40th Birthday CTC #190

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.
 

Artistic Impressions, pages 127-141 is the section we are CASE-ing this week for CASE-ing The Catty. This must be my favourite section, as I own a lot of stamp sets from here, including all three pictured below.

The mint macaron card on the top left inspired me when I was asked to make a fortieth birthday card for a commission. The recipient was described as a fun-loving blonde, who loves the good things in life. I decided that sparkle and bubbles was the way to go, and my customer agreed.

Playful Backgrounds is a handy photopolymer set of 4 stamps, that provide some nice backgrounds for your cards. I used two of them on Shimmery White card, one embossed with copper, and the other stamped in Petal Pink. Sponging also added texture to the background. The champagne glasses is a long-retired set that I've hung onto, because it comes in handy from time to time.

Stitched All Round has some very pretty dies including the one used to cut this fancy label. Memorable Moments is recently retired, and again, another stamp set I hang onto.

Rhinestones and glimmer paper add even more sparkle and shine to this celebratory card.

Make sure you check out the lovely card Rebecca Scurr has made this week using the lovely Color Your Season stamp and dies, only available during August.

You can share your CASE of projects from pages 127 - 141 on the facebook page here.

GR9CWSP3

Cheerful Birthday Critters

On my 'to-do' list are family birthday cards! My only grand-daughter, adorable Alice is nearly two, so a special card is called for. I haven't had much experience with girls (lots with boys though!) and I've noticed that Alice plays differently to her brothers and cousins. I have a number of handmade teddies about, and Alice loves to collect them up and sit them on stools. I'm not sure what this game is, but it looks a bit like 'school'.

On the other hand, she also seems to think she can be involved in all the rough and tumble with her big brothers, so perhaps she will have the best of both worlds?
It seemed perfect to use Cheerful Critters for her birthday card. Its such a cute photopolymer stamp set, includes some sentiments which are so easy to position because of the see-through quality. Saying that, I haven't actually used any of the words from the stamp set this time. Happy Birthday is from Boys Will Be Boys (Weekly Deal in clear mount $23.21). The number came from Memorable Moments and the 'you're' is part of another greeting (can't remember which). The signs the bear and bunny are holding are perfect for all sorts of messages!

I've had the picture coloured for a few weeks now, just waiting for inspiration on how to finish it off, and that came from the sketch at Retro Sketches, just turned on its side.

I think it's turned out cute enough for our sweet Alice!

Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Happy Birthday Laura

I've made a very quick card tonight for an 18th birthday tomorrow. Well, it is never quick really is it? I've agonised over whether there was too much pink, and then my son, who has a diploma in graphic design, suggested breaking it up with a touch of blue.

That did make a difference, perhaps a layer of Sky Blue in among those pink layers would have been a plus too, but it was all adhered by then, and I have enough experience to know you cannot separate layers once they've been attached.
That was the first time I've used the Lovely Lace Embossing Folder, Isn't it gorgeous? I'll be using it a lot more, that is definite!
It is past my work-night bedtime, so I must head off to clean my teeth, and snuggle into my pillow.
Always glad of a sketch to help me along, thanks to Narelle at Freshly Made Sketches.

Goodnight to you too.
Rachel

Masculine 50th Birthday Card

Today I am making a 50th birthday card for a man who is environmentally conscious, a real nature lover. Stampin' Up! have a number of stamps that would be suitable but I chose Lovely As A Tree, one of the longest-lasting stamp sets in the catalogue. If it has survived for at least eight years, it is a GREAT stamp!

The colours at The Paper Players are so gorgeous, I used them again too. It's a shame that the Blackberry Bliss card base is looking black in my photo, but when it shows its true colour, the watercolour looks washed-out. I stamped the row of trees with Stazon onto watercolour paper and then, using an Aquapainter and ink squeezed onto the lid of the stamp pad, I 'painted' the  soft sunset. Unfortunately, I loved the scene so much, I couldn't bear to trim it down to confornm to the sketch at HandStamped Sentiments. I think they will be okay with that, usually sketches are just a suggestion to be followed as you choose.
I pulled out Memorable Moments for the numbers, it has been a little while since I used them. Happy Birthday comes from Something To Say.
Because this card is for a customer, I will make a couple more for her to have a choice for her brother's birthday card, so you might even see them pop up here over the weekend!
Cheers...Rachel

I'm having a water colour class on Friday 25th July in South Morang, Victoria, if you'd like to join me, there are 3 places left in this class. Check for more details under Class Tab at top of blog, phone 0417500681 or email me.

