More playing with colour!

Hi there!

Thanks for dropping by.

You might remember last time I was telling you how I started to make one card, and actually ended up with three?
This post I am showing you how to Step It Up, a common term for when you take a basic card and dress it up a bit more, or a lot! *wink*.

So the card to the left was the one I submitted for Freshly Made Sketches #89, some weeks ago now. You will notice that the dimensions of the basic card are smaller too, but the idea was the same.

When I Stepped It Up, I stamped the large blossom from Betsy's  Blossoms onto the large greeting panel, inking once and stamping twice to get two tones of the same shade of Primrose Petals. The greeting from Vintage Verses (retired Sale-a-bration) was stamped in Basic Grey on both, and banners were cut from More Amore DSP (retired) using the Hearts a Flutter Framelits.

The other main difference is the stepped up card has some embellishments added; pearls, Itty Bitty blossom punch flowers, a tiny punched butterfly in Pool Party to pick up that colour in one of the banners and an In-color Dahlia. The edges of the banners were all softened with ink too.

Which version do you prefer?
Rachel

Item#126006 $39.95 AU (clear)

Birthday in the Bag SSC52

I'm glad the challenge at Sunday Stamps lasts for a fortnight 'cos it has given me a chance to whip up an entry!

I used a water-coloured image from an old hostess stamp set, Birthday Bakery. I still love the rows of cakes and this sweet little bag for a session of relaxing water-colouring.

I've used lots of shades from the current  In-color selection, and a few colours you will be able to order next week (in Australia). The card base is Primrose Petals with a piece of More Amore DSP(retiring next Sunday).

 The banners are Blushing Bride, Pool Party and Soft Sky, the oval label is Strawberry Slush and the Apothecary Accents label is Raspberry Ripple. The labels are popped up on Dimensionals and so is the stamped bag and greeting. A couple of large Rhinestones trim the label.

Thanks for dropping by
Rachel

Topsy-Turvy Celebration Bling PP150

To celebrate some lovely stamp sets that are being retired by Stampin' Up!, my June classes were "Retirement" themed.

It fits the criteria for this week at the Paper Players for "Bring on the Bling". Check out the design teams inspiring cards here.

This card made with Topsy-Turvy Celebration was a class sample. It has ended up with heaps more bling on it, much more than I would usually use - 'cos I am a 'less is more' kind of girl, and I can't quite recollect the phrase Genella used to describe my turnaround. It seemed very funny at the time though!

The stamp set might be retiring, and the huge Designer Builder Brads (you can order them till the end of this month) but we get to keep the Rhinestones, the linen thread and the Silver Glimmer Paper.  Strawberry Crush and Bermuda Bay are NEW colours. The Mosaic embossing folder is new too, and the Pool Party Core'dinations is staying. We can buy mixed packs of core'dinations from the start of the new catalogue too, that will be great!

This month before the old catalogue retires and the new one commences is just a little bit exciting, but its hard to know what to use first. The old faves before they go, or the exciting new goodies. If you would like a copy of the catalogue and you live close enough to pick one up, let me know by phone 0417500681 or email rpalmieri5@bigpond.com and I will make sure I have one for you. If you need one posted, it will cost $10 for postage.

Have a happy weekend
Rachel

Secret Garden Swap South Pacific Convention 2013

Would you like to see my swap for Convention?


I left it a bit late, and feel quite ashamed of how few I had to swap, but I will try to get more organised next year, because the girls had some gorgeous swaps there!


I'd heard that the Glossy card was to be retired, we usually would use Glossy card for crayon resist technique. I thought I would try it out on Shimmery White card using Wild Wisteria, Pool Party and Secret Garden flowers stamped in Basic Grey.



It turned out very soft and subtle, which was quite pleasing, but the crayon didn't come out as strongly as usual, so I'm not sure if that was my application of crayon or the soft pastel colours,

I must try it again with a bold colour combo!

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by

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

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!!!!