You & Me RS #107

My poor hubby has been in hospital this week for a shoulder reconstruction. It gave us both a bit of a scare when the surgery took almost 5 hours instead of the estimated 1½-2 hours. Just goes to show that he really does have a very high tolerance to pain. I finally was able to bring him home today, and it is a really good feeling to have him safely tucked up at home.

I knew I wanted to use the Ampersand  Embossing Folder for this sketch, and that naturally then proceeded to using 'You & Me' from Perfect Pennants. Those two just fit together so beautifully, and I used my 1¾" circle punch to notch out a spot for the greeting to show. After I trimmed the Strawberry Slush card around the curve of the ampersand, I mounted it on a square of the Silver Foil sheet, and then onto another square, this time Coastal Cabana.

Another greeting which goes really well with this sort of card is 'Never Underestimate the Power of Two' from Yippee Skippee! I used that on the inside with two hearts from the Peachy Keen stamp set and a single flower from Oh Hello. The inspiration sketch is another terrific one from Retro Sketches, I haven't had time lately to enter their weekly challenge, and didn't think I would this week either, even though I have had some time off work. However, the patient is co-operating at the moment, so all is good in the craft cave!!! There's a day or two left on this challenge, why not try your hand at the sketch too? Click on the name to link over to Retro Sketches.

Hope you have some time  this week for what you love...

Rachel

Ampersand Embossing Folder 132970 Occasions Catalogue

Happy Anniversary

I had a friend come over for a stamping session recently. She was so excited that her dear niece had become engaged and wanted to make her a special card. So off we went to Pinterest and found this gorgeous card by Heather Klump and my friend proceeded to make her version of the card complete with the paper piercing, while I made an anniversary card.



I think maybe this is a little TOO pink to give to my sweetheart, but today is our wedding anniversary, so Happy Anniversary darling. Home in our own bed tonight - lovely!

Rain or Shine with three cute umbrellas was a Mini catalogue line that wasn't carried over :(  - we said goodbye to it at the end of June. We both used the heart stamp from Love and Laughter and my friend used the greetings in that set too, while I grabbed A Word For You (retired), I love the script on those stamps. Mainly I used Strawberry Slush and Bermuda Bay, with some other pinks mixed into the hearts. Aren't these NEW colours lovely?


Cheers
Rachel

Simply Sketched Thank You - Cas on Sunday

I needed some simple little Thank You notes, and the NEW hostess stamp set Simply Sketched seemed perfect, along with the challenge at CAS on Sunday. The challenge is "Kraft and Twine". Crumb Cake is the  Stampin' Up! kraft colour, and they have many shades of Baker's Twine.

I've stamped two of the leafy image and one of the poppy from Simply Sketched with Early Espresso, before taking my trusty Aqua Painter and adding Strawberry Slush to the flower, Rich Razzleberry to the berries and Old Olive to the leaves.

It was quite easy with the Cropodile to punch a pair of holes to thread the Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine through and tie a simple bow. There are three greetings included in this Hostess stamp set, Thanks so much is just one of them. So there it is, all completed, with plenty of space inside for a thank you note!

You don't actually need to hostess a party to earn this stamp set but you still need to spend $300 to earn $50 hostess dollars, to be spent on either exclusive Hostess items or other catalogue products. This also applies to sales through my online store.

Cheers,
Rachel

Pick and Mix a Six-Sided Sampler

Another card from my "Pick and Mix" class on Friday night was this Six-Sided Sampler stamped using the Stamp-a-ma-jig. With the huge range of ink colours, plus the lovely patterns on these hexagons, it gave the ladies such a choice in ways to make their own cards individual.
One card was made totally using Real Red and the gingham hexagon and it looked fabulous. Another card maker incorporated a strip of card, paper pierced and hand stitched, because it will be a birthday card for a patchworker. What a perfect idea!
My sample was purposely kept to one layer with just one shape raised on Dimensionals. I used Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana and Crushed Curry.Of course, with the Hexagon Punch to punch those shapes, this was a quick and easy card.

In October, I will be offering Quick and Easy stamping classes, so if you haven't had much experience with stamping, or you tried it, but didn't enjoy it, perhaps a Quick and Easy class in October will be the answer to discovering your creativity too.