You can order from my online store if you live anywhere in Australia, click on any of the pictures below and it will take you straight to that item in the online store. Don't forget to check out Weekly Deals every Wednesday (great punches at reduced prices NOW) and the Clearance Rack has bargains too.

Memorable Moments Wood Stamp Set

$51.95

Memorable Moments Clear Stamp Set

$41.95

Lovely As A Tree Wood Stamp Set

$48.95

Lovely As A Tree Clear Stamp Set

$38.95

Something To Say Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$51.95

Something To Say Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$37.95

Aqua Painters

$19.95

21 Congratulations STS #17

When you ask young girls what their favourite colours are, they usually answer pink or purple. By 21 they probably have revised their faves, I'll definitely have to survey some young women to find that out! I decided to go with Strawberry Slush and Wild Wisteria with a dash of bling for this Happy Congratulations card.

This stamp set is great! Great for weddings, 21st birthdays, Graduation, even new babies and definitely Chinese New Year. There are 4 stamps: the string of paper lanterns, a single lantern so you can colour them any shade, either directly or on scrap and punched out ever-so-easily with a three quarter inch circle punch. There is the Congratulations sentiment and the 4th stamp says, "may happiness be your destination".

To finish, I used Memorable Moments for the numbers, the 'hearts' out of the Adorning Accents Embossing Folder set (3) topped with a silver Glimmer Paper arrow from the On Film Framelit Dies. There's even a scattering of rhinestones, as befits such a celebration!

Although the sketch has been rotated, and the shape changed up a bit, it was the sketch at Seize the Sketch which was the start-point for my card,

Have a great week, thanks for popping by

Rachel

You're My Hero Birthday

Do you find making cards for little boys challenging? I do too, possibly because there are so many small boys in my family, there's an awful lot of cards to make. I have to hold onto the retired stamp sets like Dinoroar for the dinosoar fans and I Dig You for the little guys that love all things construction. I am looking forward to the Annual Stampin' Up! catalogue on July 1st when we will see new stamps. My fingers are crossed for a different vehicle/digger stamp, but in the meantime I've used You're My Hero, which is also pretty cute.

It comes with the two greetings you see on the card, and one other, which just happens to be the same as the name of the stamp set! The three vehicles are a cute little police car, a fire engine and an ambulance. I've punched out portions of the images to use on this card. Those squares are mounted onto a coloured square a little bigger and then with Dimensionals, on to a much larger double-mounted square. Right in the middle is a square with the number 4, from my favourite and much-loved Memorable Moments stamp set.

I have just bought myself a new letters and numbers stamp set, mmmmm... that would be ABC-123 Sketch Alphabet & Numbers on page 131 of the catalogue. There is an outline set as well, but I have chosen the filler part to try out first. So you just might see a different style of number appear on my 'age' birthday cards soon.

Happy stamping
Rachel

Happy 60th Carol!

My friend turned 60 last Saturday and I needed to make a pretty card for her. I seem to go to Daydream Medallion every year for Carol, well the last 3 anyway!
As she loves pink, they're usually pink, and this year I added in my favourite, Coastal Cabana. Memorable Moments is my 'go to stamp' for the 'Happy 60th Birthday" and leaves came from the Bird Builder Punch. There are a scattering of Itty Bitty Blossoms punched in various pinks and rhinestones trim the flowers and points on the Raspberry Ripple medallion. The embossing folder is Decorative Dots, available from the SALE-A-BRATION goodies.
Fortunately, the cards always look quite different from the previous years and Carol was thrilled.
I did see a similiar card by Krista on Pinterest, thanks for the inspiration Krista.

Cheers
Rachel

Birthday Clockworks

Apparently I didn't blog the card I made for my eldest last year using Clockworks. I found that out when I went to link to this morning's post, so just a quick little post to show the difference when you change up the colours.

