Case-ing The Catty #1 Gift and Packaging - Pretty Pink Gift Box

This is a new challenge to show you what a fabulous resource your Stampin' Up! Catalogue can be. I'm very excited to be a part of the design team - a first for me! I am an avid participant in challenges, it seems to get the creativity flowing. Now, with just a little imagination, and using the stamps and inks you have on hand, you can CASE the catty too! Pop over to the Case-ing the Catty blog to see what the rest of the design team have made.

I have picked a gift box, see page 13 of the Aus/NZ catalogue for the one I cased. Although the catalogue example uses a large gift box, I chose a smaller box. It's a perfect size for some small toiletries, lip gloss or treats.

I used Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana and Pink Pirouette for a feminine touch and stamped the dot from Work of Art randomly over the strip of Whisper White and punched the ends just like in the catalogue, using the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch. The Spiral Flower was one of the most popular items at my Catalogue Launch. Everyone made one, and every one was an original. I haven't made all that many yet, so mine tend to be a bit of a surprise each time, but I was pleased with this one in Strawberry Slush.



The Bird Builder Punch was already out to punch out some Coastal Cabana leaves so I decided I would decorate a gift tag to go with the gift box. I had received Polka-Dot Pieces in my last order, and it wasn't even mounted, but I soon fixed that. It isn't a new stamp set, but it's a good one, so I stamped the bird onto Pink Pirouette, punched it out and mounted it to the top of the tag. The greeting is a favourite of mine, it comes from Really Good Greetings. I know that I will be able to use this box and tag for a gift very soon.

Why don't you see if you can CASE something from the catalogue too and share with us?
I hope to see you soon
Rachel


If you need any help to make this project, please email me, I'll be glad to assist and for supplies, if you live in Australia, you can buy from my online store.

Originals Flower Spiral Bigz Die

$29.95

Builder Bird Punch

$29.95

Polka-Dot Pieces Wood Stamp Set

$35.95

Work Of Art Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$51.95

Really Good Greetings Wood Stamp Set

$32.95

Another Beautiful Blended Bloom

I've continued on with my Blended Blooms creations over the weekend and used this sketch from one of the half dozen on offer for the Paper Players 200th Challenge. I knew I was too late to link it in, (they've picked their winners before I've even posted) so if you've dropped in to read my blog, thank you so much for spending some time here with me.

Nance Leedy chose this sketch as her inspiration, the sketch, way back at Challenge 65, was originally by Anne Marie Hile. When I was making the previous card with the red bloom, I thought the reverse of that DSP from the Fresh Prints Paper Stack would be perfect with the Coastal Cabana range of three blues in Blendabilities. These shades of blue are among my top favourites, but they seem to be the most difficult to blend with these new alcohol-based markers.

I tried leaving the flower on a square of white, then a circle but it really covered up too much of the patterned paper, so in the end I cut the flower out by hand. The greeting is from Really Good Greetings, it comes up a treat when coloured with a couple of Stampin' Write Markers, and the dies from Chalk Talk provide a nice outline for this one.

The finishing touches are a scattering of sequins and a red Glimmer brad. The sequins have picked up some of the colours on the card, but I am looking forward to some coloured sequins coming in the NEW catalogue!!!

Hope your week is a happy one...
Rachel

Nautical but Nice

I have limited stamps for a nautical theme, but Stampin' Up! stamp set The Open Sea is in my stash. I think I will invest in the  new Traveler stamp set very soon too, I had intended to buy it on my pre-order, but somehow left it off!!! How could that happen?

Just Add Ink challenged us to use the retiring colours for one last time and I grabbed Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit and Primrose Petals. Oh, you should have seen the mess I got myself into with that!!! I inked up a large acrylic stamp block by wiping the ink pads across the surface and then I soaked watercolour paper and sprayed the acrylic block too so the ink was running all about. I love the shades it makes when the colours run together. It makes such a glorious sunset background for the sailing boat and then I felt it needed to have 'Live the Life You've Imagined' from Really Good Greetings.