Happy stamping
Rachel

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

Simply Sketched Sympathy FMS90

I can hardly wait for the new catalogue to be released in Australia - just over 2 weeks to go now!

Ever since we had a sneak peek at Convention, there has been excitement in the air. Now many of us have our hands on the new In-colors and returning colours plus a few stamp sets and accessories we are desperate to show them off to our customers.

Sneak Peek!

Last week I was at my Upline, Sue's house, and she let me stamp off some images from a hostess set from the coming catalogue, Simply Sketched.

I only stamped two of the three sketched images, and one of the greetings, because that is what I needed at the moment, but as well as this sweet poppy there is a sprig of  leaf with a few berries, and a darling little bird, which I've now seen very subtley water-coloured too. The other greetings are Happy Birthday Wishes and Thanks So Much.
There I was this morning with a page of stamped images, a sketch from Linda Callaghan at Freshly Made Sketches and an urge to break out my new ink pads. I began by cutting the images with a variety of Framelits, this one is two sizes of  the Labels Collection Framelits. These were the first ones released and mine are very well-used. I have used Crumb Cake as my base, and teamed it up with Pistachio Pudding, the prettiest shade of green ever. I embossed a piece using the Fancy Fan embossing folder through the Big Shot. At convention we were given a stamp set (in the New Catalogue) called Gorgeous Grunge, and it definitely is that. These diagonal stripes (or half chevron, if you like) are stamped in Strawberry Slush using, probably, the least grungy stamp in the set. If you love splodges and sprinkles, this stamp set will be a "must have". I finished it off with a Very Vintage button threaded with Calypso Coral Bakers Twine.

I have had the Aquapainter for ages, but had only ever used one of them to bleach stamped images. I thought that Stampin' Write Markers and a Blender pen were all I needed for watercolouring. However, at the weekend I spent some time with a fellow demonstrator and she showed me the water colouring she had done with an Aquapainter, so I decided to give mine another try. Oh my goodness! It was so much fun, and I love the effect, so soft and pretty. So once I have earned the Simply Sketched stamp set, I will really be giving the Aquapainter a work out. You can order a pack of two for $19.95, and you don't even have to use the water colour paper, although I think that would give a nice finish to this image.

You get to choose from our lovely Hostess only stamp sets if you host a demonstration, and your sales reach at least $300. Another way is to hold a "Virtual" party and collect up the orders and money from your friends totaling that amount, or you might be Stampin' Up! obsessed, just like me, and have no trouble putting together a $300 plus order all by yourself!

I've already finished my "other job" working week, and I look forward to the next few days stamping up a storm, although my darling husband and I are travelling into the city tomorrow night to see "Jesus Christ, Superstar".
Hope you have something nice to look forward to, as well
Cheers
Rachel

My Mosaic Madness! CCMC255 & SSC51

A lovely, long weekend in Australia, and I have really been enjoying my extra free time!

My big, brown box of Stampin' Up! goodies from the upcoming New Catalogue release arrived just in time for my playtime today, and I chose to use the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary, together with the fresh, bright colours at Sunday Stamps.

I loved the fact that the new Specialty Designer Series Paper, Quatrefancy, has Daffodil Delight and Strawberry Slush (a new colour similar to Melon Mambo) and this piece of DSP is the same sheet showing both sides.

(I have to confess at this point, that I thought it was Melon Mambo, and used MM ink. I've only found out because I referred to the back of the pack to check the colours, and I don't know the difference after only playing for one day. But oh dear! I CAN definitely see the difference now, please forgive me?)

I should have just used Gingham Garden, it has Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight!

Trouble is, I was so keen to try out the Mosaic Madness stamp set and the matching punch, and that is why I rushed off to use the Quatrefancy DSP! I love to bits the way it all coordinates - thanks Stampin' Up!

I added a little texture with the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder on a layer of Sahara Sand card, rounded the corners and attached it to a matching card base. The dimensionals were perfect to give some height to the punched shapes and the Apothecary Accents label, with the greeting, and then just a few Rhinestones.

Are you excited to see the new colours, stamps etc that Stampin' Up! has for us at the beginning of July?
Thanks for passing by,
Rachel