Sweet, Simple Swallowtail SSC98

Sometimes it is good to get 'back to basics' and this week Sunday Stamps challenge has reminded me of that. They want a one'layer card with the image and sentiment toward the top right, so no die cut butterfly, or sentiment on a label, let's just keep it sweet and simple.

It's been a long time since Swallowtail saw ink and I've kept it fairly simple in black with a sentiment from Painted Petals with the only colour provided by splodges from Gorgeous Grunge.

Inside I've stamped two of the butterflies from Papillon Potpourri. One of my customers ordered that stamp set last week, which reminded me of all the different sweet butterfly images that I have.

Now, it's time for me to pop out into the Autumn sunshine to plant some bulbs I bought last week.

Cheers
Rachel


**Very happy for this card to be picked by Angel at Sunday Stamps, as a Top Pick. (11 April,2015)

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Retiring Lists, Classes and New Catalogue Launch

Oh WOW! it doesn't take too long for the retiring lists to begin selling out. I thought I would add a kiddie stamp set to my order, but by the time I came to submit that order this morning, Blast Off! had sold out. You can never tell what will be popular, often it is the retiring colours, but it can be totally random.

Two out of the four stamp sets used to make this  little card are retiring. The background stamp on the crumb cake is part of Creative Elements. Its been a 'go to' stamp set for a few years now, but it is on its way out at the end of the month and the wood set is 25% off at $42.71. The other retiring stamp set is the flower on the white square, a part of Betsy's Blossom, isn't it sweet in the three shades of pink?

Luckily Papillon Potpourri is sticking around, and so is Sketched Birthday, which is where that celebrate banner comes from.

This card used the cake from Love & Laughter, another retiring stamp set. Itty Bitty Banners will appear in the new catalogue, as will Petite Petals from the Occasions mini catalogue. Off The Grid, is also retiring, as is the punch that does the tiny flowers.

If you want to check out the lists of retiring stamps and accesories you can check here...

Retiring Lists

• Retiring Stamps (Available 30 May - 30 June, 2014, or while supplies last)
  • PDF
  • Sortable Excel file
• Retiring Accessories (Available 30 May - 30 June, 2014, or while supplies last) 
  • PDF
  • Sortable Excel file

The Excel files get updated during business hours to tell you what has sold out.

Mystery Hostess

If you are ordering and want to take part in a mystery hostess promotion, when you reach checkout you enter this series of letters  CZKVNKJJ  on the  bottom left, where it has a box 'do you have a hostess code?'

Join Stampin' Up!

Don't forget that there is a special joining special  running in addition to the usual joining arrangements. More details are available here on an earlier blog post.

Classes for June

I am running the Boxed Cards class again during June. During May  I cancelled  a couple of classes due to a family situation. This has now improved, my apologies to those of you affected by this. I have a Saturday afternoon class chalked in for 21st June 2pm - 5pm, and evening classes 7pm -10pm for Thursday 19th, Friday 20th and Thursday 26th June. Email rpalmieri5@bigpond.com or txt 0417 500 681 if you would like to attend one of these classes.

Catalogue Launch

I am holding a catalogue launch on Friday 4th July, 2pm through to 8pm you will be able to call in, collect a showbag and catalogue for free. There will be displays and samples to admire, and the opportunity to stamp a little sample,  if you choose. If you order in the first 10 days of July, you will be entered into a mystery hostess draw. More details as the day approaches.

Have a great week

Rachel

Card-in-a-Box and Class Schedule for February & March

My five weeks of summer holidays draws to a close. :(

Back to work tomorrow, and what is the weather going to be but sunny and 39 degrees (think that's 100 Fahrenheit!!!!) so it's not going to be fun.

And I've had so much fun over summer! Meals out with friends, friends from near and far to visit, family spending time at the beach with us (its so much fun with small children to play with) and lots and lots of crafting time!

These Card-in-a-Box creations began to appear late last year, and I've had a play about with a few different versions. This one is based on measurements given by Monica Gale, a UK Stampin' Up! demonstrator. It turns out rather large, and apart from that, I wasn't aware that it was best to not extend too far beyond the edges, because  then it doesn't fit in an envelope! Luckily I have my Envelope Punch Board and I used a 11½ inch square piece of DSP to make a giant envelope.

So, next I checked around and found another tutorial, this time by Australian demonstrator, Tanya Bell. Tanya is very clever, and generous also. She shared the smaller dimensions that mean the Card-in-a-Box will fit in a standard C6 envelope, readily available here. I have decided to offer this as a special Project Class in February or March. You need to click on the CLASSES tab at the top of the blog, and check the list of dates that I have available. If you have 3 hours free on one of the days I've nominated, send me an email or text (0417 500 681) and we will see what we can work out. I need two participants to run a class, so if you also have a friend who wants to craft, we could be good-to-go, otherwise I will place it up as a class taking place and we will see if anyone else wants to join you and create.
 You probably need to have had some experience with paper cutters, precise measurements are required (and the equipment and measurements are imperial, not metric) but I will demonstrate the construction process before you embark on your own Card-in-a-Box.
                                                                                 


There are other classes available too, for beginners and more experienced crafters, maybe we can get together soon...
Rachel

Regarding Dahlias FMS 115

Regarding Dahlias stamp set has been around since June, but I had put off buying it until last week, after seeing all the amazing cards others have been making. I've struggled a little tonight to bring this together, but I'm happy with the final result. Excuse the poor light though, taking a photo at night with artificial light is not a recipe for success!!!!



I've based my card on the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, used my favourite colours -Bermuda Bay and Coastal Cabana with a touch of So Saffron on the Papillon Potpourri (132058) butterflies, and a greeting from Itty Bitty Banners(132022). The Bitty Butterfly punch (129406) came in handy, along with the Elegant Butterfly Punch.(127526). Just a few rhinestones to finish off because my friends all love a little bling! I'm preparing for the January birthdays.......

Cheers
Rachel

FMS 71

I've had a hectic 3 days away at my son's home, helping out with their two lively little men, 'cos their dad had surgery last week and they needed Poppy and Gran to take them fishing and to the park to run off some of the energy that Dad usually takes care of.

Since we arrived home my other two grandsons have visited, and when they left, I decided to have an hour or two of "me-time" to recharge before fronting up to some more darling children at school tomorrow!!

I've missed deadlines for some challenges that I had bookmarked (that happens a lot....LOL) but still have time for Freshly Made Sketches, one of my absolute favourites! If you click on that link you will see heaps more great cards by very talented players.

I have used some patterned paper from Sale-a-bration, it's called Sycamore Street, to set the colours for my card. Inks used are Pool Party, Tangerine Tango and I substituted Marina Mist for Island Indigo for a more subtle deep blue. The tag was cut with the Two-Tags die on my Big Shot using Whisper White card. I had tried it in Pool Party but it didn't look "clean" enough. The flower and leaf is from a Sale-a-bration set called Bloomin' Marvellous, and then I stamped a flower centre in Tangerine Tango with a little stamp from the Summer Silhouettes set. The same colour was used to stamp a stamp from the Papillon Potpourri and it was punched with its matching punch.

There's a new petite sized butterfly punch in the 25th Anniversary Catalogue (page 13) which punches the smaller butterflies from the Papillon Potpourri set and also the wee butterfly in Bloomin' Marvellous. I love the way everything mixes and matches. I was going to include one of the Bitty Butterflies too, but it made it a bit busy, I'm sure I'll use the other ones I punched very soon anyway.

At the top of the tag I have placed an Antique Brad over some Pool Party Seam Binding, which unfortunately covers the pretty scalloped top of the tag and the butterfly has three Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

Oh, and the greeting I used is from a Itty Bitty Banners stamp set that is available both as a sale-a-bration bonus (Free with a $100 order, before shipping) or it can be purchased from the Annual catalogue for $27.95 for wood mount. It's on page 134, where you can see that there are three shapes and sizes, six different greetings. Also available are Bitty Banners Framelits dies if you happen to have a Big Shot.

I'll say ciao for now,

Rachel

Post-Catalogue Launch Review

We had a lovely evening last Friday for the Catalogue Launch with a friendly group of ladies, eager to see the lovely new Stampin Up stamps, paper, dies and embossing folders as well as get a good look at the new In-colors and then use them on their make-and-takes.

2012 In-colors

Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse, Gumball Green and Summer Starfruit

I am so excited by the new  stamp sets, especially Scentsational Seasons (page 16) and Perfectly Preserved (page 29) both out of the Holiday Mini catalogue. It was after I saw them demonstrated in May at Convention that I saw the possibilities with these cute sets. Also available to make these even more fun are the framelits, (dies that cut around these lovely shapes on your Big Shot). When I was telling the ladies how I had looked at these sets and thought they suited the American market, but not ours in Australia, they were nodding away in agreement UNTIL, I pulled out some of the samples I had whipped up and then they were very keen to try them out. A lot made a card quite similiar to the one below, although variations ranged from apples through to spiders! The possibilities for this jar are endless and it's such a cute idea.

Below is a second make and take using Primrose Petals card stamped with En Francais in the same shade. It has been decorated with a Raspberry Ripple butterfly stamped with Papillon Potpourri ( page 115 annual catalogue) and cut out with the new Elegant Butterfly punch (page 184 annual catalogue). The large flower was made with the 1¾" scalloped circle punch and the new 1¼" scalloped circle punch (page 7 Holiday Mini Catalogue). They were able to stamp on the new cotton ribbon and I used the 'Happy Birthday" from Bring on the Cake (page 142 Annual catalogue) but there is a stamp set in the Holiday catalogue page 20, Border Banter, which is designed for stamping onto ribbon (and borders of all sorts). I plan to use the one saying "merry merry merry merry merry" across the bottom of some Christmas cards. Of course, everyone likes to put their own touches to these cards, which gives a great variety of lovely cards to admire. Unfortunately, in the excitement I forgot to take any photos, not even of the display.

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It was a great opportunity for them to preview our upcoming classes and vote on which they would like to do in the immediate future. This is also good for me as it is often difficult to gauge which classes will be the most popular.

Everyone was interested in watercolouring and so that will be our next class at 7pm on Friday 12th October and Saturday 13th October at 2pm. These take place in my home at South Morang, VIC and if you would like to participate too, give me a call on 0417 500 681 or email me.

Classes run for 2½ hours and everything you need is supplied. More details and a sneak peek later though.

Hope you are enjoying stamping, feel free to contact me by email or phone/text 0417 500 681 if you have any questions or need supplies. Your order can be paid with direct debit to my bank account, cash in person or credit card, prior to ordering. The order is delivered right to your postal address (in Australia) in 7-14 days, for $5.95 or 5% of order value, whichever is greater.

Bye for now

Rachel