This would be a great Bon Voyage or retirement card, I think. I remember in 2011, my husband and I took our first overseas trip together, including a 10 day Mediterranean cruise. A highlight was visiting Santorini, a picturesque Greek island which involves being brought ashore by tender. When it was time to return to the ship, I was thrilled to bits to be among the group who were taken on a sailing boat (with engine!!!) which looked very much like this one, it was a magical moment.

This card also fits really well with The Card Concept challenge of a nautical theme.
I followed some online instructions for this sailor's knot which I tied using some of the Summer Starfruit Bakers Twine from SALE-A-BRATION, isn't it great? And I did remember to pre-order all the Project Life I was allowed and the greeting was cut with Project Life Cards and Labels Framelits, there are some handy shapes in that pack. The arrow shaped paper clip is from Hung Up Cute Clips and the Labels Collection Framelits cut out the shaped panel.

Happy stamping!
Rachel


Australian readers - You can shop for lots of supplies in my online shop, there's only 12 days till the mini Occasions catalogue and main catalogue finish. Plenty of retiring bargains and weekly specials too.

Hostess code C2KVNKJJ

Classes for watercolouring available if you are near to South Morang (Melbourne) VIC

Thursday 17th July 7.00pm - 10.00pm

Friday 25th July 7.00pm - 10.00pm

Saturday 2nd August 2.00pm - 5.00pm (daytime)

Stampin' Up! Convention 2014 - Melbourne - my swap card

It was amazing how quick it was to stamp this card. I had two of my grandchildren staying overnight the weekend I started,  but after they'd gone to bed I went off for some creative time. I grabbed some stamp sets from the shelf and a handful of my favourite colours, planning to use the splash from Happy Watercolor and a couple of feathers from Fine Feathers, positioned like the paint was dripping from them.

As you can see, that is not exactly the way it developed. I used the same stamp sets I'd picked but the design is quite different. In addition to those first two stamp sets, I then pulled Gorgeous Grunge from the shelf and Really Good Greetings for the sentiment. After designing the card face, construction of a bulk card is a step-by-step process, just like working on a factory production line.

My design process is a very hands-on, so the first card was stamped out completely and I made any changes to positioning at this point. Then, like I said previously, I treat it like a production line. All the splashes in one colour times the number of card fronts. Clean the stamp, move on to the next colour and so on. It just saves time and ink to work this way.

You might wonder why you would ever need or want to make cards in bulk like this? If you choose to make just one or two designs for your annual Christmas Card, this can be a very efficient use of time and materials. Perhaps you need to make many invitations for a birthday, wedding or some other event.
Well..... I was preparing all these swaps to take to Convention. At Convention there are lots of lovely demonstrators to swap with and you get to collect up a lovely range of cards, made with current products and colours, but often using techniques you haven't tried for a while, stamp sets you don't own and in a style different to your own.

This is my box of swaps all set to go, with the project 'recipe' on the back, and bagged up in cellophane. Maybe you're a fellow Australian or New Zealand demonstrator who swapped with me, I hope you like my card. Perhaps you're just browsing my blog looking for ideas - would you like to become a demonstrator too? You can email me, or contact your own Stampin' Up demonstrator, we're a happy and inclusive group of people.
I have posted this to be published while I am still away at Convention, learning heaps of new techniques, how to use new tools and seeing some of the new catalogue items. The catalogue will be released to customers on July 1st, Very exciting!

Cheers
Rachel

Paris!

We're in Paris!

My husband and I have been travelling around Ireland and England for a few weeks now, catching up with some of my relatives, and doing a LOT of sight-seeing.

Our trip is coming to an end, our wedding anniversary is in a couple of days, and although it isn't a big one ending in zero, we have been married for more than thirty years, so it's big enough to celebrate in Paris.

We've come from London on Eurostar, with no real plans except dinner up the Eiffel Tower and I was playing around with a few of my stamps and came up with this little piece to be the heading for my scrapbook page, I think.

Most of the stamps are retired now, but they will remain in my stash for some time yet.
Artistic Etchings has Amour and the Eiffel Tower, Elements of Style is the lovely roses, French Foliage has the Paris postmark and the scrap of script (a french poem) and the NEW stamp set Really Good Greetings is what inspired the whole idea! It actually says "finally a day that Really is all about YOU" but that was easy enough to leave off and change to "us".

