Owl Wish You Happy Birthday

This is the first time I've participated in the challenge at Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, but I was looking for sketch inspiration for a card I was making for my youngest son's girlfriend's birthday (today). 

We were challenged to use a shape besides a circle, but I'm pretty partial to circles, so that's what we have! It has been slipped under the Stampin' Up!® Timeless Elegance DSP, which I've fussy-cut. I guess the real star of this show is Little Miss Owl, who is actually looking so forlorn. It has a lot to do with the position of the pupils, and because I have added blue lids to the eyes the pupils are quite low. The Owl Builder Punch gives you all the pieces you need to put the owl together. The twig is from the Bird Builder Punch, just love all these cute punches, there is even a Tree Builder Punch which can make trees, cupcakes or ice cream.

The sentiment is from Endless Birthday Wishes, a must-have photo-polymer stamp set from Stampin' Up!®, because there are a mix of fonts and phrases. There is more of the same sentiments on the inside of the card and some more of the lovely patterned paper. I scattered some coloured sequins to brighten things up a little, and used the new Fine-Tip Glue Pen to adhere all the small pieces.

The Gift Bag Punch Board came in very handy for making a matching bag to hold the gift.The Timeless Elegance DSP is rather gorgeous, glad I had it on hand.

Cheers

Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

South Pacific Stampin' Up!® Convention - More Swaps

Still here on the Gold Coast, enjoying all the fun of a Stampin' Up!® Convention. Last night a large group from Claire Daly's Art With Heart team went out for dinner. So much fun to catch up with demonstrators from the wider team. They came from as far as Perth, taking a whole day to travel to the Gold Coast via Melbourne and they came from around the Gold Coast/Brisbane area too. Well, I guess the fact that we have a team member from the States at the moment makes Karen our most distant member, but she actually has been living in Melbourne.

I made two other card fronts to swap with other demonstrators, and sadly, after the retired list came out last Tuesday 21st, it seems that both my swaps have retired product on them.

This first one uses mainly Polka Dot Pieces, which is retiring, and I believe clear mount has already sold out. I used the small flowers from Something To Say, punched out with Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and it has all been grounded on the Starburst Framelit circle which was punched out of my design crew swap card.

Starburst Framelits are retiring too. The circle was stamped with Hardwood. The sentiments in From The Herd have a really nice font, the 'happy birthday' came from that set.The Bird Builder Punch remains in the catalogue, so perhaps there will be another stamp released to co-ordinate with it.

For my other swap, the only item used which remains current is Gorgeous Grunge. I tried for a less feminine card, using some DSP, although those are soft colours. The stamp set is #Hello and incudes a lovely big @, as well as some of those hashtag slogans like #friendsarethebest. I paired it with Hello, which is decorated with the teeny heart from the Owl Builder Punch. On Film Framelits are also retiring, but I will keep them for my own use. The round 'hello' was stapled into position.

Now is a good time to pop over and do some online shopping, you might even score a bargain. Many of the products were sold out within hours though, so I hope you're not disappointed! The product links below will take you directly to the item you click on.

I had no time to make more swaps with current products so I hope the recipients aren't too disappointed.
Cheers
Rachel                                                                                                                                                                    

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Mr and Mrs DD#59

Dynamic Duos had a Basic Gray and  'you choose one other colour. Of course you are allowed the neutrals too. I had a piece of Naturals White which I had already embossed with the Mosaic Embossing Folder. I'm loving that folder, both sides of the embossed piece are really lovely. I used the NEW Smoky Slate for the card base and a piece of Two-Tone Gray ribbon and some Crochet Trim, tied in under the Lovely Label which has been popped up on Silver Glimmer Paper with Stampin'  Dimensionals. I used an Apothecary Accents Framelit to cut the Silver Glimmer label, and a retired punch for the red heart, while the tiny Silver Glimmer heart is punched with our trusty Owl Builder Punch, so useful for so many things {wink}.


My inspiration came from this little dangly medallion, which was floating around my craft space, homeless. I know it was Stampin' Up! but who knows how long ago it retired. At least it now has a new home!




Have a great day!

Rachel

Owl Be There!!!