Last year I was telling him that Life Is A Daring Adventure, a stamp set that retired when we received our new catalogues last September. Glad I bought it before it retired as it fits with my Travel scrapbooking. The main catalogue will be released at the start of July, so keep an eye out through June, so you don't miss some stamp set, punch or die that will be removed to make way for new, exciting products.

Memorable Moments provided the greeting and numbers (so handy) and I stamped the pocket watch a couple of times to layer with dimensionals. Fussy cutting the watch hands was tricky, and fastening them with a tiny brad made them look real. From memory, I think the colours used are Pool Party, Midnight Muse, Gumball Green and Soft Suede.

I must keep going now
catch you soon
Rachel

Fire Engine Birthday Card FMS#113

Have you had a good weekend?
Mine was very nice, although I haven't anything too exciting to report. I've had a haircut, read a lot, and crafted a little.
Tonight I decided to cross another "must-do" off my list, and made a birthday card for a grandson turning 4 on December 18th. Oh my, how quickly those years have flown by!
Cindy at Freshly Made Sketches challenged us with this clean and simple sketch, and I decided to mount my new Tape It stamp set, along with You're My Hero (for the fire engine) and Memorable Moments (for the number).

The colours are Real Red, Pacific Point and Whisper White. The image has been punched with the one inch square punch, the coloured squares with the retired 1¼ inch punch.

I've stamped another red fire engine inside along with the 'Happy Birthday' greeting from the set.
Any questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me at rpalmieri5@bigpond.com.

Thanks for calling by
See you again soon
Rachel

Australian Rules Football Congratulations Rosette

Recently I was asked to make a special card for a gentleman who has been involved in Australian Rules Football for a very long time. In fact, he has played or umpired one thousand games! That is quite some achievement, so obviously it needed to be marked appropriately.
My instructions were few; 1000 games, congratulations and maybe the colours of the Melbourne Football club (deep red and navy) so after a little thought I decided to use the Blue Ribbon stamp set along with Memorable Moments and a small alphabet set that has retired.


Midnight Muse was the Blue I used, both card and ink. The scalloped circle and ribbon were hand cut to remain in the one piece. The centre of the scalloped circle has been stamped with another of the stamps from Blue Ribbon, in Sky Blue, and there is also a congratulations stamp to fill in the ribbon part of the main stamp.

I had stamped the background of Crumb Cake with stamps from Gorgeous Grunge using Cherry Cobbler and Midnight Muse and then it was just a matter of assembling it all.

My biggest challenge was using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get all those zeros in a nice line, it did take three shots before it worked out! The red I used was Cherry Cobbler,again for both card and ink.
I decided to have a go at pleating some card using the Simply Scored and it was quite easy. I needed to cut two strips and after scoring and folding, join them so there were no ends. The middle was squeezed into a tight circle and held with some hot glue and everything just fell into place. I think it makes a  real statement!

I'm glad you have dropped in to read my blog
Happy Stamping
Rachel

60th Wedding Anniversary SSCC#47

What a gorgeous combination of colours at Sunday Stamps Color Challenge#47!

I needed to make a 60th Wedding Anniversary card this week for a lovely Italian-Australian couple, who are having a celebration party the weekend I am away in Brisbane for Stampin' Up! Convention, so my husband will attend on his own.

This couple were great friends to my in-laws and have been there for our family since my in-laws passed away. She is an absolute dynamo! Recently celebrating her 80th birthday, but still frequently out and about, running messages or driving "the old people" around. Her husband is not quite so lively, but neither is he incapacitated, he just loves being at home.

We haven't made a decision yet on what their gift should be, but I decided the silhouette of the bridal couple from Marry Me (retired) was perfect, stamped with Versamark onto Pretty in Pink card (retiring soon). If you are just beginning your stamping journey, you won't have all the matching stamp pads, so Versamark is perfect, because it stamps on any colour about one shade darker than the card colour (like my bridal couple). You can also use it with clear or coloured embossing powder for a different look.

I mounted the pink onto Midnight Muse, which I had edged with the Scallop Trim Border punch and the Scallop Trim Corner punch (both retiring at the end of this catalogue too).

The Framelits Window Frames Collection cut a beautiful shape from Shimmery White Card for the greeting stamped with Memorable Moments in Midnight Muse and mounted on the next size of Window Framelit cut from Champagne (gold) Glimmer Paper.To finish the card I cut three of the sweet little Vintage Flower Trim blossoms and its finished on the outside.