Au revoir,
Rachel

Happy Birthday

It has been a little while since my youngest son's birthday, so I can safely share the card I made for him using new colours and product from Stampin' Up!

They're not so new now, and you can go to my online shop to place your order (if you reside in Australia). Here is the link to my online store. You even earn the same hostess benefits there as you do when you spend $300 with me personally.
The card colour is Bermuda Bay, an In-colour from the time before I was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and  reintroduced in the brights colour family. Its just beautiful!
The inks I used were Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate, Midnight Muses and Basic Black.

I have used the lovely new stamp set Gorgeous Grunge on the front of the card and some of the Epic Day washi tape too.  The greeting is from Label Love and cut out with an Artisan Label Punch. I cut a window out of the card front with my 2½ inch circle punch and used 2 of the hot air balloons out of the now (retired) Up Up and Away stamp set and the greeting was also from the (retired) stamp set Word Play. At the time I needed the card, my new greeting stamps were in transit or I probably would have used the Live the life you've imagined from Really Good Greetings. Aaron is at a junction in his life, so to speak, finishing off his science degree with a year of research on site and in the laboratory, before he moves on to the "Real World".

Happy stamping!
Rachel

  

It's All About You! FMS 96 CTD252

The picture that Color Throwdown produced for this week's challenge really appeals to me, but I found it difficult to place all these colours together.
Freshly Made Sketches and a sketch by Amy kicked off my inspiration, so using Coastal Cabana as the base, I added a strip of Venetian Romance DSP in Crisp Cantaloupe. After stamping some balloons in Versamark onto the background, I stamped two images in Basic Black of 'Happy Birthday Cupcake'. One was punched with the 1 3/4 inch scalloped circle, the other with a 1 1/4 inch circle punch and when it had dried, I watercoloured lightly with Strawberry Slush and Crisp Cantaloupe.The balloons and cupcake are from the Sketched Birthday stamp set.

The tags are cut using two different tags from the Chalk Talk Framelits, the large white tag that reminds me of an over-sized food tag, and another smaller curved one in Rich Razzleberry.

The greeting stamp from Really Good Greetings is fun to ink up with Stampin' Write Markers and doesn't it look good with all those luscious shades and fancy fonts?

A scattering of Basic Jewel rhinestones is the finishing touch.


Hope you're enjoying your weekend, as much as I am. All my children and their families are about to arrive for Sunday lunch, to farewell us as we leave on a big overseas holiday very soon.
Cheers
Rachel

All About You! FMS92

I had partially made this card before we went away this weekend, but hadn't had time to photograph it or blog, so it's catch-up time now.

I think Bermuda Bay might just be my new favourite colour, I'm even wearing a top and cardigan in those colours as I type this. {smile}



I stamped one of the border stamps from Mosaic Madness onto the Bermuda Bay base and used Coastal Cabana to stamp three of the cute little shapes onto Whisper White and then punched them out with the Mosaic Punch. Don't you just LOVE it when Stampin' Up! make it that easy, with a punch to match a shape?
Those shapes are lined up on the left and look gorgeous with a little added bling. The right side is simply stamped in Bermuda Bay with a stamp from Really Good Greetings and underlined with another stamp from Mosaic Madness. I added some more rhinestones to that and called it finished.

There are so many variations in that stamp set, 11 stamps in total! You will find it on page 123 of the new catalogue. I used Mosaic Madness for this card too.

I'm back from a delightful, but exhausting weekend with three of my grandchildren. Always lovely to spend time with any of my children, and their wives and children, we are very blessed.

I have two weeks holiday so I'm looking forward with excitement to the release of the new catalogue on Tuesday, I've had plenty of time to browse through it and make lists. Do you want to see the new catalogue too?
I expect I will have time to create, catch up with friends, visit the Monet exhibition currently visiting Melbourne, and finish planning the trip to Ireland and England that my husband and I are taking very soon.

Feel free to contact me if you need a new catalogue, information or to place an order. I'll be very happy to chat. Phone 0417 500 681 rpalmieri5@bigpond.com
Cheers - Rachel