I have had a slightly hectic week, getting ready for convention and working. I don't usually work five days a week, but it just so happened that I needed to attend a conference for work, and since the Principal said I could have a day in lieu, which would help out with the day and a half I am absent this coming week for Stampin Up Convention in Chilly Canberra, I went along willingly! As it happens, it rained like there was no tomorrow in Melbourne on Friday, so I quite enjoyed my day of education, food and laughter!

Now on to stamping, even though it was mostly about punching for this card!
I had an order for punches last week, and as one of them was the Owl Builder Punch, I decided to use mine to make the Thank You card. There is no end to the variety of ways you can use this little fellow, and I kept him fairly simple for this small card, only adding in eyelids by half punching the largest circle, and a wing with a half circle of the smaller Scalloped Circle Punch. He is perched on a branch from the Bird Builder Punch, which my customer had also purchased. I used the Modern Label Punch and Word Window Punch for the greeting, and I think that "Thank You" might be from a retired set. I know my customer is going to love playing with her new punches.

While I was in the mood, I punched out a second owl, the VERY basic model, and added him to the centre of a row of stamped owls. Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped the owl from the retired Punch Bunch stamp set, from 2011 Sale-A-bration. Such a shame that it was available for a short time because this set was particularly cute, with baby, birthday and general stamps in the one pack.

After mounting the Crumb Cake panel onto a strip of Pool Party, edged with the Scallop Trim Border Punch, I threaded a button from the Neutrals Collection through Early Espresso Baker's Twine and wound it several times around the join. Quite quick and easy, but cute, don't you think?

And now, I'm off to pack my bag for Convention on Webnesday - WOOOHOOO!!!!

(Freshly Made ) Sketches #35

I find a sketch is always a great help when it comes  to getting my creativity going and I have to say that I LOVE this sketch posted at Freshly made Sketches this week. So much so, that continuing my pursuit of masculine cards AND using DSP (patterned paper, for those who don't understand Stampin' Up's acronym), I whipped up TWO cards last night!

I find the three panels of the sketch a great way to show off the double sided paper, in this case I used Stampin' Up DSP 122359 Well Worn on page 129 of the catalogue. I really like this particular paper, both for cards and for scrapbooking. Since most of my scrapbooking involves travel at some ancient destination, Well Worn is very appropriate! LOL!

Of course, with the Paper Party happening all through May, I put in an order for 3 different packs of DSP qand received the 4th one FREE, so I have heaps to choose from now! It is not too late for you to order a selection for yourself either, just get in touch with me here.
With each pack containing 12 sheets of double sided paper, each one gives you 12 great choices.

The first card I made was very simple, using the DSP on a panel of Cherry Cobbler, a strip of Crumb Cake put through the Big Shot to emboss with Textured Impressions Houndstooth at the bottom of the Not Quite Navy card. The Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine has been threaded through two buttons and wound several times around the bottom strip. I stamped the Happiest Wishes on your Birthday! from a current hostess set, onto Crumb Cake and used the Curly Label Punch 119851 to punch it out. I always like to smudge ink onto the edges of paper to define the edges, so I did that to all the pieces before adhering them. Inside  I used a square of Crumb Cake with a narrow piece of the Well Worn DSP along the bottom and stamped it's your day! as the greeting inside.

I followed basically the same formula with the second card. Using a different sheet from the Well Worn DSP, I used different dimensions to cut the strips and panel, but kept the Crumb Cake strip and the base card dimensions the same. Instead of the Bakers Twine, I used ¼" Early Espresso Grosgrain ribbon and three Designer Buttons threaded with linen thread on each panel. Again I defined the edges of the panels and greeting with ink and decided to add an owl made with the Owl Builder Punch. Since my good friend Genella loves green so much, I introduced a touch of it in the branch (from the Bird Builder Punch) and the owl's waistcoat. This has all been positioned onto a card cut from River Rock. Not sure if this is a bit too busy, but I'm sure I will keep on playing with this idea over the next few days. Don't forget to check out how others have interpreted this shetch at Freshly Made Sketches, it is bound to inspire you too!

 Just a reminder, I am holding a class in masculine cards featuring a collage technique using Extreme Elements and Grunge Rock on Friday 15th June at 7 pm- 9.30pm in South Morang.