 With all these amazing events I'm making cards for lately like this momentous wedding anniversary and the recent Hundreth Birthday, along with the children's cards and other special birthdays, I don't know what I would do without my Memorable Moments stamp set. It was one of the gifts for attending Stampin' Up! Convention last year in Canberra - I wonder which of the new stamps we will receive this year?

 In a fortnight I will be flying up to Brisbane for 5 days of fun with lots of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from all over Australia and New Zealand, so exciting!

Hope you are enjoying my blog and getting some stamping done too,
Rachel

I Dig You PP143 PPA158

I have been asked to make a 2nd birthday card for a little boy who loves trucks. Well, what little boy doesn't love trucks?

The obvious choice for this card would have to be I Dig You paired with the happy little birthday greeting from Up Up and Away. Both these stamps sets will be retired when our new catalogue is released so if you don't already own them, now is the time to think about making that purchase.

I found that Ann's sketch over at The Paper Players was just the inspiration I needed and then the colours at Pals Paper Arts were fabulous too.

Just in case that card doesn't appeal to my customer, I have rustled up a similiar one using the truck from I Dig It and Real Red with Pacific Point. I like them both and have a grandson turning 2 this year as well, so I will keep the spare for him.
I used the large doiley from the Bigz l Perfect Pennants cut on my Big Shot of course. Punches used were the 2½ inch circle, 1 inch circle and the 1¼inch scallop circle. The number comes from that very useful set Memorable Moments.

I am entering these challenges:
The Paper Players pp143
PalsPaper Arts PPA 158 color challenge

Love and Laughter for FreshlyMadeSketches#83

I've been playing with the stamp set Love and Laughter, to see if I can use the dress for other events. To do that, the words relating to marriage need to be covered over.

Intending to enter a card this week for Freshly Made Sketches,
I have tried to stick fairly closely to the placement suggested by Allisa for this card. With no greeting on for the moment, it could be for a graduation, debutante, 18th or 21st birthday.

I used Not Quite Navy ink and Shimmery White and Night of Navy  card with some silver Glimmer Paper. One tiny flower was punched from Cherry Cobbler card and some retired Cherry Cobbler Tulle gathered beautifully behind a Designer Builder Brad, for the job of hiding "Bride and Groom" and other wedding-type words.

Then just for fun, I kept on playing with this stamp set and Memorable Moments for the greeting to make an 18th birthday card in Shimmery white, basic Black and Cherry Cobbler and decorated up with Basic jewel rhinestones. I dry embossed the Basic Black with the Elegant Lines folder, which will retire at the end of the current catalogue. Unfortunately it is very difficult to see in my photograph but it does look extremely elegant!!!

It is a lovely sunny autumn day here in Melbourne, so I intend to spend some time in my garden. Thanks for visiting my blog, please leave a comment to let me know you've been here :-)

Happy stamping

Rachel

100th Birthday! WOW!

Hey, it's not often that you hear of someone turning One Hundred years old, is it?

I don't know this lovely lady personally, but I have been asked to make a card for her upcoming birthday. I have made cards before for the customer who is giving the card and she seems to like the dry-embossed cards quite a lot, so I went with that.

Next, I picked out my favourite colour - Pool Party and added in some silver shimmer.

I used the Window Frames Framelits to cut these shapes - after stamping with Memorable Moments stamps - just made for all those once-in-a-lifetime occasions! It has not only the happy, not only birthday, but anniversary, as well as st, nd, rd, th and numbers 0 to 9, so you can make cards for ANY numerical event you can think of. That's rather handy isn't it?

I was lucky enough to receive this set as one of the many gifts from last year's Stampin' Up Convention in Canberra. In May this year, we are heading off to sunny Brisbane for 4 days of

 Stampin' Up! fun and freebies!

That's just what I call the annual Stampin' Up! Convention anyway.

I shadow stamped the label with a floral stamp from last year's sale-a-bration, Fresh Vintage, and inside it has been stamped twice with the same flower in Pool Party, and a lovely greeting from Blooming with Kindness, "Warmest Wishes on your Birthday", was stamped also. Lastly, some itty bitty blossoms punched from Pool Party card were scattered about and finished off with basic jewel rhinestones for some extra glitter.

