The Road Less Traveled - ColourQ #287

Three great stamp sets and a perfect Colour challenge, thanks yet again to the team at ColourQ. I'd been hanging out to combine World Map with The Road Less Traveled from Adventure Awaits, and since I'd inked the vintage car earlier in the week, it was still on my table and begging to be used again too. It is one of the images from Guy Greetings, so many treasures in that stamp set.

The 'spot of colour' I chose was Cherry Cobbler, the car is quite easy to colour, and I framed it within a film strip (On Film Framelits). Guy Greetings has a number of sentiments, including the Happy Father's Day and a Happy Birthday in a similar style.

Cheers,
Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

The World to Me

 I like the way we have a World Map among the Stampin' Up! range of stamps, AND another that says "You Make the World a Better Place" because they go together like a hand and glove. Orange and Navy are a bit like that too, making striking partners. Colour Me also like this combination, paired with a neutral, and I chose Crumb Cake.

Starburst Sayings has the lovely round sentiment, and "May Happiness Be your Destination" comes from Happy Congratulations, a stamp set from the Occasions Catalogue earlier in the year. Perfect for a Graduate or Traveler!

I had stamped the Hardwood stamp with Crumb Cake on Whisper White for another card, and punched out with the Chevron Border Punch and the pieces here were destined for scrap, but waste not want not, as the saying goes.

Have a great week
Rachel

World Map Wood Stamp Set

$30.95

World Map Clear Stamp Set

$24.95

Starburst Sayings Wood Stamp Set

$44.95

Starburst Sayings Clear Stamp Set

$35.95

Hardwood Wood Stamp Set

$30.95

Hardwood Clear Stamp Set

$24.95

Starburst Framelits Die

$45.95

Border Chevron Punch

$37.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

En Francais Birthday FMS 131

This morning, when I was tidying up I decided to make a card with some of the background pieces I'd demonstrated at last night's workshop. The girls were making Scalloped Tag Topper cards once they had stamped a background. I'll pop a photo of some samples near the end of this post.

The En Francais stamp makes a lovely background with its flowing script, but it was handy to have Cindy H's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches to give me some fresh inspiration on how to use it a different way. The colours here are Pool Party, Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay, such an awesome trio~!

I don't usually leave such a wide margin around my layers, so that was a bit of a change for me, as was the strip of patterned paper laid over both. I'd had the Pool Party ruffled ribbon out for the class, as one of the ladies had used this colour scheme too.

I also love the Happy Watercolor stamp set, and have used the longer flower (looks like a native orchid to me) on the panel. I stamped the 'splash of paint' stamp from that stamp set three times without reinking. Using the darkest shade, Bermuda Bay, then huffed* on the rubber, stamped, huffed* again and stamped, to get the faintest image at the top.The dotty image is also from Happy Watercolor, it has been stamped in gold ink. Itty Bitty Banners has been getting a lot of use lately too, the framelits to cut the banners make it so quick and easy.

* huffed - technical term to describe breathing heavily through the mouth!!!

The girls were able to make a variety of cards using background stamps like Hardwood, En Francais and World Map before trying a couple of ways to use the Tag Topper Punches.

I've been busy with my grandchildren today and now they are in bed I am quickly catching up with my blog. We are keeping two of the older ones for a few more days, so it will be busy for a while before we return them to their parents. It isn't really helping that the weather has turned cooler and drizzly for a number of days now. We took them to a concert today and it was just as entertaining watching their reactions, as the performers were!

Thanks for popping by,
Rachel

Hoping For a Calm Christmas

I'm sure we all hope for a calm, peaceful Christmas but how likely is it? We have been madly putting up the Christmas Tree, a live one, and the biggest we've ever had! I'm lucky because one of my sons goes each year to get trees for himself, his in-laws and us, so that is a big help. However, our lights weren't doing the tree justice, due to its increased height, and we have been out to purchase a larger set (and flashier too, I might add). We have added another bauble to the tree this year too, for our small grand-daughter, Alice, born March this year.

As promised, here are my Christmas Cards for this year. Both styles use Calm Christmas (132736) and the card on the right has World Map (130342) as the background. Petite Pairs (128706), on the left card says Merry Christmas on one stamp, while the other half of this pair says and a Happy, Joyful, Bright New Year. Petite Pairs is one of those "must have" stamp sets with greetings for all occasions. Instead of using my 12" by 12" pack of Winter Frost DSP, I used the Winter Frost Paper Stack (132183) because it contains 48 sheets of card-front-size double-sided paper in four of the designs, making it easier to mass-produce a quantity of cards. The items above are all directly linked to those items in my online store if you want to take a closer look. If you decide to shop there be assured that you are shopping on a secure, reputable site. It is recommended that you shop early, as Stampin' Up gears up for a clearance sale of retired stock, beginning early on Tuesday 10th December. Going by last year, stock will move very fast, some items were sold out within minutes, due to low numbers of stock items, and a heavy demand. This is the link to the online store.

