Bushfire Appeal update...

Yesterday was my Mum's birthday, and tomorrow is my brother's.... At our Bushfire Appeal Fundraiser on Friday night, we raised $450 from sales and donations to benefit the people of Victoria affected by these fires. What a fabulous effort! Thank you so much to all involved, we had a really fun and successful night. A special thanks to Melissa Garland for organising the evening, and her Mum for working so hard in the kitchen... and to Kelly Jurd for helping at my table!
So what has that got to do with my Mum and brother? I digress..... At my table we made a box with the outgoing Carousel Notes and Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper. The box was the perfect size for the gift we had bought my Mum, so I designed a matching card...
The box uses a Wild Wasabi Carousel Note, and the Soft Sky Flowered sheet from the Afternoon Tea paper. We stamped the lid in Wild Wasabi ink with the Live Your Dream set. (50% of the sale price of Live Your Dream goes to the Bushfire Appeal, until the 31st March 2009.) Markers from Earth Elements (Really Rust and Garden Green) were used to ink up the flowers and stems for the tag on both the box and the card. On the box, the image was first stamped off, and then stamped again to create the softer colours to match the Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon and Wild Wasabi lid.
See how the paler colours after stamping off match the In Colors so well? Even with the In-Colors selling out so rapidly on the retiring list (see post below), it is possible to create the colours with the regular range of Stampin' Up! inks and markers.... Everything is designed to match with Stampin' Up! - making life so much easier when creating projects!
Here is the markered image without stamping off....
Even using the deeper colours, they still work really well with the In Colors. You can try using Not Quite Navy with Blue Bayou, and Rose Red with Purely Pomegranate too....
So, I have used Soft Sky and Wild Wasabi card stock (both now only available in 12x12 textured assorted and A4 assorted packs), Groovy Guava card stock, matching inks, one eighth inch handheld circle punch (on each of the scallops on the Carousel Notes), Wild Wasabi and Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon, Afternoon Tea Designer Series Papers and Carousel Notes - all retiring, and the last 2 things are available in the current Summer Mini Catalogue... Non retiring items include the Whisper White card stock, Live Your Dream stamp set (well, we find out for sure when the new catalogue comes out!) and En Francais background stamp.
Now, I loved this layout so much, I decided to use it again for my brother's card....
This time, it is Chocolate Chip for the background with the En Francais stamp in Chocolate Chip ink on both it and the Wild Wasabi Carousel Note. A piece of Afternoon Tea Designer Paper and Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, overstamping in Chocolate Chip with the Scribble This flourish stamp, some of the retiring Hodgepodge Hardware in Aged Copper, and a Cuttle Bug R as the feature in Chocolate Chip...
Chocolate Chip and Wild Wasabi ink sponged for a more aged look. Crystal Effects to make the R raised and shiny is also used around the scallops on the Carousel Note. My husband decided it looked kinda piratey.... Hmmm. Maybe it's the 'R'? Arrrrr me Hearrrties...
Anyway! Happy Birthday Rod! You'll probably get this card late at this rate... Sorry! ;o)