I hope the customer who commissioned this card and her wonderful friend are both happy with my effort.

Breaking News!

Firstly, you don't have to wait for the beginning of July to order the  Petite Curly Label Punch (from sale-a-bration), it is available NOW! Item # 129405 and $18.95. Call me 0417500681 or email rplamieri5@bigpond.com

Secondly, as I type this, I'm down-loading My Digital Studio (MDS) to my computer. It is the first of the free gifts for demonstrators attending convention this year (or their guests).

It is also available to order Item #130646 $24.95 OR you can download a mini version for FREE, and give it a trial for 30 days. There are all sorts of free add-ons and other down-loads to purchase weekly at http://www.mydigitalstudio.net/home

 Now, I am not the cleverest at computer things but some of my colleagues have been showing off some of their wonderful creations - scrapbook pages, birthday invitations and so on, and I didn't want to be left behind!! (smile) I hate being left out when there's some fun to be had!

Hope you are having fun with your creating too

Cheers, Rachel

Birthday Owl and Spiders!

My summer holiday is over!

So sad to be going back to my regular day job tomorrow, I like being a "free spirit" flitting here and there with plenty of time to read, garden, craft and socialise.

Before I become totally disciplined again, I wanted to share a couple of birthday cards.



     Owl Occasions 

                       

 This stamp has been available for the past 4 months, but cannot be ordered after this coming Thursday (31st January) so ring or email me promptly if you think you too would like to own this one. 128003 $37.95 for clear mount, 128000 $46.95 for wood mount.

#3 grandson, who will be 3 on February 14th, has a bit of a 'thing' for that owl character in a TV show. (I'm being slightly cautious in case there is a copyright issue). I'm hoping my card featuring the Party banner, branch, balloon and owl from Owl Occasions and the "3rd Birthday" from Memorable Moments is a big hit with him.

Memorable Moments was one of the gifts I came away with from last year's convention in Canberra, and I've found it very useful with all those numbers, plus an rd, nd,th, and st as well as Happy, Anniversary, Birthday and a label outline. It is on page 139 of the annual catalogue if you'd like to take a closer look.

Tangerine Tango, Tempting Turquoise and Lucky Limeade are the colour choices for this card.

Jar Of Spiders

I had lots of fun creating this card for #1 grandson's birthday, exactly one week after his cousin's.

I used three stamp sets for this one, and DSP Comfort Cafe, which is in the Annual catalogue and available till the end of June this year.

The spiders and web come from Googly Ghouls, page 27 of the Holiday catalogue, finishing this week.

The jar is from Perfectly Preserved, page 29 of the Holiday Catalogue (but this one is carrying over, at least for another few months).

The 'happy' on this card is from a cute Hostess set on page 200 of the Annual Catalogue, Wacky Wishes, yours free to purchase with your hostess dollars if your order reaches $300.

The number and 'birthday' are again from Memorable Moments and I used the frame stamp from that stamp set and the matching size in Framelits to hold the greeting. Crumb Cake and Midnight Muse were the main colours, with a touch of Cajun Craze

Thought you might like to see a close up view.

Ordering is Easy

If you live anywhere in Australia you can place your Stampin' Up! order through me and it can be shipped right to your door (by Australia Post) for 5% of your order total, minimum shipping $5.95. If you click on the catalogue symbols on the sidebar you can view them online. The 25th Anniversary catalogue will be uploaded after it goes"live" late this week.Sale-a-bration has begun, so for each $100 of your order you get to choose one item from 19 exclusive stamp sets, designer patterned paper, or buttons & ribbon.

If you have a $300 order, you receive $50 hostess dollars to spend on ANY items in our catalogues but can choose the EXCLUSIVE hostess stamp sets too, you receive your choice of 3 sale-a-bration items and you will also get a pack of two sheets of 12" by 12" silver glimmer paper (for Stampin' Up's 25th anniversary).

The Holiday Catalogue finishes on 31st January and the new 25th Anniversary Catalogue commences on 1st February.

If you need any of the brochures, you can contact me by email or txt/phone 0417500681.

Keep on stamping,

Rachel