The colours used are Smokey Slate, Bermuda Bay, Midnight Muse, Pool Party(World Map) Sky Blue and Marina Mist. The pale dove was inked with Sky Blue and then thumped with the three Stampin' Write Markers shown in the picture. The Thumping Technique is a BIG favourite of mine, I love the soft mottled effect this technique produces, but I'm equally fond of the bold appearance of the Midnight Muse dove. It shows up the patterned surface of the stamp so clearly. Do you like to craft your own cards, or Christmas decorations? I haven't any classes scheduled for the immediate future, because everyone seems to have a full calendar, but as I am away from my regular job from 20th December until Australia Day, let me know if there is a product you'd like to try out. or a technique you'd like to learn and we can see if it can be arranged as a workshop or party.

Thanks for passing by today,

Rachel

Retired items newly listed under For Sale tab at top of page.

World Map

Last week was my husband's birthday and to celebrate, our rather large family went to Werribee Open Range Zoo for an outing and picnic. The weather was a bit on the cool side, but the rain held off.  Most of the zoo is accessible on a open-sided bus which takes you quite close to giraffe, zebras, rhinos and hippos. On foot you can see more of the hippos, as well as gorillas, lions and cheetahs. In the photo at right, the boys are 'driving' a jeep, and the windscreen is part of the view into the lions' enclosure. Apparently, the engine part of the jeep is heated at times, so the lions come down and sleep right there, at the window.

I thought I would share the birthday card I made my husband, after seeing this card on Debbie Henderson's blog. I used the same colour scheme and didn't deviate far from her design either. I'm a big fan of Debbie's work and decided you can't improve on perfection.

Stamps: World Map (130342), Chalk Talk (130631), Sketched Birthday (130423)
Framelits: Chalk Talk (129983), Itty Bitty Banners(129267)

You can order any of these from my online store by entering those code numbers, and if you want a workshop on this technique, email me to see if we can find a time and place that suits.

It has just occurred to me that it is rather a funny coincidence that the country that features on World Map is Africa, and the majority of animals at the Open Range Zoo were also from Africa. Maybe I should have included an animal from my newest favourite stamp set, Zoo Babies ( 130453)as well?


Thanks so much for visiting,have a good week
Rachel

The Power of Two

So glad I've finished my other job for the week, its been horrible. Staff numbers are being reduced in December, and we are all feeling emotional. My job is safe - for now, thank goodness!

Lying awake in the early hours of the morning, I sometimes get inspiration and I just HAD to have another play with Zoo Babies (130453), Retro Sketches, Wild Things for The Paper Players and SUO Challenges too, for "a favourite sentiment".

I picked the Zebra and Toucan this time, stamped the World Map (130342) image before reinking my old Basic Black stamp pad, and the wildlife were stamped after the reinking. I used a Stampin Write in Basic Black so that I could selectively ink the sentiment (because I couldn't fit the whole thing in a banner and it seemed to take too much room in full too.

I've chosen another bright shade, Tangerine Tango and Epic Day DSP (130814) is the layer behind the World Map. The frame is Textured Impressions Designer Frames (123130), this one is the rectangle with the centre torn out; there is an oval shape in that set too.

I still have some of my free Sale-a-bration buttons left, so I popped a Pool Party one on, tied with matching Bakers Twine.

I think this card would make a quirky engagement/wedding/anniversary card, for the right couple!!
Does anyone agree?


Happy crafting everyone
Rachel

Wild Things PP170 & RS88

Today in Melbourne we have a day off work for a horse race! It is billed as "the race that stops a nation" . Anyway, I won't argue with a day off at anytime, and have enjoyed breakfast in the garden in the spring sunshine, tidied my craft space and promptly messed it up again!
Oh, what joy!

 I saw the challenge at The Paper Players for "wildlife" and then searched for a sketch or colour inspiration and decided the RetroSketch sketch would fit really well.

In 2007 I (reluctantly) accompanied my mother, an intrepid traveller, to Zambia and Kenya. Needless to say, it was a marvellous experience, and one treasured moment was visiting a sanctuary for orphaned rhino. There was a mature rhino there who had been hand-reared after being orphaned by poachers who was tame enough for us to be photographed with. Of course, we could stroke his leathery hide as well, and I still get newsletters from the sanctuary in Kenya.

Now to tell you about the card. I've stamped the World Map (130342) onto Whisper White card, using a circular mask to keep the centre panel clear. I then used Zoo Babies, and a freshly inked black stamp pad to stamp a solitary rhinoceros into that blank circle, the congratulations is also from Zoo Babies (130453) and has been easily cut with Itty Bitty Banners Framelit (129267). The black circular frame was cut using the two largest circles from Framelits Circle Collection (130911). The wooden button (127554) and Linen Thread (104199) are the finishing touches. If you want to purchase any of these items, pop over to my online store or click on the names and you will go directly to them.




Enjoy your week, no matter what you are doing,
Rachel