Nautical but Nice

I have limited stamps for a nautical theme, but Stampin' Up! stamp set The Open Sea is in my stash. I think I will invest in the  new Traveler stamp set very soon too, I had intended to buy it on my pre-order, but somehow left it off!!! How could that happen?

Just Add Ink challenged us to use the retiring colours for one last time and I grabbed Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit and Primrose Petals. Oh, you should have seen the mess I got myself into with that!!! I inked up a large acrylic stamp block by wiping the ink pads across the surface and then I soaked watercolour paper and sprayed the acrylic block too so the ink was running all about. I love the shades it makes when the colours run together. It makes such a glorious sunset background for the sailing boat and then I felt it needed to have 'Live the Life You've Imagined' from Really Good Greetings.

This would be a great Bon Voyage or retirement card, I think. I remember in 2011, my husband and I took our first overseas trip together, including a 10 day Mediterranean cruise. A highlight was visiting Santorini, a picturesque Greek island which involves being brought ashore by tender. When it was time to return to the ship, I was thrilled to bits to be among the group who were taken on a sailing boat (with engine!!!) which looked very much like this one, it was a magical moment.

This card also fits really well with The Card Concept challenge of a nautical theme.
I followed some online instructions for this sailor's knot which I tied using some of the Summer Starfruit Bakers Twine from SALE-A-BRATION, isn't it great? And I did remember to pre-order all the Project Life I was allowed and the greeting was cut with Project Life Cards and Labels Framelits, there are some handy shapes in that pack. The arrow shaped paper clip is from Hung Up Cute Clips and the Labels Collection Framelits cut out the shaped panel.

Happy stamping!
Rachel


Australian readers - You can shop for lots of supplies in my online shop, there's only 12 days till the mini Occasions catalogue and main catalogue finish. Plenty of retiring bargains and weekly specials too.

Hostess code C2KVNKJJ

Classes for watercolouring available if you are near to South Morang (Melbourne) VIC

Thursday 17th July 7.00pm - 10.00pm

Friday 25th July 7.00pm - 10.00pm

Saturday 2nd August 2.00pm - 5.00pm (daytime)

Kinda Eclectic Thank You CTS#78

I'm very lucky to be able to play with stamps, and extra lucky that I have some great customers who support my little business. I try to let them know how much they're appreciated by sending them Thank You cards. Sometimes life does get in the way and I run a bit behind, but I do try to acknowledge these lovely ladies.

Hey, if it wasn't for your enthusiasm, support and patience, I wouldn't be able to keep on going.




This month I had quite a bunch to make, so I've kept it fresh and simple. The sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch was exactly what I was after.

I picked up my lovely, new Stampin' Up stamp set, Kinda Eclectic and used just two stamps from it - the leaf, which I stamped three times without re-inking, and the little dotted border (which has typed letters on the dots). It's really too cute! I stamped it off once on scratch paper, to lessen the intensity of the Night of Navy ink.
The only other stamping was a thank you from Happy Watercolor. That stamp set hasn't made it into the new catalogue, so if you love it as much as I do, you'd best order it before the end of June. I used a Bitty Banner Framelit to cut the thank you out.
Those Speech Bubble clips I've used are retiring too, they're called Hung Up Cute Clips (129389) and there's a coat hanger and an arrow as well.


Hopefully, if you've purchased from me recently, you've received your card in the mail by now.
Cheers...
Rachel

Freshly Made Sketches #105

I have been visiting  Ireland, United Kingdom and Paris over the last seven weeks. A fantastic experience, but a long time to be away from getting crafty, so I am having a bit of trouble getting the creativity happening. My second son turns 34 this Saturday, and my 4th son will be 26 on Sunday week, so I have to get a couple of masculine birthday cards organised.

I headed over to check out the challenges for inspiration, and thought this sketch  by Allisa Chilton at Freshly Made Sketches was a great starting point. I chose shades of grey with Smoky Slate card  cut to make a 5 inch square card stamped with a splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge in Smoky Slate as well. I used a retired DSP, Howlstooth and Scaringbone from last year's Holiday Catalogue, but you can check out the current Holiday Catalogue for some other great 'manly' papers. 

I inked the rubber of the  birthday greeting stamp from Delightful Dozen with Basic Black and Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Writers, and added a fancy speech bubble paperclip from Hung Up Cute Clips. You'll find those clips on page 170 of the Annual Catalogue, there are three cute images ( 8 each of a
coathanger, arrow and the speech bubble).

I hope Jake likes the card, and I hope he has cake! He has two little boys who we missed so much while we were overseas, we visited as soon as we arrived home, taking cake with us. I didn't realise how cake-crazy those boys are, especially the younger one!



This is an easy card to make, and if you pop over to Freshly Made Sketches, you'll find a lot more ways to use this great sketch. Any questions about the products or technique, please email.
 Thanks for dropping by

Rachel