BYOP Matthew

My husband and I are having a little holiday in West Australia at the moment. We are planning to visit Perth for a few days before heading to Margaret River for beaches and wineries. Next Saturday my trip will finish with a day at Stampin' Up! Onstage, back in Perth. There is another happening in Sydney at the same time, but we decided to tie in a holiday to a part of Australia we hadn't visited with this conference. So you don't feel neglected I have a few automatic posts set up for you.

Last month, my eldest had his birthday. He's very hard to buy for and so I usually give him cash. This time I put squares of items that he might like to spend his cash on. First up is the red hammer on a green background, very similar to the symbol for a hardware chain in Australia. Maybe he will want to do some home maintenance?

Next is a tee-shirt, the slogan says "Everything will be OK". Things haven't been going his way lately, but I'm sure that won't last.

The last square has a part of a car with a surfboard on top. I didn't give him enough money for a new car (haven't won the lottery yet) but it might help out to replace the surfboard that smashed on the rocks a few weeks back. Lucky he wasn't smashed along with the board!

I fold the card so there is a little pocket to place the cash into, and stamped with a sentiment from B.Y.O.P. - that's buy your own present. It comes in two parts and says "Something to use... For whatever you choose".

Stamp sets and Framelits: Nailed It stamps Build It Framelits, Custom Tees and Tee shirt Builder Framelits, Beautiful Ride, BYOP, Timeless Textures

Card: Delightful Dijon, Tip Top Taupe, Watermelon Wonder (all retiring May 31st) Smokey Slate, Basic Gray, Pacific Point.

Cheers, Rachel

Guiseppe's 90th Birthday Card PP276

After seeing this great new set Number Of Years, a bundle of number stamps and framelit dies, I knew they would be top of my pre-order. We have a lot of birthday's to celebrate in this family, and I knew there were several milestone birthdays coming. It's such a nice touch to personalise a card with the age being celebrated (maybe the daughters-in-law aren't quite as thrilled, but the children sure are!!). Hopefully, when the first of my girls turns 40 this week, she isn't going to be too sad!
The Paper Players have a great challenge to start the year with, All About Numbers, so this is a perfectly-timed challenge to take part in.

So there I was, on holiday and playing about with my new Stampin' Up!® products when I took a break and walked to the mailbox, and what should I find, but an invitation to Guiseppe's 90th birthday!!! Oh WOW! I couldn't believe that this gentleman, still active, and living a lovely life with his wife in their family home, was actually turning 90!

 The new Going Places paper stack seemed very appropriate for a man who migrated to Australia from Italy as a young man. He and his wife were longtime friends of my husband's parents, who also migrated more than 50 years ago with their two young children. There is an old map of the world behind the large numbers, it does have Italy and Australia there to show the beginning of Guiseppe's story, and his destination. I wanted to include the ship from Traveler, but my husband insisted that the long sea voyage was not a particularly happy memory so I should leave the ship off!!!

The banner containing the sentiment is part of the framelit set, and so is the little banner and the "th", numbers 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,. The stamp set is photopolymer, making it easier to see where you're placing the stamps, although I still prefer stamping first and die cutting second. With the 90, I've die cut it three times and glued them all together. There is also this statement included in the stamps: - 'the number of years the world has been a better place because you're in it.' Think I'll use that one quite a bit too! The inside of the card has two layers of card and a strip of the antique map to give it a 'finished' look. Don't forget to check out the gallery at The Paper Players.

Cheers, Rachel

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