they're quite fun simply glued on a card front too.
Classes are $20, no need to bring anything, all material and equipment provided.

They are capped at 6, and there is one vacancy for Friday 19th February at 7pm. If there is further demand, I can run the same class on Friday 26th at either 1pm or 7pm. Classes are held at South Morang, Victoria. Do contact me if you'd like any more information. Email rpalmieri5@bigpond.com or phone 0417 500 681.
There is a list of class dates up until May 2016 on my blog, under 'classes'.

Cheers, Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog