An Apple a Day.........Get well RS#86

I haven't been making many cards lately because I have over one thousand photos to scrapbook, from my seven weeks away in Ireland, Scotland, England and France. I had a tough day at work today, and decided a little relaxation was in order, so I have taken the sketch at Retro Sketches and put together this Get Well card.
We had a team meeting last week, and we frequently bring show and tell. Mary had some cards to show, and one had the cutest little paper bow on it, which looked like it was a miniature of the Gift Bow Bigz L Die, in the holiday catalogue. Of course, it wasn't, and Mary was happy to share how she'd made it with the oval punches, so I made one as soon as I arrived home so I wouldn't forget. Thanks Mary, for the tip!

I've used Soft Suede, and Old Olive card with Real Red and Chocolate Chip ink and Tea For Two DSP. I have a bit of a 'thing' for apples on Get Well cards (you know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away) and Stampin' Up! doesn't currently have an apple stamp, so I pulled out the retired Perfectly Preserved and stamped and die cut the apple and leaves. The other retired item I've used is the spiral punch to make notepaper in Old Olive. The cute little journalling note is from Everything Eleanor, punched out with the 2½ inch scalloped circle punch and the greeting is from the Hostess set Express Yourself.

I've used another greeting from Express Yourself inside the card too, Better Get Better, along with a second apple image (see below).
Don't forget to pop over to Retro Sketches for some more inspiration, and thanks so much for visiting my blog.

Have a great week,

Rachel

Express Yourself

Everything Eleanor

The ups and downs of life and other challenges...CCMC241

I have had a particularly busy week, what with my (paid) job Monday to Wednesday, the funeral of my very dear friend Helen on Thursday morning, while another family member had to stand-in to be the welcoming committee for friends arriving from Ireland, also Thursday morning.

So, there we were, experiencing all the highs and lows that life can deal out. I was sure that I would have no time for challenges this week. However, John and Ruth have enjoyed a few days being shown around the city of Melbourne, and the wildlife and wineries of the Yarra Valley and have now taken off to do some independent sight-seeing down the amazing Victorian coast.

They'll love it, especially as the weather has cooled enough to be quite pleasant in the sun now.

When it seemed that things were back under control in the household this morning, I snuck into  my craft room and put together this simple get well card for the challenge sketch at Create with Connie and Mary this week. I distressed the edges of the red paper and tied bakers twine instead of a ribbon, but I've really stayed true to the original. The stamp set is Perfectly Preserved which has been carried over from the Holiday catalogue. Luckily, as I still love it and haven't used it half enough yet. The Get Well Soon is from Delightful Dozen which contains 12 lovely varied greetings. Click on the link (above) to Create with Connie and Mary and see all the different submissions there.

Happy stamping everyone,

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



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

Sneak a peek at Holiday stamps

I'm so excited now that I have my holiday pre-order in my hands!!!

On page 28-29 of our Holiday catalogue is a stamp set Perfectly Preserved, designer series paper Orchard Harvest and framelits dies to cut 7 of the stamps out on the Big Shot. If I hadn't seen this set of stamps demonstrated at the Canberra Convention, back in May, I probably wouldn't have given them a second look BUT after seeing the cute ways to use these stamps they went on to my "Must Have" list. (it gets pretty long, lol!!)

Now I don't want to let the cat out of the bag, before I've made anyof those ideas up, 'cos you need a surprise too, but when I saw the cute sketch by Jen Mitchell over at Freshly Made sketches this idea popped into my head. I've used a new In-colour, Raspberry Ripple and embossed it with a new embossing folder Lacy Brocade from the Holiday Catty, and cut a shape from some Orchard Harvest paper, then decided just to use a sliver of the shape and a strip of the new stitched satin ribbon in Gumball Green. This ribbon is so soft and silky, gorgeous and comes in all five new In-Colours, so as well as the two I've mentioned already, there is Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals and Summer Starfruit.

I inked the cherries stamp with Stampin write markers, Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple and Soft Suede, huffed on them and stamped. Then, just for a touch of cuteness, I used the tiny heart shaped stamp which says "love" (too hard to see in pic) out of  I (Heart) Hearts, retiring in a week, but still available and "sweet" from Fabulous Phrases (page 133). The tiny red heart is a leftover from the Owl builder punch, I'm always gathering them up and saving them for other projects, they're so tiny and cute.Punched everything out with the one inch circle punch, then some Gumball Green circles with the one & a quarter punch and mounted them along the bottom of the card, with dimensionals.

Now that you've finished here, why not pop on over to get lots more wonderful inspiration at Freshly Made Sketches and have a lovely weekend,

Rachel