Its been busy.... Just Add Ink challenge 'S' #533

 I've had a busy few days, with visitors, Christmas decorating and a workshop with 5 stampers which was great fun!  

I woke up early this morning and completed the Just Add 'S' challenge for this week. I used:

 Stripes, Spots, Sparkle with Simple Stampin!.  

One more Christmas card to add to the pile.  Now to write on them LOL

Happy stamping, Rachael xxx

Ink & Inspiration Blog Hop November - All about BLING

Welcome to the Ink & Inspiration Blog Hop. You are currently visiting Rachael Merrick from Australia. I hope you enjoy my "All about BLING" card.

I used Magenta Madness as my base and feature colour, teaming it with Champagne foil cardstock and gold glitter gemstones (from the Holiday catalogue). I love how the pink pops behind all that foil cardstock.

The gold hoops always add that added touch of bling to any project and was perfect to surround my sentiment. I really do love the way the foil catches the light! I think adding this kind of bling really makes a card special and even more appreciated.

I hope the card you've seen here on my blog today have inspired you & brightened your day. You are currently visiting Rachael Merrick. Please see the list below & hop through all of the people on the list to see all our projects. You don't want to miss any!

Coffee Cake and Cards - this Sunday

 I've been asked to bring this workshop forward and so this Sunday we are spending 2.5 hours making some lovely deer and gold inspired Christmas cards as well as a lovely gift box.  

We would love for you to join us if you are local.  This is a beginners style class and you don't need anything to come along and join the fun.  

Rachael xx

A Christmas card with an Australian touch

 I was asked to create a Christmas card for an Aussie living overseas.  Not a lot of notice so I had to get it done quick.   

My mind went straight to the kangaroo image from Zoo Globe and the 'gum leaves' and 'wattle' style images from the Forever Fern stamp sets.  

I broke open my gold hoops pack for this, added some DSP and Holiday red glitter gemstones.  I hope it meets the brief!

Of course a naked envelope is never acceptable so I used the stamps from Paper Pumpkin Joy To The World to finish it off with the gum leaves.  

  

Happy Stamping, Rachael xxx

Thank you Global Design Project Team!

 

The coffee challenge from last week made me a winner over at Global Design Project.  They always have the best challenges and certainly keep the inspiration going with the samples the team produce.  Check them out by clicking on the image above.

Here was my entry again:

Facebook Challenge

 

Tracy used a sketch this week, and this is my version using vellum I embossed, twine and Ornate Garden DSP.  

I've been trying to add to my stash of birthday cards this week and I've realised I really need to get more sentiments for birthdays - bring on the new mini catalogue for that exact reason!!! 

Happy stamping, 

Rachael xx

Stampin Dreams Blog Hop - Christmas Theme

 Our theme for this months blog hop is 

Christmas!!

I'm a teacher and that means lots of work friends who will need a little gift before the middle of December.  I bought some beautiful tea light candles from Dusk so I could gift them with cards.  

I've planned out a few ways to package these but when the clear boxes arrived I wanted to use them for some of the candles.  They fit perfectly!

I created a garland using the Warm Hugs bundle and attached the stamped and cut images to the twine.  A simple background stamping on Real Red Cardstock and this created such a simple but pretty little project.  

Be sure to click on all the photos below to check out all the other wonderful creations that my fellow hoppers/friends are sharing today.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Exciting!!! Flash sale coming...

How exciting!

Coming soon......

Rach xxx

 

Global Design Project: Hot Drinks

 I've had mini coffee cups in my stash for a while and I've wanted to make a quick birthday coffee cup with card, so this challenge was perfect to push me to finally use them.

I've used the Ornate Garden DSP, which is gold foiled and very pretty.  I use a fancy fold card with the circle tag to hold the card closed.

Birthdays are really the best days.  Pop over to GDP and join the challenge too: 

Birthday cards

 There are several birthdays I need special cards for coming up - and its not something I have a lot in my pile of made cards.  Here is a sneak of one...

I've discovered that I don't have many birthday sentiments and found this one in my old stash....  I have added new sentiment sets to my list for the upcoming catalogue and Sale-a-Bration.

Inspired by another

There seems to be a trend using Kylie Bertucci's scrappy tutorial and cards as inspiration. This one by Ann Alexander, a fellow Aussie SU! demonstrator, really caught my eye recently in a FB post.  I used leftover scraps of DSP (Ornate Garden) and matching cardstock colours to create the panels for this card.  

I didn't purchase the Curvy die set so I used the 'hillside' die from the Coming Home bundle instead which I think turned out really well.  Finally, I needed a sentiment and really wanted an element that still had curves.  The Warm Hugs bundle set came in handy for this.  

The pretty dotty ribbon is fast becoming a favourite of mine, using a double up of the ribbon when I tied it to give more volume.  

My mash up of a few ideas created a very quick card to create using up leftovers, ALWAYS a good thing!  

Happy creating, Rachael xx

 

Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop for November - Gifts

 Welcome to The Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop Round 37 where our theme is 

GIFTS

I've been playing with boxes lately, especially seeing Christmas is fast approaching and I need plenty of small gifts on hand.  

There has been lots of scoring, burnishing and using Designer Series Papers to create some cute boxes ready to fill with things like nail polish and hand cream, tea light candles in pretty scents or coffee sachets with some homemade treats. These 2 boxes are just a sample of what I've made already! The tall box will be filled with shortbread cookies, mini candy canes and hot chocolate packs ready for a Christmas Eve treat for friends of ours. The box (which already has a card attached to the top) will come in handy to fill with a handmade sewing project I have in mind for a little person.

Thanks for popping by on your way through the hop.  I hope this tempts you to have a go at making some simple but pretty and personalised boxes to hold your gifts for Christmas this year.  I would love for you to leave me a comment and let me know how you are doing with your Christmas list of things to do...

Next on the hop is my lovely friend Tracy.  Pop on over there by clicking on the button below:

Happy Hopping, Rachael xx

High Tide simple stamping

A quick card today - using High Tide Stamp set. I used first and second generation stamping of Crumb Cake for the images.  The sentiment was using PearPizzazz.  Matting in Pear Pizzazz with a Crumb Cake card base.  A bit of twine from my stash and it's a card to have on hand when someone needs a bit of sympathy.  

Happy Stamping, Rachael xx